Snapshots from Jamaica - My Honeymoon Manis

Yes, multiple manis... on my honeymoon. I honestly could have dealt with just one shade for an extended time but brought some fun neon shades with me in case I decided to change things up a bit.

Glad I did because my manis were kind of chipping all over the place! Next time I will definitely be doing a gel mani before I leave! I had a gel base of my wedding mani, no in-between chipping I'd have that for a few days at a time as well. Let start it off with what I wore on my tips...

China Glaze, Celtic Sun - bright neon yellow, 2-3 coats over a white base

China Glaze, Pool Party, new version - Bright neon, orange based coral, three coats over my gel French tip base.

China Glaze, Flip Flip Fantasy, original version - Bright neon coral, 2-3 coats over my French tip base. Yup, I brought this discontinued baby with me because I have another full bottle at home!

Bio Seaweed Gel, French Mani - more on that here.

Next up, toes

Are You Jelly, new version - The most perfect shade of purple leaning magenta, 2 coats

Flip Flop Fantasy, original verison - 2 coats, no base (forgot to pack it! Opps!)

I would have preferred to keep Are You Jelly on my toes the whole trip, but I didn't bring a bottle of the stuff with me.

A few snippets from my vacation through my manis. Do you bring nail polish on vacation with you?

Are You Jelly? Version 2

Happy Friday! Today I have the second bottle of China Glaze Are You Jelly? I purchased recently. When compared to the original release, it is more red based, where the other is more blue based and closer to a true purple.

That being said, I purchased this again because I was in the hunt for a red based purple/magenta neon. This polish delivered exactly what I was looking for!

The formula was great. I usually apply oldish at night before going to bed to avoid and dings or dents and this held up pretty well the fist day! I only needed two coats for full opacity. It dried to the typical satin finish neons are known for. A top coat really made this polish shine, it is super glossy!

The only downside to this polish is that it started chipping sooner than I anticipated. I'm not sure whether to blame the polish or my nails. I find when my nails are thin or weak nail polish does not adhere very well. It's sad today that I can feel the colder win coming in and summer ending, it is having an effect on my nails. I still got a good five days of wear in my fingers. I also applied Are You Jelly? to my toes and no chips yet!

Infra-Red!

To start off my monthly posts of green and purple I have a China Glaze named Infra Red! Technically, it's not really a red, more of a magenta in my opinion. However the holo flash in this polish is a strong blue/purple, hence this is my first purple based polish for March.

Infra Red was released last spring apart of China Glaze's Hologlam line. This is the one of the larger collections I was so close to owning all the polishes of, I own all but one. I decided against a pink holo I have a similar polish of. Infra Red is the type of colour I usually d not wear on my nails, I'm not a huge fan of reds or magentas, I wear them every once and a while. It was the strong flash of blue that convinced me to purchase this polish.

I applied a thin coat of my Nfu-Oh Aqua Base, so worth the money if you re thinking of picking it up! It made application a breeze. The first coat was quite thick and gave me pretty much full coverage, but since I decided against wering a top coat to enhance the holo effect, I applied a few drops of thinner to the bottle and applied a thin second coat.

It is true about some of the polishes in this collection not being super holo, but I can still see the effect in different lighting and have accepted it's not like the OMG's. I really did like this collection as a whole though, love every polish I own.

I can't believe how much I have enjoyed wearing Infra Red so far, and it's only been an hour or two! I keep staring at my nails. It must be that blue flash, it is so pretty.

Jelly Sammich

Woohoo! I love long weekends that end on a Monday, it's like two for one, loooong weekend and short work week! Today I have a jelly sandwich I did with a bright jelly red polish, Sally Hanson Salon Nail Lacquer Hearts on Fire, previously shown in my last blog post. This combo of glitter and polish was created on a whim and I love the end result! The glitter I used with Hearts on Fire is Sinful Colors Unwrap Me.

Unwrap Me was apart of Sinful Colors holiday collection this past Christmas. It is made up of black regular small and medium hex glitter and a sprinkling of red/magenta hex glitter. It contrasted well with the red base. I applied one thicker coat of the glitter over one layer of Hearts on Fire, dabbing to get even coverage of the glitter on each nail.

I then layered another coat of Hearts on Fire over the glitter. Once that was dry I added a final thinner coat of glitter on top and finished everything off with top coat. I am super in love with this combo! I mean, it has black glitter, black glitter is one of my favourite things ever! The red/magenta hex glitter is subtle, however it peaks through beautifully in most lighting, it reflects the light so well.

Crushed Gems!

Does anyone else get excited after a haul and want to wear at least one polish right away!! Because I do it all the time, especially after the mini haul I had at Target last week. After much debate I chose to wear Lady Luck, which surprised me. Usually I don't wear this shade of magenta/pink but something about it made me need it and really want to wear it so I have it a go.

Lady Luck is a hot magenta glitter made up of micro glitter and medium holo hex glitter sprinkled throughout. I applied two medium to thick coats and was happy with opacity. When I first swatched this polish I noticed it dried to a gritty matte finish, and I wanted this to be super glossy!

After the glitter dried a bit, which wasn't long at all, I applied a generous coat of Gelious to each nail. After a few minutes of dry time I preceded to add a thin coat of Seche Vite on top to ensure the finish was super glossy and dried quickly.

This polish is pretty, but something about it was off to me. Maybe it's the shape if my nails. Maybe I should have layered a similar polish as a base underneath. Maybe I just don't wear this polish often lol.

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!

If you like it then you should a Put a Bow On It....

lol, I just could not resist with the title of this post. Today I have a glitter bomb of a polish from China Glaze's Happy Holiglaze collection. Put a Bow On It is a densely packed bright magenta glitter. Depending on the lighting it can appear more pink or purple. In the bottle it appeared to be more pink to me and I wasn't sure I needed it in my collection. After seeing additional swatches throughout December and passing on it the first time, I happened to find it at Sally's and decided to try it out.

Of course I ended up loving it! Although made up of mainly magenta glitters, I think I see a tiny mix of purple. It could be my eyes or the lighting, but whatever it is I like it! Application was pretty easy, I only needed two coats for full coverage. I topped it of with a thick coat of Seche Vite and was happy with the final texture once dried. Since it is a full glitter polish a little texture is to be expected, but it didn't bother me.

In terms of wear these glitters just do not seem to wear well at all on me. I usually start to see chips within the first or second day after application which sucks! I think it may be the base coat I am using, I have got to try some other brands and see if wear is better.

The only good thing about the wear is removal was quick and easy, it basically peeled off in sheets with no damage to the nail lol. Not ideal, but a lot less time consuming than removing by hand.

Last Haul Before Chriatmas...

Happy Friday! Continuing with catching up on posts from late December, today I have my last haul before Christmas, originally it was to be posted on December 21 2013. Hopefully if you like what you see you are still able to pick these up and for a greatly discounted price ;)

I stopped by Sallys over the weekend quite by accident and picked up some of the last of my lemmings from the holiday collections. Lucky for me they had everything I wanted! I also had my first look at the new OPI section and I must say that it wasn't anything super exciting. I didn't look through every colour, but I was at least expecting the latest collection to be out in display. I wonder if they are only carrying the core colours. I hope they start to carry the new collections as they are released.

Edit: Since then I have seen much advertising for the new Gwen Stefani line so it looks like they will be carrying the new collections as they are released, yay! One stop polish shopping!

On another note, has anyone else encountered a pricing increase recently at their Sally's? I sweare their pricing has had to have gone up by a dollar!  And I have the pro card, it was like I was paying regular beauty club pricing. If so that really sucks. I'll have to ask the next time I am in, I only realized when I left and took a closer look at the receipt.

I may have gone in hoping so score OPI's but ended up with China Glaze and Finger Paints. Some more Happy Holiglaze polish for me, Put a Bow on it and Be Merry, Be Bright.

Put a Bow on it is an interesting shade, from swatches online it looked purple, in store it looked pink. I have come to the conclusion that it is a bright magenta with a scattered reflection of purple. This is a dense glitter with a clear base, it built up to opacity on my nail wheel in three coats. I wish it had a slight base to help with opacity. I may try layering this over a similar coloured polish when I decide to wear it.

Be Merry, Be Bright is a surprisingly densely packed glitter made up of various sized pink and purple hex glitter in a clear base. It reminds me of cranberries or holly berries or something! I initially was not interested in this glitter, but it grew on me. Your Present Required was so awesome it made me want to try BMBB, plus it should be great for layering and jelly sandwiches. My nail wheel shows one coat!! No dabbing, just a regular coat. I am very impressed with the density of the glitter and ease of application! This would look great layered between a glittery red jelly, I'm thinking China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps or Essie Leading Lady.

Swatches from left to right, Put a Bow On It and By Merry, Be Bright.

Finger Paints has been stepping up their game lately, I am really impressed! I picked up one Finger Paints for each of their holiday/winter collections and both should be considered textured, however there was no clear indicator so I am still kind of confused lol.

The first, Sparkle in the Sky apart of the Enchanted Winter collection is apparently a close dupe for OPI's liquid sand, Alkatraz Rocks. A cheaper version of a polish I want? Score! The colour is hard to describe, a inky, purple, sparkly indigo textured polish. Again, assuming it is textured, there was no indicator if it was apart of any sort of special collection. Two coats built up nicely on my nail wheel swatches below.

The next polish I picked up was due to Karen from Frazzle and Aniploish showing of the lovely shade. Golden Kisses apart of the Holiday Love Afair collection is a gold, shimmery polish that dried to a textured finish but I can't wait to try a glossy top coat over it I see what it looks like for myself! Karen tried it out, if you are interested click the link to her blog above.

Also random thought, I just realized Finger Paints marked theURL for their site on the bottle as seen in the photo below, good promotion I guess! I checked out the link, however, and the site does not exist lol.

Swatches from left to right, Sparkle In The Sky and Golden Kisses.

I love how these colours can be used during, after and in between the holidays. Do you have any faves?