Picked this up a while ago when it was on clearance at Target. I love these mint green/blue type of colors. I just really like how they look when I look down at my hands (moreso than looking at them in photos). I think they help my hands look tan :)
3 coats Revlon Jaded
1 coat Poshe
This is exactly what I picture for Essie Mint Candy Apple, but MCA isn't this color (it's far more blue). Jaded is somewhere between a light mint and light sea foam green creme. Definitely more green than MCA. Ironically, the application was extremely similar to MCA... not really a good thing =/
Working with this polish is extremely similar to how I have to work with Essie cremes. Not the first coat necessarily, but the way the polish started reacting. First coat started uneven and patchy which made me nervous. Second coat was that uncomfortable "do I do another coat and risk it looks too puffy and thick" or "do I leave it at two coats when it's a little patchy". I went with three. The polish didn't seem to like the third coat, it kinda dragged. A top coat did help to even it out to give it a smooth finish, but it's still kinda bumpy. When I look down at my nails, you can't really tell at all, though. How to solve this problem? I have found is to let the polish rest in between nails. I have to use this "technique" a LOT with Essie polishes. Be prepared that applying this polish is not going to be a quick process. Do a nail in as few strokes as possible, then let the brush rest in the polish. You can't quickly go from nail to nail. You may be able to get away with that for the first coat, but after that you really need to let the brush sit. I think had I been more patient, it would have had looked a little nicer.
Today is my one year bloggiversary! About a week ago I hit 200 followers, so I'm throwing that in there since I didn't do anything about 100 followers. So this is a GIVEAWAY to thank all of my followers for being so awesome! I want to show how much I appreciate that you guys write comments and take the time to read my posts and look at my photos. I never really intended to start blogging to this extent when I first started, so one year and 200 followers later is AMAZING. Which means you guys are amazing! And I want to say thanks!
Ok, the good part. Prizes. There are two and thus will be TWO WINNERS. And here they are:
Prize Package #1
Prize Package #2
I don't really consider one a "grand" prize and the other not, so how it's going to work is the first person picked as a winner will get to choose which one they want. The second person picked as a winner will get the other prize.
Details About The Prizes
Obviously this is not a sponsored giveaway. All of the items I purchased myself for the purpose of the giveaway. It was important to me to include items that I personally love and use frequently. I didn't just want to include things for the sake of including them. So here's my take on all of the items.
In Both Prize Packages You Will Find... Bubble White - I have used Bubble White since I became a polish addict. It's a staple product in my Helmer that I use about 2 times a month on average or more frequently if my nails start looking a little yellowed. I find that Bubble White works amazing at whitening your nails. Even if you have no staining or yellowing (it's rare that I do, but I will still use this), I suggest this product. It really whitens your tips and makes your entire nails look clean.
Essie Nail File - This is the file that I always use. I've switched from Swissco to Essie because of the case that comes with Essie's. I swear by glass files, and I love this one because the grit is very fine, so it glides very non-traumatically over my nails while still doing a great job filing them. I NEVER cut my nails, I always shorten them with this file.
In Prize Package #1 You Will Find... Orly Royal Navy - This polish is a polish that I use ALL the time when I'm looking for blues. Here it is posted on its own, here it is as an accent finger with China Glaze Dorothy Who? over it, here it is as one of my favorite nail designs, a peacock stamping mani, and here it is with snowflakes stamped over it this past winter.
Orly Rage - This foil polish is AWESOME. It's great because it dries super quick, and I think it's like the perfect bronze. This is such an easy color to wear from the color itself, to the finish, to the formula. I just love it! I wore it to a friend's wedding, with some fishnet stamping, and as a funky french tape mani with Enchanted Forest.
In Prize Package #2 You Will Find... Orly Bailamos - So I went through my blog to posts links to where I have worn Bailamos, and apparently I've only posted it once here! Realistically, I've worn Bailamos a bunch of times and it's one of my absolute favorites! I'll have to post more about it. But regardless, I've had and loved this polish since it came out in Summer 2010.
Orly Prelude To a Kiss - I haven't owned this long, as it's from Orly's newest collection, but I legit want to wear this polish nonstop. I haven't painted my toes in just about a year, and I HAD to paint my toes with this because I just want it on my nails all the time. It's such a beautiful color. I've only put it on my blog here, and it was fairly recently. I've actually already worn it several times in addition to it being on my toes. But I figured you all wouldn't like to see me posting the same polish over and over!!
Details About The Giveaway
1. This giveaway IS OPEN to International followers!
2. You MUST be a follower.
3. You must NOT enter just anything into the fields to get yourself an extra point. If you do, I will not count that point.
So for example, one question says "Tell me how you found my blog", please don't answer "janklnafierjf". That will not get you a point, and you will be disqualified.
For the question that asks who Paisley is, if you are wrong, the point does not count. (Don't worry! You will NOT be disqualified)
4. The only mandatory field is entering that you are a follower here. Because I do not use twitter, Bloglovin', or any of those (at this time), this blog is the only way to follow me. Also because of that, I have entered other things for you to answer to get other points since you cannot follow me elsewhere. You do not have to answer any of the other questions if you do not want to!
5. The first winner will be contacted and be able to chose Prize Package #1 or #2. The second winner will receive whichever the first winner did not choose.
6. Good luck!! It ends March 25th. EDIT 7. Let me be a little more specific about the points. If you have NEVER posted a comment on my blog prior to the start of this giveaway (3/15/2012), do NOT fill out the option. It clearly explains it. Your point will be deleted. Also, if you leave the fields blank, your points will be deleted.
The last time I wore this polish was over a year ago when it came out. It's from the Burlesque collection that way released last winter. I picked it up on clearance at Ulta. The reason I haven't worn it since was because I really did not like it when I first wore it and saw no reason to really wear it again (I'll go into that after the photos). But anyway, here it is. Giving it another shot.
Bottle Shot
2 coats OPI Tease-y Does It 1 coat Poshe
Tease-y Does It has a deep black/brown base with a deep pink/red shimmer with very minimal flashes of a golden shimmer. Disappointingly, this polish looks a lot more dynamic and lovely in the bottle. I should add a disclaimer. Vampy, deep colors are not my favorite. I'm sure that this is an amazing polish for those who like blackened colors. But the bottle shows significantly more shimmer with a dark pink to gold shift that doesn't translate as well on the nail. The shimmer is not very apparent. I tried to get the polish at a ton of different angles to show that there is a bit of shimmer. But I think the first photo is more accurate at how dark and... plain this polish really is. Nothing like the bottle. :(
The reason I didn't like this polish the first time was because I remember I had gone out with a bunch of coworkers and I had at LEAST 3 people comment on my "black" nails. I mentioned it's not black, but in the lighting we were in, you couldn't tell there was anything more to it. It just annoyed me because I spent money on what looks like a "black" polish to other people... and to me. That's why I didn't bother to wear it again.
If you've read my blog, you know I don't like OPIs brushes. Apart from that, the formula was perfect, opaque in 2 coats. It seemed to migrate a LITTLE towards my cuticles, but stopped before it got there. It was kind of funny, actually!
While I wasn't a fan of this polish, I just want to reiterate that if you like these nearly black colors, I'm sure you'd find this one beautiful!!
Be prepared to be bombarded by photos. No joke, I have like legit 8 pictures. I took these a while ago and this is quite a late post. I've been trying to cut down on the number of photos, but since I had already cropped and tagged all of these, I figured I'd just include them.
2 coats Orly Emberstone 1 coat Poshe
Emberstone... is amazing. I'm a HUGE fan of the Mineral FX collection, as I posted Stone Cold back in December. Emberstone is beautiful. It has almost a coral type of feel. This polish is definitely easily worn in the summertime, I thought it was going to be more of a cold red. Some photos show it as a cherry red, but there are a couple that show the orange-y coral feel, and you definitely see that quite a bit in real life. It also has this hot pink feel to it. I definitely see hot pink flakes in this polish, just a little less frequent than the orange. This isn't really a glitter, they're more particles of shimmer than anything IMO. It's a little different than Stone Cold in that the particles aren't as separate. They're much more fluent with the base of the polish where as they stood out far more in Stone Cold. This does not make the polish any less amazing. I still stand by what I said with Stone Cold and that is words and photos cannot describe this polish.
Seriously, you have to wear these polishes. When you wear them, they're so much more lively that photos show, than they look in the bottle, or even how they look as swatches in the store. Don't underestimate these. They're not a regular shimmer.
The formula was totally fine. It glided on great, not too thick. Polish went and stayed where I put it. Amazing to work with, great coverage. Beautiful all around.
Sorry for the lame title. No idea what else to call this. I'm pretty excited because this idea just sorta came to me. Lately, I haven't been too creative when it comes to thinking up nail art ideas. Not that is this particularly creative, but it was fun to poke through my helmer and as I picked up polish, this idea slowly emerged. And I'm pretty happy with it!!
1 coat China Glaze Icicle 1 coat Best Topcoat (trying out a new topcoat) Lightest purple/white dots - Sally Hansen CSM Lavender Cloud Light Purple - Essie Nice is Nice Dark Purple - China Glaze Spontaneous
This was just sorta fun! I started looking for coordinating purples, figured dots would be neat. Then I was debating different "background" colors. Maybe a pale green or blue. Maybe just white. Then it hit me. Silver. So I went with it!
I just used my set of dotting tools, the same size dotter for every dot. In hindsight, I wished I had positioned the dots a little differently, but I still have the idea in my head (and a fun title for the post!) so I'll try to do that another time :)
I'm a fan of light blue polishes. I'm also a fan of cheap polishes. So when Sinful released Cinderella and people went crazy, obviously I had to have it! I picked it up at Walgreens for 99 cents. But unfortunately, I wasn't as in love as I had hoped...
3 coats Sinful Cinderella
1 coat Poshe
Cinderella is a pale blue with subtle shimmer of pink with a gold/orange shift. This polish had the potential to be something really special... but I really think it missed the mark. The shimmer just isn't right. It's not present enough to be interesting, but it's not subtle enough to just a little something extra. As I looked at my nails throughout the day, all I could think of was LITERALLY a Disney Princess polish for a 5 year old girl. I generally have no boundaries when it comes to polish color. Nothing is too bold, young, old, tacky, I'll wear any of it. But this just looked cheap and young. Not flattering IMO.
This was by far the oddest polish ever. You know how some polishes self level? Like they look uneven, maybe streaky, then they settle into one smooth, even layer on their own? Well this polish started to settle... then kept going. The polish sort of pooled to the perimeter of each nail, leaving the center of the nail thinner. I've never seen anything like this. It's bizarre.
I've mentioned before that my nails are quite convex. I don't have flat nails. I imagine that someone whose nails are not as heavily curved as mine probably would not have this problem. But because I do have this problem, it makes my nails look wide and fat.
Two nails came out perfect. My right hand middle finger and index finger. The rest didn't look very nice. I don't know why I disliked this polish so much, but I did. I could not take it off fast enough!!
