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.