Kinetic Candy

Polish:  China Glaze Kinetic Candy

I saw this polish in the clearance bucket at Sally's and I almost didn't pick it up.  I was afraid it was too close in color to For Audrey and Tiffany Imposter.  So I whipped out my phone and searched for some swatches and I saw nothing but excellent reviews for the formula and the color.  Of course, for $2.50 I went ahead and picked it up and brought it home.  And it didn't disappoint.  I was still thinking it was pretty close to FA and TI, but I was wrong.  It's lighter and more blue/less green than either of them.

Kinetic Candy is a real 2 coater and has an excellent shine.

shade



bright sun






I decided to go ahead and do some swatch comparisons, to see where Kinetic Candy fits in.  From left to right is CG Kinetic Candy, SH Blue Away, FP Tiffany Imposter, and CG For Audrey.

To show how truly awesome the formula is, I did 1 coat for this first photo.  As you can see, Kinetic Candy isn't perfect, but if you were in a hurry, you could totally get away with just 1 coat.  The other three look awful and streaky.




The final photos are 3 coats of each.

shade



bright sun



So all in all, I give this polish an A+.

If you liked For Audrey, but needed something a little less green for your skin tone, pick up Kinetic Candy (and be sure to check your local Sally's clearance bin!)

I think it's a great summer shade and will look good all year long.

Shades of the Season

About a month ago, Keith and I were in CVS and I was looking through the nail polish area, as usual.  I was rubber-necking the Sally Hansen Crackle display, and almost ran over this...



It's a tube-a-plenty of polish!  Then I saw the sign, which alerted me to the fact that this whole tube was only $9.99.  Then I counted the polish and realized that was less than a dollar per bottle.  How could I pass up such a deal, even if it turned out to be a totally crappy product?  It would at least be fun to play with!  So, I bought it.  Keith rolled his eyes.  When we got home, I immedately took off my current polish and decided to try every single color at once.  I think sometimes it's ok to revert back to Jr. High.



There really are some lovely shades in the collection.  The light blue and the yellow caught my eye the most, though I rarely have high hopes for yellow polish.  I was still excited to try it.



The yellow surprised me a bit.  It wasn't horrible to work with.  It wasn't perfect, and there was a tiny bit of cuticle drag, but overall, I was impressed with every color that went on my right hand.



Even that ballet slipper pink on my thumb gave excellent coverage.  Not a streak to be found!  And even in the extreme closeup, you can barely see my nail line.



The light blue ended up being a real stunner.  It's a perfect shade of baby or sky blue, in my opinion.  And again, I didn't have any real issues with any of the colors that went on my left hand.



I'd say in the long run, my favorite ended up being that lovely bright coral red on my thumb.  It went on so smooth, and I probably could have actually gotten away with 1 coat.

Overall, I am very impressed with the Shades of the Season colors.  If you're in CVS and see this tube-o-polish, pick it up.  It's worth it for these staple colors.

Sailor

Polish - Nina Ultra Pro in Sailor
I've got a smile on my face, because I've got no more nubs!  And, my nails are a beautiful place today, because of this polish!

Sailor might be the best cream polish I have ever worked with.  It went on smooth, leveled itself out so nicely, and was beyond shiny even before a top coat.  I'm just almost speechless.  I have notoriously bad luck with cream polish, but not last night!

The pigmentation was excellent.  It took 2 coats for complete coverage on this one.  That's unheard of, for me.  I didn't even get any cuticle drag.  It's a miracle.  I have "Leaf Me Alone" from this same collection and now I can't wait to try it.  I've been dreading it, but not anymore.

The photos I took are not of a fresh manicure.  Almost immediately after this polish dried, I had to take care of some yard work, and after that was done, it was already dark.  So, these photos are of a manicure that did yard work, slept, and then did a half a day's worth of typing.  There's minimal tip-wear and some scratches, but it's still just such a lovely color that I don't think anyone will even notice.







The color is a few shades lighter than Sally Hansen's Navy Baby.  It's a true Navy, not even close to black.  It's awesome.  Go buy it, if you can still find it.

Antiqued Gold

I've been waiting for a month to get one of the new Sally Hansen crackle polishes.  I have very good luck with almost all things Sally, so I figured I'd wait for hers to come out, to be my first crackle experience.

I went to CVS on payday, and looked at the display.  I decided on Antiqued Gold.  I knew I didn't want black or white, and this one seemed the most neutral out of the bunch.  But it's still special.  It's very sparkly too, so that was a big plus.



As soon as I got home, I had to try it out, so I just brushed it over the color I was already wearing, which was Zoya Adina.  Adina is a very pretty duochrome that goes from purple to silver to green.  I love it.







So I brushed a very thin coat (per the instruction on the bottle) of Antiqued Gold over my thumbnail.  It kind of just sat there.  It didn't really crack.  I was broken-hearted for a moment.  I went ahead and tried it on the rest of my right hand and it got a little better.  I noticed that the best cracks came from the thickest coats of polish.  Which, is basically exactly the opposite of what the bottle says.  Curious.

These aren't the best photos, because the sky was very overcast, but you can see the cracks.  They are decent, but the Adina is still barely visible through them.







After a day of wearing this combination, I decided to try the Antiqued Gold over a lighter or brighter shade.  I got in my drawer and looked through some of my favorite polishes, and settled on Fingerpaints' Tiffany Imposter. 

In case you're not familiar, here it is from the first time I tried that color.  Please excuse the accent nail.



It's a very light, bright, Tiffany blue.  I'm in love with this shade and right now, if I was only allowed 1 color of polish, this would be it.



And guess what?  It looks FABULOUS under Antiqued Gold.  I applied 2 coats of Tiffany Imposter and 1 fairly thick coat of Antiqued Gold.  And I've already had two compliments on the combination today.  I didn't get even one compliment with Adina.







I'm so much more impressed with the cracks than I was the first time around.  I really think you need to refrain from using a light hand when applying the Sally Hansen Crackles.  Go ahead and slap a thick coat on there.  I don't think you'll regret it.

Russian Navy Suede

Polish - OPI Russian Navy Suede
Nubs - Day 2

Wow, my first two polishes are both from the clearance rack. 

I purchased this polish from the clearance rack at Ulta for about $3.50.  It was one I had seen photos of a few times, and I always liked the look of it.  The only problem I could see, was the wear time.

I usually get a chance to do my nails every other day or so, but what if I was wearing this polish during one of those 4-5 day stretches?  Would it last?  Probably not, according to the instructions that come along with the bottle.  So, I thought I'd experiment with putting a matte top coat over it, and see if that extended the life at all.  I'm currently on day 2, and just have minimal tip wear, and a tiny chip on my right thumb.  The good thing about the sheen of this polish is, it does mask small defects.

Over my Orly Bonder basecoat, I applied 3 thin coats of this polish, and 1 coat of Essie's Matte About You top coat.  The matte does take a bit of the unique sheen away from this polish's finish, but I think it's worth it for the extended wear time.  Overall, I'm pleased with this manicure.

In this photo, I've got Matte About You on my pointer and middle fingers.  My ring and pinky fingers have no top coat.  If you look closely, you can see the difference, but it's very subtle.


Here is a closeup of my middle and ring fingers, for a closer comparison.


The following photos were all taken this morning, after one full day of wear.