Wet n' Wild in Sparked

Sparked has to be my favorite glitter, yet it is the least expensive. WOW 3 coats and it was opaque.  It is a clear base pink/silver awesome glitter…mostly pink!

Not much else to say about this, Love it!

Pure Ice

This is a new brand for me; I actually found them in the seasonal section of my local Wal-Mart, seemed like a strange location!

Wild Thing is a bright, but not neon, light chartreuse cream polish. The application was good, only needing 2 coats for opacity.

Come Closer is a clear based glitter with light pink mini glitter and larger holographic multi-colour diamonds.  I did not apply a base colour, this is with 3 coats and it was mostly opaque.

These were the last 2 colours that were available, not sure if they are getting anymore or if this is a one-time shot.  If I see some different colours, I would definitely pick some more up.

Random Manicure Monday

This, in my opinion, is an epic fail!  My pet peeve is polish on cuticles and no matter what I did with acetone and my slanted makeup brush I could not remove the polish from my cuticles.

Naked nails, oh my!  I am giving my nails a break and using a treatment.

Happy Memorial Day to all my American friends!

Zoya Pixie Dusts Summer 2013

Finally the summer 2013 Zoya Pixie Dusts have made it to Canada.  I have the full collection of the first Pixie Dusts, but this time I only purchased 2 out of the 6 in the collection.

Stevie is a mega sparkly textured polish.  It is lavender with silver glitters, so pretty.  Love it!

Miranda is a rose sparkle textured polish.  I find this a bit on the red side of rose.

I hope Zoya continue to make more Pixie Dust, love the sparkle!

Neons by Finger Paints

I don’t have a bunch of neons in my collection so I thought it was time to get some.  Here are 2 polishes from the Finger Paints Summer 2012 neon collection.

Warhol Wannabe is bright neon pink.

Silkscreen Green is bright neon green.

Application was good, opaque in 2 coats and I did not apply white prior to applying the polish. As with all neons they are somewhat matte, so of course I added a top coat.  These pictures don’t do the colours justice.  I would definitely recommend some fun neons from Finger Paints.

OPI Bond Girl Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore

I picked up a couple of the OPI Bond Girl Liquid Sand polishes.  It is a 6 piece collection but only Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore caught my eye so those are the ones I selected.

Honey Ryder is absolutely gorgeous.  It is a gold metallic shimmer textured polish with glitter.

Pussy Galore is a light pearl pink textured polish with glitter.  While it is a pretty pink, it does nothing for my fair skin :(

These are great textured polishes, but in my opinion Zoya Pixie Dusts are still the best textured polishes on the market ;)

More Essence Polish

I liked the Essence polish so much I had to grab a few more from my local Shoppers Drug Mart.

Break Through is a vivid magenta.

Let’s Get Lost is a very bright aqua blue.

Oh My Glitter is a lavender/purple with blue, pink and gold iridescent shimmer.  Not really sure the name really suits it there is no glitter!

Party Princess is a pink based jelly glitter polish. 

Again these polishes were great, easy application and great colour payoff.  If they come out with some new colours, that I can get my hands on, I would purchase more ;)

Are you a Nail Polish Snob?

Are you a nail polish snob?  I have come to the conclusion that sometimes price does not always equal quality.  Do you only buy high end polish or have you tried some of the great quality/less expensive brands?  I like and buy high end brands, but I am always on the lookout for any quality polish.  Well…I was wandering the aisles of my local Dollarama (a Canadian chain of Dollar stores) and saw a brand of polish that I have never seen and thought what the heck, they’re a dollar.  If they are crap, I have only wasted a couple of bucks.  Honestly I wasn't hopeful; come on it’s a dollar store!  I was pleasantly surprised.  I really like the 2 Kozmic Colours that I picked up!

Mermaid is a minty green/blue colour.  The application was good, opaque in 2 coats.  It was a bit difficult to level, but Seche Vite took care of that.

Show Goes On is a silver bar glitter polish.   Application was also good, just needed a little placement on the nail, as with most glitters.

I would definitely pick some more up and would recommend them, at least to try.  Have you ever tried a less expensive polish and been pleasantly surprised?

Random Manicure Monday

Here are some random manicures for a rainy Monday.  Hope everyone had a celebratory Mother's Day!

Have a great day.

China Glaze Texture

China Glaze has a 6 piece textured collection now out.  Although I wasn't going to pick any of these up, I picked up a couple to see what they are like.  They are easy to apply and opaque in 2 coats with no top coat necessary.  They are completely matte no shimmer/sparkle as with the Liquid Sand collection by OPI or Zoya’s Pixie Dust.

Unrefined is bubble gum pink.

In The Rough is kind of a green/yellow or light chartreuse.

People have described the texture as being like the dreaded ‘popcorn ceiling.’ I must agree but I like them anyway ;) and would recommend them.

My perfect PINK is Zoya's Reagan

I am always on the lookout for the perfect pink, when I first saw this I thought it was just another dark pink like all the other ones I have…NOT!  I just had to show this all by itself, because it is so beautiful.  Reagan is part of the Zoya 2012 beach collection.  I have a difficult time finding pinks that looks decent on me; I am very fair with cool and pink undertones.  In one of the pictures it looks pink and in the other it looks purple.  It is a dark pink or fuchsia with blue undertones.  It is very pigmented and was opaque with only 1 coat; I applied 2 for good measure ;)  It is very bright but not neon, yet it is somehow still ‘soft.’  Love it!

I think this would look great on anyone, I would definitely recommend this!!

Dupes

I love a lot of the high end polishes, but with the high end polishes comes the high end prices. So…I thought I would look into some dupes for the high end polishes I like.  Here are a couple I've picked up.

The first one is Revlon Scandalous and it seems to be a dupe for Deborah Lippmann’s Bad Romance.  It is a beautiful black jelly based polish that is packed full of purple hex and small glitter.  It was opaque in 3 coats and there was no need to manipulate the glitter for uniform placement, it went on pretty even.

Another very dense pink based glitter I wanted was OPI’s Teenage Dream.  Sally Hansen’s Strobe Light is a dupe.  It would probably be best with a coloured base coat, but I did 3 coats of just glitter and just about achieved opacity.  It would make a great accent nail.

I think if you can save yourself a couple of bucks by going for a dupe, why not!  With the money you save you can buy more nail polish :)

Ardene ACO Polish

These are a couple of store brand polishes from Ardene.  Ardene is a Canadian store similar to Claire’s.  I thought I would pick a couple up and give them a try, the colours looked very unique.

Lollipop Queen is a vibrant fuchsia bordering on neon.  Thin consistency, but achieved opacity in 3 coats.

Gala Queen is a dark fuchsia/purple glitter polish.

While I liked the colours and the application I would not buy anymore of these.  They had a horrendous smell …very strong!!  I would not recommend.   This is the first time I have not recommended at least a try for a polish :(

Hard Candy - Candy Sprinkle Collection

Hard Candy polish is exclusively at Walmart and is available in many different finishes and colours.  Here are two polishes from the Candy Sprinkle collection.

Gummy Green is a mint green with a ton of small silver and black glitter.  It was a little sheer but I achieved full opacity with 3 coats.

Cocoa Smore is a rose-taupe with a bunch of small silver and black glitter.  Full opacity in 3 coats.

I thought the 2 polishes were of good quality.  The glitter is very dense and easy to apply. Certainly worth the price.  Next time you are in Walmart go take a look!

OPI Germany Collection

This post is dedicated to my Sister-in-Law!  Here are 4 polishes from the OPI Fall 2012 Germany Collection.

Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok, Fine is a dark green-grey creme polish. Green is one of my favorite colours and have quite a few, but nothing like this one. I love to see different shades.

Suzi & the 7 Dusseldorfs is a purple shimmer.  Great application.

Unfor-greta-bly Blue is a blue shimmer, kind of frosty.  Opaque in 2 coats.

Don't Pretzel my Buttons is a light beige creme polish.  If you are looking for a neutral polish, this one is for you.  Not really my skin tone match, I think they look like manikin hands. The lighting in the picture also looks off?

As always OPI never seem to disappoint me.