It's summer, so I should be wearing either light, bright or pastel colors, right? Meh. Sometimes. I just get a hankering for dark glowing polishes too. I've been switching back and forth lately. Here are a few that I don't think I have shown on the blog before.
China Glaze - First Class Ticket
If you are a fan of shimmer you should definitely own this.
2 coats
Color Club - Electric Coral
A bright translucent jelly.
3 coats.
China Glaze - Short and Sassy
Woah mama, hello!
New York Summer - Hot Magenta
2 coats
New York Summer - Poppies
I was pleasantly surprised.
2 coats
The eye searing
China Glaze - Pool Party.
2-3 coats
Max Factor - Fantasy Fire gave me super powers. I caught this fish with my bear hands. (pun intended)
Shout out to Esther from Fab Fingertips for making these super powers possible. :D
Ruby Kisses - Raspberry
2 coats.
This is an opaque jelly and it glides on so buttery.
Do you stick to typical summer polish colors or do you live on the edge?
I have received a lot of questions/requests on this hair...
One big hair curl
If your hair already has slight curl or wave, this look is pretty dang easy to achieve. I made a video on my YouTube channel!
All you need is a basic flat iron, hair tie, and brush. I don't normally use hair products for this, but if it helps you keep your curls feel free to add them. I use a very low temperature setting, 220 C, but you'll have to find what temperature works best for your hair.
The flat iron in this video is a Remington Tstudio S8800.
The T studio
is growing on me, finally after two years of use! Perhaps I'm just resistant to change, but initially I was not a fan of the iron. The only thing I ask of my irons is that they are not bulky and have temperature adjustment.
Bulkiness:
On pure aesthetics, I think the cool touch ends make this iron look bulky. I wish they weren't there, even though I realize they have a functional purpose. I decided to overlook the bulkiness in exchange for other positive aspects. At this point I am just used to them and don't notice them very much.
Temperature and digital controls:
This iron warms up very quickly, about 60 seconds. I really love the digital LCD temperature display. It's very easy to set the temperature using the -/+ buttons. The lowest heat setting is 200 C and it goes up to 400 C in 20 C intervals. There is an LED indicator light that blinks when the iron is heating up or remains solid when it has reached a specified temperature. When I initially bought the iron I had problems accidentally pushing the -/+ buttons and inadvertently changing the temperature setting. It was really frustrating. I didn't realize you could lock the temperature. All you need to do is, let the iron come to temperature (solid LED light), and then hold the on/off button for 2-3 seconds. You can test the iron by pressing the -/+ buttons. Once I discovered this trick, I became more infatuated with the iron.
Nano-Silver Ceramic Plates
Apparently the plates are made of ceramic and micro-fine, nano-crushed particles of silver that have anti-microbial purifying properties. I'm not sure why one would be so concerned with microbes on the hair; I guess I could eat off my hair in a pinch. Whatever, I don't care too much about that, but I do appreciate that after 2 years, the plates look brand new. This is another great reason to love the iron.
Flat iron comparison:
I can't remember exactly, but I think I paid ~$25 for the Tstudio at Big Lots. Before the T studio, I used an Andis Ceramic Plate Flat Iron that I bought at Walmart for ~$12. I liked the design much better over the T studio, but the ceramic plating wore off quickly (within the first 2 years).
I used the Andis flat iron probably for 5+ years (worn plates and
all), before I finally stopped being lazy and replaced it. Although initially I was not happy with the replacement, the Remington Tstudio has proved to be a very nice work horse that I don't regret buying one bit.
You can also substitute the word 'fail' for adventure.
Color Club usually comes out with a seven pack assortment of their seasonal collection, seven colors or six colors and one clear.
They are terrific bargains (especially when I find them at Ross for $7.99!!) with only one down side. The bottles are unlabeled. I've bought several and usually just search swatches and label them myself.
I guess I was not really paying attention and just assumed the bottle of clear was just that.
I often use clear as a base or top coat, so I didn't think twice with this Color Club. Although I'm showing Sally Hansen products, I have and use many others indiscriminately.
One mani (actually several now) I decided to use the Color Club "clear" as a basecoat. The result each and every time was...
The first time this happen I was all like, "wow that sucks." Then every subsequent time after I started thinking the worst of Color Club. Why in the world does every single polish I put over this "base" not sticking?! It didn't matter what top coat I used or whether I wrapped the tips or not.
This is/was Revlon - Tropical Temptation ... pre scabies.
This was all too coincidental and Color Club can't suck this much. Then it hit me! This must be a quick dry topcoat!
Indeed formula matters. More reason for me to finish the following series... *link*
Lesson learned: the Color Club clear in the variety packs is not a base coat.
I would imagine anyone who has used Seche Vite as a base coat has experienced something similar. I mean after all Seche Vite has been known to cause glitters to spontaneously pop off!
Seche Vite also creates waving topcoat flaps ... see here.
Black? I'm not sure what this base color was, but it sure does make the flakies stand out.
Revlon - Blue Lagoon w/ Nubar 2010
Revlon - Blue Lagoon is difficult to work with. It is dry, chalky and a bit gritty, but a very bright baby blue. I loved Nubar 2010 on top.
I sure do love blues and flakies!
Revlon - Modern Grace with Nubar 2010
OPI - Funny Bunny with Finger Paints - Asylum.
This combination looked great at most angles, like shown. Other angles made the sheer white (my love) look pitted, but nowhere near what I am about to show you in the next set of photos.
China Glaze - Summer Rain
You either like these kinds of polishes or you don't. Personally, I don't mind that it is sheer or that it is slightly frosty. I do mind that it makes my skin color look like poo poo.
It gets worse though...
I decided to top this off with a flakie. Never again.
At some angles it looks nice.
Most angles it looks like this...
A true monstrosity. Just EWWWW. I must have set a world record for fastest nail polish removal.
Have you ever made a seriously fuggly nail polish combination?
