Sinful Colors - Green Ocean

Okay people, brace yourselves, as you are about to see a GORGEOUS flakie from Sinful Colors named Green Ocean.  One coat layered over Sinful Colors, Exotic Green.

On the pinky finger, some of the flakies are pretty big.

View at a sharp angle. Duochrome flakies shift from blue to aqua.

See some hex glitter in there?  Macro shot.

Green Ocean is a duo chrome flakie polish in a light green translucent base with some hex glitters. The flakies shift from aqua to blue depending on the light and angle.  Green Ocean is unspectacular alone and was definitely intended to be layered over a solid color.

This was easy to apply and a great way to recycle an old mani.  I just touched up some tip wear with Exotic Green and applied one coat of Green Ocean and one coat of Revlon's quick dry top coat.  Some of the flakies were sticking up so I had to gently push them down with some tweezers and applied one more coat of top coat.

I have to say removing this was similar to removing a glitter polish I had to use pure acetone and wrap my fingers with saturated cotton balls and wait a few minutes before wiping.  I always unravel cotton balls and turn them into strips to remove polish.  That way there's more surface area to use, thus less waste.  Also I completely saturate the whole ball so that there isn't any "lint" that is left on the nail.

Zoya makes a similar polish but the flakies aren't as big.  Plus Sinful Colors is only $1.99 vs. $8 for Zoya.  BARGAIN!  I have Zoya's Chole from their flakie collection it looks to me like the flakies are smaller, there are no hex glitters, and the color shifting might be different.

I got Green Ocean at Walgreens in a St. Patrick's day display, way after the holiday, so it might still be around.  Judging from other bloggers this might be available year round???

If you are interested in Exotic Green, the base color, click on yesterday's post.

Thoughts?

Sinful Colors - Exotic Green

I know earlier I said I wasn't into green, but today I'm featuring a color breakthrough for me.  Exotic Green by Sinful Colors, which is a pretty, bright Kelly green.  I have passed up so many bottles of green but decided to be open minded about this one because its not too dark, not too light, not too much on the yellow side and SURPRISE, it is a JELLY!  I LOVE jelly polishes, LOVE.  Here it is, three pictures and three coats.

Just like other jelly polishes Exotic Green is easy to apply, somewhat transparent and super shiny. After applying two coats, I can still see my nail line (slightly), which sometimes I like, but I wanted to see what three coats would look like.  So with three coats the color deepened and the finish was opaque.  Gorgeous.

I used Orly's Bonder base and INM's Out the Door top coat. 

Walgreens, $1.99.

More to come, stay tuned!

China Glaze - Prismatic - Full Spectrum

I went to Sally's two days ago and I thought; holy smokes! They had their prismatic collection out for sale and it was already half ransacked!!!  The release date was suppose to be April 1st?  I was only able to get Full Spectrum and Optical Illusion.  I was waiting for Wet N Wild's (WNW) Coloricon collection to show up at CVS but I still haven't seen them yet.  Some bloggers have already gotten a hold of WNW's dupes and I thought I would get those first since they are half price.  Well, guess not.  Here is Full Spectrum, two coats layered over Zoya's Dove. 

Photos are a little dark, but the glare was blinding.  I had to stop down one exposure value.

Here you can see the purple iridescence more.

Up close.

From a far, Opitcal Illusion looks like a sparkely, metallic violet.  Up close you can see it contains super fine silver glitter and small multicolor hex glitters with in a violet, iridescent, and transparent base.  On its own you would be able to see your natural nail underneath, unless you piled on muliple coats.  Which I think is a waste, and also a royal pain to remove.  So layering over a solid base color is a nice solution. 

Sally's $5.99.  The whole Prismatic collection is also available at transdesign.com if you don't mind mail order.

Zoya - Dove

Today I have a beautiful pale grey to show you from Zoya's Intimate 2011 Collection.  Dove is such a soft, cool and calming color, I just love it and I can't get enough!  I hope I captured it in the photos below.

Two coats.

Up Close.

Even closer.

In this picture the color seems softer than the first photo to me for some reason. 
Maybe because it is a little lighter than the first photo?

Unfortunately, Dove is one of those tacky pastels that can be hard to apply.  The first time I wore this, I applied three coats and it was a sticky mess that took longer than normal to dry.  The first coat applies unevenly and thin.  The second coat builds very well, but takes some skill in consistently getting just the right amount of paint on to the brush and covering all the bald spots.  I think the trick with some pastels is to get the best two possible coats on and leave well enough alone.  Hopefully, the top coat fixes any unevenness, which it did.  If I start to fix any smudges or unevenness with a third coat it starts to become thick and tacky.  The other approach which I haven't tried is to let the first two coats dry completely before applying a third coat.  Like I said... (which I say to myself, really)...is to know when to leave well enough alone. 

Now that I've said all of that, just look at what I did to ruin this manicure....

I love wearing grey and brown together, so I thought I would experiment and do a glitter french with my new brown glitter....  I totally hated how this turned out, and should have left things alone!  Sheesh, so after an hour of doing this manicure, I had to start all over again!

Has this ever happened to you?

Two Shy of a Dozen

March of 2012 was definitely at lamb here on the east coast of the U.S.  Today I have an Easter/Spring mani to share.  When is Easter this year?

Speckled Eggs!

Up Close.

 

From the side.  I went crazy taking pictures.


This was a really easy mani to create.  Two coats of China Glaze's famous For Audrey with Martha Stewart's brownstone glitter, lightly sprinkled.  I poured maybe 1/4 of a teaspoon of glitter onto a paper towel, dipped a clean dry brush into the glitter then tapped the brush over the wet nail to sprinkle the glitter.  A quarter of a teaspoon was more than plenty of glitter. 

Glitter was $5.99 from Micheal's Arts and Crafts, and will last me a lifetime!
 

What I used.

I used INM's Out the Door top coat first because it is relatively thin and fast drying.  China Glaze's Fast Forward top coat is the final top coat to seal and level.

Any dry soft brush will do.  This is just the one I used.

Below is the inspiration.  Last year, I bought a bird house in the shape of a Robin's egg from a thrift store for $3, and lucky me, two small birds, husband and wife, decided to nest in it and have three baby birds!  Two survived and the second photo they are leaving on their first flight.  The two adult birds were super busy filling the birdhouse with twigs and then once the eggs hatched they were back and forth with food all day long.   It was a privilege to be a host for a family of birds. 

Here's the birdhouse. Two baby birds, with their heads peeking out.

If we went anywhere near the nest, the mother bird would squawk at us, loudly.  So we snapped a whole bunch of bad pictures when she left and ran back inside.  Only one or two photos came out okay.

Here are the last two, on their last day in the nest.  

After a few weeks the baby birds were too big to stay in the nest and were pushing each other around, one fell out and died.  Above are the last two, on their last day in the nest.  Shortly after I snapped this photo they flew off and we never saw them again.

Thoughts?

Wet N Wild - Spoiled - Cougar Attack

There's something about copper glitter that I'm attracted to, yet they do nothing for my skin tone, and somehow I keep buying them.... 

Wet N Wild reintroduces Cougar Attack in their Spoiled line, which originally is from their On the Prowl collection. AND is a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Superstar.  So if you missed Cougar Attack the first time around, here's another chance to snag a bottle, except this time, you'll have to deal with their big moppy brushes.

Small copper glitter in a black tinted jelly base.



Left, China Glaze brush vs. WNW.  (CG Fireside Glow, the other copper glitter I own).
This time the brush was a big fat square.  I found it hard to work with.

In an earlier post I suggested using a brush from an old empty bottle of nail polish, as a way to deal with WNW's super soft and fat brushes, and a reader asked if I actually finished a bottle.  Well, no, not really, I've come close to finishing a couple of bottles of China Glaze's fastforward top coat, but that's about it.  So I used an old empty bottle with brush, and instead of filling the bottle with acetone I filled it with nail polish thinner instead.  Acetone breaks down nail polish and I didn't want to ruin my bottle of WNW.  Thinner contains ethyl and butyl acetates, which are normally in nail polish.  Therefore, if a trace amount of that ends up into a good bottle of nail polish, it will not be ruined. 

So, I used an old China Glaze brush to apply Cougar Attack and it worked like a charm.  When I was finished I just put the used brush into the thinner and in a few minutes the brush was clean.  I also rinsed the brush with thinner before using it, in case it had residual top coat still in between the bristles.  Next time, I'm going to try to trim the brush and see how that turns out.

Sally's for about $3.99, I think?

Overall, I'm okay with Cougar Attack, I'm not overly excited about it but its not completely boring either.  The black base helps it stand out a bit more than other copper colored polishes and gives it more of an edgy feel.  CVS $1.99, way cheaper than Lippmann.

Thoughts?

Lemon Fizz with Orly's Velvet Rope

Today I did something a bit more creative than just a bunch of swatches.  Fimo art with glitter.  Tad dah.

What I used.

I used Orly's Velvet Rope as a base, then Wet N Wild's Show Me the Money (SMM) just on the tips of the middle, ring and pinky fingers, and one lemon fimo art piece for the ring finger.  I dabbed SMM starting at the tips and then dragging the glitter towards the cuticle, for a gradient effect.  Its like painting on regular nail polish, but with less polish, a little cuticle drag and instead in the opposite direction. You probably could use a sponge and sponge the tips, but this worked well for me.  Plus I didn't have to clean up any sponges afterwards. 

To add the lemon fimo: I just dabbed a small dot of top coat on the nail where I wanted to place the lemon. Then I dabbed some top coat on one side of the tweezers to pick up the one lemon slice, placed the slice on top of the dab.  I then used the tweezers to press down on the sides of the lemon slice to make sure the slice was resting as flat as possible. Finally, I painted on thick coat of top coat over the whole nail.

I bought my lemon fimo art at Sally's and they are pre-cut, they look about 1/2 mm thick.  Which is still a bit thick, I can still feel it on my nail.  I would imagine the fimo would break too easily if they were thinner.  Anyhow, they were $3.99 for the small vial.  I think it's a little pricey for what they are, but oh well they're really cute and I didn't have to cut them.  Plus, the small amount will last me a long time because I'm not the type of person who wants to pile 4-5 pieces of fimo fruit on each and every nail.  Have you see those manicures?

If not, just type in "fimo fruit" in youtube's search box and you'll see the monstrosities I'm referring to.

Revlon - 480 Chic - Swatch

I'm not too keen on green so I apologize if I'm offending anyone out there by not wearing green today.  I actually kind of forgot it is St. Patrick's Day.  Oh well... I'm not much of a drinker anyways and I hope you do have a happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Well, back to important business, nail polish.

Revlon's 480 Chic is a dusty medium slate blue creme.  From far away it looks more grey, either way, close or from a far, it is truly beautiful and I am such a sucker for grey anything....  I am debating whether or not to wear this to work.  No one at work wears polishes like this, everyone else wears reds, pinks, nudes or purples.  I've worn grey and brown polishes to work and have received compliments on it...and Chic is not a bright blue, it is really understated, I think, and it doesn't look childish.  I just don't want to get hauled into my supervisor's office for something dumb like inappropriate nail polish.  HMMMM....????  To risk or not to risk?

Sorry for the ruddy photos. I don't know why I was so red that day, and my pictures came out a bit green again, so I color corrected them, but now my skin looks a bit darker and not normal.  At least the nail polish color looks right.  I used the top coat bottle so my camera would adjust the exposure so that the last photo would turn out a bit brighter, which it did. 

Also, I referenced the number 480, because I swear Revlon has another polish called chic but its not blue.  Chic is nicely pigmented, evens itself out, and a breeze to apply.  Two coats with China Glaze's base, and Revlon's quick dry top coat.  About $5.  Ulta, is where I got mine.

Thoughts?

Sinful Colors - Neptune - Swatch

This will probably be the last polish I'll post from the Cast Away 2012 collection, Sinful Colors, Neptune.  A nice medium blue jelly with silver shimmer.  This is a beautiful blue and in dim light it looked like a shimmery navy and in incandescent lighting it looked kind of like denim. 

Below is the planet Neptune, the name suits the polish perfectly.  Neptune is also the Greek god of the sea, which is also appropriate as the polishes Cast Away collection, (all except for one polish, Be Happy) are named after Greek gods.


Source: Wikipedia, Neptune

 You gotta love Wikipedia for liberal image sharing policies.  The formula was great on this too, two smooth even coats, and easy to apply.  Love it!!!

Sinful Colors - Cinderella - Swatch

Cinderella is from Sinful Color's core line, and is a really nice icy pale blue with pink golden mini flakies.  Cinderella goes on sheer but builds up well.  I used two coats. I can still see my nail line slightly, which doesn't bother me, but if it bothers you, you may want to use three coats.



Up close.


I took these pictures in a hurry and my pictures came out a bit flat.  A few days later, when I had time to review them I realized I did not capture how the pink flakies really look like in person.  I wasn't wearing Cinderella anymore, so I decided to swatch it on a nail wheel to see if I could capture the pink shimmer... Below is the best I could get and is a one whole exposure value down.

See the pink flakes?

I think this would be a nice alternative to a pastel creme, as those are bit harder to apply and their formulas tend to be chalky and a bit tacky.  Cinderella was not chalky or tacky at all and was super easy to work with. 

Overall, really pretty, great formula, and a bargain.  $1.99 at Walgreens.  I am really loving Sinful Colors!

Sinful Colors - Zeus - Swatch

Today I am showing you another Sinful Colors polish from the Cast Away 2012 spring collection. Zeus is a slightly greyed out lilac with pink shimmer polish.  Great formula, easy to apply, two coats.

Up close and at a sharp angle you can see the pink shimmer.

Such a nice color for spring.

What's not to love about this polish?  Nice full sized bottle, good quality brush, great formula, unique color, okay to wear to work, and bargain price!  $1.99 at Walgreens. 

I used China Glaze's base coat, two coats of Zeus, one coat of Revlon's quick dry top coat.

Sinful Colors - Athens - Swatch

Athens from Sinful Colors, is from their Cast Away 2012 spring collection.  A medium, dusty, teal creme, this polish has a great formula. Smooth, nicely pigmented, not too thick and not too thin, this could have been a thick one coater.  Two other teals are in this collection, Greek Isles and Be Happy; Athens is the darkest of the three.  To give you an idea, Athens is a shade darker than China Glaze's For Audrey. 

I included various photos because the color seems a bit too green to me in photos, and not true to color.  In person its a little bit more grey and a bit more blue than in these photos.  Athens is really a pretty color and is definitely one of my favorites!  Below is two coats, because I'm a bit fastidious. 

In my dining room, against chocolate walls, this picture to me seems more color accurate.

A little less brighter than the first photo.

Up against China Glaze's For Audrey.

I used China Glaze's strong adhesion base coat, two coats of Athens, one coat of Revlon's quick dry top coat.  Athens was $1.99 at Walgreens.  Bargain!

Love this color, I can't stop staring at it!

CG Fireside Glow - Layered

So here's what I did to spice up Fireside Glow (FG).  I added Ulta's Pinata-yada-yada (PYY).  I've featured PYY before; its an awesome multicolored hexagon glitter polish with a clear base.  Super versatile. 

Left hand.

Right hand.

Up close.

Overall, from afar.

Left hand from afar.

I originally wanted to try this with Wet N Wild's Jewerly Heist, but PYY is a much better complement to Fireside Glow.  PYY is a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, and Milani makes a nice dupe too.

This mani is one coat of base, 2 coats of FG, one coat of CG's fastforward (FF) top coat, one coat of PYY, and one coat of CG FF top coat.  CGFF top coat is the best top coat I have for leveling glitters.  Six coats, now my nails are super thick and hard!

To see a swatch of FG click here.
Thoughts?