Icing Black Out Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another Yesterday's Nails of the Day for you, which is Icing's Blackout nail polish. I couldn't get a great picture of this one either under artificial light or with the available sunlight. Blackout is infinitely more spectacular than either picture reveals. I'll show you the pics, which are of three coats first in natural then artificial light, then tell you more.

Icing Blackout Nail Polish, Three Coats in Natural Light

Icing Blackout Nail Polish, Three Coats in Artificial Light

Do you see the reflective sparkly bits in the first picture? In normal room light, all of the glitter looks like that, all multicolored (more showed up under artificial light in the second picture, but the first is color accurate). I'm disappointed that I couldn't get a picture that showed the effect properly. As my experience with the few Icing polishes I have, I had chips in well under twenty-four hours.

Since I change colors daily, I'm not used to chips, but I'll be danged if Icings don't chip on me every time. For this particular manicure, I used Barielle Camouflage as a base and Diamont as a top, I've also tried Seche Ridge Filler and NailTek II under them, and Seche Vite and Poshe as a top in various combinations with no luck. I haven't tried a sticky base coat under them - I should. For Blackout on someone who changes color as often as I do, it's definitely worth it.

So that's the update for today, Dear Reader. I'm thinking of kicking off March tomorrow with green manis until the 17th for Saint Patrick's Day. I never celebrated much before, going on the theory that being Irish by heritage was sufficient celebration, but this is the first year in several that I won't be standing at the State Street Bridge watching the Chicago River get dyed green on St. Pat's. I think that repeated experience made me a little cheesier about the holiday, so I'm going to try to do greens until the 17th. On the 17th, I have something for more Irish planned...

Anyhow, we'll see how long I last on greens! Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Sephora by OPI Dark Room & Konad M77

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday's Nails of the Day was Sephora by OPI's Dark Room with a leafy pattern from Konad plate M77.

I started with three coats of Dark Room, and was reminded of its weird pigmentation. It's like OPI's Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees and Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow, where the first coat loooks foreboding and the following ones even things out. In any case, Dark Room is a color I'm fond of so I chose it.

I added a leafy pattern in Konad White from plate M77, and here's the result.

Sephora by OPI Dark Room Nail Polish, Three Coats & Konad M77 in Konad White

I liked the outcome quite a bit - I can see using this pattern a lot, and it was good to get another use out of Dark Room. When I wear Dark Room, I'm reminded of when it first came out and I wore it on a first date - the gentleman commented on what a nice green it was, and I swooned! It's the little things...

That's the update for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Sinful Colors Green Ocean

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a Sinful Colors St. Patrick's Day shade for you: Green Ocean. It was in a display with Irish Green, just those two colors.

It's green flaky and regular glitter in a clear base with a slight bit of green to it. I used two coats over black, and got this.

Sinful Colors Green Ocean Nail Polish, Two Coats over Black

Now, I don't have a ton of Sinfuls because they're very hit or miss with whether they'll dry properly for me with any top coat. This one dried fine with Diamont, but dry, it's the exact opposite of smooth. It's looks nice, but feels awful. I think a bazillion refresher coats of top coat would fix that.

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

BB Couture Hands of Hope Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

BB Couture's Hands of Hope Collection in no longer available, but since I thought the collection was something noteworthy BB Couture did, I decided to tell you about them anyhow.

For one month this collection was available, and 25% of the sales went to the Red Cross for Haitian relief. The colors were available individually or in the collection, but on the last day of its availability, it went on sale with free shipping, so I bought it.

The colors are actually quite pretty, although none is so unique you'll be kicking yourself for missing out. I needed three coats of each, and photographed them in a brief moment of sunlight.

Paradise is sort of between an off white and a beige with a little shimmer in the bottle, but not so much on the nail.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Paradise Nail Polish, Three Coats

Cap-Haitan is a lavender creme.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Cap-Haitian Nail Polish, Three Coats

Labadie Beach is a pretty bright pink shimmer.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Labadie Beach Nail Polish, Three Coats

Kyona Beach is a pretty mint creme, with the down size of having a few stray little white bits in it.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Kyona Beach Nail Polish, Three Coats

Tortuga Island is a lime shimmer which was a bit sheer after three coats.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Tortuga Island Nail Polish, Three Coats

Bassins Bleu is a bluish minty creme.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Bassins Bleu Nail Polish, Three Coats

With Hands of Hope came a freebie bottle of BB Couture's top coat, and I tried it out. It's not for me. It says it's quick dry, but I washed my hair about two hours after doing a manicure and got smudges and dents galore. That was disappointing.

So this noble effort from BB Couture is my effort for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Coach Nail Polish Set & Olympics NOTD

Good morning, Dear Reader!

A while back, Coach was giving away little freebie nail polish kits, and I got one for a few bucks on Ebay. I swatched those recently and have the pictures for you today.

My finding is that unless you really want them for the novelty factor, save your pennies. They all required at least three coats, and although pretty in the bottle, the purple is an absolute nightmare on the nail. They're unnamed, so I'll just refer to them by color. I did three coats of each, but you'll see that two of the four don't look right and need more, but I wanted to be consistent.

Since some might still want the set for the novelty factor, I took pictures of the packaging. Here's the box closed, and I left my hand in the picture for scale. They're minis.

Coach Nail Polish Box, Closed

Here it is open.

Coach Nail Polish Box, Open

They were a bit separated, but I just gave them a little shake and they applied fine. Since the application was good and the first swatch was okay, I had high hopes, but they were sooon dashed. Here is three coats of the pink, which was fine.

Coach Nail Polish, Three Coats Pink

The bronze was not-so-fine. It's still semi sheer at three coats.

Coach Nail Polish, Three Coats Bronze

The fuchsia was fine at three coats.

Coach Nail Polish, Three Coats Fuchsia

Brace yourselves for what you are about to see... The purple left uncovered spots and was just an overall mess. I'm showing it to you so you save your money!

Coach Nail Polish, Three Coats Purple

So these will have to find a loving home with a Coach fan who wants them for the novelty factor, because I sure as heck won't be wearing them.

Just so we end on a happy note, I thought I'd give you a peek at my completely unrelated Nails of the Day. Yesterday's Go U.S.A. mani was cheerful, so I thought I'd do another. The colors are Nubar Sensual Red, Orly White Out, and Barry M Cobalt Blue, with Konad M14.

U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!

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

Go U.S.A! Konad M14 & M77

Good morning again, Dear Reader!

This morning I was considering what to do for my NOTD, and I realized the The Olympics are going on and I haven't done a single U.S.A. mani, so today is the day. I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I thought I'd show it to you right away!

I decided I wanted a base of blue, and chose Nubar Mali-Blue. I figured I'd do red and white Konad, and kind of winged the whole thing after I applied two coats of Mali-Blue - there was no real plan. I went through the Konad plates and chose M14 for the U.S.A. stamp and M77 to do stripes on my tips. I did the accent nail on my ring finger with M14, using Konad Dark Red and White for the stamp.

As I moved on to M77 for the stripes, I noticed that it had dots as well. My original plan, when I chose the plate and thought the pattern I wanted was just two stripes, was to make one red and one right, alternating the position from one nail to the next. The dots gave me a fun idea. I just colored the dots the same color as the top stripe, stamped, and moved on.

The fun idea I had when I noticed the dots was to apply some rhinestones. What's more fun that something that sparkles, right? I underlined "U.S.A" on my ring finger with them, then applied a red, a white, and a blue to each nail on the M77 pattern's dots. I know some people stick the stones in top coat, but Diamont dries kind of fast for that. I did mine with nail glue (a dot this tiny pops right off with remover).

I use a pad of paper to hold my Konad plates, so that and polish that comes off scraping them is not a big deal and when it's messy I can just tear off the top page and have a fresh surface. On the paper, I put a little puddle of nail glue, dipped an orange stick in it, and just picked up the stones and applied them with it. The stick was handy for scooting them to be right on the correct dot. When all the rhinestones were on, I applied a final coat of Diamont to seal them and the stamping.

This is what I came up with.

Nubar Mali-Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats, and Konad M14 & M77

I don't know why I'm so gleeful about it, but I am. Here's to sporty things, medals, and all things that sparkle...

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

Konad M75 & M80 Konadicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

It's been grey and drab here for longer than I can stand, so I've recently done a couple of Konadicures that make me think of warm, sunny weather.

The first started with a base of Color Club Limelight. This one took three coats and stil had a bit of VNL. Not bad, just enough that I can see it if I'm looking for it.

Color Club Limelight Nail Polish, Three Coats

I added a little pattern from Konad plate M75 to it in Konad white, and it's suddenly 1968 on my nails.

Color Club Limelight Nail Polish, Three Coats with Konad M75

The other I started with two coats of Nubar Orange Crush.

Nubar Orange Crush Nail Polish, Two Coats

I finally found a pattern from plate M80 I'm not wild about. It's an asymmetric tip pattern, and the pattern makes it look like it was applied crookedly. At least it was a sunny mani - I used Konad Yellow for the stamping.

Nubar Orange Crush Nail Polish, Two Coats & Konad M80

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

More Revlon Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I mentioned that yesterday I ran into some Revlon nail polishes while hunting for Rock Royalty, and I swatched them for you yesterday. I had many more, I don't know if I still have them. If I run into some of the cool ones I'm thinking of, I'll show them to you. In the meantime, I found plenty to keep me busy.

I'll start with some of the oldies. Speedy is a pink frost, a little too frosty for my taste, now that I look at it. Another to offload! This is two coats.

Revlon Speedy Nail Polish, Two Coats

Serene is a very sheer peachy pink.

Revlon Serene Nail Polish, Two Coats

Firecracker is a classic, a red glitter in a red jelly base. I used three coats.

Revlon Firecracker Nail Polish, Three Coats

The next batch, I believe are currently available. Get Reddy is a red shimmer that took three coats.

Revlon Get Reddy Nail Polish, Three Coats

Raven Red is a dark red creme, also a three coater.

Revlon Raven Red Nail Polish, Three Coats

Vixen is a vampy dark red creme, another three coater.

Revlon Vixen Nail Polish, Three Coats

Guava Glam is a light coral shimmer that required three coats.

Revlon Guava Glam Nail Polish, Three Coats

No Shrinking Violet is a great violet shimmer which needed two coats.

Revlon No Shrinking Violet Nail Polish, Two Coats

Last, the limited edition. The only one I ran into was Not So Blue-Berry, a sparkly light blue scented one. It smells like Boo Berry cereal.

Revlon Not So Blue-Berry Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added some Konad White to it using Konad plate M80.

Revlon Not So Blue-Berry Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Konad M80

Those are the Revlon nail polishes I have to show you for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Revlon Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm up and around early today and have already done my NOTD, so I thought I'd show you that and what I changed to yesterday. That Zoya Adina plain old would not dry, so I got rid of it. I changed to Revlon Pure Pearl.

I love Revlon polishes - they apply well, they wear well, have good colors, and the formula is consistent. Both of the colors I'll show you today took three coats for full coverage, but I think it's because I'm covering a lot of territory with one brushful.

This is Pure Pearl alone, which as you can see, I rammed into some cardboard about 5 minutes after finishing. I wasn't going to do a third manicure for the day, so the dent in it stands.

Revlon Pure Pearl Nail Polish, Three Coats

I thought it could use a little Konad, both to cover the dent and liven it up, so I used a tip pattern from Konad plate M80 using rainbow colors of Konad Special Nail Polish.

Revlon Pure Pearl Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Konad M80

That seemed like a more subdued way to do a festive rainbow manicure. Since I like variety from one day to the next, today I used a much more classic color, the older limited edition Revlon Rock Royalty. Click on the picture to check out the shimmer this one has - it's really spectacular.

Revlon Rock Royalty Nail Polish, Three Coats

While hunting for Rock Royalty, I found a few more Revlon nail polishes that I have not shown to you yet, so I'll try to get to those soon. I think my favorites were the Fruitful Temptations, the scented ones I showed you last year - you can't beat a good polish that smells nice!

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

Zoya Reverie Collection, My Picks

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Guess what I discovered was delivered yesterday - the Zoya Reverie nail polishes I bought with their recent code. I went for the minimum for the code and got four polishes, all from Reverie, because that's all I wanted. I just got loaded up with reds I like and don't need another orange, so I skipped those two.

I decided for forsake the airbrush challenge and swatch these for you instead. The light is weak today, so I took one weak natural light picture and one strong artificial light picture of each so you can really see the colors. I'll show you the natural light picture first for each.

These applied well, each requiring three coats to be even and opaque, but I'm wearing the last one and it will not dry. I've had it on for hours and am still getting dents and smudges in it. I like the color so it's quite a disappointment. I'll probably try it with Diamont and drying drops, pulling out the big guns, next time.

So, on to the pictures. I didn't read reviews of these yet so I wouldn't taint my perception of them, but I wish I'd at least looked at pictures before getting Laney. It's a silver shimmer. My only objection to it is that it's brushstroke-y (that's coming from a woman who likes Lippmann Collection Rhapsody in White...), but it's otherwise completely not noteworthy. I don't hate it, but there's nothing to love, either. This is three coats.

Zoya Laney Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Natural Light

Zoya Laney Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Artificial Light

The remaining three are duochromes to varying degrees, and I like all three. Happi is a lighter pink shimmer with a strong gold flash.

Zoya Happi Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Natural Light

Zoya Happi Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Artificial Light

The other pink is Reece, darker and also with a gold flash.

Zoya Reece Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Natural Light

Zoya Reece Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Artificial Light

The last is the coolest and the strongest duochrome (and the one that won't dry, dangit!). It's Adina, and is a kind of purple, sort of greenish duochrome.

Zoya Adina Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Natural Light

Zoya Adina Nail Polish, Three Coats, in Artificial Light

Those are my picks from Zoya Reverie. Liking three out of four ain't too bad, I suppose. I'll just have to find some way around this drying issue.

That's all there is for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!