I always strive to take pics as good as Pam's yet never succeed....

Anyway, I'm all about a deal and I'm all about convenience. When I saw this Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Lively Lilac on sale & I had a coupon, I just couldn't pass it up. I wish I had! Lets start with the positives. I love the color. It really is pretty. There has been very little shrinkage either. The problem us the brush! I painted my living room with a smaller brush! It's really thick and flat which gives the illusion that you've scraped enough off before you put it on your nail. However, as soon as the brush hit my nail it opened the flood gates of purple! It was a big mess and my tough up pen will never be the same. It also was NOT "Insta-dry"! It took several minutes....probably due to how thick you are forced to put it on. That brush is really awful! I'll never buy another one!

Zoya Sooki take 2

I saw Abbie this weekend and she was wearing Sooki. It looked fabulous, and I want to be just like her when I grow up, so look what I did. :)

I also chopped my nails down, and nothing looks better on short nails than red in my opinion. Love this formula! Above is Zoya Anchor base coat, 1 coat of Sooki (yes, 1!!), and 1 coat of Seche Vite. Put it on 10 hours ago and no shrinkage yet. I absolutely love this color. Let's see how it holds up through Zumba...

Hot Topic Pearly Red

This polish was quite the bargain. Originally $2.99, marked down to $0.99, and half off of that. Can't beat it!

I've got several Hot Topic polishes, and I love them. The bottle is tall and narrow, with a very short, round cap and a soft brush at the end of a long stem.

This one had great coverage with 2 coats. It glows nicely and leaves no brush strokes even though the finish is pearly. Sadly, it did chip fairly easily, but I caught my pinkie in a drawer at work. I think I need to be more careful.

Sally Hansen Color Quick Chrome Red

Hmm... Here we have another 75% off Sally Hansen that is cool, but I'm glad I didn't pay full price for.
It is in a click top pen, so you push one end until the brush has color, then paint away.

I'll start with the pros... It is very quick & easy. 1 coat had excellent coverage. Though I wouldn't call it red, it's a great color. The brush is very full and spreads easily over the nail. It dries super fast, so no top coat is necessary (and makes it look bad, in fact).

Cons: holy brushstrokes, batman! These fade significantly when the polish dries. The brush gets rather gunky. It left thin streaks of no polish (see my pinky).

All in all, worth the $2 I paid, but definitely not the $10 regular price. I looked on several blogs and most people seem to love these for stamping. I might hang on to it for that, if I decide to try my hand at more extensive nail art.

My First Zoya

Just to start off, i love promos! Zoya's buy 1 get 2 free was right up my alley! I was excited when they came in the mail and immediately put one on. This is Amanda. Very neutral, but I love it. I put on 2 coats, but one was pretty too. Maybe not as bold as Neeka (I'm jealous of Pam on that one), but great for more subdued occasions.

Zoya Neeka

This is one of my free polishes from Zoya's latest promo. Zoya.com describes Neeka as a greyed out amethyst with red duochrome and bright gold glitter. Yes. That's it exactly! The red is very subtle, but it's definitely there. The gold is pretty obvious.

The formula is great, as it often is with zoya. I could've done 1 thick coat, but used Seche Vite so I wrapped my tips to help with shrinkage. Wrapping needs 2 coats to even everything out. So far, so good. I've had it on for 2 days now and there is almost no shrinkage.

I also used Zoya Anchor, which is what I ordered to get the free bottles, so I'm curious to see if this mani really does last longer.

Neeka is part of the Fall 2011 collection, Smoke & Mirrors. Go get a bottle! Now! :)

Uh...Avon?

Holy smokes! I bought this a few months ago for my 2 (almost 3) year old. It's Avon Top Speed (there's a nail polish tip for ya! If you're planning to put it on a toddler make sure it is fast drying!) in Electric Purple. I thought it would be fun for the baby, but as you can see it is less than electric or purple! She never picks it as her color so I thought I'd try it on me. To my utter surprise I love it. Not so much the color, but the formula. One coat was plenty and it really did dry quickly. It only took about 2 minutes to be completely dry. I didn't like the brush, a little to soft for me, but that was the only dislike. I will definitely try other colors since it was so fast and easy.

Sally Hansen HD in Cyber

This is an older polish that I found marked 75% off at CVS. I have a hard time turning down a purple, so it came home with me and sat for at least a month.

I love the color, which is much warmer in real life. It has a nice depth and sheen. The formula was pretty watery and took 3 thin coats to cover. The one thing that really makes me sad is the shrinkage. This picture was taken the morning after I polished my nails, and look at that! :( It only set me back $2, so it's not too horrible, but I would've returned it if I'd paid full price.

And a big welcome to my partner in crime, Abbie. I was so excited to see her posts last night. She's a pretty awesome person. I'd even tell her that to her face. :)

Now With Sparkles!

Thought I'd try a twist on my face. This is still Finger Paints Art Dealer Teal-er, but I added 1 coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. The CG added the perfect amount of glitter. Some of the glitters are too much, but this one was perfect. I can't wait to try it over other colors!

My Favorite!!!!

First post! I won't pretend that my posts will be as intelligent or witty as Pam's, but then, she us hard to compete with in those departments. Bare with me....maybe I'll get better.

This is by far my favorite color so far (and it was the first one I bought)! I've only recently jumped on the polish bandwagon, but I keep going back to this one. It's Finger Paints (from Sally's) and it's calked Art Dealer Teal-er. The first coat looks so thin and sheer, but after the second it's perfect! I bought it as more if a toe color, but keep finding it on my fingers.

First French manicure

My husband is not a huge fan of crazy, glittery nail polish. He has been hinting for ages that he wants me to do a French mani, but I always seem to have at least 1 nail that is short and wonky. But now, they are all at a frenchable length, so the DH has got his French mani.

I used Nailene nail guide strips because my Harry Potter manicures were sufficient evidence to the fact that I cannot paint a straight line. :)

China Glaze White on White was used for the tips and 2 coats of Zoya Bela were used over the whole nail. I am pretty happy with it. (But will continue to use crazy colors as well!)

My first franken!

I have been lusting after OPI Steady as She Rose (and singing The White Stripes' Steady As She Goes) since I first saw it. Since I can't get into only place in town that carries it -Cosmoprof - I decided to try frankening as opposed to ordering online.

This is what I get when I mix 3 parts China Glaze White on White, 1 part Hot Topic bubblegum pink, add 4 drops of Hot Topic periwinkle, and 2 drops of Zoya Raven. Close? I think so, but just not murky enough. This picture is with flash as it's the only way it showed accurate.

The formula was a little thick and streaky, but 3 coats covered nicely. A few people at work commented on it. I'll definitely use it again, but will prob buy SaSR if I get the chance. I'll save my shipping funds for Zoya buy 1 get 2 free promos.

Milani 3D Holographic Glitter Cyberspace

I've seen Milani at CVS every time I'm there, nothing really attracted my attention. Great colors, but nothing I haven't seen. But... This definitely caught my eye.

The only polish missing was the silver one, or I would've gotten it. I did a quick google image search (yes, on my phone. Yes, in CVS. You've done that, right?) and liked thus shade the best. It's not a scattered holo, but is barely linear. The glitter is fleck-y as opposed to perfectly round. A little chunkier as well. Still, with 3 coats of color and one of Poshe, it has a perfectly smooth finish. Very little VNL as well.

Super pretty & I'm sure I'll be wearing it again.