Wet N' Wild Fast Dry "Gray's Anatomy"

As Scrangie pointed out, Wet N' Wild's "Gray's Anatomy is a spot-on dupe of Deborah Lippman's "Wicked Game". For those keeping score at home, that's two new Wet N' Wild polishes that mimic Lippmans. And thank god, because I would feel really guilty layering sixteen dollar polish over seven dollar polish, which is what I did with "Gray's Anatomy".

But first, "Gray's Anatomy" on its own:

The coverage on this one was... strange. There were spots on my nails where it seemed like no matter how many coats I used, the polish wasn't going there. My nails were clean and free from oils, and I used a basecoat, so I'm wondering what went wrong. Next time, I'll try a different basecoat, maybe it just doesn't get along with OPI.

I love this color. I love it because it's gray, but it's still delicate. I love the rosey flash to it, and I love that the green flash doesn't look sickly. I also love that it's a buildable color, so it works for layering. Like here, when I wore it over Essie "Sexy Divide":I wish the picture did this combo justice. "Gray's Anatomy" turned "Sexy Divide" into a chameleon. In some lights, it was a shimmery purple ("Sexy Divide" is a dark purple shimmer to begin with). In others, it was black. In my bedroom, it looked hunter green. This will definitely be a polish I will return to when I want to experiment with layering.

So yeah, Lippman for sixteen bucks, Wet N' Wild for one or two, depending where you buy it.

Studio M "Oh Joy!" = The Perfect Layering Polish

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jill sent me an excited message via Yahoo! messenger. She was at Meijer, buying polish for twenty-nine cents. I didn't really care what it was, I wanted her to grab me some, too. I'm a sucker for a deal.

That twenty-nine cent buy turned out to be the best layering polish I've ever seen. In the bottle, Studio M's "Oh Joy!" looks like a boring white sheer with a pearly finish. Alone, it's a sheer, sparkly polish that's just so-so. But layer it over another color (like Essie's "Playa Del Platinum", one of my faves), it's magic!Winter is wreaking havoc on my cuticles, but I had to share. "Oh Joy!" turned "Playa Del Platinum" from a greige cream to a silvery foil. I can't stop looking at my nails with this on!

Unfortunately, "Oh Joy!" has been clearanced out of Meijer, and I can't seem to find a Color Club dupe (which is strange, because Studio M basically is Color Club in different bottles). I should have run out and bought several bottles, because this one is going to be a fave.

Thanksgiving Manicure!

This holiday season, I'm rocking a themed manicure!

I started with OPI "Rising Star":

Which is so pretty on its own, but I wanted to really get some festive fall coloring in there, so I added Finger Paints "Holly Good Time", which is a gold and red glitter:

I swear, that's not glitter on my cuticles. It's just the shine off the quick dry drops.

I'm going to rock this tomorrow, and it will probably entertain me more than the parade!

I suggested a similar look to R.E.I.T., but she was happier with Studio M "Frenzy" again. She's very in love with that color.

When layering attacks!

This year there were sooooo many lemmings for me in the holiday collections everyone rolled out. My number one? "Mistletoe Kisses" by China Glaze. Usually, I get super bored of the red and green Christmas polishes, but "Mistletoe Kisses" rose ahead of the pack. It's a minty green glitter in a sheer green base, and it looks exactly like green Christmas lights on your nails:
I was so in love with this last night that I kept staring at my nails. But this morning, one of the other lemmings in the pack was calling to me... OPI "Simmer & Shimmer". The mad scientist part of my brain wondered what would happen if I layered the two glitters... would there be some shine-related explosion? Would the sheer amout of sparkle blind someone?

The end result as nothing short of fab!
One coat of "Simmer & Shimmer" and Seche Vite (though I should have used two) and no clean up. I know the second photo is blurry, but it was the best way to show how much it cools down the already cool shade of "Mistletoe Kisses" and adds color and sparkle.

I loved it on my left hand so much, I decided I just had to try layering OPI "Sparkle-icious" over "Mistletoe Kisses" on the right!Again, one coat "Sparkle-icious" and one coat Seche Vite over "Mistletoe Kisses" with no clean up (because I'm not really intending to walk around with two different manicures today).

This will be my Fat Tuesday NOTD, because the colors are so suited to Mardi Gras! Where "Simmer & Shimmer" cooled things down, the gold and purple in "Sparkle-icious" really warmed things up.

So there you have it! Tons of sparkle to be had this holiday season!

e.l.f. Holiday Set

While at Target the other day, R.E.I.T. wisely said, "I want yook," and pointed to the health and beauty aisles. I couldn't say no. We found the e.l.f. (eyes. lips. face.) holiday promo end cap and this:
The e.l.f. holiday nail trio. We'd never used e.l.f. before, but for three dollars, the price was right to try it out. Here's what you get:

From left to right we have "Cranberry", a holiday red with some subtle red glitter, "Golden Goddess", a translucent gold with varying size and shape gold glitter, and "Twinkle", a clear with opalescent round glitter.

My cuticles are so stained from "Mezzanotte Blue"! But here's "Cranberry". I'm not wearing a topcoat here so that you can see the finish of the actual polish. In a word, it's bumpy. However, it's also a really pretty red, perfect for the Christmas season.Next up is "Golden Goddess". Since "Golden Goddess" is so sheer and the glitter so sparse, it really wouldn't work on its own, in my opinion. What you're seeing here is two coats over "Cranberry". We might do some layering experiments with this one soon, since it's a nice dazzler for New Years Eve.

And finally, "Twinkle". Which is a very strange polish. It's another one suitable for layering, but probably not that spectacular on its own. Here's one coat over a generic black polish from our Halloween clearance haul. It dries matte, which I was completely not expecting. Unfortunately, drying matte leaves the sparkle pretty dull. I'm wearing a coat of Seche Vite on the right finger, so you can see how cute it is.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this offering. The fact that it was three dollars helps that along greatly. If I had paid more than a couple of dollars for these, I probably wouldn't be so positive, but that's the nice thing about cheap nail polish. You don't have to judge your choices as much!

Layering is magic.

I have to admit, R.E.I.T. has always been more adventurous when it comes to layering unlikely nail polishes. I've worn Sinful Colors "Hottie" alone (pain in the butt to take off) and over light blues like Studio M "Whose That Girl". But I'd never though of layering a light glitter over a dark color, until Chloe over at Chloe's Nails tried it. She wore "Hottie" over black, and it looked fantastic! I resolved to try it.

Tuesday night, I was on the fence about what to do with my nails. I know that on Saturday I absolutely have to wear a patchwork manicure of the Barielle argyle collection, at the request of a friend who wants to see the colors in person. I didn't want to wear neutrals all week. I looked through our collection and realized that I had never worn Borghese "Mezzanotte Blue". It had been sitting in my collection, unloved. So, I decided to wear it. I've seen this blue described as a creme in some places, but I'm not sure if I agree. There is a strange, translucent quality to it that is almost jelly-like. It's one of those "almost blacks", a color that you can only really tell what it is by looking at it slightly sideways. My nails looked glossy and dark, so I was happy.

Then, Wednesday morning, when I was painting R.E.I.T.'s nails, it hit me: I could layer "Hottie" over "Mezzanotte Blue!" Here are the results:



I took about a hundred pictures, trying to capture how gorgeous this turned out, and none of them did it any justice. "Hottie" is a light blue jelly with opalescent glitter in various sizes. On it's own, it's a baby blue sparkler. Layered over "Mezzanotte Blue", it's orange and green and gold with hints of purple. I feel like I'm wearing pirate treasure. Or a mermaid tail. I can't stop looking at my fingers (dry cuticles and all). It's like having a little galaxy on my nails!

Next time, I think I'll try it over Orly "Galaxy Girl" and see what the results are!