Nails Inc. Latex Effect Swatches

Nails Inc. has a few new collections out that are currently available on their website or on Sephora's website.  One of these new collections is the Latex Effect collection.  As of today, while I am writing this post, I just checked the Sephora website and it says these polishes are now available in stores.

I originally bought these 4 weeks ago online to see what they were like, so I only picked up 2 colors to test out of the 4 colors available in this collection.  Take a look below to see what you think of the 2 polishes I picked up to see what you think:

  no base coat, 2 coats Portobello Road, no top coat

The first polish I will show you is Portobello Road.  A beautiful light pink in the bottle, and on the nails the color is the same.  Unfortunately, the color is where the prettiness stops, since this polish was the problem child of the two I picked up (although you can see below that the other polish also has some issues).

 no base coat, 2 coats Portobello Road, no top coat

So as you may have guessed, the term "latex" used in the name of this polish collection means that these polishes have a matte finish.  I assumed the finish would be rubbery looking (half matte and half shiny), like the Illamasqua Rubber Finish polishes or the Wax That... top coat by Cult Nails.  I might describe this as a little less chalky than regular matte finishes, but it is still a matte finish polish at the end of the day.

 base coat, 2 coats Bermondsey Street, no top coat

The second polish I have to share with all of you is Bermondsey Street.  This is a light but bright turquoise-leaning blue.  If you look on Wikipedia, it looks exactly like the color they call Celeste.  I think the photos make this polish look a little bit brighter than it appears in person.

 base coat, 2 coats Bermondsey Street, no top coat

As you can see with Bermondsey Street, the polish goes on a lot smoother than with Portobello Road.  There are less ridges and the polish consistency is much easier to work with.  Out of these 2 polishes, if you are tempted by them both but unsure of which one to get, I would suggest just getting Bermondsey Street.

The other 2 polishes in this collection are Shoreditch High Street (which is described on the Sephora website as a hot pink polish) and Camden Passage (which is described as a nude polish, although the photograph of the polish makes it appear to look like a gray-beige hybrid).

If you have picked up any of these polishes in this collection I would love to hear about your experiences with them.  Was the consistency hard to work with?  Does Camden Passage appear to have the same formula issues that Portobello Road has?  I actually swatched Portobello Road 2 times before giving up since the results looked exactly the same.  This makes me wonder if it is just user error, and I have gotten so used to just putting a matte top coat on top of a polish I want to be matte, that I no longer have the careful touch needed when working with mattes.  So please, let me know how your experience working with any of these polishes from this collection goes!

Nails Inc Garden Party Swatches

New for Spring 2014 in Sephora stores: the Nails Inc. Garden Party Special Effects Collection!  I was so excited when I found an empty display spot for these three polishes at my local Sephora.  Unfortunately, they were not currently available online, so I had to be patient and wait for them to show up.  Luckily when they did show up on the Sephora website I was able to see they were at the Sephora inside JCPenny store nearest me.  On that note, I have found that this pattern is often true for new Nails Inc. products.  They are first available at the Sephora inside JCPenny stores before the standalone Sephora stores (and sometimes even before being available online), so check there first when looking!

 base coat, 2 coats Sinful Colors My Turn, 1 coat Westbourne Gardens, no top coat

This collection consists of three multi-hued and multi-sized glitter toppers all in a clear base.  The first I have to share is Westbourne Gardens.  This polish is mostly pink, featuring small hexagonal glitter in metallic pink, matte pink, and matte white colors.  Smaller white matte hexes are strewn throughout, along with micro matte pink hexagonal glitter.  All of the pink glitter with the white glitter thrown in creates an overall soft pink hue making this glitter polish beautiful for any spring event!

  base coat, 2 coats Sinful Colors My Turn, 1 coat Westbourne Gardens, no top coat

Next up we'll look at Portobello Gardens.  This mostly blue glitter topper features small hexagonal glitter in a cobalt metallic blue, a matte turquoise-blue, and a matte white interspersed with smaller matte white and matte light green hexagonal glitter.  Filling up the rest of the clear base is micro turquoise-blue hexagonal-shaped glitter.

  base coat, 2 coats Sinful Colors My Turn, 1 coat Portobello Gardens, no top coat

The white glitter mixed in with the bright blue glitters along with a touch of green make this the perfect winter-to-spring shade!

 base coat, 2 coats Sinful Colors My Turn, 1 coat Portobello Gardens, no top coat

The last lacquer in this collection is Princes Gardens (which I either always want to add an apostrophe to or call "Princess Gardens").

 base coat, 2 coats Sinful Colors My Turn, 1 coat Princes Gardens, no top coat

This glitter is the most multi-hued of the three, featuring small metallic lilac/lavender, matte light blue, and matte light green hexagonal glitter.  There is smaller matte white hexagonal glitter throughout, along with micro light green hexagonal glitter.

base coat, 2 coats Sinful Colors My Turn, 1 coat Princes Gardens, no top coat

All three of these glitter polishes are now available on the Sephora website or in stores if you are in the United States.  Retail price is $11US each.  If you live in another country, have you seen this collection?

If you think you've heard of the Garden Party collection before, you have.  About a year ago there was a four polish collection available on QVC's UK website that contained only one glitter polish called Grosvenor Gardens.  These two collections don't seem to be connected except by name.

What do you think of this collection?  If you want to see photos of what the display looks like so you can keep an eye out for it at your local Sephora, check out my pictures on Twitter or Instagram!

Nails Inc Pop Art Collection for Spring 2014

New for Spring 2014!  Nails Inc. has released a matte glitter collection at Sephora.  I picked up these two polishes in a stand-alone Sephora store and have yet to see them on the Sephora website.

no base coat, 2 coats Knightsbridge Place, no top coat

The all matte glitter polish in this collection: Nails Inc. Knightsbridge Place.  Made up of all the same sized hexagonal glitter in matte red, light pink, and light blue in a clear base.  As you can see in the photos above and below, these polishes don't work so well as full-coverage polishes because even with the dabbling method where you dab on a blob of polish and push the glitter around on the nail to get the nail fully covered, as I did here, with two thick coats, there are still large un-covered spots on the nails, and there are areas that the glitter is starting to build-up and become bumpy.  

no base coat, 2 coats Knightsbridge Place, no top coat 

Nails Inc. Upper Street, the second polish in this collection, is made up of four colors of hexagonal glitter in a clear base.  Three are matte glitter: the white, light pink, and light blue.  The fourth color of glitter is a shiny gold, which adds a different dimension from Knightsbridge Place.

 no base coat, 2 coats Upper Street, no top coat

Like Knightsbridge Place, Upper Street does not work very well as a full coverage polish because of how chunky the glitter is, creating the same problems of balding and bumpiness that Knightsbridge Place has.

 no base coat, 2 coats Upper Street, no top coat

Where Knightsbridge Place and Upper Street really shine are as glitter toppers.  Both Knightsbridge Place and Upper Street are layered over Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Thinking of Blue.

First let's see Knightsbridge Place as a topper.

 base coat, 1 coat Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, 1 coat Knightsbridge Place, no top coat

 base coat, 1 coat Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, 1 coat Knightsbridge Place, no top coat

  base coat, 1 coat Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, 1 coat Upper Street, no top coat

base coat, 1 coat Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, 1 coat Upper Street, no top coat

If you think you've seen these polishes before, you may have.  A few blogs have shared photos of these glitters in double ended bottles.  There appear to be three double ended polish duos where on one side of the duo, there is a creme polish, and the other end has one of the pop art glitters.  The third glitter topper, Cavendish Place, has turquoise, black, silver, and white glitter in it.  This was not at Sephora.  I'm not sure if this means that Cavendish Place will not be showing up at Sephora, or whether it was just not in stock at the particular Sephora store I frequent.  Please let me know if you see it around!

So what do you think of these polishes?  Which is your favorite?  Have you seen or tried any polishes from the Nails Inc. Pop Art collection?

Formula X for Sephora in Demolition, Thunder, and TNT

Hello!  Have you heard about the new collection of polishes Sephora has released?  Now that Sephora is no longer carrying the Sephora by OPI colors, they have reformulated their small release of the Sephora X line.  Read on and you'll see why you need these in your life (and your helmer).

 no base coat, 2 coats OPI Alpine Snow - Matte, 1 coat Formula X TNT, no top coat

Let's just pause for a minute and consider how momentous these new polishes by Sephora are.

The line of "Xplosive Top Coats" are all mixed shape matte glitter polishes in a clear base.  They range from a single color of glitter in a clear base (like TNT shown above and below), to multi-colored glitter in a clear base (like Demolition and Thunder seen further down).  They even have a number of polishes that are a mix of black glitter with other colors, besides the ubiquitous black and white matte glitter in a clear base.

  no base coat, 2 coats OPI Alpine Snow - Matte, 1 coat Formula X TNT, no top coat

TNT is a bright cobalt blue glitter topper made up of large, medium, and small hexagonal shaped glitter in a clear base.

  base coat, 2 coats black creme, 1 coat Formula X Thunder, no top coat

And now on to the multi-hued polishes!  The fact that Sephora has released a line of permanent polishes that all contain various sizes and colors of matte glitter really shows they are up on the trends.

Thunder is described on the Sephora website as containing "turquoise, lime, periwinkle, and white confetti" in a clear base.  I'm not quite sure what color they are calling the extra-large hexagonal pieces of glitter, but they appeared light pink to me.

 base coat, 2 coats black creme, 1 coat Formula X Thunder, no top coat

Last of the three I picked up with glitter is Demolition.  This was the first of the three I tried on when I was swatching, and I instantly fell in love with this one.  What do you think?

 base coat, 2 coats black creme, 1 coat Formula X Demolition, no top coat

Demolition is described on the Sephora website as "blue, turquoise, lime, and orange confetti" in a clear base.

base coat, 2 coats black creme, 1 coat Formula X Demolition, no top coat

And for one last photo, I have put both Thunder and Demolition over a white polish so you can see the comparison of the two and the overall color output these two each give off.  Thunder definitely leans more blue, while the orange micro-glitter in Demolition contrasts against the larger white glitter as well as the even larger blue and green glitter pieces giving it a general feeling of a mixture of pastel colors.

no base coat, 2 coats OPI Alpine Snow - Matte, (from left to right in image) 1 coat Formula X Thunder, 1 coat Formula X Demolition, 1 coat Formula X Thunder, 1 coat Formula X Demolition, no top coat

From my experience swatching these three, each glitter topper has an amazing payoff of glitter, and you don't have to go digging in the bottle to get the larger chunks of glitter.  I would recommend doing both a dabbling and brushing method to jointly push the larger glitter pieces to where you want them on your nails.

The Formula X line contains 62 creme/metallic polishes that are packaged with a white cap and are under the label "New Classics," as well as the glitter polishes mentioned above, along with other black capped polishes such as a small line of holographic polishes (called "Holograms," there are 5 of those in total), and the usual foil/metallic glitter polishes.

Along with the change up in bottle shape and name from the Sephora X line, these lacquers also cost an additional dollar (so the "regular" polishes with the white caps are $10.50US instead of $9.50US, while the black capped bottles that include the glitters and other "special effects" are $12.50US instead of $11.50US).  Now while price increases in nail polish annoy me and I tend to buy way less of a brand when they've increased their price more than 50 cents in less than a one year period, these polishes are definitely worth the price.  Not only are there special glitter lacquers that are unique colors that you will be hard pressed to find somewhere else, but the bottles themselves are made of nice weighted glass and feel larger than the Sephora X bottles (at least giving the illusion of containing more polish).

I bought these three lacquers along with two others that I will hopefully be sharing sometime soon this past Thursday.  The first Sephora I went to was just stocking them at 11:15 in the morning, so I got a pretty good view of half of the collection, but the store I went to in the evening to look for the holographic polishes said they were setting up their display that night to be ready for Friday.  So what that means for you is that you can hopefully find these in stock at your local Sephora this weekend.  Do call ahead as it seems that different stores have different arrival times for their packages, and some stores may not have their display up yet.

At this point I would just like to mention one extra thing: customer service.  I have almost always had great customer service at Sephora, but Thursday the people working at both stores I went to were exceptionally wonderful and went above and beyond what is probably normal protocol.  At the first store where the display was in the process of being set up, the sales associate there began opening boxes and pulling out one lacquer from each box that was still unopened for my individual examination (and I didn't even ask her to do this)!  At the second store I went to the sales associate warned me that the boxes were piled together in their storage rooms but went to dig out a mixed bag so I could at least get a look at some of the polishes.  I only mention this because I find great customer service is worth the cost.  I like spending only a dollar on Wet-n-Wild polishes at my local Walgreens or Rite Aid, and where I live the sales personnel at those stores are both friendly and helpful, but I definitely feel that it makes it a lot easier parting with $50 for 4 polishes when I have been treated like a customer rather than an interloper that no one wants to deal with.  So I would just like to say "kudos" to Sephora (and their employees) for making me feel like a valued customer.  If you've never been into a Sephora, I definitely recommend it.  Even if you just want to try on nail polish, the experience and service there is top notch.

OPI Pink of Hearts 2013 Swatches and Review

Here are the two gorgeous lacquers that come in the OPI Pink of Hearts 2013 box set.

no base coat, 3 coats Pink-ing of You, no top coat

The pink shade that comes in the set is called Pink-ing of You.  It is a full coverage pink creme polish that dries with a perfect shine.  For those of you that wear polish without base and/or top coat, this polish would work well without either, and you wouldn't have to worry about staining.  I used three very thin coats because it was extremely hot inside when I was painting and I had a fan on (and heat + fan + polish = bubbles), so to avoid bubbles I tried to do the thinest coats possible.  You could achieve this coverage with two regular coats of polish.

Now I tried to consider what polish I had that was closest in shade to Pink-ing of You and I was recently gifted I Think in Pink by a dear friend, and in the bottle they look like almost the same shade of pink.  In the photo above, Pink-ing of You is on the left, I Think in Pink is on the right.

(From left to right) 3 coats Pink-ing of You, 2 coats I Think in Pink, 3 coats Pink-ing of You, 2 coats I Think in Pink

In the photograph above, you can see that one of the major differences between Pink-ing of You and I Think in Pink is the fact that I Think in Pink is sheer compared to the creme finish of Pink-ing of You.  I turned off the fan to switch to I Think in Pink, so I used 2 regular coats of polish to create the same thickness of polish comparable to the 3 thin coats of Pink-ing of You, and if you look at the above photo, the nail line is visible on my middle and pinky nails through I Think in Pink.

no base coat, 2 coats More than a Glimmer, no top coat

More than a Glimmer is described by OPI as a matte glitter polish.  The packaging also calls this polish "Limited Edition" so it is likely this polish will not come out later as a separate polish that you can purchase without having to buy a packaged set as it comes now.  This polish is very glitter packed and comes in a milky base.  Made of medium, small, and micro-sized metallic hexagonal shaped glitter in silver, pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue.  

Although I had thought the finish on this polish would be that of a jelly sandwich look - where the glitter would look as if it was sandwiched between layers of a milky white polish - because this polish is so glitter packed, you can't do more than 2 coats without the glitter starting to poke out on the top of the nail rather than lying flat.  So while the finish is a perfect matte glitter finish, the milky color is not as obvious as one might expect from just looking at the bottle.

no base coat, 1 coat More than a Glimmer over 2 coats of Pink-ing of You, no top coat

And here are the two polishes layered together.  This is almost a similar look to Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop without the suspended glitter finish.  

If you are looking to buy the set online, look for the above package that lists this as the 2013 Pink of Hearts set.  The set also comes with 10 pink ribbon decals and 10 micro nail crystals that you can add to top off your new polished look.

Overall I'd say the matte glitter polish is a great creation by OPI, something unique that will definitely appeal to the nail polish aficionado.  The pink is a nice neutral creme polish but is nothing unique, so if you have light pink creme polishes in your collection it is likely you will already have a similar shade of polish in your stash.

Christmas Flowers

For Days 7 and 8 of the Twelve Days of Christmas manicures, inspiration came from the potted plants that are used as decoration around this Holiday time: a poinsettia!

image from thescientistgardener.blogspot.com

For this manicure, I used a matte white nail polish in OPI's Alpine Snow Matte, a matte black polish in Obscurity by OPI, Nailene's Acrylic Strong Top Coat, and a few red and green flowered jewels for the nail design.








First comes the matte white polish. While this lacquer tends to need more than one coat to be completely opaque, since only the tips will be visible at the end, it is only the tips of the nails that will need a second coat of the white polish.







For Step 2, you will need to cut strips of your blue painter's tape (or use French Tip Nail Guides, if you prefer). Lay the strip onto your nail, so it just passes the beginning of where the nail connects to the skin. Make sure to press down on the tape on the side that the black nail polish can fill under. Paint your coat of black polish on the upper part of the nail, and then quickly pull off the blue tape.




The great thing about adding decals of any kind to a french manicure design, is that those decals can hide imperfections in the painting, such as the little dip in my middle finger where the black nail polish oozed under the tape because I didn't make sure the tape was pressed down before I started painting.





With Step 3, you are just adding the first of the three jewels to your nails. First, go one nail at a time and add a drop of a clear polish in the center of where the black polish meets the white polish, and then drop your jewel into the clear polish while the polish is still wet. Press down on the jewel to make sure it is secure.








With Step 4, you are just completing the row of jewels that will go across each nail. Start on each finger (again, one at a time), by putting a drop of the clear lacquer you are using to adhere your gems to your nails on one side of the centered jewel. Drop the new gemstone into the clear lacquer and press down to secure the jewel. Repeat this process on the opposite side of the middle jewel, so that there will be a total of three jewels/gemstones on each nail in alternating colors.






Step 5 is one of the most important steps when using jewels on nails - adding a top coat. If you want your jewels to stay on your nails for more than a few hours, you are going to need to do more than one coat of Top Coat.




And that is the finished design! This was a fun little festive look because the red and green jewels really pop out against the black and white background. Would you try this design?


On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
seven swans a swimming
six geese a laying
FIVE GOLDEN RINGS
four calling birds
three french hens
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
eight maids a milking
seven swans a swimming
six geese a laying
FIVE GOLDEN RINGS
four calling birds
three french hens
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.

Christmas Lights

Days 5 and 6 of the Condensed Twelve Days of Christmas manicure marathon is a simple Christmas Lights look.




Do you put up Christmas lights? I confess, I have an artificial Christmas tree that already has lights on it (built in), so I never have to worry about stringing the lights around the tree after having to set up the tree itself. Less stress...more time to paint nails.

image from thatsprettywhack.blogspot.com

For the actual Christmas light bulbs of this design, I decided to incorporate some of those glass-fleck polishes we've see often this past year. They reflect light nicely, so it's almost like having an actual bulb on your nails when you're looking at your nails in an illuminated atmosphere.




From left to right: Rimmel in 606 Dazzle, OPI in Obscurity (from the 2010 Halloween mini set), OPI in Take the Stage, OPI in The Show Must Go On!, Zoya in Mimi, and Zoya in Charla





Step 1 is laying down the base color. I chose a soft gold shade with small glitter particles in it that I thought would make a nice festive background for the lights.




If you want to keep with the glitter-flecked theme (like the polishes for the bulbs), a background of a shade like Orly Winter Wonderland would work nice and would work well to layer over since it is white.




Step 2 is where the blue painter's tape comes in. Although I did not take a picture of the actual tape, the idea is fairly straight forward:




Taking a strip of painter's tape from the roll that is at least 2 inches in length, using a permanent marker, draw a wavy line down the middle of the tape from one cut end to the other (rather than top to bottom).


I didn't take a picture of the actual tape on my nails because this step will differ a bit for each nail length. The longer the nails, the more height you want your curves to have. Once you've decided on a height pattern and drawn it onto the tape, cut along the line you have just drawn. You will need both pieces of tape, wherein you will use each half of the the original piece to mark off the top and bottom of the wavy "light cord". Cut both pieces of tape together in chunks (from the whole piece you've drawn and cut) that span wide enough to cover the whole nail straight across. This will leave you with five separate sets of top and bottom pieces for each nail on one hand.





Once you have painted on your wavy "light cord" in Step 2, you can move on to Step 3.


On a new piece of painter's tape cut from the roll, draw little light bulb shapes at the edge of the tape, so the bottom of each bulb touches the bottom of the tape. You will use these shapes to fill in on the nail, by placing each bulb shape with the open end against a curve in your wavy cord, and then close the form by adding a single newly cut strip of blue painter's tape, so no nail polish seeps where it was not wanted.






And after adding top coat, here is the final look.





The only thing I wouldn't recommend is using a matte polish for the light bulb cord (the black wavy line) like I did, because the lines were more rough than they would have been had I used a regular black polish (that dries at a regular speed).


This is a fun look that everyone can try at least once (even if it's just to then decide this look isn't for you). It's bright and cheery just like Holiday lights are.


This concludes Days 5 and 6 of the Twelve Days of Christmas.


On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
FIVE GOLDEN RINGS
four calling birds
three french hens
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
six geese a laying
FIVE GOLDEN RINGS
four calling birds
three french hens
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.