Line After Lime

Happy Friday! Yet another shade from the China Glaze Lite Brite summer collection. Today a pastel boarder ing on being a neon, Lime After Lime.

Lime After Lime is a yellow based green creme polish. It is bright like a neon, yet soft like a pastel. Although the brightness factor just missed the mark for giving that neon glow, in lower light setting ing it does have that glow-in-the-dark look to it.

 

I used two coats for full opacity and found the formula good to work with, not too thick or thin. I got a few comments on this shade from strangers, that's how you know it's good! However, I purchased this with the anticipation of it being a bright neon. That being said, although there was slight dissapoint when I applied this shade to my nails, having worn it for a week, it has grown on me!

It wore well with slight tip wear towards the end of the week, and little cracks here and there, although, from a distance they cannot be seen.

Living in the Limelight

Another new to me purchase... From a not so new collection. China Glaze In The Lime Light, apart of the Wow Factor collection from 2006. This polish changes it's tone due to the fine shimmer that runs through, but I would describe it as a bright green with a fine blue/green duochromatic shimmer.

The formula applied well, thin and sheer, needing three coats for full opacity. On it's own this dried to a matte finish, however, adding a topcoat adds a high gloss shine without the base sucking it up

I am normally not a fan of shades like this but I really enjoyed wearing it. I like show the shimmer makes the polish appear new in different light sources.

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?

OMG! a Holo?

Today I have a unique shade from China Glaze. I wore this quasi-holo polish in late winter, early spring at the first sign of some sunshine. Notice the longer nails!

OMG a UFO from China Glazes 2013 Hologlam collection is a mid toned olive green shade with a slight holographic effect when in the right lighting. Most of the photos I have posted include my camera flash which heightens the holo effect.

The formula applied well over my Nfu-Oh Aqua base, which is what I usually use when applying a holo. I only needed two coats for full opacity and wore it without a top coat to enhance the holo effect.

I enjoyed wearing this but which this collection overall had a stronger holo effect. I wonder if China Glaze will ever attempt another holo collection like this in this future.

Fra-gee-lay!

Today I have my Christmas eve/day mani to share with you. The last few days have flown by in a blur! I have been wanting to pull out I new Christmas glitter from last year, Funky Fingers Fra-gee-lay all of December but wanted to get the most out of a gel mani I was wearing. Once I decided what I wanted to layer beneath it I rushed to get it on my nails!

Fra-gee-lay is a glitter topper made in a clear base with shiny red and gold hexes of a few sizes and white matte hex glitter. I wanted to get all the glitter pieces to be visible on whatever base I used. I originally thought a plain would be a nice base but then the matte while glitter pieces would blend in. I then remembered a favorite holiday polish of mine, China Glaze, Frosty!

I layered one coat of Frosty over a thin layer of a standard white creme polish (Sally Hansen, Ghost) and then layered one coat of Fra-gee-lay overtop. It worked out perfectly! Frosty has a glassflecky shimmer and a slight ivory base which gave the subtle contrast to the matte white glitter I was looking for.

This was a super festive mani that I will now be removing today in favor of something a little more sparkly for New Years Eve!

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!

Oogie Boogie!

I have been waiting for October to wear this glow-in-the dark Nightmare Before Christmas* inspired shade. I found Funky Fingers Oogie Boogie at Five Below in July and just could not leave it! I found recently that Hot Topic also carries similar (they look IDENTICAL) polish shades in their skull bottles. I also found Dia De Muertos. I would say you are better off with Five Below since two or three only cost you $5, where Hot Topic Charges that per bottle!

Anyways, Oogie Boogie is a glow-in-the dark glitter topper. The sheer slimy green base houses various shapes and sizes of light green glitter. The base is fairly sheer so I decided to layer over a similar base colour, China Glaze Be More Pacific.

I applied one coat of Be More Pacific, and two to three coats of Oogie Boogie. I applied what I thought was topcoat and took these pics. I was having some trouble wth keeping this mani on my nails! It just wanted to rub right off, I was so confused, I never have issues like this worth Seche Vite, it must be the glitter, I thought. I waited a bit longer for it I dry but it was a lost cause! It literally wiped right off the nail.

I blamed it I the polish until I double checked my top coat, I had noticed during application it was a bit thicker, could this be why...? Turns out I used Seche Clear instead of Seche Vite! Not only did I use a base coat as a topcoat but it was thick and sticky. Unfortunately I only realized this after taking everything off and applying a whole new mani (with the base coat as a top coat...).

I will have to try this again, maybe wit a more Oogie Boogie theme or nail art. I took a blurry pic of the glow-in-the dark effect. It was glowy, bit I feel like Dia De Muertos was brighter with little effort.

Moral of the story... ALWAYS check you are using the proper base and top coats!

*The Nightmare Before Christmas is NOT a Halloween movie, it is a Christmas movie! However characters such as Oogie Boogie, Jack, Sally etc. live in Halloween town and makes it perfectly appropriate to wear during the month of October :)

How To Block A Zombie

Today I have a quick and easy mani refresh with China Glaze Zombie Zest and NAME. I was getting some slight tip wear but wanted to get a bit more mileage out of my mani so I did some colour blocking. I did this for the same reason this past summer and have been wanting to try it again ever since. It's super easy to do, I literally did this 10 minutes before leaving the house!

The most important and time consuming part is sectioning off the nail with striping tape, although it didn't take that long. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out to full in the space. Always remember to remove the tape right after application for a crisp line and to avoid having the polish drying on the tape and peeling off. Tweezers are hand in application and removal of the tape.

I sealed it off with Ask Cosmetics top coat and was out the door! I really love this look. I love how something so simple can make something look more than it actually is.


Annnnd... Incase there weren't enough photos in this post, I decided to add a matte topcoat after a few days, which I think I loved even more than the glossy look!

Zesty

You all know this shade. I'm sure I have pulled it out pretty much every year since it's release and tried it out in a new way. Although my favorite way I wear China Glaze, Zombie Zest is on it's own, I decided to try it out over a deep green this year, China Glaze Holly-day.

Holly-day is a deep blue based green creme, I used one coat as a base. I then added two generous coats of Zombie Zest over top. Holly-day masks the overall murkiness of the swamp, green/yellow base, which I love. However, I find the deeper base makes this look more dramatic and vampy. Maybe even a little more wearable for those not used to pretty ugly colours like Zombie Zest.

The longer I have this on my nails the less I eat to remove it!

Victoria - Bio Seaweed Gel Review Part 2

Happy Friday! Today I have part three in my Bio Seaweed gel polish series. I decided to try out Unity All-In-One Soak-Off Gel Polish 261, Victoria on my toes.

Victoria is such a great summer shade, it's a light, yet bright, pastel creme that boarders the line of neon. I usually prefer more feminine shades or bold cremes on my toes, but really am liking this colour. 

The formula is on the thick side, but nothing too unmanageable. My need to thin my polishes out was strong with this one, however! I applied three thin coats to the nail curing for a minute with my UV LED lamp. 

What I love about this formulation is that you do not require a base or topcoat and there is no sticky layer to remove after curing. I have been wearing this shade for two weeks now and it looks the same as it did hen I applied it! To let you know how hard I work my feet, I do a lot of walking in one day for my commute in to work plus I get my workout in six days a week... I can be pretty hard on my feet. But this gel polish has stood up great so far!

The final post in this series will be a recap and follow up of the products I used from Bio Seaweed Gel, The No-Wipe Top Coat I used for my broken nail and Victoria for my pedicure. This will include how long they lasted, and what they looked like before I removed them.

*This product was sent to me for an honest review, all views expressed are my own honest option. 

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!

Bio Seaweed Gel, Uptown Lights - Collection and Review Part 1

Bio Seaweed Gel sent me some polishes from their latest Uptown Lights collection for review. I was lucky enough to pick two shades from the collection of fifteen polishes.

Below are the colours, from left to right, top to bottom;
Row one: Charlottetown, Edmonton, Fredericton, Halifax, Iqaluit
Row two: Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Regina, St. John's
Row three: Toronto, Victoria, Whitehorse, Winnipeg and Yellowknife.

I love how they incorporate their Canadian roots in to the brand. If you couldn't already tell, all polishes are named after various cities in Canada! The two polishes I chose were Victoria and St. John's. I kind of regret not getting Toronto (the light blue seen on the model's hand above), but I had a feeling that I had something similar.

This is an interesting collection for summer, some brights, neutrals and dusty taupes. I received the following, one No-Wipe Top Coat, Unity All-In-One Soak-Off Gel Polish, 261 Victoria and Unity All-In-One Soak-Off Gel Polish, 259 St. John's.

Victoria is a pastel, on the verge of being neon, lime green. This is my favorite out of the two!
St. John's is a deep and dusty cornflower blue.

What I noticed about these gels,when compared to the other Bio Seaweed Gels in my collection, is that they do not produce a sticky layer after curing, this was a welcome surprise! They both dry super glossy after one minute of LED UV curing.

I found the formula on each polish to be thick, however, St. John's was thicker than Victoria. Stay tuned for more information on application, usage and wear of the products I received in upcoming posts!

*This product was sent to me for an honest review, all views expressed are my own honest option. 

Limey!

I have been all about neons this month, I just cannot get enough of them! Orly's Thrill Seeker is no exception. At fist I was skeptical about picking it up, since side by side it looked similar to China Glaze Celtic Sun, which I also picked up in this trip to Sally's. Thrill Seeker looked slightly green, but it is more apparent in the nail.

I would describe it as a lemon lime green creme that is just below neon. It dries to a matte/satin finish like a neon but it lacks that eye searing pigment. In the sunlight it is awesome!

I could have gotten away with two easy coats but decided to add one last thin coat to even everything out. After applying the first coat I noticed some bubbles starting to form, but after that layer there was none to be seen. It may have been because I had my fan on? I heard that can happen sometimes. I turned it off after the first coat and the rest turned out great.

I don't think I have anything close to this in my collection which I am happy about. I'm hoping that since it is not a true neon that it will wear well, fingers crossed!