Category: Nails
Polish Pickup April 2023 – Flowers
I’ve been following Polish Pickup for years and years, but never bought anything…I was happy with my Julep and Sinful Colors, and whatever else I found at the grocery store…but I am no longer getting half a dozen new polishes every month…so splurging on Indie Polish is much more attractive these days. PLUS, supporting small business – I’m in!
April’s theme was “Flowers”. The first thing I added to my basket was Baroness X Acetone Antidote in “Darkness Falls” ($8). It’s an additive that protects your skin from acetone – and it smells great. It contains glycerin and jojoba oil. I added about half the bottle (probably too much) to my little up&up nail polish remover finger tub and it does exactly what it says it does – my fingers were soft and moisturized and smelled like peonies and musk. I will be a repeat customer, for sure.
I also tried out Vibrant Scents’ Base Coat and Top Coat in “Island Petals” ($8.50 each). They have a lovely tropical scent – plumeria maybe? The scent doesn’t last long, but it’s an absolute improvement over the usual nail polish smell.
I only snagged one nail polish – Poetry Cowgirl “Dead Flowers” ($12.50), a dense microglitter. Stay tuned to see it!
Chira
I am really liking the change in scenery in my nail pictures. Since tearing down our old patio cover and building a new one, I don’t get the same quality of light on the patio. I’ve since moved to the area right outside my garage, which includes a few Sago Palms and my succulent collection. I am still experimenting, but I think the Sago Palm is winning.
Julep “Chira” is a rich teal microshimmer. If I was asked to describe this polish, I’d call it midnight teal.
This is two coats of “Chira” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
PEEP My Skin Haul
YASSSS! I was hoping for more textured PEEPS polish to go on clearance after Easter and I was able to snag another Sally Hansen Insta-Dri x PEEPS Nail Polish Duo Pack for 30% off ($8.39, down from $11.99). This Pack includes “PEEPS Classic Chick” and “PEEPS Cotton Candy”.
My dermatologist suggested benzoyl peroxide for my bacne, so I snagged CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser, which happened to be 20% off ($15.19, down from $18.99). I haven’t started using it yet – I wanted to wait until after I washed my sheets, so I could make sure my dirty sheets weren’t making it worse. I washed my sheets TODAY, so tomorrow will start my bacne attack.
They were a whopping 60% off, so I grabbed Ulta Beauty Milky Toner ($4, down from $10) and Shine Bright Exfoliating Face Polish (also $4, down from $10). The Face Polish smells go good!
The weirdest thing – there was a random extra item in my box: Flower Blush Bomb in “Cinnamon”. I would never order this product – so weird. The sticker price is only $11.49, so I don’t feel bad about keeping it. I’ll maybe give it to my daughter or my nieces.
No other freebies, but I did use a $3.50 off $15 coupon. $856 to Diamond in 2024…
Eras Tour Nails
About this time the Sunday before last, I was sitting in my seat at NRG Stadium, patiently waiting for Taylor Swift…
I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my day, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it might be the best concert I’ve ever been to – it was a Las Vegas style spectacle! Almost everyone there was dressed up in one of Taylor’s eras…but I chose to dress up my nails instead, copying Taylor’s own eras tour mani. (In case you’re curious, my son dressed as “Red” and my daughter dressed as “Folklore”.) I started off each nail with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, and finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat. A few nails got Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber.
“Debut” was easy – Deborah Lippmann “Mermaid’s Dream”.
I have A LOT of gold polishes, but I chose Sinful Colors Sinful Shine “Rule My World” for “Fearless” because it was on top of the pile.
“Speak Now” was a bit more difficult. I started with two coats of Deborah Lippmann “I Put a Spell on You”, but it was too sheer and pink, so I topped with a layer of Julep “Queen Anne” and Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber. Yes, that’s perfect.
“Red” was a HARD one – I have literally 100 red polishes. Again, I resorted to just using the first shimmery red I found, which was Sinful Colors Power Paint “Shine, Honey”.
I couldn’t do just a plain black for “Reputation” – I had to have the gold flakies in Sinful Colors “Buzz Off”.
“1989” was totally screwed up. In the bottle, Sinful Colors “Poison Arrow” looks blue, but on the nails, it looked more aqua.
Julep “Hartleigh” was my immediate pick for “Lover”. The base is two coats of Deborah Lippman “Chantilly Lace”, topped with “Hartleigh” and Glitter Grabber.
Not quite sure why “Evermore” is silver, but I picked Sinful Colors Sinful Shine “Diamond in the Raw” for my silver.
“Folklore” is a boring old taupe. Julep “Kay” is the least boring taupe I could find.
Taylor’s newest album, “Midnights” deserved the sky at midnight, so I chose Sinful Colors “Witch, Please”. I loved this nail the most – I need to revist “Witch, Please” again in the near future.
And there you have it…my eras nails. Who else should I do? The first 10 Madonna albums? Or maybe Weird Al?
Nude Mood
…but it’s NOT a nude. It’s a deep eggplant purple, with a gold shimmer.
I know, I know…I need to stop having imaginary arguments with the folks who name nail polishes…it just irks me when a nail polish name makes no kinda sense. I am renaming this polish, “Grey Sweatpants Weather.”
This is two coats of Sinful Colors “Nude Mood” – from the Naughty Nudes Collection – over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. It was a rather long wearing nail polish – 8 days!
PEEPS Pink Bunny
I know Easter is over, but I REALLY like these textured PEEPS polishes.
This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “PEEPS Pink Bunny” and it reminds me of those molded plastic chairs from kindergarten. I remember nervously running my fingers over the texture of the plastic, over and over, waiting for recess. Kindergarten was so fucking boring!
This is two coats of “PEEPS Pink Bunny” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. I was shocked at how long this polish lasted – a full week with minimal edge wear!
Ride or Die
“Milk Nails” are a hot celeb nail trend right now, at least according to Glamour. Good thing I got Trust Fund Beauty “Ride or Die” in last month’s ipsy bag!
This is two coats of “Ride or Die” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Top Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I appreciated the gloss and depth of a milky nail polish – but it was also a bit streaky. I HATE streaks! The top coat made the streaks more forgivable…
I am also digging Trust Fund Beauty’s new bottle look – it’s not as elegant as the old bottles, but the new logo and font is definitely a lot more fun.
PEEPS Blue Chick
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “PEEPS Blue Chick” is the perfect polish for Easter!
Last year’s PEEPS polishes were glossy, but THIS year’s PEEPS polishes have a sugar texture! Or a cat’s tongue…whatever floats your boat.
This is two coats of “PEEPS Blue Chick” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat.
Hopefully, the rest of the collection will be on clearance tomorrow…along with all the jelly beans!
21 Days of Beauty x 2
I never think I am going to see something I want during Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty Sale…and then I always do. This time, I ordered two different times!
The first order – I forget which day of the sale it was – had two products I wanted for 50% off: Zitsticka Goo Getter Surface Zit Hydrocolloid Patches ($8, down from $16) for Lily and it Brushes for Ulta Brush Bath Purifying Solid Brush Cleanser ($11.50, down from $23). I haven’t used the brush cleaner (maybe this weekend), but Lily has been using the zitstickas and loves them. I saw her putting on on her tush the other day…I also added Megababe The Geo Deo ($14) to my order, because I wanted to try it out. I don’t like it as much as Rosy Pits, but it is a nice basic “clean” smelling deodorant.
The second order…how could I pass up half price Ulta Ultra Slim Brow Pencil for half-price? They were $5, down from $10, so I bought two, “Medium Brown” and “Dark Brown.” Then I just threw some stuff into my cart…a tgin Honey Miracle Hair Mask Packet ($2.99), because I want to use it with the tgin shampoo and conditioner I just got off Amazon…Sally Hansen Insta-Dri x PEEPS Nail Polish Duo Pack ($11.99), which also came with a free Tumbler full of PEEPS lip gloss…Cetaphil products were BOGO 40% off, so I got Extra Gentle Daily Scrub Exfoliating Face Wash and Gentle Skin Cleanser Face Wash For Sensitive Skin.
$886 to Diamond – I better get a move on!
Rule My World
Sinful Colors Sinful Shine “Rule My World” is a sheer, shimmery gold polish. I picked it up a few years ago at Dollar Tree, but I’d pay full price for it – it’s THAT nice.
This is two coats of “Rule My World” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.