L'Oreal "Sexy in Sequins"-Gold Dust Textured Polish Collection

Ugh.

I was not paying attention to the display when I bought this. I just totally fell in love with the color in the bottle. It's stunning. All kinds of plummy, moody, glittery goodness.

As soon as I opened the bottle at home I knew I had one of the Gold Dust textured polishes on my hands and was instantly annoyed. I've tried the Sally Hansen ones before and while I think they are fun for a once in a while, I don't think they are pretty. They are lumpy and there is no shine which defeats the purpose of a sparkly textured polish entirely. This color in particular looks like acid is eating your polish leaving a gritty, pocky finish that totally diminishes the sparkle in the bottle. Apart from the larger glitter that is completely dulled, it has a definite golden reflect in the bottle that doesn't really transfer to the nail either.

I applied it over one coat of Essie "Damsel in a Dress" because while there is a ton of sparkle, the actual base color of "Sexy in Sequins" is a milky plum/grey. I thought a plum base would help the prettier color shine through. This brush also felt wider than the regular L'Oreal brushes and kind of made the polish go on goopier than I'd like.

I did 2 coats of "Sexy in Sequins" and definitely got the sandy/gritty finish.While these textured polishes do stay for a long time on your nails that also makes them a nightmare to remove.

Overall...not a fan of this one. It looks gorgeous in the bottle and if you are into the sandy finish polishes, this line is one of the better ones I've tried but overall, this was an "ugh" for me.

What are your thoughts on the sandy polish trend?

Halloween Nails Part 2

I had big plans for a crazy halloween mani this week, I even did one yesterday and hated it. So it all came off and I decided on something a little more simple and ended up loving it.

Next weekend we are having a big Halloween party at our house with all of our friends so the nails will likely match the costume (top secret!). I'll post some pics afterward, I'm so excited!!

I like this because I get the funkiness but it's still cute and classy, without being overboard or tacky. Just a simple shimmery orange on 4 nails, a shimmery black on the ring finger and a nail art brust on the ring finger to make white spiderwebs!

Halloween Nails

I've finally finished the home painting projects (blog post on that all soon). Suffice it to say, painting practically every wood object in your home black was not awesome for my nails. So as soon as I put the paint supplies away, I busted out my manicure kit and went to work.

We went to the pumpkin patch this past weekend so I was definitely in the mood for a fun "Halloween" type manicure. You know I love those mixed media manis, crazy and different on every nail. It's just fun!

So here is what I came up with! Super easy and all you need is white, black, silver and orange polishes along wiht dotting tool and black and white nail art polishes.

Basically mixed polka dots on the pinkies, spiderwebs on the rings, googly eyes on the middles, mixed polka dots and eyes on the indexes and stitches on the thumbs. I think I'll do another Halloween manicure this weekend and I'll share whatever I come up with! I'm thinking ghosts and jack o lanterns??

Falling Leaf Nails

It was a foggy, cloudy Saturday here this past weekend. My son took a spill on his scooter and was nursing quite the fat lip, so he asked to watch a movie. Once Hocus Pocus started playing, I knew I was ready for some fall nails. I decided to do a mixed mani (different patterns on each nail). So I came up with this:

Essie "Well Structured" with Wet n Wild "Glamorous Gold" glitter on my pinky and Thumb

Ultra Pro Nail "Big Spender" on my ring fingers. I used a black nail art brush to make a tree and then used both the small and large sides of my dotting tool to make falling trees. I used 3 colors to make the "leaves".

Sinful "Courtney Orange" on my middle finger.

Essie "Well Structured" with China Glaze "Tarnished Gold" crackle polish on my pointer finger.

Well Structured is one of my favorite fall colors. It reminds me of rich leather, like the color of an expensive handbag.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Anti Chip Top Coat

photo courtesy of sallyhansen.com

 

I have used Seche Vite pretty religiously for the past 2 or 3 years. I like it because it dries my nail polish so quickly and leaves them super glossy and professional looking. The downside that I have been majorly overlooking is the polish shrinkage that I've only ever seen with Seche Vite. Even if I wrap the polish around the tips of my nails, it shrinks it from the cuticles.

 

I have been able to deal with it because of the other great qualities but lately it's just annoying me too much. I feel like it ruins the nail art I work so hard on if they already look like they are grown out or have tip wear from polish shrinkage.

 

So I have been trying several different "quick dry" top coats. The trick is to find one that specifically says it dries other polishes, not just a fast drying top coat. I saw this one from Sally Hansen on sale at Walgreens for $2.80 and snatched it right up. Seche Vite is usually $10 a bottle and you can only ever get 1/2 way through a bottle before it turns to sludge.

 

The instructions say to let your polish dry for 2 minutes and then apply this top coat. I totally agree with that. You will see color transfer to the brush if you rush any quicker than that. However, if you wait the 2 minutes, apply a light coat of Insta-Dry and allow it to dry for 30 seconds, it's completely dry to the touch with no shrinkage at all. So....WIN?!

 

I tested this out on a few different manicures with all different kinds of polishes. I get AT LEAST 5 days with no chipping. I would say this gives a 5-7 day manicure on me. Which is very impressive for an at home manicure. No tip wear and my nails stay super glossy with a gel like finish.

 

I can't say enough good things about this little red bottle. It has completely replaced Seche Vite in my mani ritual. 

4th of July Nail Ideas

I was going through nail art on Pinterest last night (as usual) and remembered I had done a couple of cute patriotic nail looks last year. I did a little sparkly nautical mani last night and wanted to throw it out there too. It's not my favorite because I'm testing a new top coat and it streaked the colors a teeny bit. Enough to annoy me. Probably only me, but that's ok.

These looks are all very easy, all using drugstore polishes and toothpicks for the stars and hearts. Super easy, beginner type nail art but if I'm only wearing something for a day or two I'm not going to make it too difficult. Plus it was 96 degrees last night, too...hot...to...create.

We are going to a rodeo and firework show tonight and spending tomorrow on the river and BBQing with the family. Just like our forefathers intended.

Happy 4th of July!

 



 

For this look I just painted all the nails with 2 coats of JulieG "Cabana Boy". I used a very sparkly polish from Nicole by OPI on my index and ring fingers for the firework sparkle look. I used a white nail polish with a thin nail art brush to make the 5 white stripes on each side. I could have used tape for perfect lines but I didn't really want perfect here. When that was dry I used Target Red by L'Oreal and made 2 dots on my middle finger with a toothpick and then connected them to make the heart. Pretty easy. Allowed it to dry and topped with Sally Hansen Insta Dry Anti Chip polish (the one in the red bottle).

 

I found a couple of other mani ideas on Pinterest if you want to put a little more effort in than I did. I thought these looked simple and classy but still festive and super adorable. Like I said, these were all found on Pinterest. It is a great resource for creative ideas to make your own!

 

 

Candy Shop Dupe

When my husband took me to see BD2, we had a little time to walk around the mall before the movie started. Which...I never do. I'm so not a mall person. I don't enjoy it, at all. I will park outside one store, run in and get what I need and leave. I never just walk around, perusing and sweating my face off in hot stores with millions of people. Not my bag, baby.

Anyway, we had time so I ran into Claire's. I've been looking for a sparkly cross bracelet and found one for $6 (score). I also checked out their nail polishes, which I've never done before either.

I actually found 4 that I really liked and they were on a BOGO 1/2 off sale. Nice, because at $5 a pop I would never have spent $20 on cheapo nail polish from Claire's.

But these ones were all sparkly topcoats and unique. The one I'm talking about today is Candy Shop. Which is an identical (right down to the name) blatant rip off of Deborah Lippmann's cult classic Candy Shop.

photo courtesy of allure.com



SEE HOW PRETTY?? It's all kinds of girlie glitters suspended in a pink jelly base. It's amazing. It's also $18 a bottle. Steep.

Claire's version is identical, and I got it for $2.50. Kind of a no brainer. I used Revlon Colorstay Cafe Pink as a base, which made it a brighter pink and used 2 coats of Claire's Candy Shop for my birthday mani. I think this would also be pretty over a pinky nude like Ballet slippers and super fun over a black or charcoal gray.

Topped with Seche Vite, I had no chipping or anything and it came off pretty well for a jam packed glitter. I have a few more of these Claire's glitter top coats I'll be reviewing. I would definitely repurchase the glitters, they have all been pretty decent and fun!

Wet n Wild Fergie "Glamorous" Nail Color

Apparently I'm on a nail kick lately.

Today I'm reviewing a glittery gold topcoat from Wet n Wild. Fergie has paired with them recently and released a "Fergie" line of cosmetics. She did makeup and nail polishes. I haven't been super interested in much of the collection but I did think that a few of the glittery top coats were too cute to resist. Best part? They are about $3 each.

I decided to get "Glamorous" because I don't have anything like it in my collection. It's a pure gold glitter with octagonal larger pieces and tiny round pieces mixed in a clear base. I love a clear based glitter because you can put it over ANY color and get completely different looks.



WetNWild Fergie "Glamorous"

  I tried it over my L'Oreal Greyt Expectations (still going strong on that one 5 days later!!) and really loved the effect. I think it would also look glam over black or a deep bordeaux color.



2 coats

This polish has a GIANT brush. It's so huge one stroke will cover your whole nail. The glitter lays nicely and you don't have to work with it at all to get it flat like you do sometimes with funky shaped glitters.You don't get much glitter in one coat, it's a lot of clear polish with a little bit of glitter. Which, I kind of like because you can build it up depending on how glittery you want it. The drying time was a little faster than average.  


MONDO brush

 Overall, I was impressed by this particular polish. I don't know if I would purchase the colored polishes, but the glitter topcoats are pretty great and different! The other color I'm trying to find is "Flossy Flossy", it is a rose gold glitter in a clear base and I am a sucker for rose gold!

Have you tried anything from the "Fergie" collection?

L'Oreal Colour Riche Nail Color "Greyt Expectations"

I think I have finally found a drugstore nail polish line I can stand behind!

Aside from Essie (which is now partially drugstore, but hasn't always been and even now you can only get a limited portion of their colors in stores) there aren't many drugstore nail polishes that I really think are worth purchasing. Unless it's a glittery top coat or something that the quality doesn't really matter, I don't generally like drugstore nail polishes. I normally use China Glaze, OPI, Nicole (a good drugstore option!) and Essie.

Until now.

I was at Walgreens a few days ago getting some other stuff and came across the L'Oreal Colour Riche collection. I've been eyeing it for a while because I love the color selection and the packaging is so luxe. I saw Greyt Expectations and just had to have it. I don't have anything in my collection like this color and for $5.99 I figured, no big whoop if it sucked.

It definitely does not. This color is a dusty, warm, greyed taupe and is so flattering on the nail. It has a small brush so application is clean and easy, it applies smoothly and is not streaky, which even higher end brands like Essie can sometimes be. I used 3 coats to ensure opacity but did not need them. Topped with Seche Vite and this stuff is still going strong 4 days later with no hint of chipping or wearing off. It's still glossy for goodness sakes!!

color after application

color after 4+ days of wear

color without flash

I am more than impressed with this and will definitely be purchasing other colors. How Romantic, Satin Sheets, After Hours, Haute Couture Red and Sweet Nothings are next on my list.