Sally, My Iridescent Sweetheart

OPI - Sweet Heart
Sally Girl - unnamed iridescent glitter in pink-tinted base

Welcome back to Guilty Pleasure Colors, where we are committed to bringing you subpar photographs of nail polish. Today on Not the World's Greatest Pictures, we have a treat for you--the terror of peelies.

Sweet Heart is streaky as all get out, but she holds a special place in my heart because of all we've been through together. I rescued her from a thrift shop and nursed her back from the near death she suffered at the hands of a filthy muggle. Her cap was completely sealed from the polish spilled all over her neck, and the thinner surgery she had to endure to remove it was long and messy. So even though she's not the greatest polish, I cut her some slack because of her history.

And the Sally Girl was unexpectedly gorgeous. I don't know why it was unexpected--I know that I love iridescents. But it was also a little bit more blingy than I was expecting. I was going to put it on all of my nails, but after seeing it on my thumb, I realized that it's a bit much for wearing to work. Thus, it just became an accent nail.

I don't think I'll be wearing this mani long, at least not as long as I wore Cut the Cake. But being a first year teacher is totally exhausting, and I don't have much time for anything at all during the week, so we'll see.

Wear: Four days.

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.

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

Pixie Dust

Orly - Pixie Dust (Once Upon a Time collection)

I found this cutie at a local beauty store sale, and I couldn't not grab it. (Look, she even comes with a cute pixie charm!) I was hoping it would calm my lemming of I Have a Herring Problem and I Don't Give a Rotterdam, but nope. Still craving those, as well.

Anyway, Pixie Dust is a pretty, shimmery blue-grey. The shimmers are quite large and almost fleck-like, though I'm sure they're smaller flecks than Glass Slipper. Here's a close up for you.

I wouldn't call it a sheer, but the two coats I applied don't really give enough coverage, obviously. As usual, I didn't care--two coats is pretty enough for me. And also as usual, I guess I didn't care enough for clean up. I may need to start caring again, because I'm tired of seeing my pretty pictures messed up by tiny drops of polish on my skin! I know it's exciting to take pictures of your pretty nails, self, but an extra minute to clean up would make a big difference, and you know it! Also those cuticles. Mm-mm, girl, you need to get your moisturizing on!

Pixie Dust is slightly darker than what I would normally wear, which is a silly thing to say, I know, because it's super pastel. But it's not a sheer nude, and that makes me slightly embarrassed, haha. While wearing it, I kept wondering, "Are my hands too noticeable?" Whatever, silly! I'll get used to it eventually!

Wear time: This is the best part, ladies and gentlemen--seven days! Whoo! That's the longest wear I've gotten out of a polish yet! Excellent! <3

Something Simple

Initial Lacquer - Something Simple

Something Simple is thick, streaky, sheer, and more in need of underwear than I had realized. But boy is she pretty. She's a sheer, milky white with iridescent, silver, matte grey, and holo glitters, though you can't see the holo glitter here because it's cloudy out today. Ah well. Next time. (Yeah, I know everything looks yucky because I don't like to clean up anymore. Don't care.)

I was expecting it to be more opaque, but honestly, sheers never really bother me much. In fact, I think it may be work appropriate on its own, which is always good! Now that I have a professional job, I'm always on the look out for more elegant polishes. ... Oh, who am I kidding? Elegant polishes are my favorite, job or no job! <3

The part that bothered me the most was the thick, almost gloopy consistency. Just means I have to be patient. *shrug* It's worth it to have such a beauty!

Wear time: A measly two days; didn't withstand a shower. Man, I really need to find myself a dependable topcoat.

Hallucinating Raindrops

franken - Hallucinate More
franken - Raindrops attempt 2

And now for the same thing in blue.

It did NOT turn out as well. My frankendupe is not a jelly (though I did make it with a lot of clear. Don't know what happened there) and layered on top of a thick glitter, it just looks yucky. In my opinion, it kind of looks like a bad indie. Nothing against indies, I love the ones I have, but I'm very particular about looking at all of the available swatches before I make a purchase. It just seems like a lot of indie brands that include glitter end up with a poor texture.

Anyway, next week it will be back to your regularly scheduled untrieds! I've quite enjoyed trying as many combinations of the few polishes I brought on vacation with me. I always try to do various combinations with my polishes, but it was fun being so limited for a while. On the other hand, I have a small basket of untrieds waiting for me at home that I can't wait to get my hands on!

Also, I got the job I was shooting for, yay! It's a teaching job, so I don't start until mid-August. I'll try to go crazy over these next three weeks until I have to tone it down at my semi-conservative school, but no promises. I'm naturally semi-conservative when it comes to polish, anyway. :)

Hi Hallucination

Essie - Hi Maintenance

franken - Hallucinate More

As promised, a jelly sandwich using Hi Maintenance. Isn't she pretty? In retrospect, it may have looked nicer with two coats on top. But still nice!

Forgot to take pictures until late in the day, and the only spot of sun was coming in through this window, so ignore the shadows from the window screen. (Also the sore from tearing at a hangnail. Oops.)

Close up.

Popular Raindrops

Raindrops Frankendupe attempt version 2
Revlon - Popular

More mix-and-match layering of the polishes I brought with me on vacation! One layer of Popular over one layer of the frankendupe. I had hoped layering a sheer pink over a sheer blue would result in a sheer purple, but it turned out more grey. Perhaps it is a grey-ish purple.

I was disappointed at first, but it's actually very lovely, especially from afar. I really think I like this Raindrops frankendupe attempt layered with other things more than I like it on its own (which is little). And I have grown more fond of Popular, too.

Raindrops Dream

Raindrops Frankendupe version 2
Pure Ice - Mint Dream

Trying to do various layering things with the six polishes I brought on vacation with me. This is one layer of Mint Dream over one layer of my second attempts at a Raindrops frankendupe. Full of flaws, but hey, it's something to upload! I think this was the second day of wear, and the tips are already starting to chip.

Mint Dream is definitely better layered than by itself, but I'm still not very fond of it. It looks like it would be perfect under a butterfly-wing stamp, right? But I just don't like duo-chromes. This has been Mint Dream's second chance, so into the swap box it goes.

Hi Maintenance

Essie Hi Maintenance

Hey! I can't believe I didn't mention on my last post that I was going out of state. Must have been distracted. Anyway, yeah, I'm out of state for school for the summer. I only brought a handful of polishes with me, six to be exact. Not that I won't buy more, especially with the fact that there are CVSes here (there aren't any at home), but I should be on a college-student budget, since I won't be working. Plus the program I'm in is very intensive, so I won't have as much time to do my nails. That said, posts will probably be few and sporadic around here until late August.

That being said, here's Hi Maintenance, the sheer pink I brought with me, because of course I had to bring one. And this was the perfect candidate because it's a mini. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't have seen it on sale (fifty cents, woo!), particularly because the name is unattractive to me, but also just because I tend to be gathering quite a lot of sheer pinks, don't I?

Hi Maintenance is a little streaky, but mostly it's glossy. Oh my goodness is it glossy. I don't know why, but for some reason this one is just super shiny. Pretty cute for fifty cents, eh?

Edit 6/24/13 - I've since decided that Hi Maintenance is a jelly. The shiny, glossy finish should have been a clue, but I didn't realize until a few days later. I've been mistaken about jellies before, so the only sure-fire way to know, at least for me, is to try it over a glitter, which I did! And the glitter shone through, just glossier than before. Ta da! Jelly! :D (Or maybe that just means that it's super sheer. Who knows? It's all rather sketchy.) No pictures because my nails look horrible due to all the stress from school. They're all peeled to hell, and my glitter has been chipping off. So, next time, friends. <3

Whimsical, Heavenly White

LA Girls Matte White
Revlon Whimsical
Revlon Heavenly

This is one of my new favorite polishes, Matte White. Pretty streaky even at two coats, huh? Don't worry, we'll put something over it.

Aha, my beauties! As soon as I put Matte White on (my toes. That's where I test all my polish before I put it on my fingernails), I knew I wanted to layer Heavenly over it. But then I got Whimsical, so I decided to add it as an accent nail. I actually just recently realized that the blue base in Whimsical was merely a tint, not an opaque creme at all. So I had to have it.

Looks better in the shade, though, I think. I'm still learning about accent nails. Should I have left my thumb nail as Heavenly? Or does it look okay Whimsical? Hmm. I know my thumb nail looks like crap. Whatever. Actually... all of my nails look pretty sad today. Maybe the acetone? I swear I've been moisturizing. Meh. I'm still just not good at cleanup.

Wear - four days. Heavenly cracked before Whimsical.

Sorbet Goddess

Sally Hansen Sorbet (Smooth and Perfect line)
CoverGirl Goddess (Queen collection)

Not much to say here, just getting through more untrieds before I leave for the summer. No clean up because whatever.

Sorbet is my least favorite S&P. ... Okay, that's not true. Dune looks like a gross yellow on me. But I'm not one for oranges/peaches, so Sorbet's not my favorite.

Goddess is a holo microglitter in clear base. Pretty in the sun, but hard for me to photograph.

Edit 6/11 - Okay! Here's a picture where you can see the sparkle. I took it while laying in bed in the morning, hehe. I tried to crop, but it just made it look weird, so here's the full picture.

Polar.. Glitter.. Something

Sally Hansen Something Blue (Diamond Strength line)
LA Colors Glitter Bomb (Color Craze line)
Sally Hansen Polar Bare (Complete Salon Manicure line)

Meh, not really a good name for this. I was just trying to get through some untrieds.

Started out with Something Blue, a sheer silver shimmer with teal microglitter. It's actually way more elegant than I was expecting. Plus, check out those amazing cuticles! I've been using the Bert's Bees cuticle cream every weekday for about three months, and it's finally starting to make a difference. Woo! It's all been worth it!

Then, since I wanted to celebrate my last day of work, I added some sparkle!

Glitter Bomb is a nice mix of small and medium sized holo glitter. Suuuper pretty in the bottle, still alright but not quite as nice on the nail. There's not really much to say, but I took lots of nice pictures, so I'm going to add some more.

I like the look of the sparkle, but I'm having that problem again, where it makes me think, "That was a nice mani.. until I put some crap on it." Yeah, this time the crap is a pretty holo glitter, but it still makes me feel that way. So on day three, I decided to layer a sheer white, Polar Bare, over it. And it made the mani look, in my opinion, soooo much prettier, even though it didn't photograph as well. I'll have to remember from now on that I like something layered over my glitters.

Nude Glam - Cotton Candy

Essence Cotton Candy (Nude Glam line)

Yes, another sheer pink. What? Shut up! Okay, in my defense, I was looking for something to wear, tried this on, then decided against it. I took a few pictures with the LED lamp because, why not? Then I took it off and put on something different. (So excuse the not-quite-color-accurate pictures. Whatever. I'll try harder later.)

Don't Burst My Bubble

OPI Don't Burst My Bubble (Oz collection)

 

This may literally be the prettiest pink in my stash. I really don't think I was expecting how lovely this shade is. Not much else to say. Two coats, no tc or bc. Soft, pale pink jelly. Other reviews online call it white, but it definitely has some pink tint, in my opinion. Absolutely adore it.

Flakies to the rescue!

The Color Workshop - unnamed flakie (NOTA?)

Okay, that didn't last long. I wanted to put on something, so I decided to just put on one coat of something sheer, this The Color Workshop polish I found at a thrift store. No base coat. No top coat. No strengtheners, fortifiers, or therapies. Just the polish.

And I loved it. I wore it for a day and then decided to try and take a picture. I put on another layer, just for effect, and scoured the house for a good spot to plug in my LED lamp. No where. No where in this house has good, white light. Then my husband said, "Why don't you just go outside?"

I've taken pictures outside before. It sucks. The glare of sun makes it impossible to see what's on the screen, meaning I'm taking blind pictures. Plus, they don't even turn out that well. But, desperate as I was, I stood out there playing around with it, and then finally found the BEST technique. While standing in the sunlight, I turned with my back to the sun and took a picture in the shadow of my body. Perfect!

I think this may have been enough to get me into a positive mood about polish again. I'm not going to worry about Rejuvicote or my peelies or fancy mani ideas. I'm just going to wear my pretties. And I'm going to use this technique of standing in the sun but taking the picture in my shadow. It'll be great.

Oh yeah. As for the polish itself. It's a small flakie in a sheer pink, almost duochrome base. It's obviously meant to be layered over something else, but I like it on its own. It's conservative and pretty, and while I don't love it, it was nice enough to make me want to give nail polish another go, even when I was frustrated with it.