MOTD- Zoya “Giovanna”

Hi guys!

Happy daylight savings time! I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed that extra hour of sleep. I’m one of those people who does not wake up unless someone/something interrupts my sleep. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t wake up otherwise!

Today I have a really gorgeous polish from Zoya’s fall 2013 Satins line. It’s called Giovanna, and it is a deep, pure teal. It’s almost metallic, though not enough so to have massive brushstroke issues, but nonetheless, it’s super shiny. This shade of teal reminds me of Caribbean waters far off the shore after they’ve been stirred up by a storm. I know, super descriptive, but that’s the sense I get! It’s got a warmth to it, which makes it perfect for this fall weather! Application wise, it was great, not too thin or thick, and super opaque, almost good in one coat! I used 2 coats for the pictures below, no topcoat.

Shade

Sunlight

Isn’t it gorgeous? Teals/turquoises are some of my favorite nail polishes out there, I can never have too many! What do you think of this amazing Zoya color? Let me know in the comments below!

Zoya nail polishes retail for $7.99-$8.99 a bottle, depending on the line (PixieDust polishes are more expensive), and can be found at beauty supply stores, select salons, and on their website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Essie “For the Twill of it”

Hi ladies!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!! We did it, we all survived! To celebrate, I have a fantastic polish to share with you today! It’s Essie’s For the Twill of it from the Fall 2013 collection. I’ve wanted this polish for FOREVER and I finally buckled down and just decided to get it. I kept telling myself I had sufficient dupes of it (I’ll make sure to have a comparison post later!), but the more I looked at my dupe polishes and FTTOI, the more I realized that I needed this Essie gem in my collection. And now that I have it, I have no regrets!

For the Twill of it is a chameleon of a color. It’s purple in the bottle, but deep in a gray way, like the sea right after a storm. It flashes between a teal-green, a pink, and a blue depending on the way the light hits it. I don’t think it’s possible for this polish to ever look quite the same twice because of the extreme duochrome. It’s actually quite opaque, despite the general tendency for polishes like this to be sheer. It’s also pretty thick for a polish like this, though still workable. The most common comparison for FTTOI is OPI’s Peace Love and OPI, from the fall 2013 San Francisco collection. I unfortunately do not own this polish, but from what I’ve seen, they’re essentially dead-on dupes. I really love this polish though. I used 2 coats for the pictures below!

Shade

Shade

Natural, indoor light

Natural, indoor light

Sorry that this post is so picture heavy, but it was necessary to show off the multi-faceted color of the polish!

So what do you think of this stormy purple gray polish? Are you a fan of the color flashes? Let me know in the comments below!

Essie polishes generally retail for between $7-$9 a bottle, and can be found at most drugstores, beauty supply stores, and on their website, here.

~Beth~

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink- Ulta Salon Formula “Sunset Bronze”

Hello all!

It’s hump day! I also have no school because of standardized testing, so it’s been a nice refresher to stay home and sleep! Of course, no relaxing day would be complete without painting my nails a gorgeous color, and the color I’ve chosen for this Mean Girls Wednesday sure fits the bill!

Sunset Bronze, despite the name, is a shimmery, subtle pink. It definitely leans more towards the blue/silver in the color spectrum. It’s very frosted, but the brushstrokes were surprisingly not an issue, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s RIDICULOUSLY shimmery, I love it so much! Formula-wise, it’s definitely workable, although a smidge too thin for me (usually I have the opposite problem, lol). It’s kinda sheer, but builds up in 2-3 coats. I used 2 for the picture below!

Shade

Shade

The pictures make the brushstrokes look worse than they are, I promise. In real life, they are really difficult to notice unless you get really up close to the nail.

So what do you think of this dusty pink polish? Is it something you like to wear for the fall season (or any time, really). Let me know in the comments below!

Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquers retail for $6 (though there are often sales) and can be found in Ulta stores, and on Ulta’s website, here.

~Beth~

MOTD- Wet n’ Wild “Gray’s Anatomy”

Hi everyone!

Unfortunately, I had an awful day today I just wasn’t feeling well, the weather was kinda ugly, and there was just too much to deal with at school. I hope you guys like gray colors, because my nail polish is definitely reflects my mood today.

Wet n’ Wild Fastdry in Gray’s Anatomy is my color of choice today. It’s a shimmery muted silver, but has a green and purple/red duochrome to it depending on the light. While it is a bit of a “washed out” color, it really is an amazing sheer. It looks like it would be a brushstroke nightmare, but it actually self-levels really well. It’s opaque enough to wear on its own in 3 coats, but VNL is still an issue, just not a major issue. And, um, it’s not really fast drying… I just nicked a nail typing this and I’ve had it on for 30 minutes. Oh well, I’m pleasantly surprised by this color. It’s been in my unused pile forever and I’m glad I finally tried it! Pictures below are without topcoat.

Natural, indoor light- good view of the pink duochrome

Artificial, indoor light- good to see both duochromes

Natural, indoor light

This color is a real chameleon- it changes color depending on the light. In the last picture, you can see some brushstrokes, but they aren’t that bad in real life, the camera just enhances them. Overall, I like this polish. What do you think of it, and have you had a better experience with the “Fastdry” aspect than I have? Let me know in the comments!

Wet n’ Wild polishes retail for $0.99-$5 (depending on the line) and can be found at most drugstores (like CVS or RiteAid to name a few) or on their website here.

~Beth~

 

 

MOTD- OPI “A Woman’s Prague-ative”

Hi there!

While I’m so ready to embrace fall right now, the weather is just not letting me! It was even hotter today than it was yesterday here in the 302- 87˚ F! I’ve got a whole pile of fall nail polishes out in my room ready to be reviewed and the weather is like “nope, it’s still summer”. Well, sorry weather, but in all technicalities, it is fall, so let the autumn themed MOTD continue!

Today I have a GORGEOUS burnt coppery orange color for you from OPI called A Woman’s Prague-ative. Just to clear things up, this was part of the 2013 Euro Centrale collection, hence the central European inspired name (and it’s soooo cute!). I actually have used this color on my blog before, it’s in one of my 31DC2013 posts, here. A Woman’s Prague-ative is such a gorgeous, in-depth shimmer, I don’t even know how to start describing it! It has a very orange glow to it, but when the light hits it, it flashes gold and copper, and even a bit of subtle red. The shimmer is intense, guys. It really packs a punch, and I like it that way! This is a really unique polish- I’ve never seen any other polish quite like this. It’s a total stunner! Formula-wise, it’s also a win. It’s thin, but not so much that it’ll flood your cuticles, and the OPI brush is very effective at applying the color evenly. It’s a bit sheer, but opaque in 3 coats. Pictures below are 3 coats of A Woman’s Prague-ative, no topcoat.

Artificial, indoor light

Shade

Shade

So what do you guys think about these colors? I know this was an OPI spring release, but I feel like it fits into the fall color scheme better, at least in my opinion! What about you? Let me know in the comments!

OPI polishes retail for about $9, and can be found in beauty supply stores, salons, and on their website, here.

~Beth~

 

MOTD- dELIA’s Chanel “Peridot” Dupe

Hi everyone!

Happy Labor Day! I hope you all enjoy the weekend off (hopefully you’re off like I am!) and thanks to all the hard workers out there- maybe you don’t hear it all that often, but your work is always appreciated! 🙂

Today I have for you a nail polish that satisfies a lemming I’ve had for the longest time. Chanel Peridot has been on my wish list since it was released back in Fall 2011. It’s a gorgeous duochrome, the most intense I’ve ever seen, that looks gold dead on, with green to the side, and blue even further out. In direct sunlight, it looks like an olive green. In other words, it’s a lacquer dream. Unfortunately, with a price tag of $27 a bottle, I could never justify buying it. I’ll include a bottle pic below.

Chanel Peridot

Then, OPI came along with their Spiderman collection, and released Just Spotted the Lizard, which many bloggers attested to being an exact dupe of Chanel Peridot. Still, at $9 a bottle, I had a hard time buying it, especially on a budget (high school, no job currently, sigh…). I’m including a bottle pic of that, too.

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Enter- dELIA’s. By chance, I was there shopping, and browsing their nail polish, when, lo and behold, there it was, practically calling my name. A Peridot dupe. Unfortunately, this polish doesn’t have a name (that I can find- and I swear, I’ve searched everywhere), but let me tell you, it’s got the exact same duochrome finish that both of the other polishes (and the hoardes of other expensive dupes) have. I found my (cheap) diamond in the rough! Only $4.50! Half the price of the OPI! It might not be Chanel, but it’s close, and I’ll take it. Formula wise, the dELIA’s polish applies very well. Brush strokes are a bit of an issue, but they aren’t ridiculous, and the polish isn’t thick at all. I’m so happy to have this in my collection! Pictures below are 3 coats of dELIA’s Chanel dupe, no topcoat.

Natural, indoor lighting

Sunlight

There is, however, one minor problem with this polish. And I bet you can see it in the pics above. It bubbles like crazy. I’ve tried everything, I cannot for the life of me get them to go away. If you’re OCD about bubbling, do NOT get this polish. For me, however, I’ve wanted Chanel Peridot for so long that I’ll take the bubbling if it means I can have the amazing duochrome. But really, it’s up to you if you’re willing to deal with that problem.

So what do you think of Chanel Peridot, OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, and the dELIA’s dupe? Are you a fan of crazy duochrome like I am? Let me know in the comments! dELIA’s polishes are available at dELIA’s stores, or on their website, here.

~Beth~

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink- Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in “Very Cherry”

Hello all!

So, hopefully all of you have seen the movie “Mean Girls” (you know, before Lindsey Lohan went crazy). If you have, then you’ll know where the saying “on Wednesdays. we wear pink” comes from. So, I decided to borrow the well known teenage girl adage to create a new segment for my blog. Every Wednesday from now on, I’ll be featuring a pink nail polish. I have a ton of pinks in my polish stash, so what better way to show you them all than through a day specifically dedicated to pink! Hopefully you’ll like these pinks as much as I do!

For the first “Pink Wednesday”, I’ll be showing you Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Very Cherry. To me, the name is kinda misleading, because this color isn’t even close to a red, and cherry generally conjures up the image of red. Instead, this color is a bright, slightly-darker-than-bubblegum pink jam-packed with shimmer. There’s pink and silver shimmers, and the silver really adds a 3D shiny effect. Despite its somewhat frosty effect, brushstrokes are not an issue. The glitter is not holographic, but does reflect the sunlight beautifully. Too bad the sun wouldn’t cooperate for me today! The formula for the polish is a little thick, but nothing major, and applies beautifully and self levels. It takes 2 coats to reach full opacity, but I thought 3 coats looked the best (and I also messed up a nail and had to cover it up, oops). Pictures below are 3 coats of Very Cherry, no topcoat.

Artificial, indoor light

Indoor, natural light

If you’ve read any of my other Sally Hansen blog posts, you know that I love Sally Hansen polishes, and this one is no different! What do you think of Sally Hansen polishes? Do you like them as much as I do?

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color retails for between $2-$3, and can be purchased at most beauty supply stores and drug stores, as well as on their website, here.

~Beth~

 

Review- Wet n’ Wild Fastdry: 2 Nail Colors

Hi all!

A while ago while I was out shopping at RiteAid, I came across Wet n’ Wild’s line of “Fastdry” nail polishes. This brand is a line released by Wet n’ Wild, very similar to Sally Hansen’s Rapid Dry color line. I picked up two colors to try out. I got a shimmery, foil-like orange, and a frosty blue. Both polishes are packaged in a cylindrical bottle with flattened sides, and a black cap, and retail for $1.99 (a better bargain than the Sally Hansen polishes, which sell for about $4.99 a piece). So without further ado, let’s get started on the polishes!

9.0.2.1.Orange

“9.0.2.1.Orange” is an orange based foil polish with gold shimmer running through it. Application-wise, this polish is a gem. It’s very fluid and applies evenly, and self-levels so that there is virtually no patchiness. It is on the sheer side, so you’ll have to build it up if you want to hide the VNL. The pictures below are 3 coats of 9.0.2.1.Orange, with no topcoat.

Indoor, artificial lighting

Indoor, artificial lighting

Indoor, artificial lighting

 

Saved by the Blue

 

“Saved by the Blue” is a deep, vibrant cobalt blue. It’s a bit frosty, so brushstrokes are somewhat of an issue, but really aren’t too bad. I had some issue with the polish pulling away from my tips as it dries, so beware of that. Application-wise, it was thicker than 9.0.2.1.Orange, but not unmanageable. I’ve actually used this color in my Blue Gradient nails and my water marble with my mom. It’s an all around good blue to have. The pictures below have 2 coats of Saved by the Blue, no topcoat. I’m not really sure why the pictures turned out so yellow, but the polish color is fairly accurate. It’s just a smidge brighter in real life.

Artificial, indoor lighting, with an obnoxious yellow effect…

Artificial, indoor lighting, with an obnoxious yellow effect…

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with these colors. The blue was definitely a faster-dry polish than the orange. Saved by the Blue was dry to the touch in about 2-3 minutes, while it took 5-6 for 9.0.2.1.Orange.  The website claims that one coat of these polishes dries in 60 seconds, and that didn’t hold true. I’m pretty patient with my manicures, though, so it doesn’t bother me too much. For the price, I’ll definitely take it! Wet n’ Wild Fastdry polishes are sold at most drugstores, like Walgreens, CVS, and RiteAid, and can be found on their website, here.

So what do you think of these polishes? Will you be picking them up? And do you think I should review more Wet n’ Wild polishes from this line in the future?

~Beth~

 

 

 

 

 

MOTD- OPI “Simply Smash-ing” and OPI “DS Glow”

Hi everyone!

How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was great, but tiring! After finishing up a long day of babysitting with my friends yesterday, we all went out for dinner and frozen yogurt, and I got home too late to write a post. But today, I have a manicure with not one, but TWO OPI polishes to share with you! So let’s get started!

Beautiful OPI!

On my middle finger, index finger, and thumb, I’m wearing “Simply Smash-ing“. This is a beautiful gold-based green shimmer polish. The finish is almost foil-like. The glitter particles do not dry rough or textured at all- the finish is really nice on it’s own, and super shiny in the sun! I find that in the sun, the gold particles stand out more against the spring green ones. This color is from the Serena Williams “Glam Slam” OPI duo, and it also came with “Black Shatter” to wear overtop of it. These duos were released in January 2011, so they’re a bit harder to find these days. eBay should always have you covered, though the prices may vary.

The other color I’m wearing on my pinky and pointer finger is “DS Glow“. The “DS” stands for OPI “Designer Series”, and most of the polishes in this collection (which runs more expensive than regular OPI colors) are holographic colors. However, this color, Glow, is more of a foil-like finish, very similar to “Simply Smash-ing”. It’s a beautiful copper, and also dries smooth to the touch. It’s from the Fall 2009 Designer Series release by OPI, so like “Simply Smash-ing”, it’s going to be hard to find. But if you ever stumble across it, I would highly recommend it, it’s a beautiful shade! Below are pictures of my mani, no top coat, base coat is Nail Envy by OPI.

Natural, indoor lighting

Natural, indoor lighting

Outdoor sunlight

Outdoor sunlight

So what do you think of these two stunning polishes? Do you think they work well together, and will you be hunting them down for your collection? In other news, my beautiful long nails are going away soon 😦 I have to cut them short for piano. So be ready for short nail swatches in the near future!

~Beth~

MOTD- Love and Beauty “Emerald”

Hi all!

Today I have a really beautiful polish to share with you. It’s one of the three Love and Beauty polishes I picked up at the Times Square Forever 21 yesterday. This polish is called “Emerald”, and upon first glance, it looks like the person who named it got really confused, lol! In the bottle, it appears to have a very purple, duochrome base, but upon applying it, it definitely has a dark, blue-based emerald base. As you build up the color, though, the emerald gets much darker, and almost appears like a very dark blue-green purple duochrome. No matter what, it’s a real gem! Here’s a bottle shot below:

Here you can sort of see the duochrome of the polish, but honestly, pictures do not do this beauty justice. You can hardly see the varying shades of purple shimmer, peach shimmer, gold shimmer, and green in the bottle. It’s such a deep, fascinating polish, it just looks different at every single angle. Below are pictures with 4 coats of “Emerald”, no topcoat, in indoor, artificial lighting (sorry for the lack of sun pictures today, the weather just wouldn’t cooperate)

The formula on this polish was nice, very thin and easy to apply. The only problem was, it was a bit sheer. It took 4 coats to build up so you couldn’t see the visible nail line. I wish it were more opaque, because with just 1-2 layers, it’s a completely different polish. Deep blue/emerald turquoise with a very purple/red shimmer. Don’t get me wrong, the color you see above (which the camera truly didn’t capture well enough to do the polish justice) is absolutely phenomenal, but wouldn’t it be awesome to get two colors out of one polish?! I’ll try it with a white base some time to see how it works.

This polish is somewhat similar to another polish I ran across once. While not exact dupes, I think Versace v2077 (picture below) has a very similar look to “Emerald”. The bases are slightly different. But considering the hefty pricetag on the Versace, I think “Emerald” is a great, high quality inexpensive choice.

Overall, I think this polish is a must have. Love and Beauty polishes are currently $2.80 at Forever 21 stores, plus tax (unless you’re in Delaware, then there’s never sales tax! :-D)

What do you think of this unique beauty of a polish? Are you a fan of shimmery duochromes, or is creme your style? Let me know in the comments!

~Beth~