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.

Summer Neon Crackle

I hate Black Shatter. I keep trying it, and keep hating it. I think a big part of it is because it's summer (spring), and when I think polish for summer/spring, I definitely don't think black. Overall, though, I'm not a huge fan of the crackle trend. I haven't been tempted to buy the new OPI crackles... the Sally Hansen crackles... the Pure Ice crackles... you get the idea. (Though I may grab some of those new metallic China Glaze crackles when they come out).

In an attempt to jump on the crackle trend, I finally found a combination I'm satisfied with.













1 coat of an unknown super old neon pink Orly
1 coat China Glaze Lightning Bolt

I've been DYING to do this for months. Literally months. I had it in my head and just knew I'd love it.

But where's my pinkie you ask?


Busy being injured. Super bad break after slamming my finger into a door (not in a door, into a door). I don't even know what to do about it.
More about it later, but if you're curious and might have some suggestions on what to do in the meantime *cough*Loodie*cough*, please let me know!! (I'm thinking silk wrap but I don't know if the glue would be a bad idea because it broke to the skin).


Keep in mind there's strengthener on my nail that started to peel up near the break, too, so it looks kinda odd. I'm afraid to remove it because I think the remover might sting.

Restoring A Hidden Treasure

... literally!! I posted this on MUA, but I'm making it a post here, too.

I haven't posted in 4 days because I had been at work and ended up working late every day. And I had the most traumatic nail break I think I've ever had in my entire life. More on that in another post, but my finger is currently just bandaged because I have not a clue what to do about it. Anyway...

I was at a Walmart on Thursday that I just never tend to go to. It's definitely near me, in the city that I work and everything, but I just never go to that one. They had an awesome Wet n Wild display where I grabbed Gray's Anatomy. I hadn't found that ANYWHERE in my area. They also had bins of "clearance" cosmetics (which the Walmart I usually go to NEVER has). They were red tagged, but I know that at Walmart, red tag doesn't necessarily mean clearance (I hate how sneaky that is). But these red tags were all 50% and some were legit cheaper than they usually would be before the 50% off.

So anyway, I saw some SH CSM but I already had them. And then... I saw it... Hidden Treasure!! I had no idea this was sold at Walmart. I was under the impression that it was only drugstores, particularly Wags. So I'm super excited. One problem though. It looks like this:









So in the post I made on MUA, I was asking if people thought I should use just thinner alone or if I should add some clear polish. I had been aware of this post by Scrangie for quite some time, and I myself have witnessed the wonders of thinner. However, I wasn't sure if I should be adding something else because HT is more of a top coat while the polish(es) Scrangie restored were actual pigmented polishes. My bottle is just filled with clumps of flakies, so I'm afraid if I add pure thinner, the consistency I'd end up with would be horribly off.

Ultimately, I decided to start with thinner alone and not fill the bottle completely. My thought being if the consistency is that off, I could add clear polish or I could just leave the cap off, let the thinner evaporate, and start over.

So here's HT after the first round of thinner 10 minutes into the thinning process:

Here it is after being shaken


I turned it upside down so you could see how much is still clumped at the bottom.


Some of the flakies have started to break away from the giant clump.


The brush is already starting to look normal again!!


After an hour and a half letting it soak in and intermittently shaking it, I decided to add more thinner because there was still a good deal that was still clumped at the bottom.

You could even see the ball stuck in the clump.


But overall, almost all of the flakies had started to unclump!!


Two hours in I decided to top it off with thinner because pure thinner was clearly the best option. Here's the end result several days later (there was no real change from the day after I added thinner after letting it sit overnight, and when these photos were taken).

This is before you shake the polish. I don't know if unthinned HT does this, but you can see how the flakies have fallen down and there's a cloudy area at the top.


And this is after giving it a couple of shakes just as you would a normal polish. All the flakies are evenly dispersed.


And the brush is now completely normal!!


So thinner is amazing. Best thing ever. If you're curious, I used Beauty Secrets from Sally Beauty Supply, which can be found online here (my bottle looks different than the one in the photo). It's also sold in stores, which is where I picked it up.

I did mix it around with a toothpick, but not too much because I was afraid I might destroy the flakies. Overall, looks like it came out gorgeous!! I haven't tried it on my nails yet (obviously, considering I've been at work), but I did swatch it on a nail wheel:

Left is Sinful Black on Black
Right is OPI Mermaid's Tears

Love & Beauty Coral

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, I LOVE Forever 21 polishes. If you see a color you like, do not hesitate to pick it up. They cost $2.80 and I haven't been disappointed yet! And they have a good range of finishes, not just simple cremes like many stores do. Love & Beauty if the name of their cosmetics line, but I tend to use Forever 21 and Love & Beauty interchangeably when I talk about their polish.

Looking on their website at their polish, it looks like they have interesting names such as "Fun Fuchsia", "Feminine Wiles", "Liquid Silver", and "Clear Skies". However, when I'm in the store, their polishes don't have those names at all. My small collection of Forever 21 polishes consists of names such as "Pink", "Nude", "Taupe", and "Light Green". And that's how I see them labeled in the store. I had also noticed that in the store, there was more than one polish called "Pink" for example, but they were certainly not the same polish. I don't know if the interesting names are just for online purposes and they're the same as the ones in the store or what. Regardless, it's odd. But anyway, here's "Coral".













Close Up


2 coats Coral
1 coat Poshe

Not a color I tend to gravitate to generally, but it's really gorgeous. By the name, it obviously suggests that it's coral, but it's definitely a red coral. The other thing that I love is the very fine gold shimmer. It gives the polish a nice dimension that greatly compliments the overall look and adds a warmth to the polish while still maintaining that it's definitely a summer color. It's clearly not just a creme. The shimmer is more noticeable in the bottle, and because of the orange-ness of the color, the polish certainly does not look gold on the nail. It's just beautiful. And I don't tend to wear reds. Granted I wouldn't call this strictly red, but it definitely leans that way. I do love coral, though.

The formula was great. Opaque in 2 coats, not streaky or uneven at all. The polish consistency was on the thin side, but thin like old OPI before the formula change, not thin like watery and unworkable. So this makes for a very easy to work with polish. The brush average size and is rounded and very dense with clear bristles. It could be a little more flat in my opinion, but it doesn't do that stupid flare thing at the tip like some round brushes do. I think it's because the brush is so dense.

Orly Ancient Jade Vs. OPI Mermaid's Tears Comparison

Something you should know about me. I'm cheap frugal. With that, I hate buying polishes that are dupes or WAY close. I see no need. I definitely have a polish obsession, but in this aspect, cost outweighs owning polish. And I don't like to buy a polish that I essentially already have. Definitely nothing against those who do!! Thank goodness for those of you that buy dupes. If you didn't, I'd never get to see comparisons of similar polishes. Thanks to those of you who do buy dupes, I was able to pick Essence Choose Me! up instead of OPI Catch Me In Your Net or Zoya Charla. I was able to pick up Revlon Electric instead of Chanel Mimosa. You get the idea.

So, unbeknowst to me, I bought some dupes. Obviously as the title suggests, those dupes are Orly Ancient Jade and OPI Mermaid's Tears. I picked up Ancient Jade (from the Precious collection) first back in February. I even used it in one of my posts. I later bought Mermaid's Tears in early May. I had seen swatches of MT online, and obviously I had worn AJ. I had not a FREAKIN' clue how similar they were. I hadn't even given it a second thought, honestly. In hindsight, I definitely thought AJ was much more green, and even when I heard rumor that they were dupes for each other, I just couldn't believe it. So I just had to swatch them together, and here's what I got.









In Direct Sunlight




2 coats Ancient Jade
2 coats Mermaid's Tears

Here's a photo of 1 coat of each for comparison:



So they're obviously really, really close. Complete dupes? I'd say no. Close enough? Absolutely. If you're like me like I said above, I would say you don't need both. They are so so similar. If I had to chose, I'd pick Ancient Jade.

Aside from the fact that I don't enjoy the ProWide OPI brushes, Orly won me over with the formula. Completely opaque in one coat, not streaky, easy to use, just awesome. I used 2 coats of each in the photos for a more true comparison. OPIs was fine, too, but it did require 2 coats and if they were on the thinner side, you might've needed 3. I'd still say 2 coats is fine, though. Mermaid's Tears had the same applications as the other two polishes (Stranger Tides and Skull & Glossbones) I have from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. Thin and watery, but opaque in 2 coats.

Color wise, anything I mention is SUCH a slight difference, so keep that in mind. By slight I mean if they were to go one shade different, they'd be identical. So MT is the slightest bit murkier while AJ is the slightest bit brighter. I'd also say AJ is about 1 shade more turquoise than MT. I think AJ has a more clean look than MT, and I think it's a little more striking. By striking I mean alluring. It has a demure brightness that MT doesn't have because it's more murky.

These photos do not have a top coat. I painted them as if I was going to use a quick dry top coat. I didn't wait for the first coat to dry fully before adding the second. I felt my nails about 15 minutes after painting them, and they're both dry to finger marks.

And can you tell how my middle finger nail and kind of my index finger nail are starting to curve inwards at the sides? Clearly my nails are a little too long for me and I need to file 'em down a bit. Lol. Eh, I'll get around to it eventually.

Spring Wedding Nails

This was from my friend's wedding yesterday!! This is actually the same friend whose wedding I went to in NYC. So the night before the wedding I water marbled one of my friend's nails and it was super fun! She was totally into it and loved doing it!! They came out awesome, I'll try to get a picture.

So I had to decide what to do for my nails. I slowly started to piece together my ideas to create a cohesive look. All of my friends know I'm a nail fanatic (I was with the bride and the wedding party last night when I water marbled our friend's nails), so I know they're expecting something awesome. My dress is not a solid color, so I didn't want to do anything too flashy. I was contemplating doing a complete water marble, but decided that was too much for me to do today, and I knew I wanted to wear Essie Mint Candy Apple. So the game plan became MCA on all nails but my ring fingers, which will be water marbled to match colors in my dress. I was going to water marble my thumbs, too, but one of my thumbs is getting a fake nail, so I decided not to bother. I'm actively doing my nails as I'm typing this, so I'm also considering possibly Konading some or all of my other fingers. If I do it, it'll be in white and something subtle, not a full nail design. So let's see what I ended up with...















Close-ups of the Water Marbles



2 coats Essie Mint Candy Apple
Water Marble:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On
Essie Mint Candy Apple
Essie French Affair
1 coat Poshe
Konad:
Konad White with Essence stamping plate (design also on Konad plate m4)

I had been reluctant to use MCA because it tends to be difficult to work with. This time, though, it really wasn't that bad. Probably because I expected it so I was careful. It's one of those that tends to get dry on the brush so it becomes difficult to apply. I find if you frequently let it rest back in the polish, application is much better. It did have a little drag, but I was able to get around that the majority of the time. It was somewhat uneven (not streaky, just uneven), but that was resolved with a top coat.
MCA is a pretty well known color, and despite the application problems, I still think it's worth it. It's such a bright, fun turquoise that leans more blue than green. When I think "Mint", and I think green, but this is definitely more blue.

The water marble was great, but there were bubbles. Luckily only one on each nail is actually visible when you look at the nails in real life, and even then, they're so subtle. The colors spread perfectly and easily in the water, even though MCA is pretty thick. I did not expect it to spread NEARLY as well as it did, which further proves each polish is different when it comes to marbling.

I decided to go with a simple Konad design on my thumbs just to add a bit more, and so you could notice it when I text on my phone.

What was awesome, though, was my friend whose nails I marbled the night before. She was at the pasta station getting food and the servers started asking her about her nails!! She told them I did them and they asked what salon I worked at because they LOVED them... heehee. That made me feel kinda awesome lol.

Here's what I wore that was the inspiration for my nails: