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.

Sea Temptress

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Finger Paints - Sea Temptress, two coats
TC: None

I have such mixed feels about this color. It's alright, a duo-chrome-y white with green shift. It's one of those texture polishes that is texture by way of glitter, not the whole polish. So.. that's weird. And then the color thing happens to me, and it's not actually THAT pretty...

I just feel like, if anyone were enjoy this polish, it would be me. So I have trouble giving up on it. It's not a BAD polish.. it's just not that great. :/ I'll give it one more chance, I guess.

Wear: Four days to chips. Removal was a glitter pain.

Misty Altruism

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Mentality Nail Polish - Misty, two coats
Accent: Mentality Nail Polish - Altruism, two coats over Misty
TC: Seche Vite (over accent nail only)

Surprise holo! Ooooh, I love it! Altruism is silver-purple duochrome holo that reminds me of L'Oreal's Masked Affair. I don't have that one, so I can't compare. (They're probably not all that similar, whatever.) Also, I wore Altruism over Misty, so I'm not sure how it'd hold up on its own. Maybe it's sheer?

Misty is a very pretty matte grey with gold shimmer. It was lovely when I put it on, but after 24 hours, many nails had cracks throughout the polish, as though it were a crackle. Strange. I'd never had that happen before. Maybe the coats were too thick? I need to thin it before the next time I wear it and make sure my coats aren't too thick.

Wear: Slight wear on day two, chips on day three

Pastille

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

What? Another green scattered holo? Why? I certainly don't need three of them. Meh. I'll decide later.

Wear: Removed on day five, chips on day four.

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

Maniacle and Intriguing

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Undies: Revlon - Intrigue (Brilliant Strength line), two coats
Glitter: Sephora X - Manaical, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

I'm not so sure about this blue. It's kinda dark and almost pearl-y. It works okay with the glitter over it, but I don't know if that saves it from the purge pile.

But look how glowy it is in the shade! Meh.. Still not sure that makes up for it. Think the blue still goes in the purge pile and the glitter can stay with me.

Wear: Removed on day three

Sugar Plum

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Sally Hansen - Sugar Plum (Sugar Shimmer line), two coats
TC: None

I avoided the Sugar Shimmer line when it first came out because none of them called to me, but I found Sugar Plum during a local swap and thought, "Why not? Let's give it a shot." In the back of my mind, I guess I was hoping that it would be a surprise favorite, but nope. I disliked it just as much as I expected to. And I should have known, anyway, because I disliked Pussy Galore. Maybe I was just hoping that gold shimmer would save it.

When I put Sugar Plum on, the lighting in the room was not so great, and it almost looked like a My Nails But Better shade, hah. Definitely not a good shade on me. Back to the purge pile.

Wear: Removed on day three, which was longer than I had intended to wear it.

Guest Polishing: Galaxy Nails!

This doesn't really count as a true guest post because it's still me, Holly, writing, but I have nails that someone else did! These are my first galaxy nails, and the first time she's done galaxy nails. Firsts!

I'm not sure of which colors we chose, since they were her polishes, but I can tell you that we learned the gas clouds need to be made of cremes, like pink/purple is here. One of those silver clouds was supposed to be blue/teal, but the polish we chose was too shimmery. Lesson learned!

And here, have some flowers, since they're so in bloom right now in my yard.

Bikini Worshiper

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat, CND Stickey on toes
Main: Essie - Bikini So Teeny, three coats
Accent and toes: China Glaze - Sun Worshiper, two coats
Undies for accent and toes: Sally Hansen - Fog (Smooth & Perfect line), two coats
TC: Seche Vite

And now for something completely different! My husband and I took a trip to Kansas City last weekend. We went to Ikea (no, not for helmers) and the water park, so I wanted to have super cute summer time nails. I received Sun Worshiper in a swap, and I wanted to make sure I used it while it was still summer (it's back to work for me in two weeks :/). Nail board's been on another Bikini So Teeny kick, so I thought I'd pair it with that. Bikini So Teeny and Sun Worshiper? What perfect playing-at-the-pool colors could ever hope to exist?

Sun Worshiper refuuuses to be photographed. It kept coming out in pictures as a sort of egg yolk yellow, but it's actually completely orange. It's also water thin and very sheer, so not the best formula. It dries matte, as neons do.

Bikini is as adorable as ever. I still have a heck of a time applying it, because, you know, creme, but I'm getting better! Yay, practicing!

I even spent more time on my toes than I normally do, using cuticle remover and oil.

Wear: Five days, chips on four