Essie - Pretty Edgy, Kleancolor - Green With Envy, Color Club - Object of Envy

Slackity, slack slack.  Actually I've been doing a LOT of knitting, and frequent polish changes and knitting don't really get along.

Anyway, here is my St Patrick's Day nails.  I think the Color Club is "tried" - everything else is untried, and yes, I've had Pretty Edgy since I did that comparison WAY back at the beginning of this blog and it was STILL sitting in my untried drawer.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Essie Pretty Edgy (3 coats)

Color:  Kleancolor Green With Envy (1.5 coats)

Color:  Color Club Object of Envy (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat (1 coat)

Yes, that's a lot of coats, but I don't mind because this came out way better than I hoped it would.  Pretty Edgy applied flawlessly.  It was a tiny bit dustier than I expected, actually - I don't know if I'm just remembering it wrong, or it's changed slightly as it's been sitting untouched.  Anyway, I knew I was glittering it up, so no big deal.  Pretty Edgy was almost totally opaque in three coats.

Green With Envy has a very slightly green tinted base, or maybe the glitter is leaching out into the base a little.  Whatever the cause, the end result was that it added just the perfect amount of yellow to Pretty Edge, making it the perfect St Patrick's Day green.  It's a fairly chunky glitter - medium hex pieces, and a few tiny glitters, and of course I had trouble getting even distribution.  So when I finished applying I wasn't totally happy with it, so I pulled out...

Object of Envy.  I've worn this before and I think I felt like three coats would be reasonably opaque on its own.  Anyway, I applied one coat over everything and it's PERFECT.  The only thing I would do differently next year (and oh yeah, I'm definitely wearing this again) is apply Object of Envy before Green With Envy, so that the bigger glitter shines more.

Essie - Play Date

Play Date is a bright light, almost pastel purple.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Essie Play Date (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat (1 coat)

Here's another one of those "I waited as long as I could to take pictures" posts.  This is on the fourth day of wear, and I'd been doing dishes the day before, so I have some pretty good chips and tip wear.

I loved this color a lot more than I expected to.  I am not sure it will go with my summer tan but I can see myself wearing this as a pedicure, absolutely.

Essie - School of Hard Rocks and Shine of the Times

Yeah, yeah, I'm slacking again.  The weather's been just lousy in Dallas this week - even these photos are under my desk lamp because there's just no good sun.

(Oops.  There's a China Glaze bottle top just outside of this crop that's in perfect focus, though.)

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)

Color:  Essie School of Hard Rocks (3 coats)

Color:  Essie Shine of the Times (1 coat)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

First - due to the already-mentioned crappy weather, I applied this under a lamp, with much less ambient daylight as usual.  I really do think I could have stopped at two coats of School of Hard Rocks, but I just couldn't be sure enough without my usual (preferred) lighting conditions.  Anyway, this applied flawlessly - I sure do love Essie cremes.

Also, this is just ONE coat of Shine of the Times.  Usually with a flake topcoat like this I like to do at least two coats, but this SO did not need it.  I think the flakes are much denser than Nubar 2010 and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure.  The downside, of course, is that this was so dense that it applied kind of like frosting - thick and goopy and not-spready.   I'm not sure I'd wear this exact combination again, but I love both of these polishes.

In other news, a new beauty supply store opened inside what used to be a Target near me.  (yes, it's HUGE!)  It doesn't have a whole lot of makeup (it's mostly hair care) but they do carry some brands I've never seen near me in person - a nice Kleancolor display (with some Chunky Holos!), Ruby Kisses, Ruby Kisses HD, NYX Girls polishes.  I picked up quite a few of these (though they're mostly neons) and hope to at least swatch some soon.

Essie - Smooth Sailing

Smooth Sailing is a cornflower blue packed with shimmer.  You've all seen this one a bajillion times.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
Color:  Essie Smooth Sailing (3 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Smooth Sailing might have the best application of any Essie I own.  No streaking, easy to control, no bald patches.  Beautiful.  This was something I found odd, though - you can see in the middle that I have some VNL, after three coats.  It's actually visible in real life, too.

I picked up two other polishes from the Braziliant collection.  I hope they are as much of a joy to work with as this one.

Essie - Merino Cool

Merino Cool is a pretty purple greige. I only have this in the mini size.

Holy Lobster Hands, Batman!

Basecoat: NailTek II Intensive... something (2 coats)
Color: Essie Merino Cool (4 coats)
Topcoat: Out the Door (1 coat)

Merino Cool is a pretty color, but I'm not sure it works for me. It's one of those colors I was hoping would look better when my tan faded, but as of right now I don't even have a wedding ring tan, and this still makes my hands look red.

Anyway, application was pretty good, even though I had some problems with bald spots that I had to go back and cover.

Essie - Going Incognito

Going Incognito is a green creme with a hint of blue to it.
Going Incognito is darker and bluer than Pretty Edgy from the Fall collection (that I still haven't worn). It actually reminds me a lot of the base color of the Ulta green with shimmer I wore a few weeks ago that I can't remember the name of.
Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats0
Color: Essie Going Incognito (3 coats)
Topcoat: Out the Door (1 coat)

Going Incognito has a FABULOUS application. I usually have problems with Essie polishes being thick and streaky, but this was a dream to apply. The best part is that even though this polish is dark enough that I was kind of dreading cleanup, it was a breeze, and I had hardly any staining.

I think this still makes my skin look a touch redder than it really is, but I love this polish anyway.

Essie - Sew Psyched

Sew Psyched is a dusty green with hidden subtle shimmer. I picked this out to wear because I really wanted to wear a taupe or gray, but my hands haven't lost their summer tan yet, and they ALL looked terrible.
This polish was a little bit thick and gloopy but wasn't too hard to apply.
Basecoat: NailTek Foundation II (2 coats)
Color: Essie Sew Psyched (3 coats)
Topcoat: Seche Vite (1 coat)


I don't know why this photo looks like I have VNL because this is totally opaque. I also opened a brand new bottle of Seche so it's not topcoat weirdness. Anyway, Sew Psyched would probably be a two coater if I thin it a little bit. I didn't, so I had to do three coats to cover the dragging I had and the few streaky spots.

Sew Psyched still gives me a little bit of "lobster hands", but overall it is an acceptable substitute for the five taupe polishes I swatched earlier. This will probably be a go-to winter shade.

Essie - Haute as Hello

Today I have Essie Haute as Hello. I got this as part of a mini set - I was after Pretty Edgy, but my usual Ulta didn't have it in the full size. Of course, after I bought this I did find the full size bottle and bought it anyway.
Haute as Hello is a bright pastel orange. Very hard to describe color. On some blogs this looks neon, but it just looks like a bright pastel on me.

Basecoat: Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats - my nails are a little longer than usual right now, so I want to be careful while I decide whether to grow them or not)
Color: Essie Haute as Hello (3.5 coats)
Topcoat: Out the Door (1 coat)

Application was typical for an Essie. Nice formula, but prone to streakiness. I still actually have a tiny bit of VNL, but I'm the only one who notices it.

All that said, I really love this color. It's a nice bright summer color without being eye-searingly neon. I do love an eye-searing neon, but sometimes I want to tone it down some. I think I am going to buying the full size bottle of this.

Comparison: Color Club Wild Child and Essie Pretty Edgy

OK, in my defense, these looked pretty close in my office.  Unfortunately, these are not even close to being dupes, unless you never, ever go outside, and you never sit under bright lights, either.

I think it's pretty obvious which is which, but just in case - index and ring fingers are Wild Child, middle and pinky are Pretty Edgy. 

About the only similarity they have is that they are both green jellies.  In no way is Wild Child a dupe for Pretty Edgy.

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