Essie Bikini So Teeny

This would be the first of several polishes I acquired during my time with Tropical Storm Debby... er... in Orlando for my annual nurse practitioner conference. Between Walgreens, blog sales, butter LONDON promos, and Sephora, I think I bought seven polishes while I was there. (And I'm totally not ashamed!)

Twinkle Bell had worn out her welcome, so I stopped in Walgreens on my way to the conference center. The Essie summer collection was front and center, and Bikini So Teeny is really the only polish from this set that has caught my eye. I hadn't brought remover, Seche Vite, nada, so I bought Essie Good to Go and cheap remover as well. 

Behold! My between-sessions-at-a-conference mani

This polish is a periwinkle blue that has a beautiful silver shimmer. Sadly, this shimmer is only visible in the bottle and in very bright light. This photo is a tad bit bluer than the polish really is, but it was really tricky to photograph. Formula wise, this one was thin and required three coats, but I think wear is much better with 3 thin coats than 1-2 thick ones. 

Good to Go worked pretty well too. I think it dried almost as fast as my beloved Seche Vite. It also had a very hard finish, but I love that thick glassiness I get with SV. It'll be handy to keep around as a back up.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips Twinkle Bell

This is my conference mani. Not crazy, but not boring either. Twinkle Bell is a LE strip and is part of the SH Spring 2012 collection. I love the metallic pearly finish with a good amount of small and medium silver hex glitter.

These strips wear like iron for me with no base or top coat. I usually get bored and take them off before they wear too badly. This set me back about $9, and I’ve heard folks complain about the cost. My thoughts? They wear longer than a salon manicure, and $9 is much less to pay for some awesome nail art (admittedly not with this particular choice) than having someone at a salon. And some of us really suck at nail art. :)

I ended up getting a full 7 days of wear without a chip. Since Tropical Storm Debby conflicted with any sun or after conference fun, there really wasn't anything I did to warrant wear. :( I got totally bored with this mani, so I stopped in Walgreens one morning on my way to conference sessions and bought Essie Bikini So Teeny, so expect a post on that one soon!

Zoya Bela Swatches and Review

I got this polish about a year ago or so ago. It was after Black Swan came out and there was some hullabaloo because it had a cameo in the film. Last time I wore it, I had issues with visible nail line (VBL), so I piled on coats until it was pretty much opaque. I’ve made peace with VNL since, and decided to wear it again as a palate cleanser after all the neons, holos, and foils I’ve been wearing.

This formula isn't horrible, but my brush seemed a little… Solid? I was able to work with it. The above shots are in sunlight with 2 coats. Bela looked a little streaky before a coat of Seche Vite, but good ol’ SV leveled it out nicely. I noticed the dings after I took the picture. Sorry! That’s what happens when one does a mani in the morning before work. J

Pretty & Polished Party On My Yacht

I happened to snatch this polish up by accident when I was linking Chelsea’s Etsy store to my last Pretty & Polished post. I was so excited to get this one!

Better to see the pretties... and the dry skin. Sorry!

The above photo is with 2 coats of Party on My Yacht and a coat of Seche Vite. I did get some tiny balding areas near the base of my nail, but that’s mine and SV’s fault, not the polishes. It was totally smooth after application and I had no curling, separating, etc. The glitter was nicely suspended and I didn’t have to shake the bottle like crazy.

China Glaze For Audrey and Black Poppy Gold Foil

I had seen swatches of For Audrey popping up all over Instagram and realized I had this beautiful polish and hadn’t used it in over a year. I had my Black Poppy mani on, so I decided to do a gold accent nail. I love the look of this mani! But…

Man, on man is application a nightmare!! I was hoping I just had an off bottle and not every For Audrey was thick but runny and very streaky. Sadly, it doesn’t seem the case based on Instagram comments and the blogosphere.

Like I said, great results, but you’ve gotta work for them!

Black Poppy Gold Foil Polish

This lovely polish is one I picked up at Pac Sun during an "Everything must go because we're closing!" sale for $1. I had originally intended to use it for frankens to sell at my Etsy store, but I've since decided to mix my own polishes from scratch. So, I decided to swatch it and throw it into my regular rotation!

Above is 2 coats of the nameless Black Poppy gold foil polish under a coat of Seche Vite. The formula is great, going on thin, smooth, and opaque in 2 coats. Not brush stroke-y at all. Wear time wasn't all that great, but even at full price, it's $3 a bottle. Not too shabby.

Pretty & Polished Tart

I was totally stoked to get Tart and Party on my Yacht in my cart after Pretty & Polished had been open for 5 minutes a few weeks ago! Then I got greedy and went back to the store to make sure there wasn't anything else I wanted and POOF! Party on my Yacht was gone. :( I was pretty bummed, but I've since gotten over it because Tart is so amazing!

First of all, Tart was perfectly opaque in 2 coats and super smooth with just one coat of Seche Vite. The base is a true lavender creme that has large white and purple hex glitter; medium pink hex glitter; small white, blue, and yellow hex glitter; and blue and purple micro shimmer. Whew! I think I got all of it. Despite being packed with all that glitter, application is smooth like butter. 

The shop owner, Chelsea, posts on Facebook and Twitter when she's going to open Pretty & Polished again. Keep an eye out! 

*And, in a bit of irony, when I went to her store to grab the correct address for the link, she had just listed some polishes. Head on over! Party on my Yacht is on its way to me!!

China Glaze Summer Neons Swatches

I love having friends in high polish places (Hi, Christy!). I saw swatches of these polishes and made her promise to tell me when these came in. I had seen neons popping up all over blogs and stores, but none really caught my eye. I actually debated buying a bottle I wasn't crazy about because I knew neons were the in thing this summer. I'm glad I didn't because I genuinely love the five I got from this collection (six, actually, but I gifted one to my niece). I like that they aren't just cremes, but have a beautiful shimmer to keep them interesting.

The first polish I tried was Surfin' for Boys. It is a super bright orange-y red with a very fine silver-pink micro shimmer that brightens it up another notch. 

Picture is fairly color accurate to the polish

My second polish was Sun-Kissed. This color is straight up highlighter yellow. There is a smattering of silver microglitter to make it extra interesting.

Color accurate photo. And a chip. :(

After that, seeing them all lined up on my bookshelf was just too much. I had to do a skittles mani. They go together so well! I was going to remove it before work this morning because I thought it may have pushed the nurse practitioner envelope a bit, even if my day is full of kids and women. Luckily, my boss loved it!

Skittles Mani, thumb-pinky: Splish Splash, Surfin' for Boys, Flirty Tankini, Orange You Hot?, and Sun-Kissed

Splish Splash is a very vibrant blue with Silver micro shimmer, Flirty Tankini is a pink-y coral with silver/pink micro glitter, and Orange You Hot? is a shimmery highlighter orange.

Skittles mani with my fav bright pj pants in the background. :)

Formula wise, some of these are bears. I used 3 coats of Splish Splash, Orange You Hot? and Sun-kissed. just two coats were needed for Surfin' for Boys and Flirty Tankini. All polishes were rather thick and tended to run down the stem of the brush after you had already wiped it and begun polishing. I do think they are worth it, though. I may add a few drops of lacquer thinner and see how that goes.

What do you think? Are you picking up any of these?