Sally Hansen Salon Effects Strips a.k.a FOOLISHNESS!

Ok so the only other angry post I wrote was this post.  Do you know what those two post have in common?  Sally Hansen.  AHH!  Sally Hansen bothers me.  There prices are over priced for their quality ($8 for Gem Crush?  It's so easy to find dupes for half of them!).  But, everyone was saying how great they were, so I tried 'em out. 

In the box there's 16 nail strips in different sizes and a nail file and cuticle stick

I followed the instructions to the letter!  Look at that foolishness!  I don't know if it's just that my nails are weird-shaped, but before i removed the back (ya' know to cover the sticky side) they were shaped just fine.  Just looking at these pictures is depressing.  If these work for you then continue using them, but as far as I'm concerned LIQUID nail polish is the best way.  And you get way more usage for less money! ($10!!!) Ridiculousness) 

And as a side note:  I was at the mall and tried the Incoco nail strips and they fit my nail 10 000 000  times better.  But they were $20 and I repaint at least every other day so spending that much money for 2 days of wear wouldn't make sense but they had some really cool designs.

So over Christmas break I went up to Boston to visit family and friends and while there I painted Olivia (one of my best friends since preschool) nails.  And so she sent me a picture and post so here it is:

Larson did this mani for me and I absolutely loved it!!  It's was a silver base with a sparkle clear top thingy on the top.  This is Revlon 'Silver Dollar' and ULTA 'Pinta-Yada-Yada'.  The only complaint that I had was that her base coat didn't work well on my nails.  Today (only 6 days after the mani was out on) I only have 2 full nails left and they are kind of chippy.  It was kinda weird though because they came off in full pieces, but otherwise I loved it!!!  Thank you Larson!! :D                        

How to Remove Glitter a.k.a The Tin Foil Technique

 Ok, so glitter is really pretty (as seen here).  But, it's a pain in the but to remove.  But if you use this method, it's not.  So in this example I'm removing Color Club 'Holiday Splendor'.

1) Pour acetone, or acetone-based remover on a cotton ball.  Place on nail and wrap tin foil around the nail.  The bottom part of your finger should be covered.  

2)  Wait for 4-7 minutes (depending on the amount of glitter) and then remove.  If there is a little bit of nail polish left on your  nail can be whipped off really easy.  

Now your done.  ta da.

Color Club 'Holiday Splendor'

This is AN AMAZING color from the Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe collection.  It's a bunch of holo and silver glitter in a teal base.  It's so frikken' beautiful.  Sadly it's a bit sheer, so this is 4 coats, but it's worth it.  It dries matte because of the gritty glitter, so use a top coat (not seen here).  I have swatches of some of the other Beyond the Mistletoe collection coming up.  (top picture in focus, bottom picture out of to show the glitter)

Wet n' Wild 'Tempt'

This was a Christmas present from my friend Jessica and it's a really pretty color (don't look at the pointer finger, I took these pictures a day later).  This is a type of Wet n' Wild called  'Speed Zone', but, it's still really good.  It dries really fast and for this color it was only 2 coats.  One weird thing though,  in the bottle this looks like it's a metallic color, but on the nail it's like a shimmer and it's a lot darker (See picture below).  Do you guys have any nail polish that looks different in the bottle than on the nail?

Island Girl 'Aloha Magic' 5 Pack

This is the 'Aloha Magic' pack shown here.  Umm I love my dad and am extremely grateful, but do u see the awkward bald spots on these nails.  These are all 4 coats.

First up is this magenta color (btw non of these have names). Now this is very unoriginal, I  have two exact dupes in my hoard and have seen many a more in the stores and online. (sorry but for the life of me blogger would not let me center that picture!)

This is another unoriginal color.  I have an L.A. Color that is IDENTICAL!  And while I haven't used that nail polish probably better than this.  Also not to big on this color any ways.

I really like this color. But no matter how many coats, there was always a bald spot.  

My favorite color of the bunch a really pretty teal-blue kinda color. although not very opaque.  Oh Island  Girl, you pretty colors and- oh no I can't say that on the internet- bad formulas depress me.

Best formula.  No awkward spots nice color too! So while not the best color it's defiantly the best polish!

This is a picture of all of them. 

What do you think?  Is this set worth the $12?  Do you have dupes for any of these colors?  Comment below

Pumpkin Nail Lacquer, Unnamed Hot Pink

I really like these pumpkin nail polishes.  For several reasons:

1. They dry INSANELY fast.  Like, I paint my nails from left thumb to left pinkie, then right thumb to right pinkie, and I can keep on doing that.  No dry time.
2. They glow in the dark (see slightly scary pictures below).
3. I rather enjoy the bright colors.  I also have neon purple and orange.
4. HAVE YOU SEEN THOSE LITTLE PUMPKIN BOTTLES?!?!?! (full bottle picture here)

This is four coats without a topcoat

OPI 'Swimsuit... Nailed It!'

OMG! How beautiful is this??  Of course the awkward nail polish on my ring finger skin ruins it.  But seriously!  LOOK AT THAT! That is intense.  It's the only foil I have other than two silver foils.  It only looks like that in the sun though, inside it looks more like the picture below.  This is 2 wonderous coats without a top coat.

ALDO 'Twilight Rendez-Vous'

I really like this color.  This is one of the five ALDO Nail Lacquer.  This is 3 slightly-easy coats.  By slightly-easy, I mean that the brush was JACKED UP!  It was angled.  like not straight across on the top!  WHAT ON EARTH!?!?!  Normally this is what my right hand looks like (slightly more messy), and my left hand is all cleaned up.  But other than that, I like this color :D!  (oh yeah and a top coat)

Finger Paints 'I'm a Survivor'

I bought this with the rest of my pink nail polish in this haul. It's a really pretty medium pink with light pink flakies (see close up below).  This is two coats.  I actually got this on the little clearance rack at Sally Beauty for $2.  Seriously anytime you go check the clearance rack, because they can have some good deals on nail polish.

ALDO 'Teal the Spotlight'

This is another ALDO Nail Lacquer.  I really really, like this color, because nothing beats a good creme.  This is a teal, but it has a bit of grey in it (although my camera was to mean to show that greyish-ness).  This is 2 coats without a top coat.  Wow, short post.  Until next time!

Love & Beauty 'Purple'

Love & Beauty is a brand of cosmetics sold at Forever 21 and there nail polish is $2.80.  They have like a buttload of colors and finishes (glitter, creme, shimmer, even some flakies and scented). Another think I like is a lot of there colors are dupes of OPI and Orly ('Gone Gonzo', 'Austin-tatious Turquoise' to name a few).  So when I saw this it looked like a dupe for Orly 'Out of this World'.  It is.  But it's *so* pretty.  It's a dark purple base with round circular things (not glitter but not shimmer, it's an in-between) that flash every type and shade of purple.  So in some lights it's blue purple, magenta, true purple, or a deep purple.  I really like this color though, this is 3 coats.

OPI 'Curry Up Don't Be Late'

This is from OPI's 2008 India Spring Collection.  This was actually given to me by my grandma, we had gone to her house and she was like "I know you had been wanting a gold so I got you this".  I have no idea how she knew that.  But I'm very grateful anyway. (Love you Punky :D)  So I painted my nails with this (4 or 5 coats) and was in a Christmas-y nail art kinda mood.  So I put silver swirls on (ya know that song Silver & Gold) and left the pink blank for swatching purposes.  Really like this mani though.  :)

Wet n' Wild 'Night Prowl'

So out of the six missed mani's (shown here!) and OLIVIA said I should show you this nail polish first.  This is Wet n' Wild 'Night Prowl'.  This is 2 coat.  It's kinda funny cause on the first coat there's like barely any paint, then on the second coat it's totally covered.  This is a black base with purple glitter in it.  Oh yeah and here's a bonus:  It's $.99!!!  That's all for today FRAAAAYNDS!

ULTA 'Blue Streak'

This is ULTA 'Blue Streak'.  It's a really pretty darker than a medium blue but lighter than a navy creme.  Actually it's more of a little bit jellish.  This is two coats.  Sorry for the crappy application.  It was late.  The more accurate picture color-wise is below, but it's blurry.

Snowman Nail Lacquer

Really quick swatch for you people today.  This is a Snowman Nail Lacquer.  Made by the same people who make the Pumpkin Nail Lacquer (shown in this haul HERE).  And there sold for $2 at Rite Aid.  Well Mimi got this for me and it's so pretty.  This is a sheer-ish magenta base with a bunch of lighter hot pink glitter.  Now ya know how a lot of glitters say they're 3D glitter?  This is 3D-looking glitter.  It has like depth and stuff.  When you add a top coat it is BEAUTIOUS!

All for today, Bye!

L.A. Colors 'Atomic' and Sinful Colors 'Nail Junkie'

Ok so 'Nail Junkie' is like one of my favorite nail polishes.  Over any blue or teal color.  And I used this L.A. Colors (two perfect coats) and wanted to add some sparkle and GLITTTTER!

Here it is (ain't it purty?!?!):

It's actually really gold and awesome.  It's a very lightly tinted  teal jam packed with gold and light teal glitter with gold flakies (1 coat).  And 'Atomic' is a really pretty creme and it looks exactly like it does in the above picture.  And for $1 that's a good deal.  Sorry for the awkward cuticle line.

This shows the truest color but it's a bit blurry.  ISN'T IT PRETTY!?!

Now, I have a question for you guys.  For that like month that I had 7 manis that weren't photographed of blogged.  Here they are:

Want to see them posted about?  Just leave a comment below  :D

Island Girl Mood Nail Color

This is the Mood Nail Color set I got from my Island Girl Haul.  Well mood nail polish doesn't actually change with your mood (umm duh.).  But onto the swatches!

This is the nameless pink.  All of these dry matte although this is the only one that's photographed without a topcoat.  I'm not really a huge fan of hot pink but I do like this color.  This is 5 coats.  Yeah, did I forget to mention the formula on this SUCKED!  I probably should've done another coat.  If I went over it all of the polish below would disappear.   

This was my favorite color.  And it was surprising because in the bottle it didn't look like I would like it, but it's so pretty.  Also It changed the most (see below).  It normally looked like this but in sunlight it was brighter and had the dark green tips.  This is 5 coats and the formula was better than the pinks.

This a really pretty blue.  It was my favorite until I swatched the green.  Color-wise I still love it mostest, but green has it's formula beat.

BEFORE

DIPPED IN POT OF BOILING WATER

They all changed colors but green is the most obvious. (no duh why else is it my favorite?!)

I like it normal better because then you see less awkwardness.  But I still think its cool how under extreme heat it changes color.

Mini Essie vs Mini OPI

Now in Mini OPI haul I said how much I like mini things.  So I was at TJ Maxx looking for nail polish (go often they can have some GREAT nail polish deals, and I've seen Color Club and Nicole by OPI too) and I saw this:

 Essie 2011 Brazilliant Summer Collection

This shows the color really acuratly

(Brazilliant, Smooth Sailing, Super Bossa Nova, Meet Me at Sunset)

These colors are all so pretty.  The colors from this collection that aren't in the set are 'Absolutely Shore' and 'Too Too Hot'.

This is the mini brush vs. the regular Essie brush.  You have no idea how exited that they're the same.  From the top you can tell that the regular may have a little bit more bristles but other than that they're exactly the same.  Unlike the OPI mini's.

The OPI mini brush is just depressing.  I really wish they would just make the brush disproportionate from the bottle so it's more useable.  Plus the bottle is bigger (Essie's being .16 oz and OPI's being .125 oz).

bottle comparison.

Swatches soon!