Daubingy's Beau

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey
Undies: Sinful Colors - Beau Khaki, two coats
Glitter: Finger Paints - Daubingy's Garden, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Look! Look what I did! I've had Beau Khaki for about two years. I almost purged it probably twice because it's a creme, and I'm awful at application on cremes. But the color was perfect, so I wouldn't let myself let it go. Instead, I kept practicing off and on, and just recently, my application skills have improved a little. And it's just enough that I can finally wear Beau Khaki! Eeek! *proud*

I got Daubingy's Garden when Sally's did a free Finger Paints promotion a few months ago. It was the most unique thing on the wall, so I thought I might as well give it a go. In the bottle, it's kind of duochrome-y, but on the nail, you can see it clearly: navy blue and gold/green iridescent hexes in two sizes. The glitters go on easily, but stick together rather easily, as you can see, so application is a little tricky.

It's actually a lot prettier in person than in pictures. I feel kind of fancy wearing this mani, especially considering how long I worked to get application right in order to wear a creme like this!

Wear: Lifting on Day 4. :( Applied a coat of Gelous and an extra coat of SV on Day 3 to give it more shine and maybe help it last longer, but it seems to have done the opposite!

A-Crush

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Sinful Colors - A-Crush, two coats
TC: None

A-Crush is a matte cornflower blue creme. Color was a bit tricky to capture, but it's closer to the first picture than the second two.

Application on this one was a little messy, but it's so cute, right? It's similar to Bikini So Teeny, so I probably don't need it. I hesitated buying it, but it was only $2, and it's matte~.. I'll probably just throw it in the main stash and deal with it later. >_>

Wear: Four days. Minor tip wear on day two, major cracks on day four

Beyond

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey
Color: Color Club - Beyond, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

I was skeptical about Beyond when I picked it up because I don't normally wear black polish. I was proven wrong about that, though, because Beyond is Ah. Maze. Ing! <3 In typical Color Club holo fashion, the linear holo is crazy strong and fantastic.

Application was smooth, too, and gave me zero problems. I just adore these Color Club Halo Hues!

I enjoyed it so much that I took very many pictures. Nothing absolutely perfect, unfortunately, but lots of really great ones. It was hard to pare it down to just four to share.

Wear: Five days, slight lifting beginning on day four

Vespa

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Zoya - Vespa, three coats
TC: None

Meh. I'm totally not feeling this one. I was surprised, really, because I love my other Pixie Dusts, and this was a cute color in the bottle. I think it probably just doesn't go with my skin tone. The inside pictures are okay. They turned out better than expected...

But that outside one, you can totally see what I mean, right? Bleh. Purge box.

Wear: TBA (applied Thursday)

Peaceful Opposition

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Orly - Peaceful Opposition, three coats
TC: Seche Vite
Matte: China Glaze - Matte Magic, one coat (bottom two images)

I picked this up at the annual Salon Brands sale for a dollar, and it was probably a good use of a dollar, I think. This polish is alright, but I think what I like the most about it is its name. I'm not sure if I actually like the polish itself or not.

It's a sheer white base with silver hex and square glitters. It's pretty similar to Popular/Starry Pink, though the glitters are larger in this one, and the base isn't pink. I need to purge about 20-ish polishes coming up sometime soonish, and I probably don't need to keep both of them. Just need to decide which I like better.

Then I added a layer of matte, and it turned out even cuter than shiny! That definitely adds to its keep-ability.

Wear: Four days to lifting. I thought it would be quicker because of the matte, but I was happily proven wrong.

Spellbound

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

Spellbound is suuuuuuch a pretty cornflower blue color just packed full of holo glitter and scattered holo loveliness. I just adore it! <3 The load of glitters DID make it top coat hungry, even with a thick coat of SV. So I think next time I wear it, I'll probably layer some Gelous over it before the SV.

Unfortunately, like I've mentioned before, I'm back to doing my nails only about once a week, on the weekends, because commuting the hour drive each way to and from my work, on top of everything else teaching entails, is rather taxing. So I waited all~ week to put it on Saturday morning and take beautiful pictures of it... and then, what do you know, it's freaking cloudy! Grrr! *sigh* So.. better pictures will have to wait until May, I suppose. :P

Wear: Six days. Lifting started on day three, so I mustered up all my strength and somehow left it alone until I got home, the went over it with a coat of Gelous and another of Seche Vite. I wonder why my wear time hasn't been great recently.. maybe the new bottle of BC I opened..?

Interstellar Space

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Orly - Interstellar Space, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

I've passed this polish up so many times. When it first came out, I was interested. The whole Galaxy FX collection seemed very indies-inspired. Seeing them in the store though.. they just weren't quite the type of polishes I would wear. So I avoided them when they first came out. And again when they went on sale. And again when I've seen them on blog sales. But when Interstellar Space appeared at a local swap, I decided, what the heck? and went for it. Turns out I'll try most things if I can do it for free!

And I'm so glad I did. It's actually super adorable. Very much like something Hare Polish would put out, indeed! The base is rather sheer, but it builds nicely, at least in person. In pictures, it seems like it could use some undies. That blue and green shimmer is just the prettiest thing and mixes so well with the dark base and purple and gold glitters.

I'm back to taking pictures inside again.. Boo! I hate not having a good time available to do my nails and take pictures during the daylight hours of the week. :( Plus, this time I got a little carried away on some of my clipping... oops! Regardless, Interstellar Space is a gorgeous first-fall-mani-of-the-year. <3

Wear: Chips on day three, boo.. :/

It Can't Rain All the Time

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Maya Cosmetics - It Can't Rain All the Time, four coats
TC: Seche Vite
Added on day 3: Essence - Rock My World, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

That's right, four coats. Because apparently I'm more stubborn in my refusal to wear undies than I am about how many coats I'm willing to apply. In this case, anyway. :P

I was going to purge this a while ago, but I stopped myself because I hadn't really worn it. I hadn't worn it enough to take a swatch pic. Now, after having taken these, I still want to purge it. I kinda feel like, no, I need to try wearing some undies under it first.. but no. I don't love it, so it can go.

On day 3 I added a layer of Rock My World. I'm not sure if this one is meant to be a texture or not. It doesn't seem like it, but it is slightly textured-y.

I think I added this mostly in an attempt to prolong enjoyment of this mani so I could make it last until the weekend, but that didn't pan out. Chips the very next day. I'm not sure the additional polish was a benefit or a deficit or had nothing to do with that. *shrug*

Wear: Four days until chips.

Most Sinful

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Sinful Shine - Most Sinful, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

This color is a little bold for me, but I've always admired this shade of royal blue on everyone else. Since I've started giving cremes another go, I thought I might just try this one, as well. And it is SO bold.. It's more like the color of a shirt I would wear than the color of my nails, but I'll get used to it! Next time I should try a silver accent or something!

Wear: Four days until growth got to me.

Holo White Comparison

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Thumb: Glitter Gal - Light as a Feather, two coats
Index: Literary Lacquers - Tesseract, two coats
Middle: Fair Maiden Polish - Sleigh Bells in the Snow, two coats
Ring: Different Dimensions - Excelsior!, two coats
Pinkie: Cirque Colors - City Lights, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Well.. I guess I have enough of these to do a comparison skittles mani. I guess I can't fight it any longer.

LaaF is the most different of the bunch. It's got the strongest holo, is the most sheer, and is more silvery than white. It's probably my favorite.

Tesseract is maybe the most boring. It's got the weakest holo and is the most pale white. It doesn't have any shimmer like the others, and the formula is of my least favorite.

SBitS has my has my least favorite brush and a weak holo. It does have that blue shimmer, though, and the formula is fair...

Excelsior! actually has the second-strongest holo of the bunch, which was surprising, as I've never been able to catch it before this. It has a pretty pink shimmer in the shade. I think it may be my second favorite.

City Lights is the whitest white of the bunch, and has an okay holo. The formula wasn't great, but I really liked the brush and the bottle.

I know I don't really need to keep all five, but I just don't know if I can bring myself to purge any of them. They're all pretty. ;-; But if I were to get rid of any of them, I might start with Tesseract, and then maybe Sleigh Bells. We'll see. I'll keep my eye on it and then maybe...

Wear: Five day until lifting, though I didn't pay any attention to which ones lifted first. (I've started using the word "lifting" over "peeling" now because I saw someone else use it. I know it's going to be inconsistent from before. Oh well.)

Rockin' Indigo and Turquoise

The Polish:
BC: White glue
Undies: Finger Paints - Rockin' Gunmetal, one coat
Glitter 1: Sephora by OPI - Indi-go with the Flow, one dabbled coat on every other finger
Glitter 2: Sephora by OPI - Not Your Average Turquoise, one dabbled coat on every other finger
TC: Seche Vite

I needed something to wear for a couple of days before I could actually do my nails on the weekend, so I chose to knock out three untrieds. Ignore all the gross ridges.. they were caused by the glue base coat.

Rockin' Gunmetal is my favorite of the three today, which was unexpected. It's a one-coater with a nice formula. I tend to shy away from metallics, but I might keep this one for undies. The glitters, on the other hand, were boring and sparse. I thought I would like them, especially the blue, but I think I'll put them both back into the purge box.

Wear: Two days

Boom! Vanilla.

The Polish:
Treatment: OPI - Nail Envy
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: KleanColor - Vanilla Villa, one coat
Top Coat: Seche Vite
Glitter: Sephora X - Boom, one and a half ish dabbled coats
Glitter Food: American Classics - Gelous
Top Coat: Seche Vite

Oh my goodness, I'm so pleased at myself! This is the first time I've been pleased with the application of a creme, first time around, little to no cleanup! Eee! And look at that beautiful light grey color! And only one coat? Yeeesh. <3 (The vanilla scent, however, is still undetectable. Oh well.)

Boom was such a great choice to put with it, as well. The two colors go great together. I learned about the technique of putting a quick dry top coat on before the glitter in order for the glitter not to sink into the other polish, and I wanted to try it. (So that's why my list of layers is a mess.) I did the extra SV layer on my left hand, but not on the left to see if I could tell the difference, but it was minimal on this one. I think it'd probably make a big difference with other glitter. I definitely want to try it next time I wear Heavenly, for instance.

Wear: Four days to peels

Cherubic

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

Yay, I have another Color Club holo! They really are the best holos. They have such a strong linear flare. So much so that it's almost hard to see what color they are! This one is a pretty lavender-y purple.

Wear: Five days, chips at four.

Blu

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Basecoat
Color: Zoya - Blu, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Well, the good news is that I've definitely improved upon my application skills since the last time I wore this. The bad news is that I'm still not a fan of the formula. I love this pretty, soft egg-shell blue shade, but this formula, man... part of me wants to keep it for when I get even better at application skills, but the other part of me wants to purge it immediately because I don't love it. Man.. it's so unfortunate, but I need to just give it to someone who can give it the appreciation it deserves. Purge box.

Wear: Removed on day 3 with minor tip wear.

Prosecco

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Color: Sinful Shine - Prosecco, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

The nail community went crazy for this one a year or so ago. Unfortunately I decided to give it a chance at the height of its popularity, after it was widely available, so I wasn't able to find it in the wild and didn't want to spend money having it shipped to me.The good news is that Walmart now has the Sinful Shine collection, so it's become available again! And also that I have some new local polish friends, one of which was sweet enough to share this one with me. *grin* Alright, alright, enough back story.

I don't have anything like this in my collection. I guess it's taupe, a grey-purple-brown-ish color, with a strong gold shimmer. I was afraid it was going to be too thick and opaque, but I was delighted to find it nice and thin. Almost too thin, in fact, as I felt like I needed three coats, but I was so excited putting it on that I didn't even care.

So pretty! That shimmer is fantastic! And it's a great work appropriate color, too, for those of you with jobs that care about that sort of thing. (I feel for you.)

Wear: Six days, though the last one shouldn't count because it was chippy. Five days to chips.

Flakie Champagne

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: New York Color - Pink Champagne, two coats
TC: Seche Vite
Added on day 2: Orly - Green Flakie Top Coat (Matte FX line), two coats (Shown in pictures 2-5)

I have to be in a particular mood to wear Pink Champagne anymore. It IS super delicate and cute, but I've been in the mood for more color recently. I just haven't been needing a palate cleanser.

I was pretty skeptical about putting on the flakie top coat at first, and even throughout that day. It really is just a matte top coat with some flakies in it. Nothing really interesting.

But after a while, I started noticing the flakies over the soft, sheer pink and the delicate gold shimmer.. the blue and green iridescent glitter.. They go so well together! They're both fine on their own, but together, they give such a transient, dreamy, effervescent feel. And the fact that it's matte just makes the whole thing seem even softer, smooth and satin-y. These pictures really just don't do it justice!

So, turns out, this flakie top coat I was having second thoughts about is actually a good deal after all. I'm already wondering if I would ever want just a regular matted manicure over a matted-and-flakied one.

Wear: Removed on day four with no noticeable wear.

The Bends

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey
Color: Super Black - The Bends, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Huh. Well. This certainly isn't a color I would have tried on my own, so thank goodness for swapping buddies! <3

The Bends is a blue-leaning teal jelly with black, white, and holo blue glitters. It's pretty interesting to look at, but those black glitters, man... I feel like a teenager wearing this, hah! It's neat, and I was glad to try something new, but it's still not for me. Passing it along, back to the swap box!

Wear: Three days, chips started on day two. Ugh. Maybe it didn't like the Stickey? :/

Anti Establish Mint

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Model City Polish - Anti Establish Mint, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

I got this little mini in a local swap, and I was very excited for it. This was my first pastel green holo! Applying it, however... I can tell why it ended up in the swap box. The formula is nice, but the holo is weak, and the color is kinda sickly. Meh. Oh well. Back into the swap box for you.

Edit: After wearing it all week, I started having second thoughts. It IS a pretty color.. kind of a pastel, dusty olive, and I HAVE admired those colors in Essie bottles before at the store. I didn't hate it on me as much as I did when I first applied it. And it DID have such a nice formula. So I pulled it from the box.

Wear: Removed on day four with minimal wear.