Essie French Affair

I'm mad at myself for not painting my nails on Sunday. After work on Saturday, I went over to a friend's house for dinner and then woke up early the next morning with no time to paint my nails. I went to the Chief's Show, which I'm sure will interest no one who reads my blog!! Haha. But it's basically a fire expo with lots of fire trucks, ambulances, vendors, etc. Way more fire than EMS based, and I'd prefer it the other way around, but I had a nice long talk with the rep from the company who makes our stretchers, so that was entertaining. Saw a few ambulances up there that I have personally worked in, which was also neat.

Anyway, back to nails. So I had intentions of doing something really awesome and fire/EMS related. Didn't happen at all. I went with naked nails :(

So when I went to paint my nails last night, I knew exactly what I wanted (something that hasn't happened for a while). Generally I tend to go for more flashy, bright, non-typical (not work appropriate) colors with awesome finishes. For some reason, I just wanted to wear a simple light pink creme and French Affair was that.

**Please note that even if my photos look a little wonky, the polish looks perfect in real life**













3 coats French Affair
1 coat Poshe
*Another side note:
My pinkie had been out of commission due to a horrible, horrible break a few weeks back. It finally grew out enough for me to silk wrap, and is back in my photos!! Woo!! And if you paid attention the the green blob on my palm, that's the reflection of the 50% off sticker I didn't take off the bottle.

Good GOSH this application was terrible. I don't understand how Essie manages to repeatedly put out pastel cremes like this. It was streaky, too thick, dried quickly on the brush, and had awful cuticle drag. This polish is a mess, I am so disappointed. The photos you see are actually a re-paint because the first one I stared at closely and realized would look horrendous in Macro photos. I lost a lot of patience dealing with this polish. This is one that you need to be prepared for. Because Nice is Nice was from the same collection and the formula was fine there, I was really hoping it would be great here, too. Nope. It followed in the footsteps of Mint Candy Apple (which I was prepared to deal with having worn it plenty of times, so it wasn't that bad) and joins with the application of Topless & Barefoot, also from the same collection.
Please don't get me wrong. Don't let the application deter you from this polish. Just be aware that it requires some babying and it won't be a quick out-the-door polish.

The color on the other hand, is gorgeous, and is why you really shouldn't be so weary of the formula. It's a cool-toned pastel pink that gets totally opaque, looks beautifully creamy, and has a brightness to it that doesn't make your hands look dead. It's a creme that keeps me staring at my nails. I've found some lighter pinks can look messy and childish. This is not one of them. It's so gorgeous. I love the contrast of the cool-toned polish with my warm/olive/yellow skintone. I think it's so lovely and as of now, will be my go-to baby pink. I would also say that it is in the realm of being one of those perfect Barbie pinks, just the light version as opposed to the bright, fun version that is Orly Fancy Fuchsia.

Bonus!!
My amazing little pup dog, Paisley, chillin' in the sunshine!! Caught this photo mid-sniff lol. She was lying out while I was taking photos this morning. Her nickname is Small Dog.

Sunny Day=HOLO!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!! Woke up this morning and saw sunshine out the window. Confirmed by looking at the sky that it wasn't just a break in the clouds... NOPE!! Beautiful blue skies in a complete 360. So I freak out, take off yesterdays polish that I planned to Konad today (I thought today was supposed to be rainy),

So what holo am I wearing??

The one and only Nfu Oh 61!! I snatched it up during those recent restocks on transdesign.com. You shoulda seen me freaking out trying to order before they were all gone. I was safe, though. I ordered at night and they didn't sell out until morning. This is the second batch of the restocks.

It's a dud in the bottle but oh my good gosh is it not even close to dud on the nail!!

Ready to be bombarded with lots and lots and lots of photos of lots and lots and lots of holo??













Indoors Near Window


iPhone Indoors


Close-Up!! (all the same nail)


3 coats 61

I used Nail Tek II and Sally Hansen Double Duty as base coats (different nails get different things depending on their status lol). I had problems with this polish dragging up, which can be a common problem with holos. I do not own the Aqua Base that Nfu Oh makes for holos, but I have used Essie Matte About You as a base coat for the China Glaze OMG collection, and have had GREAT success with it not pulling up. I was just way too excited to think about using it wit this. I just wanted it on my nails ASAP.
When applying this polish, use gentle strokes and do not mush your brush onto the nail. Let it glide gently over the nail. Also use as few strokes as possible. Regardless of base coat, these tips will reduce pulling up and patchiness.
I did not use a top coat. I usually use Poshe (previously Seche Vite), but I wanted to skip it because there's always a question whether or not a top coat dulls a holo... and I wasn't taking chances! Great thing about this polish is that even though I used 3 coats, it dried all the way through very quickly. I use quick dry top coats because I have zero patience when it comes to waiting for polish to dry. This polish was just great. I'm so glad because I was looking forward to wearing this so badly and I would've been that much more upset if it were disappointing.

This is crazy linear holo. If you've gone through my blog, you know I'm a nutcase and post like a thousand photos of a simple creme polish. I just couldn't handle all of the amazing photos of this polish.

You can definitely note the holo indoors as well. It's not as exciting as when you're in the sun, but it's still impressive and noticeable. That's the intention of my iPhone photo. The iPhone is great for photos like that because my camera needs the proper light setting and technique to capture polish indoors without natural light. The iPhone is just quick and accurate when it comes to this. And as you can tell, you can definitely still see holo without a doubt.

I think one of my fav things about this polish is it looks fake. It looks like Minx or something. With the exception of my middle finger, which doesn't have a clean swoop at the cuticle, it really doesn't look like polish at all. Looks like that inside and outside, too.


And I wanted to show photos of the bottle. This is my first Nfu Oh. I knew it had the corset on the front, but I don't recall ever seeing the back of the bottle. It's amazing all the way around. I love that it has a train coming down the back of the bottle, not just the corset on the brush.



Bonus Photos!!
My Jack Russell, Paisley, soaking up the sunshine!!

Ardene Red Sapphire and Guest Nails!!

If you've look through my blog, you've probably noticed I don't frequently wear typical nail polish colors. One color I very seldom wear is red. I'll wear pinks, sheers, nudes, anything before red. I just am not the biggest fan of red. When I do wear it, however, it's usually for a specific reason, not just because I felt like wearing red that day.

So what's my reason for choosing red today? To match my nails with someone else's nails... Keep reading to see whose!!











And my special guest...





This, is my amazing dog Paisley. She's a 16 month old Jack Russell Terrier that I am ridiculously in love with!! She had to get her nails clipped today, so why not have them painted, too!? This is her first manicure, because I don't have dog polish and I'm afraid to use regular polish on her nails. This is courtesy of out local Petco :)

2 coats Red Sapphire
1 coat Poshe

Ardene is a Canadian brand that sells clothing, accessories, and some cosmetics. I've actually never been there. My boyfriend went to Canada for a bachelor party. Apparently at some point, he managed to stumble himself into a store and bought me 6 Ardene polishes. Lol, he's too funny.

This is actually a very nice quality polish. The brush is great with a nice spread and no random bristles sticking out. It's opaque in 2 coats, and interestingly, the first coat made it seem like it had a jelly-ish quality. Even with the 2 coats, it still has that jelly look, definitely not just a stark creme. It went on very smoothly, no drag or streaks. If you're from Canada and come across this polish, I definitely suggest picking it up if you like one of the colors!