Ocean Breeze

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Revlon - Ocean Breeze, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Ugggh, what? Pearly? Whyyy? Why do pearls exist? I wore this metallic, pearly teal for two weeks on my toes, and it was super cute. I. Just. Can't. Do pearls on my nails.. :/ But.. keep for my toes? Yes. Keep for toes. I should post a pedi sometime.. when I get my toes looking nice. :P

Wear: Removed on Day 4 with lifting (even though I was enjoying it more by that point!)

It's All Opal Now

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Gothic Gala Lacquers - Opal Jamila, three coats
Accent: Tough as Nails Lacquer - It's All Over Now, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Uhm, no. No, thank you. To begin with, check out this awful bottle. What is WITH that dumb, long handle? And... are you seeing this? They put the label... ON THE CORNER OF THE BOTTLE? UGH! My OCD is so furious at you right now! >_<

Okayokay. Okay. Let's judge the polish on its own merits, shall we? ... In which case, it still fails. Streaky, pearly, silverish white... just not gonna do it for me. Please get this thing far away from me.

It's All Over Now is pretty cute, though. Blue, purple, silver, and iridescent hexes and silver shards in a grey base. The base is more sheer than I expected, so I had to layer three coats to get it to look nice, but once it's there, it sure is cute. <3 Not that you can see it in this picture, though! Will definitely have to revisit.

Wear: Removed the offending polish on Day 2 but kept the accent for the next mani

Androgynous Al Frisco

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: OPI - Dining Al Frisco, two coats
Accent: Orly - Androgyny, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Two more untrieds today. Dining Al Frisco is a pearly ocean blue with sparse green micro-glitter. Androgyny is a black jelly with iridescent hexes and silver micro-glitter. I used Androgyny as an accent because I thought I'd like it less than Al Frisco, but actually the obverse was true! Al Frisco is cute with its color scheme (and it showed up nicely in the pictures!), but the pearl is just too much for me. Androgyny, on the other hand... I'm such a sucker for iridescents. <3

Wear: Al Frisco had some small chips on Day 3, a little lifting from both colors on Day 4, removed on Day 5

Petal Vortex

The Polish
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Color Club - Polar Vortex, two coats
Glitter: OPI - Petal Soft, one point five coats
TC: Seche Vite

I was looking forward to this mani with two untrieds from the most recent swap, but now that I have it on, I'm not so sure about it.

Polar Vortex is a really nice blue-dark grey-black color, but it's pearly. I'm getting better at application, so it's not that much of a deal breaker as it once was, but I still don't prefer the look of it. I think I would only wear it under something else. Into purgatory for now.

Petal Soft isn't as much of a pain as I thought it would be. It's super adorable with its three sizes of small, pastel pink hexes and white flower shape-y glitters. I DID have to fish for the flower, but it's staying on really well and isn't annoying me at all! I did get a bunch of excess base on that nail that turned out looking wonky once the SV dried over it, but.. I could just consider this as a pink glitter and forget about trying to fish out the flowers. Still cute. It gets to stay with the rest of the stash.

Wear: Removed on Day 4, ruined from house work

Joanna

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Julep - Joanna, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Nope. Nopenopenope. Pearl finish. I'm out. It looked so pretty in the bottle, and even from far off, but I just can't handle a pearl. Purge.

Wear: Removed on day two

Nude Shimmer

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Sally Hansen - Nude Shimmer (Diamond Strength line), two coats
TC: None

Huh.. Why do I even have this color? It's totally not my style. Let's try it on anyway, shall we? Ignore the weird bubbles showing up in the bottle.

Uh.. no. Just no. Too pearly and brush stroke-y. Definitely not my color.

You know what? I have a friend who would appreciate this polish much more. Let's just give it to her. Purged.

Wear: Removed immediately

Bait Me, Princess

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Sally Hansen - Bait Me (Triple Shine line), two coats
Glitter Accent: Liquid Sky Lacquer - Ice Princess, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

What? A pearl? Why would I even purchase another pearl? Because it was on sale for $1.30 at Ulta. I figured that was cheap enough to experiment. It wasn't awful, but like I expected, it went straight into the swap box after I put it on. I just don't do pearls.

Ice Princess, on the other hand, is super adorable. I really should have put it over all nails, but I wanted to leave some of Bait Me plain to convince myself that I really didn't need it. I'll layer Princess over more things soon enough.

Wear: Four days to peels

Pinkie Linen

The Polish:
Duri - Rejuvicote
Sally Hansen - Linen (Smooth and Perfect line)
Wet n Wild - Pinkie Sweet (Megalast line)

I took some pictures of Linen on its own, too, but they turned out terribly. Dreary winter weather has begun already. As can also be seen in my cuticles. Also, ugh, come ON, peelies. Grr, driving me crazy.

Anyway, my honeymoon with the Smooth and Perfect line is definitely over. I fell in love with them when I was still a muggle, and now I see why they don't get any love from the girls on nail board. First, some bubbling. Second, the pearly finish. Not as brush-stroke-y as some other things I've tried, but still enough to be annoying. It fades after a couple of days and is hardly noticeable with a layer of something prettier (like my Pinkie Sweet) over it, so I'm not going to throw them all in the swap pile immediately, but I am a little frustrated that I have a full set of something I don't actually care much for. What I do still adore are the brushes and the bottles. I half want to just pour them all out and decant something nicer.

But yeah, nothing bad to say about Pinkie Sweet, on the other hand. My mom asked for a mani, and after putting it on her, I couldn't help layering it over Linen, which I currently had on my own nails. Made a world of difference.

Retry Skittles

The Polishes:
Thumb:  Essence - Grey-t to be Here - three layers
Index: Cover Girl - Gold Rush (Boundless Color line) sandwiched between OPI - Sweet Heart
Middle: Raindrops franken dupe over Revlon - Phantom Angel (Masquerade collection) - two layers each
Ring: Wet n Wild - Star of the Show (Fast Dry line) over Orly - Au Champagne - two layers
Pinkie: Sally Girl - unnamed iridescent glitter over Sally Girl - Coconut - two layers

Again, taking advantage of Nail Board's Skittle week, I decided it was a good time to go through some polishes I hadn't worn in a while in hopes of purging some.

Grey-t is one of my favorites of the bunch. I adore the wide brush, the smooth formula, and the cute color. Perhaps others may be frustrated with the sheerness--I used three coats to cover the nail line. But I'm not one of those people. Nail lines don't bother me, and for everyday wear, two coats is fine by me.

Oh my goodness, my finicky Sweet Heart again. Your poor bottle is so muggle abused. And look at those bubbles! Yeah, it's not the greatest polish, and the old, thin brush may be sub-par, but I just can't bear to get rid of it yet. No one would want her. There's not much left, and it looks fine sandwiching glitter. I'd much prefer to just use as much as I can and then toss.

Gold Rush, again, is a perfectly reasonable glitter. Nothing spectacular about it, but it looks fine in a sandwich. I initially tried to leave it as a topper, but I just don't prefer that look. I had to add another layer of Sweet Heart.

Phantom Angel has been concerning me for a while now, as I've gone through my stash. It's a bit on the pearly side, and I don't like pearls. It's a sheer white, which I like, but, honestly, I have enough sheer whites, and those ones aren't pearls. Purging this one.

And here's my first Raindrops franken dupe attempt. There's not much left because I poured most of it into another franken glitter. I just wanted to see what it would look like on top of something else. *shrug* It's okay. In the shade, you can see the flakes from Glass Slipper, though, which are pretty.

Oh, Star of the Show. How I love-slash-hate you. I love your stars. I hate how sparse they are. You know, I have other star glitter. It's tough for me, but I suppose it's time to give you up. Purge.

Au Champagne is another one I have trouble with. I always hate it when I'm thinking about it. A frosty white? Sounds terrible. But on the nail, it somehow works, especially with two layers. I guess it has enough self-leveling power to settle the brush strokes into a fine matte. It's especially tolerable if I'm only wearing it as undies. Keep.

And my Sally Girls. Coconut has a creme finish that's just barely frustrating to work with, but the lovely coconut scent totally makes up for it. And the pretty pastel blue color.

And the iridescent glitter--actually one of my favorites from this batch of polishes. Simple and cute. Love it. <3

After I came back inside from taking pictures, somehow I found myself putting Seche Vite over top without thinking about it. After two nails, I said, "Wait. What am I doing? I'm not actually going to wear this, am I? To work?" (I'm a teacher at a private school.) Then I told myself, "Whatever, no one cares," and finished the Seche Vite. Somehow my index finger still got dented, anyway, so I probably won't wear it past a couple of days.

Purge number this time around: Two. I guess it's better than last time!

Silver and Champagne

Orly - Au Champagne
Sally Girl - unnamed silver hex glitter
China Glaze - Matte Magic

What? A white pearl? Why do I even own this? Don't I know that I hate pearls? ... Oh yeah. The girls on the forums made it look so nice. So let's give it a go.

Au Champagne actually isn't that bad, for a pearl. Yeah, it's streaky, to be expected, but it IS pretty. And matte, the streak is hardly noticeable at all.

Also to be expected, the Sally Girl glitter involved a bit of fishing. Meh. Oh well.

As for the stained cuticles... before this mani, I started to put on a dark grey and realized immediately that it wasn't for me. I removed it quickly, but it still stained. Boo. Not sure what's up with my pinkie nail, either. The same thing happened last mani. I'll have to buff it out, whatever it is.

Wear: Two days. Lasted through one shower and died in the second. But for some reason it seems like it wore better than the NYC stuff. Dunno. I'll have to do a comparison.

Also, I put this picture on Reddit, as I occasionally do when I'm feeling affection for my current mani, and I got downvoted. Sure, I got more upvotes than downvotes, so my overall score was still positive, but it still hurt. I asked for some constructive criticism and got told that I needed more coats of polish and better application that "covers the whole nail." So.. this is just a reminder to me--I do my nails for myself. I don't do them for those people, and I don't even do them for anyone else that may be reading my blog. I do them for myself, and I do them the way I like them. Everyone else can stfu. <3

Delicacy

Essie - Delicacy

Delicacy is an Essie color that was recently discontinued. I picked it up from the Walgreens clearance basket for $2. From the bottle, it looks like just another sheer pink, but no the nail, it's actually a pearly pink with the slightest blue duo-chrome. Totally not what I was expecting. It's pretty, but unfortunately, the pearly-frosty finish gives it a bad case of the visible-brush-strokes. This is three coats.

(Oh, what looks like bubbles on these pictures is actually the Glass Slipper from my second Raindrops franken dupe attempt that I didn't try very hard to remove. Sorry it makes it look kinda crappy.)

Can't decide if I like this polish or not. Honestly, I'm leaning towards not. The color is cute, but.. well, there are two finishes that I like least in a polish, pearl/frost and duo-chrome. And this one has BOTH of them! Ugh.

But oh well. Still pretty cute, huh? I'll wear it for a couple of days.

Edit: I didn't notice the blue duo-chrome that I mentioned for the rest of the life of this mani, and the other reviews I found on the internet didn't mention anything about it, either. Maybe it was a fluke? Huh.

Vintage NYPD

Vintage Wet N Wild - NYPD (Crystalic 491B)

Not much to say here. It's a pretty, pearl-y blurple (I kinda hate that word, but it's what they call it!) I got in a box of vintages hand-me-downs. It's nice, but I think it'll be going into the swap-box soon. First three fingers have two coats. Pinky has only one coat, because I like to see what things look like with only one coat. I'm silly like that. :P No clean-up, so sorry for the slight mess.

Vintage Silver-Blue Comparison

Vintage unnamed Wet n Wild
Vintage Fetish Run for Cover Silver Spoon
Sally Hansen Glass Slipper (Diamond Strength line)
Wear: Three days

I mentioned to the nail board on Makeup Alley that I was craving (or "lemming," as they say) the rare and popular Illamasqua Raindrops, half-hoping they could help me find it. Instead they recommended frankening a dupe. Someone mentioned Sally Hansen's Glass Slipper, and as soon as they said that, I knew I had to try! I had a couple of vintages that I wanted to try as the base, but before I gave it a go, I decided to test the old polishes first.

And I'm glad I did. The vintages are actually more similar to each other than I imagined they'd be, even down to the pearly frost finish. It's a little hard to tell the difference, isn't it? I got confused a couple of times as I was applying them! The Wet n Wild is just the slightest bit more blue.

However, because there's that hint of frost in the finish (which I've mentioned before that I don't enjoy), I don't think they're good enough for my Raindrops-franken-dupe. Raindrops is a nice jelly and more blue than either of these. These just wouldn't cut it for me. Ah well. Looks like I'll be on the lookout for a blue-grey jelly!

But just for the heck of it, I decided to add a couple of layers of Glass Slipper, anyway. (And then promptly proceeded to destroy the paint on my pinky directly after the above picture was taken. Pffft.)