Zoya Crystal

I got this back when Zoya did their three free polishes promo, along with Mimi and Veruschka. I had no idea what I wanted to put on, so I just opened my Helmer and grabbed the first polish I saw that was untried. It was Crystal. And here it is:













And here's a close up of the polish:


3 coats Crystal (opaque and fine in 2, I'm just ridiculous)
1 coat Poshe

First coat looked sheer-ish, but very easily and quickly buildable and went on smooth. I have no idea why I picked this, because I'm not fond of it for spring. It's a silvery metallic blue with scattered teeny tiny flakes of yellow gold. Despite the gold, it still gives an overall silvery blue metallic look to me rather than a gold-ish blue. I really wish it could pull the yellow gold out a little more. This would be a gorgeous wintery color. I don't know what it is, but I just really don't like it for spring.

On a side note, I actually know what I want to do for my Wednesday nails. I can't see myself doing anything else with this polish other than taking it off and storing it away for winter!! And I feel a water marble coming on. It won't be done this week or I wouldn't be able to wear my planned Wednesday nails, or I'd only be able to wear the water marble for one day (Thursday). The process is laborious, so when I water marble, it will stay on for at least 2 days. So possibly Sunday or Monday. We will see!!

Song:
Nickelback - Rockstar

China Glaze TTYL

So I finally went into a dusty. I had actually gone to the same one a few months back with no idea what I wanted to look for. The woman told me they sell polish and I can buy any polish they currently use. Sounds good to me!! But I didn't get anything that time. So knowing already that they sold polish, I had a friend with me who is far more assertive than I am, so it made me feel more confident about going into this dusty. I went on a Saturday, so it was packed with people, and I don't think the guy understood that I wanted to buy polish, and this time mentioned nothing about choosing polish from the wall. I looked through the glass case and they had a bunch of random polishes of a brand I didn't know. I turned to look at the wall, and the polishes weren't organized at all. Not by brand, color, nothing. And they had so many random bottles, not your typical OPI, China Glaze, and maybe 1 or 2 other brands. Unfortunately, those random bottles weren't something cool like Zoya or Nfu Oh or Nubar. They were just random polishes.

Anyway, so I see a small Anchors Away display next to the glass case. So as I'm crouched down, I look over at it and see only a few of the polishes are from Anchors Away, but they are all random China Glazes. Then I see silver caps. 2 were holiday ones, and the other 2 weren't. I pick up one I know isn't a holiday one and read the label. "TTYL". No way!!!!!! I look at the other one, which was more of a bright/dark pink, but it doesn't have a label on the bottom. Well, I know at least TTYL is from the OMG collection, but it doesn't look holo at all. This salon definitely looks like one that would just refill bottles with any random polish, and the bottles were totally full, so I was skeptical. I grabbed both and walked over to a lamp they had shining against the polishes on the wall and I held the bottles under the light. There was that beautiful holo!! They were both definitely OMG polishes. So I gave the guy $12 for both and walked out, turned the corner, and squealed!! (Such a dork, I know). BTW, I'm pretty sure the unlabeled one is TMI.

I couldn't wait to get home at try them, but I knew it would be dark outside by the time I wore them, and you really need sunlight to truly appreciate a holo. I didn't care and put it on anyway!!
So here is a photo of my nails indoors with flash that I took last night:



And these were taken really early this morning, so this is very much morning sunlight:











1 base coat Essie Matte About You
2 coats TTYL
1 coat Poshe

Good thing I stuck with taking photos this morning. It was overcast the rest of the day!!

As for the polish, it applied phenomenally with no problems. I probably could have gotten away with 1 coat, but I wanted to do 2 just in case. I didn't have time to be able to see if it works better without a topcoat, but I'm pretty happy with the holo effect with Poshe. I was going to use Seche Vite, but I had my stupid Hazmat Ops class for work earlier that day, and Toluene was in the presentation so I was turned off by it, so I went with Poshe.
Even though it was overcast, the polish definitely still had an obvious holo effect outside and in some indoor lights. I like the idea of holos because it's like a surprise polish. Subtle indoors and striking outdoors. Lovin' it!!

Zoya Phoebe (finally!!)

In the Zoya BOGO promo, I picked up Phoebe and Faye. I received Faye a while ago on March 25. Just yesterday (April 7), I finally received Phoebe!! As much as I wanted to just wear Phoebe as soon as I got it, I knew I'd want to give myself a good full day (at least!!) of wearing Phoebe, so to put it on at 3 in the afternoon would have been pointless.

I have to mention how Phoebe came packaged. You totally know someone in the warehouse had a super fun time make sure this package was well secured:





Anyway, onto the good stuff!!













3 coats Phoebe

I am really really disappointed in this formula. Like REALLY disappointed. I have Veruschka, which is also a Zoya matte, and these two formulas are totally different. Veruschka is technically considered "matte velvet", but Phoebe gives that same velvet finish.
Phoebe was horrific. You could not paint over the same area twice without dragging up all of the polish you just put down. Thank goodness Zoya brushes aren't like the big, chunky OPI ProWide brushes (which I'm not a fan of). You had to use a very delicate touch and work quickly. You also have to have the patience to put on this polish. Don't try to swipe this on your nails and run out the door. It needs a little care and babying. I feel like 4 coats might have made it a bit smoother, but I was satisfied with 3. Once I got the hang of it, it wasn't THAT bad, but it's still not an easy polish to apply.

What I suggest when using this polish that will make application easier:
♥ Work quickly
♥ Oversaturate your brush
♥ Minimize brush strokes
♥ Use a light touch

Oddly enough, I feel like I wanna have another go at using this polish, but I'll hold off for now. I'm sure I'll be wearing this again in the coming months.

Oh, and I've decided I'm going to try to do something a little fun with my posts. Ok, not that fun really, but I'd like to look back on it! When I post, I usually type this out while working on choosing my photos and watermarking/cropping them. But I also am usually listening to music. So I wanna start posting the song I'm listening to when I'm typing. Obviously this process takes me longer than a 4 minute song, but I'll just write what I'm listening to at the time I'm ready to write it.
Anyway, right now my iTunes shuffle has got me listening to:
"Ticks" by Brad Paisley. As I type that, it switches me to "Dare You To Move" by Switchfoot.

Usually I'm listening to some awesome 90s song, but not this time. Be prepared for a huge range of music!!

Orly Fancy Fuchsia with OPI Black Shatter

Not gonna lie, I'm not a huge fan of the shatter trend. That didn't stop me from picking up some China Glaze crackles and Black Shatter, though. But ultimately, I like Konad and tape mani's over crackle polishes because you're really limited with crackle. Even with different colors of it, I just think it's way too prominent over the base color, and aside from painting in different directions, there's not really anything else you can do with it.

So while I just talked about how it's not my favorite, I still decided to put it over yesterday's mani with Orly Fancy Fuchsia. I wanted to do something different to FF, but really was not in the mood to take the time to do something more intricate (I suppose that makes a point that crackles aren't all THAT bad). So here it is:









2 coats Orly Fancy Fuchsia
1 coat SV
1 coat OPI Black Shatter
1 coat OPI Top Coat

Orly Fancy Fuchsia - the perfect Barbie pink

The first time I saw this polish, I didn't buy it. I had picked up two China Glaze crackles, Ancient Jade, and Chrysanthe-Mum's The Word. But when I was in Sally's, I just stared at Fancy Fuchsia. It's oddly the most mesmerizing polish I have ever looked at. It was bizarre. It just stood out. I figured it was dupe-able, and I have SO many pinks that I skipped. For a couple of weeks after I just couldn't stop thinking about that polish and I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get it. So on one of my trips to Sally's to pick up a few Tronicas, I grabbed Fancy Fuchsia. I wanted it to be the right day to wear it - no snow, no rain, no overcast. Had to be sunny and summer-ish feeling. So here it is:











2 coats Fancy Fuchsia
1 coat SV

I'm so glad I picked this up. This is a bright (but not neon) blue based pink creme. Though it is cool toned, I see no problems with this on any skintone.
It's like an updated, risque Barbie pink without looking young and little girlish. This polish just screams Nicki Minaj to me. If MAC were to put out a polish with Nicki's Pink Friday lipstick, they should have stolen Fancy Fuchsia.

I really love Orly, and this formula was wonderful. Similar to Ancient Jade, it is a great consistancy that remains opaque (AJ in 1 coat, FF in 2 coats) and is not streaky, goopey, or difficult to work with. This color is gorgeous for spring/summer and it will be going on my toes as soon as flip flop weather comes around. But I've gotta say, I'm really not fond of the name. It doesn't fit the polish at all.

Does Nail Polish Expire or Go Bad?

The infinite question. Does nail polish actually expire? What does "expire" mean? When it "expires", should you throw it away? I want to discuss some common misconceptions about expiration of nail polish, if or when it needs to be thrown out, and why products might expire.

What does "expire" mean?

Dictionary definition - "To come to an end; terminate" (source)

In regards to cosmetics?

FDA definition - In summary, they say that there are no actual requirements in the US for cosmetic expiration's, however the concern is bacterial growth. (source)

European Commission definition - They have something called "Period of Time After Opening". You can find this symbol on the packaging of the cosmetic. Here are some on different polishes:




Top Left - China Glaze Crackle Glaze in Lightning Bolt
Top Right - OPI Italian Love Affair
Bottom Left - Orly Royal Navy
Bottom Right - Zoya Veruschka

"The period of time after opening informs consumers of the authorised period of time a product may be used after opening without any harm to the consumer." This became mandatory in March of 2005, so you might have older polishes that do not have a PAO. You can read more about PAOs here.

Well that explains that cosmetics in general expire, but what about nail polish?

I contacted OPI about this because OPI is the most widely known nail polish brand. I got an absolutely AMAZING response:

"Hi Samantha

The Period-After-Opening number is required for most cosmetics by the European Union (EU), but it is rather meaningless for nail lacquer. Nail lacquer does not go "bad" with bacteria after opening (or ever), because the solvents are chemically hostile to microbes. Indeed, research shows clearly that microbes don't survive in nail lacquer, whether in a salon environment or even if deliberately contaminated in a laboratory test.

For most other cosmetic products, such as skin lotions or hand creams, the preservatives eventually get used up, especially with repeated opening and closing , and bacteria can then colonize them and start to grow. So the PAO makes sense for these products. I don't think they had nail polish in mind when they wrote the rule.

So.....Why 24 months PAO for nail lacquer? Because the EU is distrustful of larger numbers. In reality, nail lacquer should stay safe forever. It might not be any good after many years -- due to slow color changes or if it evaporates to a solid, useless block -- but it won't be unsafe. And as you know, the PAO number is about how long, after opening, is the product SAFE ("no harm to the consumer"), not about whether it will work properly!

Is this what you wanted to know?

Paul Bryson, Ph.D.
Director of Research & Development, OPI Products Inc., www.opi.com"

Well that should clear a bunch of stuff up.

But what if the polish does "evaporate to a solid, useless block" (this is my favorite thing he wrote)? Or what if it gets thick and goopey? What should you do? Can it be saved?

Absolutely it can be saved!! Polish starts to harden or become thicker because of volatile ingredients in the polish that may eventually evaporate. All you have to do is replace to ingredients.

What should you use?

Definitely NOT nail polish remover!! Remover is too harsh to add directly to your polish. It may last a little while, but you're potentially doing significant, irreversible damage to your polish. Don't believe me? I highly suggest reading this blog post by Lacquer Laine. I'm not going to experiment on my own polish with remover, but she, unfortunately, did.
What you actually want to use is nail polish THINNER!! Yes. Thinner. They sell nail polish thinner specifically for this purpose. It's super cheap, lasts an awesome amount of time. I still haven't come close to going through an entire bottle. I bought mine at Sally's and it's by Beauty Secrets. You can buy it online here, or find it in the store.

Here's a post that shows how amazing thinner really is.

What your polish is separated?

Just shake it. It will be fine, it hasn't "gone bad". And if it's thick, add thinner. And yes, it is absolutely FINE to shake your polish. Yes, it creates bubbles, but those bubbles will go away. If you plan on applying polish immediately, then just roll it between your hands to avoid the bubbles. But for the purpose of adding thinner, shake the crap outta the polish.

So there you have it. No more throwing out old polishes. No more ruining polishes by adding remover. No more rebuying of your favorite polish because it's been 36 months since you opened it. And if you still don't believe me, I would be glad to take that "expired" polish off your hands. ;)

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Now that it's April, I'm really pushing myself to wear spring colors. I was going to do some fun nail art or Konad over OPI WWTC, but I just want to do some simple solid colors first.
I picked up Lemon Fizz on clearance last year at Ulta. It was clearance, though, because it was fall. So I put it away until spring this year and I have been dying to try it!!

Fair warning -
This polish was a huge PitA to photograph. I kept getting lobster hands, and this polish does not actually do that. So I have a bunch of photos in different lighting, and the first 3 are fuzzy.

These 3 were taken in my normal photo taking spot by a window







This next one was taken outside in direct sunlight



And these next two were taken outside in the shade





2 coats Lemon Fizz
1 coat SV

This was not that streaky at all, I'm very impressed. As you can see, after 1 coat SV, everything evened out very well. It is so pigmented and has a bright paleness. This would look amazing on tanner hands.