Petites Color Fever Candy Green and Black Diamond

There's an unadvertised clearance happening on certain Petites and CQ polishes at Rite-Aid. They aren't marked in any way, but they are ringing up at 99 cents instead of the usual 3.99. Both Candy Green and Black Diamond are part of the clearance. I picked up a couple others, which I can't remember the names ... I'm sure I'll be showing them off here in the near future. :) To find out what other polishes are included, you can head over to this post on Nouveau Cheap!


Candy Green








These pictures were taken after 3 or 4 days of wear! I was skeptical of this brand initially ... it seemed kind of pricy for a no name type of brand and only .25 oz, ya know? But I'll do just about anything for a dollar, LOL! So, at only 99 cents, I was all about it. Since I've been having a hell of a time with staining, I used 1 coat Instant Artificials, 1 coat Barielle Camo, and 1 coat of a really pale pink creme by Sinful Colors that I can't remember the name of under 2 coats of Candy Green, topped with Seche Vite. It dried really thin and fast considering there were 6 layers. You know how polish stays squishy underneath even though it's dry on top for hours and hours? Well this didn't do that. And talk about staying power ... I wore it for another couple of days after these pics were taken. My only complaint is that under low light, Candy Green looks a tad frosty. Overall though, this one is a total WIN for the money.


Black Diamond

Overcast daylight

Ott Bulb

Ott Bulb

Lamp Light

Lamp Light

Lamp Light

It sure is hard to coax the holo out of this one! And of course, I had to file my nails waaaay down due to FOUR breaks at the quick. >:( *grumble grumble* Oh well. I prefer dark polish on shorter nails anyway. This is 2 coats of Black Diamond over 1 coat Nail Tek Foundation II. No top coat, and I was being impatient so I decided not to use an underwear coat (holos don't usually stain in my experience either, so I wasn't as worried). In most light, Black Diamond looks like the first picture, a charcoal polish with silver shimmer. However, when the light hits it just right, it's just a charmer! I like a *wham! pow!* polish as much as anyone else, but sometimes I just want subtlety. Black Diamond really delivers in this department. It applied smooth and even, opaque in 2 thin coats and dried really fast. I do prefer a little more shine, but top coats have a habit of killing the holographic effect, so I left it off this time. Another total WIN. This is by far my favorite "black with a little sumfin sumfin" so far (and I have several!). Go buy this!! I'll be hunting down a back up for sure.

A couple of crafty finishes and recent NOTD

I finished up some yarn wreaths that I've been procrastinating on big time. The small blue one is Miss M's and is now hanging in her room, the larger gold one is for my sister in law for giftmas, and the gold on on the wall is mine! The instructions I followed are here: Yarn Wreath with Felt Flowers



Next up is a paper garland I was inspired to make after receiving an excellent holiday card (thanks Lems!!). I originally saw the idea on whip up and can't remember the original blog the instructions were on to give credit. :( Sorry. I used all 'on hand' materials; cut the squares, triangles and circles from cardstock and sewed them together with the off white cotton thread I already had on the machine. A few clear tacks, one bump on the head and some clippy doodads I had laying around, and I am ready to display all the cards we receive this year!!




As for the tips, I'm currently wearing Zoya Irene, but haven't taken pics yet. Last week I wore Finger Paints Autumn Moonlight with a no name sheer pinkish glittery top coat over.




And just for fun, here's a pic of my cat Grapefruit. He's 11 years old, and we've had him since he was about 4 mos old. He followed my sister in law home from the bus stop, or so she says, lol. She was only 12 then, and is now 23. :) Anyway, Grapefruit is my oldest baby, lol, and he gets to do whatever he wants WHENEVER he wants. What he wanted last night was to sit on the tv and annoy the piss out of Mr. Raz! HAHAHAAAA!! I present to you "Decoration Cat."




So, there was a Payday candy bar commercial on at the time I took this pic. I find it both hysterical and embarrassing that there appears to be a nutty turd as big as life on my tv. LOLOL!!! Mmm. Appetizing. Makes me want to run right out and get one.

Some Claire's bargains = NIGHTMARE!!! (pic heavy)

Sooooo, Miss M and I got the head's up that Claire's would be having their 10 for 10 clearance sale over the last weekend. Since she had a birthday giftcard burning a hole in my wallet (not a mistake, lol. Her gc, my wallet), we were in there bright and early Thursday morning when the sale was set to start. We hit the proverbial "jack-pop." She got about a gabuhjazillion pairs of earrings to play with once her ears heal from piercing, a neon orange "pearl" necklace (she insists it's her birthstone, just orange. Don't ask me! LOL), tons of crap with "Awwwww, kitties!!!" on it, lots of "lickstick" and of course mommy made a bee line for the polish ...


So, I thought I had scored BIG when I saw this set:



Cute, right?!? A set of 7 mini creme brights for a dollar?!? Weeeeelll ... maybe not such a hot deal ... When I applied the first one, I noticed an odd smell. Is that Elmer's Glue?!? But I stayed the course and continued with my skittles ... As the first coats dried, I noticed that even though they applied opaque and creamy, they dried sheer and had sparse glitter. OK. Whatever. It could be interesting. So I carried on. Three coats later, and still smelling glue, I wondered if maybe these are peel off polishes.

Here's the red, blue, orange, purple and pink.

Inside, low artificial light

Outside, full sun

The next pics have the yellow and green on index and middle, but thumb, ring and pinkie have my other finds; Emerald City, Fire and Magic. I'll comment on those three later.

Inside, low artificial light

Outside, full sun

OK, speaking JUST about the 7 polish set, they *are* cute, but definitely weird. They would never have built full opacity. I was relatively certain by the feel of the finish that they were peel off paints. Sooo, I started peeling!

OMG!!!! WTF?!?!?! That shit STAINED!!! BAD!!!

Thank goodness, the stains have since faded (remover and acetone didn't touch it, but each time I applied another polish and removed, they got a little lighter. You know when you get gum stuck to your face after blowing a big bubble, and the only thing that can get it off is a larger wad of chewed gum, the bond between the bits of gum is stronger than the bond between skin and gum? I think it was like that concept), and I'm now just a little bit yellowed, but DAMN! That was the worst dollar I ever spent!!! I'm not passing these on, I'm throwing them OUT! BOOOO Hiiissssssss ...

Onto the other 3 ...

OK, this will be short and sweet because I don't have a lot to say about any of them, lol. Let's see the full sun picture again.




Emerald City (thumb): Foil/metallic style with bits of silver and green. Similar in concept to the Orly Foil FX line, but no comparison formula-wise. Thick, goopy application. Good coverage though (pictured is one coat) and it evened out fine. It's a nice color, just not my type. For a buck though, it's a win.

Fire (ring): Neon pinkish orangish red. Pretty sheer. 3 coats shown. Nice smooth application. My pic is no where NEAR coloraccurate, it's a neon. It's just not possible for a $50 camera to do, LOL!!! If you're used to looking at pictures of nail polish though, I'm sure you can see that one stripe of neony goodness on my ring finger and imagine this one stopping traffic. I want to wear this one as a full mani soon.

Magic (pinkie): Sigh. I don't really have anything *bad* to say about this polish, but I don't have anything *good* to say either. I know a lot of people really like this one, and some people even have it on their lemming list, so I feel bad for not loving it, but ... It's a darkish blurple jelly with golden shimmer. It's a fine color, but it's just ... not my thing, I guess. Here's a pointless close up indoors:







The end!

Old NOTD: Sally Hansen Peach Daquiri

Yet another saved draft I remembered I had, WOOT!

I found SH Peach Daquiri in a twin pack thingy at Dollar Tree. When I started applying, I didn't realize that it was going to be totally sheer, so I'm kind of embarrassed of my super stained nails in these pics. I'll have to try this color again now that I am stain free because it's SO freaking pretty. Just super sheer. It's actually a really clean peach color ... my stains are what lend the yellowy look. I think this was 4 or 5 coats pictured. I love the glass fleck shimmer and how NON STREAKY it is for a sheer. That's nearly impossible to come by. I don't actually mind sheers and VNL as long as there are no streaks.

Overall, this is a big fat WIN for 50 cents! I also got Peach Daquiri's pink sister that day, I think it's either called Strawberry Daquiri or Margarita. I'll have to dig that one out to wear soon.

Swatch-O-Mania Part 1

Man, I took a picture of all my unswatched polishes yesterday, and was FREAKED OUT. I looked like this:





Soooo ... I took THREE HOURS today, and swatched TWENTY FOUR polishes!


Here's the list:

Claire's Green Matte
Maybelline Berry Persistent
Claire's Ocean Breeze
Cover Girl Luxe Lilac
Sally Hansen Salon Shrimply Divine
Spa Ritual Free Spirit
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Crushed
Sally Hansen Salon Mangoes Loco
Color Club Lazer Pink
Color Club Amp'd Up
Color Club Power Play
Color Club Limelight
Avon Mirror Shine Peach Ice
Avon Mirror Shine Blaze
Avon Mirror Shine Polish
Avon Mirror Shine Glisten
Blush no name lime
Blush no name dark purple
Blush no name orange
Blush no name blue
Blush no name magenta/purple
Blush no name snot yellow
Blush no name red
Cover Girl Candy Corn

Claire's Green Matte







This is NICE. ONE COAT is all you see here. Green Matte will probably be a go to for me if I'm in a hurry. Easy application, smooth, not too thick, wasn't drying on me too fast. No complaints whatsoever.


Maybelline Berry Persistent






OK, this was photographing a couple shades lighter and a little on the orange side ... It's definitely a darker burgundy leaning red. This belonged to my mother-in-law I believe, as it's not a shade that I would *ever* buy. It's been chilling in the bathroom forever though (MIL lives with us), so I scooped it up, lol. Anyway, I was surprised to find out that I actually really like this color!! I didn't have any trouble with application ... it started to dry right away, and it could be a one coater as well! 2 fingers in these pics have 2 coats and 2 only have 1 coat. Can you tell which ones???


Claire's Ocean Breeze






What a mess. I don't like it. First off, none of the other colors come through! It's just that top layer of blue. Second, well, as far as application is concerned, I think the pictures speak for themselves. Uck. And WHAT the hell do you do when it starts separating?!? Look how nasty it looks in the bottle there. I'm over it. Layered polishes = FAIL.


Cover Girl Luxe Lilac









Preeeeeetty ... I really like this one despite being apprehensive about it. It was super easy to apply, nice thin formula, opaque in 2 coats. I have no complaints whatsoever. I really like that it has an almost jelly appearance. The color of Luxe Lilac is similar to Zoya Zara (no where NEAR dupes though), so might be a nice alternative if you can't get Zoya.


Sally Hansen Shrimply Divine











OK, here's another one that wouldn't photograph well. It's not this light. Much much brighter and a little darker, actually. Another polish that went on like a dream, perfect in 2 coats. These are on clearance all over the place right now. I plan on scooping up every color I can find. Very very nice.


Spa Ritual Free Spirit







It looks so pretty, right? Too bad it was a huge pain to apply. This polish is supposed to be a sheer, but the first coat goes on SO streaky, it'd be impossible to actually wear as a sheer. Pictured is 3 coats, and it could have used one more to be completely even/opaque. I wore this once before, and it held up REALLY well. I don't think it's worth the premium price tag though. I picked this up at Marshall's for $3 on clearance though, so I'm happy. I'd pick this brand up again on sale like that, but won't be paying full price.


Sally Hansen Crushed








Look how dry my fingers are getting in these pics, LOL! Since I was swatching like a maniac, I didn't moisturize in between polish removal, so from here on out, you'll see scaly skin, lol.

Here's another color I was pleasantly surprised with. A medium reddish orange shimmer, the pic is a little lighter and redder than the true shade. Nice formula, easy to apply, opaque in 2 coats. I have had trouble with dry time with this brand in the past though, and I didn't actually wear it long enough for it to dry ...


Sally Hansen Salon Mangoes Loco







I'm pretty sure this is another one that photographed much lighter than it looks in reality. This is 2 coats, and there's still a little VNL. When I wear this as a NOTD, I will add a third coat. I have no formula complaints at all. Nice and thin, easy to control, etc, etc.



OK, I'm going to finish up with the Color Club Neons I picked up at Five Below last week. I don't know WHY I'm even bothering to post these because they came out TERRIBLE in the pics. Colors aren't even CLOSE to what they really look like. Oh well. I painted the nails, and took the pics, so you're gonna look at them!


Color Club Lazer Pink








This is SO much brighter IRL. It's a cool, shocking pink. I can't remember if this is 2 or 3 coats. I had minor application issues, but nothing upsetting. Poshnail has a slightly better representation of this color (and Power Play).


Color Club Power Play







I. LOVE. THIS. COLOR. Like I said, the pics are WAY off. It's darker, brighter, awesomer ... Great application. Love it. Check out the Poshnail link above, her pics are way better.


Color Club Amp'd Up




Yet again, came out way too light in the pics. Amp'd up is an awesome, BRIGHT reddish orange. Here's a better pic: NAILGAL


Color Club Limelight








Do I need to say it? Yeah, color not accurate. It's SO bright IRL. Hawt. Here's a good pic at Nailgal. (and OMG, fingers so dry and scaly!!)


Hope you enjoyed! It'll prob take me another day or 2 to get the rest up ... stay tuned!