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.

You're Blushing

Polish:  Orly You're Blushing

Fuzzy photos courtesy of my iPhone.

You're Blushing by Orly is a nice gray-purple cream polish.  It went on smooth, and even though I applied 3 coats for the following photos, I could have gotten by with just 2.  It didn't pool, flood, or leave bald spots.  I have a feeling I'll be wearing this polish quite a bit in the fall.  It's a nice, funky, muted neutral.

The skies are very overcast today, but I feel like the color is pretty true in these photos.












Do you own this shade?  If so, let me know what you think of it.

Mango

Polish - Savvy Femme Couture Mango

I'll have to start with a lot of apologizing.  First, sorry it's been so long.  Second, these are crappy iPhone pics.  The color is fairly accurate, at least.

This is Savvy polish in Mango.  I am not sure, but I believe Sally Beauty Supply might be in the process of removing this brand of polish from their collection.  I got this bottle of clearance (what's new, right?) and I didn't see any in a normal display.

Overall, the application of this polish was very nice.  It went on smooth - didn't drag, flood, or leave bald spots.  I also think the color is pretty unique.  In the bottle, it seemed more pink to me, and I wondered why they'd named the shade "Mango" - but on the nail, it's a nice shade of coral/orange and I think it would work on a lot of different skintones. 

The following photos are 3 coats.







If you have this polish, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 

Tropical Storm

Polish - L.A. Colors Tropical Storm

Tropical Storm is a nice steel gray, that I'm gonna call a cross between a shimmer and a foil. It's almost both, but not quite fully one or the other. It's got a bad habit of showing brushstrokes, which I don't like, but a coat of Seche Vite made those a lot less noticable from far away. I think I can live with that.



The application, as with almost every L.A. Colors polish I've tried, was pretty much hassle-free. Coverage was very good, requiring only 2 coats for complete opacity.



I'm telling you all again, don't let the $1 price tag on this brand fool you. It's a great go-to, that rarely disappoints, and there are some really fantastic colors out there. While Tropical Storm may not be my favorite polish, it's still a good alternative to dove-gray, when you're not in a bright and cheery mood, but don't want to go vampy either.



Go get'cha some!

Purple Rain

Polish - Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Purple Rain

Cue the Prince music!  This color really should have been named Raspberry Beret.  It's a super dark raspberry purple cream.  It goes on smooth, self-levels, and really did wear pretty well.  I didn't do a 10 day or even a 5 day test on it, but I think I ended up wearing this color for a good 3 days, which is a long time for me, and it help up very well.



I applied Hard as Nails basecoat, 3 medium coats of polish, and a coat of Seche Vite.  With three coats, it has great coverage, but comes out very very dark.  If you have a steadier hand than I do, and want it a bit lighter, you could probably get by with just 2 coats. 





This is a pretty shade, a little vampy and dark, but pretty.  I'll be keeping it around for sure.

Dove

Polish - Zoya Dove

I've been wanting a nice true dove gray for a long time now. When Zoya had their promotion where you could get Dove and Caitlin with any online purchase, for their "French Twist" manicure, I snagged them both. I finally tried Dove this weekend. And, while it is a nice neutral gray, it falls a little flat for me. I think I'll be looking for China Glaze Pelican Gray. PG has a beautiful shimmer that makes it just a little more special that Dove, in my eyes at least.

Dove's application was pretty nice. It went on streaky with the first coat, which I find most Zoya polishes do, but after 2 more coats it's just about perfect. It's very self-leveling and that really helps this girl with the horribly uneven nail beds. Slap a coat of Seche Vite on top, and it's hard to see the imperfections.







If you enjoy Zoya polish and need a subtle gray cream, snatch this one up. It's a pretty shade, but I think I'll still be searching for my perfect gray.

Damsel in a Dress

Polish - Essie Damsel in a Dress

If you know me personally, you know that I don't have good luck with Essie polish.  Well, with Damsel in a Dress, I thought I'd finally found an Essie color that I didn't hate.  And I guess I still don't hate it, but after less than 24 hours of wear, I'm not loving it as much as I did when it was a fresh manicure.

By 7pm last night, I had five nails that were considerably chipped for a less than 24 hour old manicure.  I touched up those nails and applied a coat of Seche Vite and wrapped my tips, and woke up to chips on 2 of the "fixed" nails.  I'm disappointed.

The color in the bottle looks like it will be a browned burgundy, leaning toward purple, with a pretty shimmer.  After 3 coats for coverage, I ended up with a very vampy deep dark eggplant color, that looks like a brown cream when light isn't shining directly on it.  I wish some of the shimmer showed in regular light.

Direct sun




Indirect sun


I'm ready for a change tonight, and I can't decide if I'll keep this shade or not.  I'll probably end up giving it one more shot, maybe with a different base and top coat.





If you're looking for a nice dark vamp, and have good luck with Essie polish, give this one a go.  If you are wary of Essie like I am, skip it.

Magnetic Force

Polish - L.A. Colors Color Craze in Magnetic Force

I guess it's good that Virginia is for Lovers, because I am in love with Magnetic Force.  It has officially taken over as my new favorite polish for Summer!  Flip Flop Fantasy can suck it, y'all!

Magnetic Force looks pink in the bottle, but on the nail, it's a true beautiful coral.  And it has a wonderful gold shimmer that just adds that extra oomph to take it one step past FFF.  It was easy to apply, left no streaks or cuticle drag, and I could have easily gotten away with one thick coat if I were in a hurry.  For this manicure, I applied 3 thin coats over my basecoat, and a final coat of Seche Vite for quick drying.

Direct Sun


Indirect Sun


Shadow


And that beautiful golden shimmer...


I first applied Magnetic Force this past Friday evening.  It was already dark, so I didn't have a chance to take a decent photo.  The next morning I had to work, and that evening I went bowling.  We spent all day Sunday at a drag boat race and let's just say my nails took a beating over the weekend.  I took this photo this morning, after 4 days of hard wear and tear.

As you can see, if it weren't for the couple of peely nails I have, this would have only shown minimal tip wear.  I give it an A for effort.

Now, get thee to a Dollar Tree and snatch this color up.  It's perfect for Summer!

Tropical Breeze

Polish - L.A. Colors Color Craze Nail Polish in Tropical Breeze

L.A. Colors polish is really pretty great stuff.  I buy it at my local Dollar Tree store for a dollar.  How amazing is that?  It's at least 3 free, if not 4 free (free of the bad stuff, that is) and is beyond cheap.  And it's usually a pretty good formula to boot!

Tropical Breeze is a true grape purple shade.  It's a cream, and goes on a little watery at first, but after three coats, it provides total coverage.  As you will see, I have just minimal cuticle drag on a few nails, but if I had not been in a hurry while applying it, I don't think that would have been an issue at all. And as it is, it's not bad enough to show much with the naked eye.

This polish is somewhat shiny without a shiny topcoat, but I still prefer extra shine, so put a coat of Seche Vite over it and it's nearly perfect.







This is the prettiest, truest grape I've seen, in a long time.  Go ahead and make that trip down to Dollar Tree and pick it up.  It's totally worth the price of gas!

Flip Flop Fantasy

Polish - China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
NonNubs - Day 1

The nubs are officially non-nubs, y'all! I'm very excited. I can finally scratch an itch. Fun times.

Today's color is a real beauty, I'm not gonna lie. It's a perfect shade for summer. It's so bright and pretty. It looks nice on almost any skin tone. It's a really winner in that regard.

It's a little tricky to apply. I had to use 3 semi-thick coats to get good coverage. But, with a coat of Seche Vite afterwards, there were no drying issues at all.

My only other complaint is that, as of this writing, it's been less than 18 hours since application, and I already have small chips on 4 fingers. It's a bummer, but it doesn't mean I'll be throwing this polish out. It's still a winner, overall.

This photo was taken in indirect sunlight. You can see that it's still as bright as bright can be. It's basically a neon, and it's lovely.



All the rest of these photos were taken in direct sunlight, and wow - isn't it something?









If you haven't done so already, go out and buy this one.  I don't think you'll regret it.

Banana Bamba

Polish - Maybelline Express Finish 50 Second Nail Color in Banana Bamba
Nubs - Days 10-15

I know you'll be shocked, but I got this polish on clearance at Big Lots.  I got it because it looked like a nice mellow yellow in the bottle, and I didn't have a nice yellow in my collection.  I had a possibly-school bus yellow (that's later on down the list of untrieds) but nothing soft like this one.

The brush was squat and very thick.  It really sucked up the polish, which you'd think would make it go on a lot smoother.  Well, it didn't.  It was kind of a streaky mess to apply.  But with 3 thin coats and some Seche Vite, it came out as well as could be expected.

The day after I put on this polish, I started reading about how horribly the Maybelline Express Finish polishes chip and don't wear well at all.  Well, at that point, it became a quest to see how long it would last.  I wore it for 5 solid days and it wasn't as awful as I'd expected.  I never reapplied my top coat, and it still ended up with just tip wear and just a couple of small chips.  I will say that the first of those chips came within 12 hours of application, though.  If you look closely, you can see it on the edge of my thumbnail.  But that was it until the last day.  I was impressed, for the most part.  But that doesn't mean I'll be flying out to scoop up anymore of this polish.  If I come across another color that I like the look of, and it's cheap enough, I'll probably buy it.  But I don't plan to start hoarding it or anything.



You can see the soft shimmer in this photo.  It gives it a little extra kick and makes it just a little more special, don't you think?






And this is after 5 solid days of wear.  It's not a wonderful photo - the sun was almost set by the time I remembered to go out and take it.  But you can still see the wear.  Not too bad.

Raspberry Rush

Polish - CQ Raspberry Rush
Nubs - Day 8

Well, finally, a polish that wasn't free or on clearance!  I bought this CQ polish probably 10 years ago and I'm sure I purchased it from Wal-Mart.  It's not truly untried, but it's untried within the past 5 years, for sure.  I figured that should count for something.

When I was maybe 5 years old, I was a flower girl in a wedding.  My dress was this color, almost exactly.  I loved that dress.  And I love the color of this polish.  The finish isn't my favorite, but it is better than the Rimmel from a few days ago.  I will give it that much. 

When applying this polish, I had planned to use 1 coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty, 2 coats of polish, and a final coat of Double Duty.  I knew the coverage on this polish would be sufficient after 2 coats.  It was meant to be a quick, stress-free manicure.

Well, things didn't go according to plan.  In the middle of doing my mani, the storm came, and we had to move the car to a safer location, in case it hailed.  And then a bunch of other stuff happened.  It was a crazy night.  So what I finally ended up with was, 1 coat of Double Duty, 2 coats of polish, 1 coat of Seche Vite, another coat of polish, and a final coat of Seche Vite. 

The problem with that, was that almost immediately after, I gave my husband a haircut and ended up gouging my right thumb and middle finger.  And with no time to redo them, the following photos were taken of my left hand instead.  I normally take photos of my right hand, because I am left handed and therefore my right hand always looks better than my left.  But, not today.

On top of the mess that was this manicure's life, it's also a rainy, cloudy, yucky day.  So the photos are not great.  But, I got some decent color representation with the flash and also got a good shot of what you would think would be shimmer in the bottle.  Well, the shimmer from the bottle is nonexistant on the nail.  Which is a shame.  It might have brought this polish to a special place, but it kind of falls flat.  This polish has been kicking around for so long though, that I'll probably still keep it in my stache.  At this rate, I'm not going to weed out anything, am I?

See?  Beautiful subtle shimmer!  To bad it doesn't actually exist.




Lost in the shadows, right here...gah!