Blue Hydrangea with Stamping

I'm loving Blue Hydrangea so much that I was not ready to take it off yet!! I had initally planned to do more stamping with this pink and probably a yellow, but I decided to quit while I was ahead. I didn't want it getting too busy. If I could wear this for another day (I can't, I work tomorrow), I'd add to it tomorrow.













My right, dominant hand


Closeup


2 coats Nubar Blue Hydrangea
1 coat Poshe
Stamping with Bundle Monster plate BM04 and China Glaze Heli-Yum

So, the biggest problem I ran into was the fact that Heli-Yum is almost the exact same color as my Konad stamper. This meant is SUCKED trying to see the stamp to get it in the right place. My index finger isn't completely opaque because of this. I couldn't actually see that the dots in the design didn't pick up well. On my right hand, I switched to use my Essence stamper, which is a lighter shade of pink. I had forgotten just how crappy that stamper was. It's not soft enough to be able to smoosh onto your nail, and it somehow manages to get the images uneven. I only used it like two or three times on my right hand (DEFINITELY used it on my middle finger. It looks a mess).

Ultimately, my right hand pinkie came out best and how I initally wanted the image to stamp. I was using the Konad stamper for that. My left hand managed to cut off the last little branch thing on the design, which was not my intention, but at least they're all like that on that hand so it looks uniform. Haha!!

Oh yeah, and how ridiculous are all of my Bandaids? The one on my left hand pinkie and you can see the one on my knuckle of my right hand index finger. I swear I'm the clumsiest person. The knuckle thing was a result of trying to let a puppy I was dog sitting for out of her crate. It peeled up a nice chunk of skin. I was going to leave it exposed, but I went to Six Flags New England yesterday and decided that was a horrible idea.

Ok, going really off topic now, so skip if you don't care.
Six Flags. I have a fear of heights. This stupid fear originated maybe 6 years ago? I was never afraid of heights before that. Now, I've always loved roller coasters. A couple of summers ago, I started to get a little nervous about them. I then decided this heights problem is a HUGE problem and I've gotta fix it. So I tend to close my eyes when we go up the first incline, and depending on how nervous I am, I may leave my eyes shut the whole time. So here's how my trip went:

Superman (which is now called Bizzaro, but I'm still calling it Superman) - Has a huge incline at the start. Biggest incline of all of the roller coasters I went on. Eyes stayed shut. The drop made my mouth open and like stay open, I felt like I had jowls. After that, I kept my eyes shut for the majority of the coaster, but did open now and again.

Mind Eraser - Stupidest ride ever. I'm really short, so my head was right between the shoulder guard thing. My head flung back and forth between those pads the ENTIRE ride. Not the least bit enjoyable. I opened my eyes a few times, but just for the sheer fact that my head was a ping pong ball, I decided to keep them closed.

Batman - Love it!! Closed my eyes at first, but kept 'em open the rest of the ride!! I loved this roller coaster.

Skyway - Not a roller coaster. Not even a thrill ride. You sit in a caged ball and it glides you over the park. I decided it seemed relaxing. That was a horrible idea. I started out ok, but then we just got higher and higher. I ended up with my eyes shut and squeezing my boyfriend's hand so hard I thought he was going to strangle me.

Cyclone - Definitely redeemed myself on this one. Eyes open the WHOLE time. On the incline, I just stared inside the cart, but at least they stayed open!! Awesome thing about this coaster is it's super old and wooden. I have no idea why I have less fear on a rickity, wooden roller coaster, but get nervous on new, steel roller coasters.

Nubar Blue Hydrangea

I'm loving Nubar. I wish that they'd do more promotions because I'd be more apt to pick up some polishes. When they're already not easily accessible and you can only buy online, I think it helps to do something for customers that makes them want to pay and wait for shipping in addition to never being able to tangibly have the polish before purchasing. I know Zoya gets a little crazy with their promotions, but at least if Nubar had a free shipping promo for ANY order for a week or so, or 20% off ANY order, or something along those lines, I'd see myself more willing to buy polish.

But looking at some of their previous promos - 20% off retail orders of $50+ with free shipping on $40+ on VDay 2011, 30% on retail orders of $30 or more in November 2010, 20% on retail orders of $30+ St. Patty's 2010 - there has only been one promo this year so far, and all that I've seen require you to spend at LEAST $30 before you can get any sort of % off and at least $40 for free shipping. So you have to purchase at least 5 polishes for a % off and 6 for free shipping. I'd say 4 polishes for a % off, but their polishes are $7.49, they're not actually $7.50, which means 4 polishes only bring the total to $29.96. I find that kind of sneaky IMO.

So aside from the promo stuff, I knew when I saw swatches of Blue Hydrangea from their Spring Garden Collection, I had to have it. I don't really know why, it seems somewhat generic, but I really just fell in love with it.











2 coats Blue Hydrangea
1 coat Poshe

This polish is really gorgeous. It's a bright, pearly sky blue. When I say pearly, don't be apprehensive. It's hard to make a sky blue polish seem grandma-ish, and it's more pearly than frosty if that makes sense. The pearl in this polish is what makes it really pop. Instead of it being a simple, boring creme, going more extreme to make it a true shimmer, or changing the color by making it iridescent or duochrome-y, the pearlescent finish really makes this polish stand out. I LOVE it against my skintone, I find it to be very flattering.

The blue in this polish is very similar to OPI What's With The Cattitude. If you were looking for a non-creme version to WWTC, this is it. Not identical, WWTC is about 2 shades darker and slightly more green, but very comparable. And the formula on Blue Hydrangea is MUCH nicer.

The formula was very easy to work with. Completely opaque in 2 coats, it has a nice thickness to it, similar to the thickness of Orly polishes, but a little thinner. I did get some cuticle drag on several nails, but I definitely think that was my error and not the polish. It was easily corrected, though. The brush was nice and dense, with a good flare when pressed on the nail. I really liked this brush. It's generic, but that's a good thing. The other thing about the formula/brush is that despite the polish being pearly, there were NO brush strokes. Even before the top coat, there were no brush strokes.

OPI What's With The Cattitude vs. Nubar Blue Hydrangea Comparison





Direct Sunlight


2 coats of each

I woulda done this on my nails, but I'm actually wearing BH as my mani today, so I didn't want to take polish off and then reapply. Too lazy for that!!
Description between the polishes is above, but ultimately, in the sunlight, they look darn near identical (but they're not) save the pearly finish of BH. In different lightings, WWTC looks anywhere from 1-3 shades darker and just the slightest bit more green. As I said above, if you love the color of WWTC but don't want a creme, you have to have this.