Essie Naughty Nautical

Essie’s summer collection is full of bright, popping colors! Naughty Nautical is one of those shades. One thing all of the colors have in common (except for the green one, I believe), is that they all have a thread of silver shimmer running through them, which is apparent on the nails, but difficult to capture in photographs (at least it was for me).

Zoomed way in…you can sort of see the shimmer!

The formula on Naughty Nautical is great: nearly opaque in one coat, and not too thin or not too thick. I’m disappointed that the shimmer doesn’t show through in the photos, because it is very pretty! That said, the collection as a whole is gorgeous. It’s exactly what a summer collection should be: bright and fun.

OPI When Monkeys Fly

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile,  you know that I LOVE The Wizard of Oz. When OPI did their Oz collection this year, of course I bought all of them! I’ve never done that before, but with my favorite thing ever, I make exceptions.

When Monkeys Fly is a mix of large gold hexagon glitter combined with medium-sized glitters in a clear base. I was worried about how my polish would perform, because there were reports of these bit glitter bits turning into tacos- turning up and folding after application. OPI did own up to that and offered to replace bottles with other shades for those who were not happy with it. Amazingly, I have had NO problems with my bottle of When Monkeys Fly and my glitter lays flat without a problem!

Anyway, I layered this over OPI Black Onyx. I need to try this glitter out with some other shades, especially pink! I love how chunky the gold glitter is and this is definitely a favorite layering polish for me. What do you think? Did you get any Oz shades?

Maybelline Color Show Mint Mist

Maybelline Mint Mist is a limited edition Color Show polish for summer 2013. This is a very blue leaning mint green. Even though it is mint, all of my photos were very blue leaning, so I think it was just the lighting. This is minty, I swear! I actually find this color quite unique in terms of mint. G at Nouveau Cheap claimed this is “as blue as you can go and still be mint green”, which I think is a pretty good description.

This is two coats of Mint Mist. For a pastel shade, it was not streaky at all! I definitely recommend checking out the summer collection. Also, check out this gorgeous manicure from The Beauty Secret using Mint Mist and some sparkle!

Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat: Fuzz-Sea

I have such a love/hate relationship with Sally Hansen. I generally think that most Sally Hansen polish is terrible, but sometimes they are just too pretty and they get the best of me! I really went crazy for these new Fuzzy Coat polishes. They’re just so pretty and unique, and they are similar to the Nails, Inc. feather polishes. I scoped those out in Chicago, but they were sold out everywhere so I only saw the testers. The Fuzzy Coat shades are a good alternative and more affordable.

Fuzzy Coat polish is textured, so it will feel rough. I really like this trend, but still put a top coat over this. This polish is supposed to be opaque, but it was really difficult to cover the entire nail while getting these bars to stick, so I just used a base and two light coats of Fuzz-Sea, which is matte turquoise and yellow/green bar glitter.

What do you think of this trend? Are you a fan?

Revlon Colorstay Seashell

I really love the Revlon Colorstay polish line. These perform amazingly well if you use the entire system: the base coat, polish, and top coat. You can get all three for around $15 depending where you shop, and of course this provides multiple uses! Seashell is a new shade that appeared in the Gucci Westman Summer 2013 line, the Pacific Coast collection.

The name of this polish is just perfect, I think. Seashell is a very sheer pink; this is just two coats. More opacity can be achieved with a ridge filler base coat and of course more coats of polish, but I think it is very pretty with just two. It is light and summery, great for a casual weekend when you want to look totally natural. This would be a good shade to do French manicures with as well (which I’ve never done!). It’s kind of a pinky peach, definitely more on the pink side. I think it’s gorgeous and will definitely get a lot of wear out of it. I’ve been favoring shades like this lately!

What do you think of Seashell?

China Glaze Dandy Lyin’ Around

I haven’t been paying much attention to China Glaze lately. I had no interest in the “Transitions” shades or the holographic polishes. The Avant Garden collection was pretty, but I didn’t go chasing the shades by any means. Recently I was in Sally Beauty Supply and the shades from that collection were 50% off, so I ended up with quite a few that I really think are beautiful!

I know I’ve said this before, but I LOVE wearing white polish. It’s just so clean and crisp (Mom, I sound like you…with cotton!!). Dandy Lyin’ Around is a milky base with very, very fine shimmer throughout. It was hard to pick it up on camera. It is pretty sheer. I used two coats so there’s still some visible nail line, and there were no problems with the formula.

You know how when you paint your nails, and can’t stop staring at your hands because you love the polish so much? That was me with Dandy Lyin’ Around. This polish is GORGEOUS. If you love white polish like I do, check this one out for sure!

Caboodles Gilded Pleasure Nail Polish Valet Review!

Oh, Caboodles, I have loved you since I toted around a pastel pink plastic box stuffed full of Lip Smackers! I’m happy Caboodles are still around, and I’m especially happy that they came out with a new product: the Gilded Pleasure Nail Valet.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

A mirrored lid and five elastic top pockets in the lid keep manicure supplies separated and secure. The horizontally divided, removable, 2.5″ deep tray is perfect for housing polish remover, cuticle oil, hand cream and any other mani-pedi must-haves. In the base is a removable 24-compartment grid divider where 24 pretty nail polishes nest neatly in four rows of six. The Gilded Pleasure Nail Valet Caboodle is compact and sleek at 10″ L x 7″ W x 6.5″ H

I’m always painting my nails, but hate that my top coats and files and everything else are always all over the counter. I thought this would be the perfect solution for that, plus it is so travel friendly! I don’t see myself hauling 24 bottles of nail polish with me somewhere, but hey, you never know, right?

Here’s the top part of the valet, which is removable. I put the contents of my Vivo Per Lei kit in here, along with some nail polish remover pads, glass nail file, Poshe Cuticle Cream, and a Zoya Color Lock kit (mini size). There’s still plenty of room, too!

Here’s how it looks opened up. In the top, I have two nail files and one dotting tool, even though there’s still room for more.

Here’s the bottom, where the nail polish is stored. This compartment holds 24 bottles, but they have to be on the short side. OPI, China Glaze, and Revlon are all too tall to be stored in here. Essie, MAC, Zoya, and NARS all fit just fine. I haven’t tested other ones out yet, but I’m sure Maybelline Color Show would fit in here just fine as well. Right now, I only have a few polishes in here: Dior Princess, MAC Comic Cute, NARS Orgasm, and Zoya Mickey. I also have my Out the Door top coat, Essie Matte top coat, and the Essie Feed Me base coat in here (though that is not pictured). I haven’t decided what other colors to put in here yet. I think I’m going to put some that I want to wear and just switch them out as needed.

Overall, the case is very sturdy and cute! I like that I can keep all of my manicure stuff in one little case but still have options for colors as well.

What do you think of this case? I purchased mine from Meijer for $23, but they are also available at Wal-Mart and Target.

Sinful Colors Out of Bounds

Last weekend, I was at Target, and there was a random bin full of three different Sinful Colors shades. To me, they looked like colors released in MAC’s Fashion Sets collection, or at least had that vibe. Out of Bounds is one of those colors.

The pigmentation on this is really impressive! It definitely could be a one coater. I used two, just because there was the slightest bit of visible nail line. The color itself is very vibrant and pretty, and one that can be enjoyed year-round since it doesn’t particularly scream any one season over the other.

I love this color and find it very rich and saturated. Definitely worth the $1.99 price tag! What do you think of this shade?

Zoya Remove Plus: Possible Dupe?

Hey everyone! I was excited about a recent discovery and just had to share it right away! I was running some errands and of course popped into the nail polish aisle, where I spotted a new bottle of Onyx Professional nail polish remover in the moisturizing formula. Hoping it might be similar to Zoya Remove Plus, I purchased it! You might be familiar with Onyx because it is so cost effective: $2.50 for sixteen fluid ounces of remover.

When I used the Onyx Professional Moisturizing Formula, it felt very similar to the Zoya formula. It did not dry out my nails at all like straight acetone does, and it removed my polish quickly. It has a slightly stronger scent than Zoya Remove Plus.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients:

The Zoya remover has very little ingredients; 2-Propanone is just another name for acetone. The second ingredient is water, followed by glycerine, fragrance, and some coloring.

The ingredients in Onyx Professional are a little different, but the first two ingredients are the same. Denatonium benzoate is a bittering agent that is actually used to repel animals and children from drinking substances like antifreeze. Tocopheryl acetate is Vitamin E with acetic acid, used to make the product last longer; however, this ingredient could be an irritant to some due to the acetic acid. Aloe leaf juice is followed by some fragrance, which is finally followed up with two different coloring agents: CI45410 (Ranks 1 on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database as a low risk ingredient), and CI60730 (EWG rating: 3).

The Zoya remover is the healthier choice overall, as it has less ingredients; however, I did not experience any irritation with the Onyx Professional remover and was happy with how it removed my polish. Zoya Remove Plus is an amazing nail polish remover; however, it is $10 for 8 ounces and I have to either order it online or drive fifteen miles to get it.

Zoya Remove is worth every single penny, but the Onyx Professional Moisturizing Formula is very similar and a great alternative. I am going to switch up the two just to make my Zoya remover last a little longer.

MAC Fiestaware

Fiestaware is a permanent MAC polish that is going to be re-promoted in June’s All About Orange collection. This is a hard polish to capture on camera; I think it looks a lot darker in these photos than in real life. A more accurate color can be seen on Scrangie’s blog.

I’ve sad this in all of my MAC polish reviews, but they are notorious for having bad nail polish. So far I haven’t experienced that, but this one wasn’t as good as my other MAC polishes! The first coat was patchy, but eventually that evened out with more applications. This is three coats.

I love Fiestaware and think it is a beautiful polish! In real life, it is quite unique, at least to me! This is a very retro, vintage-style orange, which is great for summer! I’ve really been into orange lately!