Sallie Hansen - Salon Effects in Lace

I wore these for the first time to my good friend's wedding.

Sally Hansen's Salon Effects in "Laced Up"

I got several compliments while wearing this over the weekend!  Most people thought it was done professionally in a salon. :)

Not too difficult to put on, and they did a good job of not chipping for the 5 days I wore them (I had to take them off before starting my clinical rotations).  It has a very slight "nail polish" smell to them when you first remove the clear protective layer on each strip (because it's made with real nail polish), but that fades fast. I cut mine in half so that I get 2 uses out of one box.  I heard that OPI has a nail prep (usually for acrylics) you can brush on before applying the strips to help it stick better... I'll try it next time!  Also, when removing these things, I literally had to soak a cotton ball for EACH fingernail... I guess that goes to show how well it sticks to your nails. 

Looking down

Merino Cool

Another lovely color! Essie Merino Cool is a nice creamy shade of purple-gray. Fabulous! Like Sew Psyched, it went on nicely and opaque.  The color was achieved in 2 coats, dried fairly quickly too! Sew Psyched lasted a solid week before chipping. I'm a happy camper ^_^

A Green Fall

I recently purchased Essie nail polish in "Sew Psyched" in my hunt for a nice Fall green nail polish.

Flash, No Flash

This is pretty close to Chanel's Khaki Vert:

Essie's version is a little bit more "slate-esque," but still a pretty green.  This was my first time purchasing this brand and I'm pretty impressed.  The color is super opaque at just the first coat, but I did two coats just to get full coverage.  The consistency is nice and smooth and it dries pretty quick too! At about $5-8 a bottle, I think this is a good alternative to Chanel's. 

Fall must have

Say hello to Les Khakis de Chanel

Vert  /  Brun  /  Rose

"Dusty," muted browns, army greens, and roses

Chanel nail polishes are known for their great lasting power and great opaque consistency.  $25 a pop is pretty expensive, but these colors are gorgeous!  I think they're sold out now, but you can probably buy them from Ebay, or try to locate some dupes.

Fall Plum

This is a very old bottle of nail polish I had from Maybelline's Wet Shine collection: Plum Shine.

Since I have an interview this coming week, I needed something that was more "office" appropriate and couldn't give myself an "unconventional" color manicure.

I've forgotten how awful this nail polish is. The color is okay--a dusty purple (which looks like may be a trend this fall).  I think this particular color makes my hands look older.  And yuck! I think my nails are too long. AND it takes FOR-EV-ER to dry!! I had to do 3 coats for this, and I guess because it's been sitting around for so long that the glue in the brush has been breaking down.  I ended getting 4-5 hairs on my nails, which made me have to wipe them clean and start over. Annoying! It is going in the trash.  After so many redo's, I gave up on giving myself a decent manicure. Say la vie.

I guess I have been spoiled by the speedy drying time of the UO polishes.

Coral Pink

I was at Rite Aid the other day and noticed this cute coral pink color nail polish.  It was by a company I'd never heard of before: "CQ."  It was under $2, so I decided to grab it and try it.  The color is CQ 459: Coral Pink.

No flash, Flash, Brush

My thoughts: Cute color, needed 3 coats, dried pretty quickly, but dinky brush!  We'll see how long this lasts before it starts to chip!

And don't forget!

Teal Squeal

I found this great turquoisey, tealish colored nail polish on sale at my local Target in the clearance section for $5.

Nicole by O.P.I. in PEAS AND Q'S

No Flash:

Flash:

This color is so refreshing and cute! But it takes 3 coats and a little long to dry (compared to the UO nail polishes).  I still like it just because the color is so summery. :)

Soothing Blue 2

It's been awhile since my last blog! I have been S W A M P E D! @ work...

I really need a vacation... somewhere serene and near water, please.

On to the meat of the post! A new swatch of nail polish: Urban Outfitters - Blue 2 (I left my nails bare the last 1.5 weeks because I broke a nail from not using a clear coat base and needed to grow it back to a normal looking shape.)

With Flash:

Without Flash:

This definitely needs at least 3 coats to get the bottle color!  I only did 3 in these pictures, but I'm sure a 4th coat would make it really solid...if you have the time to let them dry between coats.  Drying time is pretty fast though. It's cute & creamy looking, and not too powdery or pastel-ish... perfect for summer!

Happy thoughts, happy colors

Swatch of the week: Red 1 nail polish from Urban Outfitters

with flash:

without flash:

I like this red...it almost has a pinkish hue/base to it.  Like the other UO nail polishes, it has the same kind of consistency.  First coat will be light and streaky, but 2nd coat will complete the look.  It kind of looks like a marble-y cherry pearl-thing. lol.  The photos above were accomplished with 2 coats...a little sloppy, sorry.

Paint points

I went to Urban Outfitters to scavenge their clearance/sale section.  I hardly ever buy anything at full price there. Interestingly enough, whenever I get compliments on certain pieces, they are on pieces I pick up from the clearance section at UO.

Get ready for this steal...*drumroll* Nailpolish for... wait for it... wait... for... it...

$0.99 EACH! Woowww! And they are the colors they have out for regular price currently.  The only thing I saw wrong with ONE bottle was that there was a drip of paint outside of the bottle.  I nabbed up 8 of the colors below:

Chrome Pewter 1, Matte Grey 4, Grey 2, Blue 2, Blue 3, Blue 4, Green 2, Green 4, Orange 2, Orange 3, Red 1
(no flash)

I love these bottles! Square, rubberized black caps, and one side with some sort of cool black/clear design by grayhood.  The colors are light on the 1st coat, and then opaque by the 2nd coat.  Although I haven't tried them all yet, I think I needed 3 coats for the orange (on my toes right now). They dry pretty quick and I think are pretty good with the premature chipping issue.  I get a solid week out of them.

No shimmer or sparkle, just flat opaque-ish colors.  Although, if you like glitter, they sell nail polish with glitter too.  Find them near the cash register, or check the clearance section to see if any got thrown back there.  Currently, only the chrome set is available online.

Stay tuned for weekly photo updates of nail polish as I redo my manicures.

Grey all the way!

I loooove grey! It's my favorite "color."  I'm a monochromatic girl at heart, so when I saw this nail polish at Urban Outfitters (2 for $8) I had to get it. It's called Matte Grey 4:

Without flash

With flash

Yay! Matte + grey = ♥

The matte isn't super matte like the greenish color I got from Forever 21, but it is still a nice flat color.  It's kind of a steel blue color.  The pictured polish above was accomplished with 2 coats.

Flat Matte

I went perusing Forever 21 and ran across this little bargain in a bottle for $2.80: a teal-ish/green-ish MATTE FLAT nail polish! "Veeeerrry interesting," thought I.

So! What do I think? It's pretty cool! Different, definitely.  What I like about this is that it dries super fast.  When it's wet, it's slick and shiny looking and when it's dry--it's flat & matte, no hyper-shiny glossiness!  You KNOW when it's dry because it changes its sheen!

Now, this is cause for concern for top-coat users.  Most top coats I know of make your nails look shiny and are supposed to extend the life of your manicures.  You have to forgo the use of the top coat here and just use an undercoat instead.  BUT, on the up side, if you don't like the matte look, you could easily add the top coat and make your nail polish shiny!

I need to go back and find this in Matte BLACK! That'd be awesome!