Jessica - Electric Teal

I actually pulled out China Glaze Aquadelic to wear the day I put this on, and then I decided I wanted something a little more vibrant.  I compared Electric Teal to Turned up Turquoise and Sinful Rise and Shine, but I don't think I ever wore this on its own, so I'm still tagging this "indecision clouds my vision".

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Jessica Electric Teal (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat (1 coat)

This was seriously on like the fourth day of wear or something ridiculous like that.  And it's still overcast.

Sally Hansen - Fairy Teal and Nfu Oh 39

Another layered mani today. Fairy Teal is a teal creme. Nfu Oh 39 is the blue-green version of 38, which flashes red/orange/yellow.

This is the first Salon Complete I've tried in this bottle. I think it will take some getting used to but I think I love the brush - almost complete coverage in one stroke.
This was two coats. If I work with the brush more, I'm pretty sure I can get this down to one coat. Texture was a little weird - the consistency was fine, but it... tended to stay where it was. It doesn't self-level at ALL, so if you miss a spot with one coat it's visible. You will want to use topcoat unless you are super awesome at application, which I'm not.


Basecoat: Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)
Color: Sally Hansen Fairy Teal (2 coats)
Color: Nfu Oh 39 (2 coats)
Topcoat: David (1 coat)

I really like this combination, but when I went over to take photos, I saw my CND teal combo sitting there and it occurred to me that that's basically what I made here. Oh well, I still like this combination, and eventually I'm going to wear that combo, too, but it's going to be later :)

Orly - Galaxy Girl

Galaxy Girl is one of the Orly Cosmic FX polishes. I actually think this is my favorite one.
This is a gorgeous multichrome sparkle.

Basecoat: NailTek Foundation II (2 coats)
Color: Orly Galaxy Girl (3 coats)
Topcoat: David (1 coat)

This is a deep berry jelly base with sparkle. The sparkle flashes teal, pink, and purple. The teal is most dominant, you have to look at several angles to see the pink and purple flash. I suspect this is going to be a pain to remove (cleanup wasn't exactly a snap) but it is totally worth it.

LA Colors - Atomic and Nfu Oh 54

Atomic is a pretty teal jelly.  Nfu Oh is a green-blue flake in a clear base.

This is two coats of Atomic.

If I were going to wear this alone I would use another coat.  I intended to layer Nfu Oh 54 over it so I didn't bother.  Atomic is a vibrant teal that dries shiny and is just short of neon.

Here is two coats of 54, layered on top of Atomic.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (2 coats)
Color:  LA Colors Atomic (2 coats)
Color:  Nfu Oh 54 (2 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Application for both colors was really good.  Atomic was smooth and flowed nicely.  54 applied like my other Nfu Oh flakes - a little jelly-like in consistency, but that makes it easier to apply and get even flake distribution.  Overall this is a really pretty combination and I will definitely be wearing this again.

Color Club - Age of Aquarius

Age of Aquarius is a turquoise jelly. 

I had a hard time color-correcting this polish both in the bottle and on the hand.  This is a little brighter than it is in real life, but all my bottle photos came out looking dusty blue.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color:  Color Club Age of Aquarius (4 coats)
Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Application was pretty typical for a jelly.  I felt like three coats was too sheer, so I went with four.  I still have VNL in real life and in photos, but it's not as bad.  One thing I didn't like is that this does not self-level at ALL, not even to the extent that most jellies do.  So, even though my bottle of Seche is thick almost beyond repair I used it anyway - I love the David topcoat but it doesn't level quite as well as Seche.  Sure enough, the next day I had shrinkage at the tip and the cuticle.

Cleanup was about average - blues and greens stain my skin a little so it could have been better, but nothing I wasn't expecting.

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!

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!

Comparison - Jessica Electric Teal, China Glaze Turned up Turquoise, Sinful Rise and Shine, China Glaze Custom Kicks

When I ordered Electric Teal I got it to round out my order of Yellow Flame. I didn't notice until I was holding it that it has shimmer to it, and I thought it might be similar to China Glaze Turned up Turquoise. When I was going through my Helmer to find TuT, I came across Sinful Rise and Shine and threw that in, too. I also threw in Custom Kicks.
In the bottle we can see already that Custom Kicks isn't really close, but I swatched it anyway. Everything else seems to be pretty close.
All of these are three coats, no topcoat. Index finger is Jessica Electric Teal, middle finger is China Glaze Turned up Turquoise, ring finger is Sinful Rise and Shine, pinky is Custom Kicks.

Everything but Custom Kicks is very, very close. The VNL in the photos doesn't show in real life. Here are the three close ones inside.
Electric Teal is the most saturated of the three, but it's still really, really close. Turned up Turquoise has more shimmer. Rise and Shine is a tiny bit dustier than the other two. Verdict: Only a true polish addict would notice the difference - I do. Otherwise, these three could all pass for each other, even though they aren't true dupes.

I also had a chance to take photos in the sun of yesterday's mani - Sinful Pink Glitter over Fusion Neon.

No idea what I have planned for tomorrow. Until then, have a great weekend!

China Glaze - Passion in the Pacific

Yep, decided not to wear the yellow combo I talked about last time. I think I'm going to change my polish again on Thursday since I'll have time - I'll wear it then.

China Glaze Passion in the Pacific is one of the oldest China Glazes I have in my untried stash. I really, really love both Turned up Turquoise and Custom Kicks, so every time I pick up Passion in the Pacific I mentally compare it to those two and think, "meh". I should have tried it sooner. Here are a variety of photos, all under halogen light, as it's too dark to go outside.

Basecoat: China Glaze Ridge Filler (1 coat)
Color: China Glaze Passion in the Pacific (4 coats)
Topcoat: Seche Vite (1 coat)

I probably could have gotten away with three coats if I had been more careful with application. The fourth coat was mostly to cover up streaks. Passion in the Pacific has a glowy shimmer I just could not capture with my camera. If I had sun, that might have helped. It reminds me a LOT of Frostbite - it has that same internal glow. The consistency of this polish was fairly thin, and I had a few problems with tiny bubbles, but again - I wasn't too neat in my application, and Seche Vite hides a lot of flaws.

I spent most of my day today trying to order my new iPhone. I started as soon as I got to the office at 7:30, and I finally got it ordered at 2:45 pm. What a beating. I can't imagine how AT&T/Apple weren't prepared for this. Anyway, by the time I left work I was in no mood for layered polish, so I went with this instead.

Have a great week!