I'm Not Sure I Want to Play with Sally Anymore

Good evening, folks.

Remember in the last post how I was talking about how Sally Hansen "Royal Rage" was a bit of a disappointment?

Yeah... "a bit" turned out to be a big understatement. 

I'm sure by now you folks know I'm a big blue fan. So for me to say any blue polish is absolute junk is pretty dramatic. 

This polish is absolute $(#!*ing JUNK! 

I'm fairly certain I have never bought a polish, worn it once (for ONE DAY) and said, "Yeah, this shit needs to go." Especially relating to a blue polish. 

"Royal Rage" is a royal pain to apply. I know I probably got a little spoiled considering my first jelly polishes were Zoyas, but this Sally Hansen is so incredibly awful!! It's really more of a crelly formula, though. A really crappy crelly. It runs everywhere. It's streaky. It's patchy. It drags on itself. Even after three coats it wasn't opaque, and it was bumpy. This polish has the worst formula I have ever dealt with, hands down. Don't waste your $2-3!!

Now, I know that Sally Hansen has some good polishes. I have "White On" and "Golden-I" and I love them. Yet... I have more fails than wins. "Royal Rage", "Pixel Perfect" (which I have mentioned in a previous post), "Jazzy Jade", and "Tango-rine" aren't so awesome. "Jazzy Jade" doesn't have a bad formula, but the color looks nothing on the nails like it does in the bottle--it's very flat and not at all jazzy. "Tango-rine" is a great color, but the formula is soooo thin that it's easily a 3 to 4 coat polish. 

So after the "Royal Rage" fiasco (did I mention it chipped in less than 18 hours??), I'm really starting to think that I should just stay away from Sally. Why bother when I can grab a Pure Ice or Sinful Colors polish for cheaper that will probably have me singing rather than snarling?

Yeah, bye bye, Sally Hansen.

Mini Haul from Walmart.com

Greetings folks!

Today I wanted to show you a few goodies I got online. I needed a new bottle of Pure Ice "Bottom Line" base coat, so of course I snagged that at $1.98.

Then I needed... okay, so I didn't need Color Club "Blue Skies Ahead", but after watching Moon Baby Nails review a few polishes from the Mood Changing collection, I really, really wanted to snag at least one! The one I purchased goes from a cornflower blue to a nice deep lavender in cold conditions. Be warned, though: if you put a top coat on these polishes--as most people tend to do--the polish won't react as well to temperature change. When I received the polish it came in a box labeled "gel polish", but I didn't think anything of it... Surely it was just generic packaging. Then after six days of wear and only one tiny chip and no tip wear, I began to have doubts. Would I be able to get this stuff off?!? Thankfully, it comes off just like regular polish. Whew! I did go over budget on this baby, though. $6.44... yikes! But with the cool color changing properties, the lovely color, and the longevity, I don't feel too bad for splurging. 

I also bought a body pillow case, and that brought my total to just under $35 (since when are pillow cases so damn expensive?! eeeesh). To get free shipping, I needed to put myself above that line. So what did I do? Bought more polish, of course! 

(I think I may have fallen into the "addicted" category... rutroh.)

I snagged a bottle of L.A. Colors "Aquatic" for $0.98. I'm a wee bit disappointed in this one. Online, it looked considerably more green. Like... an aqua color, which would have made sense given the name. Sadly, it's nowhere near aqua. It's much more of an ink blue color. I don't hate it, by any means. I actually have it on my toes right now. I'm just bummed it wasn't what I thought it was. But those are the troubles you run into when shopping online.

Another trouble of shopping online is that there are soooo many to choose from... Too many to choose from. 

Yep, there will be another haul post coming soon.

Budget-Friendly Feature -- Nina Ultra Pro Caribbean Blue

Hey there ladies and gents!

Today's feature will be Nina Ultra Pro "Caribbean Blue" I purchased this at Sally Beauty Supply during one of their Buy 2 Get 1 Free sales, so I paid $2.79 per bottle (that's also with my Club Card, of course).

She's a beautiful aqua blue. I've never been to the Caribbean, so I can't say for sure if this really is the color of the waters there. However, this does remind me of the beaches of Sarasota, Florida. The water there is so incredibly clear and gorgeous that you can see right through it.

Unfortunately this polish's formula is see-through, too. Even at three coats, there's still a wee bit of VNL. I usually use this as a topper. If you put this over black, it turns more green. I actually did a manicure once where I did a black-to-white gradient and put this over it. It looked amazing! Well, it looked mostly amazing--if my gradient skills were better it could have been phenomenal. It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but hopefully you get the gist.

One downside to the Nina Ultra Pro polishes is the brush. However, I think I'm in the minority on this. NUPs have a very wide paddle brush. For most folks, that's a good thing. For me, though, with my super narrow nails, it creates a problem. On my pinky and ring finger nails I actually have to turn the brush sideways. Otherwise, I end up with even more polish on my skin than usual. 

So is "Caribbean Blue" worth the $2.79 I paid for it? Yeah, I'd have to say she is. Would I pay $4.00 or more for her? Probably not. But at less than three dollars, "Caribbean Blue" is such a stunning color and very versatile as a topper, so I think it was money well spent.

Budget-Friendly Feature -- Bundle Monster Wavelengths

Greetings folks!

Today we'll be featuring Bundle Monster Wavelengths--one of their metallic creative arts polishes (stamping polishes).

I paid $11.99 for the entire metallic set. The set includes six polishes, putting each one at only $2.00. I can't remember for certain if I purchased these on Walmart.com or bundlemonster.com... I think it was the former and I got free shipping.

Wavelengths is a gorgeous royal blue metallic. As of yet, I haven't used this as a regular nail polish, so I can't say anything in regards to application or longevity. However, as a stamping polish, this stuff is phenomenal. The formula is thick enough to fill your image and stamp easily, yet thin enough that you don't have to worry about dragging polish clumps around. (Yes, I've had that issue... I won't mention any bornprettystore names.)  :p

I also haven't had any problems with it staining my stampers as some blues have a tendency to do. 

Overall, this is a great stamping polish that I know I can rely on to stamp beautifully every time.

So is it worth the two bucks? Yes, indeedy. For $2.00 a piece, the entire collection is worth it--even though the gold is a little dull and the pink is definitely not metallic. All stamp wonderfully and in my opinion are a great deal.

Swapping Spaces

Hey folks!

So... I've started my own YouTube channel (it's Mani on a Budget over there, too, in case you're interested). Since I'll be covering the manis I do over there, I think to reduce redundancy I'm going to change things up a bit here on my blog.

What I'll be posting here will be my hauls, a few tips and tricks, recommendations and reviews of products, and a bit of general mayhem. 


To start off that trend, I'd like to discuss the lovely polishes I picked up in Zoya's "try4free" promotion. In this promotion you could get four polishes for free if you paid the promotional shipping, which was $15. That puts each polish at only $3.75!

 Of course I went and lost the photo I had of all four... but if you follow me on Instagram (@jennravenwing) you've already seen them. This one here is the entire reason I hopped on the promo bandwagon. This is "Remy". I just heaved a dreamy sigh, because... well, because she's dreamy! "Peacock Blue" comes to mind first and foremost when trying to describe her. She's a deep blue base with teal and gold shimmer. "Remy" has the typical Zoya formula--excellent to work with. She did stain my nails quite a bit, but the color is so very worth it!

I also picked up "Oceane", because I'm a nut for the blues. Especially the cobalt/aqua blues. "Oceane" is a bright aqua blue with lots of blue shimmer. I haven't worn her yet, but I'm betting she may stain, too. 

The third color I snagged was "Zuza", a gorgeous turquoise. She also has gold and silver shimmer running through her. I was really surprised at how opaque she was, being a bit of a lighter color. She's the only turquoise in my collection, and I'm excited to try her out.

Polish number four was... not a blue! Whoa....  It's "Cinnamon". Zoya's website describes "Cinnamon" as a "classic bronze liquid metal", but to me, it's much more brown than bronze. I'd say it really does look like its namesake, yet in a metallic form. Definitely something new to my collection!

I'm seriously considering water marbling with "Oceane", "Zuza", and "Cinnamon". Or maybe just "Oceane" and "Cinnamon". 

At any rate, $3.75 for a polish that's normally $10 is a pretty damn good deal, and I'm glad I took advantage of the promotion. From what I understand, Zoya usually has an "Earth Day" promotion as well, where they offer 50% off their polishes. I, unfortunately, won't be able to take advantage of that one, but if you're interested be sure to follow them on Instagram @zoyanailpolish to stay in the loop!

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!

Foolish Raindrop FAIL!!

Greetings folks!

Today we'll be talking about how horribly I botched this mani:



Yep, that's one hell of an epic nail fail, there. I was trying to be awesome like Cristine, but obviously it didn't work. 

I started off with "Bridge the Ridge" base coat ($5.49). I then applied one coat of Sinful Colors "Kryptonite" ($1.99). 

...Then I heard my son stirring in the next room. Awwwww crap. Figures he'd decide to take a power nap instead of a two-hour nap. I hurried and slapped another coat of "Kryptonite" on my nails and topped it with Seche Vite ($2.08) so I could resume the mommy role.

Without matte top coat

I ended up wearing that alone for a day, and I really enjoyed it. But of course, it wasn't the final look I was going for, so the next day I used a makeup sponge to add Sinful Colors "Kalypso" ($1.99) to the base of my nails to create a gradient. I did use some liquid latex around the nails to help with clean up. Here's the thing, though: the liquid latex I have is something I bought for two bucks from China. It's crap. I wouldn't recommend it. I would warn you what not to buy, but I have no idea what the name of it is; it has no markings on the bottle whatsoever. I should have taken advantage of BundleMonster's cyber monday deals and snagged some Poli-Peel... but... I'm on a no-buy. Sigh.

With matte top coat

Next came a coat of Wet 'n' Wild matte top coat ($0.99). And there, my friends, is where I should have stopped. This looked great! But no... No, I had to go and ruin the whole damn thing. 


Maybe if I had used a thinner top coat, or even just a regular clear polish, it wouldn't have turned out so awful. But I'm an idiot and decided to use Seche Vite for my raindrops for maximum shine. Unfortunately it ended up being more akin to maximum blobbage. 

Oh well, I suppose I can't vomit out awesomeness all the time.

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!

Striped and Sassy and Halloween Horrors

Good evening folks. 

Just as a head's up, I might be a little discombobulated today. Little Devin had his six-month checkup and vaccinations today, plus Mommy nearly cut off the tip of his finger trying to trim his nails... so he hasn't been in the best of moods. If I leave any important info out, just let me know in the comments and I'll try to fix it.

Anyhoo! I have a bit of catching up to do, so I'm going to plunk two manis in one post.

First up we have this simple look that I created with striping tape:

For my base coat I used Bridge the Ridge ($5.49 at Sally Beauty Supply). I then applied two coats of China Glaze "Frostbite" ($3.25 at Sally Beauty Supply, B1G1). I love this color so much that I actually wore it alone for a day. 

I then applied some striping tape that I purchased at Sally's. I got 10 rolls of varying colors for $8.99, putting each roll at ninety cents. 

This was only my second time playing with striping tape, so I didn't go too crazy. I chose a simple geometric pattern, and then painted China Glaze "Icicle" ($3.25) over the top. I removed the tape while the polish was still wet to keep the lines nice and clean. 

Materials used: Bridge the Ridge base coat, China Glaze
"Frostbite"and "Icicle", Seche Vite, striping tape

For my top coat I used Seche Vite ($7.99). And... you guys.... I've been watching a lot of Phoebe's videos lately and she mentions Head2ToeBeauty quite a bit, so I decided to check it out. I found such a steal on Seche Vite! I'll talk about that a bit more in an upcoming birthday haul post. 







Next up we have my Halloween mani. I'll be honest... this was awful. I logged it as a NailFail.

Since I had only slapped this on Sunday evening, I knew I wouldn't be wearing it long so I applied Sally Hansen "BIG peel off base coat" ($5.49 at Walmart). 

I then laid down one coat of Nabi "Neon Orange" ($1.20 on ebay). Again, I'll go over the Nabi polish brand in the upcoming haul post. 

I then used a makeup sponge to dab on three thin layers of the "Neon Orange" and Wet 'n' Wild "Black Creme" (97 cents at Walmart) to create a horrifyingly sloppy gradient.

Materials used: Sally Hansen "BIG
peel off base coat", Wet n Wild "Black
Creme", Nabi "Neon Orange", Seche Vite,
skull decals

The stickers I used came from a huge lot of decals that I got years ago for $4. And when I say huge, I mean I won't be able to use all of them even if I applied some every week for the next ten years. If I recall correctly, I got them from China on ebay.

I topped the monstrosity off with Seche Vite, 


Next up? I have no idea! I still have the half-peeled Halloween horror on my hands...

Target "Treasures"

Good afternoon folks!

Now, you might be wondering, "Why is 'treasures' in quotes?"  Well, see, when I was at Target all these polishes looked to be treasures. Then I got them home... 

Let's take a look at each in detail, shall we?

First up we have "Jazzy Jade" from the Sally Hansen Xtreme wear line. I paid $2.49 for this. In the store this looked like a gorgeous opalescent green jade. However, when I swatched it, it looked... well, it looked terribly boring. And it was very similar to Wet 'n' Wild's "Be More Pacific", which I already have. I'm not a fan of having dupes--that's a waste of my hard-earned money. To be fair, though, I do not top coat my swatches. Maybe the opalescence will pop if I do. I'll have to keep you updated on that.

Next I purchased Sinful Colors "Rise and Shine" for $2.02. I'm not sure why I purchased both of these, as they're very similar to each other. And again, it looks much like "Be More Pacific". This polish was almost opaque in one coat, though. You could probably get it opaque in one coat if you did a thicker coat. 




Then we have Sally Hansen "Pixel Perfect". This was $2.49. It's a black and white matte glitter in several shapes and sizes and has a clear base. From the look of the bottle, you'd think it was fairly dense. NOPE! Far, far from it. I had to do quite a bit of fishing and maneuvering to get this stuff to look decent on the swatch nail (the photo is over "Jazzy Jade"). I also tried sponging, to no avail. All I accomplished with that was getting glops of glitter in one spot. The swatch shows about three coats. 

I don't normally go for pinks, or holographics, or glitters, but this one... man, it just looked amazing in the bottle! This is Sinful Colors "Pinky Glitter", that I bought for $2.02. It's a sheer pink base with holographic glitter. It's... it's pretty, I won't lie. But it's so sheer that even three coats won't get it opaque. You could use it as a topper, but then of course you lose that pale pink finery, and there are better holographic toppers out there. I may try this over a white base in the future, because overall I really do like it.


The last polish I purchase was another Sinful Colors for $2.02. This is "Cinderella". It's a sheer baby blue with a lovely pink shimmer. And it, too, is so sheer that three coats won't get you to opacity. I tried this one over black and was surprised to find that I didn't like it--I normally like everything over black. However, I did try two coats over white, and that fixed the opacity issue, but the blue was much paler than it shows in the bottle.



Overall I was pretty disappointed with my purchases. Normally I get pretty good stuff from both these brands. I guess my game was just off that day. Here's to hoping for better luck next time!


Next up? I eat my words!