My Triple T Pointe

The Polish:
BC: DIY Glue base coat
Color: jelly sandwich (two coats, glitter, one coat) of OPI - My Pointe Exactly (NYC Ballet collection) with Jeffy'sMom - Triple T, two coats on middle finger
TC: Seche Vite

Jeffy'sMom, a regular on MUA's nail board, recently sent me a mini bottle of a franken she made based on her kitty, Tycho. (A "Teeny tiny tortie," hehe.) Here's a breakdown of the glitters:

"The black hexes and fine glitter represent her beautiful black fur. The black bars represent her black whiskers and the very few white bars represent her single white whisker and the white stripes on her tail tip. The white hexes and hearts represent her white fur. The orange hexes of varying sizes represent her orange fur, with the largest ones being her front paws.
The orange bars are the stripe down her nose that gave her her name and the orange stripes on her tail tip. The light pink hearts are for her little pink tongue and the sandpaper kisses she loves to give anybody who comes within range. And the silver hexes and fine glitter represent the water that she loves to play with in Jeffy's jacuzzi sink."

It's very much a Halloween polish, but I just couldn't wait until then to try it. I can't imagine wearing it much outside of October, but I just love that it was made after a kitty-kitty. <3 In the full sun, it looks less sandwiched and you can see the glitters better.

Also decided that this would be the perfect time to try out the glue base coat method that's been going around for a while now. It's made with school glue mixed with just a little water, and it's mostly used for easy-removal of glitter. I've been avoiding it because I've been concerned that it would be ultra drying on my nails, but since we know about the oiling method (rub naked nails with any oil 10 minutes prior to polish), I thought it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Some people have said that they get a full 3 or 4 days out of a glue base coat, but you know me. I like to peel. So when the polish started to come up on one nail less than 24 hours later, the whole mani lasted another thirty minutes before I had everything pulled up. Everything came off clean and satisfyingly, and my nails weren't even too bad, though I definitely wouldn't want to do it too often.

HD

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Milani - HD (3D Holographic collection), three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Okay, I'm uploading many pictures of this mani. Apologies. It's just so super pretty! When I told the nail board that I bought and was excited to wear it, I was warned that wasn't quite as nice as the swatches made it out to be. After putting it on, I think it's safe to say that I disagree! Or maybe it just exceeded my low expectations after the warning. Maybe I should be warned away from polishes more often! (Oh, and maybe I'll actually remember to wrap my tips, one of these days. Hah!)

HD is a silver scattered holo glitter. It almost reminds me of TV static... but way shinier! I love it layered on its own, but a friend tried it over another color, and it looked adorable that way, too.

Here it is in artificial lighting.

And here it is in the shade. Cute in any lighting!

Wear: Oops, I forgot to record this one. So I'll estimate my average of 4 days.

Ain't No Sunshine

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Basecoat
Color: Contrary Polish - Ain't No Sunshine, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Ain't No Sunshine is one of the polishes I put on my wishlist to try in place of Raindrops. I never got around to getting it, but when I saw it on a blog sale, I went ahead and caved. Turns out it's not at all what I wanted, and it definitely wouldn't have sufficed for Raindrops itself, but it's kinda cute. It's got a nice color, and the glass flecks are nice, but... well, it's a creme. And I don't really do cremes. *shrug* Oh well, I'm sure I'll wear it occasionally.

Wear: I DID get 5 good days out of it, though, with only minor tip wear. I'm always so afraid to wear darker colors because chipping shows so prominently with them, but I didn't get any chips at all. I only had to remove at day five because the basecoat started to peel.

Blue with Envy

The Polish:
BC: OPI - Nail Envy
Color: Sally Hansen - Something Blue (Diamond Strength line), two coats
TC: Seche Vite

So... Did you know that Nail Envy is not actually a base coat? I found that out when, unfortunately, this mani lasted less than two days. *sigh* Lesson learned, I suppose. When using Nail Envy, remember to use an actual base coat over it.

No pictures today, but you can see some really nice ones of the last time I wore it here. Nice soft morning light, too. Probably some of the first nice pictures I took. *pats self on the back*

Pale Cashmere

The Polish:
BC: OPI - Nail Envy
Color: Revlon - Pale Cashmere (ColorStay line), two coats
TC: none

Oh, another streaky pale pink. Yeah, I have enough of these. This one wasn't as sheer as I wanted, didn't have a good enough formula, and was too similar to others I already have. So away it goes immediately. Sorry, Cashmere.

Exactly, My Shooting Star

The Polish:
BC: OPI - Nail Envy
Color: Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star sandwiched between layers of OPI - My Pointe Exactly (NYC Ballet collection)
TC: Seche Vite

And now for something delicate! I just love my delicious Ballet jellies, and the grey may just be my favorite, even though it doesn't look awesome with my skin tone. Or maybe Don't Touch My Tutu... oh, I give up! Who am I to choose a favorite among her children? Hehe. But I do know that Shooting Star, despite being my very first indie, doesn't get enough love from me because the stars always drive me crazy. So I wanted to try to give it some more affection in a yummy jelly sandwich.

Shooting Star actually requires minimal fishing. I got one star out without trying and the second after dipping and swirling maybe twice. So! We'll see how well this mani lasts before the points of the stars poke out relentlessly enough for me to rip them off. Hopefully it's at least a couple of days!

And here's my rarely seen right hand. It typically gets at least one coat of polish less than the right hand, just because I'm not taking pictures of it. (And also probably because I'm right handed and want to paint as little as possible with my left hand.) After doing my left hand, I wondered if I had overdone it with the glitter, so I gave my right hand a simple accent. Not sure which I prefer, actually! Both are nice. But at least it was a relief not to have to glitter all the fingers left-handed, hehe.

Wear: A bar glitter was sticking up and had to be pulled immediately. Everything else lasted three days until I could take the pokies no longer! Next time I wear shape glitter, I'll have to remember to put at least one layer of Gelous on before the Seche Vite.

Beluga Blizzard

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Color: Two coats of Sea Lore - Beluga Blizzard (Wintry Friends collection) over Sally Hansen - Fog (Smooth & Perfect line)
TC: Seche Vite

I had seen Sea Lore's Wintry Friends collection on Facebook, but honestly I didn't like them enough to buy at the time and probably wouldn't have gotten Beluga if I hadn't seen it on one of the swap groups. Its previous owner agreed to swap, so I decided to give it a shot.

Blizzard is a very apt term for what is happening on my nails right now. Beluga is a very shiny mix of small matte white glitters and silver shimmer. At one coat, you can make out the individual glitters, and that's probably all you need for everyday wear, because at two coats, everything blurs together in a shimmery blizzard of white and silver. It's a super wintry polish, but I know that won't stop me from wearing it at random times in the year anyway.

Wear: Four days, then peeling. Unfortunately, I was at work when I noticed the peeling, and in a fit of stress, peeled EVERYTHING off. I felt horrible about it afterwards and moisturized constantly throughout the rest of the day.

Skyline Hottie's Satin Confetti

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Main Color: Sinful Colors - Hottie over two coats of New York Color - Skyline Blue
Accent: Two coats of Confetti - Pink Confetti over Sally Hansen - Satin (Smooth & Perfect line)
TC: Seche Vite

A mani featuring iridescents, to feed my addiction. I'm actually not as big of a fan of how the pinks turned out, but I loooove the blues! When Hottie is over Skyline, the new shade that they make is just the perfect blue, and the iridescents... it looks so dreamy! It's like curling up in your pajamas with a pillow and a teddy bear and falling asleep just as the sky begins to fade and stars begin to twinkle...

... Alright, alright, enough hyperbole. It's just really pretty, alright? It makes me actually want to keep Skyline, since wearing it with Hottie is probably the only time I wear it. Skyline is super streaky. Glitter makes it better, though!

Wear: Four days, and then the peels.

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.

Travel in Color

The Polish:
BC: Nail-Aid - Extreme Steel Hardener
Color: China Glaze - Travel in Color (HoliGlaze collection), two coats
TC: Sinful Colors - Quick Dry

After the awfulness that was my last mani, I desperately needed a palate cleanser. Thankfully I had Travel in Color untried, so I nubbinized, put it on, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Travel in Color is a sheer, shimmery white with bright pink flash and just a touch of green shimmer, too. It's meant to be a topper, but alone it was great for the simplicity I needed. Speaking of flash, by the way, I've recently learned via the nail board that any polish with a flash is actually considered a duochrome, and the things that I was considering duochromes, like WnW Grey's Anatomy, for example, are actually multichromes. I guess it makes sense--this one has two colors, white and pink, while, if you look at the bottle in the swatch of Grey's Anatomy, you can see three colors, blue, purple, and green. Well, alright, then. So Travel in Color is technically a duochrome.

About that flash, by the way, it just refused to be photographed. It's startlingly bright in person, just wouldn't show off for the camera. Grr, frustrating. I still think I prefer my sheer whites with gold flash, like Calla Lily and White Cap, but pink will be fine every once in a while.

Wear: Removed after three days.

Sugar Galore

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay basecoat, under accent only
Main Color: OPI - Pussy Galore (Bond Girls collection), three coats
Accent: Sugar - Sugar Rush, three coats
TC: Seche Vite, over accent only

I wanted to give this post a different title, using the first word of each of the polishes, but then I chickened out, haha. Okay, anyway, here's my Valentine's mani for this year. It's so... pink! Grah! But it's okay. I was kind of saving Sugar Rush for spring, but then I realized that the color matched traditional Valentine's day candy, so I caved. And I'm glad I did. I'm not sure I could take a full mani of so much pink, and it just gives the whole thing a better look overall. You can't see it here, but my left hand actually has the accent nail on the pinkie. I've never done a pinkie accent, and it certainly wasn't intentional. I accidentally started applying Pussy Galore to my ring finger and only noticed it too late. I didn't want to take it off, so I just put base coat on the pinkie and accented that one. The asymmetry is actually cuter than I imagined, so I might wind up doing it again on purpose.

When the Bond Girls collection came out, Pussy Galore was one that I really wanted, both because of the name and because light pink is a color I enjoy. This pink isn't quite what I expected, though. It's a little... too pink. I suppose the light pinks I prefer more are sheer ones. It's got the same issue of strange texture as it's sister, Solitaire, where the texture seems a little to sparse, and I'm expecting it to wear off awkwardly, as well. Again, I'm glad I only got minis of them!

Sugar is a brand whose icon I've seen before. Apparently they mostly sell shoes, and they've recently started selling cosmetics at Kohl's. When I was there around Christmas time, I noticed Sugar Rush looking like a dupe for Nails Inc's Sweets Way, which was on my wishlist at the time. Sugar Rush has pink, blue, and white hexes in a sheer white base. Obviously it's only a near dupe, since the glitters are more sparse, even at three coats, but it's close enough for me.

Wear: Removed after three days. I just couldn't take the pink any longer, and, as I expected, it DID start to wear in an awkward way.

Celestial Spritz

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Main Color: Gap - Pink Spritz, two coats
Accent: Black Cat Lacquer - Celestica, one thick coat
TC: Gelous, followed by Seche Vite

Here's my pre-Valentine's mani, just a dash of pink. A friend bought me a bottle of Gelous, which I was so exited about because it meant I could finally use some of the polishes I've been holding off on for a while because of their formula.

I found Pink Spritz at a thrift store for fifty cents, and I couldn't ignore the pretty iridescent glitter. It needed a bit of thinning and was still a little gloopy, unfortunately. It went on streaky, but the Gelous did wonders on evening it out.

And ah, Celestica. Our first time together was quite a mess, wasn't it. So I've been waiting until I had some Gelous until I wore you again. And my, what a difference it made! She evened you out to a nice, smooth shine, didn't she? And now I'm excited to wear you again! Plus, taken inside, I can see just the faintest of weak linear holos in your pictures. How cute!

Wear: Four days. I did such a good job not picking the peeling polish on day four, yay!

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.

Tomoko's Starlight

The Polish:
BC: CND - Stickey, under accent nail only
Main Color: Zoya - Tomoko (Pixie Dust collection), two coats
Accent: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer - Guided by Starlight (Holiday 2013 collection), two coats
TC: Seche Vite, over accent nail only

Guided by Starlight is the Christmas polish from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer's Holiday polishes. It's a white crelly with a mixture of gold shape glitter, including stars, diamonds, and circles, as well as a few silver and holo glitters. I've been holding onto it for a little while because when I first tried to put it on, I made a mess of it. I didn't really want to play with it again, but considering it in this mani, as an accent for Tomoko, made me determined to get it right. I had to make sure my coats were extra thin and apply it very carefully, but it turned out nice. I love the combination of it with sparkly Tomoko!

Wear: Four days

Solitarily Nyxed

The Polish:
BC: None
Main Color: OPI - Solitaire (Bond Girls Liquid Sand collection), two coats
Accent: Zoya - Nyx (Pixie Dust), two coats
TC: None

I've never been on a No Buy before, but with all of the polish I have, I decided to try it. A polish Facebook group I'm in is doing it for six weeks, and I'm joining in, too. The day before it started, I decided it would be easier if I hauled right before, so I went out to see what I could find, and lo and behold, an OPI Bond Girls mini set on clearance! I'd been wanting to try Solitaire and Pussy Galore, so I picked it up immediately. It also came with Jinx, which I gave to a red-loving friend, and Vesper, which is going straight into the swap box.

I've been going back and forth on Solitaire ever since I put it on. I just can't decide if I like it or not. It's a pretty color, but I'm not sure if it's doing it for me or not. Honestly, I don't think the texture is working for this one. It doesn't seem to be as good a quality as other textures I have. It's not bad enough to get rid of, and I'll definitely wear it again, but I'm glad it's a mini, at least.

And as for Nyx, I'm not really feeling the love, either. Even though I already had two blue texture polishes, I wanted to get it as one of my three from the Zoya promo because it wasn't like the other two. It was muted and greyed, but still sparkly and pretty. So I'm not sure why I'm not feeling it now. Maybe I had just gotten too used to used to the brighter ones? Oh well, we'll try again later.

Wear: Three days, and then Solitaire seemed to lose its texture to wear..? All of the texture polishes I've worn aren't quite as "textured" after a couple of days, but this one had visible wear. Hmm...

Stone Table

The Polish:
BC: Duri - Rejuvicote
Color: Love, Angeline - Stone Table (This is the End collection), three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Polish people, please allow me to introduce one of my new all time favorite polishes. Her name is Stone Table, and she's beyond adorable.

Stone Table is a white crelly with iridescent glitters and a strong green flash, but just saying that doesn't capture how wonderful she is. Seriously, it's like something straight out of a story book. One coat is like a light dusting of pixie dust, and two coats is pure magic. <3

My poor photography skills don't capture how perfect it is, either, unfortunately, so you'll just have to take my word for it: Stone Table is nothing short of amazing. I guess the only way it could possibly be better is if it was glow in the dark, but I could always layer that in. Regardless, Stone Table is perfect. We're gonna be friends for a long time to come. <3

(And here's a shot in bathroom lighting, which isn't as good, but shows the green flash and colors from the iridescents better. So pretty!)

Wear: Six days. Not only is she gorgeous, she also wore like iron on me.

London

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Zoya - London (Pixie Dust collection), two coats
TC: None

Zoya had a promo for the new year, three polishes for $12 shipped. They normally sell for $8 to $9 each, so I couldn't help but pick up some Pixie Dusts, their line of textures. First up is London, a dark grey with silver microglitter. I wasn't sure if this grey would be too dark for me, but I decided to give it a shot. It may not be a polish that I wear often, but I think I like having it in my collection, at least.

Blurred to show shimmer. No bottle shots because my indoor lighting turned the swatches green--I had to take these pictures at work the next day during my plan time. Also, aaaaaah, why do my hands always look so RED!? So frustrating!

I don't normally wear black (I'm more of a brown girl), but I put it on to match my polish. Looks alright, right?

Wear: Five days, though tip wear became noticeable on day four.

CtA proto

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - Colorstay Basecoat
Color: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers - CtA 1.2 (prototype), three coats
TC: GCSV (50% NYC - Grand Central Station, 50% Seche Vite)

Oookay, this didn't turn out as expected. I know pastels are traditionally tricky to work with, but I've had such nice luck in the past. Three coats and it's still a streaky mess? Boo.

 

CtA 1.2 is a pale lavender creme with weak linear holo. And it's going in the swap box. I know there are techniques for dealing with finicky formulas, such as sandwiching thin coats between layers of top coat or using a makeup sponge to apply the last layer, but I just don't care enough to try that hard. The color wasn't what I was expecting, and I just have many other polishes that I love more. So I'll let someone else have it.

Wear: Removed after two days.

BEGL Blue Holo

The Polish:

BC: Duri - Rejuvicote

Color: Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer - PDTS 3.7 (a mini prototype), two coats

TC: Seche Vite

Here's another beautiful prototype from Blue Eyed Girls Lacquer. I must say that I like this one more than the other, though, but that's just because this one is blue! And what a gorgeous, soft shade of blue this is, with just the slightest tint of green and a lovely, strong linear holo. So pretty!

Wear: Three days. Turns out it wasn't the basecoat that was fighting with my last mani; it was the fact that I had oiled my nails and then hadn't waited long enough to paint my nails. Sad, since this was such a pretty mani.

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.