My Birthday Mani

As with almost every major celebration-type event, I spend the day running around getting things ready and leave my nails to the last minute. This isn't always a bad thing because it means that I can't go back and forth over which polish to pick - I just have to be decisive and go for it!

I did it again yesterday - it was my birthday and I had 15 minutes to get my nails done so we could get to my parents' house on time. 

What mani to go with? Time for a glitter sandwich with OPI Funny Bunny! It's a nice clean white jelly, which is perfect for the middle of summer. I layered it with my favorite version of Lippmann's Happy Birthday knockoffs - Confetti Tazmanian Devil. The fine silver glitter that makes this version different than the rest gives it an extra delicate and pretty look.

Here's a coat of Funny Bunny, one coat of Tazmanian Devil, and a second coat of Funny Bunny all over Essie's Fill the Gap! ridge filling base coat (to guarantee extra smooth, streak-free application) and topped with Seche Vite so we could get out the door as quick as possible.

I added an extra coat of Tazmanian Devil on my thumbs so they could be full-on, blingy glitter.

Simple, straightforward, and looked just like the sprinkles on my birthday ice cream cake!

SinfulColors Lush Life

Like most people, I picked up a few bottles of SinfulColors during their latest Walgreens sale.  My Walgreens had the Almost Famous (aka the Rite Aid Paparazzi display that we don't have in AZ because we don't have Rite Aids so I have to visit every single one I see when we go on out-of-state trips) and Sugar Rush displays fully stocked. 

I'm leading off with one of the glittery ones from the Almost Famous collection. Lush Life is a greenish turquoise glitter in a clear base. To me, the small glitter looks round, but, on an extreme zoomed-in look at the picture, they appear to be small hexes. Since the pictures don't lie and it might be time for me to get a new contacts prescription, I'll go ahead and say this polish has large and small hex glitter.

Here's one coat of Lush Life over two coats of Color Club Blue-topia, which is a dark navy jelly.

Lush Life is a nice layering polish with enough glitter to be visible and sparkly with just one coat while still leaving the base color nice and visible. It's also nice that the larger hexes don't curl up at the edges. Some low-quality large glitters do lift up which ruins a mani in every way possible - visually, texture-wise, durability, blegh.

If your eyes are sharper than mine, you might have noticed that my ring finger looks slightly different from the other three. Since Blue-topia is a jelly, I experimented by alternating two coats each of Blue-topia and Lush Life on that nail. You can see the navy colored up some of the first layer of Lush Life making the lower hex glitter royal blue. It was a very subtle effect because Blue-topia is pretty opaque in one coat. Still, I think I'd like to try alternate layers with Lush Life and another jelly polish next time because I liked the swimming glitter look this had in person.

Milani Techno Red

After a few pinks, I thought it was time for a red. After enjoying the squishy Maybelline Gold Fleck Fuschia, I decided to go with a nice jelly. 

I pulled out Milani Techno Red from their Neon line. This line may possibly be discontinued.  I'm not 100% sure since I've been under a rock for the last few months about the coming and goings of polish collections. I got my bottle during a CVS clearance sale last fall, which means this line was discontinued or repackaged. If you can find any of the Milani Neons, pick some up because they're easy to apply and have a great jelly finish.

Keeping to my unofficial drugstore theme this week, I did an accent nail with Revlon Slipper and Maybelline Express Finish Deeply In Love.

Slipper, Techno Red, Deeply In Love

Milani Techno Red is a warm red-orange jelly. It does dry matte without a top coat, but I don't think it's a true eye-searing neon. Here it is with two coats and a shiny top coat.

On my ring finger, I topped it with a thin coat of Slipper (a red and silver glitter in a clear base) and Deeply In Love (pink hearts in a yellowing clear base with red glitter that never makes it on the nail). 

This mani felt bouncy and playful with the soft tomato nails and heart-covered accent. I thought this was a cute look, but it definitely confused my husband.  He isn't used to me playing with accent nails, so he thought I had smushed my nail or something. Upon closer look, he realized they were hearts, not dents or dings. I think next time I'll wear this accent nail with a different base color, like a light pink, so there's a bigger contrast and the effect looks more intentional!

Cult Nails Get It On & Wicked Fast!

I was lucky enough to be one of the few people chosen to test drive the new base and top coat from Cult Nails!  Are you ready to see what Maria's come up with this time?

I've never done this before, but... here are my bare nails (eep)!!  

I had some funky staining awhile back so I lightly buffed my nails.  As you can see, there's now a clear line straight through the middle between buffed and unbuffed nail.  I've been using a ridgefiller base coat while the buffed part grows out to make the surface even again.

Here are my nails with one coat of Cult Nails Get It On Perfecting Base Coat.

Where's the uneven line between buffed/unbuffed?  Where are my minimal ridges? Perfected! One coat and everything was smoothed over.

Get Even has a shiny finish, but not in a slick way. The dried texture is slightly rubbery so it's ready to grab on to the polish.  It also dries quickly - I can't stand base coats that take forever to set. Get Even is one of those base coats where Finger 1 is dry by the time you're done putting it on Finger 10.

It was Friday, so I was ready for fun weekend nails.  I decided to try out Get Even and Wicked Fast with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away.  This shade was released in Spring/Summer 2009, but I didn't buy it until it recently made it back on to drugstore displays as a featured shade of the season.  It's very pigmented, so some people can get away with just one coat.

I wore it here with two coats and one coat of Wicked Fast.

Here are my tips with Blue Me Away after four full days of wear.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of wrapping the tip of the fingernail with polish and top coat to my friends who want to make their manicures last longer. It really works! Don't leave the edge of the nail bare - seal that color on!

Normally, tip wear is minimized but the combo of Get Even and Wicked Fast cemented Blue Me Away on. Even after days of cleaning, typing, dish washing without gloves, there's still polish on the nail edge.

Here are my bare nails right after I took Blue Me Away off.

Four days of wearing a bright blue shade over only one coat of base coat and there was no significant staining on my nails themselves.  I even got crazy smurf fingers when I was taking Blue Me Away off - there's still a touch of blue staining on the right side of my cuticles visible - but my nails were fine!

I think one of the best tests of base/top coats is how they act with cremes because it's a very unforgiving finish.  Jellies would have to be the next hardest finish because of its tendency to bubble and pull away from the tips.  Next up was my manicure to celebrate "the end of summer" over the long Labor Day weekend.

Here are my nails with two coats of New York Summer Hot Orange, one coat of Cult Nails Captivated, and one coat of Get Even and Wicked Fast each.

Here are my nails after five full days of wear.

My nails grew out but the polish didn't go anywhere!  I wore Get Even and Wicked Fast for a day or two with other polish brands and finishes.  The results were consistently the same - once the polish dried, it stayed put nice, shiny and smooth.

I loved Get Even Perfecting Base Coat from the second it dried on my first nail.  I had to get to know the Wicked Fast! Quick Drying Top Coat before I grew to love it.  Why?  Because it's not a thick quick drying top coat, so it shouldn't be treated like one!  That seems like a logical no-brainer, but I've been using thick top coats like Seche Vite and Poshe for a few years and old habits die hard.

Wicked Fast is a thin top coat. You don't need a large bead to be slathered and oozed on the nail for it to work.  The more you put on, the slower it'll dry and the more likely it'll bubble. You don't need a thick layer or multiple coats of Wicked Fast.  One thin coat.  That's it.  Really.  That's all you'll need to make this work!  Put it on thinly and it'll dry quickly to a hard glass-like finish.

After trying Get Even and Wicked Fast for the last few weeks, I know that I'm in love. So far, they get along with all of my polishes, they make them last forever, and they're so easy to work with.  I love the Cult Nails bottle and brush and I love their formulas. Once again, Maria has blown my mind with her creations.

Get Even and Wicked Fast are expected to go on sale at the end of the month, so keep your eye on the Cult Nails shop and definitely plan on getting your own!

OWWWP - BB Couture Hermosa Surfer Girl

I finally have one of those comparisons I mentioned before!

Hermosa Surfer Girl is from the BB Couture California Beaches collection. This reddish pink jelly is packed with multicolored glitter and happens to be BB Couture creator Cindy Scott's favorite shade.

I don't think I could achieve full opacity with this jelly because it is on the sheerer side. From swatches online, I've noticed that people will use four coats to achieve a darker raspberry shade with Hermosa Surfer Girl.  I used three coats because I think the pink looks brighter and more summery.

The absolute best thing about this polish is the incredible glitter. This shade is packed with tiny silver microglitter and slightly larger multicolored glitter. You can see gold and green and red and orange - like an explosion of pixy stix sugar!

Zoya Lindsay is a pretty pink jelly with a lovely silver-lavender shimmer running through it, but I think Hermosa Surfer Girl spoiled me. Shimmer is nice, but I love that multicolored glitter... shall we compare on the hand?

 Lindsay, HSG, Lindsay, HSG

These two polishes are definitely similar with minor differences - Lindsay needs that fourth coat (either full or touch up) because it's that sheer, Lindsay dries faster and smoother, Hermosa Surfer Girl has a slightly redder base and it needs a top coat to smooth the fine grit finish that it dries to on its own. I like them both on their own, but side by side, I prefer Hermosa Surfer Girl.

I'm in a Project Runway mood (counting down the days to the new season premiere) so to paraphrase Michael Kors - it's like someone took the volume dial on Lindsay and *zhoosh* cranked it up to get Hermosa Surfer Girl. Maybe I could layer or add something to Lindsay for a *zhoosh* boost?

LA Colors Shock

Happy May Day! I love spring and I'm trying to enjoy it to its fullest. Summer is my favorite season but it lasts a long time here in Arizona. Since summer will be here from June to September, I'm making a concentrated effort to wear my spring polishes until we're hitting triple digits consistently (hey, but it's a dry heat!).

In my search for colors that are light and happy without being the brighter saturated shades of summer, I tried out a polish my husband picked out for me at Dollar Tree. Shock is a bright, yet light, orange from the LA Colors Color Craze line. I thought it looked like Sunny Delight in the bottle.

This polish looked fine at two coats, but I added a third coat for extra depth in the color. Then I got in a fight with our dryer door and slightly dinged my ring finger, but that wasn't the polish's fault. It was drying quickly, but it had no chance against a large appliance door.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Shock dried with a squishy, jelly-like finish.

Shade - Squishy!!

Unfortunately, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that Shock took on a bit too much of a yellow-orange hue when it dried on my nails. Why couldn't it have stayed more orange-y? It's not a bad shade. Really! But I can never wear this polish again. Ever!!

Why?... Shock, when dry, is almost a dead ringer for ASU Sun Devil Gold. I'm a proud Wildcat and I just can't wear my rival school's color!!! My sister will be graduating this month with her undergrad degree from ASU, so I will be gladly and happily gifting this polish to her for a graduation pedicure. Early Congrats to Mi Hermana!

New York Summer Hot Magenta

I want the sorbets from the OPI Spring/Summer 2011 Texas collection, but I'm on a no to low-buy until I find a job in AZ. I'm trying to hold out for a good career job this time, so for now, no sorbets for me.

That doesn't mean I can't have fun wearing a juicy, fruity, fun jelly, though! I shopped my stash and I got out one of the Hot colors from New York Summer.

Quick Back Story on this Brand: New York Summer polishes are under $2. Does this low price mean low quality? Their glitters are so sheer that they can only be used for top coat or franken mixing. Their shimmers can be frosty and boring. Their Hot shades are different - they tend to be easy-to-apply neon jellies in a wide range of colors.

Hot Magenta went on in three, quick drying coats. I didn't have any cuticle drag, so I could've gotten away with two coats, but I find I have significantly better wear with three coats of this polish. The look is still squishy but VNL is all gone with the third coat.

Direct Sun

Indirect Sun

This is one yummy pink - it's like wearing fruit punch on the nails. This might not be an OPI sorbet, but this is still a fantastic jelly!

China Glaze Ahoy!

I'm going to try and be really brief because I gotta get to the TV. Two of my favorite shows are on tonight - Community and Parks & Rec! It's the D&D episode on Community and would I really be a good MPA if I didn't LOVE Parks & Rec?

Know what else makes me smile like these funny shows? A really pretty polish! I heard an ice storm was going to hit the city this week and Ahoy! was bright enough to counter the freezing weather.

This pink is one of the big stars from the China Glaze Anchors Away Spring 2011 Collection. Even though it's from a spring collection, I think Ahoy! looks like the winter cousin to CG Strawberry Fields.

This is a bright magenta jelly infused with tons of orange-gold shimmer (see it towards the bottom of the bottle - that's what the shimmer looks like on the nail in daylight). The shimmer is almost always visible at every angle. Indoors - even in dim lighting - the shimmer keeps on sparkling but it looks more red-fuchsia.

Also, I believe that Ahoy! is related to OPI's Let Me Entertain You, but LMEY is a cooler shade that leans toward purple-fuschia with a more foil-like finish.  Definitely not dupes, but I think they can be called 1st cousins.

Off for TV time!  But I will be back tomorrow with something fun for all - be ready!!  **EDIT: I'll be back NEXT Friday - I'll explain the delay then ;) **

Que Suerte! China Glaze Carnival Lights

China Glaze Carnival Lights is one of my glitters from their Specialty Collection. I love wearing this polish - I've already gone through half my bottle! This is one of my favorite polishes and, as of this past Friday, it's my official Good Luck Polish!

Carnival Lights is a medium pink-magenta jelly base glitter filled with tiny square silver glitter and larger multicolor hex holo glitter. This glitter lays so smooth on the nail - no grit at all! The silver glitter is very prominent with indoor lighting, so it looks like sugar sprinkles on a pink cupcake. In brighter light, the holo glitter stands out even more and the base looks lighter.

I think this would make a pretty layering polish - I would try purple or blue first - but I haven't worn it layered yet because I love the look of jelly-base glitter too much. The pictures above are with 3 coats for full opacity with no VNL. I'd prefer the look of 2 coats, but it seems to wear longer with 3.

I wore this polish on Friday to keep my spirits high while we waited for a phone call and we ended up getting the news we've been waiting for - more details in a bit when everything's official and planned. Carnival Lights was the perfect polish for me to wear when I wanted to feel happy and bubbly inside and out. It's my luck polish!

Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings The Blues

I picked up this polish in A Polish Problem's awesome blog sale.  Megan has a great selection that she keeps updated, her prices are decent, and the polishes come very quickly bundled tightly in layers and layers of bubble wrap.  Thank you, Megan!

This is my 2nd Lippmann polish - I'd love more, but even with sales, it's very hard to find these polishes under $14 each.  You could buy a set and get the price closer to $12 or $13, but what happens if you don't like all of the included shades?  I want way too many other polishes to let myself buy something that I feel halfhearted about and I do love my blue polishes so I was happy to pick this one up on its own.

Lady Sings The Blues is one of the three polishes from the Fall 2010 All That Jazz Trio. I wore this shade to celebrate Hanukkah with my husband's family this weekend.  Doesn't it look like a party with the sequin glitter?  This is large hex and tiny square silver glitter throughout a navy blue base.  Some polish had leaked out in transport so I added clear polish to revive and thin it to a slightly more jelly consistency. I think it brought the glitter out a little bit more. Even with all this glitter and the dark base, the formula made it easy to do clean up and removal - no smurf fingers! really!!

Sun - The smaller glitter is more visible

Shade - That glossiness is from Scrangie's tip to use
Gelous + Seche over glitter polish

I like the effect of the glitter swimming through this polish because it gives the glitter a multicolored effect - some pieces look more blue and some look more silver as they lay in the polish at different levels. This polish was so pigmented that I only used one coat with minor touch ups. This polish also had great wear - with all of the holiday baking, cleaning, and running around, I only had minor tip wear after 4 days.

Nars Zulu

My Zulu finally arrived on Tuesday evening! After all the hype, I was kinda nervous about my first face-to-face encounter with Zulu. When I finally got the nerve up to open the box and put it on, my fears were quickly assuaged. This dark green jelly flowed on to my nails like it wanted to be there. It was opaque, smooth, and very shiny in two coats.

I thought I loved Zulu because of what it symbolizes to the polish community - rare, coveted, completely beloved for its long awaited return. After it applied like a dream, I decided that Zulu had lived up to my expectations. Then I wore it to work this week and it completely blew me away!

My coworkers often check my polish to see the new shade I'm wearing. Normally, they come up to my desk and check my hand. Not with Zulu! They spotted it within minutes of saying hello from cubicles away. We'd be discussing something else and suddenly "What are you wearing? What's it called? Can you bring the bottle to work tomorrow?" They've asked the name of my polishes before, but never for a bottle loan. These ladies get their nails done, but they're not hardcore polish fans and Zulu still reached out and pulled them in.

What did Nars put in this polish? Zulu is bottled magnetism! (That's why I took my pictures with a magnet while my bottle was out on loan with a coworker.)

Sun - Visibly Green & Jelly - see those edges

Shade - Glossy & Dark

This is my first Nars polish and Zulu has incredible wear on my nails. When I took it off on Saturday evening - 4 full days of typing, baking, and even washing dishes without gloves - I still had polish on 4 of my 5 nail tips where I had wrapped the ends during the original mani! I rarely get chips, but I tend to get tipwear within hours even with wrapping.

I think I need a backup of this polish! I wonder if I can still find it anywhere...

China Glaze Atlantis

Atlantis is a dark turquoise-teal jelly base glitter. This has smaller silver glitter and multicolor holographic glitter.  I wore this polish as soon as I got back from Florida to keep the vacation going.

This polish is a glitter from China Glaze's Specialty Collection. These glitters are incredible! They raised the bar so high for all other glitters for me. Different size glitters, unique base colors, holo surprises - anything and everything you can imagine has been packed in to the Specialty Collection glitters.

This swatch was from the first time I wore Atlantis and I was playing around with the different looks from different coverage. My middle finger has three thin coats, my ring finger has a thick third coat, and my pinkie has two really thin coats.  After I put on top coat on it for the first time, I had to tweet rambling thoughts along the lines of "I've never seen anything quite like you, Atlantis. Beautiful Carribean oceany jelly sparkle fest glitter of awesome."

I love the base color so much - we honeymooned in Aruba and this base IS Carribean Blue. I even appreciated the way-too-bright-before-coffee lights on the subway ride to work because it gave the rainbow holographic glitter a mesmerizing sparkle. On repeat wears, I've aimed for coverage somewhere between my pinkie and middle finger so I can clearly see the base and the holo glitter stands out the most.