Feelin' Yacht, Yacht, Yacht!

Spring is finally feeling like it's here and the lovely weather has put me in the mood for some brighter shades.

Today I have China Glaze, Too Yacht to Handle. I must say that this is much closer to a "Tiffany" blue than a lot of others out there, Too Yacht To Handle is a bright robin blue with just a hint of green that makes this colour unique in my collection. The polish is bright but not yet a neon, although it sure is close!

The formula the second time around (first post on this, here) was improved. The first coat was a little streaky but the second evened everything out. In applying the polish you have to work in thin, quick stokes. I must have added thinner to the bottle the first time I wore it because I remember that time around the formula being thicker.

Wear improved as well, the first time around it chipped fairly quickly and easily. This time I got some slight tip wear over the course of the 5 days, but nothing really noticeable. 

True Grit!

Do you ever impulsively buy a polish (always) and bring it home only to have it sit on your desk or in a drawer for eternity before even attempting to wear it? I do that from time to time but found a real gem not too long ago!

I picked up Nicole by OPI, On What Grounds on a whim, the turquoise colour was pretty and I was curious about the texture. I almost left it, but I picked it up anyway and had a little bit of regret as I left the store, did I really need another pretty turquoise in my collection?

This didn't sit for too long, although I did want to try it out sooner. It is just so cool, super unique in my collection. This textured turquoise polish is speckled like a robins egg and dries to a visibly gritty sand texture. I only needed two coats for full, even coverage. It's as if a turquoise stone were ground down in to sand and painted on my nails!

I am curious to see what this would look like with a top coat, I meant to try it out before removing but must have forgotten. Did you pick up any polishes from this collection?

Ocean Gradient - complete with crushed seashells

Today I have a mani refresh with Essie's Turquoise and Caicos, a gradient refresh to be exact. I used Essie's Lapis of Luxuxy with a sponge and dabbed it on the top of the nail. I have seen many different ways of doing this on you tube and other blogs, but I found the easiest way for me was to apply the polish directly to the sponge and dab it on the nail.

I started out dabbing the polish the max hight of the nail  wanted the gradient to reach, then with each pass after i moved close to the nail tip. I think I went through about three passes per nail.

At this point I hadn't added a top coat and wanted to add a little sparkle, so I used new glitter I got from Nabi, Large RoundG Glitter and applied a thick coat to get all the glitters on my nail. I would say this is fairly similar to Kleancolour's Black Chunky Holo without the murky brown base and heart holo glitter! I didn't want to use the heart for this mani so I made sure to pick them out.

I kind of wish I applied the glitter in a gradient as well but am happy with the overall look :) reminds me of the ocean and the opalescence of the large glitter reminds me of seashells reflecting through the water, while the smaller glitter is more like the shine off the water.

How do you do your gradients?

Turks and Caicos

... It's where I'd like to be right now. Sure the weather has been great lately but I really just need to get away from it all. I need a vacation! Don't we all!

Although the certainty of a tropical vacation any time soon is unclear, I have the most gorgeous shade of turquoise on my nails now to remind me of the clear blue sea. Essie's Turquoise and Caicos is a turquoise polish that has this jelly-like finish to it, although it is not a jelly lol. I only needed two moderate coats to reach opacity but added a very thin third to even everything out.

It's so shiny and perfect, I love it! I added Seche Vite for some extra shine. I feel like I haven't worn a nice bright turquoise in a while now, I'm glad I chose it.

Also, not sure if you noticed but I trimmed my nails. I was making too many typos while at work and on my laptop so they had to be shortened. I like this length :)

A Deviation

Deviation, Translation: the act of deviating

What that has to do with this polish... probably nothing at all but look how pretty!

I thought I would never own this little beauty, EVER! I'm so glad I finally have it. I had been creeping eBay for the last little while, and actually let it get away once. I was waiting to find it for a decent price and it basically ended in a bidding war. I spent under $12 on it, which isn't too bad, I think of it as buying a $OPI polish lol except, like, a million times better!

When I got it in the mail I was squealing with delight and swatched it on my boyfriends pinky, I didn't want to ruin my mani. and ooh and ahhhed for a while... my mom thought I was nuts lol.

As it sat on my desk for the next few days I though maybe it was so exciting to find and own just for the hunt, just because I thought I couldn't have it. I almost didn't even want to wear it right away buy my boyfriend suggested it and now I can't take it off!

This beautiful teal prismatic polish went on perfect with 2 coats. My best suggestion for someone wearing holos for the first time is to work fast or you will get dragging and bald spots. I used a base and top coat, I know others say not to but I wanted this polish to last! It is so much better in person and way hard to capture on camera, hence the many photos.

One of the best reactions I got from this polish was from my aunt. She was over last week and saw the polish and was like oh my God! what a pretty colour! Keep in mind this was in doors. I walked her over to some better lighting and she was blown away! I explained to her that it is discontinued, hard to find polish and that I probably spent more on it than I should. Her response: it was worth it! She also said she would love to wear it on her toes.

Isn't it exciting to have non-polish obsessed people go gaga over polish :)

I wore this polish for almost a full week before the minor chipping started to bug me and I changed it. Super in love with it though, worth every penny. I am looking in to finding some more, hopefully 2NITE and L8R G8R, I snatched up GR8 over the weekend also. The others in the collection I pretty much have close dupes for in my Prisms collection.

Anyone know where I can find the other 2 OMG's for a reasonable price or are looking to trade or sell? Let me know :)

Peacock Fail

Hello, hello.

Today I have a mani refresh from with the polish I showed you yesterday, China Glaze's Turned Up Turquoise. I used the peacock looking full nail pattern from the new Bundle Monster plates (Plate BM 212), and a no name black polish for stamping.

The main reason for adding the stamp on top was to cover up the chips I got after 1 day of wear. I attempted to patch up the chips with some dabs of polish which actually blended in with the originally applied polish and looked decent! I applied the the peacock design and my trusty NYC quick dry, high gloss top coat and I was good to go!

Not so much... By the photos you can see that I STILL got major chips in this polish! It wasn't even 24 hours yet! I did this retouch before going to bed Thursday night, and by mid day Friday it was chipped :( I took it off later that night and FINALLY applied a polish that has been chip free since Saturday :)

How unfortunate, I have not come across a chippy polish in a long time other than the peeling Perfect Formula base coat from last week. It was not a good week for chippy polish and me. But, like I said, I have a beautiful, chip-free polish to share with you tomorrow for pink Wednesday :)

More summer Neons!

Sigh, Monday again, can't wait for the long weekend ahead :)

Today I have a bright neon for summer, I've really been trying to wear all my untried bright colours this summer. Today I have China Glaze's Turned Up Turquoise, A lovely green based turquoise neon with a blue-ish shimmer. I noticed a lot of other bloggers wearing it around the same time I decided to try it out.

The formula was okay, a little thick, but manageable. I actually liked the thickness. I may add a bit of thinner the next time I wear it just to make it a little more even on the nail. I applied 2 coats which made it opaque, but a thin third coat wouldn't have hurt. This polish dries to a satin finish so a top coat is a must.

Although the base colour is beautiful and the shimmer really makes it pop, I found that it chipped very easily on me. First I thought it was because I went swimming a day after applying it and it started to chip in the pool. But even after fixing it up, adding Konad and another coat of top coat, it still chipped within less than 24 hours! I even wrapped the tips both times, that always makes my polish last forever!

I also used a different base coat, Seche Clear. It was my first time using it so not sure if that could have had an effect on the chipping, I hope not! I also used Seche Vite for my top coat and it has never done me wrong! I think the next time I wear this I will use my OPI ridge filling base coat, I find it really binds the polish to my nail. I have not been having luck with long lasting manis lately!

Have you had issues with this polish chipping? Have you had issues with Seche Clear before?

Funky Summer Gradient with New BM Plates

Today I have the cover up for the mishap that happened with Color Club's Get Your Lem-on.

I had originally thought to make a gradient with neon pink or red, but for some reason when I was testing out colours I was drawn to a turquoise shade. I used China Glaze's Turned Up Turquoise on a cosmetic sponge and sponged the polish on the tip of my nails, trying my best to make a seamless gradient. It didn't happen lol, and that's why I didn't take a photo of the process. This was also my first time attempting something like this , and my sponge wasn't cooperating 100% with me, it was leaving behind little pieces on some nails.

After I dealt with that and the polish had dried, which was quick because it's a neon, I stamped over the "gradient" with a new Bundle Monster stamp. I had seen someone use this stamp with black polish over neon yellow and though it was so cool! I forget which blog I saw it on though, if it was you let me know!

I used plate BM-201, the zig-zaggy pattern and some random black polish I posted about a LONG time ago (it came in a Nfu-oh bottle, and it was 50 cents). It stamps amazingly and does not smudge! My new favorite black stamping polish. The only draw back is it smells.

The pattern works good to break up the gradient a bit. Even though the it isn't seamless, the lines distract a bit and make it look right :) The final look reminds me of funky shutter shades!

What do you think, yay or nay? I only wore this for one day because it was so bright and flashy! Plus, I thought I could do a better job, because the cosmetic sponge left some pieces behind it was a little bumpy. Perhaps I will try this again with some different colours :)

My Lifesaver & a Comparison

Today I have a new Nicole by OPI polish I purchase recently from the Justin Bieber collection, My Lifesaver. Although the colour is close to some other polishes I have, since it was on sale I decided to give it a try.

For this particular polish, there is a label on the handle that states " New Perfect Stroke Brush". This brush size is similar to the OPI pro-wide brush, but it had a more curved bottom. Mine, however, was cut from and not a perfect curve. But I figured I would do the best with what I had.

Application was frustrating, the formula was thick and it seemed like the bristle on the brush were thick too because I was betting crazy brushstrokes on my nails. This may have been due to the formula, but even after using some thinner it was still hard to manipulate.

I ultimately ended up using 2 thick coats, and the end result was alright. Below is this most colour accurate photo in my post.

Back to the actual colour now for a sec because it is really pretty. I would descibe it as a light but bright green based turquoise. The first colour in my stash I wantd to compare it to was For Audrey my China Glaze.

As you can see below they are not identical, but pretty close. My Lifesaver is lighter and more green based, where For Audry is slightly darker and more blue based. This first photo was taken with no flash.

The photo below was taken my my window with overcast skies.

This last one was taken with my cameras flash, this is how they look the closest, but you can still tell there is a slight difference between the two.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite out of the two?

Sally Hansen Nail Prism Diamond - Fun with Holos!

Hey Ladies,

Today I have for you one of my many Nails Prisms :) I love these little guys, some of them are holographic and some are crazy duo-chromes, similar to the new Sally Hansen HD's

Today I have a little experiment I did with Sally Hansen Nail Prism's Diamond and some of the newer Sally Hansen Ultra HDs. (the Ultra HD's are apart of the newer line of HD's, basically more shimmery and pretty!)

Below is one of my Nail Prism holos, Diamond.

Don't let the photo fool you, this polish is pure holo in the right light.
I took the picture at night so all I had was the flash form my camera.

I came up with the idea for this experiment because I long for a bunch of the China Glaze OMG polishes that are no longer in production.

Anyways, I wanted to see what would happen when I layered a holo polish with a sheer coloured duo-chrome polish. Would the holo shine though the coloured polish? Would the coloured polish show through the holo?

I used these Sally Hansen Ultra HD's, left to right, Laser and Spectrum. I currently have DVD on my nails, pure love!! Expect to see a swatch of that shade soon.

Before I show you my layering expariment, I just wanted to let you ladies know that these polishes are sooooo cool! They are thin, DVD took 4-5 coats, but I wanted to see how far I could build it up. Next time I will layer over another polish... which is another post on its own for how cool that is! lol, but the outcome is so worth it. I wish I got more when they were on sale ( I got them for $2.99 CAD,) I love my deals :)

On to the holo-y goodness:

This is Laser layered with Diamond

This is Spectrum layered with Diamond

The shimmery duo chrome in the HD's make the halo so sparkly :) I wish I had gotten some photos in direct sunlight, the holo would be BLINDING!

What do you ladies think of my little experiment?