Sally Hansen- Pink Rose Diamond

A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won't come true.
Ray Evans




This is one of the Nail Prisms holos I got at Dollar Tree in the Sally Hansen 2-packs.

I will try and set aside my dislike of holos, but I am really generally not a fan. It just looks too techno or futuristic to me. I'm just kinda meh.

Setting that aside, I do like the base color, a funky, juicy, fruity pink, and the holo glitters are more subtle than the other Nail Prisms I got. It unfortunately was more sheer than the others, and very very similar to the Blush Diamond. You can see the difference between those two, and the Purple Diamond here.

Report card:

Color= C+ (not my style, and kinda cheap looking)
Formula= D+ (kinda took a while to dry, and had a dull finish, so a topcoat is a must)
Brush= D- (thick, bristly, and splayed...very poor)
Price= A+ (excellent, considering it was just 50 cents basically!)

Overall= C

OPI- The Show Must Go On

"The Show must go on!
The Show must go on! Yeah,yeah!
Ooh! Inside my heart is breaking!
My make-up may be flaking...
But my smile, still, stays on!"
---Queen, The Show Must Go On




Wow, isn't that just brazen glory right there!? It's a deep, cranberry red foil/glitter. I got it in a mini set of the Burlesque collection. For that reason, my review may be affected, since the minis won't lend themselves to thick, glitter-based polishes, I'm thinking. It was hard to apply and took several coats.

Ultimately, I thought it was rather pretty and definitely fit the mindset of the collection. I can totally see a showgirl rocking this polish, leading the fellas around with just one crook of her finger. However, as lush and beautiful as it is, I don't think I will wear this polish any other time than the holidays. It's just not my regular style, and I found the glitter bothersome to remove, even with the FOIL method. I am just not a fan of glitters, no way around it.

Report card:

Color= B+ (very pretty, but not versatile)
Formula= B- (thick and unwieldy at times, but I blame the mini brush)
Brush= C+ (too small for this polish- if you want this color, get the full-size)
Price= F (OPI are expensive for this little country bumpkin, at $8.50. I know there are worse ones, but that's a spicy meatball for me)

Overall= C

Barielle- Jess's Champagne Toast- New Year's Mani!

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?"
---Auld Lang Syne




This was my New Year's Mani. I found this polish at Ulta, my first ever trip there. It was on clearance, just 99 cents I believe, maybe 1.99? I'm a sucker for blue, metallic, and rose gold, so this was sort of a must-have once I laid eyes on it.

I forgot how badly I tend to dislike glitters. They are often thick, clumpy, and gritty. And a total pain in the a$$ to remove. Even with the touted FOIL method, it just wreaks havoc on my nails. But, I think this combo is very pretty. I would love a smoother version where the glitter could float or suspend rather than sink into the polish.

I think it dried fairly quickly and was fairly smooth, to the touch at least, though I feel like it looks much grittier than it feels. It was nice and hardy, lasted well, but it did chip in just a day, so now I had to change it. I'll probably try it again and try to apply it more smoothly and see what I think then. As it stands, I was slightly disappointed.

Overall, I think I might relegate this to holiday-only. I don't think it's very versatile.

Report card:

Color= A+ (very imaginative, I love it)
Formula= C+ (thick, smudgey, gritty, but remember, I just plain' ol don't like glitters usually)
Brush= B+ (pretty good, slightly better than average)
Price= D+ ($6...meh. I paid 2.99 for mine though on clearance at Ulta, my very first trip in!)

Overall= B-

L.A. Colors- Electrified

We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
---Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue




For just one dollar, I purchased this little gem at the Dollar Tree. It's a bright, hot pink foil-type glitter. I went on fairly well and dried pretty quickly and with a nice, hardy, smooth finish. It also lasted for a while, especially considering its cheapness.

But, it's not something I will wear over and over. I'll basically only wear it on Christmas or New Year's, maybe Valentine's Day. It's just not something I think is very versatile.

Report card:

Color= C+ (It's ok, but nothing you should break your back to find)
Formula= B- (pretty average)
Brush= C+ (a wee bit flimsy for this thickish polish)
Price= A+ (just a dollar, w00t!)

Overall= B-

Wet n Wild- Morbid

I love the dead before they're cold,
Their blueing flesh for me to hold.
Cadaver eyes upon me see nothing
---"I Love the Dead" by Alice Cooper




Morbid is a very dark pine green base with green and teal shimmer. It was lovely and perfect for Christmas, despite it's Halloween-ish name, when I needed a dark, fancy-type green to correspond on my other hand, opposite the L.A. Colors Hot-Blooded.

It was $1.99 at Walgreens, but I got it on sale for $1.09. I bought Lust with it as well, and since I had been so impressed with that one, I had high hopes for Morbid. It's not that it is bad formula- it's not, it's actually great. The color is great too. My problem was the terrible brush. There are like 5 strands that are longer than the rest, and the rest seem sort of "fluffy" and puffed up. It's unusual. But, I guess for such a cheap price, you can't be too shocked. But it makes for a very difficult application.

However, ultimately, I really like this color. I will wear it again, and indeed, I wore it several times this month. I also layered WNW Blitzen over it at one point (pictured earlier) and absolutely loved that effect. I think Blitzen might be my favorite nail polish purchase of all year. It's certainly been the most versatile, despite being a holiday polish. I'll be rocking that bad boy come New Year's Day and I bet my birthday as well.

Anyway, Morbid's report card:

Color= B+ (pretty neat, but lots of brands have similar colors)
Formula= A- (pretty dang good, it might be a smidge prone to bubbles though)
Brush= F (practically useless)
Price= A- (even not on sale, $1.99 isn't bad)

Overall= B-

Merry Christmas!

"Gifts I'm preparin'
For some Christmas sharin'
But I pause because
Hangin' my stockin'
I can hear a knockin'
'Zat you, Santa Claus"
---Zat You Santa Claus, Louis Armstrong








Just a couple quick pics of the holiday skittle I've had for 3 days (til tonight). First pic is my left hand. Starting at thumb and heading to pinky, I had Wet n Wild "Lust", Wet n Wild "Caribbean Frost", China Glaze "Classic Camel", Nicole by OPI "Bah Plum-Bug" with a topcoat of Wet n Wild "Blitzen", and then Wet n Wild no name "Shiver???".

On the right hand, starting at pinky: Wet n Wild "Red Red", Wet n Wild "Morbid" plus Wet n Wild "Blitzen" topcoat, Wet n Wild no name "Wild Orchid???", L.A. Colors "Electrified", and Jazz "18K Gold."

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!

Sinful Colors- Hot Spot

Me mind on fire -- Me soul on fire -- Feeling hot hot hot
---Buster Poindexter, "Hot Hot Hot"




This is a fun color. I thought I'd like it for winter, but it just really strikes me as more of a summer color, especially like for 4th of July. It's got a foil-like quality, and not just a frosty/metallic sheen. It's a classic blue with silver metallic sheen, that dries to a nearly matte finish.

It was fairly hardy and applied easily and dried quickly. It was a little prone to scuffs and I think it would benefit from a topcoat, although it would probably mess up the nice matte-quality of the finish.

Report card:

Color= C+ (it's kinda generic I guess, but fun)
Formula= C+ (the scuffs sorta detract from the overall experience)
Brush= B+ (slightly better than average)
Price= A- (just $1.99)

Overall= B-

Wet n Wild- Lust

Young Lust, you're dying and you're screamin' inside
Oh, you're guilty way before you've been tried
And it's crazy but you're diggin' it
Ooohh
---Aerosmith "Young Lust"




This polish is from the Wet n Wild Color Craze collection. My Walgreens had them on sale so I scooped up this one and Morbid. Lust is a fruit punch pink with a purple glossy sheen. It's unusual and festive, so I think it's perfect for the holidays or special occasions, or whenever you want to feel glam. I loved the formula as well, it applied easily, dried quickly, and was fairly long-lasting, especially for the price. I will definitely wear it again, it's a nice color. The brush handle was a smidge short but in my stubby fingers, it was perfect. The polish wasn't too thick or thin and it was opaque in 3 coats, maybe 4 for good measure and maximum glossiness.

Report card:

Color= B (average, but it's not something ground-breaking)
Formula= A- (pretty dang good)
Brush= B+ (I like the short and stubbiness but I think some might find it clumsy)
Price= A- (normally a $1.99, even though I paid have priced for mine. Either way, not bad)

Overall= B+

Sally Hansen- Real Royal

If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'
---Jeff Foxworthy




Real Royal looks much rustier or brownish in the bottle, or mine does. It's a near-black base, with olive-tones showing with one coat, with bronze or copper shimmer. With only 2 coats, it takes on full opacity, and looks black, with the glitter being less noticeable, like flecks floating in water. I believe this is a jelly, for that reason.

It's an interesting color, one that I think is appropriate for fall and winter, and looks like a special-occasion type polish mostly to me, it's just so dramatic. I can see it working in casual situations as well though, but personally, I think it will be a dress-up lacquer.

The finish is glossy and shiny, looking like liquid sitting on your nail. It was ok, as far as dry-time and application went, but did not seem to last as long as I'd like. The brush was also fairly long, which did not help with the application. Price is decent, it is 3 bucks or so at Walgreens, and I paid $2.17 for it, it's on clearance currently at mine.

Report card:

Color= A- (it's interesting, it's fairly unique, but I do wish the shimmer were more noticeable)
Formula= B (I'm gonna call this decidedly average)
Brush= C+ (it was definitely too long and soft, especially paired with thin, runny lacquer)
Price= B- (pretty ok in the price range I'd say, only $3)

Overall= B-

Borghese- Stellare Notte

Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
---from the song "Vincent" by Don McLean




I know this is not the best swatch. It's the best I can do with my camera. I didn't like this polish as much as I knew I would from the bottle. From the bottle, it almost looks like a dream polish for me. I love duochrome and dark, dramatic colors. The 3 Ds if you will. However, I felt it was too thick, which dulled the chromatic effect, as well as made brush strokes fairly visible. Additionally, it took FOREVER to dry. Good news is that it's pretty pigmented and I didn't need more than 2 coats. I think one can be sufficient if you are ninja-like with your application.

Lastly, because it's so thick, it was prone to scuffs and scratches, which even further dulled the finish. This needs a good glossy topcoat fer sure. But the brush was AWESOME, as all Borghese brushes are IMO. And it is indeed a unique color. I am more than willing to retry this puppy later, in case for some reason the weather made a difference. It was raining when I tried it, so I am holding out hope that the humidity affected it, and I will also try a quick-dry topcoat and hope that makes for improvement as well. I really want this color to work.

Report card (pending review):

Color= A+ (unique, I haven't really seen much similar to it)
Formula= C- (ultra thick and slow-drying, plus a dull finish)
Brush= A+ (Borghese gots the best brushes)
Price= F (I bought mine on clearance, but normal price is 8 bucks, and unless it's a unique color, spend that money on OPI or something else)

Overall= B-

Nic's Sticks- Dash Into the Dark

Dashing through the snow
On a one-horse open sleigh,
Over the fields we go,
Laughing all the way;
---Jingle Bells




Dare I even share this awful swatch? This was actually my third attempt. These Nic's Sticks are so varied. It seems the metallic/frosty lacquers apply pretty well but the cremes do not. This is 4 coats. Look at the persistent baldness! And the mess! But it's a pretty color, if it could just be applied aptly. Perhaps someone with a steadier hand than I. It's like a licorice/jelly bean uber-dark plum color.

Report card:

Color= B+ (pretty fun, but it's hard to say, since I can't get true opacity)
Formula= D+ (thick, gummy, hard-to-apply, prone to unwieldy bald spots, etc)
Brush= F (this format does not work with the thick and quick-drying nature of the formula, it just globs up the brush)
Price= F (they are too expensive for the small amount of lacquer you get, even more when you consider the difficulty in application)

Overall= D+

Jazz - 18K Gold

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
---Robert Frost "Nothing Gold Can Stay"



I found this at Fred's for $2. I had been looking around for months, years even, for a color similar to one I had gotten with a pedicure like, 2 years ago. I only know that it was OPI. I thought it was something like Harvest or Cornicopia, but my internet-delving has proven fruitless. It was a truly vibrant golden color with shimmer, not glitter, and it had a slightly greenish base, maybe chromatic, I can't remember. But this looked fairly similar, and for 2 bucks, I wanted to give it a go.

I REALLY like this polish. The formula was nice, the brush is ok, and the color is pretty neat. It doesn't quite fit what I was aiming for however, it's a bit too vibrant for the color I was trying to get. Plus, I think if I was going to wear a gold-toned polish, I'd certainly reach for China Glaze Classic Camel first. But, it's nice enough, especially for just 2 dollars.

Report card time!
Color= B- (too much on the greenish end of the spectrum)
Formula= B (exactly average, although it gets very tacky/gummy with more than 2 coats)
Brush= B (once again, average)
Price= A- (just $2! and they had a nice selection, but mostly traditional colors)

Overall= B

L.A. Colors- Topaz

"I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul."
-Pablo Neruda "XVII"

---



I found this for a buck, yes, a BUCK, at one of my favorite stores, Dollar General. What a great investment! It's got shine, long-lasting power, quick-dry time, lovely color, easy application, etc etc. They have an assortment of colors available, so I think I will try those out sometime too, but I want to swatch my current reds first, so I don't double up.

As I applied this for the first coat, it was very sheer, and I was somewhat disappointed, I was afraid it would stay that way. On the plus side, I decided it would be a nice "lazy manicure" with just one coat, to add some simple glitz. When I applied the second coat, I was surprised at how opaque it became. I still had some nail line showing though, so I added a third for good measure. Normally I am 2 coats and that is it, but since this had a great drying time, I was ok with another coat. In certain lights, there still were some angles that showed the nail line, but eh, I thought it looked great anyway.

It is a gorgeous color, pretty spot on for a topaz tone, with a fine array of gold, bronze, and silver shimmer. Additionally, the metallic sheen made it resemble rose gold to me. I LOVE rose gold, so I really enjoyed this effect. In addition to the nice color, the quality of the formula was excellent. It applied so easily, the brush was not hard to use, and it lasted forever. After 3 days it was still as if I had just applied it. My nails grow fast, so the new growth was too visible and I was ready for a new polish anyway, but I am certain it would have lasted for days and days more.

The report card for this color:
Color= A (I love the color personally, but I realize it might not be unique per se, but I do think it would be flattering for most people, so it's a solid A)
Formula= A+ (I've never had better, honestly)
Brush= B (solidly average)
Price= A+ (I think without being clearance, $1 is pretty much the best you can hope for with a polish)

Overall= A-

Nina Ultra- Never Glum Plum

“What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?”
-Logan Pearsall Smith

---






These pics aren't quite true-to-color for me. Well, I guess when I took them, it was. But I swear this polish "aged" into a darker color within a few hours of my pics. It got very dark and when I asked my husband what color he thought this was, he said "black?" That's how dark it was, seriously. It's certainly much darker than it looks in the bottle, which is annoying, because I wanted a color that is basically the same as the bottle. Oh well, just an excuse to buy another bottle sometime!

The formula is good, maybe a bit globby, but it dries quickly and is slightly self-correcting. It isn't too expensive, and the brush was average, as far as ease of application goes. In my world, it is matte* (remember, I know nothing of jellies and cremes and whatnot).

The negatives, other than it's apparent color-changing issues, are that I found it to not look good on short nails at all. It made my fingers and nails look so stubby. So, I'm relegating it to longer-nails only. Also, and it might have just been the frantic car-cleaning I had to do while I searched for a school textbook, but it chipped before it had even been a day. So, that was annoying too.

So, the report card is as follows:

Color= C* (it's a nice color, but it's ambiguity is annoying to me)
Formula=B+ (slightly above average, but lost points due to globbiness)
Brush= B (average, nothing special)
Price= C+ (I think it's 3.99 at Sally Beauty, not too bad, but for me, it's slightly above what I prefer)

Overall= B-

China Glaze- Classic Camel

"Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold!
~Thomas Hood"

(Here's my swatch. I know I have cuticles and such and it isn't perfect, but it's the best I can do, and as far as the cuticles go, I just learned about those in Anatomy and Physiology, and they are more important than you think, so I let mine do their thing.)



I was very intrigued with this color, which I found in the clearance bin at Sally Beauty, which only just recently opened up in my town. We otherwise have few options for polish, without traveling 45 minutes to over an hour.

What first struck me about this color is that it looked matte, even in the bottle, which I found peculiar. I also noticed it has very fine glitter, which, if my eyes are correct, contains some silver and even a few faintly-lavender flecks. I knew I had no other color like it, and it was 1.99 I believe, so how could I say no? Even if it was a bust, I figured I could play around with it if I ever got a stamp kit or the guts to try marbling.

Anyway, it's basically a golden-mustardy-honey tone with very faint amounts of glitter. I would call it simply "matte" so whether it's a creme or a jelly or a gravy, I can't tell you. But its finish was very matte on my nails with no frosty/metallic sheen, and no chromatic effect. That's basically the 3 types of nail polish in my lexicon- matte, metallic, and chromatic.

The formula is nice. It went on smoothly and easily. The brush was good, maybe even better than average, for application ease, and the smell wasn't abnormally vaporous. I was impressed with the drying time, although a little annoyed at the initial translucence. I am not one to put on more than 2 coats (and that includes top and/or basecoats!), so I hoped it would work with just two. I still did have a faintly detectable nail line after the second coat, but only in certain angles and light sources, so I was not concerned.

I wore it three days, including school with hard wear-and-tear from schoolish activities. By the end of the third day, it was still perfect with no tip-wear. I received several compliments on it, and I personally felt like it was flattering. There were a few times in certain lights that I thought it had a greenish tone that wasn't flattering, and I'm not sure it will be flattering on all skin-tones, but for me, overall, I really loved it. I do feel like it's more a fall color, or a color for a "fancy" occasion, so it probably isn't something I will wear year-round. However, it will most definitely be getting heavy wear this fall and winter!

So the report card overall is:

Color=A* (*with my skin-tone, but it probably isn't for everyone)
Formula= A+ (I wish all polish was with a similar formula)
Brush= B (I've had better, but I'd say it's average)
Price= C- (I'm going to take into account its full price, not what I paid for clearance. Full price is 4.99 and for me, that's a bit rich for nail polish. But, I've seen worse, and I'd gladly pay it for a color I love)

Overall=B