China Glaze - Some like it Haute!

Some people do like it haute, including myself. 

I was in Sally beauty supply the other day and this bottle was **s-p-a-r-k-l-i-n-g** under the halogen display lights.  I was like, WHOA what is that?  Must have MOAR glitter!!! 

China Glaze's Some like it haute, (CGSLIH) is a clear based polish packed, and I mean packed, with silver and black microglitter, with holographic small hex glitter.  Application was easy, smooth and even distribution of gritty glitter.  Dries fast and matte.  I needed two coats of top coat to smooth this out.    Wears well with my heather grey cashmere sweater, and reminds me of salt on blacktop or roofing material.  

Camera lamp - to try to capture sparkle.

This is a beautiful polish, I love it! 

I felt like being a purist, so I used all China Glaze, one coat of strong adhesion base coat, two coats CGSLIH, two coats of CG fast forward top coat.

Orly - Royal Velvet

What can I say about Orly's Royal Velvet (ORV)?  It is beautiful.  Blue base, purple duo-chrome, and it goes on like velvet, smooth application. Two coats and it evens itself out, does that make sense? That's a sign of a good formula, I think.  This is definitely one of my favorites!

Originally from the spring 2011 Precious collection.  I found this in the clearance bin at Ulta, $5.49.  I hope Orly doesn't stop making this polish because it is a winner!

I used one coat Orly's bonder base, two coats ORV, one coat China Glaze Fastforward top coat (CGFF).  Urgh!  CGFF topcoat, you can see the shrinkage on the tips.  I have to get better at wrapping tips, I don't do it often because I'm not good at it, and I get messy results. 

Anyone care to share their favorite top coat in the comments section?

I know, I only have three followers.... I'm still having fun blogging to myself though.... hahaha!

My mother-in-law’s (MIL) nails – MAKEOVER!

Now brace yourselves for what you are about to see.  The following pictures are um… less than pretty.  My MIL is in her late 60’s, diabetic and has arthritis along with other co-morbidities, but let’s not get into that.  Somehow, she found someone at her assisted living facility to paint her nails, without base and top coats.  Let’s accentuate the ridges, shall we?  DIOS MIOS!  If you are looking for nail problems to solve, here is a challenge.  Crackled, chipped, peeling, yellow nails with deep ridges.  I mentioned she’s diabetic, so no clipping!  Not that I really clip anyways but you must be extra gentle with diabetics as they are prone to infection and are slow healers. 

So here is what I did.  I took in a deep breath and went to town. 

First I gathered my supplies while she washed her hands.

Supplies:

·         Revlon stainless steel cuticle pusher

·         Blue cross cuticle remover (Sally’s, $4.99)

·         Regular nail polish remover

·         Nail file 120/120 (Sally's, 99 cents)

·         Nail finishing block (Sally's, 99 cents)

·         Pure Acetone

·         Clean up brush by Debra Lynn (Amazon, $4.99)

·         Seche ridge filling base (CVS, $7.99)

·         Orly’s ingenue, pink shimmer polish (her choice).

·         China Glaze Fast Forward top coat

·         Paper towels

·         Wash cloths

Her nails before:

 Wash Hands, remove polish.

Assess.  Remove cuticles, and dead skin.

 After clean up.  WHEW.  Now file down, wash hands and paint.

Seche generally did a great job of filling in the ridges.  I should have used two coats of Seche on the index finger.  There were three deep ridges on this finger, one of them still showed up.

Middle finger has two coats of Seche base, it had a really deep ridge, that Seche base filled in nicely.
Seche goes on a sheer pearly white, which is acutally kind of pretty all by itself.  It has toulene in it though, so it might not be the best for those of us in child bearing years.  My MIL isn't having children anytime soon, hence she can tolerate Seche ridge filling base.

I apologize for the yellow pictures but, my MIL is not that mobile and I didn't want to haul out the photo light. In the macro mode I can't adjust the white balance setting.  I need a manual DSLR camera!!!

Thoughts?

Ulta - Pinata yada yada - New Year's nails!

So here's what happened to my Grin & Berry it mani.  Multicolored hexagon glitter!  Big surprise.  Ulta's Pinata yada yada (PYY) is a clear based, big and small multicolored hex glitter, it screams PARTY.  I think this would be a great mani for New Year's Eve.  2012, can you believe it is almost here?  I love the randomness of glitter polishes.  You never know where and how the glitter is going to land.  So sparkle-ly!  The glitter reminds me of champagne bubbles, or maybe confetti. 

I used one coat Orly's nail defense base, 2 coats Ulta's Grin & Berry it, one coat China Glaze fastforward topcoat, one coat Ulta's PYY, one coat of CGFF top coat again.  Whew. 

I notice when I put a top coat on before glitter I have an easier time removing glitter polishes.  I think this mani is going to outlast me, because I'm still wearing it and it has been 5 days with just a little tip wear, no chips or scratches!  With 2 coats of topcoat my nails are hard!  Plus my thumb nail broke last week so I had to file down all my nails to even them out.  :(  So, I noticed my manis last longer when my nails are shorter.

Ulta - Grin and Berry It

What a pretty color!  I love this nail polish, Ulta's Grin & Berry It (UG&BI)!  UG&BI is a bright but deep fuchsia berry with a little shimmer.  Cheerful and uplifting now that most of the leaves are gone, they sky is grey and it's cold outside!  This polish could be a one coater, smooth, even, and easy application.  I still did two coats though (habit maybe), the color just deepened with the second coat.  A great year round wear anywhere nail color!

I used Orly's nail defense base, 2 coats UG&BI, one top coat China Glaze fastforward top coat.

Wait until you see how I recycle this mani!
Stay tuned!

Deborah Lippmann - Envy Me

My first green nail polish! Deborah Lippmann's Envy Me (DLEM) is a wearable green grey metallic frost. I would actually feel comfortable wearing this to work, where I want people to notice me and not my crazy nails!  At the same time I still want to be manicured and trendy.  DLEM achieves this.  In low lighting it looks more grey than green and from a far can look metallic.    

Taken under a photo light, more true to color.

See the frosty-ness in the bottle?

Cloudy daylight, looks more grey than green here.

Love this wearable green!

DLEM is one of three polishes in the Deborah Lippmann's Fashionista set.  Also in the set is Sweet Spot and Milkshake, which I have not tried out yet.  $40 for the set of three at Neiman Marcus.

Application was smooth, great formula.  I used, Deborah Lippman's (DL) base coat, two coats DLEM, one coat Revlon quick dry top coat.   This is my first time using DL's base coat, I have her top coat too, but I haven't tried that yet, because I don't know if it is quick drying and I don't have time to deal with slow drying top coats.  I will try it out though and let you know what I think.

Ulta - Material Girl

I have luke warm feelings about this nail polish.  The color in the bottle is what sold me and more micro holo glitter!  UMG is a goopy deep magenta colored polish loaded with glitter, which the glitter unfortunately, gets buried in the color.  It surprisingly, dries fast to a rough and matte finish. Me NOT likey! Since the glitter is causing all the roughness I thought I would test out two of my favorite top coats, plus add some much needed shine.  My left hand wears Revlon quick dry top coat (RQD) and right hand wears, China Glaze Fastforward top coat (CGFF).   Shiney-ness was about the same between the two top coats, both dried quick, (1-2 minutes) dry to touch.  However, CGFF is a better leveler, as my right hand fingers felt and looked smoother. 

What I used: One coat Orly’s Nail defense base, two coats UMG, one coat RQD or CGFF top coats.

No top coat.

China glaze FF top coat.

top - CGFF, bottom RQD top coats.

Flash picture to try to capture sparkle.  It does look darker in lower light.

Top photos are more true to color.

I picked up Ulta’s material girl (UMG) during this month’s buy 2 get 2 free ulta polishes.  Ulta, regular price $6.

Thanks for stopping by!

Orly - Space Cadet - From the Vault

Hi!

Today I'm showing you Orly's Space Cadet (OSC), from the 2010 Cosmic Fx line.  My husband says I look like a "rocker chic" when I wear this.  OSC is a teal based polish with minerals than change color depending on the angle of light.  It truly looks like it's from outer space.  OSC is a bit thin and watery and needs two good coats.  I noticed it is easily worn out and I have tried to layer it with a teal color on the bottom but the minerals seemed to get lost when I layer it, so I just wear it plain.  It dries fast though.  Below are pictures of it plain.  One coat of Orly Bonder base coat, 2 coats OSC, 1 coat China glaze fastforward top coat.  Enjoy!

Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe

Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe (DL) (ATU), is the first blue nail polish I have ever worn!  I have to admit, I'm pretty new to the nail polish world and I'm a reformed nail biter.  I stopped my habit of chewing on my nails by keeping them manicured, but as soon as they are naked, I'm back at it again.  So BAD!

This first picture is 2 coats of DL ATU.  Great formula, smooth for a navy blue jelly, and looks sheer and innocent with just one coat.  I thought about just leaving one coat on, but near by, as I was painting my nails, a washcloth fell to the floor, and by instinct I reached for it while my nails were still wet!!!  Hello brain, nails are wet, don't touch!!!  So then I ended up with two coats, to fix the mess up. 

I used, one coat Orly's nail defense base, two coats DL ATU, one coat China Glaze fastforward top coat. Shiny!

The next picture, which is about 12 hours later, I added INM nothern lights silver top coat (INM NL S), because, blue and green hexagonal glitter with blue microglitter is not enough sparkle!  Jeeze!  Thank goodness INM NL S top coat is thin and dries in 45 seconds. 

Can you see the micro holo glitter? 

I truly enjoyed this polish.   Thanks for stopping by!

Deborah Lippmann – Ruby Red Slippers

Ruby Red Slippers (RRS) by Deborah Lippmann (DL) is a black jelly base with red hexagonal glitter, and red micro glitter.  Easy to apply, a pain to take off, as you can imagine with all glitter polishes.   My picture shows 2 coats with wrapped tips, as there was serious shrinkage or tip wear? after less than one day of wear.  I used Orly’s Nail Defense base, 2 coats DL, one coat China Glaze Fastforward top coat. 

DL RRS reminds me of black and red lingerie and has a vampy look to it from a far.  Has anyone tried China Glaze’s Lubu Heels?  I would love to compare the two.  I think if you have one of these two you wouldn’t need the other.

DL RRS was a gift to me from my sweet hubby.  $18 from Neiman Marcus.

China Glaze Trendsetter w/ Northern Lights TC. Welcome to my first post!

Hello out there!

Here is my first post!  China Glaze Trendsetter from the Fall 2011 metro collection.  I was skeptical about this weird color, but I thought I would give it a try and I ended up loving it!  It is rather soft, yellow/green at times.  It is shimmery in the bottle, and has a metallic/foil base, but on the nail it ends up looking like a Corian countertop, which can be kind of dull.  China Glaze fastforward top coat adds a nice shine.  The pictures are  taken after 5 days! Very little tip wear, no chips.  Fabulous, smooth, easy to apply formula.

I added INM northern lights top coat after day 4 because I started to get bored with the color, which added a nice subtle sparkle.

What I used: China Glaze strong adhesion base coat, 2 coats CG Trendsetter, 1 coat CG fastforward top coat, 1 coat INM nothern lights silver top coat.