polish purchases: july edition

this month, i got a lot of polish steals, and one big splurge (but i stayed within my $25 budget!).

lush lacquer clowning around, salon perfect kaboom, finger paints owlin' at the moon, wet 'n wild fastdry the gold and the beautiful, nyc fashion safari

lucky electronics nail art brushes, set of 5 dotting tools

nyc fashion safari ($1.00)- first of all, how cute is that name? it's like the only nyc polish that doesn't have a misleading title (skin tight denim creme, anyone?). nyc had a bogo free sale two weeks ago at rite aid, so i stocked up on my favorite mascara, top coat, and decided to try something new. i have lots of off-white cremes, but not really a fleshy, mannequin hands shade. this one looks really creamy and pretty.

lucky electronics nail art brushes ($1.05)- can you believe that until today (when they arrived in the mail), i had no nail art brushes at all in my collection? me neither. i didn't really want to invest in an expensive set, since i have no idea how good i'll be at freehanding stuff (my guess is pretty sucky), so this dirt-cheap set seemed like a good idea. i have the perfect manicure in mind for them coming up this week!

finger paints owlin' at the moon ($1.15)- this is also my first finger paints. i saw it on sale at sally's this month for $2.29, and decided i needed green metallic flakies in my life (who doesn't, really?). but when i got to the register, the cashier informed me that since it was sally's red tag beauty event, everything on sale was half off of the marked price. what?? thus the incredible steal at $1.15.

wet 'n wild fastdry the bold and the beautiful ($1.39)- last week, rite aid was running a 30% off sale on wet 'n wild, and this warm gold flaky caught my eye. i remembered seeing swatches of it on strong nails (see them here), and couldn't wait to try different layering combos myself.

set of 5 dotting tools ($1.67)- i'm starting to sound like a broken record, but until i bought these dotting tools, i only had one tiny-sized dotter in my stash. i've been using the ends of bobby pins (among other things) for all my other dotticures. this seemed like an appropriate time to actually get some different sizes so my dots look neater and more uniform. 

salon perfect kaboom ($3.98)- after stalking the two nearest walmarts, i finally found this polish- but only this shade. i really wanted the orange one too, but my searching was to no avail :(. maybe it'll pop up someday (my walmart is slow and weird), but i'm not keeping my hopes up. i know i already own flipping out hard, but i feel justified in buying kaboom because the shades are quite different. plus, it's such an in-demand polish for so cheap! win.

lush lacquer clowning around ($9 + $3.25 s/h)- ah yes, this month's splurge. i've been wanting this neon matte glitter for months, and decided that in my huge, pregnant and uncomfortable state, i deserved it :P. pretty good reasoning, huh? i can't wait to try this over a bright green. . . . or lavender. . . . or yellow!

GRAND TOTAL FOR JULY: $22.49

i'm quite happy with everything i purchased this month. i got some interesting cheap shades, some new nail art supplies, and one gorgeous neon glitter indie polish!

lemon gradient

at first i thought my nails looked like fire. then peaches. then a tequila sunrise. but my brother, sisters, and husband unanimously agreed they look like candy corn. . . . which is not what i was intending, especially in july :P. but whatever.

2 coats milani lemongello over 2 coats revlon buttercup with wet 'n wild fastdry waves of enchantment gradient

very bright and summery, huh? not at all reminiscent of halloween :P (at least in my opinion). i really loved how the shimmer in lemongello and the glass fleck goodness of waves of enchantment worked together. so bright, shiny, and happy! and i can use some extra cheer right now.

again, i used this method to achieve my gradient. pretty darn easy. check out my other gradients- holo gradient, purple glitter gradient, sunset gradient, and my favorite, my whimsical periwinkle gradient. enjoy! :)

lemongello

well apparently i'm on a neon kick right now. i kind of thought this yellow would be a bit more delicate and demure, but it turned out bright on me. oh well, summer is the time for brights, right?

2 coats milani lemongello over 2 coats revlon buttercup

like i said when i first attained this polish, i pretty much bought it for the name. i've been eating this gelato like crazy since i've been pregnant, and boy is it good. i couldn't resist a polish named after a delicious sugary food :P. but even if this milani didn't make me hungry, i probably would've bought lemongello for the gorgeous shimmer anyway. i mean, just look at this beautiful golden glow-

unfortunately, like most yellow shimmers, this is incredibly sheer. so i had to layer it over a pale yellow creme. i think that's what made it so bright on me. that's ok, though, because it's good to break out of your own box sometimes, right? i mean, i can't wear pastels all the time!

sand storm

i know what you're thinking- geez, woman, how many posts can you squeeze out of one manicure?? this is the last one, i promise :).

 base color: 2 coats china glaze kalahari kiss

glitter: 1 coat nina ultra pro holographic topcoat

gold stamping: maybelline color show metallics bold gold

image plate: nailz craze nc02

i almost didn't do any stamping over this manicure because i thought it would be way too crazy. but in real life, it was really subtle and classy-looking! not to mention just plain cool :). this turned out to be one of my favorite manis ever!

i've said it before, but i'm still so glad that i bought my nailz craze plate! want to know a ridiculous-but-true story about my pregnancy brain? after i bought my plate and it finally arrived in the mail, i couldn't find it anywhere! i had just finished straightening up my living room and thought that i'd just put it somewhere random. . . . guess where i finally found it? in the trash can. no kidding. i had to dig through old coffee grounds and chicken fat to get that thing lol. how's that for dedication to nail art?? i'm pretty sure it was worth it though :P.

kalahari gold

i totally stole this layering combo from a friend of mine, actually my only friend who's obsessed with nails and follows polish blogs :). thanks, mary ann!

2 coats china glaze kalahari kiss + 1 coat nina ultra pro holographic topcoat

so um, i posted about this glitter in my august purchases post, and haven't worn it until just now! and it's july! :S yikes. . . . that's not a very quick turn-around time lol. but oh well, it's still beautiful. isn't it perfect over kalahari kiss? i'm not exactly sure that holographic topcoat is the perfect name for this one, since the holo particles are so tiny. what you mostly see is the iridescent glitter that flashes green, blue, and peach. sooo pretty!

the revamped nina ultra pro polishes are available at sally's for $4.69 each. i say it's definitely worth it for holographic topcoat!

kalahari kiss

this polish was a bit of a gamble. the yellow-toned nude shade looked great on other bloggers, but i feared it would be clashy on my white, white skin. but when i used kalahari kiss in my star trek manicure recently, i actually liked it!

2 coats china glaze kalahari kiss

interesting, right? it's like a creamy yellow beige-y color. kind of sophisticated and funky at the same time, if that's possible. i'm glad i picked this one up, especially since it was just $3.29 at sally's!

oh yeah, this one was a breeze to apply, just like my other china glazes. why do i not own more of these??

tazmanian blue

do you ever buy a layering polish knowing exactly which polish goes with it? i knew ever since i bought tazmanian devil about 2 years ago that it went with the bright pool blue from yesterday. a little weird, right? just call me the polish matchmaker because i knew they'd be perfect for each other :P.

2 coats nyc water street blue + 1 coat confetti tazmanian devil

how the heck do i describe this glittery topper. . . ? it contains silver, orange, yellow, pink, green, and light blue hexes in a variety of sizes, along with tiny tiny holographic glitter dust, which i think makes it unique among the many rainbow glitter polishes. do you see the tiny holo specks? kind of reminds me of this polish from my "cheesy sparkle" mani.

this is actually the only confetti polish i own, which is unfortunate, since they're only $1.99 at cvs! any others worth looking into? overall, i think tazmanian devil is a beautiful rainbow glitter that's very deserving of a spot on my under $2 favorites list.

POLISH DAYS: to boldly go



i audibly squealed when i read the theme for this month's polish days- a nod to star trek?? i'm so in :P. i don't know what has happened to me, but i used to be the girliest, prissiest person ever. i hated sci-fi. and then. . . . i married a nerd :). he's made me watch twin peaks, battlestar gallactica, and most recently, the original star trek series. i guess he's successfully converted me, because now i love star trek lol. it's so campy, hilarious, and weirdly addictive. how's that for compromise in marriage? :)

 green: 2 coats sinful happy ending

blue: 1 coat sally hansen xtreme wear pacific blue

yellow: 2 coats china glaze kalahari kiss

red: 1 coat wet 'n wild wild shine red red

gold: 1 coat revlon gold coin

black: fine-tipped permanent marker

this nail-polisher decided to go where she's never been before and make nails stickers! apparently, i'm terrible at free-handing on my actual nail, but i did surprisingly better on a flat surface trying to make stickers. i used this tutorial to paint gold metallic blobs on a ziploc bag, then used a fine-tipped black permanent marker to draw on star trek emblems. i had to make a zillion to end up with a handful of decent ones lol.

 

want me to prove that i'm a fully-converted nerd now? my husband and i went out to see the new star trek movie a couple of weeks ago, and this is what i wore:



it's hard to tell from the picture, but i was wearing crazy winged-out eyeliner and a braided updo like they used to do in the wonderful original series from the 60s. too much fun :).

i really loved my star trek nails, but unfortunately, they were not build for longevity. . . . even though the marker i used said it was "permanent", my top coat kept smudging it, so i decided to not seal the stickers with top coat, which meant that they kept peeling and falling off, until they finally disappeared :S. so much work for like 12 hours of wear lol. oh, well, it was fun while it lasted!



polish purchases: may edition

well. . . . i went a little glitter crazy this month :S. BUT, i managed to not buy any stamping supplies, so i consider that a mild success.

sinful scene stealer, shine on me, crystal clear, elf unnamed flaky

wet 'n wild fastdry caught on sapphire, opi gargantuan green grape, summer brights unnamed green, milani lemongello

 

milani lemongello ($1.00)- i found a whole rack of milani polishes lurking at dollar tree the other day, and practically pounced on it. i almost hauled, but then restrained myself to my favorite one- lemongello. it's a very pretty yellow glass fleck with lots of gold shimmer. plus the name makes me think of all the lemon gelato I've been eating lately :P. mmmm. . . . haagen-dazs, i love you.

 

wet 'n wild fastdry caught on sapphire ($1.99)- this lovely aqua glitter is part of wet 'n wild's new limited edition "hot rocks" collection. there are lots of pretty glitters in this collection (click here to see), but the electric pool blue of this one really caught my eye. i think this would look stunning over navy!

 

elf unnamed flaky ($1.99)- this is also part of a limited-edition collection i saw at cvs (click here to view all the shades). the collection is nameless, as are all of the polishes. boo. i hate unnamed polishes. . . . but i got this one because it's supposed to be another hidden treasure/shine of the times dupe. yes, i already have hidden treasure, but i really really love it, and thought a $1.99 back-up sounded like a wise idea.

 

summer brights unnamed green ($2.99)- baah, another unnamed shade! i found this at rite-aid this month, and bought it in response to how disappointed i was with gargantuan green grape (see below), and to how crappy of a day i was having. i like this one because it's a sort of neon pastel. how can something be both neon and pastel?? i don't know, but i'm really liking it :P.

 

sinful scene stealer, shine on me, and crystal clear ($2.99 x3)- since when does sinful colors do fancy silver handles and up their prices by a dollar?? i'd rather have a plain black cap and save my dollar, thank you very much. apparently i wasn't too upset by this price increase, though, because i bought 3 of them :S. what can i say, i'm on a big diamond-shaped glitter kick right now. in retrospect, i probably didn't need to buy the pink one, since it looks a lot like the loose pink glitter i bought from the born pretty store last month (oops). but i'm stoked about the other two!

 

opi gargantuan green grape ($7.49)- in this case, the last and the least of this month's polishes. not least in cost, but least in excitement. gargantuan green grape has been on my mental wish-list since high school (8 years ago!), when i saw it in a copy of seventeen magazine. it looked like the perfect yellow-toned pale green, which is my favorite color (see my blog background color). other swatches i've seen online since then have only confirmed the fact that this seems to be the perfect shade. so i finally bit the bullet and bought it on ebay, only to find that it looked suspiciously blue-toned and minty. . . . did i get a defective bottle, or are all online swatches untrustworthy?? i guess it's pretty in and of itself, but it was definitely not what i was expecting. sigh.

 

GRAND TOTAL FOR MAY: $24.43

 

overall, i'm happy with my mostly glittery haul. and stay tuned, because i have a lovely set of the new pueen stamps on their way to me right now as a birthday gift from my husband :P. yay for free stuff!

 



easter floral

as promised, here's my second easter mani (the one i actually wore on easter day)! what can i say, i love easter!

base color: nail enamel n

white stamping: jordana white

yellow dots: revlon colorstay buttercup

 pink dots: mix of jordana white + wet 'n wild wild shine red red

image plate: mash 46

i didn't really like this stamping when i first did it, but it definitely grew on me the longer i had it on my nails. it's kinda cutesy, but perfect for easter.

i didn't have a pale pink creme, so i got creative and just mixed white and red! how's that for saving a couple bucks?

easter unicorn

not this color unicorn, but a sparklier, prettier one. this urban outfitters polish is definitely more reminiscent of unicorns than a plain yellow creme.

1 coat jordana white + 1 coat urban outfitters unicorn

this is only 1 coat of the jordana white (seen here), but it really looks like i've piled on tons of thick coats of it. not sure about this one, as a base color anyway. it's just way too stark and thick looking. but it is one heck of a stamping polish!

but ignoring the stark white, isn't the glitter gorgeous? in some lights, it looks like lots of pastel polka dots, but in others, it just looks shimmery and iridescent. i'm thinking this would look great over pastel pink, mint green, or lavender. must try that sometime!