Sally Girl - Purple neon

Today I have a purple neon Sally Girl. If these polishes have names I haven't been able to find them.

Basecoat: Gelous (2 coats)
Color: Sally Girl purple neon (3 coats)
Topcoat: David (1 coat)

This is more neon and less VNL-y in real life. Application was a little tough but mostly due to the minuscule brush and the long neck of the bottle, which made it hard to get a decent amount of polish on the brush. Dries matte.

New post tomorrow - have a great Wednesday!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Mint Sprint

This afternoon I put on Zoya Katy, and then decided I didn't like it. I also had a hard time with the consistency - it was really thick and goopy, and I couldn't find (or was too lazy to look for) my thinner. I pulled this out instead.
Mint Sprint is a medium teal creme. It's actually pretty similar to the color I picked out for tomorrow night, so I may switch that out for something else.
Basecoat: Gelous (2 coats)
Color: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mint Sprint (2 coats)
Topcoat: David (1 coat)

Y'all, this was amazing. I don't know if it was the two coats of Gelous, or if all these polishes are like this, but this was a dream to apply. If I can get the hang of this brush I think I could have gotten away with one coat. This was smooth, dried fast, cleaned up really, really well - just a dream to use. I'm not a huge fan of the ginormous brush - the shape of the bottle neck makes it hard to control the amount of polish on the brush - but overall, very, very nice.

Have a great Tuesday!

Nina Ultra Pro - Grin and Berry It

Today I have Nina Ultra Pro's Grin and Berry It. I found this in a summer neon display at Sally and I earlier compared it to the Color Club Electro Candy collection and found most of them to be close but no dupe.
Grin and Berry It is a bright neon with green shimmer. It is more vibrant and opaque than its Electro Candy cousin, Ultra Violet. I had a hard time capturing the green flash in this.
I finished with this way too late to get a sun photo, so here is an indoor photo with flash, outside the lightbox.

Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color: Nina Ultra Pro Grin and Berry It (4 coats)
Topcoat: David (1 coat)

Application was pretty good. It is a little on the thin and runny side but not too hard to control. It is a neon and dries matte, and because it's so thin drag was a little bit of a problem. Cleanup was simple.

I was originally going to wear Zoya Katy tonight, but I got a call from friends who wanted to go out for dinner. By the time I got home I knew I wasn't going to have time for a Zoya mani to try so I switched to something else. I'll wear Katy tomorrow.

Have a great Monday!

Comparison: Orly Lunar Eclipse and OPI DS Magic

I read on the nail board that DS Magic might be a dupe for Lunar Eclipse. When I wore Lunar Eclipse I thought there was no way - I'd seen photos of DS Magic and they weren't close. Then I took my own photos, and realized, yeah, they could be dupes.

As with my Lunar Eclipse mani, I had trouble capturing the purple flash in both bottles. I can tell in the bottle that Lunar Eclipse seems to have a tiny bit more purple flash.


This is three coats of color with two coats of basecoat. They are pretty close, right? I have Lunar Eclipse on my index and ring fingers, and DS Magic on my middle and pinky fingers. Lunar Eclipse is a teeny tiny bit darker blue and has more purple flash, but otherwise they are dead dupes.

For polishes this unique this is as close as you will ever get to a dead dupe. You definitely don't need both of these unless you're collecting all the Orly Cosmic FX or DS polishes.

Claire's - itty bitty teeny tiny neon coral

Today (actually yesterday) I have a Claire's mini. It is from the same set as my skittles mani's green - the Claire's "Poolside" knockoff set.
This is not an exact dupe of Flip Flop Fantasy - this color has a very subtle pink shimmer that is not evident at all in the bottle.
Here it is in the sun.
Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color: Claire's neon coral mini (4 coats)
Topcoat: David topcoat (1 coat)

Application was pretty good. It was a little bit on the thick side but not too bad. It is a little bit sheer but the VNL isn't too bad.

New post tomorrow - have a great weekend!

Orly - Lunar Eclipse

Today my husband slept through his alarm, so I worked at home and let him have the shower first. So, I changed my polish. It's still summer, but today it's rainy and not anywhere close to as hot as it's been, so I pulled out Orly Lunar Eclipse.
Lunar Eclipse is a blue jelly base (I think) with purple and blue sparkle. If this wasn't enough, it also reflects pink at certain angles.
Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color: Orly Lunar Eclipse (3 coats)
Topcoat: Out the Door (1 coat)

This photo actually was closer to what this polish looks like in real life than it looked on my camera's screen. It's still not really close. This flashed much more purple in my lightbox and I just could not get it on camera. I think a sun picture would be better, but of course, there's no sun today.

Application was decent. This is a little runnier than you would expect, and I have that weird thing going on where there's not as much polish at my tips even though I used long strokes. Cleanup was a biatch, so be careful with your application.

I have read that Lunar Eclipse is almost a dupe for OPI DS Magic. Magic is on my wish list, so I don't have it to compare, but when I get it I will. From the photos I've seen, Magic doesn't have the purple flash, but again, neither does Lunar Eclipse in my photos, so who knows.

New post Friday - have a great rest of the week!

Skittles

Today I decided to wear skittles. I've never worn skittles for longer than a comparison, but I'm planing to wear this one until Friday. I was originally going to do funky French tips but I have so much trouble using those stupid tip guides. I thought I might have magically gotten better since I've really gotten into polish, but nope.
I'm not going to have time to change polish at all this week, and I couldn't think of anything I wanted to wear all week long, and hey, five untrieds done, right there.

This is two coats of Fiberglass Network, 3 coats of color, and one coat of Out the Door. From thumb to pinky, I am wearing:

Sally Girl neon pink
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
Claire's itty bitty teeny tiny neon green mini
Savina Marine Life
Sinful Dream On

These all dried matte except for Happy Go Lucky. Happy Go Lucky and Marine Life were pretty much two-coaters, but I did three anyway. Marine Life is a gorgeous, vibrant teal, but it stained in the short time I had it on for my "do I need a white basecoat" mini-swatch. Dream On is a beautiful neon purple.

The Claire's mini.... the set I bought this in is a direct copy of the China Glaze Poolside collection. Right down to the shimmery blue. Their version of Flip Flop Fantasy has shimmer too, but otherwise they're identical. I own Kiwi Cool-Ada, and I did a mini-swatch of it for this mani and decided not to use it because it would have needed a white base. This mini isn't quite opaque either, but it's much more opaque than Kiwi Cool-Ada.

I didn't really have any application problems with any of these. Cleanup was relatively easy, also.

No new posts until Friday, so have a great week!

Claire's - Peaceful/Confident mood polish

Today I am wearing Claire's Mood polish in Peaceful/Confident.
This is a teal/blue creme. Teal seems to be the "warm" color.
I worked at home today, so I got to take sun photos, too.
Basecoat: Gelous (1 coat)
Color: Claire's Mood Polish Peaceful/Confident (3 coats)
Topcoat: Out the Door (1 coat)

Application actually wasn't too terrible. This polish dries matte, so I had to be careful with drag. If I had waited longer between coats or used a thicker second coat I might have gotten away with two coats. When I went to get my bottle of Out the Door I pulled out my bottle of Northern Lights and decided to wear that, too.
This is what it looks like when you buy it. All the glitter congregates at the bottom of the bottle.

The bottle says "shake it up!". You actually have to shake this pretty vigorously to get it to mix. This is what it looks like when it's all shaken up.
And here is what one coat looks like over the previous photos.

Pretty. I really like this even if it is really, really close to my current pedi - two coats of Milani Fresh Teal with a coat of Northern Lights on top. Fresh Teal is closer to the "cool" color of Peaceful/Confident than the "warm" color.

No idea what I have planned for this weekend. I might compare Misa Embroidered Emerald to a really old polish I have - Touch Up Paint Tourmaline. I think they are similar in their colors but I haven't worn Tourmaline in AGES.

I am supposed to be out at Rangers Ballpark every night next week. However, my Rangers are in the middle of a pretty spectacular choke job, so I may end up skipping a game. Otherwise, it's probably going to be one post on Sunday and then nothing until Saturday.

Have a great Friday!

Savina - Blue For You and haulage (oh, is there haulage)

Today I have Savina Blue For You. This is a light turquoise with slight shimmer. I though this was similar to Sinful's Mint Apple, but Mint Apple is a lot dustier and has more sparkle.
Here a couple different photos of this on the nail.

Basecoat: Gelous (1 coat)
Color: Savina Blue For You (3 coats)
Topcoat: Poshe (1 coat)

Application was a BEE-YOTCH. This polish is thick and goopy, and if that wasn't bad enough, the brush is terrrrible. I may try to rescue this with Seche Restore because this really is a pretty color. The shimmer is not very obvious on the nail. I actually thought this was going to be a brush-stroke-y nightmare but it wasn't that bad. Blue For You dries to a satin finish so you will want a topcoat unless that's the look you are going for. However, this polish does not self-level so if you want the satin look you'll need to be very careful in application. Cleanup was not too bad for as thick as this polish was, either.

On to the haulage. I'm cringing at the realization of how much I've acquired lately, y'all. I haven't even swatched any of it on my nail wheels.

Last weekend I went to Ulta. I was hoping to check a few polishes off my wish list since I'm technically on a no-buy except for what's on my list (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!). This is what I picked up.
On top is Ulta Black Diamond. This is a black base with fine multicolored glitter in it. I picked up the Essie Fall mini set (because AS USUAL, my Ulta has a FULL Essie display, except for the ONE color I wanted!), and I found a Butter London display. I didn't even know Ulta carries Butter London now, and I've never tried this brand, so I'm looking forward to it.

Here is a shot of just the Butter London polishes.
Left to right: Macbeth (reddish pink creme), Jaffa (pinkish coral), Victoriana (light blue-gray with silver shimmer), Henley Regatta (teal glitter).

Total Ulta haulage: 5 full size polishes, 4 minis
Items actually on wish list: 1 (Essie Sew Psyched - and I'll still pick up the full size if I see it)

Ulta also had an Orly Cosmix display up, but I already put in a Trans Design order when it popped up. This is my Trans Design haul.
This is the OPI Go Goth mini set. I used flash here because otherwise it all looks black. I was hoping to snag Unripened in the full size, but I didn't pounce on it when I saw it (as I'd already placed an order) and now it's gone. I know better than to think my Ulta will have this in the full size so I will have to hope the mini is enough for me!

More TD haul:
New York glitters: Chartreuse glitter (this is hideous, y'all - I can't wait to wear it), Angel Dream (silver glitter with round holo larger pieces), and Alpha Jewel glitter (holo glitter, clear base - ho hum).
OPI Swiss collection: Ski Teal We Drop, Cuckoo For This Color, The Color to Watch, Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous. Maybe I should have used flash for this photo, hmm.

Orly: Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Lunar Eclipse, Galaxy Girl, Out of This World, It's Not Rocket Science

Total TD haul: 12 full size, 4 mini
Items Actually on my wish list: Everything was on it except for the three New York glitters, and all the minis except Unripened.

When I was shopping TD, they did not have the Misa Fall collection up, but Head 2 Toe did:
L to R: Spinning Out of Control, Like It Like That, It's You!, Color Club Covered in Diamonds, Quirky Smile, When U Say My Name, Embroidered Emerald

Everything in this haul was in my wish list.

Overall, I am thrilled with everything I got - usually when I haul I end up hating some of what I end up with. I don't care for some of the minis, but that's OK, because I know I'll also end up trying all of them. I admit I'm a little disappointed with Covered in Diamonds, because I couldn't wait for swatches to go up - I knew I wanted it when I saw the promos. If I'd seen swatches I probably would have passed on this one.

I also pre-ordered the RBL Fall collection, and I ordered two bottles of Milani Dress Maker, so I can check those off my list too. I actually think I am pretty well covered for everything on my wish list, at least until new collections release (I'm looking at you, OPI Burlesque and CG Awakening!)

New post tomorrow night - have a great Thursday!

L.A. Colors - Magnetic Force

Today I have L.A. Colors Magnetic Force. I picked this up at a Dollar Tree. I noticed as I was taking these out of the package that there are no labels on the bottles, so I hacked it:

Magnetic Force is a coral color with gold shimmer. I had a hard time capturing both the color and the shimmer.
Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (1 coat)
Color: L.A. Colors Magnetic Force (3 coats)
Topcoat: Seche Vite (1 coat)

Here are some miscellaneous photos where I tried to capture the color and the shimmer:

Application for Magnetic Force was very, very nice. This was almost a two coater. The gold shimmer reminds me a lot of a coral Custom Kicks. Consistency was a tad on the thick side but it wasn't too bad at all.

I picked up a few others from this collection at the same time I picked up Magnetic Force. I hope the other polishes are are as pretty as this one!

Have a great day!

Essence - The World's Coolest and Nubar - Reclaim

Today I planned to put on Essence The World's Coolest from the Surfer Babe collection. This is the first Essence I've tried.
This is a pale , slightly dusty baby blue.
Basecoat: Gelous (1 coat)
Color: Essence The World's Coolest (4 coats)

This was a mess. This is four coats and I still have VNL and bald patches. The formula was thick and goopy and hard to control. To top it off, I just don't like the color on me. It may be one of those that I just don't like while my hands are tanned, so I'll try this again in spring. Tonight, though, I couldn't stand it so I took it off.

To make up for that fail, I put on Nubar Reclaim instead. This is a medium green holo with tons of sparkle.

Basecoat: Nubar Foundation (1 coat)
Color: Nubar Reclaim (2 coats)
Topcoat: Nubar Diamont (1 coat)

I had a really hard time getting the holo-ness of this on camera. Wish I had some sun, but I don't. Application was a dream - smooth, no dragging or bald spots at all.

New post tomorrow - have a great day!

Savina - Fabulous

Today I have Savina Fabulous. I am sure this brand is available somewhere, however, I've only ever seen it at Nordstrom Rack. I only had one Savina before I picked up this one and a few others last weekend. This is, uh, a neon pink with, um, iridescent glitter. I'm undecided.
Should have used flash on this photo. Oops. The glitter with the neon, I think, looks more interesting in the bottle than it does on the nail.
Outside, in late afternoon sun:
Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color: Savina Fabulous (3.5 coats)
Topcoat: Seche Vite (2 coats)

Application was. . . odd. Consistency was thin and streaky like a neon, except with glitter. Fabulous is thin for a neon, too - I have VNL after 3.5 coats. The glitter is more evident in the bottle than it is on the nail. I'm totally on the fence with this one. Texture was pretty chunky, too - I had to use 2 coats of Seche and I can still feel the glitter texture underneath. This polish dries matte (expected), so you need some kind of topcoat.

Going to a polish change/new post every night this week. Have a great Monday!