Day 20: F21 Love and Beauty Periwinkle Swatch and Review

Looks like I'm another day off on my polishing! Oops...

Anyway, I've got for you a very cheap nail polish...that I honestly think was quite worth the $2.80 that I paid. It's a nice periwinkle (hence the name...though I always thought periwinkle was a bit more cloudy and purple) blue, with a smooth creme finish and no hints of shimmer at all (quite rare in my collection)! 

This is Forever 21's Love and Beauty (their beauty/makeup line, I presume?) Periwinkle nail polish...the very first nail polish I bought in my entire life. I'm pretty sure I picked this up almost two years ago...maybe only 1.5 years. I wore it today though out of a whim (and because I realized again how much I liked the color), and it was quite a good decision. :)

This polish has a nice glossy sheen on its own, thus you can probably skip the top coat. Shown above, this polish sans topcoat is a dreamy creme...seemingly opaque and painlessly blue. Oh, how a picture can be so deceiving. In this picture, this polish was a hefty THREE coats, much more than I usually expect from good cream polishes, especially those of this color selection. The other blues in my collection have quite nice opacity, with most of my China Glazes free of a sheer finish with two coats! Sigh, such a pity...

Three coats (with Seche Vite Fast dry topcoat)

Thumb looks kind of weird...

As you can see, this is the same packaging as most Love and Beauty nail polishes now. They have this oblong shape, with a round cap, but a trapezoidal bottle shape with a curved top. The bottle shape actually makes it quite easy to hold the way I am in the pictures above and below. I don't know if the company designed it such that it would be this way, but even if they didn't, thanks!

This polish seems to be smaller than others, but it's actually about the same size (0.47 oz/14 mL). In terms of application, this creme was surprisingly...not too runny! A polish being too runny is an issue I have had in the past with cheaper nail polishes, namely Wet 'N Wild. Runny polishes will be difficult to control, but a heightened potential was pooling at the cuticles. My nails are short enough as they are, which makes pooling (and careless polishing onto the skin above the nail) much more easily done. The polish was a good thickness, the title of "creme" well merited. However, my biggest peeve is the brush. It's the tiniest piece of poo I've ever seen. Think of an Essie brush...now cut it in half. Horrible. Just horrible. It's a bit tooooooo stiff and MUCH too thin...makes polishing quite difficult, and honestly, may have been the reason so many coats were necessary. Because the brush is so thin, I don't think I will be purchasing any foil-like polishes from the Forever 21 Love and Beauty line. Those will surely be a pain in the neck!

Look at that! Only two dollars and eighty cents! Quite a great deal. I don't like the smell of the polish - it smells like cheap nail polish LOL (chemical tart smell) - but that's a minor gripe. I think this polish is well worth it for the price; in fact, I'd have to say this polish exceeds the quality of other polishes that are generally this price. The color is nice, but I don't know how available this specific color will be. At stores, I usually see random selections of nail polish at the checkout, but I've seen more colors online. I'd say, that if you can't find this specific polish, perhaps spending twice as much on China Glaze's Electric Beat from the Electropop Collection might be a good investment - it's a similar color, but the application is much more magical (post coming soon!). Overall, I'd give this a 8.5/10. Not bad for a cheap polish, but certainly not perfect.

Until tomorrow (or two days from now, as it seems to be a pattern...)
The Nail Ninjas XOXO

Day 18: butter LONDON Toff Swatch and Review

I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to keep up with this blog! It's quite difficult....painting fingernails is more work than it's worth T__T

Today, I've got a butter LONDON polish. Many people think I have too many of these, but I only have 7...and this polish is one of the most BEAUTIFUL polishes I own! It's a beautiful dusty mauve-purple, very sophisticated and perfect for every season. This is Toff, a member of the butter LONDON Fall 2011 collection. 

The picture below was taken in indoor lighting, so it brings out the mauve tone and slight brown base color  a bit more. 

This was taken with window light, and it's quite obvious that the purple is more true in sunshine. The subtle brown is more muted, while the dusty purple takes the spotlight.

Application was great - two coats shown here until such opacity. One coat is the tiniest bit too sheer for my liking, so I went with two. It is shown here with my not-so-great Seche Vite fast-dry top coat. Gosh, I don't really like that thing....It does leave my nails nice and glossy though.

The polish has a natural sheen to it, but I recommend a top coat, simply because the sheen wears away quite quickly. The color looks great more muted though, and if you don't want such an elegant color to be extremely glossy, then no top coat might actually be your preference.

These pictures were taken a while ago, and with the Seche Vite, they lasted a good four days before they began to start chipping severely. Honestly, that's quite impressive, because the butter LONDON polishes generally hold up that long for me.

In terms of the polish and the butter LONDON brush...it's not my favorite. I love the OPI Pro-Wide, even though many people think it can be too overwhelming for their fingernails. OPI's brush is actually the perfect size for me, and their polishes are generally good enough, such that I don't get any pooling.

The butter LONDON brush was thinner and stiffer, but gave good color disposition. Application was generally smooth, and the cream quality of the polish was quite good. The smaller brush may be better for those with smaller fingernails. I honestly like the smaller brush for more runny and thin polishes, but butter LONDON's formula is always quite fantastic.

Final verdict? GREAT polish. Beautiful crème finish and such a unique color. This dusty purple-mauve is so elegant, but young. I'd give it a 9/10, simply because I didn't like the brush too much and the application required a little more time to get the brush around each nook and cranny of my nail. It's also $14 T____T, so that's not something I appreciate too much...but I do like it, and this color really suits my skin tone. I'd say for me, this was worth the splurge. 

Until tomorrow!

The Nail Ninja XOXO

Day 16: OPI Glitzerland Swatch and Review

Wow, I have definitely been neglecting this blog...and my yearlong challenge. It's not like anyone actually reads this anyway, so no foul, yeah? ;)

Today, I'm coming at you with another OPI polish. It's from the Fall/Winter 2010 Swiss collection, which may actually be my favorite collection that I've seen from OPI. Seriously, I did not get into polish as I do now until last year, yet I've caught a few of the Swiss collection, and I love them all! I really want Just a Little Rosti at This and Cuckoo For This Color, but those two seem particularly hard to find :(

This is Glitzerland, and holy guacamole, it is Sex. On. Your. Nails. The way it glistens under the waves of California April heat is phenomenal, and I found myself staring at my nails on my way home (and almost crashing into a tree, I might add). It's a beautiful gold color, but it's not extremely yellow-toned. I have yellow skin, and I try to avoid yellows and oranges, because they make me look crazy. This one isn't too bad, and the lukewarm undertone doesn't look too bad on my yellow-undertoned-skin.

My pictures don't do it justice (mainly because I take them on my iPhone LOL...), but believe me when I say this is shimmering sex on a fingernail.

Application was fantastic. Every polish that I have from this collection has a fantastic application...

Smooth, non-chunky glitter glides easily onto the fingernail. This is one of those polishes that gives you extra dimension from different angles with each additional layer. This is two coats. One is a nice sheer overlay - nothing too shimmery, but definitely unique and nice. Two is more opaque (duh) and quite golden and beautiful. Three is so incredibly cool, because the darker parts get darker in different lighting, and the shimmer is just glittery perfection.

These pictures don't reveal the true finish of the polish, since I have Seche Vite on top (which I don't really like...), but the true finish is kind of like a satin/semi-matte. It looks insanely cool, but I'd love for it to go all matte. I love matte nails! :D

How would I rate this polish? Oh...10/10 FOR SURE. Maybe even a 10.1. It's just that great. The color is BRILLIANT, the application is HEAVEN, and the overall look is just so sophisticated with a trendy twist. I'd say, if you can find this at nearby beauty salons or anywhere that sells nail polish, I would definitely get it. It is quite a nice find :D

See ya next time! 

The Nail Ninja XOXO

Day 3: OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It! Swatch and Review

Hello everyone! Today is April 11th, 2012 AKA Day 3! Woo, I'm much much much too excited by this challenge! Haha, I'll probably fail this in a week or two...

Today I am bringing you a polish from the OPI Miss Universe collection from last year (I think). Man, I wasn't too big into nail polish then, and had I been, I probably would have bought everything from this collection! It's so beautiful! Crown me Already and It's My Year are two that I would love to own!

This is Swimsuit...Nailed it! And oh man, this color has SOO many facets! It's some kind of matte/suede foil in the bright light sometimes (seriously blinding), but it can also be a kind of subtle ocean blue shimmer in dimmer indoor lighting. The microshimmer is kind of a turquoise,and I found myself looking at my nails and turning my hand to hit the light in different places all day today. Wow, this is beautiful!

I had a hard time capturing this color in the right light to show you guys every look there is! I put a Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top coat on this one to show you what it looks like when my nails are all shiny and wet, but I wish I hadn't! The initial finish is kind of matte, and it looks really cool.

Application wise, this one was alright. It gave nice coverage in one-coat, but for me, it was definitely at least two. The color was a bit sheer and uneven with just one, but I'm not complaining! It's still beautiful in just two coats. I put an extra third one just because it gave the color a bit more dimension. The color became darker in the darker parts and in the light, it looked like crown jewels!

Here I am trying it in different lighting. The top picture was in my kitchen and the bottom was in the living room near the window. As you can see in the bottom picture, the ocean blue becomes a little less jewel toned and more subtle in this lighting, but it's still gorgeous!

I actually got this one on discount! Woo! I was at a local beauty store and got this for 40% off since it was a discontinued color! Yee :) You can probably still find this one on amazon or in beauty stores (it's beautiful :D)

I give this polish a 9.8/10. It's amazing! But the 0.2 points lost is due to the staining that took place on my nails after I removed it. :( I was so sad. My nails are quite green right now hehe. Aside from that, this is beautiful! :D Try to find this if you can! IT's definitely worth it.

Day 2: Orly Coffee Break Swatch and Review

It is officially day 2, and I'm coming at you today with an Orly polish! Woo, how exciting for me. I don't really have many Orly polishes, and after I explain my experiences with this one, I think you'll understand why I don't think I'll be purchasing many more...

I was in Sally's the other day, when I saw this quite interesting light brown, caramel color sitting on the shelves. I picked it up of course and ultimately decided to purchase it, simply because I'd never seen anything like it. It was just much too tempting.

It's for sure very interesting...but it just doesn't work for my skin tone. I have yellow undertones (I'm Asian you see), and the warm brown just does not work with my skin tone... I'm quite disappointed though. It's honestly a very beautiful color!

I think you can clearly see in the above picture how...weird this color looks on me. It'd be a good neutral shade, but it almost blends into my skin. It's not too terrible, and I might be able to make it work, but it's really not worth the effort. I think it would work much better on fairer skin tones though :)

Application was aite...it was decently pigmented, but at least a two-coater. In the picture, I have two coats and its pigmented enough after two. What's weird about Orly polishes is their drying time...I waited a good five minutes before applying the Sally Hanson Insta-Dri top coat and the polish still moved. Needless to say, I was quite upset.

I'd give this polish a 6/10. The pigmentation was alright and the color was far from boring, but the drying time really put me off. Add that to how weird the polish looks on me and you can understand where those four points went. I might be able to rock this as a nice neutral in the warmer days, but it looks a bit strange against my quite yellow-skinned fingers. Give this a shot if you'd like!

Day 1: China Glaze Kinetic Candy Swatch and Review

Hello everyone! Today it is April 9th 2012, officially marking the first day of my yearlong challenge! Ambitious, I know. Especially since my collection is limited (but always growing...seriously) and I don't always like to polish my nails. My mother doesn't approve of my growing collection, but hey, you can't stop an addict!

Today, I'm bringing you a gorgeous light blue creme from China Glaze. Kinetic Candy, part of the 2012 Spring Electropop Collection, is a recent addition to my collection, and I am quite enjoying this! I own another one in the collection - Electric Beat - also a beautiful pale blue, but Kinetic Candy is more turquoise/green. It's quite bright and looks very interesting on my skin tone (I have quite yellow undertones in my skin).

As you can see, in the light of my piano lamp, the color isn't quite as bright as, say, a neon color (China Glaze has some beautiful neon colors too), but it's bright enough to fit into the summer/spring trends of 2012. I'm not a bit follower of these trends myself - I'll wear dark purple in the middle of July - but this one is a polish that no one can doubt is appropriate for the spring and summer seasons.

This color has been compared to For Audrey, Refreshmint, and others of China Glaze's known turquoise/pale blue range of colors. Personally, I have neither For Audrey or Refreshmint, so I can't make that comparison for you. Funny story: I was actually at Sally's trying to pick up Refreshmint when I picked up this color instead by accident. Turns out someone had put this color in the Refreshmint slot....my bad for not being more careful.

In terms of application, this one is for sure a one-to-two coater. It's quite a nice creme (China Glaze always has nice cremes!) with fantastic pigmentation, but a bit on the thicker side. I guess it's not too much to complain about, but I really did not appreciate how thick it was. Made the application a bit streaky and a little uneven. In the end, after a thicker second coat, it all worked out!

To finish off this manicure, I added the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat, for which you may see a review coming up soon. Can't say it's my favorite, but it's not terrible and leaves my nails quite glossy (for a while...)

Overall, I would give this polish a 8.5/10. It's a beautiful color that's perfect for these upcoming months (though I'd happily wear this in December) with outstanding pigmentation. I didn't appreciate the formula too much, which explains the loss of 1.5 points. Even though it's not a perfect 10, it's still a great polish! I'm not sure if the Electropop collection is limited edition or part of their permanent line now, but I'd suggest hitting up your Ulta or Sally's Beauty Supply before this polish is out! I'm quite happy with my accidental find. :D

Until tomorrow,
The Nail NInja

PolishYear! From today onward, the challenge begins...

...And succeed I will!

Hi everyone! I'm new here to the blogging world, but I'm definitely ready to bring you all nail polish all day err day! I had a few posts on here before, but decided it's time to start anew. So starting today, April 9th 2012, I will be posting something nail polish related every single day! Whether it be a swatch, review, nail art design, or more, I will be here every day!

I hope you all enjoy :) See you all soon!