Glitter Nails

I feel like I should change this blog name to “The Nail Polish Gal”. I’m constantly posting about polish. I’ve been doing that lots recently. I promise, I do have several makeup related posts brewing in my brain right now. They just need some time.

Earlier this month I mentioned that Zoya, my favorite brand of polish was having a Color Your World promo for the New Year. They offered 3 polishes for free, and asked that you pay $10 for shipping and handling. It was a fantastic deal since each polish is normally $8 each. I just checked, and after receiving the 3 I got with the promo, I now have 52 shades of Zoya polish. A little over board maybe, but I love everything about this polish line.

1. They are vegan
2. They are 5 Free , they don’t use toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and DBP (dibutyl phthalate)
3. They offer color spoons (check out the video)
4. They have amazing promos regularly (like the one that got me 3 amazing polishes for $10 shipping)
5. They have over 300 colors to choose from
6. They have amazing customer service

Here’s one amazing color I got during the promo called Aurora. 

I was debating if I needed another purple, but look at that! It’s amazing. Oh, and I loved the glitter. I find that I love glitter polishes more than I thought I ever would. After deciding to wear it the other day, I wanted to pair it with something else. So I pulled out several other colors. I had to swatch them all to see what would look the best with it.

Starting on the left, every other swatch is Aurora. The first non-Aurora swatch is Zoya Katherine. It’s a jelly in 2 layers. It might have looked better in 3 layers. Next is Zoya Toni. Then China Glaze Glistening Snow, China Glaze Champagne Kisses and Color Club Put a Pin In It (Birchbox Exclusive).  I even asked my husband’s advice, but didn’t take it. He was leaning towards China Glaze Glistening Snow, but Champagne Kisses works better with my skin tone.

If you haven’t had the chance to try Zoya polish yet, you can in a extremely easy way. If you click this link, you can receive a free bottle of polish with your first order.

Here’s what the Zoya website says about the “Share the Love” link.

“When someone clicks on your personal link and sets up an online account, a coupon for a FREE Bottle of Zoya Nail Polish will automatically be placed in their account and can be used immediately on their current order. TIP: If you use this coupon and add 2 more polishes to your order, you get free shipping too! The coupon will appear in the “My Coupons/ Promos” section of their “My Account” Page.”

So try Zoya and get a free bottle of polish. If nothing else, set up an account now for the times they do amazing promos. If you follow them on Facebook or Twitter you’ll hear about them there. I also love their Pinterest account. I love looking at amazing pictures of nails. Especially if they are lacquered up in my favorite polish.

I Have How Many Top Coats: Top Coat Challenge

I finally decided to do it, a top coat challenge. After months of being on a search for a Seche Vite replacement, I realized I had 8 top coats and one arriving any day in the mail. It was definitely time to find out how they performed against each other.

I won’t lie, I love Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. I love that I can put it on, and my nails will be dry in a matter of minutes with a glassy shine. I’ve always joke that it’s cancer in a bottle. That’s even before I read the warning on the bottle. The warning says it contains ingredients known by the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. My husband and I called it quits in the baby department 3 years ago when our youngest was born, so I’m not worried about the “birth defects” part, but I suppose just knowing it’s got bad stuff in it makes me wary.

I started this top coat challenge 4 days ago on Thursday, January 17, 2013. I wanted to make sure I didn’t give any of the top coats any unfair advantage, so I didn’t use a base coat or color by any of the nail companies featured in my challenge. I assumed top coats would work better with color and base coats from the same line. For a base coat, I used Orly’s Bonder.

My main goal was to see who had the best wear, and overall shine and texture. I realized after the fact that I should have picked a cream color for this post. I was thinking about which polish I could manage to wear for 4 or 5 days straight instead of which polish would photograph the best for my purposes. For selfish purposes, I chose OPI’s The World Is Not Enough from the Skyfall Collection.

Base Coat – Orly Bonder
OPI – The World Is Not Enough

On my left hand starting on my thumb to my pinkie:

CND  Air Dry Fast Set Top Coat
China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat
Zoya Armor Top Coat UV Block
Qtica Extending Top Coat
Essie Good Top Go

On my Right hand starting on my thumb to my pinkie:

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Sally Hansen Mega Shine Extended Wear Top Coat
Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle Top Coat
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat
no cop coat just the OPI color

I polished my fingers starting with the Orly Bonder base coat, then three thin coats of OPI’s The World Is Not Enough, and each finger got one coat of the appointed top coat. I started at 8 pm, and was done by 8:50 pm. I started checking to see how fast the nails dried. Here’s the order they dried.

• 9pm – Seche Vite
• 9:05 CND Air Dry
• 9:06 China Glaze Fast Forward
• 9:08 Sally Hansen Insta-Dri
• 9:08 Essie Good to Go
• 9:09 Qtica Extending Top Coat
• 9:35 Zoya Armor
• 9:45 Sally Hansen Mega Shine
• Went to bed at 11:45 and Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle was still tacky. I woke up with sheet prints and fuzz stuck to it

I found that Seche Vite and Sally Hansen (SH) Insta-Dri had the thickest formulas. The thinnest formulas were China Glaze, SH Nail Shine Miracle and Qtica.  It was hard to evaluate shine because of the micro glitter in this OPI polish, but I liked Seche Vite, CND, Qtica and SH Insta-Dri the best for shine.

I found that I had the least tip wear with Qtica, Essie, SH Insta-Dri.

All my pictures were taken at the end of a 24 hour period. These were 24 hours after I first painted my nails.

Day 1 – After the first 24 hours

Day 1 – Tip wear, and chip – index finger, left hand – China Glaze Fast Forward

Day 2 – 48 hours after application

CND on the left verses Seche Vite on the right. More tip wear visible on right.

Day 3 – 72 hours after application. I was losing large sections of polish. The first section to come off was from the left hand’s index finger. The one coated in China Glaze’s Fast Forward. A few hours later, SH’s Mega Shine also had a huge chip taken out of it. By the end of the day, I was also sporting a noticeable chip out of my right Seche Vite thumb.

Major chipping along with tip wear. Day 3

Day 4 – 96 hours later.

Losing large chunks of polish. I was aiming for 5 or more days, but I can’t stand it anymore.

I was intending to go for at least 5 days with this top coat challenge, but I just couldn’t. Finding both my index fingers in such a terrible state was heart driving me crazy. I also lost significant parts of my right thumb and middle finger. Both pinkie fingers had small chips on them, but something I could have over looked for a few more days. Six of my ten fingers chipped.

The top coats that didn’t chip were:

• CND Air Dry
• Zoya Armor
• Qtica Extending Top coat
• SH Insta-Dri

I had more visible tip wear with Zoya and CND. I was surprised that SH Insta-Dri performed so well. I wasn’t expecting something so great from a drug store brand, I’ll definitely be getting more of this. I was amazed at Qtica Extending Top Coat. It was my first time using it, so I’ll have to use it again before passing judgement, but so far so good. It had the least visible tip wear of any of the top coats, and had lots of shine. I didn’t see any shrinkage, and it didn’t take forever to dry.

If I had to rank these 9 top coats here’s best to worst based on the last 4 days.

1. Qtica Extending Top Coat
2. SH Insta-Dri
3. CND Air Dry
4. Zoya Armor
5. Essie Good To Go
6. Seche Vite
7. China Glaze Fast Forward
8. SH Mega Shine

I won’t even score the SH Nail Shine Miracle because it never really dried. That stuff is going straight in the trash. If it won’t dry 3 hours after the fact, it doesn’t deserve to stick around! Do I still love my Seche Vite? YES! I just picked up another bottle while this top coat challenge was going on. It’s for the nights I do a 10:45 manicure and still want to get to bed before 11:30. Seche Vite saves me from sheet prints.

Since I also change my polish every other day, I rarely run into the problem of them chipping. I don’t go for long wear, I go for fast drying and shine.

Do you have a favorite Top Coat? How long do you wear your polish in between changes? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just let me know in the comments below.

Manicure Monday

I changed my polish today because I had to try a new China Glaze glitter polish from their Wicked Collection.

I saw all the swatches from the Wicked Collection on The PolishAholic back in September, and remembered that I wanted the one called “Make A Spectacle”.  I picked it up today, and layered it over China Glaze “Argo” from the Capitol Colors Hunger Games Collection.

China Glaze Make A Spectacle over Argo

 

I love the extra shine and sparkle I get from the glitter top coat.

I’ve had Argo since Spring, but never wore it much because it seemed like a fall color to me. I can see myself wearing it a lot this season, and into winter. The more and more nail blogs I read, the more and more I fall in love with glitter polishes. This one is particularly pretty because of the hex glitter and opalescent sheen. A year ago I would never had said I was in love with anything glitter.

I’m not sure how long this manicure will last since I have a meeting with my boss tomorrow morning. I normally don’t spend much time talking with the boss, and he never sees my fun nails. What I should have done was polish them a very pretty nude or shell pink.

There is also a good chance I’ll just say “Who gives a damn!” and walk in with sparkly, glittery nails tomorrow morning. Let me know what polish shades you are loving this fall.

– Rebecca

Racing Stripes

I’ve been attempting to create a green racing stripe on my nails for months now. This is the first time I’m willing to post any photos. They’re not perfect, but I am getting better.

I’ve been longing to create some perfect nail art. I know it’s not something that just happens,  but many hours are spent in practice. I’ve only been doing my nails regularly for 10 months, so I still have a lot to learn.

I used China Glaze Exotic Encounters from the Safari Collection as the green base. Sally Hansen Quick Color Nail Pen in black for the large stripe, and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in White for the small stripe. I sealed it all with a coat of Seche Vite.

I’ll try it again, but I hope it turns out even better next time. I free-handed the stripes, maybe next  time I’ll tape them. I haven’t had success with tape manicures yet, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll stop trying.

This manicure reminds me of this car.

I Didn’t Need More Nail Polish, But I Couldn’t Help Myself

I have a Sally Beauty Supply discount card. I receive emails with their weekly specials, and got one on Thursday saying that they would have a clearance on some of their China Glaze nail polish. I managed to swing by the store on Friday with my two girls.

Here’s what I got: Foie Gras – Hunger Games Collection Harvest Moon – Hunger Games Collection I also picked up six shades from the China Glaze Safari Collection: Man Hunt – Safari Collection, Jungle Queen – Safari Collection, Prey Tell – Safari Collection, Elephant Walk – Safari Collection, Exotic Encounters – Safari Collection, Adventure Red-y – Safari Collection

I was excited to find these colors available at such a reduced price. With my Sally’s card, they were $1.64 each.

I also couldn’t pass up these two Orly colors in Decoded (slate grey) and Buried Alive (gold and orange micro glitter in a brown base) They were also 50% off the red tag price. I had someone on twitter ask about a good fall burnt orange nail color, and it reminded me that I didn’t have any. So I picked up Orly Buried Alive, and China Glaze Harvest Moon. It might be time for some nail art.

I also picked up some California Mango products. The Mango Buff was on sale, and the Mango Mend wasn’t. I already have the California Mango cuticle oil and love it, so it was nice to pick up a few more products. My hands have been transformed. I highly recommend these products.

Now, it’s just time to swatch them all. Maybe it’s better to send you to one of my favorite nail polish blogs. The PolishAholic. She swatched them months ago before they were in stores/salons. I picked up every single color from the Safari Collection and Capitol Colors Collection that I didn’t already have and I wanted. It was nice to get them all for $1.64 each. It almost felt like stealing. Almost.

How Nail Polish Lured Me Into a Good Read

I know you must be thinking “Really, nail polish?” But yes, nail polish. I started this blog in February as an opportunity to reconnect with my pretty, feminine side. The part of me that enjoys color, cosmetics, accessories, and fashion. I stopped subscribing to fashion magazines when I bought my house 7 years ago. I traded Allure and In Style for Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens. Then when I had children, I received Parenting Magazine. Of course by that point, I had traded books for magazines. I couldn’t find the time to read an entire book for quite a while.

This past February, I purchased my first fashion magazine in years at the checkout counter. In the pages of In Style, I was puzzled to see this ad.

What was this pink confection of a woman doing as the model for all these earth tones? What was with the crazy paper eyelashes that I had seen on sale at Sephora.com? This was the strangest ad I had seen in years. None of it made any sense. I hadn’t even heard of The Hunger Games.

Yes, I know you’re gasping. How is that possible you ask? Does she live under a rock? How could she be so cut off from the world that she missed this so completely? I have one word for you: Toddlers. The only books I read regularly are from Mo Willems, the brilliant author of the Elephant and Piggy books my daughters adore. If you are a good friend of mine and suggested sometime over the past several years that I read The Hunger Games, please don’t be offended. I heard you, but I wasn’t listening. Chances are, I was watching your lips move while shooting glances at my husband. Glances that meant “Are you going to stop the children from screaming, or am I?” If we were on the phone, I heard you while I watched my girls pull every book from the bookcase and try to beat each other with them while I was attempting to have a grown up conversation. So yes, I missed it. Big time.

This ad caught my attention in February. Then, when I walked into my local beauty supply store about 10 days ago to purchase some manicure items, I saw the colors. They were beautiful. I immediately snagged two of them, and have been loving wearing them. After wearing the olive-green color called “Argo” late last week, I decided on a whim to buy The Hunger Games on my Nook reader. I was not prepared for its captivating story and characters. I was completely sucked in. I finished the book in less than a day, and then downloaded Catching Fire. I devoured that one too. I stayed up until 1am this morning to finish book 3, Mockingjay.

It’s fantastic that my love of cosmetics lured me into a good book. Now that my kids are 2 and 4, I do get to read a bit more. I will be taking note of my best friend’s blog The Tiger’s Eye. Funny how her last blog included The Hunger Games.

Pull out your favorite nail polish this week and give yourself a home manicure, and while it dries, curl up with a good book.