Sweet as Sugar

When shopping for polish and viewing various nail polish blogs I've noticed a trend recently. More and more polish companies are releasing textured polishes. Like the Julie G frosted gum drops collection these polishes have a totally different feel to them compared to the ultra shiny smooth feel of regular polish. I recently picked up Sally Hansen's Sugar Coat polish and fell in love. These polishes have a matte finish and have a super fast drying time with a sugary texture.

The sugar coat collection is made up of eight polishes, I ended up purchasing half of the collection. I did swatches of the four colors I purchased. I wanted to get a close up of the swatches to show the texture. The texture is almost like stucco but not at all scratchy. 

Sweetie is a buttery yellow

Sour Apple is a minty green

Cotton Candies is a hot pink

Lick-O-Rich is a deep black

I purchased these at Rite Aid for about $5.99 each. I believe you can also find them at Target, you can check online to see if your local Target carries them. I absolutely adore these Sugar Coats. I will be purchasing the rest of the collection soon. I do say that Sally Hansen Sugar Coats get a pretty polished thumbs up from me.

Sugar Coat in Sour Apple Accent nail Jesse's Girl High Intensity polish in Carolina Beach

What do you think? Have you tried Sugar Coats? Or do you have a textured polish you are loving? Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by.

<3 Pinky

Hold my polish

On my never ending quest to find new polish and polish related products. I found this little item on Ebay a couple of weeks ago. 

Polish Holder

So what is a polish holder you ask? It is the perfect companion when painting nails. At times when painting my nails I don't always want to sit at a table this is when this little helper comes in handy. It helps to keeps your polish from falling over due to it's wide base.  It also helped out when using polish that is on running low in the bottle. When the polish is placed in the holder you can tilt it ever so slightly forward. 

I wanted to see if it would work with all of my polishes. At first I was skeptical and thought that it was only going to work with smaller polish bottles. As you can see from the pictures above that is not the case. It of course worked with the smaller bottles and also the larger ones like China Glaze. It even worked with the square NYX bottles. The polish holder is made from rubbery like plastic. I believe that it may come in more colors but I had to have the pink one of course. I purchased this from Ebay for a whopping 99 cents with free shipping. I can't remember exactly how long the shipping time was but it seemed rather quick. I've included a link to the Ebay seller's shop that I purchased this from.

http://myworld.ebay.com/qhgypchyh/

This handy polish holder gets a pretty polished thumbs up. Even though I may not use it every time I paint my nails it does come in handy. 

 Do you think this is a handy tool or something that will end up collecting dust? Tell what you think in the comment section below.

Thanks for stopping by. 

<3 Pinky 

Food for cuticles

I wanted to share this awesome product I found Orly Cuticle Therapy Creme. I found this at Sally's Beauty Supply of course.

I purchased this 2oz jar for $5.99 which was a deal since it retails for over $8 regularly. There is a lot of product in the jar and a little does go a long way. It is a very thick crème with a velvety smooth consistency.
 

I fell in love after the first application. It has great moisturizing power with out leaving a greasy feeling at all. I typically use pure acetone to remove my polish and clean up my cuticles. The upside is it works really quickly, the downside is it dries my cuticles out. Below is my before picture showing my dry cuticles. Not a good look.

 



I then applied a small amount of the Orly cuticle therapy crème and rubbed in. You can see the difference immediately.

The only downside to the product is the "mature" smell. It smells like something that you may find on your grandma's nightstand. It is not an overwhelming smell and after a couple of uses you'll hardly notice it. I give Orly Cuticle Therapy Crème a pretty polished thumbs up. Give it a try when you get a chance.

Thanks for stopping by.

<3 Pinky

The Claw!!!

On one of my last nail polish shopping trips my friend Lo (ig@Bruisedupdollie) purchased this little piece of awesomeness. This is the ASP Manicure Saver Cotton Claw

ASP Manicure Saver Cotton Claw

We've all run into this situation. You have a lovely manicure and you've picked the perfect outfit and some cute open toed shoes. That's when you notice *gasp* you are in need of a pedicure like yesterday. What is a girl to do? You can't possibly take off your toe nail polish and risk ruining your mani. That's where the cotton claw comes to the rescue. You can use the claw to pick up a cotton ball, dip in some acetone and say bye-bye to that old polish. While keeping your fabulous mani in tact.

This retails at Sally's Beauty Supply for $3-4. The ASP Manicure Saver Cotton Claw gets a pretty polished thumbs up! Be sure to follow fellow polish addict ig@bruisedupdollie she does some super cute nails and is just all together awesome.  

Thanks for stopping by

<3 Pinky

Base Coats, Polish, and Top Coats. Oh My!

Don't you hate when you spend your hard earned polish budget on a product that doesn't perform up to your expectations. I know I do. I recently received a suggestion for base coat/topcoat review, which I thought was a great idea. Thanks Viv! I first wanted to start with what else, base coats.

Base Coats:
First I did some swatches of some base coats to see if there was any noticeable differences once polish was applied. The base coats used  were as follows.

1. Finger Paint base coat
2. Seche clear base coat
3. OPI start to finish base and topcoat
4. Tough Coat base and top coat

Base coats with two coats of Orly Passion Fruit

I first applied a base coat as normal and topped that with two coats of Orly in Passion Fruit.  Once applied there was no noticeable differences between them. They all dried relatively quickly and offer protection from staining for my nails. I also like to use a base coat because it acts as a bonder for the polish to adhere to. I also think that it helps to extend the life of my manicure. The only one notable difference came in wearing. I did notice that when using the OPI start to finish base and topcoat the polish seemed to peel much faster than with the other base coats.

Top Coats:
When reviewing the following topcoats I wanted to be sure that all of them were tested in the same matter. I first applied two coats of Orly in Passion Fruit, then waited five minutes. I then applied dots of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue and waited another two minutes until a top coat was applied. I did this for all of the swatches.

Orly in Passion Fruit/Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue

Tough Coat Base/Top Coat 


Tough Coat base/top coat and nail swatch

When applied there was no streaking with Tough Coat. All though this is not a quick dry topcoat it did dry rather quickly. Another benefit is that it can be used as both a base coat or a topcoat. It can also be used as a bonder or sealer for nail art including jewelry, striping tape, rhinestones, paper wraps and decals. Tough Coat retails at Sally's Beauty for about $3.99 which is a good value for a topcoat. Tough Coat gets a pretty polished thumbs up.

Orly Glosser Topcoat

Orly Glosser High Shine Topcoat

I then tried Orly Glosser the bottle indicated that it was a high shine topcoat. I did notice that there was a lot of streaking when applied. It is also not a quick dry polish as well. I tried to apply this again, this time waiting longer after the art was applied, unfortunately the same results occurred. This retails at Sally's Beauty for $7.99. I have used this on top of polish only without any nail art. It does deliver a high gloss shine but is definitely not for use with nail art. Since it is very rare that my nails are polished only one color I would have to give Orly Glosser a pretty polished thumbs down.

Ruby Kisses Quick Dry Topcoat

Ruby Kisses Quick Dry Topcoat

Ruby Kisses quick dry topcoat has a very strong odor. It smells a lot like those balloons in a tube that you inflate with a straw. Once applied over the polka dots there was some streaking as well. The name indicates that it is quick dry but I don't think that it dries very quickly at all. I purchased this for around $2 at one of my local beauty supply stores. Due to the streaking and the long dry time Ruby Kisses quick dry topcoat gets a pretty polished thumbs down.

Out The Door Topcoat

Out The Door Super Fast Drying Topcoat

Out The Door super fast drying topcoat. This comes in a extra large 2.5fl oz. bottle. I got this particular bottle at my local Sally's Beauty Supply. I believe I got this bottle for around $10. As you can see from the nail swatch there is definitely some streaking. This is not a good topcoat for intricate nail art. It will cause streaking. Which I have found out the hard way. I even tried to wait longer and no matter how long I waited for my art to dry there was still streaking. With that said I do still use this topcoat. When doing a basic one color mani, it's not too often but I do use it. The finish is also not really a high gloss shine and sometimes it can leave your nails feeling a bit tacky. So all in all Out the Door Topcoat gets a meh! It's not the worst I have used and definitely not the best.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Topcoat

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Topcoat

I actually received this topcoat for the low, low price of free. I purchased the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polish in Brisk Blue and this came with it for free. Score! This one had very slight streaking. When I let the nail art dry a bit longer the streaking was no longer an issue. Being that I got this free my hopes weren't too high, but I must say that this topcoat exceeded my expectations. For that it gets a pretty polished thumbs up.

OPI Start to Finish Base/Topcoat

OPI Start to Finish Base/Topcoat

I received this as a gift and was excited to see that it does double duty. It can be used as both a base and top coat which is great. Personally I think that it does a better job of being a top coat than a base coat. There was no streaking when applied over nail art. Which was great. It left the nails with an overall good shine. I am going to have to give this one a meh! All though it does do double duty it doesn't work too good as a base coat and I have lots of peeling. It also comes with a high price tag. This retails at Ulta for about $12.99.

Seche Vite Topcoat

Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat

This is by far my favorite topcoats. It dries super fast. It leaves your nails with a super high gloss finish. They look almost like glass. There is not any streaking what so ever. It is great to use when doing nail stamping. Now there are a few cons. It is a thick formula which may take some time to get used to. Over time it also gets thicker, this usually happens when I am down to a quarter left in the bottle. It retails at Sally's Beauty Supple for about $8. They also sell this at Walmart. Seche Vite gets two pretty polished thumbs up.

Orly Matte Topcoat

Orly Matte Topcoat

This one is a little different from the others as this Orly Topcoat is matte. This is the first matte topcoat I have purchased so I didn't really have much to compare it to. It did leave nails with a matte finish as promised. There was some very light streaking but it I let it dry a bit longer that was no longer a issue. I purchased this bottle at Ulta for $10. All in all Orly Matte topcoat gets a pretty polished thumbs up.

I hope that this helps you make a better decision on your next polish shopping spree.

Thanks for stopping by.

<3 Pinky

Nail Polish Deal Alert!!!

This weekend I went to visit my very good friend Lo :) who is also a fellow polish addict. Of course we had to do some polish shopping together. One of our stops was to Sally's Beauty supply. I found some awesome deals. Of my finds were the China Glaze Ombre polish sets. These sets come with four full size polishes and ten sponges. The sponges are used to blend the four colors together to achieve a gradient look. Typically China Glaze polishes cost over $6 each so you can imagine my excitement when I discovered the sets were on sale for $10 each. I picked up two of the sets, Sweet Sensations (pink set) and Wait Teal you see! (turquoise set). The swatch of #4 Make an Entrance looked more red in the picture. the color is actually more like the color in the bottle photo.



1. Angel's Breath 2. Something Sweet 3. Dance Baby 4. Make An Entrance

 

1. White on White 2. For Audrey 3. Aquadelic 4. Turned up Turquoise

 

Turned up Turquoise with Orly Matte Top Coat

 

I love these sets, the nail polish colors look great together but they also look great alone. One of my favorites in the set was Turned up Turquoise. It was actually matte. 



China Glaze Ombre sets get a pretty polished thumbs up. They are a great deal on some great polish, even better when they are on sale.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

<3 Pinky



 

 

Jessie Girl Cosmetics: Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Nail Polish

As I was browsing some nail blogs I kept seeing Julie G Frosted Gumdrops nail polish. It is a ultra glittery nail polish with a textured feel. I then saw that Groupon was offering a deal of the set of six for the low price of $12.99. So of course I ordered them. They arrived as scheduled all intact.

Frosted Gumdrops Collection

Like the polish junkie I am I had to give them a whirl. When applying I noticed that the coverage is excellent. I started with a base coat and with only one coat and I had full coverage. I applied two coats and my nails were so sparkly. The texture is neat, you feel the roughness of the glitter. It isn't scratchy at all. Love it!

Of course with such high sparkle and the textured feel I knew that I was going to be in some trouble when trying to remove it. To my delight I was wrong. I used an acetone based remover and had no issues at all. I just placed a remover soaked ball of cotton on each nail and left them there as I removed the polish from my other nails. Viola!

Frosted Gumdrops: Crushed Candy

Of course I had to give the pink one a whirl but I wanted some contrast. Starting with Finger Paint base coat, I then applied Crushed Candy (color above) to the entire nail. The tips were done in a matte black. I purchased the matte black from Ebay and it came from Japan. I am not sure of the brand. 

Pictured Left to Right; Finger Paints base coat, Crushed Candy,  Matte Black

French Tip Manicure

All in all Jesse Girl Cosmetics Julie G Frosted Gumdrops nail polish gets a pretty polished thumbs up!

Thanks for stopping by 

<3 Pinky