Stuck With Bargain Bin on a Budget?

Greetings, folks!

You're on a budget. Spending $10 to $20 for a single bottle of polish just isn't feasible. Does that mean that you're stuck with bargain bin leftovers? 

Absolutely not. 

First off, drugstore polish makers have really upped their game. Wet 'n' Wild, L.A. Colors, Pure Ice, and Sinful Colors are all polishes that you can find for less than two dollars. Between these four brands, you can find pretty much anything your heart desires (even holo!). L.A. Colors doesn't always have the best formula, but the other three are pretty safe bets. Sinful Colors has put out... what... 7 new collections this year? And Pure Ice has some amazing formulas--"Show Stopper", for example, is a two coat yellow polish. Not even OPI has mastered that yet. Not to mention Pure Ice's glitters are amazeballs.

(There's also Sally Hansen polishes for less than $3, but I'm still mad at them.)

(Yes, I can hold one hell of a grudge.)

There's also the option of buying in bulk. This is a larger investment up front, but worth it in the long run. Nabi Cosmetics (found on Amazon and Ebay) runs great deals where you can choose a bunch of polishes for a discounted price. Several years ago I purchased a set of 20 polishes for $24.00, putting each polish at $1.20 a piece. Last time I looked (last November) their polishes were even cheaper. I also bought the Seche Vite Pro Kit from head2toebeauty.com for $18.75. This kit is 4.5 ounces--the equivalent of 9 bottles. That puts each bottle at only $2.08. You can't get that deal at Sally Beauty Supply!

Another thing to look for is sales. Oftentimes Sally Beauty Supply will have "buy two get one free" sales on their polish. Zoya is also great for sales... last year their Black Friday Sale was 70% their entire site! That meant Zoya polishes for only $3 a bottle! 

Online e-tailers are also an option. These include sites such as the aforementioned head2toebeauty, 88beauty, transdesign, and holler. 

And of course it never hurts to peruse someone's destash. There's always a destash happening! Right now there are at least three that I know of: Phoebe Moon's, Alli Evette's, and Stacey's (formerly Polished Ways on YouTube). I believe Jessika and Juanita will be destashing soon as well. You can simply Google "nail polish destash" and find all sorts of goodies for great prices. Sometimes you can even snag indie brands for super cheap. 

Pure Ice "Girl on the Run"

Greetings gals and guys!

Today we'll be going over this beauty here. This is Pure Ice "Girl on the Run". She is a quick-dry glossy top coat. I'll be discussing her pros and cons, as well as how she compares to Seche Vite.

I'm a huge fan of the Pure Ice brand. They have fun, funky colors for a great price. Every time I'm in Walmart I'm scoping out their stuff.

...But I never knew "Girl on the Run" existed. Crazy, right? Thankfully SistaChic mentioned it in her "Unpopular Opinions" YouTube video. If only that video had come out before I purchased the Seche Vite Pro Kit--the equivalent of nine bottles of Seche Vite... I had to try it, though. I had to! So here's what I think:


Pros:

• Price: "Girl on the Run" costs the same as other Pure Ice polishes--just under two dollars a bottle.
• Dry time: Pure Ice really surprised me on this one. This stuff dries within five minutes, easy.
• Shine: She's a high-shine beauty. She's got a gloss that won't fade for several days.
• Consistency: She's nice and smooth and a bit on the thinner side.
• Nail art: "Girl on the Run" has not smeared my nail art once. Sweet!

Cons:

• Wear time: Unfortunately I noticed some major tip wear after only a couple of days. After about the third day she'll start chipping like crazy. For me personally, this isn't really a huge problem since I rarely wear a mani for more than four days. However, for someone who wants longevity, this may not be the best top coat.
• Smell: "Girl on the Run" does have a bit of a funk to it. You won't be able to smell it once it's dry, but if you're sensitive to smells this might put you off.

Compared to Seche Vite:

• Price: Seche Vite retails for around eight dollars a bottle. If you get the Pro Kit, you'll pay about $2.08 per bottle plus shipping. That's a great price for Seche Vite, but it still can't beat out Pure Ice.
• Dry time: I daresay the two are pretty even on dry time. 
• Shine: Pure Ice wins out here, too. The shine on Seche Vite does tend to fade after a couple of days.
• Consistency: Again, Pure Ice is the winner. Seche Vite will get very thick and goopy once you've made it through half the bottle. With Pure Ice, you won't need to add a thinner to use the whole bottle.
• Nail art: Both top coats are great for nail art. Neither will smudge your work (if you're careful).
• Smell: Both products have a smell to them, though I would have to say that Pure Ice's is a bit worse.
• Wear time: Here's where Seche Vite wins out by quite a stretch. I once wore a water marble mani topped with Seche Vite for three weeks. I'm not sure that mani would have lasted a week with the Pure Ice. 
• Availability: You can easily find Seche Vite at any Sally Beauty Supply, as well as a few online retailers. "Girl on the Run" is only available at Walmart, and tends to sell out quickly.

So who's the winner? I think that depends on what you intend to do with your mani. If you want your manicure to last a good long while, I would say stick with Seche Vite. But if you're like me and change it up at least twice a week, Pure Ice has the upper hand--if you can find it. 

If you can find it, I'd really recommend giving "Girl on the Run" a try. She's inexpensive, and if you end up not liking her, chances are one or two (or a dozen) of your friends would be willing to buy it off you. 

I know my next top coat purchase will be another bottle of "Girl on the Run". Now I just need to get through these nine bottles of Seche Vite... 

Stamping with "Splash!"

Greetings folks!

Today I'll be doing a quick run-through of this stamped mani:



For my base coat I used Pure Ice "Bottom Line" ($1.97 @ Walmart). 

I then applied Wet 'n' Wild "Black Creme" as my base color ($0.99 @ Walgreens).

The stamping plate I used was Bundle Monster's XL-02 ($3.20 per plate @ Walmart.com). I used the jumbo clear stamper that I got from Born Pretty Store for $2.99. 

Then I broke out my Pure Ice "Splash!". Now, I honestly didn't think this would stamp, as it's a very sheer, very shimmery polish. But boy, was I wrong! It stamped like a dream. I would suggest using some kind of protective barrier, though--liquid latex, tape, etc. The shimmer did not want to let go of my skin!

As usual, I topped off the mani with Seche Vite ($2.08 @ head2toebeauty.com).

The overall look is very subtle, but when the light hits that gorgeous blue shimmer... I just heaved a dreamy sigh... it flares to life. 

It just goes to show that it never hurts to try anything and everything. Even if you think it's not going to work, it may surprise you and end up becoming a stunning manicure!

Woeful Watermarbling

Greetings folks!

Today we'll be talking about this here watermarble mani:



Actually, I'm going to interrupt myself for a minute to make a plea. Can someone please come hold my hand while I attempt cleanup??? I've watched I-don't-know-how-many videos on cleaning up your cuticles, but I just can't seem to do it right. I either don't get enough off, or I get too much off and have this huge gap that makes it look like my nails have grown out for two weeks. BLARGH! Admittedly, it has gotten a little easier since I switched from my angled paintbrush to the e.l.f. concealer brush all the nail gurus talk about. But I still need quite a bit of practice. If anyone has any tips or tricks, please feel free to let me know!

Now, you might be wondering, "Why is this watermarble so woeful?" 


The watermarble itself isn't bad. I do like how the pattern turned out, and the colors (Color Club "Grand Dame" and Nabi "Metallic Champagne") work well together. But allow me to accentuate the issue here:

Yeah... now I remember why I don't buy light pinks. They do my skin tone no favors whatsoever. 

One of the things I like about watermarbles, though, is that they last forever. This one could have lasted me a couple of weeks... if I hadn't gotten tired of it after only a few days. I think I'll stick to my hot pinks and fuchsias.

Delectable Diamonds

Good afternoon all you shining happy people holding hands!

(Please forgive me... I'm on some pretty strong muscle relaxers, so I'll be even more odd than usual.)

Today I'll be discussing this here diamond manicure:

I started off with my Bridge the Ridge base coat. I then applied two coats of Color Club "Winter White".

Using BundleMonster's XL-10 plate and their "Electromagnetic" gold stamping polish, I stamped on the diamonds. I used my new BundleMonster double sided clear stamper, and it worked like a charm. I can't wait to try some double stamping with this puppy!

I topped the mani off with Seche Vite, as per usual. 

Next up? I have no idea. Probably either a gradient or a water marble...

Want sneak peeks of the manicures featured here, as well as some bonus manis? Feel free to follow me on Instagram @jennravenwing. Fair warning: there will be a smattering of adorable baby pics as well!

Hundred Dollar Birthday Haul

I know, I know... I said I was going to do a "BornPretty Bitchfest" post next, but I decided against it. Why? Because we all have enough negativity in our lives, and me going on a 400 word rant doesn't help the situation. And now I'm extra glad I didn't, because BPS actually came through at the very last second!

So let's get on with the haul! So... technically I spent a bit more than $100, but $16 of that was shipping. I snagged some great deals, though!


First off we'll start with the three items I ordered from Born Pretty Store. I did pay the extra $3 for tracking (which didn't work) so in total my order came to $12.87. 

The first item was a 3-piece stamping set--jumbo clear stamper, scraper, and lid--for $2.99. That's a steal! I really wanted a lid because keeping cat hair off my stampers is almost impossible. I haven't yet tested the stamper out, but it feels nice and squishy and semi-sticky. The scraper is pretty small and incredibly stiff, so I probably won't use that. 

The next item I ordered was some studs for $4.89 (they're now on sale for $2.99... go figure). It's a mix of silver and gold studs in varying shapes and sizes. There are approximately 200 pieces in this little tiny wheel. What I like about them is that they lay fairly flat--they don't stick up crazy high on the nail like my rhinestones do. Working in the food industry, the last thing I want is something snagging on my nail decor and it ends up in someone's dinner. 

(I do wear gloves when I'm around food but still... you can never be too careful.)

The last thing I got from BPS was a set of black and white stamping polishes for $1.99. I wasn't really looking for black, but I needed a good opaque white and they had this set of 5ml bottles, so I figured what the hell. I haven't tested these yet either...

Hey, gimme a break. I just got this stuff TODAY.  ON MY BIRTHDAY.  That was a close one, Born Pretty... verrrrry close. I ordered on October 11th... 


Next up we have the three L.A. Colors polishes that I picked up from Family Dollar for $1 a piece. 



The first is called "Sunkissed" and it's... it's... phenomenal. It's a burnt orange with tons of gold shimmer. 

The second is a pink! I don't know why but I've been gravitating towards pinks lately. Maybe my hormones are still messed up from becoming a mommy, who knows. But this lovely polish is called "Pink Sizzle" and oooooh does it sizzle. 

The third is called "Dazzle" and it is very similar in color to "Pink Sizzle" but it has lots of luscious silver shimmer.





Another thing I purchased was a "big ticket" item. This baby cost me just under $30, but I did get free shipping. Since my polish and nail art supplies were beginning to spill over the lovely shelves that my mom built for me, I decided I'd get a bonafied nail polish rack. Tada!

I got this rack on ebay. I've calculated that she holds about 102 polishes. Unfortunately I didn't count how many I had before I ordered her. Including the birthday polishes I got, I have 130.

Now, for a polish collector, 130 bottles is chump change. For me, however, it's quite a lot. Therefore I'm now on a "no buy" until after Christmas (at least!). Gotta save up my monies to spoil my little boy for his first Christmas! 

Anyway, I've got my favorites in the rack and a few in my "boo box". Doesn't it look spiffy? And now I have room on my shelves for all my nail art supplies! Yay! What's that? Why yes, my favorite color is blue! 



Next in my haul I made an order from Nabi. Nabi has a shop on ebay, which is where I purchased mine, as well as on Amazon. These are all-around great polishes, but they do have one downside: they do tend to get pretty thick after a while and unfortunately polish thinner can't always save them. Nabi does have a wide range of colors, though, and they're inexpensive. In fact, the more you buy, the more you save. A couple of years ago I bought a lot of 20 polishes for $24 (iirc). She's got a deal now on ebay where you can get 20 colors of your choice for $20 and some change. I went for a much smaller lot this time and purchased three of Nabi's "Metallic" polishes for $6.36 with free shipping. That puts each polish at $2.12.

The first one I got was "Metallic New Gold". I've been looking for a really yellow gold for a while, and I thought this would hit the spot. Unfortunately, it's got more shimmer than base. At two coats, it's not quite opaque (as can be seen in the swatch). I'm hoping three coats will get me there, but I haven't tried it yet. It is definitely the color I wanted, though.

The second polish is "Metallic Champagne". This is another pink, and although it's quite a bit darker than I expected, I really do like it.

The third Nabi is "Metallic White". I wasn't sure what to expect from this. How could a white be metallic? But it does indeed have a metallic--almost frosty--finish. I was amazed at how opaque this was at one coat, but did two on the swatch anyway. It does show brush strokes a bit, but that doesn't really bother me all that much.





I also decided to give head2toebeauty a try, since I had heard Phoebe talk about the site a lot on her YouTube channel. Fair warning though: their shipping is not cheap! I paid $12.97 for shipping, bringing my grand total at the e-store to $52.16. But it was so worth it!

Why was it so worth it? Seche Vite, my friends. Seche Vite. They have a "professional kit" that includes a regular .5 oz bottle, as well as a 4 oz refill bottle. That's equivalent to nine bottles of Seche Vite... for the jaw-droppingly low price of $18.75!!!

WHAT!?!?!?

Yep! Seche Vite for TWO DOLLARS AND EIGHT CENTS PER BOTTLE!! Even if you tag on the shipping cost for my whole order, that makes each bottle only $3.52. That's less than half the price Sally Beauty Supply charges. Score!!

I also snagged a polish corrector pen for 99 cents. I'm not so keen on this just yet. Don't get me wrong--it works well. However, it's very stiff and it hurts my skin. Maybe after a while it will soften up a bit? I hope so, because in the meantime I'd rather just use my angle brush for cleanup.

I got that liquid pump for $5.95, hoping to put acetone in it. The description for it said it could hold "polish removers" and didn't say anything about not putting acetone in it like the other pumps did. Sadly, when I got it, there was a note inside that said "DO NOT USE ACETONE". Well... fack. So now it's holding my cuticle oil. It's also incredibly noisy to pump. I hate to say it, but I would definitely not recommend this particular pump.

And of course, I purchased some polish. China Glaze for $3.25? Color Club for $3.50? Yes please!

The first swatch is Color Club "Winter White". And yes, it is very similar to Nabi "Metallic White". This is a frosty finish, though, and has a bit more of a silver tone to it. As with most frosts, it does show brush strokes a smidge. Again, though, I don't mind.

The other Color Club is "Grand Dame" from... the English Garden Collection, I believe. You guys... these are my first Color Club polishes and I can now see what all the fuss is about. I think I'm in love. Grand Dame went on so smooth! It's easily the best polish I've ever worked with. It's a beautiful deep silver. I don't think this is a duo-chrome, but it sure does pick up colors around it. It's almost mirror-like.

Next we have China Glaze "Jolly Holly" from a holiday collection a couple years back. I've been seeking a nice forest green, and this one is lovely! 

The second China Glaze is probably my favorite polish in this whole entire haul. When I saw Jess swatch this in her review of the Rebel Collection I just knew it had to be mine. I present to you "Combat Blue-ts". It is a gorgeous matte blue with the slightest blue shimmer. Gah, I'm drooling just looking at it. See? I must be hormonal with all these pinks and mattes and whatnot. Jess did warn that it dries super fast, so you shouldn't manipulate it too much. I didn't have any trouble with the swatch, but then... a nail wheel is much easier a canvas than real nails.

They also sent me a free 100/100 grit nail file. I'll probably never use it, but it was a nice gesture. If you haven't yet checked out head2toebeauty, I'd say give it a go. I'd certainly buy from them again.

I also snagged six polishes from Walgreens. Know how much I paid for all six? $2.42 including tax. That's 40 cents per polish!

...But I totally cheated and used my rewards points for $5 off. Go me!

The first one is Sinful Shine "Kryptonite" from the Kylie Signature Collection. This was on sale for $1.49. It's an absolutely stunning teal with green and blue shimmer. It's a little thin, so depending on your application you may need three coats. I did two for the swatch.

The second is Sinful Shine "Kalypso", also from the Signature Collection, and also on sale for $1.49. Did I mention blue is my favorite color? This one is breathtaking. It's a luscious cobalt blue with blue shimmer. There are two coats on the swatch, but again you may need three if you tend to apply thinner coats.

The third--oh, look, another blue!--is Sinful Colors "Midnight Blue" which was marked down to 99 cents. This color lives up to its name. I'm already picturing the starry night manicure that I could do with this beauty.

On to number four: Wet 'n' Wild "Grape Minds Think Alike". All of the Wet 'n' Wilds were 99 cents. This one doesn't remind me of grapes at all. It's much more berry-like in color, which is precisely what I wanted. This could potentially be a one-coater, but I used two for the swatch.

Number five is Wet 'n' Wild "Ready to Propose". This is a nice, simple gold. It's a hair or two lighter than Sally Hansen "Golden-I". I bought this because I really want a good gold for water marbling, and I think the Nabi I purchased isn't going to work. 

The last polish is Wet 'n' Wild "Sparked". I've been eyeballing this for a while now, but I tend to shy away from glitters. I finally decided to snatch it up and I'm glad I did. This is a very dense (though not quite "Studette" dense) pink and silver glitter. I believe the base is a very light pink, but don't quote me on that. The swatch is two coats, and I think it could easily be opaque if you used the sponging method.

And that concludes my hundred dollar haul. But wait! Wanna see what my mommy got for me? Yes, I'm now 38 years old and my mom still spoils me rotten. 

I don't have any prices on this stuff, 'cause, y'know... that'd be rude to ask. But I wanted to share all the fabulous goodies I got for my birthday!

First up, because my Born Pretty tracking said that my package was still in Asia, my mom got me a BundleMonster double-sided clear stamper (with caps!). I've already tried this puppy out, and I love it. The only (minor) negative is that in order to see through it, you have to take out the end that you're not using. I worry that that may shorten the life of the head. Otherwise, though, it stamps like a dream. It also came with two card-scrapers, which I have discovered I like better than the standard scrapers.

She also got me two more pump bottles that are much quieter and that are safe for acetone! Yay! Now I just have to figure out what I'll put in the second bottle. 

The last nail-related item she got me was a set of five stamping plates from Nicole Diary. Regrettably, they're not the best. They're very thin. So far I haven't had much luck picking up the images even with stamping polish. I'm hoping the Born Pretty stamper is sticky enough to help. There are some cute images on the plates that I'd really like to make use of!

Alright, this long ass post is finally done! Next up? Delectable Diamonds!

Dabbling in Dots

Greetings folks,

Today we'll be discussing this here dotticure mani:



I'm not 100% certain where I got the inspiration for this, but it was probably in one of Jenny's "Easy Nail Art For Beginners" videos.

I started with Pure Ice "Bottom Line" base coat ($1.97 at Walmart). I then put down two coats of Wet 'n' Wild "Be More Pacific" (97 to 99 cents at any drugstore).

I then used my largest dotting tool and some Nina Ultra Pro "Ink-ling" ($4.19 at Sally Beauty Supply with card--I always buy them when they're B2G1, bringing the price of each to $2.79) to lay down one or two dark grey dots on each nail. I repeated this step with some Wet 'n' Wild "French White Creme". Flipping the dotting tool over, I made smaller dots randomly around the large ones. Going back in with "Ink-ling", I placed small dots inside the large white dots. I used "Be More Pacific" to put small dots inside the dark grey dots.

I got my dotting tools for Christmas last year, so for me they were free. Woot!  However, I think I've heard Jenny mention that you can get some on Amazon for a dollar. Even if you do end up having to pay more for them, dotting tools are well worth the investment because you can do innumerable designs with them.

Materials used: Pure Ice "Bottom Line" base coat, Wet 'n' Wild
"Be More Pacific" and "French White Creme", Nina Ultra
Pro "Ink-ling", Seche Vite, dotting tool

Finally, I finished off the mani with Seche Vite ($7.99 at Sally's).

Next up? Born Pretty Bitchfest!