Throw Back Tuesday - Sally Hansen Nail Prisms (Pic heavy)

 Is throwback Tuesday even a thing? Whatever, doing it anyways!

I'm starting to feel the fall vibes, despite the weather feeling more like late spring than early fall! But hey, I'm not complaining! I had a strong craving for a summer-y duochrome and ended up in my Sally Hansen drawer. I pulled out a few Nail Prisms I have yet to try and decided on Ruby Saphire.

 

This violet chameleon is a part of the long ago, and sought after, Nail Prisms collection composed of bad ass holos and vivid shifting duochromes. That being said, this polish is defiantly made of not so good chemicals, it's pretty evident from the first whiff of the open bottle! Although this polish is still usable, the formula in this one I particular is super thin and on the sheer side. It also takes FOREVER to dry!

How did I deal with it and make it look beautiful on my nails without putting a lot of time and effort into my nails? Simple, a black base coat. One coat of Ruby Saphire overtop the base of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Black Out and a quick dry topcoat makes everything better.

What colours flash in this polish? Indigo, purple, pink, red and orange!

The black base makes this shade look super vampy, but I am digging it! I'm usually way nervous pulling out my prisms because I know they can be finicky. But just look at that finish!

We Got the Beet!

September may be here, but that doesn't mean summer is over just yet. Today I have a polish for China Glaze's summer Lite Brite collection that is the perfect transition shade from summer to fall.

We Got The Beet is a medium plum jelly saturated with gold flakie flecks. Being one of the darker shades in the collection, it didn't really fit in with the other pastel/neon brights at first glance. When I purchased it I didn't know how much I would actually like it until I swatched it. I was wowed!

Two easy coats were needed for full opacity. Although the first coat was a bit sheer, the second coat built up the polish I what you see in the bottle.

Summer Time Haul, Y'all!

I am in full summer mode and atiently awaiting a bunch of fun things in July; my birthday, my wedding and a honeymoon trip! So many exciting things to come in my favorite month and season of the year!

Summer screams brights and neons to me, today I have some of my latest purchases (first and largest in quite a while now). It's so surprise that they are all China Glazes, they manage to put out fun and exciting polishes summer after summer that I actually want!

I'll start off with my picks from the Lite Brights, summer 2016 collection first.

Papa Don't Peach and We got the Beet

Papa Don't Peach is a jelly-like coral shade with gold shimmer and iridescent glitter running throughout. Bright and flashy, I love it!

We Got the Beet is a deep plum jelly with golden shimmer throughout. I honestly like this one more than I thought I would! so pretty!

Two coats of each are shown on the nail wheel below.

Bite Me, What I Like About Blue and Lime after Lime.

Bite Me is a bright pink neon with a golden microshimmer running throughout. Excellent formula on this one! The golden shimmer makes the pink warmer toned.

What I Like About Blue was the must have polish for me! A gorgeous bright blue with a golden and slightly iridescent shimmer running throughout. The shimmer is way more visible in this one compared to Bite Me.

Lime After Lime. I love this name, it makes me think of the choreographed dance sequence from Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion! Light, bright and right on the verge of being a neon green. It has that bleached bright thing going on. Another one with great formula.

One to two coats of each are shown in the nail wheel below.

Next up I have some randoms I picked up for a beauty supply clearance section:

In the Limelight, Daisy Know My Name? and Sun Worshiper.

In the Limelight, an oldie but a goodie! From my research, I have found that this was originally from the Wow Factor collection back in the summer of 2006. This shade a bright green neon with a lightly duochome shimmer, flashing green or blue depending on the light source.

Daisy Know My Name? is from last summers Electric Night Collection. I am actually wearing it right now! Its a bright yellow, but not highlighter yellow. Outside in the sunlight it is close to neon teritory on it's own, but I feel it would really pop with a base of white.

Sun Worshiper is a polish I have admired from afar for way too long. A part of the 2010 Poolside collection, this is a bright, in your face nacho cheese neon! I can't wait to wear this with a tan!

Two to three coats of each are shown in the nail wheel below.

So many exciting new polishes to wear making it hard to decide what to wear next! What is your favorite shade for summer?

Brand Sparkin' New Year!

It's that time of the year again... blog catch up! Starting off with one of the two New Years Eve inspired manis I rocked the last week of 2015, China Glaze Brand Sparkin' New Year.

Brand Sparkin' New Year is a deep purple jelly with various sizes and colours of reflective sparkly glitter! I got a lot of compliments on this one. I decided to do the glue glitter removal base since I have not done it in a while and keep my sanity during removal of this dense glitter polish.

I applied (as thiny as humanly possible with glue) one coat of the "peel base", essentially white school glue in an old polish bottle. After waiting patiently for it to dry (when clear) I applied two coats of Brand Sparklin' New Year. On the first coat the base was sheer, however the second built up very deep. I may try layering this over a base of plum next time so the glitter shines a bit more. I found that the base was so deep on the second coat it hid the beautiful glitter.

Out of focus sparkles!

All in all I enjoyed wearing this polish for about three days before I had the satisfaction of peeling it right off with no damage to my nail or struggle to remove the glitter.

Witching Hour

Happy belated Halloween!

I was so busy last week I actually forgot to photograph my Halloween mani! How did I forget!? It was something different than what I usually do, It was very witchy! Luckily I was able to find a (very blury photo) from my phone, but I hope you get the idea.

 I used a thin base of Cover Girl Vio-last which is a dusty purple creme and one layer of China Glaze Something's Brewing overtop.

Jack and Sally costumes on Halloween

This was a quick, out the door polish job. The perfectionist in me is annoyed it wasn't a bit neater, however I am happy with the overall look. It's totally a deconstructed witch. I'm thinking of Looney Tunes...

Can't you hear the Monster Mash being played in the back of your head when you see this combo?

Hope you had a great Halloween!

Ghostess with the Mostess

Hostess with the Mostess is apart of the Ghouls Night Out collection released this year apart of China Glaze's Halloween collection.

I decided to layer two coats over a bare nails (plus a base coat, of course!) to make the most of each piece of glitter. I couldn't decide on a base shade that would be truly complimentary to each coloured glitter.

Ghostess with the Mostess is made up of matte black, pastel green, pastel orange and striped purple hex glitter of various sizes. In hindsight I thought of a layering idea of layering the glitter between a black or orange glitter. Heck, even green or purple would work too!

It applied nice and smooth, the consistency of the clear base was a breeze. There was lots of glitter on the brush, didn't have to fish around too much, just played around a bit with the brush on the nail for placement of glitter so it was not overlapping. So far it has been wearing great!

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!

CosmoProf Haul

Today I have another bright neon haul to share with you! I was pleasantly surprised to find the Electric Nights collection at my local CosmoProf. I have been finding it harder and harder to track down the latest collections at Sally's recently and CosmoProf usually has what I'm looking for. I picked up four polishes from the Electric Nights collection, and one re-promote from 2013's Summer Neons collection.  I have to admit that at first glance this collection didn't appeal to me, but after all the hype online and finally seeing them in person I got why they were so popular.


First up is Are You Jelly?, UV Meant To Be and Treble Maker.

Are You Jelly? is a a neon magenta based purple neon. I originally picked up this shade in 2013, but this re-promote is not the same as the original. The original is more of a true purple crelly. It dried to a matte/satin finish. If you compare the photos in this post to the previous one (original formula) it is not very apparent they are different. In person it is easier to see the difference. Let me know if you are interested in a comparison post.

UV Meant To Be is a light blue with a hint of dustiness. Hard to describe, but really pretty. The only one I purchased from this collection with a glossy finish.

Treble Maker is probably the hardest to describe and one of my favorites! It is a medium green that verges on being a neon, but is not as in your face. this dries to a satin finish.

Next up is Red-y To Rave and Let the Beat Drop.

Red-y To Rave is a bright red/orange coral neon with coverage rivaling a creme. It is super bright and unique. It dried to a satin finish.

Let the Beat Drop is a neon glitter suspended in a clear base. I returned Point Me To The Party due to lack of assistance from China Glaze (they did not respond to me when I contacted them regarding the bleeding of glitters in the polish). I am hoping that the glitters in this one don;t bleed overtime as well, is consists of orange pink and purple neon glitters of various sizes.

Below are swatches of my haul:

And another one of me recreating Point Me To The Party by layering Let The Beat Drop over Can I Get An Untz, Untz. That was a mouthful!

 

I will be layering this combo over white very soon!

Bohemian Vibes

Happy Friday and happy May!

Spring has FINALLY sprung this week, and I hope it is here for keeps. Today I have the perfect shade for the weather from China Glaze's spring offering, Road Trip. I think this polish is my favorite so far out of the set I purchased. 

Boho Blues is a bright periwinkle creme. Although this is a more muted shade, it was one of the most saturated in the set, on the nail it was pretty bright for a spring shade. In various lighting it can appear slightly different, sometimes more muted or brighter and sometimes pulling more purple. Overall I really love this shade!

The formula was great, it was a little bit streaky at one coat but built up perfectly at two coats. It wore fantastically with minimal wear until I started picking at it... for a full week!

  

I am excited to try out the rest of the set from this collection, but was disappointed with how sheer the others were on my swatch wheel. I guess I'll have to try them out on my nails to know how they rate for sure.

Color Club Bell Bottom Babe

Happy Friday, Good Friday that is! Let the long weekend Easter feasting begin...

Also time for my first summer polish of 2015! Well, it's not in your face summer neon, but it was apart of the Color 2014 Poptastic Summer collection. The 2014 collection, not to be confused with the originals from a few years back, is a compilation of neons with shimmer running throughout. I chose to wear Bell Bottom Babe.

 

Bell Bottom Babe is an almost periwinkle blurple base with a pink/purple shimmer. The first layer was quite thin, but the second coat built up pretty well. In hindsight a third thin coat would have been perfect, although it is not 100% apparent in the photos.

 

As an accent nail I layered a thin coat of L'Oreal, Too Dimensional? over my ring fingers and thumbs. Too Dimensional? is a glitter based polish with gold and purple glitter of various sizes in a deep purple base. I LOVE it! It is so smooth on the nail unlike most other glitters that can dry gritty.

I've included a few other right hand shots above to show you even nail shape. They will all be a little shorter and closer in relation to each other in my next post! Happy Easter to those who celebrate, hope you all have a great long weekend!

Pinta

Zoya Pinta was so refreshing to wear after two weeks of creme polishes that just would not stay put on my nails! If you hadn't read my last few posts on Nails Inc. Gel Effects polishes, you can see theme here and here.

Pinta is such a great polish, not only is the colour rich and saturated but the formula is a dream and wear was just fantastic! Zoya has got to be one of my favorite brands lately. Pinta is a deep, blue based plum creme. This shade is very pigmented and opaque, however removal does not cause staining, yay!

Application was great and the formula consistence was great, not too thick, not too thin. It practically glides on the nail. I used two thin, to medium coats for full coverage and finished of my mani with a swipe of Seche Vite.

Nothing bad to say about this polish, it wore fantastic and held up great to usual daily activities; washing dishes, food prep, showering, etc. Plus it is a great shade for the awkward time between Christmas and spring... when I don't know what to wear on my nails. Does anyone else feel the same way?!

Nails Inc. Gel Effect - Round 2!

Happy Friday! Today I have my second attempt at Nails Inc.'s Gel Effect formula. My last attempt wasn't the greatest.

New Oxford Street is a dusty, greyed out purple creme, the colour is really great. The formula and application of the polish was awesome. It is very opaque and although I used two coats, one thick coat probably would have been fine.

Since when I previously wore a Nails Inc. Gel Effect shade it did not last very long on me I decided to wrap the tips of my nail to see if it would help the polish last longer. I was also sure to swipe each nail bed with some polish remover before applying my base. Unfortunately, by day two... again... I started to get some chipping. The first chip was on my pinky finger nail, which is odd, because I usually start to chip on my thumbnails or pointer fingers.

I want to blame it on cooking, you washing, preparation and cleanup, but I have been able to do this with other polishes without this kind of wear to my polish. I was really disappointed that this polish started chipping so early again. It's not like all my nails chipped at once, but once a few start to show signs of wear, I am usually ready to move on to another polish.

I am seriously considering returning the full set because I believe that they have falsely advertised their product as a "gel" equivalent, which in my mind is long lasting and durable, when in fact my regular nail polish lasts longer on average.