Dorothy Who and Fun with Matte – double post!

I really do mean to post more often, but it’s been pretty crazy around here lately!  Planning a wedding is just such a huge undertaking in itself, and combined with running a business and having a family? Wow! I barely have time to think!  But enough whining! Onto the polish!

Lately I have been wearing a ton  of blues and purples. And this post is no exception!

I love  blue polish, and I love glitter! After coveting this color for so long, I finally gave in and picked it up. I was resisting it since everyone has seen this one, and almost everyone owns it, so why post about a polish that has been so thoroughly covered? Obviously I did NOT manage to resist this one, and did run out and buy it. However, it remained in my unused stash until this past week.  Blue is my absolute favorite color to wear on my nails, and Dorothy Who is such a gorgeous shade of it! Combined with tons of blue and silver glitter, it is just stunning! And what depth! My camera actually had one heck of a time focusing!  Here is Dorothy Who immediately after application, in artificial light.

 

And here it is 2 days later, in natural light:

 

I do wish that my camera had been able to actually focus on all my nails at once!

I wore this mani for 3 days, and had a tiny bit of tip wear, but otherwise it looked as good as it did the night I applied it. I am incredibly hard on my nails between work and housework, so I’m impressed when I find a polish that wears well.  The formula was interesting to work with; Usually China Glaze is easy to work with and I rarely have application issues. Dorothy Who was wonderful until my brush made it to the tips of my nail, where the glitter would clump a bit. Easily fixed with a coat of Seche Vite, though! Overall, I’m delighted with this polish and will definitely be wearing it again soon.

 

Currently I am wearing Wet N’ Wild’s “Buffy The Violet Slayer with China Glaze Matte Magic Topcoat. I added some shiny tips since I love the dual effect of matte and shiny together. Topped it all off with a few hot pink rhinestones across the tip of my ring finger and voila! Fast and fun Mani!

Buffy The Violet Slayer is normally a lovely almost neon purple with tons of shine and almost a duochrome shimmer. Lots of blue and pink in the right light!  Application was smooth on the first coat, but a bit gloppy on the second, but I didn’t expect perfection from a 99 cent fast dry polish. Once dry, however, it was lovely and smooth, no streaks or bubbles.  This is only the 2nd time I have used Matte Magic, and I was impressed with the quick dry time, and even more impressed with the wear! I’ve used some Matte topcoats before that left a white dot anywhere the nail was bumped, yet Matte Magic hasn’t shown a single nick or scratch after 3 days of wear.  Very nice!

Here it is while drying and before fixing the imperfections at the tips:

The bottom picture is the closest to the actual color of this Mani. My camera has a hard time with purples (I hear this is a common issue for nail bloggers!), so I took this shot with my hand against my jeans, hoping it would help.  I kind of dig the reflection of my jeans across my nails here.

And now it’s time to go forth and polish! I picked up a fun polish that happens to be a dupe of a color I’ve been hunting for and I can’t wait to try it out (and share it here)!

Happy Polishing!

-Kimber

 

Another double post!

It’s been a crazy week, hence my lack of posts. My hubby and I, despite referring to each other as husband and wife, are not legally married due to his evil ex wife refusing to grant him a divorce unless he did certain things for her. This past week, the ball got rolling again, so I have been busy planning our wedding. I even did one Mani and forgot to take pics! Very unlike me! I guess thats what happens when you suddenly have 7 months to plan a wedding and 2 receptions. Crazy! Anyway, onto the polish!

After wearing a lot of dark colors and doing alot of taped Mani’s, accent nails, etc., I decided that I needed something light and simple. This is Sinful Colors Easy Going. I hate to say it but despite this color being so pretty, the formula was just a huge pain in the butt. Very runny at first, and took a good 3 heavy coats to be anywhere near opaque. Even after those 3 heavy coats, I still had some bare spots. So I did a very thin 4th coat. I have never had to bother with so many coats to get my polish even and opaque! Had it just been a sheer color, I would’ve been fine. But it’s not sheer, and bare spots, streaks and hard to work with formula makes for a grumpy Kimber. I love this color, but I don’t foresee it being used much. These are indoors and outdoors, respectively.

Right now I am wearing a fun striped Mani in Orly Bus Stop Crimson and NYC Platinum Card. Orly polish is usually hit or miss for me, and the formula was a hit this time. Very smooth, even color and opaque in a single coat. Of course, I always use 2 coats since I like 100% color saturation. The NYC was lovely going on as well. This particular Silver is a fave of mine on it’s own, but left something to be desired when used over another polish. It refused to give me any coverage at the tips, and it really hasn’t held up too well. These pics were taken after I had worn this polish for about 24 hours, and you can see the tip wear, as well as some wear on the nail and at the cuticle line. Normally I would have used Sally Hansen’s Celeb City for a Silver Mani, but I love the finish on the Platinum Card, and it really does wear well worn alone. Forgive the bad pics! I had almost forgotten to take any of this Mani so I took some quickly. I can’t wait to put together some sort of lightbox so that you can actually see the true colors of the polish. My lighting leaves them looking flat, and unless I use natural lighting, my camera loves to give my pics a yellow cast. But enough whining. Here is the striped Mani!

Fun Mani, but I wish the crimson was brighter. Way too brown based for me. Tomorrow I think I’m going to finally try out my Dorothy Who!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Blue/Gray and sparkly Pink- double post!

It’s been a busy couple of days, and I’ve changed my nails twice since my last post. This will be a pic intensive post since I have 2 colors to share.

First is Revlon’s Cloud. The only way I can explain this awesome grayed out blue is by comparing it to a crayon. Yup, a crayon. Remember the periwinkle crayon in the big Crayola box? That’s what this color reminds me of. Periwinkle was my favorite color as a child so this Mani was instant happy. I had planned to use it under a shatter polish, but once I saw the color on my nails I just couldn’t do it.

The formula was interesting. Thin at first, but it seemed to thicken up during use. Not too gloppy, but a little on the thick side. I used 2 coats, a coat of Seche Vite, and some glitter and a pink star rhinestone on my ring finger as an accent nail. I can’t take credit for the “shooting star”, I don’t remember which blog I saw that on otherwise I would post a link. (if it’s you please contact me and I will post a link and credit you!) This is the end result:

That color just makes me happy! I can’t wait to use it in another mani!

Next is my “I don’t have alot of time so I’ll do something simple” Mani. I haven’t worn pink in awhile and I wanted something pretty but simple. I chose Wet N Wild Hannah Pinktana. I know, cheesy name but such a pretty color. It’s a lovely pink with a touch of purple in certain light, and multicolor glitter. It went on so very smooth, and is opaque in 2 coats, although I used 3 for a little more color. I added a little white floral sticker on my ring finger as an accent (I don’t know why, but it’s rare that I just wear a color without an accent or tips.) I tried to capture the glitter, but you really have to see this one in person. The glitter shines red, blue, silver, gold, and pink. So pretty! Please excuse the weird orange tint on my cuticles! I had recently used my cuticle moisturizer and it was still on my cuticles.

This first pic was is sunlight. The rest are indoors.

I love all the colors in the glitter. I wouldn’t have expected anything other than a little sparked but the colors in this polish sparkle so pretty in the light. Love it! I’m not sure if it could be called duochrome, but it sure is pretty.

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Feelin’ Green

Last night I decided to try out a color I rarely wear, despite having several different brands and shades: Green. I chose a Bright almost neon green from my birthday stash: Sally Hansen Green With Envy. Here it is with 2 coats and a coat of Seche Vite (sorry, this was before clean up!) Also please forgive the bad lighting. I polish my nails after the kids are in bed and this was taken in my badly lit kitchen around midnight.

As with the Caribbean Coral, the formula was smooth and buttery. Went on like a dream and is fully opaque in 2
coats. No streaking or bubbling, even with thick coats. I know some of you don’t like drugstore brands, but as far as they go, this is one of the best. Although I have to be honest, you have to be careful with removal or it will stain your skin.

I loved the color on it’s own, but decided it needed something to make it pop. I grabbed my craft scissors, taped off the sides of my nails, and added some funky waves using Orly Liquid Vinyl. Here is the result:

I did try to get some pictures in direct sunlight as opposed to just natural light, but the Seche Vite just created big shiny spots and the color didn’t show well with all that blinding shine.

So far, I’m really diggin this Mani. Green is such a fun color!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

It doesn’t match the bottle!

I came across Flying Dragon by China Glaze in my stash, and decided it was a must try. In the bottle it’s a neon pink with blue and purple glitter. I had expected a pink, semi glittery satin finish polish. But on my nails, it came out as a purple satin with barely any hint of the glittery purple and blue.

I was disappointed in the color, but the formula was wonderful. Application was smooth and opaque in 2 coats. However, I wanted glittery nails, so I grabbed my Sinful Colors Frenzy and layered that over the Flying Dragon. Then I added a v shaped French tip in Wet N Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer, and dotted some neon pink by Sally’s onto the purple. The camera just refuses to capture the colors though. Makes the tips look blue, but I assure you they are purple!

Here is the bottle. See the pink? Yeah. Not pink on my nails at all.

And here are some shots of the final product. Not all that awesome, but okay for a day. I really need to start swatching my unused polishes so I don’t have to improvise and don’t encounter any surprise color deviation!

I do wish the camera would capture the purple tips. It seems to hate purples!

I think I may play with my light pink opal polish tonight. Time for some lighter colors and something a little less complicated. Or maybe I’ll do some gray striping. What do you think?

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Lubu Mani twist!

I had planned on trying this out tonight, but curiosity got the best of me and I just had to try out Milani Ruby Jewels over Lubu Heels! I’m glad I did! I wanted to try out the Lubu Mani, but my nails aren’t long enough. So I decided to try out a glittery ruby red French tip instead. Still hard to capture on camera, but I love the combination! So very glittery and vampy!

Indoors in sunlight:

Indoors, natural light:

I love how the ruby tips brighten up this Mani and brings out the glittery red in Lubu heels.

Now to decide on my next polish! I have a good sized stash of unuseds and I tend to have problems picking just one out of the bunch.

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber