Ulta: Banana Rum in the Sun

Here is another polish I got on clearance at Ulta. And I'm glad I did - Banana Rum in the Sun may be my favorite yellow yet. Color-wise anyway. The formula leaves a bit to be desired. This was... 5 coats I believe. Quite a bit. But it was necessary to get the bottle color. But I think the color looks better on me than China Glaze Lemon Fizz. And it is far less chalky. Maybe because it is so sheer. 

On to the pictures...

My Easter Mani

I've been playing with dots all week - doing all one color but different shades... all sorts of different colors to match my outfit. Fun stuff. So I decided to keep that theme going with my easter mani. I hadn't done dots in anything other than creme colors before, so this was interesting. I used the Milani 3D Holographic polishes for the dots, and 3 coats of China Glaze White on White for the background. I would have used Sally Hansen's Whirlwind White, but I find that my manis with Whirlwind White seem a tad bit yellow. 

Purple: Milani Hi-Res

Blue: Cyberspace

Pink: Digital

Green: Hi-Tech

I love the flakie holo particles in these polishes. Absolutely love. I wish they would come out with more 3D Holographic polishes. 

China Glaze: Lemon Fizz

I like this polish. It is a nice, pretty creme pastel yellow. The application isn't the best - but it certainly isn't the worst. This was three coats, which is pretty average for me with polishes. It probably could have been two if I let each layer dry all the way before applying a new one. But I'm too impatient for that. I'd rather rush through and have to do an extra coat.. silly, I know. Anyhoo - here it is...

It makes me wish I had gotten some more polishes from the Up and Away collection - which I poo-pooed last year and didn't get any from. I only grabbed this because it was on clearance at Ulta for only 1.99. But I'm super glad I got it. I've been in a yellowey sort of mood lately. 

Ulta: Tutu Cute

Yayy! My proposal defense was fantastic. So  easy! I don't know what I was so worried about. 

So.. onto the polish that I wore today. Ulta's Tutu Cute. I really like this polish. I have other pastel purples that really don't work on me because they are so warmed toned, but this really toes the line between warm and cool. 

Claires: Pastel Yellow

And the yellow, 

Not much to say about it except that, again, I really like the color - but I really hate the formula. Though I'll probably keep it around only because I don't have any other pastel yellows. But I do know that they are out there, so don't settle for this one, because better exist. 

Claires: Pastel Purple

And here's the pastel purple. It is actually my favorite out of this collection, because I don't really have anything like it color-wise. 

There's a subtle shimmer in this polish. And the reason it's my favorite purple is because it has a lot of blue in it. All of the other pastel purples that I have, and I have quite a few, all make my hands look dirty for some reason. They totally clash with my skin tone, and I never wear them. But this purple s really pretty on me, I think. I wish the formula was better, but I might be willing to put up with it for this polish. Maybe it would be better with a good base coat. I'll have to try gealous, because that is apparently what every other nail blogger uses and loves. At the moment I'm using China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat, and I feel like it is always leaving chunks of dried base coat on my nail. And I clean off the top of it after every use with nail polish remover. It is very strange. Maybe I just got something in the bottle, who knows. But I don't have that problem with any other polish. 

Gorgeous!! Right?? Perfect for Easter and Spring, which is why I originally purchased this set. 

And in the shade:

Pretty much the same. 

Claires: Pastel Peach

Here's the peach. Same problems as before. Although this color is realllllly realllllly sheer. This and the yellow. Way too sheer for me. This is 5 or 6 coats.

Please ignore the dent on my ring finger. As I was walking outside to take these pictures the strap to my camera got caught on my screen door and caused a big snafu. My apologies.

And in the shade:

Claires: Pastel Green

Here's the green. Again, really bright. Should be a neon. Nice color though, I really wish it applied better. I think this is like 6 coats or something like that. It's totally impossible to even out the streakiness, which is more evident in real life than in these pictures. I wish I knew a dupe for this is another brand, because I would be all over that. 

Claires: Pastel Pink

Here is the pastel pink. Same formula problems. Really sheer, realllllly streaky. It seemed like no matter how long I let the polish dry in between coats, when I put another coat on it like stripped off the coat underneath it. 

This is the pink from Claire's pastel collection, it is a really bright light pink creme. 

And in the shade:

This polish is actually realllllly bright. It should be considered a neon, not a pastel. 

Claires: Pastel Blue

Hey! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while - at least it seems like a while to me. I had to bring my lappy into Apple because  my CD burner wasn't working. Turns out that one of those little plastic things that attach tags to clothes was stuck inside. hehe. I think that's a sign to stop buying so many clothes. I mean really - if your closet can't fit any more, you need to stop buying. But apparently I am unable to understand that. Instead I just buy those giant bins from Walmart to make room to hang my new clothes. I really should just move to a new place that has a bigger closet.

Anyhoo - onto nail polish. I'm going to upload pics from two Claire's collections, a pastel collection and a neon collection. We'll start with the pastels.

Pastel Blue: 

Very bright! A real, true sky blue creme (I know I've been fluctuating between Cream and Creme - but I'll go with the French version because it's more exotic). Nice color - but horrible formula. I hate the formula for all of this collection, and even more for the neon collection. These were all 4 coats, in order to even out the streakiness. 

And in the shade:

More true to the actual color, a little deeper blue. Still very pretty.