Essence Colour and Go - Grey-T to Be Here

I've been rekindling my love affair with my Essence polishes and I'm ashamed that this one has gone untried for so long!  I love these polishes, they're a great price and totally decent quality with lots of colors that appeal to me.

Shown above is three thin coats of Grey-T to Be Here over Nailtek II Foundation and sealed with OTD.  It's got a light grey creme base with subtle pink shimmers that peek out just a little bit.  The color and formula was slighty sheer so it took three coats but it builds so nicely that it wasn't even an issue.  The pink/grey color combo works so nicely as well, a pleasant surprise!  My lighting setup washed out the shimmers a bit though, they are a bit more noticeable to the naked eye.

And I know it seems to be totally hit and miss and I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I ADORE the brush.  The shape and width of it completely fits my nails and makes application super easy.  I've seen a decent amount of dislike regarding the brush but I'm personally a huge fan of it.  It's a bit on the wide side so I can see why those with smaller nails/hands might not be too keen on it, though.

OPI Berlin There Done That with Layered Stamping

I decided to spice up a day-old mani with some stamping.  The base of this manicure is two coats of OPI Berlin There Done That, which is a taupey, slightly greyed out creme polish that I absolutely adore. Pardon the tip wear!

This is definitely one of those uh, "looks better from a distance" manicures.  A continual and absolute frustration I've had since I've been polishing is the streakiness of black polishes when doing any sort of nail art. I've waited hours before applying top coat before, I've floated the brush across - but I still get streaks. I usually will just photoshop them out but this was too busy to do that.

I used plates BM206 and BM221 for the stamping designs. I used Wet n Wild Black Creme for the black flowers and L.A. Colors Live for the silver accents. I did do the stamping super quickly because I wasn't planning on wearing it for long. It does look much nicer from a few foot distance, sort of like a tapestry.  The silver stamping was done first, then the black flowers and finally sealed with a coat of OTD.

OPI My Pointe Exactly and Crown Me Already!

I've seen swatches of the OPI NYC Ballet collection and the only one that caught my eye was My Pointe Exactly.  It is super ultra sheer grey.  At three coats it was barely visible but there is something lovely about it.

"Natural" Light

Like I said, 3 coats was super sheer.  I swatched it real quick when I got it and decided to jazz it up.

"Natural" Light

What you're seeing here is 3 coats of My Pointe Exactly, one coat of Crown Me Already! and then one more of MPE.  This is all over Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.

Macro Nail Shot

I had spectacular wear with this combination! Granted, I change my polish almost daily but I'm able to discern when something isn't working on me.  I had no chipping and I wasn't able to pick it off and it was a pain to remove.  I suppose I'll have to incorporate my glitters like this so at least I can get some wear out of them.

Flash

You may have noticed my thumb is not in any of the pictures.  Have you ever seen the 3rd Lord of the Rings? You know how the last what seems like 45 minutes is all cutscenes that wrap up the story?  My professor did that to use for over 20 minutes Monday evening and I evidently chewed the length of my thumbnail off.. so it's ULTRA MEGA NUBBIN right now.  I don't even remember doing it.  I'm NOT, nor have I ever been, a biter - always a picker.  I don't put my fingers in my mouth ever, I'm a germaphobe about that stuff. I'm not even sure how it happened but my left thumb will be taking a short hiatus.

Essie Chinchilly

Not much to say about Essie Chinchilly.  It's so pretty, applied like a dream and wears incredibly well. Made it through dishes and hairwashing, etc. I dented my thumb while it was still wet, oopsie.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

This is 3 coats over CND Stickey, sealed with OTD. I love it!

essence "movie star"

Today was a long ass day.  Cold and boring and long.  That was today.  I'm still cold, relatively bored and since its officially Wednesday now, I can't complain about it being long.  Ok, enough rambling.

Essence "Movie Star"

Alright this is my wonky hand.  My index finger is FINALLY, after over a month of fighting with me, growing back normally and healthily.  My middle finger split on the free edge so I had to file it down.  My ring finger has been victim to my constant picking.  Pinky is fine, thumbs a little dry but what else is new; I can't possibly lotion anymore than I do sometimes.  I'll do better next time (= I owe it to my readers to not put up hackjob photos and I am trying! 

3 coats of this delightful dark grey creme!

 See this is my other hand, much more aesthetically pleasing!  (Text is backwards because I had to rotate the photo.)  Look how different the color shows up in the bottle compared to the nails.  It's closer to the color in the bottle.  I just love a little novelty so I wanted to share.

OK normally I feel like a sales rep for Funky Fingers but now I'm jumping ship.  Onto the Essence boat of luxury.  I cannot comprehend how for 99. cents these polishes are so freakin' fabulous.  Excellent dry time, affordable, fun colors and most important a shiny, perfect formula.  Remember, I bought these at ULTA.  You should get some, for reals.

Look how fun.  Cuter than the Gosselin kids I tell ya!

Size comparison next to ChG "For Audrey"

OK, that's it.  Go buy some of these.

NOTD; elephunk

I bought this one yesterday as mentioned in my previous post.  This is Funky Fingers, "Elephunk".  The application wasn’t too bad, this is 3 thin coats.  It was still a little spotty in some spots but only if you held it up to the light and looked for it.  It’s a grey, I think crème? Base, with the tiniest most miniscule hints of a silvery shimmer.  So I guess it’s a shimmer then.  But it doesn’t look like it on the nail, and barely in the bottle.  Anyways this is my first grey and I really do love it.  I added some pink and silver butterfly decals that added that extra something I felt it needed.  I put two on each ring finger and one on each thumb.  These pictures are pre-cleanup so excuse the messy edges. 

 

Also, I’ve been having trouble with the skin around the edge of my nails!  My left thumb has open cuts on the side and the right thumb (pictured) is super dry!  I use oils and cuticle balm but they don’t seem to have the same effect on my thumbs.  I definitely think my skin there is different but I am still figuring out how to avoid the issues I’ve been having.  Any advice? I sure could use some.

Look at that cute eyeshadow palette!  I got it for 3$ at Essentials at my mall.  So cute (=

Click to enlarge for detail.