NOTD: Revlon Ocean Breeze + Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Seche all over the place! Click for full size.

My daughter went to bed at a decent hour last night, so I actually had some time to paint my nails. Everything is "green" to her right now, and she really likes looking at my nails and my "colors" (her word for polish) so I thought I would do a sparkly green for her (even though this is kind of blue and green.) It doesn't hurt that October is Depression Awareness Month, and I have been struggling with depression for almost as long as I can remember. I will be doing more green manis this month, as well as some pink ones for Breast Cancer Awareness!

Click for full size.

These photos show two coats of Revlon Ocean Breeze (which smells like Irish Spring soap to me) and two coats of Sinful Colors Nail Junkie. Both polishes had no application issues and dried fairly quickly. I sort of slapped it on because I was worried my daughter would wake up and start crying for me while I was sitting in the living room with wet nails, so I apologize for the sloppiness!

The biggest issue I had with this last night was actually with my top coat, Seche Vite. I had a ton of tip shrinkage with this mani, but that isn't the real problem. It's suddenly all gross and stringy, and made my mani look lumpy. I'm hoping there is some magical way to fix this, since I don't have $10 for a new top coat. Boo!

I hate not forgotten about my 100 follower giveaway! I am very excited to see that my follower count is now at 101! Thank you guys so much for following my blog. Keep your eyes peeled for a very colorful and sparkly giveaway post soon! ;)

Essie - Lapiz of Luxury (and personal update)

Photo is clickable.

Lapiz of Luxury is my first Essie polish. This photo shows 4 coats over Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle with a top coat of Seche Vite. The Seche caused MAJOR bubbling (and a weird crack on my left index finger that chose to photograph like a hair?) I really love this color, but it's was a pain to apply. Obviously I was rushing (DOESN'T MY APPLICATION LOOK DEVINE?!) so it could've been partially me and partially a pastel being a pastel. Regardless, I love the color.

On a personal note, we've found a way out of our terrible apartment. An old high school friend posted a scan of an ad from a Boston news paper showing apartments for rent in the area we've always wanted to live in. I called the number and we've been viewing different units for a week or so. The owner is ridiculously nice and cut down the rent for us AND is giving us two months free with no security deposit. Our credit check just went through yesterday, and we're moving in on Saturday. The only downside is that my husband only had yesterday off this week and we only got about 35% of our stuff packed. -_-

New camera!

Hi everyone! My old camera has been dying a slow death for a long time, so last night we picked up a fabulous new one. My nails are a hot hot mess right now, but I had to take a picture just to give you a tiny taste of the quality that my photos will be from now on, though this was taken with flash, which I don't like to use. I'm not patient enough to wait to post until I've got some sun. XD




My three day old Revlon Royal mani. Two coats of Royal under Seche Vite, on top of Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle. Can you tell I don't know anything about cleanup? The photo is clickable.

AAAAAH! SO EXCITED!

Hard Candy - Zombie

I feel like I post more about why I'm not posting than I do with actual content! I'm trying to get all of my nails to the same length right now, and they're pretty close. My index finger looks a lot longer in these photos, but trust me, it's really not. My camera is close to death so I snap 800 photos and pick out whatever photos come the closest to "focused." These are all the usable ones I got today. -_- Hurry up, tax refund! I need that pretty new camera!



Hard Candy Zombie is a really pretty glitter, but it turned out super lumpy for me. I had to use 5 coats (5?! Yep. It's a glitter, so I'll allow it...) and the formula was strangely thick for a glitter, so I guess everything just turned into goopy bumpland. My index finger came our especially uneven. Seche caused some tip shrinkage, too. Blah.



Zombie was a limited edition Halloween Wal-Mart exclusive release last year.




Tomorrow is my birthday! I'll be 24. We don't have any birthday plans because real life plans have taken over. My little girl has a pre-op physical in the morning, then we have to go view a new apartment in the early afternoon. We found black mold in our current apartment and the health department told me they can't do anything about it. Actually, they said "What's the name of your complex? Oh...uh...we can't help you at this time." Right. Now we have massive water damage to our front wall and the management just wants to paint over it. My husband manages a home improvement store. He has seen this kind of damage before. The building needs a new wall.

We've got to get out of here.

One more thing! I'm still gathering goodies for my eventual 100 follower giveaway. I think you guys are really going to like this stuff!

Adventures in Layering!

China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Dorothy Who? over Wet n Wild Black Creme. I put the Ruby Pumps on before Dorothy Who? and you can't see it very well. Next time I'll pick one or the other. I was just curious to see what it would look like with both! I think I need to pick up some Seche Vite to try over polishes that aren't totally smooth (like this).

What are your favorite combos for layering?

Wet n Wild - Saved by the Blue

Saved by the Blue is another win from the new Wet n Wild Fast Dry line. What you see here is one coat (no base or top coat) in natural light.



There is some streakiness but I'm not sure if that is because of the polish or because I was a bit careless with application. I think my baby may be teething and she finally decided to nap, so I wasn't sure how long I had. Even if the streaks are because of the polish itself (though I'm 90% sure it was mostly operator error), it's not even remotely bad enough to outweigh the awesome color and amazing drying time.

China Glaze - Blue Island Iced Tea

I had the hardest time photographing this polish. It kept showing up either way darker or way lighter than it actually is. The way to polish looks in the bottle is how it looks in real life. It's a super sparkley light blue that needs three coats for opacity. I've heard bad things about the formula for the entire line that Blue Island Iced Tea belongs to, but I didn't have any trouble.



The sparkle really shows in sunlight, but it's still pretty inside. I'm really into blue lately. I don't know if it's the cold weather or the fact that I've been a little depressed as of late.

What color are you into right now?

Hard Candy - Sky

Let me preface this post by saying that Sky broke my heart. I read that it can be difficult to apply and can be quite thin and sheer. I bought it expecting this. I can deal with thin and I can deal with sheer. My bottle was a gigantic goopy mess. The problem might be fixable with thinner, but I don't own any right now. The color didn't really work on me, anyway. These photos show ONE coat.







I always aim to put coats of polish on my nails thinly. There was no such thing as a thin coat with this stuff. It was as if I'd had this bottle sitting in a drawer for 15 years and tried to put it on without shaking it. As it was drying (which really didn't take very long for such a thick substance) bubbles popped up everywhere and thin bits of polish oozed out around the bottom of my nails. It was pretty gross and weird. On top of all of that, the pretty blue shimmer in the bottle did not translate to the nail at all.

I think I got a mutant bottle. :(

China Glaze - Dorothy Who?

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting consistently. My daughter has her first cold and recently began teething on top of it, so there has been little to no sleeping going on in my apartment. I took photos for this post earlier today while I was at my mom's house doing laundry, but her dog had a massive seizure while we were there so the day was pretty chaotic. I'm not sure yet if the dog is okay, but they're taking him to the vet in the morning. I will update everyone on his condition.



Now, on to the polish. Today I'm showing you China Glaze's Dorothy Who?. It's a beautiful true blue polish with tons of glitter. The little glitter flecks look both blue and silver, so I'm not sure if there are two colors of glitter or if they're all the same and some look blue because they're embedded more in the polish. I'm still learning what the terms mean when it comes to polishes, so bear with me.



I love glitter, as you can probably already tell, so this is definitely a polish for me. I only have one other blue in my collection (Sally Hansen Marine Scene) and this one is my favorite of the two (and not just because of the glitter.)The shade of blue is really beautiful. I can't think of skin tone that this wouldn't compliment.



China Glaze has totally won me over. Do they make any polishes that aren't amazing? I have six now, and they're all better than any other brand I've ever tried. Application was a piece of cake with all of them, including Dorothy Who?. I've had this on my nails for two days now without any chips or tip wear.



These photos show three coats with both a base and top coat (some Sally Hansen stuff that's name I can't remember right now). The top coat didn't add any shine or texture change to the polish, so this is basically how it looks without a top coat, too. If you don't already have this color, I strongly suggest you go pick it up!

China Glaze - For Audrey

When I asked my husband which new polish I should swatch for you guys today he said "The Tiffany one". What a man.


Full sun.

I'm sure you are all familiar with For Audrey. It's a gorgeous light blue that supposedly matches boxes from Tiffany & Co. Since I don't own anything from Tiffany, I can't compare this polish with the box for you. All I know is that it's a really beautiful polish that I'm thrilled to have in my collection.


Indirect sun.

These photos show For Audrey with two coats and no top coat. I probably could have used a third for photos, but two worked perfectly for real life. This stuff applied very well. The first coat was a bit streaky, but it all evened out nicely with the second. It dried in a reasonable amount of time.



Indirect sun part deux.

All in all I love this color, formula, and name. I own a ton of Audrey Hepburn movies and probably would have bought this eventually just for the name. I have limited experience with China Glaze thus far, but from what I know it's well on it's way to becoming my favorite brand.

Sally Hansen - Lavender Envy

Natural light.

Lavender Envy is a very sheer polish with a slight purple tint and a blue iridescence. These photos show 4 coats with no base or top coat.


Natural light.

Without taking the sheerness into account, application was simple. The formula was smooth and applied evenly without streaking or dragging.


Natural light.

Lavender Envy is a very pretty polish, but it's basically impossible to get it to fully cover. I think it would be really nice over a nude shade, but since I don't own any (yet) I can't test this out.

Sally Hansen - Marine Scene

Marine Scene with flash.

Marine Scene is a really pretty blue that has a really nice shimmer in direct sunlight. I had trouble getting a good photo of the sparkle this polish can have because there's not really any light to hit it right now. I can't wait for the sun to come back!


In (minimal) natural light. Excuse the wobbly pinky.

The formula is a little streaky. It took me three coats to get it nice and even, but once it's on it looks really nice (especially in bright lighting.) Outside on a cloudy day like today this polish doesn't look very fancy. It's not super unique, but I love it anyway!

Sally Hansen - Rockstar Pink

I have not painted my fingernails in almost two years. The last time I did, I thought you were just supposed to slap it on. I'd get it all over my fingers and it would look like I let a four year old paint them until I jumped in the shower and the paint came off of my skin. This was my first attempt to paint my nails without making a gigantic mess. I think it turned out pretty well!


This is how it looks in natural light on a beautiful day!

I love this polish. It was really easy to put on and only needed two coats to be totally opaque. This was the fastest drying polish I've ever used. I don't know all the descriptions for polish types yet, but I know this one has a TON of glitter. There's blue, red, purple, and some teeny tiny gold flecks in here. It's pretty in the sun and inside.


See how pretty this glitter is?

I'm not sure how the wear is because I just put it on last night. A lot of the reviews I read online say that some girls' bottles of Rockstar Pink were goopy and thick. Mine was this way right when I opened it, but after rolling it between my hands for a little bit (read: maybe a minute) it was fine. I did have to roll it a few times during application, but I don't mind doing that when the end result it shiny glittery goodness. Another common complaint was removal, but I think all glitters are a pain to remove.

ETA (11/14): This is a first. I have used glitter polishes many times throughout my 23 years, and I HAVE NEVER HAD A POLISH JUST REFUSE TO COME OFF BEFORE. I spent over 30 minutes trying to get this stuff off after I got a big chip on my thumb, and it wouldn't remove. It took almost an hour of constant rubbing with a cotton ball and remover to get my nails clean, and I'm still covered in glitter 12 hours later.

Pretty color, not worth the removal time. :(

New Polishes!

Since I've gotten into nail blogs I've realized that my collection is AMAZINGLY SMALL. Every time I go out now I make a point to go to any store I can find that sells polish to see if they have anything interesting.



I've picked these two up over the past couple of days. The one on the left is CQ brand Mystical, and the right is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Rockstar Pink (I have this one on now). I only have access to WalMart and drugstores in the podunk town that I live in, so most of the polishes I have are less than fancy. I'm going to have to get out to Sally's more often to see what kind of stuff I can pick up there.

ANYWAY! I filed my nails the other night and noticed that they were kind of grossly uneven. They're now even, but a lot shorter. I don't mind, though, since now I can grow them and out just try to maintain the evenness I have going on.

The plan is to get some pictures of Rockstar Pink up tomorrow. I've got a few things to say about this polish, so stay tuned!