China Glaze Grafitti Glitter & Mosiac Madness

Before I head on over to Sally's for their Clearance Sale this weekend, I thought I'd try out two of the polishes I got from their last sale.

Mosiac Madness & Graffiti Glitter

Both of these polishes are from the China Glaze Winter 2013 Glitz Bitz 'n Pieces collection. They're microglitter, hex glitter, and bar glitter combinations in clear bases. It's ridiculous how easy the application is with these polishes given how much glitter is packed into each bottle.

Graffiti Glitter is the green of the collection. The tiny round, small hexes, and large hexes all come in a vibrant emerald green and black. The largest of the hex glitter and the bar glitter are black. Here is one coat layered over China Glaze For Audrey.

Mosiac Madness is the sapphire blue version of Graffiti Glitter. There's blue and black round, small hex, and medium hex glitters with black bar glitter.  Here is one coat layered over China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

Ott Light

Indirect Sunlight

I don't know why I didn't play with these glitters sooner!  They were so easy to use and the layering combinations are endless. No dabbing, pulling, or placing - just load up the brush, swipe, and done. I can't wait to try them over raspberry pink, mint green, or a dove gray!!

Color Club Otherworldly

As our weather gets warmer, I'm in the mood for colors that are brighter but not quite neon. Today I pulled out an oldie but goodie collection - the Color Club Starry Temptress from Summer 2011. This was a set of neon glitters, but some of the colors were more intensely neon than the others. I pulled out Otherworldly, a bright blue with silver, slightly holographic glitter.

This dried matte so this definitely has neon qualities, but this is not an eye-searingly intense neon. I used two thin coats for this mani, which was opaque for the casual eye but I can see some translucency in this close up shot.

This polish is packed with glitter that stays on top of the blue base, but this glitter doesn't sparkle.  A shiny top coat takes Otherworldly from matte to shiny, but not sparkly. The matte glitter gives this polish a speckled look on the nail - this shade reminded me of the mosaic floor on the bottom of a pool. This is also a very smooth glitter.  Being ultra smooth with the matte glitter made this mani look like it was done with nail polish strips.

Otherworldly was nice and long-wearing, which made the removal extra sad because it was such a hassle!! All the glitter that you can see in the bottle is there on the nail when you're trying to take this polish off.  Once the top layer of blue came off, there was nothing but tons and tons of silver holographic glitter stuck on underneath.  It took patience and acetone to get all the glitter off - lots of patience and acetone.

I still love Otherworldly because it's so cool looking on the nail, but I'll probably be smarter next time I'm wearing a polish from the Starry Temptress collection and use a glue base coat to make the removal easier.

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.

World Diabetes Day - Cult Nails Let Me Fly

Today I'm wearing blue nails in honor of World Diabetes Day.  An American Indian is 2.2 times more likely to have diabetes compared to a non-Hispanic white and 95% of American Indians with diabetes have Type 2.  This is the highest rate of diabetes among all U.S. racial and ethnic groups.

As a member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe, I've seen many of my relatives afflicted with Type 2 diabetes in their later years.  My closest family members have all had brushes with pre-diabetes diagnoses.  With greater knowledge and improved education about diabetes, prevention through healthy lifestyle changes is now a priority and daily goal for my family.

This day isn't just about my family or this country - it's about how diabetes affects us all on a global scale.  Not all forms of diabetes are preventable, but lifestyle changes may help prevent cases of Type 2 diabetes.  I recommend checking out the International Diabetes Federation site and the American Diabetes Association sites for more information. 

Here's Let Me Fly is from the Cult Nails Spring/Summer 2011 Day At The Races collection.

This dusty teal is filled with silver fleck shimmer.  At some angles, it looks like there's pink and blue shimmer, too.  This polish is opaque and goes on smoothly in two thin coats.  There's something very calming about this muted blue.  Fortunately, Let Me Fly isn't one of the limited edition Cult Nails shades so everyone still has an opportunity to get their own bottle.

SinfulColors - Morning Star, Soul Mate, Greek Isles

I picked up some SinfulColors polishes during last week's 99 cent sale at Walgreens.  They've had so many limited edition seasonal collections recently that I went to town buying all the new shades I could find.  Here are the three I've worn so far this week...

Morning Star - a new shade from their Girls in Pearls Sheer Shimmers collection

This is a light blue shade with silver shimmer flecks.  It's a soft sky blue that doesn't lean purple on me - I've seen it get more periwinkle with lavender tones on people with other skin tones. Nice and delicate and very spring-like.

Soul Mate - I think this one's from the core collection

This dusty rose pink was thick. I tried to use two coats with all of these polishes, but Soul Mate could've worked with one coat. This shade is getting some thinner added before I wear it again. It still went on pretty smooth for a $1 creme. This is a conservative color, but it was a nice spring-y pink to wear before we jump into summer neons.

Greek Isles - a new shade from the Spring 2012 Cast Away collection

Indirect Light - my poor hands needed moisture and a little touching up

Under the Ott light after shaping & clean up

This is Tiffany blue cousin that leans green with a touch of gray. I decided that even at half off prices, the Zoya Earth Day sale still exceeded my low buy budget when I factored in S&H. Greek Isles is the shade I bought to console me from missing out on Bevin.

SinfulColors go on sale pretty often, but some of these new shades might be limited edition.  They have decent opacity, a slightly thick but workable formula, and wear great with my Cult Nails Get Even base coat and Poshe Fast Dry top coat.  If you find some of the seasonal shades that jump out at you, don't wait for a sale. Go ahead and spend those $2 so you don't end up with buyer's remorse like I almost had with the Cast Away and Girls in Pearls collections.  I walked away and almost didn't find them again.

Not sure if the shade's new or just a misplaced core polish placed in the display?  Check the bottom of the bottle - if it has a number in the thousands (i.e. 1107, 1116), it's a new shade.

Milani - Pool Party!

With sandal weather fast approaching, I started my regular routine of pedicures at my favorite salon. I usually skip the manicure, because I like to do that myself during "unwind time" at home, but NOTHING beats an hour in a massage chair being pampered! Going about once or twice a month, truly keeps your feet and toenail beds healthy and neat. I highly suggest finding an inexpensive/experienced nail tech in your area and give yourself the gift of "me time." YOU DESERVE IT!

I like to bring my own nail polish to the salon, because... well... I have more colors than the salon! Also, nail salons tend to be a little community, where everyone converses about anything from favorite recipes to beauty tips to local news. Often I'll have another patron borrow my polish for their mani/pedi and for a moment in time I become the nail salon hero! *Takes off nerd glasses and puts on polish cape!*

On this particular day, I had gone to Target to pick up my weekly list items and (of course) trolled the polish/cosmetic aisle to scope out any colors I didn't already have. I spotted the fun and iridescent Milani Pool Party. Having an affinity for blues and at a pocket friendly $4.99, I picked it up and brought it to my pedicure appointment.

The nail tech at this particular salon loves doing cute designs and really keeps up on nail trends... she brought out a board of designs for me to scope out. Now, I'm not normally a "design" girl, but I feel that toes are supposed to be painted cute and fun. Since designs can last two, sometimes three weeks, it seems more "worth it" to me to get them on the toes. As I looked through flowers and glitter... *GASP* HELLO KITTY FRENCH!!!! I had her use my Milani Pool Party as a base and you can see the results at the bottom of this post (there will be some foot in the picture - you've been warned!).

The pedicure inspired this manicure. Like I said, I'm not normally a "nail design person" and I don't normally like colored frenchies on myself, but Milani Pool Party definitely changed my mind! I applied three coats to my tips, using this technique posted by fellow polish enthusiast ValentinaDang. Try it out! It's super easy and I know you'll love your results.

 

Three coats of Milani Pool Party

These are the tools/polishes I used to achieve this particular manicure. I love Nail Tek Foundation II, it's a great nutrient packed ridge filling base coat that tames even the most unruliest nails! Wicked Fast top coat by Cult Nails ALWAYS pays out in the shine department and I find that the shine lasts about four days; that's pretty intense considering how hard I am on my nails most of the time. For the brush to clean up the french manicure, I just used a 99 cent eyeshadow brush from the drug store!

R to L: Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat, Milani Pool Party, NailTek Foundation II base coat

Three coats of Milani Pool Party achieves full opacity, making it a more brilliant blue that reflects greens, golds and even some pinks. I used two coats as the base color on my toes and you can see how easily this can be used as a versatile summer shade, as a light iridescent sky blue or as a bright aqua beachy blue.

Pool Party was neither gloppy nor watery. Milani really got this formula right! It evened itself out as it dried and even with three coats on the tips it dried fairly quickly, even before the top coat was applied. GREAT buy at $4.99!

Now for the super cute Hello Kitty pedicure!

You can see the lighter (two coat) blue and the AWESOME Hello Kitty! There are lots of Youtube tutorials to try your own Hello Kitty french manicure at home.

If you're not usually a "nail art person" either, I encourage you to give it a try, anything from a pearl mani to an easy/classic frenchie. Play around with it and definitely add a bottle of this cool and versatile blue by Milani to your summer staples!

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. 

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 :)

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.

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!

Zoya Ivanka & Charla

If you haven't heard, Zoya is offering a free bottle of Ivanka AND Charla with any online purchase (US Only) while supplies last or until Thursday, June 16 at 11:59 EST.

Both of these polishes are from the Zoya Summer 2010 Sparkle collection. I've worn both these colors so far this summer because the warm weather has put me in the mood for bright shades. I want sparkle and iridescence until the hotter triple digit days of July when it looks like everything is radiating heatwaves - that's when I'll wear my neons. These polishes are definitely bright and sparkly!

According to Zoya, Ivanka is a "mermaid green sparkling metallic." The gold-with-hints-of-blue duochrome are very visible in the bottle. On the nail, this translates to a green that is bright and cool with tons of gold shimmer.

Charla is a "tropical blue sparkling metallic." I love turquoise polishes and this is one of my favorites. It's not a neon but it's still so bright and sparkly that my camera thought it was radioactive in the sunlight. Charla is packed with gold and green glitter that doesn't disappoint in any lighting.

Both of these polishes ran on the sheer side, probably due to the thin formula that lets the glitter swim through and set at different levels in the base. With three coats, you get sparkly depth and almost-full opacity. Zoya is not known for being a fast drying polish, but these polishes dry extremely quickly - even with three coats. They also dry smooth and grit-free.

If you don't have these two polishes or any of Charla's known dupes, don't wait to take advantage of Zoya's deal. They almost sold out today, but kept the deal going because their VP had them fill more bottles. Rush, rush, rush and go get some awesome free polishes!

BIG News & Fun Friday Giveaway!

What happened last week?  What's going on?  Well.... I moved to New York on February 25, 2008... and on February 25, 2011, we'll be moving back to Arizona!!  How crazy is that?!  Three years exactly?!

My husband got an excellent job offer and now we're rushing around trying to get ready for the big cross-country move - packing, finding a place, wrapping up things at our current jobs. Boy, packing wreaks havoc on nails with all of the tape and moving unwieldy boxes. Ugh!

That doesn't mean that I can't celebrate all of my fabulous followers, though - I have over 50 now! So now it's time to take a break from all the moving details and have some fun this Friday with a little giveaway :)

Winter blues are the worst, but blue polishes are a different story, so... 

I'm giving away some of the loveliest blue polishes released this winter!

Revlon Top Speed Royal, Hard Candy Sky, Revlon Galaxy





and

Funky Fingers Blitzen, Revlon Street Wear Midnight



I know Blitzen is more of a green & StreetWears are discontinued, but green-ish teal is a close cousin to blue and I just found this StreetWear this winter, so they still fit in the "theme" ;)

To enter this giveaway, please send an email to vivapolish@gmail.com with Fun Friday Giveaway in the subject line. Include your name and the email address you'd like me to contact you at if you're the lucky winner.

You can earn an extra entry if you tweet about me or my giveaway (I'm Andi_Frise on Twitter). Just share the link with me in your email.

You don't have to be a follower to enter this giveaway, but, of course, I'd appreciate your follow.  I'd also like a friendly comment on any of my blog entries because I want to know what you think, what you like, what you want more of from Viva Polish! 

This giveaway is open to toda mi gente - US and Intenational!  It starts now, ends next Thursday, and the winner will be announced on Friday, 2/18.

My Arizona - Barielle Falling Star

I was born and raised in Phoenix, and I lived over 6 years in Tucson while I went to school for my undergrad and grad degrees. Both sides of my family have lived in Arizona for the last century. AZ is never far from my mind, but I couldn't think of anything else this weekend since the tragic shooting in Tucson on Saturday morning.

After all the news coverage and phone calls with my Arizonans, I wanted to step away from the shock and sadness. This isn't a political blog, so this is a polish post dedicated to peace for my home state. 

 AZ FACTOIDS

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912 (yep, Valentine's Day!).

In 100 years, the State population has grown from 200,000 people in 1910 to over 6 million in 2010. 

The State Economy's growth and development is attributed to our 5 C's:

Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, Climate, & Copper

Phoenix is one of the sunniest cities with an annual average of 85% possible sunshine and 8 inches of rain.

Falling Star is from the Barielle Fall 2009 All Lacquered Up Collection. This shade is a medium blue creme base with small round copper glitter.  In some indoor lighting, it takes on a darker dusty cornflower hue.

This polish is thick and runny so I had a learning curve trying to get it on nicely. Practice helps and, after a few manis of experience, I'm able to get it on smoothly and opaque in two thinnish coats.

I'm learning how to use my new Ott!

As soon as I saw the preview of this polish, I knew I had to have it. This is a pretty shade of blue and a unique glitter-base color combination. The formula might not apply like butter, but this is still one of my Top 10 Favorite Polishes from 2009.

I see copper - I think of the 5 C's. I see a deep medium blue - I think of the afternoon sky after a summer monsoon rain. I feel like I have a little piece of Arizona on my nails when I wear Falling Star, so I'm going to wear it a few more days as a personal visual reminder of hope for a future without violence.

Blue Mooooon

This was a random draw from my Untried box this morning - Wet n Wild Blue Moon. It was one of the new Wild Shine shades released last year in their main collection.

My husband's been playing Fallout New Vegas recently. Blue Moon is one of the very few songs that plays on the game's "radio" and I had been planning on wearing this shade soon. I kept putting it off because I figured it was going to be a plain, maybe even a little boring, navy shimmer. I put two coats on... and when I look the moon had turned to gold... lol - ok, not really, but Blue Moon really is very pretty.

It gleams, it flashes and it doesn't look black in any light.  I'm so glad it was sunny for a bit before the light snow we're supposed to get today so I could see all of this awesome blue and green shimmer. 

Sunlight - The Gold Shimmer doesn't make it from the bottle to the nail
but the Teal/Green Flash does.

Shade

It's affordable, easy to find, and I personally haven't seen a navy shimmer this interesting to look at since OPI came out with Russian Navy (which this isn't a dupe of - RN is darker with a pink/purple shimmer).  For a buck, everyone should have their own bottle of Blue Moon.

LA Colors Color Craze!

These are Dollar Tree finds and I need to pick up some more because these three are awesome!  Just a note, their names are not printed on the bottles themselves - just the packaging.  And these names are cute, but have nothing to do with the actual color.

My first was Static Electricity.  I was not prepared for the opacity and vibrancy of this shade. I was hoping for a cheap dupe of Suzi Says Feng Shui, but there wasn't a bit of dustiness to Static Electricity on the nail. This is a bright sky blue - like the sky I would see in AZ on a clear day.  Here's one coat with a few touch ups and that was all for such a pretty, smooth, and shiny shade!

 Shade Shot - This shows how smooth this polish looks on the nail. 
And I like how the sun still hit the bottle so you can see how intense the light blue base is.  Ooooh...

Next up was Atomic, a teal-leaning green jelly-leaning creme.

This is two coats and the jellyish nature was more visible in person.

I love China Glaze and I wish I had the funds for the entire Up & Away Collection, but since I didn't, I'm very happy that I have some of their "cousins."  Really - Atomic & Static Electricity have the pigmentation and ease of application to be close relations to Up & Away.

Last, but definitely not least, is Wired. This was my favorite and I'm wearing it as a full mani this week!! I wasn't at all ready for the intensity of this blue shade - it's electric! This color blew my poor lil camera away, too, so I had issues getting it to focus and take a nice accurate shot. This is two coats of a royal blue infused with blue and turquoise metallic shimmer.  

Shade Shot - I think this is more accurate. I love the metallic intensity without the metallic brushstroke isses.
Check out the bottle - the turquoise shimmer in the middle is visible on the nail, but the purple or dark navy color at the top is nowhere to be seen.

All of these colors dried slightly lighter and a lot brighter than the bottle colors, so each one was a pleasant surprise as it was being applied.  Also, this brush was much nicer than I expected - these swatches were all done without cleanup.  I know the lack of cleanup is visible on my slightly blue-tinged cuticles, but really, there wasn't a stray hair on any of these brushes and they flared out so nicely. 

I can't believe how many times I passed this brand over in the dollar store.  My Lesson Learned: Don't judge a polish by its price tag!