China Glaze: Custom Kicks

Hey! Sorry for the long breaks between posts. But I have moved closer to my job - so hopefully I'll be able to get back to posting on a semi-regular basis soon. Today I wanted to show you China Glaze Custom Kicks. It is a great color - I especially love the golden shimmer running through it (you may have to click on the pictures and enlarge them to see). But let me warn you - this stains like a bitch. And I tried to be especially carefully and only wipe from my nail bed out, and my fingers were still smurfy/ 

Sinful: Rise and Shine

This is a polish that I had put off trying for months. I had one bad experience with a Sinful polish a long long time ago (it was super watery, sheer, and ugly). And I suppose I was afraid to try this because the color is so pretty in the bottle and I didn't want to be disappointed. But I wasn't - because it was a great formula. A little thick - but who knows if that's due to the polish itself or the fact that it had been sitting in a drawer untried for over a year. But it wasn't really an issue. The polish leveled out nicely, and I was left with this after two coats... 

I'm in love with this shimmer. 

Ulta: Mint Condition

First off, I want to say sorry that I went MIA for so long. I got a new job, that comes along with an hour and a half commute (each way!). So I've been leaving before the sun comes up, and getting home before it comes down and haven't had any time to do anything other than watch the rangers and flyers lose their first few games. 

Anyhoo - onto some polish. I got this at Ulta for 2 bucks, and I really like it. It is a nice teal color, and has a jelly-like quality. It was super sheer, but built up nice. This was 4 coats. 

Ulta: Dance Teal Dawn

Geez... Ulta has some of the cheapest, prettiest polishes I own. I like the fact that they care enough to make good quality polishes with excellent formulas in a huge variety of colors - most of which I adore. For 2 dollars. 

This is Dance Teal Dawn. Its great. I'm not sure how well the shimmer showed up in these photos - but I'm sure it looks more impressive if you make them larger. In real life both this polish and Ulta's Envy are to die for they are so shimmery and gorgeous. 

Essie: Going Incognito

I love this polish! I think it is a gorgeous blue-leaning green creme. I love the teal nature of it. It really makes it unique, in my opinion. Go get it, if you can. I grabbed the last one at one of my Ulta's and when I went to the other Ulta in my area the Essie winter collection was almost completely gone. 

Essie: Turquoise and Caicos

Here is a polish from the Essie Resort 2010 collection which came out this past spring. It really is a crappy formula. Super sheer, balding spots that are hard to get rid of, and a long dry time all come together to create a trifecta of crappiness. But there is one redeeming quality - the color. I love the color. But a very very similar color is China Glaze For Audrey. And I never have any formula or application issues with For Audrey. So for me, it is a no brainer to go with the China Glaze. The only color difference really is that Turquoise and Caicos has a tiny bit more of a greenish tint. It reminds me a little bit of mint chocolate chip ice cream in these pictures. And another difference is that this polish is pretty jelly-like whereas For Audrey is a straight up creme. 

I am in the For Audrey court. Has anyone else compared the two? If you have, what do you think??

Teal Patchwork

My second attempt at a patchwork mani didn't look much better. It is just so hard to get the tape lined up properly. And I had major problems with creating a good seal - polish kept leaking through and I would have to re-do it. Such a hassle. 

I used China Glaze For Audrey for the base, China Glaze 2nite for the blue holo, and China Glaze Liquid Leather for the black.

Also - sorry that these pictures were taken indoors but I wanted to take this mani off as soon as I finished it (at 11pm), but I wanted a picture of it - for progress's sake. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be so good at doing patchwork manis that this will be laughable.

China Glaze: DV8

DV8 is a really beautiful, well pigmented holo teal. The least holo-ey of this collection (that I have), I think the beauty of the teal really shines through. I love this shade the most, because this teal is definitely a color I would rock on its own. The fact that it is sprinkled with holo goodness just makes me love it 10 times more. 

China Glaze: For Audrey

First pictures from my new camera! But I still have a lot of pictures I too with my old camera that I have to post, but I just wanted to put this up because its my favorite polish in the world and I was excited about it. This is China Glaze For Audrey. A fabulous bright teal creme. 

And since I was trying out my new camera I took a pic of some trees in my neighbors backyard. Look at those powerlines. Definitely going to be power-less come next hurricane. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I actually took these pictures after 3 days of wear. THREE days. And look at that! No tip wear whatsoever. God I love CND Stickey. Also this was topped with Seche, the best top coat that has ever been created. 

Ultimately this polish is fabulous. Gorgeous. Phenomenal. If you don't have it, you need to get it. Pronto. 

Orly: Viridian Vinyl

So who has Pokemon on the brain right now? Just me?? Okay, obviously this polish is only reminiscent of Pokemon in name. This was part of the Orly Plastix collection. I was super excited about both of the polishes I picked up from this collection (this and Retro Red), but unfortunately I'm just not madly in love with them. Don't get me wrong, they're very nice colors. But I suppose I'm just more into glitters and shimmers and jellies and nice shiny cremes. 

Viridian Vinyl is a pretty bright and vibrant teal with a satin finish. 

For future swatches I'm definitely going to stop doing the far away bottle pic because I think it looks weird. I'll try to take pictures as close as possible, like the last 3 pictures here. 

Sally Hansen: Lagoon

Well this is the polish that prompted me to try out the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Line. Because quite frankly, the core line that they originally came out with was pretty god damned ugly (with the exception of Commander in Chic). So anyhoo, when I saw the spring line inspired by beaches and mermaids and all sorts of pretty tropically things, I knew I was going to have to cave and try them out. 

So this was originally the only color that I wanted. It just seemed so fabulous on all the other bloggers sites. unfortunately, I'm really not a fan. Which is a shocker if you know me, because I'm usually all overrrr anything that is blue/green/sparkly/and shimmery. But I suppose my expectations were just too high.

In the polish's defense, these pictures don't really do it justice. They seem really washed out. Bizarre. The polish is a slightly darker teal in real life, with a hint of yellow/golden shimmer. The pictures on Vampy Varnish are more true what the polish actually looks like, at least color wise. For some reason this just didn't really work with my skin I guess, because it just seems blah to me.