Sally Hansen Color Foil Leaden Lilac Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


I'm loving the ease of these color foils! You can just slap them over your current manicure whenever you get bored of it and are too lazy to remove and start a new one.

Leaden Lilac has the same formula as all the other color foils; two easy coats, make sure to shake thoroughly prior to use. You can top coat it to make it last longer. It does make the chrome-ness a little less mirror-like but it's not really a huge difference. I wonder what a water based top coat will do to it hmmm? I'll have to get one to try out sometime.

It leans more blue then purple to me. I like it! These are on clearance now at Target but my Kroger just put out the display. Either way, still available so if you want to grab some, do it soon!

Sally Hansen Color Foil Rose Copper Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


So! I haven't posted for two days because I was doing some heavy gardening and I completely broke the entire free edge off one of my nails! I had to trim them way way down T_T. So sad lol. They look and feel very strange to me now. I also sustained cuts all over my hands and arms and so acetone would sting whenever I tried to paint my nails so I had to wait awhile. Anyway, Rose Copper. This is another one of the color foils that I picked up from the clearance bin at Target. I thought these were all but gone from the stores but my Kroger JUST put up a display lol! I saw the last shade that I wanted from this collection their too...Liquid Gold. I never have any luck catching nail polish on clearance at Kroger though.

With the Color Foil line, it's best to apply over a top coat. As in, use a top coat for your base coat. Or you can do what I do and just slap it onto an existing mani ;P.

The formula for this whole line is pretty straightforward across the board. They all need to be shaken well prior to use, work best over a top coat and cover in two coats. This is a very pretty rose gold shade. I like it a lot! I would also think this is SFW at least over my skin tone.

Shiny chrome goodness! I adore this line. I wonder if they work well for stamping? They work great as nail polish sweatpants haha. Look at your local stores now to see if you can snag some on clearance because they are definitely worth it!

Sally Hansen Triple Shine Archipela-Glow Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


This was limited edition and it was the only one I wanted to get from the collection but I restrained myself since it's not really really special (and there was no good deals for it) and lo and behold my patience was rewarded because when I checked my target's clearance section it was there for only $1.08! Well then, how could I refuse a price like that?

Since it's a micro-glitter I used my homemade peel-off base again. Archipela-Glow covered decently in three coats though the formula does start to get a little goopy the longer you work with it. Next time I think I will add a drop of thinner and see if that helps. The triple shine line has a removable cap to make it easier to use.

Unless your nails are super short I don't think you can get away with two coats. The glitter is in a jelly base but the base is pretty sheer. Even at three coats I could kind of see VNL but not enough to bother me. Even thought the base is kind of thick and get thicker the more you work with it my nails weren't thick at the end of three coats.

Archipela-Glow is a teal micro-glitter in a sheer teal base. The glitter is all the same color and is pretty fine -- so much so that it looks more like a super shimmery polish on then as glitter. I like it!

Sally Hansen Triple Shine polishes regularly retail for $4.99 but like I said, I caught this specific one on clearance. That's the one good thing about Limited Edition collections; even though it's hard to find and only available for a short amount of time, if you watch it carefully you can get them on clearance! If you like this color go get it now! I saw a bunch of them at all three Targets I've been to.

How to make glitter toppers full coverage

I don't really care for the look of glitter toppers. Iridescent glitter or flakies I like but regular big hex glitters as sparse top coats? Not so much. Now if you were to wear those glitters as full coverage, ooh yes please! The problem is, some glitters just won't be able to reach opacity or would take too many coats and therefore result in thick nails. So if you have some glitter toppers that you want to be opaque, all you need is said polish, a pipette, something disposable like a small paper cup and to make cleaning the pipette easier I used my nail polish scrub tub.

All you're basically going to do is allow the polish to settle (takes about a day if you've shaken it) and then with your pipette, you're going to suck out some of that excess suspension base. You won't be able to get all of it and you will get some glitters sucked up too but if you are careful and find a good angle (I tilt the bottle to a 45 degree angle to get the excess base to "pool" into the corner) you will be able to get most of it. Remember to clean out your pipette between bottles! I do mine but squirting out all the sucked up base into a paper cup and then stick it into my nail polisher remover tub and suck up acetone a few times into the pipette and emptying it back into the tub. Allow to dry and move onto another bottle!

 Left to right, Milani Fuchsia, Lavender, Gold and Silver

I've swatched them below at one dabbed coat each (over an old mani) before I sucked out the excess suspension base. The formula on these are good btw.

BEFORE pic
(This is over Sally Hansen Titanium Flush in case you're wondering)

Now Gold and Silver you can reach opacity in about three dabbed coats but since I was going to be tweaking Fuchsia and Lavender anyway, I thought I might as well work on these too and make achieving full opacity a little easier with them. I don't think you will be able to reach opacity with Fuchsia and Lavender unless you use 5 coats and maybe not even then. So I allowed the polishes to settle and then the next day...

 After!

 Doesn't look like much but it really does make a big difference when you apply it!

AFTER pic!

I forgot I had this on and wore it out. Yes, I looked crazy

This is two dabbed coats. Nice! Also, these don't dry that "thirsty". One coat of top coat will do ya!

Also, you gotta love that peel off base coat :)

Hope this helps someone out there. Cheers!

Sinful Colors Pride Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


Initially I wasn't a big fan of multicolored glitters such as Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, Milani Gems, Confetti Tasmanian Devil, OPI Rainbow Connection and Wet N Wild Part of Five. Most swatches I've seen of glitters like these use them as toppers and I've never really been into glitter toppers. But then, when Sinful Colors Pride came out, the very first swatch of it I saw was full coverage. Color me intrigued!

DIY Peel Off Base Coat, Sinful Colors Pride, NYC In A New York Minute Topcoat

For full coverage glitters I've started using homemade peel off base to take the pain of removal away. The foil method works good for glitters too but it takes longer and makes my fingers super dry from all the acetone. I used up all the Seche Clear Base Coat (it's meh) and cleaned out the bottle with acetone, let it dry and then mixed elmers white glue with a splash of water. You just paint it on and let it dry (10 minutes, dries with a matte finish) then use whatever nail color you want and top coat if you're using any. The only downside to peel off base is that the nail polish can just "pop" off your finger at any time. If you just keep the peel off base coat on your person, you can just apply another coat of it on the polish-less finger and stick the peeled off color back on and it should stay. I usually get about 3 days of wear with this base coat before my nails start taking off their clothes ;).

This is three coats with only one coat of top coat. It's not thirsty at all and is pretty smooth on its own. It's very glitter dense and the formula didn't give me any problems. My nails weren't thick afterwards either. Walgreen's is running a promotion where Sinful Colors polishes are only $0.99 valid 08/17 - 08/23 and I have seen this in stores at every single Walgreen's I've been to so if you are interested you should go get it now.

It took some getting used to in the beginning. It's very...busy. Also shiny and sparkly but it's a little much for everyday wear. It grew on me though and I do like it very much. Also, removal was a breeze, haha.

Do you like multicolored glitter bombs? Which are your favorites?

Zoya Bottle Spam Pt. 4

~purchased by me~

Happy hump day! Here are some shinies to get you through the rest of the week. We are now on Part 4 of my Zoya bottle spamming and finally we are at my beloved glitters, holographics and flakies. Zoya makes some awesome special effect nail polishes. I wish they would release more colors of the holographic flakes. Maybe this Christmas we'll get some new shades!

Chloe - 1 coat half over black, Opal - 1 coat half over black

Dream - 3 coats, Payton - 2 coats

Binx - 3 coats, Stassi - 3 coats

Rina - 3 coats, Twila - 3 coats

Zoya should make more glitters. I'm surprised they haven't come out with a multi-colored glitter bomb like everyone else has. I would like to see their take on it!

Zoya Bottle Spam Pt. 3

~purchased by me~


I used to not wear cream nail polish, ever. I thought it was boring and a waste of nail polish haha. I've grown to love creams but my Zoya cream collection has a lot of room to grow! The creams still on my wishlist are Dot, Wendy, Chantel and Taylor.

Ali - 2 coats, Jancyn - 2 coats, Kendal - 2 coats

Monica - 2 coats, Evvie - 2 coats, Noot - 2 coats 

Zoya creams are awesome in the fact that they usually only need one to two coats for perfect coverage. I highly recommend them!

Zoya Bottle Shots Pt. 2

~purchased by me~


So here is part deux of my zoya bottle spamming :) Textured! Or as Zoya likes to call them, PixieDusts. The ones that are still on my wishlist is Bar and Tomoko.

 

Cosmo - 2 coats, London - 2 coats, Chita - 2 coats

 Solange - 2 coats, Dhara - 2 coats, Chyna - 2 coats

 Liberty - 2 coats, Sunshine - 2 coats, Carter - 2 coats

Stay tuned for part. 3 tomorrow!