Tag: Glisten & Glow

 
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Dream Dust

 

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Nails Inc. “Dream Dust” is dreamy AND dusty! “Dream Dust” was my first pick to try from the Nails Inc. Unicorn Nail Polish Duo.

I just took the polish off a few minutes ago and rest assured – the gold is actually glitter, NOT shimmer. I feel like I will never get all the glitter off my skin, no matter how many times I wash my hands.

This is two coats of “Dream Dust” over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.

Possible dupes are Essence “Space Glam” and Zoya “Faye”, but I feel like there’s a lot more gold in “Dream Dust” than the other two.

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I Put a Spell on You

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…and now you’re mine!

I’ll admit it, Deborah Lippmann “I Put a Spell on You” is nowhere near as pretty on my nails as it is in the bottle. I was expecting it to be a swirly purple/pink pearl duochrome, but the effect is much more muted on the nail. It’s more of a pearlized baby pink and very, very sheer. It is still very pretty though – like the inside of an oyster, except without all the poo.

This is two coats of “I Put a Spell on You”, over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I don’t think the polish formula is at all compatible with the top coat – can you see all the bubbles that formed, especially on my index finger? At least it’s very aquatic looking.

I feel like the polish is similar to Sinful Colors “Bali Mist”. I swear I thought I had that polish, but I cannot find it searching my site…very weird. I’ll have to look in my bins later.

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Blazing

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So I found this gem, digging around in my basket of untried polishes…how did I pass this one by? It’s gorgeous!

This is Formula X “Blazing”one of the polishes I picked up for $2 each last summer when Sephora discontinued the Formula X polishes. A blue-leaning burgundy, with a firey shimmer, I got full coverage in a single coat! Of course, I did two coats – just to make sure. I used Glisten & Glow Base Coat and Top Coat.

The lasting power is impressive – I painted my nails several days ago, but they still look fresh…and it is still going strong. It looks so good, that the guy at the oil change place asked if I had just gotten them done. (I am not sure if he was flirting or just really appreciated my nails…Lily says flirting.)

“Blazing” is a close cousin…or even sister…to Julep “Laurie”. Man, I should keep better track of dupes…but I am too goddamn lazy.

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Neon Rainbow

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My cousin Kelley wanted rainbow nails, so she got rainbow nails! Neon rainbow nails.

After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with two coats of each neon color on each nail. I then used a dotting tool to dot them up with color of an adjoining nail. (I did a different order on each hand, swipe right to see the right hand.) I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.

The pink is a shimmery Barbie pink, named “Safari Not Sorry”.

The neon mango polish is growing on me – it’s called “Off Tropic”.

“Palm Down” is by far my favorite polish, a pearly, Kermit green. I also used this polish on my toes, no dots though.

Or is “Poison Arrow” my favorite polish, also named for the very dangerous frog.

I am not sure how I feel about “Amazon Woman”, the purple polish. It’s almost fuchsia, but it’s not. I forgive you, “Amazon Woman”.

Even though I’ve technically tried all of these polishes, I still want to try each of them alone on my nails, so keep an eye out for them – you ‘ll be seeing them again soon.

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Petra

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I saved the prettiest for last. This is Julep “Petra”cranberry magenta shimmer – the last of the three polishes I received in my August Julep box.

I don’t know about magenta – all I see is FUCHSIA!

This was a difficult polish to work with. I thought it would be a similar formula to the others, but it was thicker and more viscous. It seemed to pull back from the edges as it dried – so annoying! It also left some weird edges around my cuticles – it didn’t clean up nicely. I felt personally victimized by this nail polish.

This is two coats over Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coatย (uh oh, my bottle is almost empty) and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. Despite all my whining about application – I ended up wearing a good six days – and it still looks pretty good, even after a trip to the waterpark.

 

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Cozette

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“Cozette” is NOT “Cosette”, the character is Les Miz. I couldn’t find any famous Cozettes, but it is French for “little thing.”

Julep “Cozette” is no little thing – this is a BIG polish. It’s a peacock teal shimmer, but there is a bold hint of purple underneath that teal.

This is is two coats of “Cozette”, over Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. It’s lasting well so far, but the formula was a bit thick, so the polish pooled around the edges, combining with the top coat to make a few jagged edges. I hate it when that happens!

 

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Texas Sunset

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Doesn’t this polish remind you of a Texas Sunset?

WHAT? You’ve never seen a Texas Sunset? They are RED and AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and UNIQUE…and intensified by dust and pollution. Yeah…all those crazy colors are due to red/orange wavelengths of light traveling more easily over the gas molecules (and dust and smog) than blue/violet wavelengths. And that’s your science lesson for today…

This beautiful polish is Julep “Saryn” –ย coral sunset iridescent shimmer – from this month’s Julep box. I am loving the gold/orange shimmer underneath the coral. This is two coats of “Saryn” over Julep Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.

“Saryn” is a unique name. I googled it and the only stuff that came up was about a character from a video game called Warframe. I’ve never ever heard of it – I am OLD.

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Vegas Nails, Take 4

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And here’s the last of my $1.74 Ulta HaulChina Glaze “Ma-Holo at Me”.

“Ma-Holo at Me” is a slate blue holographic polish. I figured this is the perfect polish to get me through a trip to Las Vegas – shiny and will match ANYTHING.

Sure, this polish looks nice NOW, but the application was SO problematic. I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. The first coat was super streaky, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that each brush stroke made the polish glob onto the previous brush stroke and left weird bald spots. I did the best I could to get a thin, even first coat. The second coat was slightly better, filling in some of the bald streaks, but not all of them. It was SO weird. Without the top coat, the polish was somewhat matte. If I wasn’t going a week without changing my polish, I might have tried it out. Luckily, Glisten & Glow Top Coat is very, VERY forgiving and his most of the bald spots and flaws. My nails ended up looking so much better than they should have.

I’ll be going on hiatus for a week or so while on vacation. Enjoy this spiffy new WordPress theme while I’m out. Vaya con dios!

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Don’t Be Sea Salty

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All the flavors in the world…and you chose to be salty?

This polish is actual the opposite of salty – it’s so, so sweet. China Glaze “Don’t be Sea Salty” is a finish you don’t see very often – it’s a plastic-y matte shimmer. The shimmer is very, very subtle – but it’s there.

This is two coats of “Don’t be Sea Salty” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat.

Like most matte polishes, the edges wore VERY quickly – no top coat. Even so, it lasted at least a day or so longer than the usual 2 days before looking like total shit. This one is definitely a keeper.

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Let’s Have a KIKI!

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I wanna have a kiki…lock the doors TIGHT.

That’s right, I only bought China Glaze “Kiki in our Tiki” because of the name. I don’t normally gravitate towards orangey polishes, but for $1.74 – why not?

At full price (usually $7.50), I usually don’t bother with China Glaze polishes…but when they are on sale, I snatch them up. China Glaze is usually good quality, with large bottles…even if the names are cringey puns. How can you even have a kiki inside of a tiki? Maybe if they mean a tiki hut? Ugh, at least it’s not “Keke, do you love me?”

This is two coats of “Kiki in our Tiki” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.