Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Well, Seagulls (which seems to be named after a Japanese band) isn't quite the perfect, blue-shimmering grey that Lavish Layerings swatched it as, but I knew it wasn't going to be when I saw it described on the store site as "periwinkle blue." I decided to buy it anyway because it's still one of my colors. In person, it DOES appear to be a dusty periwinkle blue with sometimes-blue-sometimes-lavender shimmer and scattered holo microglitter. It dried a little dull, so I may want to add a layer of Gelous next time I wear it.

Blurry shot to show off the holo. Pretty, huh?

Wear: Removed on Day 5 with some lifting

Tomoko

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Zoya - Tomoko, two coats
TC: None

Tomoko is a super sparkly gold texture, and I don't know why I'm not feeling it this time around because it's usually one of my favorite texture polishes. Maybe it's because I just wore Sing You Like a Bee recently? Or maybe because I have a lot of new untried indies that are calling my name. Meh, anyway, it's fine. I had to put something on quick for a couple of days because I didn't have time for a full mani, and Tomoko worked just fine.

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with little noticeable wear

Feeling Gloomy

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Fancy Gloss - Feeling Gloomy, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

Yeeees <3 I've been lemming Reverie's Cloud Burst HARD recently. I NEEDED that speckle-y, shimmery grey in my life. Reverie's been OOS for a while, now, though, and even requests on the Facebook swap groups came up short. *sigh* Looks like it's time to look for a similar.

I found Feeling Gloomy on a Facebook swap group and figured it was pretty close. It's a few shades darker, but it has the same speckle-y, shimmery look that comes from a faint linear holo. It's not Cloud Burst, but it's still beautiful. Application was two, nice coats, which was nice, too.

After my bad experience with Fancy Gloss two years ago, I vowed that I wouldn't buy anymore from that brand, even from second-hand sellers. The odor from the two I purchased previously (from the original site) were so strong, I had to contact the maker, which it looks like I neglected to mention on that post. She said the odor was from the base those polishes were made with and that she wasn't making polishes with that base anymore. No offers for a refund or to replace the polish with better quality products or anything else to make the situation better, which I thought wasn't very good customer service. But... Feeling Gloomy looked SO pretty.. I told the story to the seller on FB. She and her SO both smelled it and declared it to not smell any worse than any other polish, so I went ahead and bought it. Nope, no horrendous odor. Looks way better than the previous two, as well, huh?

Wear: Removed on Day 5 with slight lifting at the end of Day 4

Sing You Like a Bee

The Polish:
BC: None
Color: Nicole by OPI - Sing You Like a Bee, two coats
TC: None

I still just can't tell if I like this polish enough yet. It's like a textured version of White Cap, which is one of my favorites, but.. somehow just not quite as good. I don't know. Next time I wear it, I think I'll try it with a top coat. One of the reasons why I love White Cap is because it just seems so simple and glossy and perfect. This somehow doesn't. Maybe with a top coat, I can get it to feel that way.

SO comments, noticed while out to eat on Friday night
SO: Hmm. Gold sparkles, huh?
Me: Yeah. I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's cute, but it just doesn't seem enough.
SO: Yeah. It matches your skin color, so it's a good thing it's sparkly. Otherwise, it'd just seem like your regular skin. In which case, it'd be like, what's the point?
Me: Yeah. They call that "My Nails But Better"-- MNBB.
SO: ... Of course they'd have a term for that.
Me: *giggle*

Wear: Removed on Day 5, some chipping on Day 4

Mystical

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

Mystical is an old Revlon my mother-in-law gave to me during a local swap. I'm convinced it's magic. Like, +3 Magic. It's a blue-purple duochrome with blue shimmer and tons of depth. It's a little darker than I normally wear, but I'm getting used to darker, especially with all this magic going on. Seriously, pictures just don't do it justice.

SO Comments
I showed SO, a gamer, when I first put it on so that I could tell him about it being +3 Magic. A few days later, he noticed my nails while cuddling.

SO: Wow, is that the same polish?
Me: Yep.
SO: I mean.. same... *trying to find the right word* appli...cation?
Me: *smile* Yep! This is day four. Nice wear, huh?
SO: Yeah. *smile*

He's getting good! :3

Wear: Lifting on Day 5, with minimal tip wear starting on Day 3. Removal left a little staining, so next time, wear two layers of base coat.

Altruism

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

Well, this is what I get for doing my nails in the dark. I was marathoning some Sailor Moon with a friend and really wanted to do my nails at the same time. They turned out pretty alright, considering, but I still should have turned on a light, huh? Hah.

Mentality has gotten a lot of hate recently, and for good reason. I got this and another from a local swap, and I've been itching to wear this one again. I've resisted because of Mentality's reputation now, but honestly.. these polishes are a couple years old. They were made way before the polishes that have been giving people trouble, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. They're still pretty, and thus, despite my reservations about posting pictures online, I will continue to wear them. (And try not to feel guilty about it.)

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with no visible wear.

Spellbound

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

So sparkle! I really enjoy this polish. The color is perfect, and there's just the right amount of sparkly holo glitter.

The only issue with it is that it eats top coat. It's a hungry glitter that doesn't have that full, smooth look, even after Seche Vite. I tried it with one coat of Gelous under the SV this time around, but it still wasn't enough. I'm hesitant to add anything more because it was already starting to drag by the last coat of SV. I suppose the appropriate response is to let it dry more in between coats, but it takes too long~. Regardless, Spellbound is still super beautiful!

Wear: Removed on Day 5 with some chips and lifting

Hallucinating Raindrops

The Polish:
BC: Nail-Aid - Extreme Steel Hardener
Color: Hallucinating Raindrops, a franken, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

This just never looks as good on the nail as it does in the bottle. That pretty grey base completely disappears, even with three coats. I should probably try layering it over a grey creme, but at this point, I'm rather just tired of it.

It can stay in my stash for a little while longer, but I have the feeling that this one may end up in the purge box eventually. It's just not pretty enough. The shade displays what it looks like most of the time.

Wear: Removed on Day 3 with minimal wear

Hawaii Iridescent Freeze

The Polish:
BC: Nail-Aid - Extreme Steel Hardener
Main: Cover Girl - Blue Hawaii, two coats
Accent: Cover Girl - Purple Freeze, two coats
Main Glitter: Sinful Colors - Nail Junkie, one coat
Accent Glitter: Confetti - Pink Confetti, one coat
TC: Seche Vite

I tried to like this. Really I did. My mother in law has been enjoying these little glosstinis recently, and grabbed a couple for me for Christmas. I can see why she likes them. They're bright colors with an easy, two coat formula. In a different color, they might even be something I'd love. These ones just aren't doing it for me. The blue is an awkward almost-okay color of teal, and that purple is too red-leaning to work with my skin tone.

I even tried to cover it with a glitter to make it bearable for a couple of days, but it just wasn't meant to be. Purge.

Wear: Removed immediately

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

2015 Year in Review

Accomplishments! During 2015, I:
-Got better at application, especially for cremes
-Tried a lot of new things I wouldn't normally try (stepping out of my comfort zone ftw!)
-Purged a lot (decided I didn't ACTUALLY need all those similars)

My New Year's Resolution for 2015 was to use up some minis and play with frankens more. I gave it a good go but abandoned it by mid year. I wound up purging a lot, which is probably better because it's not making myself use stuff I don't actually want to use.

My five best NOTD pictures from 2015 (click for higher res):

5. Color Club - Pucci-licious - A creme! Whaaat? How is that possible? I'm shocked at how much my application skills have improved this year. I still can't get it perfect every time, but just the fact that one of my five best NOTDs is creme says a lot.

4. Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star over Fair Maiden Polish - Sleigh Bells in the Snow - A glitter? With shapes? That's also crazy! My glitter placement skills could still use a little work, but I must be improving in that area, too. I took this picture using the new Ottlight my husband bought me for Christmas. I don't like the light better than sun, obviously, but apparently it's still rather good! I have a difficult time capturing glitters, so maybe Ottlight will help in that aspect. I'll have to play around with it more.

3. Color Club - Cosmic Fates - I didn't wind up keeping this one, but the sun was just right to catch ALL the rainbow.

2. Color Club - Beyond - Woah! Holy cow! The contrast between the polish and my skin here is just crazy! The sun was in a good position to show off that strong linear holo, my application skills were pretty good, and I even had nice moisturizing going on. Everything just aligned to give a great picture.

1. Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer - prototype - This color is just so perfectly me. It's a soft, gentle blue holo that matched my shirt nicely. Again, application skills and moisturized skin. I liked the addition of the sleeve in the corner, so even though I wasn't holding the bottle like I enjoy, this still made its way to my favorite picture of the year. I liked it so much, I even started using it as my profile picture on MUA.

Takeaways from NOTD countdown?
-Obviously it's best to take pictures from morning to midday, but now with my Ottlight, I'm not sure it's completely necessary anymore. Regardless, I have to find some way to make the polish shine. Holos are easy winners, but they aren't the only ones that can shine.
-Moisturized skin and smooth lines for application are an absolute must.
-I prefer pictures where I'm holding the bottle of polish, but it's also not necessary, as long as there's something else in the picture. I passed over a ton of pictures of my nails surrounded by a sea of my fat hand flesh. That just doesn't cut it.

~*~

My five favorite manis of 2015:
(This was an incredibly difficult list to write. To make it easier on myself, I only included manis in which I wore two or more polishes. I sorted individual polishes into their own list.)

5. Sephora X - Boom over Klean Color - Vanilla Villa - I loved that perfect grey creme, and the bright matte blue glitters worked REALLY well over it.

4. Silly Bee's Chikadees - Azucar over Sinful Colors - Rain Storm - Azucar has always been one of my favorite polishes. I've described it before as a better Pirouette My Whistle. Rain Storm made the PERFECT night sky background for the snowy look of Azucar.

3. Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star over Fair Maiden Polish - Sleigh Bells in the Snow - Yes, this one again. I just loved the the silvery haze the microglitter gave the white, plus all the holo-y glitter of various sizes! I'm not the most fond of Sleigh Bells in the Snow because it has a brush I don't like, but I applied it very well here, and it works wonderfully under the glitter. It's just perfect for NYE!

2. Milani - HD over Sally Hansen - Air - Oh, so delicate! I don't wear the Smooth&Perfect polishes much anymore (in fact, I purged all but three of them) because they're a bit pearly and I have better things now. But Air made fabulous, sheer undies for the silver holo of HD. Together they're delicate and graceful, and I love it.

1. Indecisive Lacquer - Sugar over Revlon - Calla Lily - More delicate, shimmery holo silver glitter! This one is a little less holo but finer grade than HD. Over the sheer white of Calla Lily, it was the most delicate mani of the year, and I was completely in love with it. <3

Takeaways from favorites manis countdown?

-If I can get awesome at applying cremes, I have many delicate glitters that would be adorable over them.

-Tightly packed microglitter gives a silvery haze that I enjoy, but loosely packed glitter is not my thing. For instance, I tried to wear Fairy Dust multiple times this year because I hear such good things about it, but finally wound up purging it. It's just not my thing.

-Looove those greys and blues, still.

~*~

My five favorite all-time favorite polishes, as of December 30, 2015:

(This list was even MORE difficult for me! Number 1 is probably where it needs to go, but the others are just scattered around in a various order.)

Honorable Mention: Glitter Gal - Light as a Feather - My favorite delicate silver holo. So incredibly soft, just like its namesake!

5. SuperChic Lacquers - Mammoth - Love those glitters, iridescent and silver and gold! In a crelly such a beautiful light grey shade.

4. Ellagee - Trenzalore - This is a perfect shade of blue, shimmery and holo-y!

3. Glam Polish - Spellbound - Another great shade of blue with sooooo many glitters and shimmers!

2. Maya Cosmetics - Special Snowflake - A soft, delicate blue with iridescent glitters and shimmers.

1. Girly Bits - Food Fight! - It's funny, when I wore this first, I didn't care much for it. I thought it was too thick and not the best color. But ever since then, I've been admiring it fondly. Those iridescent glitters are just perfect in it. <3

Takeaways from top five all-time favorites?

-Iridescent glitters still have my heart, as do blues and greys with soft, delicate shimmers.

-Holos are great, but they can't beat my iridescent glitters!

~*~

Looking forward to 2016, do I have any goals? I want to:

-Maintain a decent stash size, which to me means under about 140, preferably lower. If I can't fit everything in my two racks, that means I have too much.

-Continue purging where I can. If I don't wear it, don't reach for it, or don't love it, I don't need to keep it. Remember that I want to have a small stash of only the things I enjoy most.

-Keep trying new things, especially when I can do so for free. My local group of girls has a ton of things I wouldn't buy myself, so I need to try things in their stashes.

-Remember that I don't need to buy all of the things, especially when I have similars. They'll just end up in the purge box eventually, anyway.

-But at the same time, if there's something I really want, don't feel guilty about buying it. I enjoy polish, so it's okay to spend a little money on it now and then.

-And of course, keep experimenting with application and photography to improve my skills!

Shooting Stars in the Snow

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Undies: Fair Maiden Polish - Sleigh Bells in the Snow, two coats
Glitter: Rainbow Polish - Shooting Star, two coats
TC: Seche Vite

I don't normally wear a glitter just on top like this, especially on every nail, but New Year's calls for it. I knew everyone else would be going all out with glitzy, sparkly, gold and silver nails, and I wanted to participate, too.

Sleigh Bells in the Snow provided the perfect freshly-fallen-snow backdrop for my chosen holo glitter. Shooting Star was my first indie polish, so it holds a special place in my heart. Bam! Glitter!

And look how festive it is in the shade!

Wear: Some of those stars and large hex glitters got picked off before Day 1 was over. I'm horrible about keeping those pokey-up ones on. But it still lasted a while after that. Removed on Day 4, minor lifting beginning on Day 3

Mammoth Kismet

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Main: Color Club - Kismet, three coats
Accent: SuperChic Lacquer - Mammoth, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

I'm a bit backed up on NOTDs, so even though I'm posting this on the 28th, these are my Christmas nails for this year! Gold holo and grey, snowy glitter!

Mammoth is sooo underrated. It's an absolutely gorgeous mix of silver, gold, and iridescent glitters in a grey crelly base. I love it so much!

Wear: Slight lifting at the end of Day 3, but I managed to make it to Day 5 without pulling off

Stone Table

The Polish:
BC: Revlon - ColorStay Base Coat
Color: Love, Angeline - Stone Table, three coats
TC: Seche Vite

Sometimes I forget how awesome things are between wears. I knew I loved Stone Table, but putting it on again, I remembered just how much. Stone Table shines like a mystical unicorn on my nails. That sheer white like soft fur, that green shimmer and iridescent glitter..! Just perfect. Still couldn't capture it as well as I did in the macros I took the first time I wore it, but trust me--it's amazing.

Sometime I should really try it over a creme, maybe a nice, soft blue? But I just love it on its own so much!

Wear: Removed on Day 4 with minimal wear