Mani Monday Version 2.0!

I was in the mood for something yellow and eye catching, and little did I know, how fantastic this guy is!

Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstini in "Sulfur Blaze", which was a collection based on the Hunger Games movies. Already bright yellow, this has gold glitter running throughout, just for a little extra sparkle. Dries to a nice, high gloss finish.

My only complaint I suppose, is that the cap and the bottle don't line up right (which you can see in the picture - that bottle is fully closed, I promise...), which makes it irritating to hold. And if I needed all my bottles to line up in a nice, neat row, this one would just about be the death of me. :)

See you next time, beautiful!

Research!

I recently inquired with SinfulColors nail polish as to whether or not they test on animals. They are a subsidiary of Revlon, for those not in the know on such things, and Revlon is a known animal testing company. I received this email in return;

Problem solved, right?

Oh. Except for when that doesn't really solve much.

By their own statement (which is a form letter, blogs all over the internet have gotten the same statement), Revlon complies with laws by country, in order to assure that their product can be sold there, in order to allow women the "opportunity to express themselves with makeup".

China has REQUIRED cosmetics that were imported in to the country to be tested on animals until just last summer (I even googled it for you, it's sadly true). 

So up until Summer of 2014, Revlon seems to have been talking out both sides of their mouth, swearing that they NEVER did animal testing...while doing animal testing.

And I know, there are some people that don't especially care about this sort of thing. And if that's your prerogative, that's fine. But, I do feel like I've got the responsibility to pass along the word, because if you DO care, then you need to be able to plan your cosmetic purchases accordingly. And a company who loudly and proudly proclaims that they're not doing a thing...while doing that thing, deserves everyones attention, whether you care about animal testing or not.

Later, my lovelies!

The Curious Things I Google...

Sometimes, I google weird stuff. Everybody does this, right?

One day, the notion struck me to look for vegan nail polish. And I found this blog, Logical Harmony , who talks a lot about vegan beauty products. One of her top recommended vegan nail polish brands is Flower Beauty, which is Wal-Mart exclusive. In the interest of supporting my Amazon bar at the bottom, I'll tell you - they have it on Amazon, but in just a quick search, all that I saw was wildly overpriced. Unless that trip to Wal-Mart just straight up isn't possible, go to Wal-Mart. Use the locator on the Flower Beauty website, not all Wal-Marts carry it.

At any rate, my query had been answered. Top vegan nail polish brands. We're done now.

That's rarely the way random google searches work, right? So then I had to figure out what made nail polish vegan or not vegan in the first place.

Back to my friends at Logical Harmony, who helpfully explain that often, nail polish is tested on animals. But, the shimmery or metallic shades, the companies often use fish. scales. to create that shimmer. Yes, that's right. Fish scales. But, since matte nail polish won't be in for forever, if you're bothered by the idea of using fish scales on your finger nails, look for ingredients "pearl" or "guanine". That's your tip off that you don't have a vegan polish in your hands.

There are nail polishes at every price point, and in every color combination, that are vegan.So you can absolutely still rock a fresh mani pedi, while sticking up for the animals!

And that's today's edition of "the curious things I google"!

Wet N Wild ... Thursday?

Two weeks or so ago now, I posted several nail polish swatches from the Wet N Wild Megalast line of nail polish swatches. I had a little bit of difficulty photographing them, but they looked good on my laptop, and I published them. (See them here.)

I checked out the blog on the computers at the library yesterday, and long story short, I came straight home and reshot all the pictures!

Wet N Wild's nail polishes are free of toluene, pthalate and formaldehyde. They have a wide brush (you can do your whole nail in about three strokes!), and go on smooth and easy. The colors, or the ones I've got experience with thus far anyway, come out really true to what you see in the bottle - so I know that I'm pretty pale, and I'm swatching the polishes on a white nail wheel, but they all come out looking true to the bottle every time.

Wet N Wild promises you five days of chip free color, and that's pretty universally what you get. You might get six if you're lucky, but that's about it. Although of course, having said that, I don't have a job where I use my hands a lot. If you do, you may not get five.

I've gotten the most comments about "Under Your Spell", a nice brownish red with a light glitter running through it. Although I think Heatwave - a bright summery orange - may be my favorite so far.

"Haze of Love", a really pretty deep mauve. When I looked at it, I immediately thought of "Marsala", which was just named Color of the Year (oh yeah, that's a thing...), which makes this color so on trend right now, that it's out of control. If you don't own this, you need it. Sephora is selling Marsala nail colors for between $10 and $20 a bottle. Wet N Wild has your back for $2. Yes! Do this!

"Heatwave", a straight up, no foolin', orange. If you're one who always wants your colors to be seasonally on point, Heatwave isn't your guy now, but remember him come summer! You'll want this one!

"On A Trip", a fantastic, kicky lavender. No glitter, no foolin'. I can see this one being super fun like, in the Spring when you're out hunting for Easter eggs, right?

"Through The Grapevine", a deeper purple. Not as much red to it as "Haze of Love", more of a true purple. It's not quite a marsala, but it's probably close enough that you could fake it. 

"Under Your Spell", a nice red-brown, that has a slight bit of fine glitter running through it. This is the one that I get the most comments on when people see it. I don't know that I think it's the most unique one of the group (I think that honor probably goes to Heatwave, at least so far), but it's quite the eye catcher!

I appreciate the care that Wet N Wild puts in to their packaging. It's an inexpensive line, but their packaging doesn't look it. Look at this;

You could see each of these bottles turn up at any nail salon, and you wouldn't question it. You want a splurge feeling, on a didn't splurge budget? Wet N Wild is your brand!

(Bottles are pictured in order; Haze of Love, Heatwave, On A Trip, Through The Grapevine, Under Your Spell. Unfortunately, the bottle pictures were not reshot)

Wet N Wild Wednesday!

Today for Wet N Wild Wednesday, I've swatched a few polishes for your viewing and dancing pleasures. Wet N Wild, when it comes to their nail polishes at least, delivers exactly what they say they will - the colors in the bottle look exactly like they'll look on your nails, you are promised one stroke application (which OK, you don't exactly get that...), and five days of "chip free wear". And you'll get five, and not a second more! It's actually kind of weird, it's like there's some sort of timer in the polish, or something. You won't make it six days, but you'll get a full five. And if you're looking for a more "natural" alternative to typical polish, this is your guy. Wet N Wild advertises that their polish is, "Toluene, phthalate, and formaldehyde free".

Batter up! First up to the plate, "On A Trip". This is a cheerful, mid-tone lilac. I could see this being fun to wear in the spring. No sparkle, no glitter. This is one that especially makes me object to that "one stroke application" thing, because it was still a little streaky after two strokes. I could have stood for three, I think.

In action. Mid-tone lilac, what you see is what you get.

This polish also holds the dubious distinction of being the polish that showed me that photographing nail polish is harder than I give it credit for being! My digital camera overexposed every shot I took, so I switched to my iPad, and even still, this is a pinch darker than the polish looks in reality. Never work with children, animals, or nail polish? :D

And that contraption you see the polish on is a swatch wheel, I got a big package at the beauty supply for $6, so what you're seeing is what the polish would look like with a white base coat. If you need to swatch your own polish, or just want to practice your nail art before you go for it on your hands, I got this one at Sally's!

Next up is "Through The Grapevine" a polish that worked hard to restore my faith in photographing nail polishes. A mid-toned, cool toned, pink-y purple, this one is pretty striking on. And this one has enough opacity to it that you could almost get away with one coat. Unless of course, you're like yours truly, and want more of a color payoff, in which case, go ahead. I don't judge. :D

Wet N Wild, by my own admission, is a tricky line to get on board with. They have their hits, and they have their misses. And their misses are usually catastrophic level misses (I've got an eyeliner that seems to have no pigment what so ever, that I'll offer as proof of that...), but when they do hit it, they knock it out of the park. I was super impressed with this color in particular. This would be a steal at two or three times the price!

It got it's own spot on the color wheel too. Gorgeous, right? But this is another Spring or Summer color, that'd look smashing with a tan!

Last up to the plate, "Under Your Spell", an absolutely perfect color for Fall this time, a deep red, that reads almost to a deep bronze, with a slight red glitter running through it.

You know one of the things I've always appreciated about Wet N Wild? Even though their price point is inexpensive, it doesn't look it. That polish, or either of the other two, could turn up in any nail salon, and you'd never question it. I think that's fantastic.

At any rate, this is the gorgeousness that is "Under Your Spell", which I totally am. I'm not rocking it right now - my nails are too long to also be that dark*, but I kind of can't stop staring at it.

*I'm a big believer in balance in nails - I don't feel like long nails should be dark colors like this. Your milage may vary of course, if you want to have long, duck footed nails that are jet black, than you do you, and be proud of who you are. It's just not my scene.

 "Under Your Spell" takes it's turn on the big wheel;

You can see a little bit of that fine red glitter running through it in this pic. It's really fine, you won't feel like you're trying to look 17, rocking some glitter again. It's just a little extra sass.

With these colors - I swatched them on white, up against white fabric, so you might be wondering what they'll look like on you, if you're any darker than...say, Snow White. Worry not - each of these colors go on really true to the color in the bottle. Even "On A Trip", which the swatch picture didn't do justice, came out the color of the bottle in real life.

Some of these, I see being a little more seasonally appropriate than others. Like, I think "Through The Grapevine" would look fantastic with a summer tan, "On A Trip" is a great Spring color, "Under Your Spell" is a great Fall/Winter color. But if you've got someone in your life that loves to paint their nails, and likes to add a lot of color to their collection, the Wet N Wild Megalast nail colors are a great drugstore brand to start with!

Within the next few weeks, I hope to get through a lot of these colors, and collect all the pictures in one spot (a swatch collection, if you're familiar with blogger vernacular). I also hope to be getting around and investigating some possible dupes for these colors to let you guys know about those. I make no promises (naturally...), but I do know OPI has some really exciting purples, there's probably some dupe potential in there.

I've not been doing great at keeping up with you guys, but I hope for that to change. I'll be talking skin care coming up in the next few weeks, going to be looking for some dupes for some of these nail colors, and I've got some exciting eyeshadow I can't wait to dig in to. We'll talk soon, I promise!

Later, lovelies!

Revisiting an old friend...

I've done this "revisit an old friend" thing before, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked the color more than I did the first time. Alas, today, that is not to be the case.

Today, we're revisiting Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure nail polish in Mermaid's Tale. We chatted about this one way back in the spring (view my first post about it, here.)

Some things didn't change - it's still just as visually interesting to me, and I'm still just as smitten with it. Navy, with small bits of navy glitter, as well as larger pieces of green. It's visually very interesting. I stared at it a long time before I finally bought it.

This time, I swatched the color with a base coat, where I hadn't before. I used Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in "White On" as my base coat, and 2 coats of Mermaid's Tale.

See? It's kind of neat. The problem? The problem is now as it was then - this stuff chips. Easy. I painted this at 10:00 this morning. It's now 10:00 PM, and I've already had to patch three different chips. And the most stressful thing I did all day was decide what sort of pie I wanted! Never cooked a thing!

So I want to love this, and I want to tell you guys it's good, and great and wonderful, but truth? It chips too easy. Last time, I got chips from picking my son up from school, I give it another chance, and I get chips from eating pie! No thanks!

So my verdict on this one is a solid SKIP IT. I've given it two chances now. It's way more fun to look at than it is to try to wear. Thanks anyway, Sally Hansen.

Just call me - bummed in Michigan. ;)

Later, my lovelies!

I'm back, baby!

So I'd promised this post over the weekend, and didn't get to it, but darn it, we're back, baby!

I've made no secret of the fact that I love Sinful Colors. A lot. Here are swatches of a few that just got their shot at my nails.

First up, "Burn Rubber" from the "Full Throttle" collection of textured polishes. This was my first foray in to textured polishes, and I'm honestly just not sure I'm a fan. There's something really contrary to the idea of not only allowing bubbles in your mani, but being really excited by them!

Here's a close up, for the texture:

See? Odd. Any other time, if my mani looked like that, I'd be upset!

The application, and performance of the polish were on par with what I'd expect from Sinful Colors, and I'm not at all disappointed in it, it just wasn't quite what I liked.

This color was from the "Full Throttle" collection, which as far as I can tell, was released Summer 2014. This collection is still languishing in stores though (my local Wal-Greens is not suffering for a shortage of Sinful Colors displays, that is for SURE!), so if you'd like to try it, you might still be able to find it.

And another!

This is "Beige of Honor" from the "Practice Your Accents" collection. I'm not totally sold on this one either. You know how when you try to buy a neutral lip color, and you get too close to your own skin tone, and it gets dubbed "concealer lips"? I feel like this was concealer nails for me. I'm a fan of contrast - I rocked those early 2000's Kelly Clarkson chunky highlights pretty hard - and I'm not especially won over by the neutral nails trend anyway, so...meh? I'm not in love, but I don't especially hate it either.

The "Practice Your Accents" collection was put together to be a nice collection for nail art, and I do agree that this would be a nice base for some nail art work.

This is another collection that came out in Summer 2014, but is currently languishing in stores, so if you're intrigued, you should still be able to find it!

This week, I've got so many treats, I'm undecided on what to talk about! I've got some Jamberry nails to try out, and new Sinful Colors, and Almay eyeshadow, and...and...and...ooh, all the makeups! :) See you at the makeup counter! :)

Wet N Wild Wednesday!

For todays special mid-week edition of The Big Blog of Beauty, we've got a Wet N Wild Wednesday!

I gave myself a mani, which isn't unusual obviously, but something about this one felt really familiar. I used Wet N Wild Megalast nail color, in "2% Milk", seen here in the middle:

I typically use a white polish as a base coat, but in this case, I was disappointed to find that the base coat just made the color appear streaky and yellowed. So the whole mani had to come back off, and then get repainted, sans base coat. Wet N Wild makes a mean nail polish - they promise five days of chip free color, and that's exactly what you get. If you're good, you might even eek out a sixth! Wide brush, easy to control product - it's really a heck of a steal for the price tag!

I'm admittedly not completely sold on the neutral trend (which is projected to be big for fall 2014, so stock up accordingly. Unless you're living in a part of the world where you've already done fall, in which case, you missed your shot, haha...), but I like this color pretty well. It prompts my eight year old to constantly quiz me on why I'm wearing clear nail polish, but no bother.

At any rate, this polish felt super familiar. So I decided to do a little sleuthing.

First, I went to Revlon Parfumerie nail color in Pink Pineapple, which you can see in the picture on the left. It was similar - a nice, delicate, natural looking color, but runs a bit more pink than 2% Milk, which verges more to the tan. I spoke about this polish once, here, and I was pleased to find that I was more satisfied with both the color, and the longevity this time around.

But, it didn't quite get the job done. Too pink. So I went back to the drawing board, this time going for "Bubble Bath" from OPI. Just for the note, this is also available from OPI as a gel polish, but I went with the original formula.

Bingo! Nailed it! Honestly, the only marked difference in the two is that Bubble Bath dries to a higher gloss finish - which is nothing a nice glossy top coat can't handle! Where you could maybe pass of 2% Milk and Pink Pineapple as being the same - to people that weren't that knowledgeable about either line - the only people who wouldn't know that Bubble Bath and 2% Milk were NOT the same thing is anyone looking at your check book!

Each color, with one coat. Revlon's Pink Pineapple on my pointer finger, Wet N Wild's 2% Milk on my middle finger, and OPI's Bubble Bath on my ring finger. Each one coat, no base coat. See how they're virtually identical, save for that Pink Pineapple is just a bit pinker than the other two?

Two coats! Pink Pineapple on the pointer finger, 2% Milk on the middle finger, and Bubble Bath on my ring finger. 2 coats, no base coat. As I've said, Pink Pineapple has a bit more pink to it than the other two, but 2% Milk and Bubble Bath are virtually identical in every way. And, as I explained to my eight year old - the polish on my middle finger cost $2, the polish on my ring finger cost $10. Why not save that other $8?! Heck, for the $10 it'd cost you to buy ONE OPI polish, you could have FIVE polishes from Wet N Wild! Think of the possibilities!

Later, lovelies!

Revisiting an old favorite...

Thanks to a bit of a "comedy of errors" type of week, I had trouble getting ready to blog. I spent all last week - which is when I'd normally prep a new post - at my moms, and then today I went "Oh, I'll do it today!", and it stormed all day, so I couldn't go outside to take any new pictures anyway! See what I mean? All the quirky, weird things that you need to have go alright, all kind of went sideways.

At any rate, I decided that we'd revisit an old favorite this week. I had it pointed out to me, and I think the person that said it what was probably right, that sometimes my pictures read a little warm, which distorts the look of the product. So with that in mind, I decided I'd go back and revist one product in particular that I was really fond of, Sinful Colors Professional in "Let's Talk".

My original post was here. This is a deep, bright purple, with no glitter or sparkle to be found. Now, don't mistake - I'm not talking matte, but it's just a great royal purple shade.

In the effort of doing it more justice than I did the first time, I retook the picture!

This time, I used Wet N Wild "French White Cream" as the base coat, and applied 2 coats of "Let's Talk" over the top, with no top coat. If memory serves, the previous picture was no base coat, no top coat, 2 coats of color.

It's still just as fantastic as before, and still wears as durably! If you want a flash manicure that will last, I recommend it! I've found Sinful Colors a tad hit and miss, but this one is a hit, all the way!

My good run of bad luck...

I'm having a good run of bad luck with Sinful Colors lately. I've been through two manis in a week with this stuff!

Introducing Suspect Number One, otherwise known as "Daredevil". This picture actually makes the color look a little warmer than it is - it's a neutral hot pink. Pink like a highlighter marker. I used Maybelline Color Show in Porcelain Party as a base coat (I'll actually be blogging about that soon...)

I'm willing to concede I got probably got a bad bottle, but it was really bad - the brush was thin, and inflexible. The color was runny, and hard to clean off the skin, and chipped almost instantly. In fact, this picture was about the only time the color was chip free. By the time the color was 24 hours old, I was already having to patch chips, and after going strawberry picking with my gramma (and sidebar? If you ever have the chance, do. You might think the strawberries from your supermarket are good, but they don't have anything on the ones that are fresh off the plant...), the color was pretty demolished. So I just took it off and started over. I like Sinful Colors, typically, "Let's Talk" is a gorgeous purple, and "Sugar Sugar" is a fantastic deep red. But if Daredevil had been my first experience, for obvious reasons, there probably wouldn't be a second experience.

With that said, enter Suspect Number Two:

"Cinderella". Cinderella is a really pretty light blue, with a bit of pink iridescence, and a fine pink glitter running through it. It's a bit thin - it'd probably make a fantastic top coat. To get a strong look at the color, I used Wet N Wild Wild Shine in "French White Creme" as my base coat.

Everything started out better anyway - soft brush, color went on smooth, not a lot to clean up, by way of color on the skin, getting the thumbs up from me so far.

Oh, then last night? I'm taking a shower, and I see a little bit of color coming loose around my cuticle (if you're following the numbers at this point, Cinderella has been on my nails about 12 hours by now...), so I go to get it off.

HALF THE NAIL proceeds to come off in the process. Really, Sinful Colors?! So the picture that you're seeing above is my attempt at a patch job, which I was pretty pleased with! It's not pretty if you look at it real close, but since people rarely do, it's not too bad!

So I've struck out twice in a row with Sinful Colors. Curiously, only with light colors. I mentioned "Sugar Sugar" and "Let's Talk" earlier, and their both dark (red, and purple, respectively). Light colors, maybe? Possibly. Good run of bad luck? Absolutely. I'm not discouraged completely though - I have a new color from their "Silks" collection to try, that I'm pretty excited for! :)

See you later, beautiful!

More beauty tips from Pinterest!

This week, as much out of necessity as it was anything else, I tested another tip off Pinterest!

The last polish I had on my toes was the Rimmel "Red, Steady, Go!", and while that is in fact a gorgeous polish, taking it off was kind of a mess. Will I never learn to wear a base coat? It created such a mess, that it prompted my son to ask me if I'd been bleeding. :O

So the tip from Pinterest said to take whitening toothpaste, and a nail brush. Apply the toothpaste to the toe nails, and go to town. That sounds crazy to me, I'll sacrifice my toes to the cause!

Unfortunately, I didn't end up with a good enough before picture (I always take lots of pictures, so I've got choices, but none of them came out great...), but like I said. My seven year old asked me I were bleeding. So you can imagine.

The tools I used. Crest Complete toothpaste, available at any drug store the world over, and a nail brush, that might have cost me a dollar or two at the beauty supply.

In action! Apply the toothpaste to the toes, and scrub! And that's every bit as tough to hike your leg in to the sink and stand still enough to take a picture as you'd figure it'd be. But if I wasn't going to have bloody toes anymore, it was worth it!

After! No more bloody toes! Hooray! Another swipe at them with some nail polish remover, and I was ready to go for a new pedi!

We all know Pinterest is a little hit and miss, information wise. Sometimes, it's solid, sometimes, not as much. So I've been pleasantly surprised to find out I've gotten two good tips in a row so far! :)

I'll keep looking for interesting tips and tricks - these have been as surprising to try out as they have been successful, so far - and you keep looking beautiful!

See you next time!

Yes, another pedi...

Does my current nail polish obsession know no bounds?!

And will I ever remember to trim my finger nails, so I can paint them too?!

Let's find out together!

This weeks find was 60 Second Nail Polish, by Rimmel, which promises to dry in only 60 seconds. I hardly got out a timer, but it did seem to dry pretty fast. So, on the question of "does it live up to the promises?" My answer is a solid, "Um...maybe?"

The color I selected is called "Red, Steady, Go!", and is a bright, neutral red. Not especially warm, or cool. Bright, and solid. The color has a nice brush, and goes on smoothly, evenly, and streak free. It's really a fun color, another one that was a little outside of my realm. My seven year old picked it out - he's got a real eye for color, he wanted me to try this one. I like it! I might let him pick more often!

The packaging is clearly written, and easy to read. The bottle, like most, is the color of the product inside. Which means for a bright, neutral red, this one would be easy to find, just about anywhere! The bottle is small though. Like, surprisingly small. But having said that, I'll tell you this. Actually, I'll tell you two things:

1)This polish is cheap. It retails for $1.50 (USD) at my local Wal-Mart. So they're charging the right prices, not to mention, for that price, you can change your polish a lot!

And 2)Rimmel puts out coupons a lot. Like, a lot. In fact, the whole reason I bought this color was because I had a good coupon. I had a coupon for $1 off any Rimmel product, so I got this tasty little viddle of nail polish for 50 cents! Can't beat that!

The beauty shots:

The bottle! Easy to read, easy to find in the dark (lol...)

The polish, on my toes. Goes on smooth and extra glossy. My husband and son, both of whom profess to not be nail polish guys, have really enjoyed my testing out all these colors, and I've only had on this color about 10 hours, and it's already drawn both of their attention.

Will update next week with the chippage alert!

Until next time!

Chip Update: 6 days, which actually puts it right up with some of the best that I've tried from the drug store. Although, there was some staining on my toes when I took it off, and that's no good. It prompted the joke that I'd been "stomping strawberries" at the Memorial Day Cookout my family had. So pretty, long lasting, gonna stain your toes. You take the good, you take the bad, you know?

Just another pedi Monday!

Today, I went to the well that is Wet N Wild, thanks to some good couponing and a pink I couldn't resist (serious - I usually go with blues or purples, this is way out of character for me...), and tried out Fergalicious, from their Fergie collection.

First, let's chat about the good:

This color is super fun, and super summery. If you can't wear bright pink on those June (err...middle of May), 90 degree days, when can you wear it?! Some colors aren't particularly seasonal, but pink says summer, all day long!

This polish also comes with a wide brush. In fact, I did my whole pinky toe in one stroke!

Since I mentioned being a bit of a packaging junkie in my last post, I'll also point out - this packaging looks fantastic, it's one that will fit in nice on your vanity. I was having a few technical difficulties that were making me think you wouldn't get to check it out, but I worked it out! So, see?

So fun and summery, and in nice, pretty packaging to boot!

Now let's get to the downside. That great big brush? Delivers really runny product. Like, I know I'm not dealing with super glue or anything, but I ended up with as much polish around my toes, as I did ON my toes, just for working with this runny polish and big brush. As much as I initially loved the big brush, I feel like if the formula is so runny, the brush needs to be smaller, otherwise you just end up with polish smeared from one end of your foot to the other. And that's no bueno. :/

There's the shot you've all been waiting for! It looks great on, but I've only had it on about 20 minutes, so I can't speak to chipping, yet. I'll update when I've got more information on that front!

Later, beautiful!

Chipping Update! Made it to day 5 before I started noticing chipping! So not great, but none too shabby either.

I've been binge buying nail polish lately...

...and figured someone may as well benefit from my efforts! Hah - Wal-Greens had a couple of good sales on nail polish, and I ended up with four different bottles in one week. How many nails does one girl have to paint?! Let's find out!

The color I'm here to tell you about today is Sinful Colors Professional in "Let's Talk". This color was inspired by wanting a purple to go with a teal that I'd bought earlier in the week, but after seeing this, I can't tell this baby no!

This polish comes with a standard issue nail brush, and it's medium in thickness, as far as nail polishes go. It wasn't runny like some can be, but went on smooth and easy.

The color is a deep, rich, marvelous purple. No sparkle or glitter in it anywhere to be found. And I don't have a lot of experience with the Sinful Colors brand, but so far, this stuff is wearing like a BEAST. I'm on...I think day 4? And not a chip or nick in sight. And I teach dance classes, and have been rocking the open toed shoes this week (warm weather!), so my feet have gotten some use!

The important stuff...

My toes. I think this color actually makes my toes look kind of slim. LOL! And I didn't notice until after I'd taken these that there was a bit of polish on the cuticle as well. Oops. :D

A different shot, so you can see how the light hits the purple. It's fantastic, I love it. I'd recommend it! And last week when I went to fill my prescription, Wal-Greens had it on sale for 99 cents!!

My only tiny beef, that even I acknowledge is silly? I like beauty product packaging, and the purple is so dark, you can't read the writing on the bottle. So if you're a packaging junkie, this one isn't all that satisfying. But other than that tiny problem? This polish would be a steal at twice the price!

Gave myself a pedi today...

...let's talk about it. ;)

I'd spied Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaid's Tale at Wal-Mart, and kind of couldn't stop staring at it. It's a navy polish, with small bits of navy glitter, and bigger bits of greenish blue glitter. Funnily enough, it looks a whole lot like what you'd imagine a mermaid's tale would actually look like.

So I finally decided I had to have it, and the deal was done.

Now, let's chat about the things about this polish I found sort of surprising:

-The brush was wider than I expected to see. It's no paint brush or anything, but it was no dainty, tiny brush either. I used the polish to give myself a pedicure, and could get across my big toe in about four strokes.

The polish went on smooth. It was a little thin, but not overly runny. Why is the polish being smooth a surprise? With two different kinds of glitter, you'd expect the polish to go on a little chunky, this didn't. Although I've not yet removed it, so I can't speak to that.

The polish wasn't as dark as I expected. To look at the bottle, you'd expect an opaque navy. To look at Google reviews, it looks like an opaque navy. To look at Pinterest, it looks like an opaque navy. To put it on, it's not opaque navy. It'd probably be a fun top coat for another color, actually.

But, as a positive - the color did seem to layer well, and dry reasonably quickly. As a bonus too, the glitter isn't really the stand out star of the polish - it's not navy with green flecks, it's navy that you can see green flecks in certain light. So, if you're of an age where you probably shouldn't be wearing glitter (which, if we're being honest with each other - I may not be at that age, but I'm comin' at it fast), but you want a little something funky for your summer pedi, you could work this polish, without feeling too young.

When I looked closer at a lot of the Google reviews that looked a lot darker than mine, trying to understand why they all looked so much darker than mine, I realized that a lot of them were using this color as a top coat. These pictures are this polish only, no extra colors.

The first picture is both feet, my left foot had one coat, and the right had two. In the second picture, there is a close up on two coats. You can see that there really is a nice depth to the color - it looks like I've got on multiple layers of color. The third picture that you see is a close up of one coat. You can see by looking at this picture why I keep saying that this would make a nice top coat - you can easily take another color, and punch it up with a little glitter over the top.

I'm very happy with this polish. It layers nicely, seems to wear well, and the glitter makes me feel kind of sassy. :D My opinion might change slightly when it comes time to take it off, but as of right now, I'd recommend it to a friend. :D


ETA: Woke up this morning to a couple of chips. The most physically exerting thing I did yesterday was pick my son up from school. That's pretty frustrating.