Finger Paints Gumdrops and Lollipops Spring 2012: Blue Raspberry Taffy

I've been working on my magnetic manicures, trying to get the technique down, figuring out which brand I like best, etc. In the midst of my mag-mani madness, I've gotten a little bored with having the darker stripey nails.

Then I got a flyer in the mail informing me that my Sally Beauty Supply card needed to be renewed. For a $5 renewal, I got a free Ion Color Saving Conditioner ($7.49) and a $5 off in store coupon, PLUS the savings I get for being a club member for the year. Not bad! Of COURSE, I had to buy a polish with my coupon.

I swiveled around from the cash register and immediately saw on the top polish shelf, Finger Paints in these bright, not quite electric/neon, candy colors. It was their Spring 2012 Gumdrops and Lollipops collection, appropriately named and I think slightly disregarded, alone, hardly picked through on the top shelf.

I spoke with Andi, because we enjoy texting each other excitedly about our new polish picks and trying to figure out if we want to trade colors, and she had done the exact same thing with her Sally coupon and bought another one of these eye catching colors. Great minds, my friends.

SO.... I want to tell you why you too should pick up one of these delicious colors.

Finger Paints decided to go a less conventional route from what's currently trending (i.e. glitters, magnetic and super bright neons). China Glaze and OPI have done this with their Muppets, Magnetix and Electropop lines. Even the drugstore brands, like Sally Hansen and Wet n Wild, have followed in pocket-friendly tow. I love(d) every single one of my glitter/magnetic/neons; however, I know (for me anyway) these won't be stuck in my coveted "go to" drawer.

We all have that one top, that one necklace, even that one pair of SUPER comfy socks we could wear all day, everyday. For me, I have polishes that I would be content wearing every single day of the week and Finger Paints "Blue Raspberry Taffy" had me at "hello."

The Gumdrops and Lollipops line is semi-neon but not as bold or brash as a true neon. These shades border on a neon/pastel mash-up. They are truly vibrant and they'll make your nails look like beautiful little Easter eggs.

Here are some pictures of Blue Raspberry Taffy in action:

In this lighting, it takes on an almost turquoise color... LOVE IT!

This particular color was totally opaque in one coat, but I achieved a more vibrant jelly look with two coats. I topped it with Cult Nails Wicked Fast and the shine was amazing.

This was the next day, I always paint my nails at night and hope that there is some decent natural light the next day, but you can see how the polish morphs to a more beautiful candy blue.

I work a second job (weekend retail mall job of DOOM... ok, ok, not really "doom", more like women's clothing) and I always put a good polish to the test there because retail has proven to wreak havoc on my nails. This polish made it through seven hours of cashiering, hanger wars, vacuuming, window washing, and just overall "hand sadness".... besides a little tip wear, not a single chip. NOT ONE.

Andi brought a great point to my attention, as well - if you missed China Glaze Up and Away, you're definitely going to want to pick up some Finger Paints Gumdrops and Lollipops as a Spring/Summer "must have." I know, like me, you will also fight the urge to wear it on your nails and toes everyday this summer. So fun, yet simple... so go to Sally's and show that forgotten polish display some love. 

Untried Greens - Zoya Gemma & Yara

I pulled out some of my untried Zoya greens for the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day.  These are from collections last year, but they were both so pretty that I had to share.

First, we have Gemma from their Spring 2011 Intimate collection
- a soft sage green shimmer.

 

I wanted this shade for its flash of blue-violet shimmer, but I didn't get around to buying it until I found it in an Ulta clearance bin.  The formula was pretty thin and watery, but I think that might have been my fault.  The poor thing had been sitting around for awhile - it probably needed a lot more rolling to get it mixed back up to normal consistency.  I needed three coats to get it opaque, but it might work with two if I mix it better next time.

For those of you in parts of the country where it's still feels more like the end of winter than the beginning of spring...

here's Yara, an olive green with gold flecks,
from the Mirrors half of the Fall 2011 Smoke and Mirrors collection.

Yara's formula was thicker (maybe because it's also newer and needed less shaking?) and went on easily in two coats.  I really enjoyed the soft, spring-like effect of Gemma, but I LOVED Yara.  This is such a beautiful color.  Why didn't I wear this all fall?? It's smoky, it's subtly sparkly, it's so pretty!

China Glaze Capitol Colors - Smoke and Ashes

Hi there! First of all, my name is Kat and I am one of Andi's friends and a fellow nail enthusiast! Andi has been a bit of a polish mentor and over the past year I've grown a collection of colors that started with about 8 and has now blossomed, enough to fill a two foot high Tupperware rolling drawer chest. I will hopefully be editing my profile soon and I can tell you more about myself there.

So, China Glaze Capitol Colors is a totally exciting new line based off of the Hunger Games books and further boosted interest with the release of the movie coming soon on March 23rd. I have to tell you - the excitement for the movie made the trip to Ulta to find Capitol Colors feel like Christmas. I sat in the aisle for about 15 minutes trying to decide which two I wanted the most. The blue/green micro glitter in Smoke and Ashes really caught my eye.

The formula on this one was highly pigmented black/navy and it only took one coat. However, when I got a little on my skin, it made clean up a little difficult, because it would stain my cuticle, so I would say you definitely don't want to "willy nilly" paint with this one. In my indoor picture you can't really see the super cool glitter in the polish, regardless, the glitter does add to the overall awesome shine I achieved on this one and the fact that it's not really a straight/flat black made it reflect nicely with my skin tone for such a dark polish. (Don't mind my cuticles, I'm from Wisconsin... one day it's sixty degrees, the next day it's twenty and it's ALWAYS dry.)

I took the polish outside hoping I could catch the glitter for you and I think it was a little more noticeable in the sunlight.

You can definitely see some glitter shine in the pointer finger.  

Alright, so even though I was a little disappointed with the visibility of the glitter in this polish, I still love it! I do believe the glitter and the shade add a special "glimmer" to this polish that make it really morph to most skin tones and for some reason, although it's basically "black" to a quick glance, it has a certain luminosity to it that makes it multifaceted in a very enigmatic way. The application was great and I'm always a fan of a one coat wonder. If you're a fan of Hunger Games and China Glaze, I would suggest you go and pick up one of these unique polishes from the Capitol Colors line. I also picked up "Harvest Moon" and "Luxe and Lush" (which looks like an Essie/Nubar dupe). Perhaps I'll critique those in the near future, but I will be playing around with magnetic polish next! Can't wait to tell you all about it!

Thank you for reading my FIRST polish blog entry, I'd also like to do a polish giveaway... I'm such a shopping ninja, I have an almost complete set on Wet n Wild Color Icon Ice Baby glitters to give away when we reach 200 followers! Psst... tell your friends :)

Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

As I get ready to go from my current low-buy into a full no-buy for the next 40 days, I want to share one of the last polishes I've purchased.  If you don't have this polish yet and you've decided to not buy polish in the near future too, buy this polish now! and then start your no-buy.  Really!  It's limited edition, may never come back, and it's too pretty and unique not to add to your collection.

This is Toxic Seaweed from Cult Nails Spring 2012 Let's Get Nekkid! Collection.  This collection is Maria's take on nudes and this is her nude shade for ETs.

If A Sparkle Yule Love was an updated Carnival Lights, Toxic Seaweed is an updated Atlantis.  The jelly base is on the greener side of teal, the gold microglitter is more uniform, and the bronze flakies are It for 2012.  Toxic Seaweed is the perfect name for this shade.  The glitter rests at different levels in the base and flashes gold, green, blue, and silver, depending on how the sun hits it.

Toxic Seaweed refines the chunky glitters we were enjoying the last two years into something that's equally complex in depth and color while giving it a smoother and, in my opinion, more sophisticated finish. The application was nice - nothing gloopy or gritty about this jelly-based glitter.  I used two coats in the mani above, which left the shade squishy while still covering the majority of my nail line.  If you use three coats, the green deepens and darkens.  I wore this with their Get Even base and Wicked Fast top coat.  After 4 days of full time work typing, there wasn't even a hint of tip wear.

If Cult Nails gets about 500 more likes on Facebook, there will be a $5 sale on Cult polishes, but why wait?  Especially on a polish like this?  Don't miss out on getting your own bottle!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Speed Dating

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

I was actually able to find a full display of the Valentine themed Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips.  After never being able to find the winter ones, I was treated to two of these patterns by the DH.  I decided to wear Speed Dating for the week leading up to Valentine's.

This pattern are red hearts of various sizes on a light gold background. The hearts have a textured appearance like they were made out of pieces of red foil. The light gold has a metallic finish that looks a bit smoother in comparison.

 

After the temperamental application with Ghoulie Girl, I skipped the base coat this time.  I think that was the trick because these went on nice and easy. These strips are shiny enough that a top coat didn't really add to the shininess on my first day of wear.  Top coat helped to refresh the shine on my third day of wear, but it didn't improve overall wear time because these strips resisted tip wear even on the nails that weren't top coated.  After almost five days of wear, these were still a good looking mani.

...and in case you thought I forgot this year... It's here at last!  Happy Centennial Day in Arizona!!  I hope everyone's getting their fill of celebration on our state's 100th birthday.  I know I'm optimistically looking forward to a second century based on progress, hope, and cultural understanding.

OWWWP - OPI A Sparkle Yule Love

Can you believe it's February already?  I'm in the mood for lots of pinks and reds, so let's get started with a pink. This is A Sparkle Yule Love from the OPI Ulta Exclusive Holiday 2011 Deck Your Nails mini-collection.  I don't have Excuse Moi from the Muppets collection, but this may be a dupe of that shade. 

A Sparkle Yule Love is a pink jelly with tons of glitter - silver and pink microglitter and larger multicolor glitter in tons of colors like blue, yellow, and green.  Here it is with two coats and two layers of top coat.  It's not a gritty glitter, but it does need a little bit of extra smoothing.

I think I like this shade so much because it's like a remix of China Glaze Carnival Lights, one of my favorite glitters from their Specialty collection.  It's the same kind of idea - colors, multicolor glitter, jelly base - but with a few tweaks to make it feel updated.

This is a very sparkly polish, so be sure to wear it when you need something extra twinkly on your nails.

Wet N Wild Ice Baby Collection

I have a fabulous friend who gifted me with the entire wet n wild coloricon Holiday Glitter 2011 Ice Baby Collection.  The entire set!!

Let's get started with a look at these cute little bottles...

Rockin' Rubies - Believe Me, It's Real - 24 Carats - Give Me A Price Quote

It's All In The Cut - Back Alley Deals - Cost Is No Issue - Diamond In The Rough

Here's one coat of these glitters over one coat of black creme polish.  All of these polishes are clear-based and their opacity varies, but I wouldn't describe any of them as sheer.  They are gritty, top coat-sucking glitters so I think layering makes wear and removal easier.  If you want to wear them solo, you'll only need two or three coats to get full coverage.

Rockin' Rubies - red microglitter with pink hex holo glitter
Believe Me, It's Real - blue microglitter with purple hex glitter
24 Carats - yellow-gold microglitter and bar glitter
Give Me A Price Quote - warm gold microglitter with gold and orange bar glitter with pink flash. I can't tell where that pink is coming from, but it's there.

It's All In The Cut - lavender microglitter with pink hex glitter

Back Alley Deals - purple microglitter with red hex glitter

Cost Is No Issue - light greenish blue microglitter with blue hex glitter

Diamond In The Rough - charcoal microglitter with silver holo hex glitter

As a glitter fan, I love every single one of these polishes. The colors are bright, the color and texture combinations are creative, and the overall feel is so playful.  They cover the nail easily, dry quickly, and wear for days without chipping.

If I had to pick my Top 3 Favorites from the Ice Baby collection, I'd go with... 

Back Alley Deals - It's like an awesome glitter version of China Glaze Flying Dragon.

Believe Me, It's Real - Blue and purple and it's all glitter? oh yeah! 

It's All In The Cut - It's so girly and Lisa Frank-like.

I'm wearing these all as NOTDs, so I'll have future posts showing them off on their own.  If you live by a Walgreens and find this collection, buy these polishes! Pick up your favorite colors and I'm positive you'll be wearing them non-stop through the winter/holiday season.