Indelible + Layering

Giving Formula X another chance! I decided to try a nice, easy cream. Creams are hard to mess up, and I wanted Formula X to get a chance to impress me after its previous failure. To that end, I picked out Indelible.

Of course, as purples tend to do, it photographed much more blue than it really is. I tried to correct it in the above photo, but it's still not quite right.

Here's how it photographs. It's a great polish! Easy to apply and control; even and opaque at two coats. Definitely one I'll be reaching for again.

But I was bored, so over it I layered Nars Disco Inferno. It was on sale + VIB discount, so I think I paid $4. What a steal!

It's really pretty! Pinky purple flecks, with a green shift from extreme angles that I could not pick up on camera.

But it's definitely a layering polish, and to be honest there's no way I will ever think a layering polish will be worth $19. So I'm glad I have this, but I'm also glad I got it on mega sale.

Hard Out Here

This is inspired by Lily Allen's manicure in her newest video, "Hard Out Here." Watch it here!

In the VIB sale I bought the Twenty-Two so I could try out the new Formula X polishes, so I figured I'd use a couple of them to recreate it!
Unfortunately, as soon as I finished this mani I hated it so much I had to take it off. Let's see why!

I started with Radioactive. It's a great color; it's neon, though it doesn't indicate that anywhere. It took three coats to get rid of VNL and it did not dry well. Since it's neon, it dried sort of matte; not completely matte, but sort of waxy. Next time I use it, I'll try to layer it over a white and hope that helps with some of its issues. I will also double up on my base coat, because even taking it off after just a few minutes it was starting to stain.

Over Radioactive I used Need For Speed. This is where it all went from questionable to horrible. As you can see from the bottle I'm holding, it's SILVER... but on the nail, over a green, it's ...bad. Not silver. Sort of gold-y but not really. Really brush stroke-y. Mostly just horribly ugly. Bad. Ew.

I'll try Need For Speed again sometime on its own, but right now I must say that I am not impressed.

Glitterati

I hit VIB last month, so I got to indulge in the Sephora VIB sale for the first time ever! And of course I had to pick up a lot of nail polish... including my first high end brands! I picked up Illamasqua's Glitterati/Viridian duo. My mom said in the bottle she preferred Viridian, but after I put them both on she preferred Glitterati. So here it is for you!

These aren't my best photos ever; my family was staying at my house when I put this on, so I took poorly-lit phone pictures on day 3 of wearing this. But dang is this a pretty bottle. I need a better topcoat; I've been using Essie Good to Go, and it's been shrinking at the cuticles and it didn't quite smooth the glitter out. But that issue aside, this is definitely going to be a favorite fall polish for me.

Embellished Naughty Nautical

Essie's Naughty Nautical has quickly become one of my favorite polishes ever. It's a perfect color with an amazing subtle shimmer that keeps it interesting without being over the top. I've worn it several times in the last few months, so I thought I'd spice it up this time!

I used China Glaze Galactic Gray and Cosmic Dust as well as Zoya's Zuza. Zuza and Naughty Nautical are pretty much exactly the same color but with different finishes.

My husband said he definitely preferred the dots to the strips, and I think I agree with him. More dotty gradients are in my future, I think!

Smooth Sailing Away

I'm usually much too lazy for nail art, but I've had a lot of free time lately so I'm trying to get better at it. So when my Portland bestie came over for Thursday morning mimosas & manis, I decided I'd be a little adventurous (possibly helped by the champagne!) and do a gradient. I've always done it the lazy way of only sponging on the second color, but it doesn't turn out as smoothly that way, so this time I actually dotted both colors and swirled them together to sponge. It turned out pretty fantastically if I do say so.

I started with one coat of Essie Smooth Sailing, then sponged a gradient of Smooth Sailing and Milani Sailing Away.

Over the gradient, I put a thin layer of Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional.

I ended up really loving this look! The gradient was subtle and that kept it feeling classy, but the glitter made it interesting. And it was so easy to do, I don't know why I'd been half-assing it this whole time. Never again!

Essie Sole Mate

Sole Mate is one of the very first polishes I ever bought. It's been with me at least since my junior year in college; I don't remember the act of purchasing it, which is crazy for me now! But it predates my nail polish obsession by a fair amount. There's a picture of me floating around somewhere, taken at my parents house, and my nails are super short and bitten with super chipped nail polish -- sole mate! It looks much better now when I wear it.

Two coats, minimal cleanup.

It's a SUPER dark eggplanty purple; it's pretty close to black in most lights. Around the edges you can see the purple, and in the sunlight it's not quite as black. It's also the quintessential Essie formula: slightly jelly, takes a couple coats, super shiny.

These photos are after TEN DAYS. I can't believe I not only didn't change my polish for 10 days, but that they stayed this perfect for that long! Go Essie go!

Alcatraz... Rocks!

I was convinced for a really long time that I hated the textured polish trend. Then I picked up a Sally Hansen textured polish on a whim at Fred Meyer (the one that looks like Sinful Colors Cinderella, I don't remember what it's called), and sort of accidentally fell in love. 

I still don't like the textured creams, but I am apparently a sucker for glittery textured polishes.

So of course I had to pick up Alcatraz Rocks from the OPI San Fran collection. And it's freakin beautiful.

Two coats, no top coat obviously, super easy application, no balding or dragging anywhere. So sparkly! So pretty!

After 5 days, I have some slight tipwear (to be expected, with how much I type and play piano), but it doesn't seem as sparkly. Or as textured. It's like it smooths out over time; it still feels gritty, but not as gritty. It's still sparkly, but not as blingy.

Out of focus so you can see the sparkle!

In summary: this is a glittery textured polish I can really get behind.