Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope

In order to save time, and my sanity, and because everyone voted for a different polish, I will swatch all the colors that were voted for... So, first up (and because school is tomorrow), I chose Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope, which is a clear polish with holo glitter. It looks subtle enough for school, and it really shows off how long my nails have gotten...

Here's what it looks like in the bottle... But my camera was so overwhelmed by the glitter that it completely forgot about the actual writing on the bottle... :)

Here's what it looks like on... Even though I got good coverage, that's only because I had to use a zillion coats (well, not really, but close enough)...

NUMBER OF COATS: 5 (yep, that's FIVE COATS!)

FINISH: holo glitter

APPLICATION: 3

COLOR: good!

WEARABLE-NESS: pretty good, and it looks subtle enough for work/school... :)

HILTND: absolutely flawless, and still sparkling! :)

NEXT POLISH: unnamed purple :)

NYX Nails (blue)

So, even though the contest is still going on, I just have to share this beautiful blue with you... As you probably don't know, blue is my absolute favorite color, but it's rare to find a blue that goes with my skin tone and doesn't look too bizarre... The polish I'm using this time is by NYX nails and it came in a set, but the part which tells the name of this polish has long since disappeared... If anyone knows the actual name of this polish, please comment! This is driving me nuts!!! Anyways, here's the polish...

This is such a pretty bottle... But it looks even better on... :)

In order to stop myself from raving about this polish for too long, I will move on to my ratings system... :)

NUMBER OF COATS: 3

FINISH: shimmer (but it's very slight)

APPLICATION: 2.75

COLOR: good!!!

WEARABLE-NESS: surprisingly good, for a blue... :)

HILTND: flawless!!!

This polish is a must have for any/all blue lovers...

As for next time, please vote, or I will be forced to use holographic glitter... :)

NEXT POLISH (unless enough people vote): Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidescope

Winner!!!

AND THE WINNER IS... My mom... Yeah, I'm actually not joking...

So, I will instead make this a democratic decision... Below you will see nine different nail polishes. Please vote on your favorite, and tell me why... If you can't decide (like I usually can't) you can pick up to three favorites...

As you can see, your options are: Wet 'n' Wild Kaleidoscope, Claire's Wacky Watermelon, Sally Hansen Fearless Fuschia, Mood Changing Plum To Red, Nina Ultra Pro Punki Purple, Unnamed Purple (the one in the small bottle with the white cap), Sinful Colors Swedish Blue, Sally Hansen Shooting Star, or NYX Nails (unnamed yellow green glitter/jelly).

Please vote, or I will subject you to even more ugly polishes... :)

And my next polish will still be the NYX Nails blue, unless it stops looking so good on my nails... :)

Twenty!!!

That's right, I've posted 20 polishes so far on my blog... AND I now have 7 followers... When did that happen?!

So, even though this wasn't too sucessful last time, I will have another contest... The prize is similar to what it was last time, and until someone wins my contest, the prize will not change... How's that for creativity? :)

Basically, the first person to comment on this post will get to choose either a color or a brand for my next manicure (from a wide variety of choices). And, if nobody comments, my sister will get to pick, as usual...

Please note, I will still post my beautiful blue NYX nails (taken on my NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!!!) but I'll do that later... :)

So, for now, enjoy... :)

L'oreal Strong-Arm

Sorry for the ridiculously long delay, but here's another pink... I'm really obsessed... But my nails are getting longer and longer and hopefully my application technique will improve at some point in the near future... :)

This time, my pink is actually a beautiful magenta color... You could probably still wear this to work, but it looks too elegant to waste it on something like that...

Even though it looks like an ugly creme in the bottle, this one is actually a beautiful shimmer...

As far as polishes go, this one was a dream! Everything about it was perfect... :)

NUMBER OF COATS: 3

FINISH: shimmer

APPLICATION: 3

COLOR: good!

WEARABLE-NESS: good!

HILTND: flawless!

This is one polish I will definitely wear again and again and again... Make sure to check back next time for a polish that is NOT PINK!!!

NEXT POLISH: NYX Nails (blue)

Beyond Perfect Poetic Peony

Here's another work appropriate color! That's right, another pink... :) This time it's a pastel color by beyond perfect, which I must confess I have never heard of... I just found it in my drawer, so it must be one of my sister's... lol :)

As you can see, it looks like a fairly classic pink, and the square bottle looks oh-so-elegant! Here's what it looked like on:

This is three coats, but no top coat. Two coats would have probably been enough, but the application was very uneven, some of my nails came out perfect and others looked like a mess... The color also looks more like bubble gum and less refined on my nails, but it could have just been how my cuticles were looking that day... :) Also, even though I reserved a sufficient amount of "drying" time, I got horrible dents in my nails without even trying. Even though it applied relatively thinly, it felt way too thick for this polish to do any good.

NUMBER OF COATS: 3
FINISH: very light shimmer (but it's still there)
APPLICATION: 1.25 (there was a lot of drag and the polish wasn't consistent)
COLOR: pretty good
WEARABLE-NESS: good
HILTND: not consistent at all... some of my nails turned out gorgeous, and some of them had dents. However, none of my nails got sheet marks and tip wear is very slight...

Check back next time for a magenta-y color! Definitely NOT pink... :)

NEXT POLISH: L'oreal Steel Color Strong-Arm

Pinkie Swear Punch

Here I am, with yet another "work appropriate" polish. This time, it's a beautiful white glitter that I cannot stop wearing! According to the polish bottle, this is a "nail blush" but it looks like an ordinary glitter to me... :) Here's what it looks like in the bottle:

Because the bottle's so short, it made application a little difficult, but it was still ridiculously easy, even with my left hand. It looks even better on:

This is two coats, with no base or top coat. The glitter was a little "gritty" but it still stayed on and I couldn't be bothered to put on a top coat. This is one of my favorites because even though the glitter pops, it still looks normal enough to be worn without a lot of awkward stares... :) And now, for the official rating:

NUMBER OF COATS: 2

FINISH: glitter

APPLICATION: 2.75/3

COLOR: good!!!

WEARABLE-NESS: good!!!

HILTND: absolutely amazing, with no tip wear or dents!

Make sure to check back for a gorgeous pink... Yes, I'm obsessed... :)

NEXT POLISH: Beyond Perfect Poetic Peony

OPI Chapel of Love

Here I am again, with another classic OPI pink... This time, it's Chapel of Love, which has a much brighter tone than Aphrodite's Pink Nightie. This pink is also perfectly matched to my skin tone, so that the color really pops.

It even looks gorgeous in the bottle! As with most OPI's, this one had good application, but I still need three (or more) coats to get this lovely shade...

And now, for the ratings (please notice the extras)!

NUMBER OF COATS: 3

FINISH: shimmer (but very slight)

APPLICATION: 3/3

COLOR: good!

WEARABLE-NESS: good!!

HILTND: not so good... I got a lot of dents, even though I let it dry for an obscenely long time...

And make sure to check back next time for a white glitter... I just can't stop myself... :)

NEXT POLISH: Pinkie Swear Punch (yes, I know pinky is spelled incorrectly)

OPI Aphrodite's Pink Nightie

Yes, I have a classic OPI shade for you today! This is a beautiful pale pink, which is perfect for work. This color may be a little too pale for my skin tone, but I wore it anyways... :)

As you can see, this is definitely a pale pink, and there's a little hint of purple as well. This is also a pearl, which is a first for this blog!

This is three coats, but no topcoat. It applied perfectly and two coats may have been enough... And now, for my complicated rating system!

APPLICATION: 3
COLOR: pretty good!
WEARABLE-NESS: good!
HILTND: there was a little bit of tip wear, but nothing too major. And no chipping!

And finally...

NEXT POLISH: OPI Chapel of Love

NYC 118A

I'm back with yet another NYC polish. This one is a beautiful teal green, and it's definitely a prettier shade than the last green I tried. :)

Despite the beautiful bottle color, it was surprisingly sheer, but the final color is worth it.

It's shown here with one layer of base coat and three layers of polish. It dried relatively quickly but I'll check on how well it wears tomorrow evening.

And now, for my new and improved rating system:

APPLICATION: 3/3
COLOR: good!
WEARABLE-NESS: good!
HILTND: *Edit* There is no tip wear and the polish still looks fantastic!

And finally,

NEXT POLISH: OPI Aphrodite's Pink Nightie

Rating System

Just as a little FYI, I've decided to streamline my rating system for polishes. They will be judged based on application, color, wearable-ness, and how it looks the next day.

For application, it will be rated on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being smooth, perfect application.

For color, it will be rated on how pretty the color is. This will just be a good, bad, or okay rating.

Wearable-ness is how easy it is to wear a color. This includes how it looks with my skin tone, and how it would look for work. This will also be on a good, bad, or okay rating.

And finally, how it looks the next day (HILTND) is exactly what it sounds like. After a night of sleep, and a day of wear, I will post whether there has been any tip wear, and if the polish became lumpy.

This rating system is in affect starting....................................... NOW!

Wet 'n' Wild Desert Plum

Here's another old polish, but this time it's a Wet 'n' Wild one. This is a very pretty mauve creme, but the pictures I got were NOT color accurate... Check them out anyways... :)

This is actually one of my favorite colors so far, most likely because of how it can easily be worn to work without looking too over the top...

This picture was taken with two coats of polish, but one would have been fine. My nails got smudged so I had to add another coat. Without a top coat, this polish does NOT wear very well... But the color is definitely worth it... :)

POLISH RATING: 4.75/5

NEXT POLISH: NYC 118A

Claire's Raspberry Sorbet

Here's another one of my sister's picks. This polish is from the ever popular store: Claire's. This would definitely not be my first choice of color, mainly because I tend to shy away from jellies. However, after three coats, I can safely say that jellies look much better on my nails than my usual cremes.

Here it is pictured with three coats of polish. Two would probably have been enough, but I kept smearing so I just added a layer. However, I'm really starting to like the resulting color. Another nice thing about jellies is that extra polish just peels off my fingers when I'm not very tidy about my application.

A semi weird thing about this color is that one coat (and in the bottle) looks pink, but three coats, and it's a definite red... hmmm...

However, reguardless of its perks, I definitely cannot fave this polish.

POLISH RATING: 2.5/5

-this was a pain to apply, and not really worth it...

NEXT POLISH: Wet 'n' Wild Desert Plum

Revlon Ultra Violet

Here's a bizarre polish; an ugly color with perfect application! This is another old polish, but instead of getting thicker, I think it's gotten thinner. It still became completely opaque in two coats.

The bottle's kind of a weird shape, and the brush is actually a little bigger and a little wider than a normal brush. This probably helped my application technique.

However, this color turned out extremely ugly. Maybe it's just my nails, or maybe it's the lighting, but this is UGLY! It applied perfectly though...

Another weird thing about this polish is the finish. From up close, it's a shimmer, without a doubt. But in real life (and from these pictures) it looks like a creme. Even weirder, in the bottle, it looks almost like a duochrome, but not enough for me to classify it as such...

POLISH RATING: 4.25/5

COLOR RATING: 1.25/5

NEXT POLISH: Claire's Raspberry Sorbet

HC Cosmic

Today's polish is a random one. It's a very sheer, nude glitter. HC, of course, stands for Hard Candy, which was discontinued a while ago. But not so long ago that I don't have half full bottles lying around... :)



Warning, this polish is MUCH shiner than it looks in the pictures here. These were taken with a coat of nail strengthener, a layer of basecoat, and two coats of polish. I apologize for my horrible cuticles, but I didn't have enough energy to do a full manicure...



As you can see, this polish is definitely a nude color. But, even though it looked sheer in the bottle, two coats was more than enough. This is a really good color when you want to go low key. It's a little bit browner than my actual skin tone, but that didn't show up very well in the pictures...

POLISH RATING: 4.75/5

NEXT POLISH: Revlon Ultra Violet

Remember, the first person to comment on either this post, or the post right before it ("TEN POLISHES!") will get to choose my next manicure color (which will be featured for a week!). Otherwise, I'll just have to let my sister pick... :)