Road Trip!

Happy Friday!

I finally received my China Glaze spring polishes in the mail! I decided on the Road Trip Read set, although there are still a few from the Destination Unknown set I would like as well.

From left to right displayed in the packaging is I Brake for Colour, Pinking out the Window, Pack Lightly, Wanderlust, Bohemian Blues and Dashboard Dreamer.

I Brake for Colour is a deeply saturated coral creme. It leans more red in the photos, but in person you can see the orange undertones. One coat is shown on the swatch wheel!

Pinking out the Window is a neutral pink creme. Nothing really exciting, this is two coats on the swatch wheel.

Pack Lightly is a light peachy pink shade. In the bottle there is a slight shimmer, unfortunately it is not really visible on the nail. This is two coats are shown on the nail wheel

Wanderlust is a light lavender/pink shade (it actually appears more colour correct in the photo above, far right beside Pack Lightly). The formula on this one was very thin. It has a gold shimmer throughout, however it is very subtle. Three coats are shown on the nail wheel.

Bohemian Blues is probably my favorite of this collection. It is a bright periwinkle blue creme. This shade is unlike anything I own plus it has a great formula and is long lasting! Two coats are shown on the nail wheel.

Last is Dashboard Dreamer, this was another one that I really wanted. It is a pale blue creme with a pink/orange shimmer, it reminds me of Sinful Colors Cinderella or Cult Nails Princess. Both are along the same lines. I was kind of disappointed with this one since the formula was so thin. I think I needed three to four coats on the nail wheel! It was so sheer. It is pretty though, so I'll have to try it out on the nail before coming to a final conclusion on where I stand on this polish.

So far my favorite is Bohemian Blues and my least favorite is Pinking out the Window based solely on originality of colour.

What do you think about this collection; Which are you favorites?

Immortal

Today I have a neutral shade. I feel kind of in-between seasons at the moment. During the month of Halloween I was all over my Halloween polishes, pretty much anything goes! Right now it is still technically fall, but I feel the cold of winter quickly approaching. Polish wise I feel somewhat in a rut but not in a bad way, more in the way I can't decide what I want to wear because of all the options! I still have a few Halloween polishes in my desk, so I decided to try China Glaze, Immortal.

This is another one of those "Halloween" shades that doesn't really scream Halloween to me. I almost didn't purchase it originally because of that, however, swatches and reviews of this polish online made me want to try it.

Immortal is a medium grey creme polish with a faint shimmer of small iridescent flakies. The shimmer reflects mostly pink and blue. The formula was great, a little on the thin side but not too liquidy. It was easy to apply and only two coats were required for full opacity. 

Overall, I'm not really super impressed with this shade, it's a nice neutral but doesn't really have the "wow" factor I was hoping for. The longer I wear it the more it has been growing on me.

Totally Gaga!

Happy Friday! I have another lovely green today in the spirit of everything St. Patrick's day, which is this Monday. I chose to wear a bright spring shade by China Glaze, Gaga for Green. This was apart of China Glaze's 2012 spring collection, Electro Pop. I originally passed on most of the colours but was drawn to this bright, dusty green and just had to have it.

lamp light

natural daylight - most accurate to actual colour

I would describe it as the perfect Granny Smith apple shade, it is bright and dusty and perfect for St. Paddy's! I chose this over my go to green, Four Leaf Clover, another big fave of mine. Although thin, I would consider this a creme polish.

lamp light

camera flash

The formula seemed to be fine, thin but even, building up to opacity in two coats. I went to sleep within two hours after application which is not a problem when I use Seche Vite or NYC quick dry top coat. For some reason this polish took longer than normal to dry. To me it appeared fine, but the next morning I had sheet marks. I have not gotten these in forever! Not only that, I also had some bubbling. The bubbling is even weirder since the formula was thin and I applied medium coats. 

I took these photos the next day, luckily you can't see the imperfections. To remedy this, I used this method, and voila, all fixed up! 

Target Polish Clearance!

You MUST check out Target if you are a polish fanatic like me! Unfortunately I don't live close to a Target, and I was actually visiting last week for a return from December. I decided to have a quick look around the store and noticed clearance bins with discounted cosmetics, most being polish!

The brands I spied included various Sally Hansen collections, Nicole by OPI, Sinful Colors, and Kiss. I saw a sales lady passing by and asked if there were any additional items on clearance, she said that what I was looking through was the overstock! All the other sale items have been marked in their original display sections! What I ended up finding was almost every brand of polish was reduced to some degree, from $3.00 to 69 cents! .

Have a look at what I picked up! From Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri line, Lickety-Split Lime ad Instant Iris. I pick these up for stamping for a steal of $1.15 each.

I could not resist at least one Sinful Color at 69 cents! I chose Cloud 9, a bright yellow based orange with golden shimmer.

Swatches of the three polishes above below, one coat each of the Insta-Dri's and two coats of Cloud 9.

Next I picked up some glitter bombs from Sally Hansen's Gem Crush line, Glitz Gal, Lady Luck and Razzle Dazzle. These were under $2 each. 

My swatches below are two coats each.

I pick and chose wisely this time, I didn't want to go too crazy! I wish there were more Insta-Dris on clearance, I love them as a base for nail art and stamping.

So as  you can see I am still blogging directly from my desk today, photos and all! Here is a look (from inside) to part of my back yard where I usually take my photos. Don't let the sun fool you, it is VERY cold out this week! What is your preference for photos, indoors or outdoors?

Have you been to target lately? What polish was reduced at your store? If you are in the States I'd love to hear about selection and pricing, I will be heading there on Sunday :) First crossboarder shopping trip of the year!

Polish Picks for Late Fall!

Finally, a short list of my fave polishes for fall! I meant to get this up earlier, however in September I was extending the wear of my summer polishes, and October was all about Halloween! November is the perfect month to rock some vampy fall shades before December when everything is snow and Christmas! Wow, where did this year go, it's almost December again!

I have so many fall polishes I love but I have narrowed it down to six different finishes with corresponding polishes for what I am loving this year. In no particular order here are my fall picks for 2013. You can click the link in the polish name to see the full posts I have on these polishes.

Creme - OPI, Skull and Glossbones

I love this light grey neural for fall. It has a great formula and looks simple and chic. A great base for glitter or nail art.

Shimmer - Revlon, Perplex

The taupe base in Perplex is another neutral, but the purple shimmer flash adds that something special. Another simply chic shade.

Texture - OPI, Get Your Number

A nice bright blue for fall, this Liquid Sands polish really reflects the cold weather we have been having lately! Full post to come soon on this shade.

Duochrome OPI, Peace Love and OPI

The duochrome flash from teal to purple is so sparkly in the bright sunlight and super cool looking in overcast skies.

Glitter - China Glaze, Emerald Sparkled

Usually used more as a festive shade for Winter, this glitter is so deep and sparkly, perfect for late fall.

Matte - Zoya, Dovima

The perfect matte black with a hint of shimmer. This goes great with the leather clothing trend this fall.

Highlight Of My Summer

I figure this is probably one of the last bright, neon summer shades I will be wearing this year. So sad that summer is coming to an end :(

On the bright side... literally!... this polish is such a cheery shade. Indoors it looks like more of a pastel mint, but outdoors it is crazy bright! Such a great colour for summer, with an equally fitting name. I am loving the neon pastel trend.

On a not so great note, application sucked... it really, really did, so disappointing! I'm actually thinking of applying an aqua base next time I try a neon from this collection because the application is similar to a holo with the wrong base, streaky with bald spots if you go slightly over the same spot a second time. Application was frustrating. I applied three coats total and I still notice uneven and streaky areas :(

Does anyone have any tips for application of the Sunsational Neons? Such beautiful colours, such a shame for the formula.

Mosaic Madness

Today I have a mani refresh with NYX Girls Pistachio. I originally wanted to do some nail art but ended up adding a glitter topper. I used one coat of China Glaze Mosaic Madness.

Mosaic Madess is so cool! It is made up of bar, hex and micro glitter in matte black and shimmery blue. The formula was awesome, I didn't have to fish around in the bottle to make sure there was glitter on the brush and it applied smoothly. The colour combo of black and blue is my favourite out of the Glitter Glam collection. I am liking this glitter so much I am thinking of picking up the green and periwinkle versions as well. I'm crossing my fingers that these are still on sale at Sallys!

The base teal and blue glitters really worked well together. My only complaint about the glitter is that it does soak up top coat, I was left with a gritty feeling on my nails. Whenever I do a mani refresh I use a thinner topcoat so there are not a billion coats to remove later, and it just didn't add the high gloss I would have liked. 

Happy Nails!

Happy Friday! Why am I so happy? As soon as May started so did summer apparently! The weather this month is fantastic! Just warm sunny and awesome. The weather really does put you in a good mood, it puts me in a good mood anyways :) to show off my mood I decided to create some happy nails, and what better way to do that then with smiley nails!

Using Bundle Monster plate BM-302 I chose the outline version ( there is also the reverse version) of the full nail smiley stamp. Aren't these little guys cute! A very quick and simple refresh and luckily I had no issues stamping with this plate, woohoo! More things to be happy about!

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White to stamp with and applied a thin coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat (old formula) on too to deal in the design.

Fancy Pants

Another Spring China Glaze shade to share today from the Avant Garden collection. Fancy Pants is a very interesting shade, in the bottle it appears to be a deep indigo with a flash of magenta shimmer. On the nail I feel that the shimmer actually makes the polish look more of a deep purple.

At first glance the shimmer is not really noticeable, but on a sunny day it shines. Looking a little more closely I noticed that the shimmer is actually made up of tiny irregularly shaped flakies!

I used two coats to achieve full opacity and the formula was pretty easy to work with as long as you use quick, long strokes with a decent amount f polish on the brush. If you go over the same spot twice to try and even out a spot on your first layer you may end up with some balding. The first coat was a little streaky, but the second coat evened everything out well. I was disappointed with the finish of this polish, I'm not sure exactly how it dries because I add top coat right away, but even with Seche Vite once dry it isn't as glossy as it should be. It is visible in my photos, it has a shine, bit not too glossy.