NoTE-OPI Ski Teal We Drop w/Mad As A Hatter

Yesterday, Monday, I had an urge to polish my nails. What color, I really didn't know. So I had a conversation with my self. It went something like this:

Me: I want to paint my nails.
Self: Well, what color do you want to use this time?
Me: I don't know!
Self: *silence*
Me: Umm, what about teal?
Self: It's still summer! You can't do teal in the summer!
Me: I don't care. I want to use Ski Teal We Drop, and I don't care that it was a winter color, and you can't tell me what I can't do! *violent raspberry*
Self: Fine, whatever, but when people start looking at you weird(er than they do now), you'll think back and realize I was right. *gives a violent raspberry back and flounces off*

So I used Ski, and to bling it up a little, I did an accent nail, which I've never done before. By the way, the man hates it. He's a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to polish colors, and never seems to like the nontraditional colors I prefer. He especially dislikes the accent nail.

One coat Orly Bonder
Two coats OPI Ski Teal We Drop
One coat OPI Mad As A Hatter on thumb nails
One coat Seche Vite, with two coats on thumb nails to smooth out the glitter.

I took pics for once, because I like the result a lot. However, my pic taking skills are less than great, and my cuticles are imperfect. If that bothers you, consider this your warning and scoot. :)

NoTE-OPI I Brake For Manicures

I bought this one yesterday, at the mall. I had doubts about it in the store, but bought it anyway. In all the swatches I'd seen online, it looked dark, but you could see the plummy tone to it. Well, on my fingers it looks like mud. Very dark brown mud. I've looked at it under daylight CFL lighting, fluorescent lights, incandescent lights, and indirect sunlight. In all lights, it still looks like mud. The only time I could see the plum base was when I shone (how's that for obscure conjugation?) my very bright Mag-Lite at one of the nails. I can't be carrying around mini Mag-Lites attached to all my fingers, now, can I? The inevitable conclusion is that this sucker has GOT to go back to the store. I think that's probably for the best, since I also ordered three colors from Zoya last night, and the money from the OPI can go toward those. Yes, I'm that much of a cheapskate these days. Being unemployed brings most discretionary spending to a crashing halt.

Now, the formula on the OPI was wonderful. It was completely opaque in two coats, and self leveled very well. I'm not a fan of the Pro Wide brush because my nail beds are a bit on the skinny side, and the brush is huge. It also tends to hold onto a lot of polish, then release it all at once, so be careful to wipe enough off that you don't get flooded with polish.

One more thing. I've started a new tag in honor of this color: ugly.

NoTE-China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Ruby Pumps: a classic glam red glitter.

I trimmed my nails short last night, because I wanted to wear Ruby Pumps. Such a luscious color really deserves nails that are even in length, don't you think? Since I can't lengthen the short one,  I shortened the rest. I think it looks great.

Ruby Pumps, for those that don't know, is a gorgeous red tint packed with red glitter. It's really awesome, and a polish I wish I would wear more often. I used three coats over Orly Bonder, and finished with Seche Vite. Usually glitters have a rough texture, but Ruby Pumps didn't, so one coat of Seche Vite was enough.

I can't stop staring at my nails.

Polish disappointments

Several days ago Scrangie had pics of the FingerPaints Fall collection on her blog. One of them, Military Green, caught my eye. I had wanted to get in on the faded khaki green trend I've been seeing this year, but so far none of them seemed like they'd go well with my skin tone. This one, however, looked right up my alley. I went to Sally Beauty to see if they had it yet. They did. In fact, they had the entire collection, which is unusual. Usually they've sold several before I get around to looking. I was so very disappointed. In the entire set. Scrangie's pics were gorgeous, and showcased some lovely, saturated colors. What I saw in the store were faded, warm toned, muted fall colors. Pale imitations of the 'net pics. Everything except the gray was a warm toned, yellow based color. Military Green was very far away from something I could wear.

I left with nothing. They didn't even have Orly Sapphire Silk. I'm so, so disappointed. So far every fall collection I've seen except the Zoya one leaves me cold, uninterested, or disappointed. At least I have a lot of lovely colors from last fall's collections, which will be getting much more attention when the weather cools down.

NoTE-China Glaze Gamer Glam

I'd been wanting to wear a holo for a few days, and with Hayden showing a bit of tip wear, I decided to do a polish change. ChG Gamer Glam is a light/medium purple holographic color. The holo isn't strong in this collection, which is a big disappointment. Still, GG is a great purple, and I'm all about purple.

One coat Orly Bonder
Two coats Gamer Glam
One coat Essie Good To Go fast dry top coat.

GG applied well, and dried quickly, as holos usually do. I don't know what else to say about it. I had no problems with it, and it's purple. What's not to like? :D

NoTE-Zoya Hayden

There was a massive fire in the next town over, with the smoke coming this way, so we kept the girls inside last night. This provided me with enough time to polish my nails, for once.

Zoya Hayden was love at first sight for me. It's an incredibly happy, fun, bright pink with a blue flash. I've been recommending it to everyone I can because I think it's so great. Sadly, it's been a long time since I got around to wearing it. I'd forgotten that it's pretty sheer, which is kind of a bummer. Zoya has a few pinks very much like it, so I'm sure there's a more opaque version. I'll stick with Hayden.

The girls are staring at each other, and there was almost a pounce, but Molly backed out at the last minute. Silly things. :)

Back to nail polish. I used three coats of Hayden, and I still have VNL. I suspect it might have been almost opaque at four coats, but I really didn't want to do that many. It'll only be on my nails for a couple days anyway. I think I can survive with VNL. lol Application was superb. A little thin, like most Zoyas, but easily controlled, spread well, self leveled well, and dried pretty quickly with a fast dry top coat. Can't think of anything else useful to say, so I'll get outta here. :)

NoTE-Essie California Coral & Zoya Laurie-Updated w/pics!

I've really been slacking in my polish posts lately. So sorry. I'm busy during the day, then the man and I take the girls (cats) out for a walk after dinner, coming back when it's dark, and then it's computer time, so not much time lately for polish. I swear I'll try to do better!

I picked up Essie's California Coral at Target a couple days ago, in my search for the perfect coral. Sadly, it's not perfect, but it is quite nice. It's one of the pinker corals, so it doesn't look too bad on my pasty white skin. :D

One coat Orly Bonder
Two coats California Coral
One coat Zoya Laurie
One coat Poshe quick drying top coat

The formula's a little thin, but not overly, and needs at least two coats for acceptable, yet sheer coverage. Three coats is much better. The first coat went on a little streaky, but the second covered decently. I could still see VNL (visible nail line), but that's okay for tonight's plan. After the second coat of CC was mostly dry, I applied one thin coat of Zoya's Laurie, a sheer, pale pink, over the CC. The idea was to tone down CC and bring it even more to the pink side of the spectrum, all in the name of experimentation. I have to say it worked fabulously! I now have a lovely candy pink/coral that I think I'm falling in love with.

THIS is one that I need to take pics of, which I will work on tomorrow. Yes, it's that fab!

Edit: As promised, pics, but they're not the best quality. I apologize for my poor picture taking skills, the apparently sorry state of my cuticles, and the streaky application. I need to work my layering technique, but the idea is there: layering a sheer pink over a hot coral to get a lovely candy shade.

NoTE-Zoya Charla

Gosh, has it been a whole WEEK since I did my nails? Yeah, it has! Lemme tell you, time flies when you're up to your neck in problem after problem. Lemme also tell you this: the VA is NOT your friend, and someone needs to light a fire under their collective backsides. *grump*

Anyway, I'd been wanting to do my nails, but just couldn't find the time to do so. I had time tonight, so took advantage of that. At first, I was going to go with a bright pink, like ChG Ahoy! or maybe Nubar Honeysuckle, but thought I felt a bit more blue-green, and not so much into the pink just yet. Charla is bright, and summery, and sparkly, and will help me track where those pesky free weights are so I can get my form right. Yes, I've become something of a gym rat lately. I've got mini muscles now! lol

One coat of Zoya Get Even,
Three coats of Charla,
One coat Essie To Dry For.

Charla is a little sheer, so you need to build it a bit to three coats, where it gets pretty opaque. The formula is nice, fluid, and levels well. I love the foil finish on it. It doesn't dry textured, so you don't need a thick top coat, and it just looks fantastic.

NoTE-Zoya Reva and OPI Silver Shatter-Updated!

Friday night I felt like doing something a bit different, so I drug out the Silver Shatter and picked a bright, cheerful color to pair it with. That happened to be Zoya's Reva, from one of the summer collections they released this year. To be honest, I cannot keep the collection names straight. Reva is a reddish berry tone with a lot of gold shimmer. Very pretty.

Here's what I used:
One coat of Zoya Get Even
Two coats of Zoya Reva
One coat of OPI Silver Shatter
One coat of Poshe.

I made sure to wrap the tips with Reva, but, as usual, forgot to wrap the tips with the top coat. Still, I had excellent wear with this combo for THREE days! I removed it this afternoon, mainly because I was bored with it, but partially because after my shower, I noticed a smallish chip in one nail, and seized on that excuse to change it. Even after three whole and one partial day, there was only minor tip wear, and mild top coat fading. I was truly surprised. One thing I did want to mention: because Reva has so much gold shimmer in it, I think it would look much better with a gold shatter/crackle over it instead of silver.

Normally I don't take and/or post photos, but I did take pics the day after application, specifically to show you, my faithful readers. Yes, all three of you. lol Unfortunately, I've had no time in the last few days to actually edit them, and when I sat down today to do so, decided that Gimp was completely worthless to me, and have since kicked it the heck off my computer. So...I DO have pics, and will upload them when I can find a program that actually works.

Finally! It's been crazy here the last two days, what with a mouse in the apartment, and laundry & grocery day yesterday. I literally just got done editing the photos and uploading them. This kind of delay is why I didn't want to do pics at all. I feel bad that I might have kept anyone waiting for my pics, which aren't the best, admittedly. :)

NoTE-Zoya Dove

We were feeling lazy this evening, so we didn't take the girls out for their nightly walk, and lounged around. I took the opportunity to cut my nails down and polish them with Dove, which is a light gray creme that leans blue on me.

The Dorothy Who and Midnight Mission combo suffered several large chips today. It was unfixable.

One coat Orly Nail Defense
Three coats Zoya Dove
One Coat Poshe fast drying top coat.

I could have stopped at two coats, but one nail had a bald spot, so I figured I'd just give them all one more coat. It looks nice, but I think Dove isn't a favorite. Something about my skin tone brings out the blue, and I don't like that. Dove's formula is good. It levels nicely, and I had no funky problems with it. The fact I don't have much to say about it speaks to how good it is.

NoTE-Dorothy Who?

Last night...late last night, I got the crazy urge to polish my nails. So I did.

1 coat Zoya Get Even Ridge Filling basecoat
1 coat China Glaze Midnight Mission (my fave blue)
2 coats China Glaze Dorothy Who? (blue glitter)
1 coat Poshe fast drying top coat

I've used Dorothy Who? before, and it was sheer enough, despite the glitter, to require three coats. I've had good results from layering a coordinating color under glitters before, so decided to do that here. Perhaps I should have chosen a different color base, since Midnight Mission is darker than Dorothy, but it's not bad. Not what I was expecting, but not bad.

Dorothy by itself will produce a somewhat bright, eye catching blue glitter look. Layering it over MM produces a darker, subdued look. The glitter looks flat, somehow. The texture IS flat, which is not how it is on its own. On its own, it's the typical bumpy glitter feel, which requires one or two coats of Gelous or very thick top coat to cover.  Blue glitter-awesome. :D

108 Degrees update

While the polish is holding up very well, I'm going to remove it tonight. It's not the polish, it's me. I was fiddling with a metal pail and chipped two nails, one of them quite badly. I might be able to fix it and squeeze another day out of it, but one nail is very bad off, and the color will have to be removed tomorrow anyway.

Wrapping the tips in at least one coat of color and one coat of top coat works quite well, and really extends the life of a mani. If you don't mindlessly ruin it by fiddling with things and trying to use your nails as a pry bar.

NoTE-China Glaze 108 Degrees-again

One coat of Zoya Get Even Ridge Filling Basecoat.
Three coats of China Glaze 108 Degrees.
One coat of Poshe quick drying topcoat.

This was tonight's mani while watching Zombieland for the third time. Love that movie, and the rules are good ones to use even when there aren't zombies roaming the earth.

The Zoya base coat is my favorite. I never have problems with application, and am on my second bottle. My first bottle was perfect, but this one has a tendency to get little lumps in it, which I have to brush off with the brush. Not a big deal, considering how well it works for me.

Three coats of color, because 108 Degrees is fairly sheer, like I said in the last post. :) It's also VERY bright, so if that's not your thing, put it down and back away slowly.

This polish is packed with shimmer/glitter particles, and looks amazing in the sun. It's not too shabby in indoor lighting, either. Hot pink with fuchsia/hot pink shimmer, that reflects a little bluish in bright light, and looks more golden in low light. The formula is great, and gives no problems at all in application. It flows smoothly onto the nail and levels nicely. The brush is wonderful to work with; it fans out perfectly on the nail and doesn't do anything strange. I can't say anything bad about this one at all. :)

NoTD-China Glaze 108 Degrees

I know, it's middle of the day. At least, it is here on the west coast. I had some time today, while the man was out gallivanting across the countryside, to watch some TV and do my nails.  Let me just say this color is bright and amazing, and glitters like a fiend in the sun.

Started off with one coat of Orly Bonder.
Three coats of 108 Degrees. It's rather sheer, so three or even four coats will give you amazing depth of color and good coverage. However, it looks very pretty, though sheer, at two, so it's up to you.
One coat of Sephora by OPI top coat, followed by Qtica drying drops.

Now, I have to call out the top coat on this one because it was absolutely awful. Very thin and watery, and the brush did not spread on my nail at all. Difficult to work with. Also, the combo of this top coat and drying drops is a recipe for nail dings, scratches, bubble, and an overall janked up mani. I have never had my polish scratch and get dinged up when using a quick dry top coat, or even Zoya Armor with Qtica drying drops. This OPI top coat is going into the "don't ever use this stuff again" section of my polish storage. I have a feeling I'm going to be removing this color tomorrow and trying something else, it's that bad.

Love the polish, hate the top coat.

Edit: I've removed the polish. 4 hours after doing my nails, the polish was still dentable, and a chunk of it had come off my right thumb nail. It was a bad situation all around.

Delphinium Part Two

I've been waving Delphinium around on my nails for four days. Four! That's an astounding length of time for me. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten at least another day of wear if I hadn't started picking at it today. Unfortunately I picked at a corner at the tip, and a large chunk peeled away, so I had to remove all of it.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the wear time, and tip wear was minimal. There were a couple tiny chips, but nothing I couldn't either ignore or fill in and continue on. My normal wear time is 2-3 days before it either gets all janky or I get bored and need to change it.  I'm impressed.

Now that warm weather is here for at least a few days, it's time to bring out some brights.

I need to take the time to write up a reasoning behind this blog, my stance for the moment on pics, and a purchase disclosure. That'll be a blog post, and most will be copied to the "About Me" section. Soon.

NoTE-Sally Hansen Delphinium

Delphinium, light, lavender with a gray undertone. It's a bit dusty, and leans a bit reddish on the purple spectrum, but not too much. It would be a great spring time color. Oh, wait, it's still spring! Score!

Formula was good, spread on the nail well, and leveled wonderfully, though it wasn't very pigmented. I used three coats to get full coverage. I'm not a fan of the brush, but it's manageable. It's a little thick and bushy, and if you don't use a light touch, you can wipe the polish right off your nail.

In trying to open the Poshe bottle, I smudged a pinky nail. I remembered reading something on a nail blog fairly recently about fixing polish smudges with top coat, so I quickly applied the Poshe, and it smoothed out right away. Phew! Disaster averted.

I was up in Sacramento the other day, and went shopping. I only get up there once or twice a year, so I took blatant advantage and hit up Ulta, Sephora, and the BE boutique. I scored ChG 108 Degrees at Ulta. $6.99 though! Highway robbery. AND I forgot my 20% discount coupon. Bah. Still, it's such a gorgeous color that I'm trying not to hold its price against it. 108 Degrees is next on the list, unless we still have gloomy, chilly, damp weather, in which case I might get all gloomy with my color choice.

Update: Victoriana

Sadly, I've had to remove it. I noticed a couple small chips after today's shower, which I could live with, but a few hours later I saw a larger chip, then the polish on one of my pinkie finger nails started to separate and peel. I've never seen that happen. When I polished them, I used two coats, with Poshe top coat, and the tc and upper layer of polish peeled off. I can't go around with janky polish. No way.

I'm disappointed with the wear, but next time I use it, I'll try to wrap the tips to see if that helps. I usually forget, and my nails are usually pretty short, so there's not much room to do it.

It looks like I'm going "into town" tomorrow, and have plans to hit up an Ulta, so we'll see what I can score. :D

NoTE-Butter London Victoriana

I debated whether to do Sally Hansen Delphinium or Victoriana. Obviously Victoriana won.

I'm not sure if I love it or merely like it. I'll have to see it in sunlight and wear it for a bit to decide. The formula and application were frickin' amazing. Seriously. The polish is so easy to apply, it practically did it without me. Wow. Just. Wow.

The only thing I can complain about is that the brush is rather short. While that bothered me at first, once I finished the first nail, I forgot all about the length and just polished like a fiend. It was amazing. The polish flowed well onto the nail, leveled right before my eyes, and even covered the far side of every nail perfectly, which is something I've been struggling with lately. I'm completely impressed with the formula. If they're all like this, I want more!

I'll keep the blog updated on how it wears and any other thoughts on this one.

Edit #1: There are some things I should have mentioned last night instead of gushing. Vic, like the Zoya Flame collection, and the OPI Suede collection, has heavy shimmer, and needs to be placed with care. Otherwise, during clean up, you'll end up taking off the top layer of color, and leaving a lot of silver shimmer behind.

I still haven't seen the color in direct sunlight, but in indirect light it's very pretty. The weather's kind of iffy today, with intermittent sun, and quite a bit of wind. I don't feel like going out there.

Edit #2: Polish going strong, and wearing very well. Normally I'd have some visible (to me) tip wear, but it's barely visible. I'm my worst critic when it comes to polish, and I see tipwear when it's miniscule.

We had a tiny bit of sun yesterday, so I examined the polish in the light. It's pretty, and I like it, but I'm not in love with it.  Despite that, I can see using this often.

Update on Ski Teal We Drop

Still loving this color, though I discovered a couple of chips this afternoon. I've repaired them and applied a new layer of top coat, although the top coat I used left bits of "stuff" on some of my nails. I'm not sure if it's bits of dried up top coat or what the heck it is, but I'm not happy about it. It also didn't level well, left ridges on a couple nails, and some nails are scratched already. Not good. I'd classify this as a moderate top coat fail.

NoTE-Ski Teal We Drop

If I were to sum up this polish in one word, that word would be Amazing. Yes, with a capital A.

Opaque in two coats. It flowed onto the nail smoothly, leveled like a dream, and was perfection. I simply can't say enough good things about the color and the formula. I wish all polishes applied this wonderfully.

Ski is a dark teal blue creme, for anyone who didn't know or couldn't remember. It was released in OPI's 2010 Swiss collection. I wish I'd bought it then, instead of wasting so many months without it. I think this will be a year-round staple for me. Gorgeous!

Sally Hansen Complete blahblahblabbity blah in Delphinium

My nails are peeling, so I needed to go out and find something to deal with that. Knowing that the Sally Hansen shatter polishes are out and about, I headed to Walgreen's first. Saw them, but didn't buy anything. I was tempted by the gold, but it wouldn't have gone with anything I own, so I left it. Super pretty, though.

CVS-again, nothing I wanted to buy, and this one doesn't get a lot of new stuff. When they do get new, it's a little late, and not very much of it.

Sally Beauty-bought a bottle of Orly Nail Defense in hopes of fixing my peeling nails. As soon as I got back in the car, I put it on. Why wait? *shrug*

Target-was wandering through the polish section, examining the Essie, when I saw another display a couple aisles away. I can't remember the set up, but there was a display of brand new Sally Hansens; the limited edition designer colors, including Delphinium. Oooooh. I snatched it, right away, then grabbed a bottle of Essie's Super Bossa Nova, then wandered to the next display, which was a bunch of assorted Sally Hansens.

After all was said and done, and much dithering, I bought the Delphinium and a hairbrush and left. The color was bothering me, however, and I was sure it was close to something I already had, Done Out In Deco. Hmm. After dinner, walking the girls, dealing with the stupid clothes dryer in the laundry room, and the man "happening", I finally got to comp the two. Yes, they are very very close, but not dupes. Delphinium is lighter than DOID, and has a bit of gray in it. It's DOID's muted sister, if you will. Now I need to decide if I'll keep it.

Update on YMOMC and thoughts on Castle

I have a chip on my right index finger. This saddens me. I'm not seeing a lot of tipwear or shrinkage, however.

The green shimmer is starting to get to me. I love these colors in the bottle, but not so much on my nails. It's like the sheer jelly pinks: I love the look on other people, but loathe it on myself.

Yodel has a teal blue base, which I'm in love with, and the shimmer appears green. I'd bet it's actually silver particles that reflect green under the base color. I'd love to have a polish that's the same shade as this base color. It's fabulous. Maybe Ski will be close enough.


Okay, Castle thoughts after the jump.

NoTE-Yodel Me On My Cell

Before I get into YMOMC, I feel compelled to say  how much I enjoyed Winter Wishes. I didn't want to remove it yesterday, but there were so many layers of Gelous and top coat that it was peeling away from some of my nails. I will definitely thin it some more and try again. The color is too amazing not to try.

I bought Yodel Me On My Cell a few days ago at CVS. It's what I call a gray market polish, because the serial number has been filed off. I have no doubt it's authentic, but no way to prove it. In any case, it doesn't matter to me. That store had a few other shades from the Swiss collection, and I was torn between this one and Ski Teal We Drop. I put Ski back because it's so much like Blue India, but darker. Ski has been weighing on my mind ever since, and I bought a bottle at the mall today. Figured what the heck. :D

Anyway! Yodel was today's color. The first coat was a little thin and patchy, but the second coat covered well. To be safe and really build the color, I did three coats in total, and it was well worth it. Excellent opacity, and a pretty short dry time. Finished up with one coat of Seche Vite. Gloriousness. Even the man liked it. He hated Winter Wishes for some reason. I think it was the glitter in it.

I'm not a fan of OPI's brushes. They're generally too wide, and for some reason, I have difficulty reaching the far side of my right hand nails. I have to reload the brush and paint over the skin to make sure the nail is covered. A small pain, but a pain nonetheless. Also, with this polish being so thin on the first coat, you have to use a very light hand or get major bald spots, especially near the cuticles. I don't think it would be as much as an issue with a thicker polish, such as Done Out In Deco. I don't have the bald spot problem with that one, but I do have the same problem with reaching the nails properly. No problem with Zoya or China Glaze brushes.

I like this color very much. Ski Teal We Drop is up next. Can't wait!

NoTE-FingerPaints Winter Wishes

Winter Wishes is a champagne gold shimmer with light gold glitter, that was part of the winter/holiday collection for 2010. By the time I decided that I did, indeed, want it, it was sold out here. I  made a sad mention of it on Facebook, and my friend Kerry generously went out and got one for me. Thanks! :D

The first time I wore it, it was thick, goopy, crazy bumpy, and a total mess. In fact, I had so many coats of stuff on my nails, the whole thing just peeled right off. Fast forward a couple of months, and I wanted to wear it again. I've thinned it some, and it's better now.

Last night's application-still a little thick, but not unmanageable. Good opacity in two medium coats. Color is fabulous. Now that it's thinner, the glitter shows through much better. It literally twinkles on my nails. A touch more thining and it'll be nearly perfect. It is very bumpy, so you'll need either several coats of thick top coat, or one or two coats of Gelous, then top coat. In fact, I have to go over all the nails again with more Gelous. If your layers aren't thick enough, the top coat will fade and the bumps will become more prominent.

Winter Wishes is a great color for spring, and I'm glad I gave it another try.

Disappointed

I went to Sally Beauty to pick up one or a couple polishes, since I have a store credit. Unfortunately, they were out of 108 Degrees, from the new China Glaze Island Escape collection. They had all the other colors, but not the one I wanted. I can get it somewhere else, but I don't want to spend the money, especially since I have that credit. They seemed to have made the polish display smaller, too; combining the Orly and ChG displays into one. In the place where more polish used to be, there was a nail art/sticker display, so I chose a pack, and bought an envelope of Bubble White for my nails, which are becoming stained. That was all I bought. :(

NoTE-Kotori and Silver Shatter

Zoya Kotori, three coats, still not completely opaque. This color shines when applied over a black creme polish, otherwise it's too sheer on its own.
Silver Shatter over Kotori, one thick coat. I used a thick coat because I'd read on OPI's blog that if you use a thin coat, it can look muddy. I'm not convinced thick coats are the way to go. I'll have to try thin ones next time. Silver Shatter doesn't shatter as much as the black does, so there is more of the shimmery silver taking up all the attention. Perhaps I should have used Zoya Jo or China Glaze Midnight Mission instead of Kotori. Oh well, you live and learn.

I finally caved and used OPI Done Out In Deco. Opaque in two coats, and a lovely muted light/med. purple creme.  Perfect for spring, flattering, and muted enough not to draw undue attention to itself. It's pretty, the formula's great, and it dries quickly. What's not to like?

NoTE-Tanzy

Zoya Tanzy with Black Shatter over it.

The overall effect is of a bronzey brown, when seen from a distance. I changed up my technique this time; using diagonal strokes on some nails, and an attempted swirl on one nail, which was a failure. The brush is too wide to get any sort of swirl going on my nails, which are rather petite. A nice way of saying I have skinny fingers. I like the diagonal; it's interesting.

I could probably get another couple days of wear out of this combo, but I'll be removing it tomorrow. Tanzy just isn't for me, and will be going into my "get rid of" pile.

Stopped by my fave local salon because they claimed they had the new OPI Silver Shatter, via Facebook. They didn't. They lied. I'm sad. They did have the entire Pirates collection, just not the shatter. "It's backordered." Bah!!

What color to wear next? Done Out In Deco or Ahoy!?

NoTE

New term: NoTE-Nail of The Evening, since I almost always polish in the evening, not the morning or afternoon.

Today's NoTE is Zoya Tanzy. It's sheer, with a pink coral base and tons of gold shimmer. When you let your nails catch the light, it transforms from a lovely coral to a dazzling golden orange. I'm not sure if I like this color, because I'm not a fan of orange. It's a nice change, however, from my preferred purples, grays, greiges, taupes, and pinks. Because this one is so sheer, I did four coats to get a good color. If you're so inclined, you might want to try five and see how saturated that gets, but I stopped at four.

The base on Tanzy is similar to, but lighter than, the base for Rica. Apple's base is a lovely aqua/turquoise. I wish Zoya would develop these base colors on their own. They'd make great jellies, I think.

I was really enjoying MAC Blue India still, but my  nails had several run ins with the cheese grater this evening. After that, it was time to change the polish. I think I did a great job on application this time. I took my time and was careful to not push up against the cuticle like I usually do. I need to be more patient every time and not just slap polish all over everything near me. Ha!

MAC Blue India. Again. I spent the last couple days wearing stupid colors. Zoya Dharma, then Laurie. I hate them. They're fine if you like sheer colors, but I don't. I need to SEE color on my nails, and those two were NOT cutting it, so late last night/early this morning I put Blue India on. I love this color, and it seems right for the weather.  We have spring weather, but it's also overcast quite a bit, so the teal blue fits. It was either this or OPI Done Out In Deco, which I also love.  Now if I could just find a quick dry top coat that doesn't shrink my polish, I'd be thrilled. :/

NoTD-Franken

Some time ago I frankened a nail polish. What that means, for those who don't know, is mixing a bit of this color, a bit of that color, and coming up with a new color. I wanted to create the perfect light purple shimmer, which no one makes.  I mixed 4 or 5 colors together, but it was never just right, so I gave up. Feeling utterly bored with the polishes I have, I thought it was high time I tried this one out. Because it was mixed in a Wet N Wild Crave bottle, there's not much, and the brush is really short and not very good. The poor brush resulted in a less than acceptable application. However, I'm intrigued by the color. I can't judge it fully in the light in here, but so far it's not bad.

Light purple/lilac, with a pearly shimmer finish. There's a blue/gray tone to it that's rather nice. I'm not sure if it's too pearly. Once I can see it in daylight I can judge it much better. Three coats for close to full opacity, due to the large amount of FingerPaints Private Collection in it.

So far I'm kinda liking it.

NoTD-Zoya Apple

Last night, despite feeling a little ill, I did my nails using Zoya Apple, a bright apple green, like its name.

One coat of Orly Bonder
FOUR coats of Apple
Zoya Armor
Qtica drying drops

Yeah, four coats of Apple. That's nuts. It's still not opaque, but I don't think anyone else will notice. I got tired of polish shrinkage with the fast dry top coats, which is why I chose to use the Armor/drying drops combo. Right away I can see a difference in glossiness. Armor isn't as thick and glossy as Poshe or Seche Vite.

The man does not like this color. I don't like its sheerness, but am not sure if I like the color.

Edited to add more info and further thoughts.
Apple's base color is a pretty turquoise shade. All the gold shimmer added turns it into that bright green you see in the pics. It's nice enough, but after two days, I got tired of it. I doubt it'll be a color I wear often, at all.

Using Armor with drying drops resulted in no shrinkage, but minimal shine. I did get less tip wear, but I'm not sure it was worth it, overall. I'll try it again with other Zoya colors.

NoTD-Petites Color Fever-Periwinkle

Thicker formula than Zoya; on a par with Nubar. *snicker* It's not too thick, but just right. Two coats for full opacity. Great self leveling. Periwinkle is a dusty blue with a slight grey tinge.  It reminds me of Zoya Kelly, but lighter, bluer, and softer. It's a nice color, and one I'll wear again, but  I have a few others I like much more.

I filed my nails down a lot this evening, using a fine grit emery board, so the tips are quite a bit thicker than they usually are, and I didn't wrap the tips, so I already see some of the nail tips. I'm not going to worry about it, since I fully expect to be sick as a dog when I get up some time on Saturday. Then again, I was sure that was going to happen today, so we'll see what happens.

I did want to mention one more thing: when I wore Zoya Reva, I wrapped the tips, and that really helped a lot with the longevity of the polish. It's a little difficult for me, because I tend to keep my nails fairly short, and there's not much room between the tip of the nail and the tip of my finger for a brush. I hate getting polish all over my skin, and clean up is a pain. Still, if I can get another day or two out of a mani, it might be worth it.

Zoya and Nubar

Zoya Reva: I wore this for about two days, with minor tipwear, mostly on my right hand. My right thumb took the brunt, as usual. Application was good. Zoyas have a rather thin formula, and this was no different. The color was a rich berry red, with lots of gold shimmer. In indoor light, the gold shimmer takes over and brings this polish close to real red. In outdoor lighting, the berry color is more prominent, and each shimmer particle reflects light, which dazzles the eye. It's amazing in sunlight, and has a lot of depth and complexity. The shimmer particles are actually gold, which you can see when you remove it. Many polishes seem like they have different color shimmers, but most are silver, which reflects the base color in interesting ways.  This one's not super unique, but it's a nice complement to the rest of the collection. I have Apple and Tanzy left.

Nubar Honeysuckle: Way brighter in person than in pictures. Almost a neon, really, it's that bright. This is my first Nubar, but I don't think it will be my last. The formula is thicker than Zoya or China Glaze, but not too thick. It flowed well on the nail, leveled well, and behaved perfectly. It wasn't perfectly opaque in two coats, but it was close. I didn't see a need for three. Drying time was average, and it handles fast dry top coats very well, with virtually no shrinkage, which is a problem with Zoya and those fast dry top coats.  After 24 hours, there was the most minor of tip wear, almost exclusively on my right thumb. Normally at that time, I would see visible, yet minor tip wear on my whole right hand. Today, coming up to the third day, I started to see some minor tip wear on my right hand, but nothing that prompted me to remove the polish. In fact, I was going to leave it on until tomorrow, but had to remove it today due to a very large piece of the polish on my right thumb simply flaking off, taking a bit of the surface of the nail with it, when I opened an envelope. Weird. I'm blaming the Orly Bonder for the missing nail surface.

More Polish News

I took the unwanted Tronica colors back to Sally Beauty and got store credit. I was offered a choice of store credit or, through four transactions, to have the money refunded to my debit card. The girl was really nice, so I didn't want to put her out and chose the credit.

I just started pulling at some loose threads on my mouse pad and that has ended up in a bad situation. *sigh* I had better clip that off before Molly decides to chew on it.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll use up the credit at some point. At least the polishes are out of here. I was very sad to do it, since I'd wanted them so badly, but the two pinks just weren't working out, and the teal and violet chipped if you even looked at them wrong.

I buffed my nails this evening in an attempt to get rid of some of the staining that's occurring from wearing polish so much. At least, I think that's why. It could be the strong colors I favor. I'm trying one of the four Zoya polishes I got a few days ago. It's the coraly one. I forget their names except for Apple, which is green apple colored, and Tanzy, which is the orange one. I digress. I did three coats of the coral polish, and quite like it.  You could almost say it's a duochrome, but  not in the strict sense of the word. More like, if I tilt my nails one way, you can see the pinky coral color, and tilt them another way, and the gold shimmer takes precedence and it's more flashy and orangey, with a pink undertone. It's quite odd, but captivating. Even the man expressed some interest, though I'm sure he was merely being polite.

NoTD-China Glaze Tronica

This evening's  mani is Techno Teal and Virtual Violet, on alternating fingers. It looks surprisingly good together. Okay, not horrible.

I'm doing this to test the durability in order to determine which polish will be returned. I've already decided to return the two pinkish shades from the China Glaze Tronica collection. I don't love the colors, and space is too limited to keep colors I don't love. The last time I wore the teal shade, it chipped within 12 hours, which is unacceptable.  I might take it back regardless because I'm not loving the color. It's verging on this weird aqua shade that doesn't look right to me.



The results of the wear test: After 19 hours and one shower, both polishes show excessive wear, with the purple one showing multiple chips and one entire corner missing. Both colors are going back. I'm very disappointed in this collection.

China Glaze and Essie

Last week I bought a couple nail polishes from the new China Glaze Anchors Away collection from Head2Toe, and got them just a couple days later. I purchased Ahoy! and Below Deck. I wore Ahoy! first. I wasn't blown away by it, but it's nice enough. Raspberry pink with microglitter. Kind of a jelly finish, and the application was smooth. As usual, it started chipping on me by the second day, so I took it off and applied Below Deck, which is one of the trendy colors these days. Mushroomy, grey, purpley, taupey color. Strange, but strangely pretty. It changes hue depending on what it's near. If it's near purple, it looks more brown; near brown or gray, it looks more purple. The formula was a little on the thick side, but that works to its benefit I think. Fully opaque in two coats, and pretty glossy on its own. I wore that for almost three days, but it was chipping on me, and had to come off.

In my shopping today, I found the new Essie display at Walmart, and bought Dive Bar. It's a dark, nearly black polish, with strong blue/green shimmer. Gorgeous in the bottle. I put that on this evening. Formula: thin and kind of watery. Has a tendency to pool in the brush, then suddenly flood the nail with polish. Difficult to control. Thin coats look watery and streaky, so I ended up doing a thick coat for the first, and following up with a relatively thin coat for the second. Good opacity and color in two coats. *sigh* I just notice I have some crud stuck IN my ring fingernail. It looks like this mani will be very short lived. I'll have to do it again, probably tomorrow. Hopefully I can manage it better next time. I've never dealt with a thin formula and a sparse brush at the same time.