Zoya - Dita

Dita is a bright berry pink creme.

Basecoat:  Zoya Ridge Filler (1 coat)

Color:  Zoya Dita (3 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

However, these photos are literally the only place where it doesn't read as red.  So disappointed.  I was hoping this would be my go-to pedi color, but once it's applied... I had to try to get it to show as pink, and the huge majority of the time it just read as red.  Too bad.

Application was good, no problems with cleanup.  Minimal stainy-ness on the cuticles, even though this is a pretty pigmented polish.  I do want to note that there is a bit of VNL, both in photos and in real life, which is a shame.  I actually think it's a little more evident in real life.

OPI - Tease-y Does It

Here's a polish I've worn before, but I needed something sort of conservative.  I was originally planning to wear Pepe's Purple Passion, but I absolutely hated it once I started applying it.  So,  back to Tease-y Does It.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)

Color:  OPI Tease-y Does It (3 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Do not be fooled by that tiny bit of green flash in the last photo - that is so not visible on the nail, and not in the bottle either.

World Series nails

I said on Twitter earlier today that I wish I was a bandwagon Rangers fan like so many others in Dallas.  If I was a bandwagoner, I wouldn't be so worried about dying of a massive aneurysm by the end of this World Series.

Anyway, the Series comes back to Arlington starting tomorrow for three games, and as a season ticket holder (we paid for our post-season tickets way back in August - if they hadn't gone on to the playoffs it would just be credited to our season ticket account) - I'm going to all three games.

You've seen these polishes before - Nubar Fire and Night Sparkle.  I used Gelous as a base coat, and three coats of each polish.  I also used two coats of Gelous on top, and instead of Seche I used Nubar Diamont.  I still think I might end up having to add another coat of Diamont tomorrow, but it's okay.

I used nail art stars that I got from Nailsupplies.us.  I stuck these on after the first layer of Gelous, so there's another layer of Gelous and a fat layer of Diamont on top of them - that ought to keep them stuck on.

Orly - Rock-It

Rock-It is a winey, beryy-y flecked finish with tons of sparkle and a bit of duochrome.  In some lights it leans very magenta/berry/pink, and in others it's a wine red.

Basecoat:  Fiberglass Network (1 coat)

Color:  Orly Rock-It (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

You can sort of see the color differences in the last two photos.  I found that under desk lighting it leans pink, and everywhere else, red.

This applied really well.  I applied it at night, so I might have gotten away with two coats, but it's the usual - different lighting than usual, better to play it safe.

Nubar - Night Sparkle and Fire Sparkle

Yes, it's the return of the glitter-bomb Rangers manicure.  Both these Nubars are untried - I usually use Orly Star Spangled and Royal Navy for this kind of stuff.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  Nubar Night Sparkle or Fire Sparkle (alternating, 3 coats each)

Topcoat:  Gelous (2 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (2 coats)

These babies are topcoat devourers like nothing else.  But they are so, so awesome, I wear them anyway.  Obviously, Fire Sparkle is the red glitter and Night Sparkle is the blue one.

Both of these have tinted jelly bases - Night Sparkle is a little more opaque in its base.  At any rate, both covered pretty good at three coats.  I have a lot of red glitters but Night Sparkle may just be my holy grail blue glitter - Royal Navy isn't as glittery as Star Spangled, and its glitter is teal, and Dorothy Who? isn't as primary a blue as I prefer for this style of manicure.

I know you are shocked, but cleanup sucked.  Better off to just be careful.   As usual, I can't comment on wear or removal - I am pretty sure I will be peeling this off as usual.

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps

Ruby Pumps is a red jelly packed with red glitter.  It's definitely been worn and loved by me before.  I didn't wear this because I couldn't decide what to wear - I picked it because it's one of the jersey colors worn by my beloved Rangers, whose magic number to clinch the AL West is currently 3.  Since I'm a season ticket holder, I'll be at the ballpark all this weekend, hopefully to watch a dogpile on the field as they celebrate.  Anyway - on with the polish.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze Ruby Pumps (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

First of all, I ran out of stockpiled posts, so I'm actually posting this the same day I applied this - and there's no sun in my area today (for once).  The last photo is under a desk lamp.

I don't know how old my bottle is, but I know I've had Dorothy Who? for at least a year, if not longer, and I had Ruby Pumps WAY before that.  My bottle REEKS, y'all.  It actually reminded me of Kleancolors, it smelled so bad.

Anyway, this application was awesome - not too runny, not too thick, no bald spots, nothing.  Cleanup didn't even suck that bad - sure, I had some glitter left on my skin but it wasn't superglued there like some other glitters tend to be.

I actually debated between this and Nubar Fire Sparkle, which is untried, but I just didn't want to mess with that much topcoat today.  I thought about Orly Star Spangled, which is usually my go-to Rangers Red, but decided I've already shown that a couple of times on the blog, so I went with Ruby Pumps.  If I do a playoff manicure I'll probably go with Nubars, but if the Rangers don't pull their heads out soon it won't matter.  :)

Zoya - Kimmy

Kimmy is a reddish-orange glass fleck that is packed with gold shimmer.

Basecoat:  Zoya Get Even (1 coat)

Color:  Zoya Kimmy (4 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

This polish is slightly more yellow toned than I was able to capture with my camera.  Kimmy has the same near flawless application as the other Zoya glass flecks.  I'm not sure I love this color on me - it may be one to file away in the "try it in winter" pile.

Cleanup was about like it is for all these awesome Zoya sparkles - glittah everywhere!    I have a little bit of VNL that for some reason is more visible in real life than it is in the photos - usually that works the other way around.

OPI - Ali's Big Break

Ali's Big Break is a cool red glass fleck.  It's from the Burlesque collection last year.  I bought the entire collection when it came out, but I still have several untried from it, including almost all the glitters (note:  Even though I was really lemming the OPI Muppets collection that's coming out, I've since decided I don't need them - they're pretty but will just sit in my untried drawer forever.).

Basecoat:  OPI Matte Nail Envy (1 coat)
Color:  OPI Ali's Big Break (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Out the Door (1 coat)

Sometimes I really hate the Pro-Wide brush, and Ali's Big Break is one of those times.  This is a very pigmented polish, and the Pro-Wide brush is too wide for my ring and pinky fingernails, so I usually have a lot of cleanup to do.  So, I also had a lot of staining, and cleanup was not all that easy.  But the application otherwise was very nice.  I still have a little bit of VNL but I'm probably the only one who notices.

Zoya - Reva

Reva is a beautiful glass-flecked berry with tons of gold shimmer.

Basecoat:  Zoya Ridge Filler (1 coat)
Color:  Zoya Reva (3 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Application was very nice.  Also, even though this polish is pigmented and packed with shimmer I didn't have a lot of problems cleaning up, similar to other Zoyas with this finish.

Tres Risk - Reddy to Go and OPI - Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha has been in my untrieds for probably close to a year.  I picked it up at a nail supply place while I was looking for La Boheme (yeah, right - I'm never gonna see that in person).  I knew just form the bottle that I was going to need "underwear", so I pulled out Reddy to Go.  Tres Risk is a brand I have only ever seen at Ross, and only in a multi pack.  I also only remember seeing it once, ever, in the same visit I picked up this set.

Reddy to Go is a red jelly.  It's fairly opaque for a jelly, but it looks nice and squishy on.

Three coats.  Application was very nice for an unknown brand.  Very nice pigmentation, too, which unfortunately means you'll get some staining if you're not careful.  This is with NO top coat.  Any weird lines in the polish are reflections of the blinds - it's THAT glossy.

Man of La Mancha is a multichrome red.  It shows orange, gold, and even some green.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
Color:  Tres Risk Reddy to Go (3 coats)
Color:  OPI Man of La Mancha (2 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

The middle photo shows a hint of green in the bottle.  I could not get it on captured on my nails to save y life.

Man of La Mancha is a black label OPI - old, smelly, full of chemical goodness, and runny.  It was very hard to control and I had a lot of cleanup to do.

Next time I might choose a more orange-leaning base color to wear under this.  I hate when my "underwear" peeks out and Reddy to Go is just dark enough that I had to slop MoLM around a little to cover all the edges.

China Glaze - Ahoy

Ahoy is the only polish from the nautical collection I wanted (and, for once, the only one I actually bought).  I tried several Ultas before I finally found it in stock, and of course, once I bought it I saw it everywhere.

Ahoy is a berry almost-jelly base with tons of glass fleck shimmer.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network
Color:  China Glaze Ahoy (4 coats)
Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Ahoy was very easy to apply.  It is a tiny bit sheerer than I like so I used four coats.  I still had VNL at three.  Consistency is a little bit runny, so I had a lot of pooling at my cuticles and it was a little difficult to clean up, probably because I didn't cleanup between each coat like I usually do.

These photos do not do the sparkle justice.  I might need a backup bottle of this.

Orly - Ruby Passion

Ruby Passion is a foil-y orangey red I picked up at Sally.  It was on clearance and it has a sticker that says "Last Chance!" on it so it's probably discontinued.  I think I've had this for almost a year.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (1 coat)
Color:  Orly Ruby Passion (3 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

The first photo is much more color-accurate, but this photo does a good job of showing off the shimmer in this polish.  Application was good, cleanup was surprisingly easy.  However... I feel like this is a Mom Color.  It's going in my purge pile.

Color Club - red and Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Poppy

I've heard a lot about Kleancolor polishes (mostly that they stink), but I've never actually seen one in person - I guess they just aren't carried around here, or I just haven't found them.  Regardless, when I saw the chunky holos on the MUA nail board, I had to have them, so I hauled.

I've worn three other chunky holos and they all were not opaque, so I knew I needed underwear.  I had this Color Club in my untrieds, and it matched closely enough, so I pulled it out.

Oof, didn't realize that picture was fuzzy - I'm a little out of practice with the camera.  Obviously, this one came from a set (smooth bottle cap), and yay, Color Club sets - no names on the bottles or on the box, so I couldn't even begin to guess at this color this is.

Guys.  This is ONE COAT, y'all.  See that coverage?  I'm a habitual three-coater, but even I could make this work with two coats.  I stopped at one because my other KC Chunky Holos were thick and added just enough color that I figured I could make it work.

Here is Chunky Holo Poppy on its own.  This is a red jelly base with multichrome glitter pieces.  Despite the name, it's not holographic, but I can see why they would call it that.  In the bottle I can easily see red, orange, yellow, and green flashes in the glitter, but it's not as obvious in the bottle photo.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color:  Color Club "red" - 1 coat
Color:  Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Out the Door (1 coat)

Pretty!  Now let's talk application.  The Color Club applied like a dream, and didn't even suck to clean up.  The Chunky Holo was thick and gloopy, but if you've used any of the others, it seems to be the same consistency for all of them.  I know the three others I've tried have been exactly the same.  On the plus side, it's thick enough that I didn't really have any problems controlling this, and I didn't even need to do any cleanup.

The smell is a little weird.  I didn't think it was all that horrible, but it's definitely packed with chemicals.  If you're easily lightheaded, or pregnant, I'd check the label carefully and use this in a well ventilated area.

In hindsight, I might use a second coat of the base red color if I wear this again, but I still like this.

Ulta - Material Girl

I was undecided on what to wear today. Someone on the nail board posted pics of this, and I remembered I had it in my untrieds. This is a berry shimmer with holo glitter.
I'm not gonna lie - application was pretty terrible.

Basecoat: Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)
Color: Ulta Material Girl (3 coats)
Topcoat: Gelous (1 coat)
Topcoat: Seche Vite (1 thick coat)

Material Girl is pretty but the application is awful. Thick and goopy, and as you can tell, it's a topcoat eater. At two coats I knew I was going to have to use the Gelous, then Seche trick I first saw on Scrangie's blog, and guess what? As you can tell from the photos, it didn't work. This is still bumpy to the touch and looks it.

That said, this is a pretty polish and I'm still probably going to wear it again. Other application issues aside, I probably could have gotten away with two coats for this, but I tried for a thin second coat and had some dragging, so I had to use a third coat to even it out.