march 20, 2016 "S-ageless beauty"opi infinite shine topped with revlon matte top coat finish: creme sally's beauty great formula and shine, but i don't like the color on my nails. appears almost like a neon pastel. and the mint, which I love on other skin tones, does not seem to flatter mine. if you love a mint, check this out. i destashed it. march 22, 2016 "perennial chic" essie collection: 2015 spring flowerista finish: crelly tj maxx first off: hated the formula with a white hot passion. perhaps i got a bad bottle OR that rumor about essie labels on the top of the bottle has some truth to it ... I don't know. this was nightmare stuff: so thin it ran all over my cuticles, then, suddenly, thickened to the point of disbelief. clean up was massive. I could not wait for my nails to dry before i destashed it. but (here is where the plot thickens - get it?) the resulting manicure was quite nice. pretty even. and my nails seemed impervious to chipping ... and I put my hands through the wringer. so agony led to beauty. this peachy nude is not unique. there has got to be a better polish in this shade out there. i don't have the patience to deal with it again. if you know of a peachy nude with even a tolerable formula, please let me know! march 25, 2016 "love potion" julie topped with "gel effect plumping" top coat also by julie finish: sheer crelly okay. this polish had the exact opposite issue of "perennial chic" by essie. the formula was a dream. no clean up and so perfect. BUT when i spotted the manicure in sunlight, I saw streaks on the sides and bald spots. this result could be the fault of my inexperience with sheer finishes. I don't know. i cannot find julie polishes where I live. so i bought 2 more cremes and another top coat (below) to test out if the problem was with the sheer finish or if all polishes go on like a dream, but look like a nightmare. have you tried julie polishes? i need some reviews! weekly wrap up.must-have: julie gel effects plumping top coat was really great! I need to use it more than once and see if the bottle doesn't go bad after less than 10 uses (hello? essie gel top coat!). time will tell ...
pick-up: if you like mint "s-ageless beauty" has a nice formula. if you have an olive skin tone or yellow undertones, beware! meh: right now I clearly favor process over product, so I prefer Julie "love potion" to essie "perennial chic." but neither are "stay away" for their individual pros ... but the cons ... oh, the cons!!
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this week, subtly rules as i explore altering cremes with sheer color top coats. I am calling this is technique "layer cremes" which i am sure has a very creepy urban dictionary definition. then I switched to bolder colors for celebratory purposes. march 10, 2016 "can't afjord not to" opi collection: 2014 fall Nordic topped with "in the spot-light pink" opi collection: limited edition New York City ballet collection "can't afjord not to" is an opaque "coral" creme that leaned way to orange for my taste. i prefer a pinky coral, so i topped it with the very sheer bridal pink "in the spot-light..." the resulting hue was fun and pinky and more subtle than bright. march 14, 2016 "pink smart" sinful colors collection: what's hot 2015 topped with "act your beige!" opi collection: 2015 soft shades "pink smart" is a cute bubble gum pink: not really my style but unique in my collection. i lightened it up considerably with 2 top coats of "act your beige" which is a very sheer creamy almost white beige. i am still on barbie's street, but not quite living in the dream house. march 16, 2016 "starboard" china glaze collection: 2011 spring "anchors away" collection finish: creme wore this for st. patrick's day of course! great creme! formula was really easy to work with and no staining in sight! i need to compare this to my other green cremes that almost exact dupes for each other (below): "pretty edgy" essie "exotic green" sinful colors march 18, 2016 "cursed" blackheart beauty at hottopic 2 for $5 finish: creme this was amazing. the packaging is the best! so fun! and ... Here is the big surprise... I was blown away by the formula. Opaque in one coat and shiny as hell! I suspected it was just novelty and good packaging. it totally surprised me with a terrific formula. they had a lot of glitters there; i bought two cremes (to take advantage of the sale). I may go back and pick up the rest of the cremes! and maybe one or two glitters! i saw a you tube review by phoebe moon (below). She covers the glitters and one creme. She loved the creme as much I loved mine, so this could be a great unexpected resource of incredible creme formulas! the blackheart beauty cremes I saw at my local hot topic (yours may differ)! black "cursed" (featured here) bright tomato red "cherries jubilee" dark bloody red "darkest red" (i think) a dark charcoal a lighter gray that leaned purple a minty green "mint" (I think) a fushia pink a bright blue a light yellow that looked like it was a glow in the dark top coat weekly wrap upmust have: "cursed" by blackheart beauty at hot topic was my clear winner! i am delighted with this and you cannot beat the price. you need a black in your collection and this one is the tops!
pick-up: "starboard" china glaze. this oldie is great and dark green and grass green are coming back this spring and summer! pick-up 2: the top coats I used in my "layer cremes" this week are terrific for giving new life to polishes. i loved the layered effect! I think I will have real fun this summer with these as toppers! pick-up 3: i think "pink smart" is a great dupe for opi's famous "mod about you" and it's way cheaper and, from what I have heard, "pink smart" surely has a better formula! meh: opi's "can't afjord not to" has a terrific formula, but the color read almost neon orange on the nail, before I put a topper on. this was disappointing bc I don't love orange on me. so if you like orange polish, go for it! just know the color in the bottle is not represented on your nails. other than that, it's all good. thia haul is from the second half of february. sinful colors, butter london, essie and opi! "high tea" butter london collection: the "high tea" collection, spring 2015 finish: opaque creme butterlondon.com this isn't the nude polish you're looking for. but it might be the nude polish i need. on my lemming list and now it is mine. it is mine. "spin the bottle" essie collection: "hide and go chic" spring 2014 finish: semi-sheer creme tj maxx compared here to "perennial chic" (center) from my last haul. this peachy nude color appears to be almost the exact color dupe for "perennial chic" but perhaps a different finish. (semi-sheer vs. opaque creme). "do you take lei away?" opi collection: "hawaii" spring 2015 finish: opaque creme sally's beauty supply so this haul has a nude theme, if you haven't picked up on it. not on my official lemmings list, I have been waiting to find this on sale since I read lots of reviews last year. supposed to be a great formula. "going my way or norway?" opi collection: "nordic" fall 2014 finish: opaque creme tj maxx a bit lighter than "a piers to be tan" (right), so right up my alley. thought it would be more nude, but swatches more brown or mocha on my nail. "act your beige!" opi collection: "soft shades" 2015 (opi's bridal) finish: sheer tj maxx this swatches totally milky sheer; i will probably try as a topper to lighten or gray out some brighter colors. make my collection into the "whispers" collection instantly! "chesire china" (left) "glazy sunday" (right) sinful colors collection: 2016 porcelain matte finish: matte creme walgreens picked these up at a BOGO sale. I actually bought 3 of these, but I forgot to photo the third. I like the demi-mattes from a previous sinful colors collection, so I figured I should buy all of the pastel cremes i could find in this "porcelain matte" line. "gogo girl" sinful colors
core collection finish: creme walgreens this is an exact dupe for my go to red "devious" by sinful shine. my friend tonia calls it "pin up" red. i always hear that opi has great reds, but "devious" has such a great formula ive only ever had eyes for it! "gogo girl" won some kind of major award last year, so i thought at least I'd have a backup of my favorite red. march 5, 3016 "skylark" sinful colors finish: creme walgreens i was drawn to this color because the bottle represents a light peachy neutral creme. on the nail, to me, it looks like a creamsicle or "dreamsicle." i thought i would get used to the almost neon pastel melon, but i didn't. pro: even with the color confusion (bottle to nail), this is still a unique color in my collection. worth keeping? don't know. the reason you see bubbles in the swatch photo is because I tried a new technique that promised to eliminate chips for several days. it did seem to work, but the multiple layers were hard to work with for me. more the technique below. march 5, 2016 "i sao paulo over there" opi the Brazil collection spring/summer 2014 finish: creme target this is a very popular color. it remains everyone's fav going into fall, but i honor the original spring idea for the collection. its a little more gray/brown than my fav "lavender" by sinful colors, but still interesting. great formula. i know the swatch pic looks like a mug shot!!! I forgot to take a pic after i pedi-ed and i whipped off my gym sock and tried to snap a quickie pic. sorry for the gross!!! march 7, 2016 "snow storm" cover girl outlast part of the core outlast collection (with a slapped on "star wars" sticker to sell to chumps like me) 😥 finish: creme walgreens this is not a true white, but has just a drop of gray to it. i have to say, I really dig it. I'm pretty upset that opi or china glaze did not get the rights to a star wars collection!! cover girl put out a small hand ful of colors and then slapped "star wars " stickers on some in their core collection that suckers bought (im a sucker). opi did put out a "starlight" collection this 2015 holiday that looks like it would have been their "star wars" collection. but, who knows. see "snow storm" compared to my go-to white "wisp" below. weekly wrap-upmust-have: "i sao paulo over there" by opi. great formula and color; a classic. pick-up: if you don't have a white in your collection, "snow storm" has a good formula and whites can be tricky. meh: "skylark" was not as subtle as it looks in the bottle. the formula was okay, but I was too disappointed with the color to note it's ease. techniquesaw this on a couple of different YouTube channels. 1. start with protein or nail treatment on bare nail 2. base coat over that 3. 2-3 coats of nail color (per usual) 4. clear base coat on top of color 5. quick dry and/or super shiny top coat. basically the clear base coat at # 4 replaces the "top coat" step and makes the manicure chip less. the nail treatment under the whole thing make everything stronger. try it and see! what's left?this project has many layers. I am attempting to try a full wear of all of the polishes in my collection. here is what is left of phase 1! february 28, 2016 "trifle" butter london finish: metalic tj maxx I prefer creme opaque finishes, but i do own a small handful of metalic polishes (& one chrome finish). butter london has an incredible reputation and sells at the high end of the mid-range (retailing for $15-$18 in the US). i found this + two cremes at my local tj maxx for $4.99 each. I really loved the formula: easy to work with and required minimal clean up. the wear was also impressive: only showed minimal tip wear after a couple of long work days in which I was really rough on my hands. only showed chips after i moved furniture furiously for a work event. the color and look reminds me of everyone's favorite, "pennytalk" by essie. i think a little less brassy than that: more like mocha meets penny! purchase note: another great deal at tj maxx; finding it difficult to find butter london there anymore (nail polish, that is). march 1, 2016 "masai red" china glaze collection: the china glaze core (i think). finish: jelly or "crelly" tj maxx there is a dilemma with this polish. more on that below: this deep red jelly or "crelly" finish polish appears bloody red on my nails. because the formula is squishy it took about 3 coats to cover most bald spots. I love the look. the color is vampy meets classy and the squishy crelly finish adds dimension without fussiness. beautiful. but the formula is a different story. the thin crelly-ness ran down to my cuticles several times, which was not fun when it came to application & clean up. this was heartbreaking. now i have tried my hand at truly difficult polishes; this was by no means my worst experience. but if the color wasn't so pretty, i would certainly toss it directly in the destash bin! life is too short to fight with my polish! my question: is the vampy/classy color enough to keep it despite a difficult/thin formula? a vampy red is not uncommon. but what about a vampy crelly? is that rare? even though this color is unique in my collection, i feel there is perhaps a better formula in a jelly/crelly out there. do you have a recommendation? weekly wrap upmust-have: any polish by butter london. i checked the site and "trifle" is easy to order online, but I would just say when it comes to any butter london shade, it's a must-have! meh: again, i am heart broken that "Masai red" had such a runny formula. only time will tell if I can find a replacement with a good application. any recs? now we can be ghostbusters. now we can be anything.women and men rejoice! for not only is there another ghostbusters movie, but women in tech and science and math and engineering are getting their day! lean in, ladies. now we can do anything! also - is there a ghostbuster nail polish line? there should be!!! let me know!!
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AuthorI try to paint my nails adequately. CategoriesArchives
November 2017
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