200th Post: Celebrate With Some Polish Pics!

Thought I would take a break from feeling bad about myself to post some polish photos.  Seems like to took me a while to get up to 200 posts but somehow I got there!

Run don't walk to your local Sephora and buy the Chaotic top coat from their Sephora X polish line.  It's now my favourite top coat of all time.  Chaotic is a glitter polish except for the particles are not super shiny and that makes the top coat look like Jackson Pollock rose from the grave just to splatter paint all over your nails.  It's layered over Hampstead Gardens by Nails Inc. and I love it!!!

Jamaica Me Crazy is your typical summertime pink polish but I am always found of a pink that's heavy on the blue.  I remember the formula as being a little bit more durable than Essie usually is.

It's been a while since I've set foot in a Joe Fresh and I still have a few photos from their polish line that I hadn't posted yet, so here they are:

Mallard is a dark green creme that is actually as glossy as it appears in this photo.  I'm not sure if they still make it but if they do, it's a classic fall colour and not a waste at $4.

I'm not as enthusiastic about Mist.  It's a light frosty green tone and it's nice enough but it's nothing to shout about either.  It dries quickly though, so if you are looking for something to quickly do your nails with, this one's a safe bet.

This one has me stumped.  When I found it in the store, none of the bottles had a label that indicated its name.  It's a nice Blurple but it has a few issues with streaking, which you can see in the photo.

Rusty from Gosh is definitely going to be going back on my nails this summer as it's a great bronze shimmer with good wear time.

I think I might have had Essie's Sag Harbour before I started writing this blog, so I guess it was time to post it.  Again, this is a colour that says summer and is exactly the type of colour I like to sport while swimming in the ocean!  God, I want to go back and see my family in Barbados...:(

She's Picture Perfect from Essie is a lilac colour I liked much, much more in the bottle than I like on my nails.  It didn't quite go with my skin tone and you can notice some patchy bald spots that made the application less than stellar.

Anyone one who has checked out this blog knows about my goofy/sad/manic/self-deprecating obsession with actor Tom Hiddleston.  Well, this Wednesday, it got even worse!  I guess I'm going through a mid-life crisis and so while some people buy expensive sports cars or cheat on their spouses, I decided to do something else.  After waiting almost a entire year, and paying for it on installments (because it is that expensive) my Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece 1/6th LOKI finally arrived at my doorstep and man!  Is it something to be seen:

No, I Did Not Happen to Bump Into Tom Hiddleston on the Street While He Happened to be Wearing Full Loki Regalia!  This is s DOLL!!!

If you're not familiar with deluxe figure manufacturers Hot Toys, then you should know that they are arguably the very best at facial reproduction of the a film's original character.  He has wrinkles on his forehead and tiny freckles on his face and neck with what I assume is a brush made with one single hair plucked from the eyelash of an angel.  I have not even begun to take pictures of my 1/6th sized imaginary boyfriend  but would like to do a full length review because this thing is so damn awesome!!!

Cheyne Walk by Nail Inc.

Direct Sunlight

Shade

Shade

Nail Inc. has got a few new duochromes out, two of which are available right now at Sephora's all around the GTA.  The first one I tried out was Cheyne Walk, a medium purple shimmer that reflects a kind of brown.  Man I love duochromes but they are always difficult to photograph and you always have to take a series of them in order to make sure that the viewer can see all of the different ways that the polish captures the light.  If I didn't snap a few in the shade you wouldn't be able to really see the duochrome effect at all.  Direct sunlight just seems to blot these kind of polishes out.  And if this wasn't a douchrome, I can't say that I would have been enthusiastic about it as it looks a little washed out with my complexion.

That aside, i had no real issues with the application.  It had a smooth finish ad was free of link and bubbles but it did take a little bit more time to dry than other Nails Inc.  

Man, it's just turning out to be a ho-hum summer for me, and I had high hopes since my month of May was pretty good in comparison to the awful year I'd been having up until then.  I know I could use a little adventure and romance but it’s not like some Prince Charming is going to ride up on a white horse and take me away...

WTF?!?! Really?

Link:Elsa Nott

I see, alas Mocha Maiden, I must continue my lonely pilgrimage to find a suitable set of ovaries perfect for my destructive intents.

It’s not you, its meeeeee.....

Link:Go F&ck Yourself, Tom Hiddleston

What the hell, not even in my dreams?...sigh...

Hampstead Gardens & Gatwick by Nails Inc.

I'm really getting to like Nail Inc. nail polish quite a bit!  Although I've only got 4 bottles from the line (all of them picked up at a GTA Sephora), I'm quite found of them...even the glitter polish.  I found Hampstead Gardens in a clearout bin for $5 CDN and I completely love it!  Sure, it almost looks like I've smeared mustard all over my fingers but what's not to like about that?  Mustard equals hot dogs and hot dogs equal tasty BBQ!  Definitely what some would consider a fall colour.  This had a good formula and application and there was full coverage in 2 coats.

Although I'm still into matte finishes, I can understand why trend that keeps coming back goes away just as quickly: The Formula!  The vast majority of matte polishes chip away within a few hours of application.  Gatwick (also $5 CDN in the Sephora clearout bin) was no exception here.  It's a beauty rose red but as you can see, I had major issues with its chipping off in no time at all.  Matte polishes dry extremely quickly but they are also much thicker than regular polishes.  Retouches take only a few minutes but the texture will make every flaw on your nail show up, as evidenced by my index finger. 

Connaught Square by Nails Inc.

I am still trying to get myself to get on the "I Love Glitter Polish" train but I just can't seem to get on board.  Nails Inc. can call this polish a 3D glitter "special effects" but that doesn't change the fact that this is still just a glitter with the same matte finish and lack of durability that usually comes with this types of polishes.  Plus there was this problem...

What the FACK!!!

As you can see, the brush was crap! Shelling out $15 on a polish and then finding stray brush hairs sticking out doesn't do much to build brand loyalty. Even though my experience with this polish wasn't great, I do really like the blue & purple colour combination and it was one of the less difficult glitters in terms of removal.  Since I like  my nails to look more precise than how this ended up, at least this colour is going to look great on my toes in the summertime.

Warwick Way by Nails Inc.

Warwick Way with Flash

Every once in a while, I'll pick up a polish that just absolutely refuses to be photographed properly.  Warwick Way by Nails Inc. is one of those polishes.  I was genuinely happy to finally see this UK brand finally make it to Canadian store shelves via Sephora and even though their initial offerings are limited, I still picked up 3 of them to give the brand a try.  It's a stunning blue teal creme which IS NOT how it photographed at all.  Sunny days are in short supply in the GTA and usually, I get good results with flash photography but this polish just can't be captured...

Warwick Way in Overcast Light

And it's still not right!  It's just such a deep and rich tone with a great amount of shine.  There's no top coat on my nails and it's so glossy that when you rub your finger across your nail, the polish squeaks!  I used two coats but some may want to go for three as you can still see your nail line through the polish.  It was quick drying and even though the brush wasn't special, it was workable.  Here's to hoping the line expands trough Canada!

Magnetic Nail Polish by Layla & Nails Inc.

As much as I love nail polish, I have to admit that sometimes I can suffer from a feeling that I can best describe as a "lack of new things" vibe that I think comes from seeing the same brands over and over again and having to make the weighty decision of "should I buy this creme or shimmer finish?"  As the popularity of nail polish has growth hugely in the last few years, manufacturers have had to get a lot more inventive and/or innovative in order to stand out in what is now a very crowded market.  More often than not, some of these "innovations" are just retreads of ideas tried out in the past like matte finish polishes, polishes in pens and crackle top coats.  I've seen all of these trends before (let's face it, I'm old!) and I've tried them all too but one type of polish eluded me for a while and that was magnetic nail polish.  

Magneto, Do Your Thing!

This in itself isn't new.  I've seen them often on many other blogs in the last few years but somehow I either missed out when the polish was first available and since I don't shop online as much as I used to, my options for purchasing were limited.

But now magnetic polish is all over the place from high end retailers like Sephora to your local pharmacy which is where I picked up these two polishes to try out:

First up is Trafalgar Square from Nail Inc. London which is finally available at Sephora stores in Canada.  They didn't have too much to offer by way of colour choices.  In fact, the Sephora that I bought this from only had two: a dark grey/black and a dark purple. 

The second polish is Velvet Groove from Layla.  They had a larger choice of colours that included blues & greens but I think I chose this colour because I still would have liked it even if it didn't have tiny magnetic particles in it.  As you can see, I had a few issues with the application, which obviously takes more time to do than the usual process.

The process is simple though.  You paint your nail and while the polish is still wet, you hold the magnet (which is part of the bottle cap) over your nail for a few seconds as it pulls on the particles to form a design on your nail...

Kind of Like This, Only With a Lot Less Charisma.

And you better work fast because both of these polishes dry like lightning and you'll just end up with a very frosty looking finish. Oddly enough, what helps this process work is much like what it takes to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice!  I botched up my first two attempts on my pinkies and ring fingers by holding the magnets so close, I smudged my polish with the bottle caps!  The first photo is the Nails Inc. cap and the second is the Layla cap.

The Handy, Rounded Guide for Your Nail Didn't Stop Me From Smearing the Polish.

Oops! I Did it Again.

Two words of advice. If you buy the Layla polish and you smudge your nails with the bottle cap, do not wipe the polish off or you will end up ruining the effect of the magnet design as seen in the above photo.  The second is you really should work in a well lit area so that you can see what you're doing and avoid mishaps.

So now for the final word.  Which one is the better polish of the two?  As far as the application process goes both the Nails Inc. and Layla polishes are on the same level but when it comes to results I preferred the Layla polish since once I got the hang of the magnet, the results were much more dramatic.

Ta Da!