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!

My first gradient attempt

I think this came out pretty good for a first try! I've always liked the look of gradient manis, and I figured today was as good a day as any to attempt one. Before I try this again I'm going to pick up some Seche Vite to level the bumpiness that the sponging left on the nail.

Photos are clickable.









Light purple: Confetti Purple Pizzazz
Darker purple: CQ Mystical
Black: NYC 119A

I think my camera is dying. It won't focus on anything and it's driving me crazy. :(

Revlon - Rock

Rock is a beautiful purple creme polish. These photos show two coats with no top or base coats in natural lighting, as usual. It's a little darker on the nail than it appears in the bottle.



Rock applied like a dream (opaque in two coats) and removal was no problem. I couldn't believe how shiny it was when dry. No top coat needed!

Wet n Wild - Gray's Anatomy

I have to be honest. Gray's Anatomy didn't speak to me at first. I saw swatches on a few other blogs and read about how it is a supposed dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Wicked Game. While I really love the look of a lot of Lippmann polishes, Wicked Game never thrilled me and in turn I was quite meh about Gray's Anatomy. Then I saw it in person...



These photos show two coats (no base/top coat) in natural light. It really could have benefited from one or two more coats, but I kind of liked it a bit sheer. I plan on trying Gray's Anatomy as a layering polish at some point.



Sometimes this polish is a silvery grey, sometimes it's green, sometimes purple, and sometimes all three. And the way it looks in the bottle really makes me want to try a few more coats and see what full opacity will bring to the table.



Gorgeous.

Wet n Wild - Buffy the Violet Slayer

Last night I had a mild heart attack after my entire blog layout was lost. I took the opportunity to do a total overhaul, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I'd appreciate any feedback you guys might have on the new look.

And now for some polish!



I have never had such a hard time getting a polish color to show up correctly in photographs. The above picture (natural light) of Buffy the Violet Slayer is way more blue than it actually is. I tried to take some photos using a full spectrum incandescent and got a little closer to the actual color, but not really close enough for my liking. The color on the nail in real life is the color you see in the bottle in the next two photos.



Buffy is a really beautiful color, and it only took one coat for full opacity. This one actually did dry very quickly, unlike the last polish I reviewed from Wet n Wild's new Fast Dry line. It does dry a little gritty, so a good topcoat would definitely help it to look it's best. I didn't use a base or top coat for these photos.



I wish my camera would cooperate with this polish. I'm sure more reviews will be popping up for it all the time, and I'm hoping some of them will have more accurate photos so that you can all see how beautiful this shade actually is.

Hard Candy - Beetle

I haven't had a whole lot of time to do my nails lately, so this is the first polish post I've been able to do in a while. I still have a lot to do today so I had to rush the application a little. Apologies in advance for the polish all over my skin, and for the deplorable state of my cuticles.



Hard Candy Beetle is said to be a dupe of Orly Space Cadet. I don't own any Orly polishes, so I can't compare them myself, but based on other photos I have seen it's safe to say that they're basically the same. Beetle took three coats to achieve opacity and cover some bald spots that appeared after the second coat. It took a little while to dry, so I ended up with a few smudges and dents, but that was my fault, not the polish.







Beetle is absolutely gorgeous. Definitely a favorite!


***Don't forget to enter my giveaway!***

CQ - Mystical

I woke up today to over 1,000 views (not counting my own)! This may not sound like a lot, but I never thought anyone would read this blog so it is very exciting to me. Thank you all for reading.

Light box #2 is better than my first attempt, but it still needs work. I'm going to replace the bulbs with a different type tonight and see if that helps. Luckily, the photos I took of today's polish are color accurate on the nail!



CQ Mystical is a very pretty purple with a pinkish tint. I really like the color, so it's a shame that the formula is horrible. It took a ridiculous amount of time to dry (read: 20+ minutes per coat) and was extremely sheer. These photos show 4 coats.



You can see how this polish drags and dents even with a crazy amount of drying time. Mystical was a total disappointment.

Sorry about my terrible cuticles! I'm hoping to deal with them when my husband comes home for dinner tonight.

Light box #1 is a FAILURE (feat. Perplex)

I've been trying to make a functional light box for a few days now. Usually my camera refuses to take any photos without using flash (it's a pretty horrible camera overall), but I got a few today in the box. The box still failed. I think the problem is the box I used is too big, so the lights aren't lighting it enough. Oh, well.







These photos are of Revlon Perplex, which seems to be a popular color on a lot of blogs today. I plan to do a decent post and review of this color once I get my light box to work properly. The last one was taken with flash to show the pretty shimmer that I couldn't capture with my crappy light box. You can still only see it in the bottle, though.

My local CVS has an abundance of this polish. I'm going to pick up a few extras, one for a giveaway I'm planning and a few extra. If any of you have been on the hunt for this polish and haven't been able to find it, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd be happy to help you get your hands on it.

Confetti - Purple Pizzazz

I wasn't kidding when I told you guys that my nails are completely gone now. I'm using Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle and I will be taking daily photos to see if it works. Hopefully with this new product (and daily prenatal vitamins) my nails will be back on track soon. I'm going to do some work on my cuticles tonight, too. They're getting to be pretty gross again. :(



Today I threw on Confetti Purple Pizzazz to show you. When I say "threw on" I mean slapped on as quickly as I could while my baby was asleep. Please forgive the horrible application! It's a pretty lilac with an almost foil-like finish.



I really like the way this looks, even though it's very very sheer (photos show three coats) and takes quite a while to dry. I think it would be nice on toes during the spring.

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.

CQ - Mystique

I have 8 CQ polishes. They're cheap and available at WalMart, so I went a little overboard. I'm hoping the experience I've had with Mystique won't be repeated with my other polishes from this brand.


With flash on a crappy, cloudy day.

In the bottle this shade is a pretty pink with gold shimmer. On the nail it looks like a totally different polish. It's some sort of mauve/pink/purple color. The formula is streaky, thick, and goopy. It needed three coats to be opaque, but dragged with every coat after the first. I applied coats as thinly as I could, but it still looks like a clumpy mess.


In natural light on the same crappy, cloudy day! My camera sucks and doesn't like to focus without flash on days like this.

I can only hope that not all CQ polishes will be such a let down. I would not recommend Mystique, unless you're into really boring colors and nightmarish formulas.

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!