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. 

Larger Haul from Walmart.com

Good evening ladies and gents!

Today I'll be going over some goodies that I purchased from Walmart.com. I'll give you a forewarning, though... this post will have a bit of ranting in it.

So my mom came to me one evening and said that she wanted to place an order online, but needed $5 worth of more stuff to get the free shipping. "Want some polish?" she asked. Well now, you know, and I know, and she knew that was a silly question.

Of course I do! So I managed to narrow the gobs of bottles down to 3 to hit that $5 mark for her.

But then I ran into a problem. I realized that I only had two spaces left in my wall rack! OH NOES! 

So what did I do to solve the problem? 

... I bought another rack. And some more polishes to fill it. 


Yes, addiction has me in its clutches.

Including the three that Mom got with her order, I ended up getting 11 polishes--it was supposed to be 12, but apparently one was on backorder so Walmart refunded me for that one.

First on the left is Pure Ice "Moonlight", which was $1.98. Here begins the rant. Online, it looked to be a deep blue with silver shimmer. It is in fact a muddy grey/brown with purple shimmer. That shimmer doesn't even show up on the nail. Thus, you're left with... mud, basically. This polish was the biggest disappointment of the bunch. I didn't even think Pure Ice could make a bad polish, but this one proved me wrong. I don't like it one bit. I'll use it, somehow, someway, because I paid for it... but I won't enjoy it.

Second comes L.A. Colors "Dimple". This is just a basic pumpkin orange creme. It's a teeeensy bit streaky on the second coat, but I think with careful application it can work. Certainly worth the $0.98.

Third up is Pure Ice "Eskimo Kisses". This looked pure white online, which would make sense given the name. It's actually a holo glitter in a slightly blue tinted base. While pretty, the base isn't tinted enough to change any base color other than white. So if you already have Pure Ice "Don't You Wish", don't bother buying this one. They're exactly the same except for that tinted base.

Next up comes Sinful Colors "Mint Apple". Online? Mint creme. In reality? Very dark mint with tons of gold shimmer. Cute, but not what I really wanted. Was it worth $1.98? Eh, sure. I'll use it.

Fifth in line comes the second biggest disappointment. I paid $2.49 for Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Royal Rage". Online it looked to be an in-your-face neon royal blue. Nope. It's a dull blue with an awful crelly formula. This one's a three-coater--there's no way to hide the streakiness on that second coat. Still, it is a blue, so it'll get used.

In the middle of the pack we have Wet 'n' Wild "Casting Call", which was $0.98. This one was actually a pleasant surprise. I thought this would be much more pink, but it turns out it's actually more of a terra cotta color. I'm in love with it! The formula is great, too. Bonus: it water marbles like a champ.

The seventh polish was a roller coaster. Online, Pure Ice "Chrome on Over" (which was only $1.55 instead of the usual $1.98 Pure Ice price, for some reason) looked to be a gunmetal color. I was upset when I received it and discovered it's more of a purple. But then I swatched it, and ohhhh my goodness. GORGEOUS! This baby is my favorite of the bunch. Oh, and she's a one coater! 

Next is Pure Ice "Dollface", which was actually true to color. She's a lovely light peach creme. I put this in a water marble with "Casting Call" and it turned out great!

Then there's Pure Ice "Teal Appeal". I had seen this one in stores for quite a while and always thought about snagging it, so I finally did. She's a little closer to navy than teal, in my opinion. There's really not a whole lot of green in there. Still a great creme polish for the price, though, and I'm glad I picked her up.

The tenth polish is Wet 'n' Wild "Who is Ultra Violet?". This is a lot more pink than it looked online, but it's still a very nice purple creme. I was very bummed when it didn't work with the next polish in a water marble. I'll have to experiment some more to see if it cooperates with other polishes. 

Last but definitely not least we have Pure Ice "Sweet Serenity". This is a lovely light lavender creme (that I am wearing right now!). She's almost opaque in one coat, but I did get a patch here and there. I do tend to be a bit heavy-handed though, so those of you who aren't so aggressive might be able to get this polish opaque in one coat. That's pretty impressive for such a light colored polish. Absolutely worth every cent of the $1.98 that I paid. 

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.