September Favorites

Considering that is about all I have been doing lately, this month, my favorite three looks all consist of swatches! ^.^

3. Nostalgic Nail Lacquer - Jordan

Of course I had to include Jordan! Blue polishes are my favorite and I love the little pops of green glitter mixed in with this one!

2. Zoya - Dita

Dita surprised me! I actually ended up really loving it! I don't wear pinks often, but this one is definitely gorgeous!

Matte and Shiny Zebra Print Combo Fail

It is official: If you have e.l.f.'s matte topcoat, once it gets down to about half, and is all thick and goopy, don't bother with thinner, just throw it out! I used Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam from NOPI and wanted to create a look that I have yet to do, the matted base color, with a shiny print on top. But oh no, e.l.f. wouldn't stand for that!

 

Addition to ChG & SH comparison

At the beginning of the month, I posted a comparison of China Glaze Some Like it Haute and Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. In addition to said comparison, I had gotten Kleancolor Twinkly Love and decided to try it out over those, for an over-the-top, so ridiculously shiny glitterbomb that was so loud I couldn't photograph it!

 

 

That mess absolutely refused! It threw the focus on my camera so out of whack!

 

This wasn't a mani I kept, I was just playing around. Though I do wish I could have gotten better pictures of it! =P

 

Baby Spam

She's a little clone of her daddy, only way cuter! ^.^ He'd never be able to deny her even if he tried! =P

(Again, sorry if this post is crazy, I'm posting from the Blogger app on my phone and have no way to customizing settings or anything).

Baby Madison!

I'm not sure how this will end up looking, as I'm posting from the app on my phone, but Miss Madison finally decided to come out and join the family last night! :) She's so precious and spoiled already!! 7lbs, 11oz. She's a little piggy! <3

Zoya - Song

Of course, I saved the best for last! The final polish from my Zoya BOGO order is Song. My pictures don't do it justice, but it is one stunning blue!

Zoya - Elodie

This is another one that was very difficult to photograph properly! Elodie and I definitely had some disagreements! Sun shots wash it out terribly, and shade shots try to make it too orange. This is a beautiful coral, almost-jelly polish and I love it!

Zoya - Apple



Of all the polishes I picked up from Zoya's BOGO promotion, Apple is definitely one of my favorites! This was another beauty that was gorgeous in two coats, and I can't get over how it shines in the sun all by itself!

Zoya - Avery

Just past the halfway point on going through my recent Zoya BOGO purchase, the one I have for you today is Avery.

 

Zoya - Amber

Number four from my most recent Zoya purchase is Amber.

I wasn't super excited about the swatches I saw of this polish, and it is not my favorite finish, but I couldn't help picking it up, just to own a polish with my name! ^.^

Zoya - Madison

Of course, my Back-to-School BOGO order included Madison! Who doesn't need a polish with the same name as their child?! ^.^

Even though I pretty much only got it for the name, I ended up really liking Madison a lot! It is very sheer, but I love the slight hint of pink to it, rather than it being just a tan nude!

This is two coats, with no topcoat. I will definitely being using this one again, most likely as a base for tip designs; there is no way I would want to build it up to opacity!

Zoya - Pippa & Dita

When my Zoya Back-to-School BOGO order arrived, I had to try out Pippa first!

This is the one that I always put off getting, but finally added it to my cart this time and left it in there!

Like a lot of people, I am not the biggest fan of yellow polishes, but I always love the swatches I see of Pippa! It is a gorgeous buttercup-sort of yellow and I am really glad I finally picked it up!

Nfu-Oh 61

I realize everyone has seen this polish a 1,001 times on 100 different nail blogs, but thanks to NailsIT, it is brand new to me. In fact, it is the only Nfu-Oh I own, so I was excited to try it, and it is just too gorgeous not to share!

The biggest lesson I learned with this polish? DO NOT touch it until it is completely dry! Otherwise it picks up the previous coat, smudges, and it is all bad!

Regardless, I learned my lesson. Sometimes I get tired of seeing so many pictures of holos on blogs. I mean I get it, it shines rainbows, ooooh, awwwww, pretty! But it can get old... then I put a holo on my nails and O.O I completely understand the need for pic spam of them!!

China Glaze's Some Like it Haute vs. Sally Hansen's Glitz Gal - a Comparison and Review of Dupes

I'll start out with my observations of these polishes. I have never really done a comparison, but I picked up the Sally Hansen (I'd bought it when it first came out and used it once then forgot about) and had a revelation that it looked just like a China Glaze that I won in a giveaway awhile back. So I dug out the ChG and just had to do a comparison of them to appease my own curiosity. They looked identical in the bottle, but it surprised me how identical they really are on the nail, too!

China Glaze's Some Like it Haute:

• Slightly thicker, chunkier consistency, so it is a tad harder to work with, but nothing unbearable
• Slightly larger grey glitters
• More dense with holographic glitter
• Better application near the cuticle, whereas the SH brush has longer bristles in the center and doesn't make as nice of a line

Sally Hansen's Glitz Gal:

• Thinner, more even, level application
• Slightly smoother finish
• Dries a bit faster, but I think that is because it has a thinner formula

Wet n Wild - Sunny Side Up

I don't know what my deal has been with oranges lately, but I've been acquiring more and more of them! I guess maybe they're growing on me! ^.^

Sunny Side Up from Wet n Wild has almost a jelly consistency. It is trying to be a jelly, but isn't quite fully there. This polish was really easy to control, though; handled great, didn't pool or flood. It was pretty streaky, but opaque in 3 coats.

A nail whitening technique that actually works?!

Yes, you read right.

If you follow me on instagram, then you have already seen this, but I found a great way to whiten your nails for those who are interested!

I didn't take any beforehand pictures because I didn't expect it to actually work, plus I could really care less about whitening my nails since I always wear polish; I was just bored and playing around. (If I do a tip design, I just use a sheer nude as a base to eliminate the stains).

NailsIT - PB&J Sandwich

I have another beautiful indie polish to share with you today that I got from NailsIT! This is PB&J Sandwich.

I really love all the peanut butter and jelly sandwich-inspired polishes out there! The idea and concept behind them, the look with the tan-colored glitters and jelly finish, I just love everything about them! And this one is no exception.

Of course, being a purple, it was a pain to photograph and I ended up only getting one good shot of it, but I loved wearing it nonetheless!

Nostalgic Nail Lacquer - Jordana

It is no secret that blue polish and I have a love/love relationship. Especially colors kin to this one! My thanks to the wonderful young lady ;) that runs Lacquer Me Silly for parting with this one! It is officially my first purchase of an indie polish, and I am pretty pleased with it (I do have two others, one I was gifted, and the other I won in a giveaway, but they are still waiting for their model shots to be cropped and watermarked)!

To kick off September, though, I have a really great blue to share with you! Jordan from Nostalgic Nail Lacquer: