Category: Nails
T is for Tinsel
I wanted to use the rainbow-y looking glitter, but Queen Lilith demanded that I use that polish last…so I picked China Glaze “T is for Tinsel” for my Las Vegas trip.
“T is for Tinsel” is a packed silver holographic glitter, with a little bit of blue litter scattered within. This is full coverage in two coats, over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I feel like I was disappointed in the wear power of this polish, but that might not have been entirely fair. After just five days of wear, several of my nails were ~50% chipped away! Las Vegas is so hard on fingernails – the dry environment, plus washing my hands so much with cheap casino soap. I’m going to give this polish the benefit of the doubt, since I haven’t had performance that poor with any other shade of China Glaze.
Viva Las Vegas!
Fiddy Cents
Can you believe I got all this for fiddy cents? Actually, it was 46 cents plus 4 cents tax…how on earth did I get a deal like this?
I waited until the very last day to use my 20% off code to get the most bang for my buck. I’d been waiting until I got a code to get the BaBylissPRO Nano Titanium Prima 3000 Styling Iron ($179.95). Angie used it on my hair the last time I got it cut, and I fell in love with the idea of a tool that can straighten or wave my hair. It’s kind of hard to use and I’m still getting the hang of it, but it’s got adjustable temperatures and is difference than other irons I own. And I never, ever, ever would’ve paid full price for it.
I happened to notice several shelves of leftover Holiday Clearance and conservatively picked up a single nail polish – Sally Hansen x Jelly Belly in “Strawberry Cheesecake” ($2.49, down from $4.99).
In addition to the 20% off, I’d been saving my Ulta points for months and months…I’d saved up $144.50! I used them all on this purchase, which is how I got it down to 46 cents.
I also got a surprise packet of coupons for achieving Diamond Status. There was a coupon for ANY full size Clinique foundation, as well as a coupon for $25 off a Salon Visit. I used the Foundation coupon to try out Clinique Even Better Foundation in “Breeze” ($29.50). This is now my “holy grail” foundation. I’ve never had a foundation that blended this well. I applied over Make Up For Ever Step One Primer and topped with Make Up For Ever Setting Powder and my skin has never looked more poreless and perfect. The search is over!
My birthday gift from Ulta was a deluxe sample of Benefit Bad Gal Bang Mascara. I do not particularly like this formula – it makes my lashes bunch up together like Liza Minelli. I can make it look okay if I brush out my lashes, b ut that’s a pain in the ass, so I’ll probably just throw this tube away.
Since I bought this in my Birthday Month, I got double points…so, I guess I got one point. Just $1,149 to Diamond for 2021.
Elmo Pubes
I really don’t know how else to describe China Glaze “On the Nice List”, except that it looks the bathroom floor after Elmo gives his fuzzy balls a trim.
When I first applied, I thought “On the Nice List” was a sparse microglitter, but upon closer inspection, it’s a sparse micro bar glitter. This is two coats over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I probably could’ve gotten full coverage in 3 or even 4 coats, but I didn’t want to totally torture my nails. It’s so friggin’ hard to take of glitter polish, especially bars.
7 down, 5 to go – I’m on the home stretch, baby!
Me Ate Santa’s Cookies!
I mean…who else would eat Santa’s cookies besides Cookie Monster?
This is China Glaze “Me Ate Santa’s Cookies!” from the Sesame Street 50 Year Anniversary Collection. It’s a shimmery baby blue, just like Cookie Monster himself. It’s beautiful!
This is two coats of “Me Ate Santa’s Cookies!” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I’m halfway through the whole collection!
50 Shimmering Years
Okay, after a brief distraction with Sporty Brights, I’m back to the Sesame Street Collection. For some reason, I’ve lost the privilege of picking the shade to sample – Lily is now choosing shades for me.
Lily chose China Glaze “50 Shimmering Years”, a full coverage rose gold glitter. I got full coverage in two light coats, over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. I wanted to see it matte, so I used Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat on my ring finger and regular Glisten & Glow Top Coat on the rest.
I have a lot of rose gold glitters, but this is a nice one that I could see owning a full size bottle.
This is the 5th shade I’ve sampled – just 7 to go.
RIP Little Polishes
It’s hard to say goodbye to dried up nail polishes, even if they are petrified beyond rescue. I recently reorganized my nail polishes and came upon these three polishes that could not be saved.
The hardest to let go of was Revlon Street Wear “Furball”. Revlon Street Wear was a fun line of nail polishes from the 90s – they offered a rainbow of colors and textures before it was mainstream to do so. I’m pretty sure that I picked this polish up in college. It’s very similar to Sinful Colors “Glass Pink”, so I won’t mourn it too much.
I also said goodbye to Revlon Nail Art “Break-up”, a dried up crackle polish. I think it’s a dupe of OPI “Super Bass Shatter”.
I was surprised that China Glaze “Boo-Gie Down” was totally solidified – but I guess I did buy it almost 6 years ago… no dupes that I can think of, I might need another black, white and gold glitter.
Rest in peace, little polishes…
Flamingo Socks
I SWEAR this was an accident. I had paired up my new Sporty Brights by complementary colors and had Lily pick which pair I tried first. It wasn’t until after I had finished them, that I realized that they matched the Flamingo socks I was wearing.
I also didn’t realize that I still had some Sinful Colors Base Coat left in the bottle – there’s maybe one use left after what I used with this look. I started with two coats of the blue, Sinful Colors “Double Time”, and orange-coral, Sinful Colors “Warning!”. I used a dotting tool to add polka dots in the complementary color to my ring finger and pinky. There is a rubber-like texture to the polish, It’s supposed to be like the sole of a sneaker? To me, it doesn’t feel like a sneaker sole, as much as they feel like kindergarten chairs. Remember those molded plastic chairs that they used to have in elementary school? THAT’S what these polishes remind me of.
I finished with the new Sinful Colors Rubber Top Coat. The top coat definitely preserved the rubber texture. I am curious to find out if it will add the texture to a plain polish.
Sporty Brights
New font, who dis? Look at these fancy new Sinful Colors bottles – the first new collection of 2020 has a new font AND a new finish.
I came upon the entire “Sporty Brights” Collection at my HEB. I picked up all 7 shades and the new Rubber Top Coat at $1.98 each. Per the stickers, they have a “Sneaker-like Texture.”
The shades are, left to right: “Fit Chick”, “Warning!”, “Shoot & Swishhh”, “Fitspo”, “Double Time”, “Werk Out”, and “Trainers”. I’m itching to try these 80s looking, neon babies out.
Since 1969
China Glaze “Since 1969” is obviously a nod to Sesame Street’s 50th anniversary in 2019 and it’s an homage to the street itself.
“Since 1969” is an asphalt shimmer, the very color of Sesame Street. I was glad to use a shimmer polish – my nails sure did need a break from glitters. This is two coats of “Since 1969” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. No mattes this time. This polish lasted a really long time and even braved a marathon round of dishes and kitchen cleaning yesterday.
4 down, 8 to go. I am beating Lily at trying them all – she’s only tried one so far!
Gift Fur You
I’m gonna guess that China Glaze “Gift Fur You” is named for Animal. He’s the only fuchsia muppet that I can think of…
“Gift Fur You” is a fuchsia glitter, with a few silver glitters thrown in. Like “Grouchy New Year”, it’s not full coverage – maybe 80%.
This is two coats over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. I did that matte thing on my ring finger and pinky, with Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat. I used the regular Glisten & Glow Top Coat on the first three.
I feel like this glitter chipped really fast for some reason…probably because I had to do fucking dishes again.