I Need A Refresh-Mint!

Another Wet n' Wild.

I Need a Refresh-Mint is a blue-green/mint color, very Tiffany like. I love this color, it's just gorgeous.  The formula is ok on this.  I only did two coats but it probably needed three.  It tends to bubble very easily, but top coating it will help.  Do not shake this if you plan on using it that day, it is very bubble prone.  For a Mega-Last, dry time was great but I will probably just get the China Glaze version if I ever need to repurchase.

Photos are off slightly, as it appears more blue here.  It's much more minty than what is showing here, but I couldn't replicate the color.

Sorry for my lack of complete posting.  It's been a combination of very busy and very lazy.  Talk about vacillating.  I am still taking and editing photos, I just haven't had it in me to do blog posts.

I did decide to post an empty that is not polish related.  However, I'm proud of finishing this because I've never finished a perfume before.

I probably won't rebuy this, but I do like it, it has a very nice clean scent.  I've got too many other scents to work through, and I also want to get some more Escada scents added to my small collection.

I will have a few haul stuff to post soon too.  I'm really excited for that.  That's it for now.

Sunday Toppings - You've seen this one before

If you said to me, "Layla, you can only have one polish topper.  What would it be?" I wouldn't hesitate (well, maybe I would, because there is Essie Shine of the Times) to tell you it would be Essie's As Gold As it Gets.  This is a gold flakie top coat from the Luxe Effects line. I don't think this is discontinued (unlike the other Essie I mentioned).  It's very pretty and will give a little pizzazz to any old polish.  It's subtle, but it's great in that way too.

This is one coat over Wet n Wild's Private Viewing.

Another Wet 'n Wild

The most incredibly work appropriate color.  Wet 'n Wild Private Viewing.

As you can tell, I've used this one a lot.  It is too salmon for my tastes but I'll keep using it because it's the most bland, worky looking color.  Hard to even notice it on.

It's streaky and over time, has gotten thick and difficult to work with.  It's a slow dryer, at least on me.  I need three coats to get it truly opaque and not patchy.  I'm meh on this one, but like I said, I'll keep it until I've run out of it.  Won't repurchase.

Did I just find my new favorite polish?

Another hologram today.  This time Layla's Ocean Rush.  And I have to say, this is easily top 10 material.

This is a beautiful mid toned blue, with a ton of holographic sheen.  Gorgeous indoors and out.

Application was terrible.  It's incredibly patchy and I blame this largely on me not prepping the nails like Layla recommends as well as not having an aqua base.  I'm not filing my nails down though, they're already paper thin.

I did three coats then a top coat.  A fourth coat covered all the left over patchiness.  I did wear this for about a day and a half but this isn't something I can wear to work, plus it was getting a little worn looking so off it went.  This polish does seem like it would wear down easily, however I am tough on my hands.  I washed dishes, swept, mopped, did laundry and moved furniture with this on.

Photos don't do this justice!  It's really holo.

I am in need of an aqua base because 4 coats every time will make this disappear too quickly and I love it too much for that.  It might be my favorite polish (at least for today).

Won't you please take a trek with me?

Poor Take A Trek...I seriously forgot about it.  But that's about to change.

Another Hologram from the China Glaze line, this is what I'd call a pretty washed out denim blue.  Honestly, it's not really my cup of tea.  Not sure why I got it other than the words hologram.

First off, I thinned this bad boy right away.  Formula was thick and gloopy, and got gloopy again about 1/3 the way through the mani.  The holo is hard to see, but was easier to see indoors than outside (I guess because it's overcast).  I think thinning it did bring some of the holo out, but it's still nothing magnificent.

I do hear that if you're lucky, you may actually find these on clearance at Sally's.  So if you are still in want of a Hologram, go by Sally's and see what they have left.

To diverge a little bit, I'm going to be doing my first gel mani for the blog.  I used to do them all the time, but quit because I'm impatient and was ruining my nails during removal.  I'm going away for a week and I won't be able to tolerate nothing or a really old looking mani for that long so I'm geling it and probably putting a neutral regular polish on top.  I do have the tendency to pick if the mani is the same for too long so hopefully I will be able to restrain myself from such bad habits. That might not be the next post but it will be one coming up so be on the look out.  That's it for now.

Bubblegum pink

Pretty late night posting.

Today is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line, Bubblegum pink.  When I opened this up, I actually half expected it to smell like bubble gum.  It's pretty much a dead ringer for it.  Apt name.

My photos came out much bluer looking than it really looks.  My led lamp provides tons of light but it seems to gives some colors a bluish look.  This is much pinker.

Formula on this in my opinion was not good.  Very thick, hard to apply.  Not a good even spreader, so it would tend to just sort of stack on and look uneven.  Going over the same spot more than once made it look especially bad.  Had to do three coats to get it anywhere near well covered and experience some evenness.  Still pretty unacceptable though.  Easy to clean up.  Great color and will probably do much better after a little thinning.

Bohemian for work

This is cheating a bit...maybe.  But I did top this polish.

Swanky Silk is one of China Glazes Bohemian polishes.  It is rather plain looking at first glance, but I actually love it.  It's a great work appropriate color, one that's a little flashy, but it's so muted at the same time that nobody will question you on it.

Great color, it flashes from gold to pink.  The only issue I have with it is that it shows brush strokes like no other.  I sponge the last coat on to give it a less brush stroke look.  This is three coats with a quick dry top coat and then...mattified!  Mattifying it gives it even more of a muted look and can really tone it down if you still are uncomfortable wearing it to work.  Try it.

This polish I think has been discontinued, but I've seen it here and there...and for cheap too.  If you like the looks of it, I'd get it on discount.

Are mermaids real...or what?

Whew!  It is hot outside, and I mean hot.  Not sure how to do much with this weekend with the way it feels out there.

Today I'm showing Spoiled's (a Wet n' Wild line) Are Mermaids Real?  First off, I have to say, what a weird name for this.  Mermaids are blue/green, not purple!  Well, maybe they're what you make them.

This another very foily finish, a deep purple filled with a lot of gold foil intensity.

For some reason my images are showing much more of a purple look.  The foil is actually so apparent in this that it gives in a darker hue in real life.

I gotta say, I like this polish but it's not a be all end all.  And the dry time is ridiculously slow, even for a Wet n' Wild.  It's still somewhat dentable the next day.  This one might need some thinner to help the formula.

Sunday Toppings

Woo, I did another one!

Today is Hip-Anema layered with Wicked Polish Cardiac Arrest.  Here are the two side by side.

I did one coat of the Cardiac Arrest.  I just want to show you guys something about my bottle of Wicked Polish before the next photo.  Take a look at the line of use on that guy.  I've only used it twice!  It's dwindling away before my very eyes, I'm not sure what is going on.  It is thick, but it ain't that thick.  Considering this time I only used the one coat, it's going quickly.

This is a weird polish.  I much prefer it layered, it looks much cleaner than alone.  There are odd bits of black stuff in it (remember it is a diseased heart after all) which I didn't mention in the previous posting of this.  Also, some of the glitter bits are really stuck on the glass, I guess I'm not strong enough to shake them down.  I wanted this nice and smooth so I used a coat of Gelous and then a QDTC.  Came out real pretty.

Edit: Difficult to remove.  I did have quite a few layers of other polish on, but the difficulty in removal mostly lied with the glitter. 

Battle of the bar glitters

First off, updates and warnings.

I've had some major breaks in the past few days. I've hesitated swatching because the break on my photogenic hand was terrible.  It is downright dreadful so I wanted nothing to do with it.  The other hand (my left) has a noticeable unevenness to it on one of the nails but it isn't as bad as my usually hand so I'm using it in this post.

I today acquired some Biosil and I cannot wait to try it.  I'm not including it in my no-buy because I feel like I really need it.  It is supposed to help with hair, nails and skin, including making dry skin more moisturized.  I've long battled with dry skin, despite living in some of the most humid climates you can find in the US.  I've had problems with nails being paper thin, and extensive problems with hair and skin since before high school and I've tried a number of things.  I'm willing to give this a fair chance, and if it improves one thing I will be happy.

My no-buy is going strong!  I'm super happy with this because I've been resistant to putting myself out of the polish loop.  I've got a few more lemmings because of that and had to pull myself away from the Fuzzy Coats while in Target, but I've stayed strong and will most likely at least make it to June, if not beyond.

Now on to the good stuff!

In a very recent post, I mentioned how Faceted (Sinful Colors) reminded me of a color I already owned, Hard Candy's Tinsel Town.  I wanted to compare them because bar glitter is bar glitter, amirite?

Wrong.

These two polishes could not be more different.

Let's talk about Faceted first.

This is a pretty basic glitter.  It is a clear based top coat, filled with small round blue glitters and long and quite large bar glitters.

Tinsel Town is much more diverse than that.

It is a clear base as well, but it is packed with glitters.  Green and purple tiny glitter, as well as very small holo bar glitters.

I decided to swatch them one coat at a time.

The above is one coat on each nail.  The Index and ring are Faceted, middle and pinkie are Tinsel Town.  You can already see that Tinsel town is much more packed with glitter.

Now at two coats.  Tinsel Town is nearly opaque.  It reminds me seriously of Mardi Gras.

And at three coats.  Faceted is getting there, but it will always be a topper never a stand alone.

The formula on these is vastly different.  Tinsel Town is so packed with glitter that there is hardly any clear base.  It goes on easily and dries quickly.
Faceted on the other hand.  Oh dear.  It's a hot mess.  You can tell it's full of bar glitters, but they really don't come out on the brush all that well.  And the clear base? I have no other way to put this. It is like snot.  It actually grossed me out yesterday when I was just playing around with them. I guess you could thin it, maybe that would make the formula better.

I actually tried to capture the slimy factor for you; it's just hard to do that without it dripping while taking the shot.

One final pic with topcoat.

I actually like both of them, save for the formula issue. They aren't similar enough to say you don't need both. Faceted could really help a very boring polish just as Tinsel Town could.  Tinsel Town will not dry as shiny as Faceted.  It won't ever look as shiny I think, unless you used Gelous or a similar product and then topcoated.

Oh, removing both of these: surprisingly easy.  Reaaaally happy about that.  Fun, easy to remove glitter, how unusual.

Final verdict: Not dupes, no where close.  Feel free to get both!  Woohoo!

Wet N Wild -2% Milk

Woooo!  I'm back.  It's been awhile, I've been busy.  It's been hard to do much photographing period.  I'm going to try to do a bunch in a row so I have something to fall back on when life gets too busy.

Anyway.  Wet n' Wild.  I decided to pick this one up when they were half off at Walgreen's.  Many have raved about it so I just said what the heck. This is an amazing color.  Very "milky" looking, it isn't quite white, but it isn't pink either.  It gives the nails the MOST clean look imaginable.  It's just beautiful.  Please click to enlarge.

Caveat: It's streaky, I mean streak city.  I realize it's a sheer so it's going to do that, but man.  It would be so perfect if at three coats it evened out better.  I still had horrible streaks at three coats, but three was where I stopped.

I will probably pull this one out again because it really compliments my tan skin.  I might try top coating in between coats to try to get it to even some more.  I really don't want to do 4 coats because it doesn't need it.  Dry time was alright.  WnW tends to NEVER dry on me, so I waited a while between coats (maybe 5 minutes per) and then top coated it when it was still not try drying like I wanted.  Get it; you must.

These are normally $1.99 but can sometimes be had for half that.  I have nothing to disclose.