In Bare Form

The Polish
BC: Nailtiques - Formula 2
Color: KBShimmer - In Bare Form, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Ugh.. I had a rough day, and I'm all grumpy.. I wanted a neutral, but I should have gone with something silver. Meh. I can't purge because I'm in a bad mood. I'll have to give it another chance when I'm feeling better.

Wear: Removed on Day 5 and decided to purge after all. It's a fine color, but there are many things I'd rather wear instead.

Prosecco

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

Uhm.. hmm... my second time wearing Prosecco, I don't like it as much as before. It's got that lovely gold shimmer that's pretty irresistible, but the main color is so strange. Such a weird beige-mauve.

I mean, it's a fine color. It alright. I just don't love it. And I decided a while ago that my collection doesn't have room for polish I don't love. So.. into the swap box it goes. Maybe it can find someone who loves it.

Wear: Removed on Day 5 with minimal lifting

Don't Bossa Nova Me Around

The Polish:
BC: Nail-Aid - Extreme Steel Hardener
Color: OPI - Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, two coats
TC: None

The was the only color I wanted from the Brazil collection, but it was only because of the name. I enjoy bossa nova music. The more I looked at the color, the more I realized I didn't care for it. When it became available at a local swap, however, I took it. Trying something for free? Sure.

I actually liked it more than I thought I would. It's a fine nude, and it doesn't look half bad on me. The formula's easy to work with, too. But how much would I actually wear this? Maybe only once or twice. I thought about keeping it for undies, but I have better undies. This one is acceptable, but I have others that are better. There's no room in my stash for "acceptable" polishes. So even though this one's fine, it's going back to the swap.

Wear: Removed immediately

In Bare Form

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: KB Shimmer - In Bare Form, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

It only took me about five minutes to fall in love with this polish. KB Shimmer is a well liked brand in the indie world, so I knew I would.

In Bare Form is a wonderfully delicate linear holo nude. It applied like a dream, and I can't stop admiring it. Looks like I may need to get some more KB Shimmers in the future!

Wear: Removed on day five with minimal wear.

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

Suck My Peach

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: The Devil Wears Polish - Suck My Peach, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Well, nudes certainly aren't hitting my latest need for color, but at least she's holo! Suck My Peach might be my least favorite holo, but it's still a holo nonetheless. And the formula is good, so there's that!

Wear: Forgot to count :/

Fairy Sands

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Shimmering Sands, a franken, two coats
Topper: China Glaze - Fairy Dust, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Sheer, lovely Shimmering Sands. I wanted something else with it, and I don't use Fairy Dust much, so I decided to go with it.

I think it's actually because I don't really like Fairy Dust all that much. I know, I know--heresy. It's fine, really, but the tiny holo glitters only show up in a particular light, and they NEVER show up on pictures. Meh. Whatever.

Wear: Four days to peels

Fairy-Peach Maintenance

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: The Devil Wears Polish - Suck My Peach, two coats
Accent: Essie - Hi Maintenance, two coats
Accent Glitter: China Glaze - Fairy Dust, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

This is about as Valentine's-y as it gets, up in here. I don't really do holidays, but when I'm trying to decide what to wear, sometimes peer pressure is easy to fall victim to. So here's a nude holo and a sheer pink with Fairy Dust. There. I did it. :P

Even pretty in the shade! Although you can tell where my accent nail got a bit smudged. Oh well.

Wear: Five days to very minor peels. After last mani when I noticed peels were actually removing the top layer of nail, I removed as soon as I noticed the first peel with this one.

Give Me Iridescent, Now!

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey
Jelly for sandwich: Essence - Give Me Nude, Now!, one coat on either side of glitter
Glitter: Sally Girl - unnamed iridescent glitter, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

I got this Essence at an Ulta sale for fifty cents because I couldn't pass it up. I expected to just swatch it and throw it immediately in the swap box, but it's actually pretty nice. It's like Essence's version of 2% Milk.

I also expected to just put the glitter over the Essence and then matte it, but it was a lot more jelly-ish than I thought it would be, so I couldn't help but sandwich it.

Wear: Removed on day three.

Lush Heaven

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: LA Colors - Lush Lavender (Color Craze line), two coats
Glitter: Revlon - Heavenly, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

Someone posted a picture of Heavenly over a nude recently, and it was so pretty that I had to try it. My attempt isn't awesome, but it works. (That's like a theme of my manis, isn't it? Hah.)

Let's start with Lush Lavender, since I don't think I have a picture of it by itself yet. It's not the most flattering color on me, definitely more of a yellow-leaning nude than lavender. It's sheer and shimmery and just a little frosty. I don't think I would ever wear it on its own.

Heavenly is pretty, but like most iridescents, it's hard to photograph. It also has a tendency to... I don't know how to put it... sink into the polish it's layered over? Somehow. And I never seem to remember to give the polish under it extra dry time before layering.

I'm considering whether or not I want to purge Lush Lavender. It's not a bad polish, it's just not awesome. And shouldn't I only have awesome polishes in my collection? We'll see how I feel after looking at it for the next couple of days.

Wear: Bah, I forgot to record this one. I wanna say that I removed it before it started peeling or chipping, though, because I didn't really like it on me.

Whistling Blue Sands

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Shimmering Sands franken, two coats
Accent: Sally Hansen - Something Blue (Diamond Strength line), two coats
Accent Glitter: OPI - Pirouette My Whistle, one generous coat
TC: Seche Vite

I've been in a bit of a polish rut lately and not sure of what to wear, so I just grabbed these ones kind of at random. Something Blue was more similar to my franken than I'd like for an accent, so I topped it with glitter. Not that the pictures show it or anything. Maybe PMW wasn't the best glitter over a sheer silver. Meh.

So I wound up with yet another merely acceptable mani. I mean, it's pretty enough, just not awesome. Oh well. I'll get back into the groove of things soon enough.

Wear: Four days until chips and peels that I couldn't help but pick at.

Tiny Tangerines

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Polish: Sonoma Nail Art - Tiny Tangerines, two coats
TC: One coat of American Classics - Gelous, followed by one of Seche Vite

Tiny Tangerines is Aroma in Tacoma's pink little sister. It has the same glitter in a nude base look, but a pale pink base and white, pink, aqua, purple, and iridescent glitters. The glitters were more finicky than I remember AiT's being, but maybe I'm just misremembering it. It's also still just a little rough, even through Gelous and SV, but that's probably because I had to dab the glitters on to get them to stay where I wanted them. Regardless, I super love the look. Very cute!

I decided after one day that I think maybe the glitters are too much for a whole mani. When I wear it again, I'll probably only wear it as an accent with a plain, sheer pink for the rest of the nails.

Wear: Four days, glitter chips at three.

Fairy Milk

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: China Glaze - Fairy Dust, two coats, over Wet n Wild - 2% Milk (Megalast line), two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Aaah, this is much more my style. It felt so nice to take off that bold creme and put on these sheer, delicate colors.

I'm not sure where my application skills went, but they're definitely not here anymore. Maybe they're on Spring Break. I think they took my photographing skills with them. Enjoy your party, guys. *sigh* :(

Wear: Five days.

Shimmering Sand

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Color: Shimmering Sand, a franken, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

In preparation for a meeting with a prospective new employer, here's a subtle nude interview polish, Shimmering Sand. It's a franken made from Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect - Dune, a dreadfully dull nude pearl, and Sinful Colors - Out of this World, a boring silver shimmer. The two of them mixed together created something completely new and elegant, and I love it.

The color has somewhat of a grey tint to it from the silver, according to a male friend, but it's still definitely nude. It's quite sheer, too, but three coats was perfection. The first picture was the only one that came out color accurate, but my camera cut it off! Grr, why can't you just do color accuracy, camera phone? So here are a couple others that aren't quite as good but still do a nice job at showing off the polish.

Wear: Removed after four days with minimal chips.

Light as a Peach

The Polish:
BC: One coat of New York Color - Matte Me Crazy over Duri - Rejuvicote
Main Color: The Devil Wears Polish - Suck My Peach, three coats
Accent: Glitter Gal - Light as a Feather, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Here are two holo but very subtle polishes. When I started putting on Suck My Peach, I realized that a whole mani of it wasn't going to cut it for me. I picked out second holo that I hadn't worn in a while to be my accent color, but it turns out that Light as a Feather was just as subtle and not too very far off, color wise. Oh well. We'll be subtle for a while.

Suck My Peach is a nude linear holo. It's very sheer at first but builds easily. I'm glad I only have a mini bottle of it because a whole bottle would probably be too much for me. Whatever, it's pretty, though. I'm sure I'll wear it every once in a while. It's just so very plain, even with the holo. It might look very pretty with some stamping over it. If only I could stamp.

Wear: Four days.

Aroma in Tacoma... is Cookies!?

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Color: Sonoma Nail Art (Formerly Tacoma Nail Art) - Aroma in Tacoma, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

I adore this polish. Look how lovely the base. Look how sweet the colors of glitter. So simple and pleasant. And... it looks like delicious COOKIES! <3

AiT has an excellent mixture of glitters (small white and gold, medium white and bronze-y brown) in a jelly milky nude base. The first layer goes on very sheer, but two coats is perfection. Three coats would have probably deepened the nude more, but I was satisfied at two. Gah, and isn't she perfect!? Aaah, the simplicity. So. Much. Love. for this one. <3

Wear: Three days, peeled from the base at two (as you can see from the pictures). :( Must not have liked the Rejuvicote? I'll have to try again with a different base.

Edit: Nope, I was wrong. It was that I oiled my nails and then didn't wait long enough to paint them. Grrr. Lesson learned.

Cut the Cake

Orly - Cut the Cake

My first day of work is tomorrow! So here it is, the first mani for my professional work. Conservative, no? But still cute! I think it's perfect for tomorrow.

Cut the Cake is a sheer, shimmery nude. One coat looked fine, but then I added another at the last minute, just because. I think it would probably look adorable over a soft pink, so that's probably what I'll do when I wear it next.

Wear time: Five days. Noticeable wear after four, but only from close up. I got away with it on day five because it's a sheer.

Cinderella, Nude, in Satin Sheets

Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sally Hansen Nude Shimmer (Diamond Strength line)
Revlon Satin Sheets (Sweet Nothings line)

You know how I like to make cute names for my blog posts by mashing up the names of polishes I use in a mani? I had this great idea to use Cinderella and Satin Sheets together. They're both pretty, shimmery sheers, they'd work wonderfully together. But of course once I had the name in my mind, I needed to add something with "Nude" in it. I thought about it for a few days. What would be the best way to go about it? Maybe an accent nail of Cinderella on my ring finger and an accent nail of Nude Shimmer on my thumb? I asked the nail board, but the best they had was maybe some dots or stripes, but those things aren't really me. So I finally went with Cinderella over the Nude Shimmer for my accents. And how'd it turn out?

Hah! Laughably.

The Nude Shimmer is hardly visible under the Cinderella. And what's that on my ring finger? No, surely that can't be my beautiful Cinderella. Ugh. I should have stuck with one coat to begin with, but not only that, my second coat was too THICK! Bubbles. Gross.

Can you see the Nude Shimmer better on my thumb nail? Vaguely? No? Pfft. Whatever.

I'm in a slump right now. What with the Rejuvicote not being up to my expectations and letting my manis peel, the not being able to take good pictures in my new house, and now this disaster? I think I'm going to take a naked break for a few days. I know with all of my lovelies I can't stay away for long, but I just need to take it all off and defrag a little.