Haul: Zoya Black Friday 2016

Who can resist a sale? A once in a lifetime opportunity? A 70% off sale from a brand that usually retails for anywhere between $8 and $10 and has consistently great performance on your nails? I don't know about you, but I sure couldn't resist. My only regret is that I did not unleash the crazy. Alas, it's time to wipe my tears and turn my attention to these beauties!

I submitted my order on November 25th and it shipped on December 1st. Due to shipping restrictions, this had to be shipped via boat and did not arrive until January 11th. Thus, this belated Black Friday haul post!

Orly - Cupcakes and Unicorns over Etude - #21

Direct sunlight.

 I can't take a dark cream and not layer something shimmery, glittery, and/or sparkly over it! That's just not my style.

Orly Cupcakes and Unicorns is a clear based layering polish with tiny duochrome flakes that range between gold, pink, magenta, and orange. Mixed in are some red bar glitters as well.

Indirect sunlight.

It's hard to quantify how many layers this is. While I applied to each nail only once, I had to pat the glitters on in thick layers to get all of the bar glitter to come off of my brush. Anyone who messes with big glitters knows what I'm talking about. Taking the application style into consideration, this was nothing out of the ordinary. I did not put a top coat over this, and it dried surprisingly smooth with some nice shine to it. I'm used to glitters like this needing a top coat.

Etude House - #21

Direct sunlight.

This lovely color from Etude is probably my favorite out of the colors I picked up in my haul. Not only is the formula great, the color makes my heart bleed. I think it's because this is a vampy shade and that seems to be big in the Fall.

Indirect sunlight.

This polish could almost be called a jelly, if you're able to apply a layer thinly and evenly enough. I wouldn't call it that, however, as I'm not quite able to get that first layer to apply evenly.

These pictures have two coats and no top coat. As you can see, it levels out nicely and has a beautiful shine to it.

Etude House - #50

Direct sunlight

This nail polish was an absolute nightmare to photograph, but oh honey was it worth it. 40 photos and this is the only one that shows the polish's true potential.

Etude House's #50 is a navy blue based nail polish with tiny duochrome flecks that range between magenta, purple, and blue. In the picture I used three coats and no top coat, so this polish is slightly less opaque than Etude's other nail polish offerings. The layers even out beautifully, however, and does not leave the nail feeling thick. The formula was great, with no pooling, gloppyness, or weird bubbles and clumps. This gets an A+ in my book!

Etude House - #83

Indirect sunlight.

Etude House's #83 is a bright blue with a world of application issues.

In the shade.

 Pictured is two coats with no top coat. I had issues with the layers not leveling out properly and the polish looked gloppy in some areas. To its credit, the polish is incredibly pigmented, but I think that lends itself to the polish's inability to level out. I have yet to try this with a topcoat as I don't actually have a topcoat that I like at the moment, but I'm hoping that once I do the issues with the formula won't be as noticeable on the nail.

Still a gorgeous color, though!

Etude House - #25

Indirect sunlight.

 The first of my Etude polishes, this is an interesting color. I picked it up thinking it was purple, but now that I've worn it and photographed it I've noticed it's very nudish. Maybe mauve? You tell me. LOL

Direct sunlight.

In the shade.

This is one polish I love, but the formula can be a bit tricky to work with. It levels out nicely, but is prone to bubbles as you can probably tell in the pictures. There is a small window to apply the next layer of polish. Apply too soon and the polish will be streaky and uneven. Apply too late and the polish gets gloppy. If you let the first layer dry beyond that glop timeframe it'll be fine, but it takes a few minutes. If you apply nail polish as fast as I do, it can become inconvenient when the polish doesn't dry to the right consistency on your timeline. It's a relatively minor problem but I'm picky, dangit! All of the pictures above feature two coats and no top coat, so you can see that the polish is incredibly shiny.

I would say this is a repurchase, but the logical part of my brain knows how long it'll take me to go through this bottle of polish and I have yet to repurchase a nail polish in the 6 years I've been consistently following nail polish/nail art.

Stop & Chat: January 26

Today was a pretty relaxing day. I went on a little run to get some steps in (I have to beat everyone at our Fitbit challenge, don't you know?) and spent the day laying with M and watching some YouTube. We had a really confusing morning. I woke up thinking that he had work tonight and he believed me when I asked him what he was going to do before his shift tonight. Half way through the day he asks me what day it is and checks his schedule and exclaims "I HAVE TODAY OFF!" and we both got incredibly confused. I guess yesterday was so jam packed we forgot that he actually worked through yesterday morning. Yay discombobulation.

One thing I forgot to mention in my post yesterday was my belated Christmas. Mom sent me part of my Lush sale order, some things I wasn't able to pack in my bags, and my presents from my grandparents. I also got a box from Julie! She was very generous with her gifts and it blew me away. She's an evil enabler and I'm currently going back and forth on buying a $70 perfume from Solstice Scents. On top of what I'm already eyeballing from Sonoma Scent Studio. You're killing me, girl!

Anyways, I said I would take pictures of the nail care stuff I got and share them so let's get going, shall we?

Cult Nails - Enigmatic

This polish was such a relief after my issues with Iconic.
This beauty is a purple shimmer that shifts from a deep purple to a grungy maroon color. Throughout the polish are some silver larger glitters that give this polish an almost galaxy like look. I got full opacity at two coats and this polish turned out SHINY. All pictures are in sunlight, with no topcoat.

Ooo, there's that grungy maroon I was talking about!

See those silver glitters I was talking about?

Oh, my! This shows both the deep purple this polish can get, as well as the SHINYNESS! Look at this!! I can practically see my entire porch in the reflection of my nails!

Ooooo, another picture for good measure!

I leave you with this picture, so you can get a good view of what this polish looks like head on.
Overall I'm very much loving this pick! I'm also glad I got some gorgeous pictures, because as I was putting up my camera I smudged three nails. LOL. Thanks, hands.

Cult Nails - Iconic

 This was a very, very confusing nail polish. I can't really put what it is into words so I just decided to overload you with pictures. So... here we go! Everything is in indirect sunlight unless otherwise stated.

Fluorescent light

Fluorescent light

Application was rather difficult. I had to apply this in really really thin layers and be very light with my brush, otherwise the polish would clump or look really weird. I didn't use any topcoat so you could see how lumpy the polish was around the flakes, which is to be expected, but overall this was a more difficult polish to work with.
That being said, the color is amazing. It's different at different angles and light levels. Sometimes I get a very deep red with a hint of shimmer. Other times the flakes are really visible, and they're the multichrome all-the-colors-of-the-rainbow flakies I love. The shimmer itself isn't as noticeable as it is in the bottle, but I still feel like it adds to this polish.

Cult Nails - Party Time

Party Time is a beautiful teal creme that leans more blue than green. See what I mean about this needing to be seen on the nails? I'm in love with the shade itself. It's a tad more green than pictured here.
Application was a dream. No pooling and the brush was a nice break after my Mysterious Curse disaster. Pictured is two coats with some Seche Vite on top. Oooh, so shiny! The only issue is my Seche Vite is getting really goopy, and it's only 3/4 full. Usually the goopiness happens as I reach 1/2. Why do you do this to me??

Do you own any colors similar to this? Would you qualify this as a spring color, or is it just grungy enough to be better suited for Fall?

Cult Nails Liquidation Sale - Round Two!

Imagine my excitement one morning when I checked the Cult Nails Facebook page to find that they had finally opened up for round two of their liquidation sale!
While I was several hours late on some of their more sought after items, I did still pick up many beauties. This was a lovely birthday present, from me to me. LOL

Dazed: A frosty blue color. I'm curious as to how streaky this will be when I apply it.
Charlatan: A duochrome glitter/shimmer that shifts between pink/purple and light blue/dark blue.
Bitten: A magenta/red jelly with red/pink duochrome shimmer throughout.

Flash: A creme grungy green color. It looks like the base color to Feelin' Froggy.
Enigmatic: These names are just amazing. A deep musky purple/brown with shimmer that ranges from silver to blood red to murky brown.
Doppelganger: This looks like they took the shimmer from Disciplined and stuck it in a blue shimmer suspension base. I'm excited to see how it performs when layered.

Party Time: A teal-blue creme color. You have to apply it to appreciate the color.
New Day: A very vibrant and sunny yellow creme. While putting the bottle near my skin I fear I have another polish that makes my fingers look ridiculously orange. It's so pretty, though...
Ignite: A black jelly with silver glitter throughout. I can imagine doing a galaxy mani with this as the base.
Iconic: A red base with yellow/gold shimmer and rainbow flakies. I may go back and buy a backup of this. I don't own any other polishes like this and I can't think of any other brands that have anything close to this. Think of fire in a bottle.

I got some freebie nail art wheels and I'm excited to use the studs. I don't actually own any nail art studs, nor do I have rhinestones quite that small. Time to do some more nail art!

That it for this haul! This brings my current Cult Nails count up to 25. Oops. >_> In my defense, it's been bought over time. Except for the past 18. Shh.
What colors would you like to see swatched? Did you buy anything this time around?

PSA: Cult Nails Liquidation, Round Two!

In case you haven't been obsessively watching their Facebook page, Cult Nails has finally opened up for round two of their liquidation sale! Once a polish is gone, it's gone for good! Most of the good pickings were gone before I'd gotten a chance to see what they had, but I still picked up several.
Their polishes are still $4.80, or 60% off, and they have $5 flat rate shipping. Now's your chance to pick up the last Cult Nails you may ever own *sniff*

Revlon - Iced Mauve

Ah, the frustrations of bad weather. Maybe it's because I'm on my period having a bad week, but I've just not been in the blogging mood. Not in an... anything mood, really. I'm at a plateau with working out, regardless of my switching up my routine and increasing the number of workouts per week. I haven't been melting anything, and even my nails have been blah. Today I made myself sit through and participate in an entire P90X Yoga session, and suddenly I'm all emotional and stupid music videos are making me tear up. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Anyways, Iced Mauve is... well, a frosty (or icy!) mauve color. This is an older Revlon that I inherited from my great grandmother when she passed, two years ago. For that reason alone I'm unwilling to ever part with this polish. Even a crappy Lancome basecoat stays in my collection for that reason.

In other news, I don't know what I did but the pictures of this manicure turned out much nicer than any other pictures I've taken to date. Let's hope this isn't a one time thing... 

Urban Lacquer - Take It Offline

The lovely Julie sent me this in January. I promptly lost it.

Seriously. I don't know why I keep losing my stuff. I'm normally much more organized and I can tell you where every single thing I own is. I blame M. Yeeeeeeah.

Anyways, I found it (under the desk, guess it fell over) and promptly slapped it on my fingernails. Ooooo, aaah!

Take It Offline is a gold shimmery polish. These pictures show two coats, and if you look closely it's not completely opaque. That's fine by me. Mainly because I almost never both with a third coat of anything I put on. I'm lazy like that.

I don't want to wear this anymore since it's a mini! I can't use it up! That would be bad! I don't buy things to use them up, I buy them to look at them and adore how cute it would potentially look on me!

Nah, I'm working through that line of thinking. I'm much better about using stuff up now. The only thing I can think of that I let myself not wear for that exact line of reasoning is an old perfume that I've had for 8 years now. Elizabeth Arden's Provocative Interlude. I got it as a Christmas Present and it became my favorite perfume. When I looked to buy more of it, I found out they'd discontinued it! Noooo!

Revlon - Firecracker

Aah, now here's a beauty I haven't worn in a while. I've had this polish for around 10 years, give or take (more on the give side). I loved it and wore it so much all that's left is half a bottle! I recently rediscovered it and after a bit of polish thinner it was good as new!
Firecracker is a red jelly base with tiny red and silver bar glitters. I'm pretty sure when I first got this the silver glitter wasn't there. Maybe. I could be wrong. I remember layering this over itself so many times you could only see a glitter bomb on my fingernails.
Pictured is only one coat and I can't say anything about the original formula because this is mostly thinner now. The actual polish got very very goopy. Mostly because the cap no longer forms a seal with the bottle.
This weather is killing me! It had been so sunny and of course now that I'm doing more nail posts than wax the clouds had to roll in. I just can't win!

Sally Hansen - Aisle Be There & Essie - Ballet Slippers

Oh, there's that blingy bit that I know I crave! After a day in the nude (heheheheheheee *gigglesnort*) I decided I wanted to add something sparkly and blingy to the mix! Unfortunately it decided to rain today... so I'm stuck with indoor pictures. Eh. You take what you can get, right?

I tried so hard to capture this on the nail, but it's not showing up as well as it is in the bottle in this picture. So let me help you. This is actually a flakie. Very tiny flakies, but they are flakies as opposed to simply being glitter. The flakies change from pink to purple/orange depending on the angle and lighting.
This is actually one of my favorite polishes because it's a present from my little brother. He was 11 or 12 at the time and I had already moved off to college, but he said he bought it because he thought of me and he wanted to get me an early Christmas present. Will's always been sweet like that. He also has never thought about money when it comes to presents. It continues to shock me to this day. Some of my most expensive polishes are from him, and he's never once thought twice about it. This past Christmas M had made a comment on switching from Diablo 3 on the console (I can't remember which one) to PC, and Will remembered that and without thinking twice, coughed up the $60+ for M to be completely set up with the game. He might be 15 now, but his allowance isn't any more than $6.50/week (1/2 your age, minus at least $1/week to be put into savings). That's my little brother for ya.

Essie - Ballet Slippers

What is wrong with me? I'm wearing a sheer nude polish by itself! Where's the bling? Where's the color? Am I going crazy?

For whatever reason I decided to wear this polish. Maybe it's because it's one of the only two Essies I own. Maybe it's because I just wanted something plain after wearing so many blingy and otherwise strong colors. Maybe I was lazy. I don't know. Why am I getting so into the reasoning behind me wearing a freaking polish? LOL

In any case, I very much enjoyed this. Initially I was going to do a french tip and then use this to soften the edges. As it appears my own VNL served as a nice french tip barring some dirt under the fingernails but I'm not going to get too torn up about that.

Pictured is two coats and the formula was fine, if a slight bit streaky. I'm so used to applying polish, though, that I barely noticed it. Four and a half years ago I would have gotten frustrated at the streakiness and stopped using the polish, but over time I've developed enough application skills that I'm not fazed by that kind of stuff. Who knew that with use comes experience?!

Do you own any nude polishes? Do you use them frequently?

Finger Paints - Flashy over China Glaze - Crimson

Ohhh my goodness, this is a beauty! I know most people are sick of this multichrome flakie (a la Essie Shine of the Times, Sallie Hansen Hidden Treasure, Color Club Snow-Flakes, etc.) but I don't think I will ever ever get sick of this, especially when layered over a dark base.

These pictures are more blurry than my typical already blurry pictures, but I find that it captured the multi colored awesomeness better.
One thing that's always been an issue with flakies is their application. Applying them like regular polish doesn't work - you have to pat it on and then smooth it out. For some people it's a pain... I'm just excited to get my multicolor madness on my nails!
Do you own any flakies? Are they as multi-colored as this beauty?

China Glaze - Crimson

 Oooh, look at this beauty! I haven't worn a dark and vampy color in a while. What better time than spring? LOL
In the pictures the layers look streaky. I promise in person it's nice and even. As for the weird textures/imprints on the nails... I did this right before attempting to go to bed, so there's that.

Pictured is two coats and I didn't experience any issues with the formula.
I'm considering layering a flakie over this. Maybe something Finger Paints. I'll get back to you on this!
Have you been wearing polish lately? Do you stick to seasonal 'norms' when wearing it?

Orly - Glitz

Holy shmoly this girl is blingy! Seriously! Look at this! I don't even remember when I picked this up! I'm fairly certain it was during a time when I couldn't really wear nail polish but I would still pop in to Sally's every so often with M and pick up a few nice looking colors. I think this was from a 50% off clearance sale.

 If you examine it really really really closely you can tell that this polish is made up of smaller glitters in two shades of gold. It combines to create this super sparkly sheeny effect that I love!
This is two coats and unlike most of the other polishes I post about, this is true full coverage. I wore this over the weekend in Florida (WOOHOO! Key West!!) and it's held up really good considering all the stuff I did! M's pretty sure I strained the tendons in my feet from walking 12+ miles in less than 36 hours. Half of those miles were in flipflops that were very, very uncomfortable. The other half was in 5 year old tennies that survived through two Cross Country seasons in high school, plus all of my collective walking done in college.... I need new shoes >_>
Lesson learned! Now to go shoe shopping! YAAAY!