Revlon Sheer Sugar & Konad M39

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I just have my Nails of the Day for you, which is Revlon Sheer Sugar with a butterfly pattern form Konad plate M39 stamped in Konad Pastel Blue Special Nail Polish.

It's two coats of Sheer Sugar, an old on I bought at a closeout store in recent days. It's not streaky and provides good coverage while remaining sheer, so I'm pleased with it.

Revlon Sheer Sugar Nail Polish, Two Coats & Konad M39 in Konad Pastel Blue

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Sephora by OPI Modern Flowers Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have swatches of Sephora by OPI's Modern Flowers Collection. I've previously been a big fan of the Sephora by OPI formula, but these weren't as nice as my others, and all took three coats. They still applied pretty well, they just needed an extra coat and don't seem as pigmented. The pictures are under artificial light, all with a base coat, none with a top coat.

Go with the Flow-er is a slightly orange-y bright pink with big bits of shimmer.

Sephora by OPI Go with the Flow-er Nail Polish, Three Coats

It's Bouquet with Me is a clear base with purple, silver, and holo glitter. Even at three coats, it doesn't provide coverage, so it'll be one for layering.

Sephora by OPI It's Bouquet with Me Nail Polish, Three Coats

Handpicked for Me is a pale lilac pink with a strong shimmer. It's a very delicate color, and I like it.

Sephora by OPI Handpicked for Me Nail Polish, Three Coats

Cover Me in Petals is a red orange creme.

Sephora by OPI Cover Me in Petals Nail Polish, Three Coats

Iris I was Thinner is a contender for the worst nail polish name ever, being both politically and grammatically incorrect. It's a pale purple creme.

Sephora by OPI Iris I was Thinner Nail Polish, Three Coats

Leaf Him at the Altar is my favorite of the collection, a dark leaf green with a strong shimmer that dries to an almost foil finish.

Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's Sephora by OPI's Modern Flowers Collection, and all I have for you right now. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Aahz Comparisons

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I ran into a couple of polishes I've been hunting for, which I wanted for the purpose of this comparison post. I have the original China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Aahz C-C-Courage and Ruby Pumps, so I thought we could look at them as compared to the 2009 China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Aahz Returns rerelease. I believe the original release was in 2002, but am open to correction on that.

I recently downsized my stash significantly, and am hoping that somewhere in the box of special polishes I haven't gone through yet that I have the original Cowardly Lyin' and Dorothy Who? (with the question mark being part of the name, not mine!). I showed you the original DW a while back, but after I used it and took pictures to prove it, I passed it on to a friend. Shortly after, another friend sent me a fresh bottle of the original DW, so I hope I have it somewhere...

It worked out well to only do two colors today anyhow - I have ten pictures for you, which probably makes the load time of this page a century. Sorry about that! I took the pictures under strong artificial light, weak natural light (I checked the 10-day forecast first, and clouds are all I see), and regular room lightbulb light to show the differences between the releases. I also took pictures of a full manicure under artificial light of each, with the artificial light used being one that's supposed to emulate natural light. For all pictures, the polish is with a base and top coat and dry. I used Seche Vite over all but 2009 C-C-Courage, which is my NOTD, and for that I used Diamont.

Let's start with Ruby Pumps. I was bought this 2009 relelease full set, despite owning a zillion Ruby Pumps from other sets, for the purpose of this comparison. These are close, but the original is indeed different than the 2009 version. Here is the original Ruby Pumps, three coats , and all pictures of both versions are three coats to be consistent.

China Glaze Ruby Pumps Nail Polish, Original Release, Three Coats

As soon as I started using it, I noticed what the comparison pictures show: the original is a bit darker, more opaque, and has different glitter. Here's the manicure with the 2009 release to see.

China Glaze Ruby Pumps Nail Polish, 2009 Release, Three Coats

Here are the comparison pictures. The photos are labelled, but just to be clear, the middle and pinky are the original, the index and ring are the 2009 rerelease.

Here is the strong artificial light comparison:

China Glaze Ruby Pumps Nail Polish Comparison, Three Coats, Artificial Light

This is light bulb room light:

China Glaze Ruby Pumps Nail Polish Comparison, Three Coats, Room Light

This is weak natural light:

China Glaze Ruby Pumps Nail Polish Comparison, Three Coats, Natural Light

The difference is small, but I still see it, and I prefer the original.

On to C-C-Courage. Here, the difference is not so subtle. The finish, glitter, and base color are all different between the two releases. Here is the original C-C-Courage, and it only needed two coats, so all pictures of C-C-Courage have two coats to be consistent.

China Glaze C-C-Courage Nail Polish, Original Release, Two Coats

The Seche Vite wrinkled a couple of nails on this one, but you can see the giant glitter and the super pale color relative to the one below, as well as some difference in finish. For comparison, here's the 2009 version, the only difference in application being that I used Diamont rather than SV.

China Glaze C-C-Courage Nail Polish, 2009 Release, Two Coats

Now for the side-by-side comparisons. Again, middle and pinky are original and index and ring are the 2009 version. First up is artificial light.

China Glaze C-C-Courage Nail Polish Comparison, Two Coats, Artificial Light

This is light bulb room light:

China Glaze C-C-Courage Nail Polish Comparison, Two Coats, Room Light

This is weak natural light:

China Glaze C-C-Courage Nail Polish Comparison, Two Coats, Natural Light

This is what I hope is Part I of China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Aahz versus Wizard of Ooh Aahz Returns 2009. The both look pretty different to me.

That's what I have for you now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Orly Snowcone, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, and 3D

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I got some new 3D nail art molds from Trans Design this week, and thought I'd show you the fun I've been having with them. I know not everyone's a fan of the 3D nail art, so for base colors, I used two new shades so there might be redeeming value for those of you who don't care about the acrylic art.

The first, Orly Snowcone, a light blue creme, was a sample sent to me by Orly. It applied well, was easy to control, and was opaque and even in two coats. This is Snowcone alone in sunlight.

Orly Snowcone Nail Polish, Two Coats

I chose this as a base for my most challenging acrylic mold: a cameo. The mold had three sizes, and I used the middle. I would have preferred the smallest, but the detail work on this one was challenging. The trick with the multi-colored molds is that you have to visualized to 3D image, and essentially work backwards to build the piece. I started with pure white for the hair adornment and earring (which totally doesn't show, I should have used blue to make it a sapphire), then a deep pink for the roses at the neckline, a pastel pink for the face, and of course, I gave it red hair. I've had a soft spot for cameos since I was a kid, so I'm in love with this mold. It's just very difficult to execute.

Orly Snowcone Nail Polish, Two Coats with 3D Nail Art 1

Here's more how it looked wandering around.

Orly Snowcone Nail Polish, Two Coats with 3D Nail Art 2

What I found less than satisfactory about it was how thick the last coat of top coat made it appear. I took a different approach with the next one.

For a base, I used China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint. I like the color, but my experience is that all of the Up & Away colors I've tried has been they're very thick and hard to work with. It took two coats to be opaque and even. Here's Re-Fresh Mint alone.

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Two Coats

To it, I added red roses and leaves. In finishing this one, I just added top coat to the acrylic pieces, not to the entire nail. I'll see how well they stay on. The cameo one survived hair-washing, so they stay on pretty well! The light faded for the picture with the roses, and the picture of Re-Fresh Mint alone is color accurate on my monitor, this one is less so. Since the point of this picture is to show you the roses, I thought you'd forgive me.

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Two Coats with 3D Nail Art

As I said, I know not everyone's a fan of the 3D nail art. However, after doing my own nails for over 25 years, having something new to add is fun. Next on the list is using an airbrush I have, but I have to get a holder for the templates made first - as it is now, I would need a third hand to use it. I only have the two.

So that's all for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Nfu Oh 51

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'f mentioned recently that I had more Nfu Ohs to show you, and today I have Nfu Oh 51. I think I've shown this to you before, but it's a polish so nice we'll look at it twice.

The base color of Nfu Oh 51 is a duochrome-y purple jelly, and it's full of flaky glitter. On its own its quite sheer, requiring many coats to have depth, and I didn't have the patience for that so I layered it over a black shimmer. For the base color, I used two coats of the Revlon Dark Pleasures black shimmer nail polish, Black Patent or Patent Leather or something like that. A black shimmer, in any case. Then I added one coat of Nfu Oh 51 to it, loaded it up with top coat, and let it dry. It's completely dry in the pictures.

I had the rare moment of sun this morning, so I used it. I have two pictures for you, one in direct sun and one in indirect natural light, since duochromes have a different look in different light. With just one coat of Nfu Oh 51, the duochrome effect is not that dramatic. It would have been more so with a second coat, but flaky glitters can be a hassle to remove and one coat was sufficient, so I stopped there.

Here it is in the sun.

Nfu Oh 51 Nail Polish, One Coat over Two Coats Black Shimmer in Direct Sunlight

And in indirect sunlight.

Nfu Oh 51 Nail Polish, One Coat over Two Coats Black Shimmer in Indirect Sunlight

Clicking on the pictures will show you more detail of the color and flaky glitter.

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Pizzazz

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd end a long day by showing you my Nails of the Day, which has been Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Pizzazz.

This is a cool jelly purple with small flaky glitter that is dang near impossible to photograph. I've worn it a couple of times, but haven't shown it to you because I couldn't get a decent picture. I finally stumbled upon the right light today, so here she is.

This is three coats of Purple Pizzazz. Click on the picture for a better view of the glitter and jelly finish.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Pizzazz Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader. It seems something new and exciting is around the bend next month, but I'll fill you in on that another time.

Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Pasadena Purple Konadicures

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just went through the pictures I haven't shown you yet, and I found two Konadicures with Nubar Pasadena Purple that were recent post-swatching manicures that I thought I'd give you a look at. One turned out far better than the other.

The weaker one is two coats of Pasadena Purple with the daisy pattern from Konad plate M41 stamped on my tips in Konad Psyche Pink. The fact is that without bright light, the Konad doesn't show up at all. Lesson learned - Psyche Pink over purple is good in theory, not in practice.

Konadicure with Nubar Pasadena Purple Nail Polish, Two Coats, and Konad M41 in Konad Psyche Pink Special Nail Polish

The second, I liked a lot. I used a small floral pattern from Konad plate M35 to stamp a pattern at the side and cuticle using Konad White. The Konad is far more visible on this one, and that's how I like it.

Konadicure with Nubar Pasadena Purple Nail Polish, Two Coats, and Konad M35 in Konad White Nail Polish

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Milani 3D Holographic Collection

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have swatches of Milani's 3D Holographic Collection for you. I didn't have high hopes of finding these, but when I was out and about running errands this morning, I ran into a display of them. I got there just in time - I grabbed the last bottle of two of the colors!

The application of all of them was pretty good, particularly for holos. All six required three coats to be even and opaque for me. What's cool about them is that they're holo, but they have little tiny flaky bits in them that remind me of Sephora by OPI's Untarnished Image.

I had moderate daylight for the pictures a couple hours ago, which was not the most consistent light ever, but it's the best I'm going to get in the Midwest in January... So let's look at the colors!

HD was the weakest of the collection for me. It's a silver holo, but even after three coats I can kind of still see through the tips of my nails. This one, for me, will have to be layered.

Milani HD Nail Polish, Three Coats

3D is a gold holo, and this one was opaque in three coats. I like it because I like golds, and the only other holo gold I have is of the super-fine holo variety and came from overseas.

Milani 3D Nail Polish, Three Coats

Digital is a kind of blush pink holo, and the little holo bits stand out in this one. It was good in three coats.

Milani Digital Nail Polish, Three Coats

Cyberspace is a light blue holo, also opaque in three coats.

Milani Cyberspace Nail Polish, Three Coats

Hi-Res is a lavender holo, good in three coats.

Milani Hi-Res Nail Polish, Three Coats

Hi-Tech is the yellowish green of China Glaze's L8R G8R, and also good with three coats.

Milani Hi-Tech Nail Polish, Three Coats

Those are my pics of Milani's 3D Holographic Collection, and overall I like it. The only one that seemed weak was the silver. We've seen these colors before (except a holo gold), but the finish on them is different in a good way.

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Nfu Oh Nail Polish

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I got a package today, and in it was Nfu Oh nail polish. I thought I'd swatch them for you, but honestly, I lost interest after the second swatch and made it a manicure. But, I still get to show you three of them. The pictures are all in moderate natural light.

First is Nfu Oh 569, a very dark green jelly. I've heard it's a dupe for NARS Zulu, but I thought Zulu was streaky and no longer have it to compare. 569 was not streaky and was easy to control, applying well. I used three coats for more coverage.

Nfu Oh 569 Nail Polish, Three Coats

Next is Nfu Oh 270, a blue jelly. This one was a little streakier than 569, but was still easy to control and overall had good application. I felt my interest waning and stopped at two coats of 270.

Nfu Oh 270 Nail Polish, Two Coats

Finally, I topped 270 with Nfu Oh 40. One coat was sufficient to make the manicure nice and sparkly.

Nfu Oh 40 Nail Polish, One Coat, over Two Coats 270

That's the tale of my new Nfu Ohs. I have more flakies to show you, so you'll likely see those soon.

Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Cassis & OPI Japan

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I thought I'd show you one of the few jellies I truly love, Chanel Cassis. It was an overseas exclusive, Asian, I believe, I think from Spring 2007. There was this one, a red jelly called Cherry, and I don't recall offhand what the others were (that was a while ago!).

What I like about Cassis and its sisters is the finish and application. I use three coats to make it a little less transparent, but it retains an incredible gloss and even color distribution than many jellies lack. It's a purplish berry shade, and I was happy when I stumbled across it amongst my things recently.

Here's Chanel Cassis.

Chanel Cassis Nail Polish, Three Coats

Speaking of Asian exclusives... I've been afraid to mention this lest I put the whammy on it and have the postal workers jump on the package, but after seeing pictures from Steph at Nail Juice of OPI's Asian exclusive Sweet Pink Collection, they're on their merry little way to me right now, so that's something I'll have for you soon (assuming typing this doesn't make postal workers dance on the package). They weren't easy to come by, but dangit, I was determined!

If you look at OPI's Japan site (I just Google "OPI Japan" and use the "Translate This Page" link to the right of the listing), you can see they've had a few good ones we've missed out on here. I checked it just now to verify the name of Sweet Pink and was relieved to discover they hadn't slipped anything under my radar! Take a look at the Yokohamas and the 10th anniversary ones they have, in addition to Sweet Pink. It strikes me as so odd that everyone else is putting out glitter here, but OPI saves them for Japan! Their DS exclusives are different too. Hmmmph!

There are more of the Japanese DS's I want, I got what I wanted of the 10th anniversary, and I swapped with a Japanese woman for all of the Yokohamas (with American tea and cookies being my end of the swap!), so I'm doing pretty well keeping on top of OPI so far. It ain't easy though!

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Illamasqua Boosh Bouquet

Good evening, Dear Reader!

After doing some tedious around-the-house stuff, I decided that playing with some 3D acrylic was in order.

For the first time, I started the manicure with the idea of what I wanted to do with the acrylic first, and that was play with the neon colors I got. In the pictures, as is often the case with neons, the full vibrancy of the colors does not come through. I settled on the idea of doing some two-colored flowers, initially planning on three on one nail, and decided that a black creme base would make an interesting background.

For the black I used Illamasqua Boosh (hence the title), which I bought based upon some raves I'd read. To me, it a good black, but not spectacular, and I wouldn't spend the money on it again. I still think Lippmann Collection Fade to Black is the best high gloss, blackest possible black nail polish. But I digress...

So I did the base manicure with two coats of Boosh, then started in with the flowers. When I'd completed three, it looked like the symmetry was a bit off, so I added a fourth and am happy with the result. I waited a few minutes for them to finish curing after applying, then painted each with a bit of top coat, then sealed the whole nail with top coat. I let it dry for a few minutes, took pictures, and here I am.

In the picture with the bottle, the edge of the decorated nail kind of blends into the bottle, so I have another picture without it.

Heres my Boosh Bouquet (or Boosh Gardens, if you prefer..).

Illamasqua Boosh Nail Polish, Two Coats, with 3D Acrylic Nail Art

Illamasqua Boosh Nail Polish, Two Coats, with 3D Acrylic Nail Art Close Up

I squished the side of the blue flower a little bit applying it, but it seems to be on there pretty well so I'm hoping for the best.

I know not everyone's a fan of the 3D stuff, but I think it's great fun, and an application like this gives something completely unexpected to the manicure.

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!