Nail Polish Comparison - Neon Pinks

This group is definitely the least color-accurate of all the pinks! Neons are notoriously hard to get photographed correctly, and these are no exception. 

L-R: China Glaze - Light My Tiki, L.A. Colors (no name), China Glaze - Shocking Pink (Neon), Essie - Lights

Light My Tiki is the least "neon" of the bunch. It has glitter and dries to a shiny finish. It's very bright though! The L.A. Colors shade and Shocking Pink are both true matte/slight satin neons. The L.A. Colors one in particular is really opaque and even for a neon polish. The Essie dries to more of a satin than a matte finish, and isn't quite as in-your-face vibrant as the others, although it is still very, very bright. It also applies really beautifully. 

Tiffany-Inspired Manicure

One of my favorite manicures I did this month was created in response to a photo posted in a Facebook group I participate in. I searched and found the source for the photo, this blog. After seeing the image, I knew I needed to create my own version, but wanted to do it a little differently!

The polishes I used. L-R: Rimmel Base Coat, China Glaze For Audrey, Milani HD, Essie Set in Stones, Milani Gems, China Glaze Fairy Dust, and Seche Vite.

I started with the base color, and then did just the tips with Milani HD, a holographic silver polilsh. I then went over all but the accent nail with Essie Set in Stones, extending it a bit further down the nail than the HD. The accent nail I treated exactly the same except using Gems, to add a pop of rainbow! I then topped all the nails with Fairy Dust, a sparse holographic glitter, extending it even a bit further. I really was pleased with how it ended up! Plus, as another participant on the page suggested, this mani could easily last quite awhile as chips or tip wear could easily be masked with more glitter! 

August Manicures

Curious about the polishes I used? They're listed under the cut!

Nail Polish Collection - Bottle Photos

I recently took on the project of arranging my polishes by color and swatching them in a small notebook I can easily take with me to ensure new polishes I see in stores are actually unique to my collection, as it's getting to the point where it's easy to have repeats. As a way of cataloging which polishes made which swatch, I took photos of them in the same order I swatched them. I didn't photograph the two Konad polishes or any of my base/topcoats, but this is everything else. As always, click the photos if you want to see them larger, and ask me if you have any more specific questions! 

Photos under the jump since there are six of them and I don't want it to load too slowly!

Current Favorite Products

For the first time ever I've decided to put together a favorites post! It's not really monthly favorites, since not all of this was acquired in the previous month. It does include things I've gotten over the summer - nothing that's been a favorite for a very long time or that I've previously repurchased. 

If you want to know anything about any of these products, just ask! Some of them I have already done blog posts about, and others I'm planning to do soon.

Nail polishes: OPI - Metallic 4 Life, Essie - Set in Stones, Lights, Milani - White on the Spot
Foundation: Neutrogena Shine Control foundation
Blushes: Jordana - Tawny Beige, Cargo - Key Largo
Powder Eyeshadows: L'Oreal Infallible - Endless Sea, Glistening Garnet, Golden Emerald, Cargo - Tahiti quad, Jordana - A Classic (this is the top left shade in the palette that says Covergirl)
Cream Eyeshadow - Milani Shadow Eyez - Champagne Toast
Perfume: Marc Jacobs - Oh Lola!
Lip products: Revlon Kissable Balm Stain - Smitten, MAC lipstick - Impassioned
Other products: Up & Up blotting sheets, Covergirl custom compacts (I found these at a dollar store, and each contained some pans of lipstick which I did not keep. I like these for storing singles as they have clear lids unlike the ELF palettes)
Brushes: Sonia Kashuk - Synthetic Flat Top Multipurpose Brush, Large Crease Brush

Gumball/Confetti Dot Manicure

This is one of the most fun manicure's I've done in awhile, but it's also one of  the easiest I've ever done that isn't just a single color! It's so simple - just choose several colors of polish you like together, then get a dotting tool of some kind (or several if you want different sized dots). Choose one color at a time and randomly place dots on your nails, continuing with the other colors until the whole surface is covered with dots! By going with one color over all the nails at once, you can avoid having to wait for the dots to dry since they'll be almost completely dry by the time you start the next color. And there's no need for a base color if you choose polishes that aren't particularly sheer. Also, because only a little bit of each dot overlaps another, the polish doesn't get too thick and start chipping or peeling off quickly as can sometimes happen with thicker manicures. It's lasted several days on me with no chipping whatsoever - and of course it also says something that I've been willing to leave it on that long! I tend to switch manicures more often than this.

The polishes I chose to use this time, L-R:

Zoya - Pippa

China Glaze - Gaga for Green

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!

Wet n Wild Megalast - On A Trip

Essie - Lights

Wet n Wild Megalast - Club Havana

I used the Seche Clear base coat and Seche Vite top coat for this manicure.

Edit: I just noticed this is my 200th post! It doesn't feel like I've done that many!

Nail Polish Swatches

These are most, if not all, of the nail polishes I've added to my collection over the last two months. 

China Glaze - Stone Cold

Essie - Navigate Her

Essie - Tart Deco

Essie - Turquoise & Caicos 

Revlon - Posh 

Pixi - Paradise Pink 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue 

Illamasqua - Nomad

Brash (Payless) - Turquoise Twist 

L-R: Revlon - Impulse, Revlon - Flirt, SXY (Payless) - Pink Prestige, Essie - Lights

L-R: Wet n Wild megalast - Tropicalia, Club Havana, Through the Grapevine, Pixi -  Coral Cabana

Recent Manicures!

For this manicure, I did the pink stripes first and went back with the yellow after. They were pretty much randomly placed.  Yellow: Zoya - Pippa
Pink: Essie - Lights

Main base: Wet n Wild - Tropicalia
Main dots: Essie - e-nuf is e-nuf
Accent base: Essie - Tart Deco
Accent dots: Wet n Wild - Club Havana

Base: China Glaze - Stone Cold
Tips: Milani Nail Art striping polishes

Nail Polish Collection & Swatches - Essie, OPI, Sephora by OPI, Orly

Recent Manicures

I recently got Essie's Shine of the Times topcoat and I absolutely love it so I put it over quite a few polishes. These two Sally Hansen polishes were ones I got during the clearance at CVS so they were pretty new to me as well.

Sally Hansen Insta Dri - Uptempo Plum with Essie - Shine of the Times

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Purple Pulse with Essie - Shine of the Times

This manicure would have probably also worked at Christmas, but I think it's fun for anytime!

China Glaze Holiday 2011 - Poinsettia and Twinkle Lights

Daily Manicures in November - The Final Ten

November's done which means so is my experiment with trying all the polishes I'd been ignoring! Changing polish every day got a bit annoying after awhile - sometimes I just am not in the mood or did not really have the time to dedicate to it. No regrets, though. I'm glad I finally got to see what all these look like on my nails! Swatch wheels can only do so much.

I plan to do winter/holiday themed polish posts for December - not every day, though! If you have anything you want to see along those lines, let me know! I'm open to suggestions - but keep in mind I have very minimal art skills so don't get too crazy in nail art suggestions. Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! Happy December!

Milani - Hi Res
Top: one coat
Bottom: three coats

Finger Paints - Where Art Renoir?
This polish goes on about 90% opaque the first coat. If you're good at applying polish evenly you could probably just do the one.

Wet n Wild - Back Alley Deals
(Ice Baby Collection)

Wet n Wild - Teal of Fortune

China Glaze - Skyscraper
I LOVE THIS COLOR

China Glaze - Tempest
Not really a fan...I don't like this frosty kind of polish much at all.

China Glaze - Emerald Fitzgerald

China Glaze - Vertical Rush

China Glaze - Light My Tiki
Again...that same kind of frosty look I just don't enjoy...I think this one in particular is too "Barbie" and not in a good way.

Essie - One of a Kind
LOVE this one. Applies beautifully.

Nails of the day: Matte green glitter

 

For a break from my normal high-shine nails, I decided to go matte this time. The green glitter polish is Mistletoe Kisses from China Glaze’s Christmas collection this year. I used Essie’s matte topcoat because it’s the fastest drying of the three I have. I really like the way this polish looks matte.

without flash

with flash

Nails of the Day : White and Black Dots

Here are my current nails! The base is 2-3 coats of Sally Hansen "White On" with Claire's matte top coat. 

I did the dots using the pen part of a Claire's two way nail art pen and brush in black. I decided to leave the dots shiny for a bit of texture contrast as well as the color. 

This is the second time I have used the Claire's matte topcoat, and I'm really impressed with it. It mattifies better than the Orly Nails for Males, and it lasts a long time without chipping. I would definitely recommend it. 

I found Essie's Matte About You at my Marshall's this weekend for $3, but I haven't tried it yet, so I can't compare it to the Orly or Claire's versions.