Bouncer, it's Me!

I haven't worn an Essie polish in a while and figured I should try a summer untried of mine. Bouncer, it's Me, is a deep blue jelly polish. I had forgotten it a a jelly polish until I sampled the shade in my nails. The formula is thin but deeply pigmented. Depending on the pressure you apply and the about of polish on the brush you can really change the whole look of the polish. This is great for a jelly sandwich, but also can be built up to full opacity in as little as two coats!

I love that the formula is so versatile. I decided to build up to full opacity, so I only needed two coats, the first was on the thinner side and the second was a bit thicker. The formula evened it's self out perfectly, I was dreading runny, sloppy application.

Since the formula is thin, I find that the more you apply to the nail in one coat the longer it will take to dry. I severely dented my nail on the fist thin coat! It was easily evened out without any issues, but I will me more careful next time for sure.

It dries to a satiny matte finish, so a topcoat is a must. I would recommend using a quick dry topcoat to best avoid any denting after application. My go to top coat is always Seche Vite. I also added some Sally Hansen quick dry drops, which is an oil that also helps with drying the polish.

I love the look of this shiny shade. Although it appeared slightly lighter in the bottle, it does dry a deeper shade.

Fun fact: I applied this polish to myself while getting a pedicure! Not bad, right!? The pedicure post to follow.

Christian Louboutin Nail Polish

I found a great article today both based on design, fashion AND nail polish, a few personal loves of mine:

source: link

"PARIS — Back in 1992, surveying one design from his third signature footwear collection, Christian Louboutin was dismayed that the actual shoe wasn’t as colorful and compelling as his original sketch, especially underneath. 

And so he snatched a jar of nail varnish from an assistant, who howled in protest, and his famous red soles were born. 

Now the French footwear guru is taking his first steps into the beauty business with a range of signature polishes housed in strikingly tall, spiky bottles. 

Priced at $50 each, the well-heeled, red nail enamel, Rouge Louboutin, is scheduled to go on sale today in a U.S. concession shop on the eighth floor at the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship in New York and the 15 Louboutin boutiques in the U.S. Saks will devote five display windows to the launch, with each filled with a display of an imaginary city, called Loubiville, whose architectural shapes give hints of products to come. 

The rest of Louboutin’s U.S. distribution — the remainder of Saks doors, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom and select Sephora stores — will unveil the Rouge nail polish on Aug. 6, displaying the new beauty product alongside his footwear collections. The remaining 30 shades will be available throughout the U.S. distribution on Aug. 31, according to Catherine Roggero, general manager of Christian Louboutin Beauté. The new beauty company is a joint venture between Christian Louboutin’s fashion company and New York-based Batallure Beauty. The month-long lag in distribution rollout between the red polish and the 30 remaining shades is designed to give the Rouge enamel its own time in the merchandising spotlight."

To read more, check out the original post on TheDieLine.com

Small Rant + Grass is Lime Greener

Happy Friday!
I am not one to go pay to get a manicure done. Although not trained professionally I feel that I know enough to give myself a pretty good looking mani, minus the hand massage and all that fancy stuff! Prior to my recent experience, which I will be sharing shortly, my first ever manicure experience wasn't the greatest. It wasn't horrible, but I figured I'd rather do it myself than pay someone when I can do it to my personal preference.

Start Rant...

My latest experience was at a beauty school. Now I have had many experiences with beauty schools, and I get it, they are still learning and practicing their skills, but shouldn't they really be practicing what they are specializing in for a profession? I have had many pedicures from collages with amazing results, but this manicure was by far the worst, and I think it has turned me off from getting another one in the future.

Knowing I was going to a school (of learning students) I prepared my nails to my liking before the appointment, this including trimming and filing my nails to the length and shape I am most comfortable with. I made it clear from the start, please do not cut, shape or file my nails, I am happy with how they are. Se said okay and proceeded. After removal if polish and soaking she decided a few nails needed to be evened out, I said fine, in my head reminding myself that this is her job and she knows what she is doing.

Wrong! Not only did she reshape my nails, but she also used the harshest grit for a "light" file! I was dying in the inside, but she would fix it, right? It was at this point she mentioned that she came to this school to specialize more in, laser hair removal, microdermabrasion, etc. and tht she doesn't like doing nails. Now I start to panic... She starts to apply the polish and I am dying I the inside! To shorted the story a bit, let's just sayit was bad, a bad, streaky messy situation. I had to show the nail tek how to apply the polish... In not even joking. She kept pushing the brush firmly on the nail and sliding it slowly up the nail. This was with a China Glaze neon polish. Ugh! Just thinking about it makes me nervous! After the second or third streaky, uneven and ununiform (some nails had polish starting a cm above the cuticle) coats, I asked her to stop. Not only did I not get the full treatment (adiquate cuticle softening, removal and massage) but I just wasted a time and money for something I could have done in about 10 mins!

A thoroughly frustrating experience overall. On my way out I switched all of my previously scheduled manicures for anther service (I have a package wth them and have enjoyed other services jncluding massages and pedicures). I was filing my nails while waiting (the rough grit did not leave my nails smooth at all) and the receptionist asked why, and I said that it was done incorrectly. I was then given an excuse that the polish I chose was difficult to work with, that why it didn't turn out right... Right.

As soon as I got home I wet to work on clean up and evening out the polish on the nail. I then applied one more coat if polish to even out the streaks (and texture) caused earlier and finished with a top coat and slight clean up. Ta-da! Good as new. I fixed the shape of my nails as best I could, and am happy with the final look. I wish I had a before photo to share with you but I couldn't stand to look at my nails from the moment she started to apply the polish!

Ahhh, that feels so much better, END RANT, now more about China Glaze The Grass is Lime Greener.

This is a lovely pastel neon green shade. The formula is a tad difficult to work with, however, what I told the nail tek, and what I will tell you is that as long as you work with a light and quick hand and an adiquate amount of polish on the nail, it will even out. I would estimate two coats max. My photos show three coats.

It does dry to a satin/matte finish so a topcoat is needed. I have been wearing this mani for about three days now and surprisingly it hasn't chipped all over the place. Although beautiful, I find the China Glaze spring collection to be particularly fussy, either with application or wear or both!

I love this shade, it was originally my top colour to purchase from this while collection, just perfect for summer. It literally just glows on the nail when outdoors. So glad I was able to salvage it :)

In A Lilly Bit!

I ranted a few days ago about an unhappy experience I recieved at a local spa which offers practice to beauty school students. Today I have a much happier experience with my spa pedicure.

I dread giving myself pedicures, to much bending and stretching and overall work, even for me! And I am pretty flexible. It's always nicer to have someone else do it for you, so I typically get a few done in the summer time. I brought along my own polish shade, however I ended up using their bottle since they had the same shade. 

China Glaze In A Lilly Bit is a soft lavender pastel creme. Although pastel, this shade is bright! I can't comment on application since I did not apply it but I am pretty sure only two coats were needed for full coverage.

I love this light shade on my toes, it is very delicate and can be combined with one of the deeper lavenders or pink form the same collection on my hands!

Glittery Gradient

I decided to apply a slight gradient to a base of bright pink nails, China Glaze Pedal to the Metal. For the sponge gradient I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, probably my favourite China Glaze polish! To create the polish on the nail I applied Flip Flop Fantasy to a make-up sponge with pedal to the medal directly below it. I gently dabbed the sponge a few times on the nail (already with a base of Medal to the Medal) to create the gradual fade from one colour to the other.

I continued this process on each nail between one to two times to get the desired look. I then sponged some fine gold holographic glitter on the tips of my nails as well, China Glaze Golden Enchantment. I added a thin top coat over top everything to smooth out the gradient and add a nice gloss.

Glitter Matters!

Happy Friday! I have a quick mani refresh today that I absolutely love. I layered an awesome matte glitter over my previous mani of Fresh Paint Guava.

Funky Fingers, Glitter Matters, is a densely paked glitter made up of various sized pink, yellow and white glitters. I find the yellow pieces of glitter have a slight opalescence to them in the sunlight that makes them appear golden against the coral base. It is pretty awesome.

I love the contrast between the bright coral base and the matte glitter pieces. I only needed one coat for the distribution of glitter I was happy with. I used a dabbing motion to help apply the glitter evenly to the nail, and swiped upwards to distribute it evenly.

Guava

I purchased a couple polishes dorm a new to me brand, Fresh Paint, both being bright summer neons! The first out of the two I decided to wear is Guava.

Guava is a bright coral neon which I feel is creme based. It tends to lean more orange or pink depending on the lighting. Outside in direct lighting is is completely eye searing! I love it!

Application was awesome, the formula is a little thick but easy to work with. I only needed two coats to reach full opacity. If I remember correctly it dried to a satiny finish. I used Seche Vite to make it nice and shinny. Surprisingly it wore very well, neons usually chip very quickly on me.

I will have to pick up some more of these polishes when I am in another Five Below! Does anyone know if these are a Five Below exclusive brand?

Summer Haulin'

As per usual, about every month or two I head across the boarder for a brief shopping trip. When I say brief, I mean BRIEF, like hours! But I always manage to hit up the best polish supplier while I am in town :) This month I scored at Sally's and Five Below.

I was hoping to find Orly's Baked collection at Sally's, unfortunately they only had the mini set for purchase. I took a look through their sale section and picked out some Finger Paints which were an additional 50% off, lucky me! I chose Metallic Moondust and Stargazing Lilac.

Metallic Moondust is a dense glitter made up of gold  and silver micro and medium sized glitters and sprinkled with a teal hex glitter. This was more awesome than I was expecting, very dense and super sparkly. One coat is shown in my swatches below.

Stargazing Lilac is basically a lilac version of Metallic Moondust with the prettiest shade of purple hex glitter in place of the teal. One coat is shown in my swatches below.

An unexpected stop on my trip this month was at a newly opened Five Below. I just had to check it out, three polishes for $5? Fan-tastic! I picked up some lovely neon shades from Fresh Paint, Honeydew and Guava.

Honeydew is a light green pastel neon, I don't think it has enough blue in it to be considered a mint. It is totally a honeydew shade in neon form. It dries to a slightly satin finish, my swatches below show two coats.

Guava is this fantastic neon coral. I don;t know if I would compare the shade of this polish to the actual guava fruit. Although i have never tried it before, the photos I have seen are a deeper coral in comparison. This polish wears a lot better than other neons, making it one of my number one picks for summer 2014. I will post more about this polish soon. Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

sunlight

shade

The last polish I picked up at Five Below is a glitter topper. As soon as I saw this one I knew I HAD to have it, now! Funky Fingers Glitter Matters - has an unimaginative name... - but is so unique to anything I have seen or owned. Very indy inspired.

It is a glitter topper composed of tiny pink and yellow matte glitter with a mix or larger pink, yellow and white matte glitter. I can't wait to try this out over different shades of polish to see what works best. It would be awesome for a glitter sandwich as well. My swatch below shoes one coat.

sunlight

shade

That is all for now ...until next month ;)

Cult Nails Scandalous

Happy Friday! A nice sunny weekend calls for a bright and shiny shade. Summer seems to be in full force, however I feel like this whole season is just flying by since the weather picked up so late.

Today I am wearing Cult Nails Scandalous. This juicy shade is super duper shiny. The colour does not photograph very well, I would describe it as a pink based coral jelly. On screen it looks way more saturated. It is a very creamy jelly.

It was fairly thin on the first coat, but built up nicely in three coats, not bad for a jelly. I had no application issues, as always with my Cult Nails polishes, flawless formula :)

In Hind sight I regret not trying a jelly sandwich with Scandalous. It would go perfectly with captivated or Blaze! Whenever I pull out a Cultie to wear, it always makes me crave more. Can't wait to see what Maria has in store for us in her newer collections!

Pedal to the Metal

My boyfriend suggested I pick a few polishes for him to choose from to paint my nails the other day. While choosing the colours I already knew EXACTLY what he was going to pick, the blue shade, Essie, Butler Please. He always goes for the blues! He surprised me when he paired it with another Essie, Saturday Disco Fever. This of course would be the accent nail, according to him.

I told him maybe he should pick a colour based off the polish name, so out of the five in front of him, he picked out China Glaze, Pedal to the Metal. A perfect choice I didn't even consider seeing how my first road test (G2), was scheduled for the next day! I'm glad to say I easily passed, yay me! I was lucky enough to have a super nice examiner and no rain, it had been calling for rain all week. I had a little set back the morning of with my boyfriends car, but that is a whole other story all together. All that matters is that I made it there on time and passed, so we are both happy :)

Pedal to the Medal is a light, bright pink creme with the slightest of coral undertones. Application was good, not too thick, not too thin. There were some streaks, but better application on my part could have helped to avoid that. Only two coats were needed for full opacity.

It dried to a satin/matte finish, which I glossed up with a coat of Seche Vite. Application so far (2 days at this point) is good. Some slight shipping in my usual spot (inside right thumb). But I did also experience a larger than usual chip on day one, pointer finger of my left hand. This was due to a deep bend (crease) in the nail. Some of my nails are still healing after the toll winter took on them unfortunately. Luckily all of the other nails are looking good. I found this collection as a whole chipped a lot faster due to the satin/matte finish. Hopefully this last a few more days, I plan on doing a refresh of some sort :)

At Vase Value

China Glaze has confused me with their latest summer and spring collections, I feel like maybe their spring collection was supposed to be their summer collection and vise versa? Although Peonies in the Park (spring collection) has some lovely pastels, I find that they are brighter (including a few neons) and more appropriate for summer, where as the summer collection hardly has any neons!

I dont know how to classify At Vase Value, apart of the Peonies and Park collection. Sure, it may look like your standard "Tiffany" or baby blue, but I think it is different from the similar shades I own. First off, I would not consider it a neon polish, however it must be the brightest pastel blue I own. Secondly, it has a hint of yellow in there which makes it shift slightly teal while still being a blue. Basically it is a bright neon leaning pastel blue... LOVE!

I wish I could say the same about application, but to be honest I was actually expecting worse! This whole collection seems to be infamous for application issues and horrible wear. I can't comment on wear time just yet since I just applied the polish last night, but application wasn't the easiest. The first coat was a bit streaky, this occurred when over lapping layers. To avoid balding work quickly with three swift swipes. The second coat applied much easier, but to get full opacity I found I needed between 3-4 coats. It varied from finger to finger for me, and this is because I was painting in a dimly lit room watching Chopped (Sooooo hooked on this!), so, my fault. I would say in better lighting and atmosphere, 3 coats total should do it. The fourth coat was mostly just spot touch-ups with thinned out polish.

The natural finish of At Vase Value is a satiny matte. It did appear thick and uneven on the nail. I even thought I saw some bubbling on a few nails, but one coat of Seche Vite evened everything out fairly nice. Overall I am very happy with the final look, colour and finish. I felt even thought I needed between 3-4 coats It wasn't really a lot of extra work or as messy as the other polishes I have tried from this collection. I just hope it lasts me a few days without chips!

Naughty Nautical

I can decide if it feels like summer yet over the weekend totally but the weather is up and down, super hot some days and cool on others with a mix of rain and thunderstorms. I just want full out summer weather now that it's July!

An awesome summer shade I picked up in late winter was an Essie polish I had been wanting for a while, Naughty Nautical. This teal cream has a slight sprinkling of white/silver flecks that reflect beautifully in the bottle. Once the on the nail it is not really visible unless you look really, really close.

The formula was great, thinner than I expected for a creme, but very pigmented. I only required two coats for full opacity. I absolutely adore the colour. This is the time of the year where pretty much anything goes polish wise. cant wait for the sum to really shine, then I will bring out some neons!