NoTD-Zoya Edyta

Dark, golden green, with gold shimmer. Very pretty, very seasonal. Does not wear well. I've had it on for about 48 hours, and I have noticeable tip wear, and a couple chips already. Also, my beloved To Dry For by Essie is not making me happy. I've been talking it up because I was so happy with the quick dry time and the glossy finish, but it failed me miserably on my FingerPaints mani, and didn't fare well on this one. It looks dull, as if I didn't use a top coat at all. I don't know what's going on with it, but at this rate, it'll quickly become a has been.

The FingerPaints mani was...interesting. The color was surprisingly bumpy and thick, and just swallowed the Essie top coat. I ended up putting seven layers of stuff on, and then it all peeled off. The color is gorgeous, and I might put a drop of thinner in to see how that works. Next time I'll go straight to the Seche Vite top coat. It's thick, so it works better with bumpy polishes.

Next up is Scrangie, by Rescue Beauty Lounge. I just received this the other day, courtesy of Saucey, who's utterly fabulous. :D After that I'll revisit the FingerPaints color, in honor of Kerry's visit to NorCal. I'm going to test something first, however. I'm curious how close the FingerPaints color and $OPI Queen of Everything are. I'm thinking about doing an accent manicure, but sort of a reverse. Most people do a "normal" color, and then choose either their ring fingers or their thumbs to apply the glitter color to. I'm going to switch it up, and have the accent color be Queen of Everything. That's the idea, anyway. I'll have to test to see how it'll look.

NoTD for Wednesday

I've had this color on for a bit more than 24 hours. I've been a bit brutal with my nails, so I've already chipped one, and have some tip wear on some others. Oh, the color! Yes, you'd want to know, wouldn't you? Zoya Kelly, new for the fall. It's a beautiful, deep, grayed blue with a tendency to look a little purplish in some lights. Creme, no shimmer, and only two coats. I really like this one. It's a bit edgy, and good for the fall season.

I still have Edyta to wear. I'm not sure I like that one, but it might be one that grows on me. It's a weird color. The base is this bright aqua/teal/blue color, but so loaded with gold shimmer, that it turns this golden green. Very strange.

NoTD-MAC Blue India

I put this on Monday night, and it's still going strong.  The very first time I saw this color, online, I was intrigued. I was allowed to swatch it on a nail at the counter, and fell in love. It's the most expensive polish I own, but the formula is top notch, and the color is amazing. Worth every penny. I can't stop staring at my nails, it's that good. It's fall weather, for Cali, and seemed to call for a more autumnal color. This fits right in.  Sometime soon I'm going to break out the Zoya Kalista, but not just yet. I'm lost in the greyed teal of this one.

NoTD-Color Club Worth The Risque

Worth The Risque is a silvery gray, holographic polish. I love these holos; they dry quickly and don't seem to build up as thickly as regular polishes do. A few months ago I bought Fashion Addict, Revvvolution, and Worth The Risque, and this one is the last I've tried. I really like Fashion Addict and was a little disappointed by Revvvolution. We'll see how I feel about Risque. So far it looks nice, and I don't have any other silver holos.


My last mani was two coats of Sally Hansen Black Out, with one coat of CND Violet Shimmer on top. It was utterly gorgeous. In some lights it looked like a red purple, but in most lights it was a blue purple. Really weird how the color shifted depending on the light source. I was very pleased that I got so much wear out of it. I put it on Thursday evening, and took it off Monday evening. That's quite long for me. The only reason I took it off was that the tip wear was getting more obvious, and there were a couple small chips. Other than that, it held up very well, and was still as glossy as when I first put it on.

Update on that Perfecting Base or whatever it was called that I used Monday. Utter crap. I broke out from using that stuff. It was awful. Sucked as a primer, and wasn't good for anything else BUT breaking me out. I'll be dealing with the fallout from that for the next week.

I removed the nail polish today because once it started wearing at the tips, it got bad very quickly and looked trashy. The color was still gorgeous, but I had white nail tips poking out, and that's not a good look. I think I have two polishes that I haven't tried yet, so I'd better get on those before I end up buying some more new ones. I need some more remover as well. I've been holding out, waiting for Zoya to have a sale, but I'm getting very low, and am not sure how much longer I can eke out the remainder. I may have to *sob* buy a drugstore remover! Oh, the inhumanity!!!

I'm still wearing First Class Ticket. Applied it Friday, and am just now seeing some tipwear. It's worse on my right hand, of course. Sadly, now that it's wearing, there are also a couple of small chips, and the wear is worse than it was this morning. This one might benefit greatly from color wrapping. I really really like this color, and am not quite bored with it yet. So gorgeous. A deep, inky blurple. (blue + purple)

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Professional Magic Perfecting Base-utter crap. It's advertised as the #1 primer, but the fine print says that's from drugstore and grocery sales, excluding WalMart. There really aren't that many primers in those venues, so it's pretty easy to be the top dog. Anyway, I have a sample from a magazine and thought I'd give it a try today. It's heavy on the silicone finish, does not do a thing to my pores, and my mineral foundation is simply sitting on my skin, and is easily scraped off. At first it felt weird, then I got used to it. However, I'm distinctly unimpressed with the feel, the application, and the results. I most definitely will not be buying this product. I'll stick with my BE primer, which works quite well.

NoTD-China Glaze First Class Ticket

One coat of ChG ridge filling base coat. Every time I use it, I dislike it more. It takes a long time to dry, and stays tacky.

Two coats of First Class Ticket. I think three coats would have been perfection, but two is pretty good. The first coat looked like thick grape concentrate. The second coat covered well and brought it to near opacity. In ordinary light it looks nearly perfect. It's only when you shine a very strong light on the polish does it look less than perfect. The color, at two coats, is gorgeous. Deep reddish purple base, with a blue purple overtone, and multi colored shimmer with some blue in it.  It seems to change depending on the lighting. At one point, reddish purple, then bluish, then just an amazing purple, and the blue shimmer comes and goes. It's a lovely color.
One coat of Essie To Dry For. It seems to be an excellent top coat. So happy I bought it.

I bought the new Maybelline Eye Studio gel eyeliner the other day when I was shopping at Target. I almost put it back, telling myself I already had a gray gel liner, and that I certainly didn't need another. At the last moment, I figured what the heck and tossed it into the basket. I've used it twice, and so far I like it. The gray is just the shade I've been wanting, the texture is nice, application is easy, and I actually like the little brush that comes with it. The bristles are just the right length and stiffness to make application smooth and easy. It doesn't smudge, and lasts for at least 7 hours, so far.

I went to the mall the other day and ran across a display of the OPI Swiss collection. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I walked away with Ski Teal We Drop and Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous. BOGO half off. (buy one get one) From the first moment I saw Ski, I wondered just how close to MAC Blue India it was. I've just done a comp, but the lighting's not right, so no pics. I did every other finger with one or the other color, and did both on my thumb nail. Ha. Ski IS very much like Blue India, but it's deeper, more vibrant, and has more green, making it a truer teal. Blue India is a grayed slate blue. Wearing them side by side, you'd never mistake them for each other, but if you were to wear one or the other, I doubt a "civilian" would be able to tell them apart. I'm undecided if I'll return Ski. I like the color, but I certainly don't need it. Then again, I don't have anything else exactly like it. Ah, I'm waffling again. I could justify it by saying if I return it, then I can afford a bottle of Remove +, and that's far more important than this color. I guess. :D

Moonstruck, part two

Friday night I painted my nails with Confetti's Moonstruck. I was initially unsure how I felt about the color, but after wearing it for nearly two days, I kind of like it. It's an interesting color: grayish one moment, brownish the next, changing depending what color is near it. I AM noticing moderate tip wear. This seems to be normal for me these days. I guess I should start wrapping the color over the tips to see if that will help.

This afternoon I started getting bored with the color and drug out my Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. This is an opalescent, flaky polish. The flakes flash mostly gold with some green showing depending on the angle of lighting. One coat over Moonstruck, then a layer of top coat. Voila, a new color!  It's settled down into a steady brownish tone, and the flakies, shining gold, give it a lovely orangey/coppery flash, almost like a foil overlay. I'll probably mattify them tomorrow to see how it looks. Experimentation is fun.

Nail of the day: Moonstruck, by Confetti

Confetti is a newish polish brand I read about on a nail blog, and found in CVS. Was it $2 or $3? I can't remember. Fairly inexpensive. Moonstruck is a gray, brown, mousey taupe shade with a bit of a purple tinge in some lights. Creme, no shimmer at all. I applied one coat of ChG ridge filler base coat, two coats of Moonstruck, and one coat of Poshe. The first coat of color was streaky, and there were some bald spots where the brush had pulled most of the color off the nail. I applied the second coat a little thicker to make up for it, and it was really nice. The polish leveled out nicely, and everything seems covered. I'll know more tomorrow, in the sun, of course. I'm not sure how I feel about the color, but tonight I like it well enough.

Nail of the day: Zoya Gilda.

I've had this on for about a day and a half. Really pretty color, glittery, foily, flashy texture, but smooth. It was kinda sheer, so I did three coats instead of my usual two. I like the color, although Hayden seems to still be the "omg, I love this color" polish. I did the usual Zoya base coat, 3 coats of Gilda, and a coat of Poshe. The bad thing about this is that I have tip wear very badly. I don't know why. It might be the color, or it might be the Poshe. It's not shrinkage, either. I can feel the top coat and polish has worn off. Maybe the Sparkle collection doesn't have the durability the other colors do.

Untrieds: one Confetti polish, one Color Club (worth the risque), three China Glaze-Emerald Fitzgerald, First Class Ticket, Bogie.

I used Color Club Revvvolution earlier this week, and have to admit to being disappointed with it. I'd read such glowing reviews on nail blogs, but I felt the holo shimmer just wasn't as amazing as I expected. In fact, the previous CC holo I tried, Fashion Addict, was far better as far as holo shimmer. They're from different collections, so maybe that's a reason. Worth The Risque is from the same set as Revvvolution, so I think that'll be a good comp.

Nail of The Day-NoTD

Nails of the day! Color Club Revvvolution. Charcoal holo goodness. I'm not sure how many "r"s it has, so I threw in three for good measure.

Last time I wore a CC holo, it was Fashion Addict, which is a great color. The polish dried quickly and wore quite well. That time I think I used the ridge filler base coat from Zoya, which I love. I don't remember the top coat, but it might have been Seche Vite. This time I used the ridge filling base coat from China Glaze, and that thing took forever to dry. I got tired of waiting, and applied the color while the base was still tacky. It seemed to take longer for the polish to dry using this base. I also decided to use a Sally Hansen top coat I had lying around. I'm not happy with it. It's not as shiny as the others I've used, and I think my polish is still dentable, even though it's been at least 3 hours since I did my nails. I might have to redo them as early as tomorrow. I'll have to see how they are in the  morning. So far I'm not pleased with the base or top coats I've been using.

I've been wearing Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty for the last two days. It's hard to see tip wear with light colors, but I can feel the wear when I run my fingers over the edges. It's more pronounced on my right hand, which makes sense. I got a couple compliments at the dentist's office yesterday, and I'm kinda digging the color. It's very eyecatching. Started to get a little bored with it, so I put a coat of FingerPaints My Private Collection over it to jazz it up. MPC is a clear base with multi-colored shimmer particles in it. I can see pink and blue and green, and a red-violet iridescence over the whole thing. It's kinda neat, but probably better suited to a dark color. It doesn't look that great with the yellow. I may do a different color tomorrow night. I realized I still have a couple Color Club holos that I haven't worn in addition to the Confetti, the Zoya, and three China Glaze polishes. I'd better get my butt in gear.

I received these China Glaze polishes the other day; Emerald Fitzgerald, Midnight Mission, First Class Ticket, Bogie, and a ChG ridge filling base coat and Poshe quick dry top coat.

I had some time tonight, so instead of using the next to last untried Zoya, I decided to go with Midnight Mission, and use the two base and top coats. First impression of ChG's ridge filling base coat: it goes on as a nude shade, unlike the Zoya, which goes on sort of milky. ChG takes about three times as long to dry, and seems to cover as well as Zoya. Two coats of Midnight Mission, then a coat of Poshe, which did a great job of drying the polish quickly. It seems to be a little thinner and smell less than Seche Vite.

Right after applying the second coat, I severely smudged a finger, and had to enlist the man's help to remove the polish from that finger. Poor guy had no idea what to do, so it took quite a while. One of these days I'll have to show him how to do it quickly, just in case I need him again.

I was polishing in the bathroom because there's better light in there, but the awkwardness of the counter height made it very difficult. I ended up with polish all over my fingers. I won't be working in there again.

So...thoughts on Midnight Mission: It's gorgeous. It's been described as a navy blue with silver shimmer, and that seems a very accurate description. It's definitely a fall/winter color, but I couldn't wait. I'm also anxious to see it in sunlight, as that will bring out the color and shimmer so much better than lamplight. I swear I see a bit of tip wear already, but I'm not sure. It could be a faulty application, or freshly filed nail edges. I'll keep this on for a couple days to test things, then probably get bored and try a different color, like always.