Wet n Wild -Disturbia

I bought this.

This one makes me think of Rihanna.  Pretty good song, eh?

Disturbia is a deep, blackened purple.  Kinda looks like eggplants.  It is really really glowy in the bottle.  It doesn't really translate on the nail, though.  It is still quite pretty, very vampy.

Formula wise, it was great.  This was two easy coats.  Minimal cleanup was done.  I have constant problems with the Megalast formula, it never seems to dry.  I do think that happens though after I've been using a bottle for awhile.  This was the first time I've tried this one, it dried fairly quickly.

I'm not a fan of these giant ass brushes.  WnW always has badly cut ones too.  Super jagged makes it hard to place it where you want.  Someone with big nail beds might like these pro wides more than I.

I wish this shimmer came off more on the nails than it does, but it's still quite pretty.  Maybe not quite what you'd expect from the bottle.  It does look very dark.  It does look black unless the light is right on it.

Essie jelly sandwich

Nothing to disclose.

I don't usually think of jelly sandwiches.  I like them, I just never think to do them.  I decided today was the day.

Two coats of Essie Marshmallow, then one coat of Milani Gems, finished with another coat of marshmallow and a top coat.

Ok...lets talk about marshmallow.  This is one of those polishes that people love and hate simultaneously.  Perhaps you could call it polarizing.  Those singing it's praises compliment it for it's lovely jelly look, the look really does remind you of a marsh mellow, it's just perfect in that regard.  But then that's where the Honeymoon ends.  It's streaky, even with careful layers, you will end up with them, and it's frustrating.  Do you want Marshmallow then?  I say yes, if you like jelly sandwiches.  If not, maybe find something with better reviews. There are a lot of colors out there that are like this nowadays.  If you just want the classic though...

Milani Gems is great.  This is a purported dupe of Deborah Lippmann's "Happy Birthday".  I never knew what the deal was with all the hype surrounding it: until I put it on.  It's gorgeous.  The colors of the glitters are beautiful and varied. It's like a party exploded inside the bottle.  This is a Mardi Gras color, or a birthday color for sure.  The formula was ok, I did do a little glitter placement but it wasn't a pain to do so.  Totally worth it.

No more entries today.  I'm pooped out.

Easy single color gradient

I bought this.

Hannah Pinktana.  What took me so long to pic you up?

Hannah Pinktana is a sheer jelly fuschia pink from the Fast Dry line (that's Wet n Wild).  There is a good amount of scattered holo particles in this to give it an amazing finish.

I decided I wanted to do something fun, but what?

Meet the single color gradient.

When I first applied this, it freaked me out.  It was SO sheer, I was really worried.  But at the second coat, I knew this was something special.  It almost went from being invisible to a sheer, but noticeable color.  That's when I decided on the gradient.


Unlike a lot of Wet n Wild nail polishes (I'm looking at you, Megalast) this applied beautifully and dried quickly.  The brush was a little wonky; it seems like that's the only brush I can get from WnW, but I like this style much more than their pro wide brushes.

These are natural light shots.  The light was shining inside right on my nails and I thought, "I need to take more pictures".

I don't think pictures can convey it; this is really pretty.  Incredibly squishy looking, a great jelly and a great formula.

Let's compare, shall we?

I bought these both.

I like me some comparison posts.  They're fun, informative and you get to use more than one polish at a time (without art)!  I went through my unused stash awhile back and realized I had these two which looked real similar.  So here they are.

You can see the SH is a little brighter.

Harder to see the difference here.

Sally Hansen Coral Reef.  It's a beautiful vibrant coral.  I really like these Xtreme Wears.  They're cheap, they have good formulas, and amazing colors to boot.  This went on really well, a little balding but it was not extreme.  The formula spread well, didn't have a problem with pooling and it wasn't thick at all.

Thumb, middle and pinkie are SH.  Index and ring are SC.

Sinful Colors Island Coral.  I got this because it's supposed to be a dupe for Butter London's Trout Pout.  I don't own any BL's; they're too spendy and I feel they aren't unique enough to justify that price.  I probably only picked this up because I heard it was a dupe.  So wtih that said, I do like the color, it's pretty gorgeous.  It's a shade or two lighter than the SH one, not as electric looking, but still nice and bright and beachy.  The formula is what I've come to expect from Sinfuls: not great.  Still it wasn't the worst.  The formula was a little too thick, and the brush would drag through the previous coat(s).  There was also some balding going on.

I decided to do three coats for each; the Sinful really needed it and I wanted to be fair to the SH in the comparison.  The Sinful needed another coat, but I wasn't willing to be that forgiving to it.

With flash

So the question...do you need both?

Probably not.  They are close enough that you don't but if this is your kind of shade then maybe.  If you like more electric looking colors, I would get the SH version, hands down. I honestly can't tell which I like more.  On the hand they look so similar that I wouldn't notice it if I weren't looking.

Happy Hands - Banana Stand

I bought it.

Ok...I know I say this a lot but I love this.

Banana Stand is from the Arrested Development line that was released some time ago. This particular color was made permanent so have no fear, you should be able to buy it directly from Happy Hands.

It's a banana yellow (think peel, not flesh) jelly with gold and brown glitters (mmm...chocolate) as well as smaller green glitters (what's hiding in that banana stand, anyway?).  Gosh, the formula is amazing.  It was incredibly easy to work with and already began to appear opaque on the first coat.  I had some streaking (though that's me, not the polish) so I applied three coats, but if you are better at application, you will do fine at two.

The glitter itself did fine as well.  I didn't have to mess with it at all, it just came out on it's own and placed itself where it was supposed to go.

I meant to go with Gelous top coat today, but I completely forgot and starting slathering on my regular QDTP.  Guess what?  Smooth as glass, y'all.

This is a unique color.  I wouldn't run to wear it every day, but I'm glad I have it.  It reminds me of Easter (speckled eggs, perhaps).  Very cool.  I'm pretty sure if someone who was into polish saw this on you, they would be tempted to ask you about it.  Because it's just that unusual.

I only have one Happy Hands, but I'm impressed.

That's it for now.

A tried and true-Zoya

I bought this baby myself.

I decided to finally take a break from all the other things I had to do today and just paint my nails!  I get bummed when I really don't have the time so I needed a pick me up.  What better to do that than Zoya Zuza.

I'd describe this one as sort of a teal...it's not blue and it's not green, though it is far more green leaning.  It is filled with silver metallic goodness.  Very summery, very beachy.

Unfortunately, the color is not exactly true in these photos.  Shots with my nails are better than the lone bottle. My camera apparently doesn't play well with it.  I took one picture where the bottle shot was completely BLUE.  Totally misleading (I love the picture because it's so pretty but it's just so inaccurate I'm not going to put it here).

This dried quickly but I managed to ruin it by immediately doing chores.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to paint my nails all over again.

Remember, Zoya is having their Earth Day Promotion with most colors being 50%.  Until next time...

Wicked polish-Cardiac Arrest

I have nothing to disclose.

I'm back for another installment. Today is a polish by Wicked Polish, an indie brand which is incredibly difficult to get your hands on.  I actually feel a little lucky to have snagged one, but I have no idea how I'll ever be able to get more.

This polish is Cardiac Arrest, a jelly red with various shaped glitters(square, hex, round micro) of multiple colors.  It's no exaggeration to say I love this one.

The bottle design has recently changed, so I'm not sure how much is in here.  These look small but I think it's supposed to be .5 oz.

I only did two coats but it really needed three.  I used my regular top coat (Beauty Secrets) but I probably should have pulled the Gelous out for this one. It looks mildly bumpy but nothing too bad.

Like I mentioned previously, Wicked Polish is hard to track down.  You can find it at http://www.wickedpolish.bigcartel.com/ and I do believe there is a restock happening today at Harlow and Co but it is a limited restock.  She does not restock often which is why it is hard to capture one, but she has some really unique colors.

She also announces restocks on Facebook (this is the only place that she announces) so if you're interested in buying, check there often.

What's one to do on a rainy day?

Well, swatch a scattered holo of course!

Today I have Zoya's Aurora.  Man, what a beauty.  I got this one way back when Zoya had their 3 free event and it went untried that long.  I knew all along too, often questioning myself as to why I hadn't worn it.  This is a jelly purple leaning red with a lot of scattered holo.  Dare I say, this holo is much more noticeable indoors than any of the linear holos from the new China Glaze collection.

Since it was raining, I had to take these photos indoors.  I'm generally not a fan of indoor lighting.  No matter how good the light source is, it tends to make one look more yellowy (and I don't need any help with looking yellow).  But I had no choice, I wanted to do a post and I wanted to do it now.

  

This is slightly lower light.  Some photos just have standard makeup lighting, some have that plus an led magnify light shining upon it.  

This is three coats.  Formula was a breeze.

I have nothing to disclose.  Thanks for looking.

OMG...A UFO

Nothing to disclose.

Today is OMG a UFO, another Hologram from China Glaze. I probably wasn't going to get this one because me and green never seem to agree.  But, rave reviews will convince one of anything.

So I have to tell this story.  I ran home from work (well not literally) and when I arrived, I planned on swatching something and throwing it up on the blog.  When I looked outside to see how good the weather was behaving, I saw SUN.  Glorious sun.  I rushed to apply OMG a UFO so I could capture those rainbow shots, but as I finished, the sun left.  Talk about a bummer.  I still have a few shots but nothing showing the linearness of it.  Oh well.

I should have another post up real soon.  Bye, now.

China Glaze Infra Red

Gonna be broke cuz I paid for these myself.

Did someone say the weather wouldn't be nice enough for a holo?  Good thing I'm not a meteorologist.  Today I have another China Glaze hologram up.  Infra Red is a gorgeous reddish fuchsia.  I do feel it's a stretch to have red in the name; it doesn't strike me as a red at all, I'm afraid.  This was one I wasn't going to initially get but then thought that red holos aren't all that common, so maybe I should pick it up.  This is not a true red, so if that's what you're going for you are likely to be disappointed.

Above is indirect outdoor light.  Such a subtle holo.

And a few bottle shots. Noticable holo, though nothing outrageous.

Swatches are two coats, with a base of NYC Matte Me Crazy, and Beauty Secrets Quick Dry Top Coat. I found application to be a bit tricky.  I'm not sure if these need to be thinned; they seem like a good consistency but they thicken up quickly while working, creating a not so easy to apply mess.  I might try adding a little bit and see what becomes of it.

Not your usual Essie

I bought this pretty with my own monies.

Unfortunately, it's going to be cloudy here all weekend.  No holos until the funky weather is gone. :(  But, I am so in love with this color that it doesn't matter.

Today is Essie's Play Date, a gorgeous bright purple.  It is not pastel, but it is Spring.

It applied with relative ease; I do prefer my formulas to be thinner than thicker, though you might call this one a little too thin.  It did tend to pool easily, but for the most part played nice with me.  I have two coats on but I probably needed three. I was in too much of a rush to do a third, and it doesn't look terrible at two unless in direct light.  For a cream, I can't really complain at the ease of application.

I love this color. I know Essie tends to make a lot of purples in this same family, but I have nothing like it.  I'm very pleased with it, just looking at it will make you feel better about the day.

I was hoping to do a comparison post again soon, but I don't know if I have much in the way of time and those seem to take a little longer to do up.  Either way, I'll have something new up soon.

FYI, JulieG polishes are on sale at Groupon.  I'm waffling over here about weather I need these or not.  They're the drugstore version of Zoya Pixie Dust and OPI Liquid Sands.  I want them but I don't know if I should take the plunge.  I really wanted the LA Girls 3D colors but now that this sale is here...I don't know what to do.  I may have to sleep on it.


Until next time, folks.