Sephora by OPI - I'm Wired

Hey everyone!

I'm kind of disappointed because I haven't been doing nail art and I really miss it (even if it's only been a few weeks). I have a job interview tomorrow which sprung me by surprise on Sunday, plus I'll be spending time with my girlfriend this week, so I really won't have the time to do it. Oh well... expect more swatches from me this week though lol.

Anyways, today I'm showing you Sephora by OPI's I'm Wired. I picked this up during the Big Lots sale and it's a such a pretty color. This is my first time trying out the Sephora by OPI brand, so I was excited to try this out.

I'm Wired is a bright pinkish coral creme. If anything, I think this polish leans more on the pinkish side. This is three coats with a top coat. I purchased this polish at Big Lots for $1.80. 

I'm not completely sure if the OPI buyout sale is still going on there, but it's not on the weekly ad. When I went there, they still had a lot of polishes so it's best to check your local Big Lots and see if they still have them.

The formula seemed fine, but when applying it on my nails it was a bit streaky for me. This could have easily been two coats, but I found a lot of streaks and bald spots even within the third coat. It's something that I can deal with, but it's still annoying. One positive is that this dried really fast in between coats. 

Also, the color is much brighter on the nail than the bottle. It almost looks like a neon pink in some lights on the nail. In the bottle, I'm Wired looks way lighter. I still love the color, but I do wish it was a little bit lighter.

In all honesty, I'm kind of disappointed with this polish, but I like it. I'm only saying this because I had high hopes since this brand is made by OPI, so I was expecting grand results. I bought a couple more Sephora by OPI polishes, so I'm hoping those will be of better quality than this one.

The formula and the streakiness kind of ruined it for me, but it's a lovely color for spring or summer. I think this polish will mostly be going on my toes for the summer (so I don't have to see the streaks lol), but I can also put it on my nails as well a couple more times. Overall, I love and hate this polish.

What do you think of I'm Wired? 

Thanks for reading!

Essie - Mojito Madness

Hey everyone!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, it was a lazy day for me. To make up for it, I'll be showing you Essie's Mojito Madness polish today (my first Essie on the blog!). 

I actually own a few Essie polishes in my collection, but it's honestly not my favorite brand. The majority of the Essie's that I have were given to me by family members. I've only actually bought one Essie in my life, and I didn't really like it. I'm trying to give them another chance again, so hence today's blog post lol.

Mojito Madness is a medium green creme. This is three coats with a top coat. Mojito Madness is a part of Essie's Summer 2012 collection and retails for around $8-9 in various stores. 

The formula is my main annoyance with Essie polishes. Even though this is a creme, it's kind of watery and you need to apply it carefully. I could have gotten away with two coats, but I could still see the brushstrokes in the second coat. Applying the third coat smoothed everything out though. 

The application wasn't bad at all. I started to get the hang of it after the second coat, but it's best to do thin coats with Essie polishes.

I think this color is more suitable for spring than summer, but it works for anytime really just like any other polish. It just reminds me so much of spring grass for some reason.

I really love this color on me though. It's not overpowering, but it still stands out. I usually hate greens on me because they look so bright against my skin, but I'm liking Mojito Madness.

Overall, I like this polish. I'm trying to give Essie another chance since I've had some bad luck with them, but I think Mojito Madness has restored my faith in Essie a little bit.

What do you think of Mojito Madness? What's your least favorite nail polish brand?

Thanks for reading!

Sally Hansen - Red Rebel

Hello everyone!

Today I'm showing you Sally Hansen's Red Rebel. I think one of my pet peeves when it comes to polish is when the name doesn't match the color. It's a small thing but it happens all the time with polishes. This is probably a good example of a color that doesn't match the name.

Red Rebel is a neon red orange jelly polish. This is four coats with a top coat. I bought this polish from Big Lots for only $1.50. I think this is an older polish from the Xtreme Wear collection because the cap is black and the newer ones are silver. I'm not positive if this is discontinued or not.

The application and formula was okay. Since it's a jelly, it's very sheer. I used four coats, but I can still see my nail line. This polish definitely needs a white base under it to bring the color out more and to lessen the coats. 

The only gripe that I have about this polish is the fact that it's more orange than I expected. In the bottle up close, it looks more red, but I still love the color.

Overall, I really love this color. This would be a perfect color for the summer. I wish it was more red, but it's still a pretty color.

What do you think of this polish? 

Thanks for reading!

Revlon - Rainforest

Hey everyone!

I recently went to Big Lots and bought a bunch of nail polish during their buyout sale, so I think this week will be swatch week lol. I think the sale still ongoing at the moment, but there are some really good polishes including the discontinued Sephora by OPI, Sally Hansen, Revlon, and Sinful Colors. The prices range from $1.00-1.80 for each polish. I would highly suggest checking your local Big Lots for a good deal on these polishes.

For today, I have a swatch of Revlon's Rainforest. This is probably my favorite out of the ten that I bought. It's such a gorgeous polish. Let's take a look!

Rainforest is a deep forest green (almost black) base with light green glass flecks. To me, Rainforest is more green, but if you look at it far away it looks black.

This is two coats with a top coat. I bought this for only $1.50 at Big Lots. The original price of the Colorstay polishes are $7.99 (quite a bit if you ask me!), so I highly recommend going to Big Lots or wait until it goes on sale at other drugstores to purchase it.

The application and formula was average. During the first coat, it was a little bit patchy. After applying the second coat, it settled itself out. I've actually never tried the Colorstay collection, but the one thing that I'm loving is the rounded brush. It's not very wide, but it does the job quite well. I didn't have to clean up that much either.

Rainforest is such a gorgeous polish! I think the glass flecks do it for me. It's probably one of the most unique polishes that I have in my collection. I highly recommend buying this polish. Like I said earlier, I would wait until this goes on sale or go to your local Big Lots and see if they have it in stock. For $1.50 for a beautiful polish, it's a steal!

What do you think of Rainforest?

Thanks for reading!

BPS Strawberry Water Decals

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Today, I have a review of these strawberry decals from the Born Pretty Store. I thought these would be cute to post for Valentines Day because they're shaped like hearts and they're the unofficial fruit for Valentines Day (also my favorite fruit ever!). What could be better than heart shaped strawberries on my nails for today? So, let's get to the review!

These strawberry water decals (ID: 11342) come in a sheet and have around 30 decals on them. They are priced at $1.99 at the Born Pretty Store. This is quite a lot of decals, especially if you're going to be using them as just accent nails. I chose to put them on all my nails, but you still get a lot left over.

For these nails, I painted one coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black as my base. As you can see, the background on these water decals aren't clear, so you'll have to use a black polish so they can properly show up.

When the polish dried, I cut out the water decals and placed them in warm water for about 10-20 seconds. Next, I placed the decals onto my nails and patted them dry with a tissue. Finally, I used a top coat to seal in the decals.

These were a little bit trickier to use because of the black background. They're actually quite big with the background, so it's best to trim them. I had to trim around the black so that the decals could fit on my nails. Other than that, I really had no problems with these decals. For $1.99, these are quite good and hold up pretty well.

I love these decals. If I run out of these, I'll definitely be getting them again. They really make your nails look like they were done at a salon lol. They're just so pretty. I highly recommend picking these up.

You can get these strawberry water decals for $1.99 and other nail art supplies at the Born Pretty Store. You can also use my coupon code SHBQ10 for an extra 10% off your entire purchase!

What do you think of these strawberry water decals?

Thanks for reading!

**This product was provided to me for my honest review*

FXXX Love!

Hello everyone!

This is my 100th post on the blog! It's not that special, but it was something that I noticed today while writing this up haha.

I'm pretty sure everyone can tell what the theme is for today's nail art design just by the title. Today I'm showing you all my Anti-Valentines Day nails! I'm going to be honest and say that I never really enjoyed Valentines Day. This year will be different since I'm spending it with my girlfriend, but it has gotten on my nerves lately lol. Anyone like this as well?

For my FXXX Love nails, I used the following colors:

Sinful Colors Black on Black (base)

Wet n Wild's I Red a Good Book (base)

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Sinful Colors Decadent (glitter)

Black Acrylic Paint

Maybelline's Clearly Spotted (glitter)

I created a mix n' match of designs for these nails using dotting tools and a detail brush.

For my pinky, I layered Clearly Spotted and Decadent together. On my ring finger, I wrote FXXX Love with black acrylic paint. If you can see it, I made a little broken heart underneath the letters. For my middle finger, I created three hearts with I Red a Good Book and crossed them out with Snow Me White. On my pointer, I created polka dots. Finally, I painted X's and O's on my thumb.

Originally, I used flocking powder for the accent nail, but decided against it. I like this version much better than what I had before. I think these are really cute and I'm pretty please with how the designs came out!

What do you think of these nails? Do you dislike Valentines Day?

Thanks for reading!

Sinful Colors - Midnight Blue

Hello everyone!

Today I'll be showing you Midnight Blue by Sinful Colors. I've actually had this polish for a few years now, and I remembered that I've actually worn it once. I actually didn't like it at first, but now I'm on the fence about this polish. I'll explain in a bit.

Midnight Blue is a dark metallic blue. This is two coats with a top coat. Sinful Colors retails for $1.99 in various stores.

As far as application and formula, I had no problems with this polish this time. I remember the last time I tried it out, I had a hard time getting the application right. I guess practice makes perfect.

If applied carefully, you could get away with one coat. I would recommend two just because I could still see my nail through the first coat.  

The only thing bothering me is the color, which I believe is why I never bothered to pick up the polish again in the first place. Don't get me wrong, the color is absolutely gorgeous. But, I feel like this color is way too bold on me. It just doesn't seem right on my nails. I could definitely use this in nail art, but not by itself. 

Overall, I still don't like this polish (well, color wise). It's too bold for me. If you're looking for a nice bold blue, this is definitely your polish. I wish I loved it, but sadly I don't.

What do you think of this polish? Do you like bold colors?

Thanks for reading! 

Hearts in a Row

Hello everyone!

I have another Valentine's Day themed design to show you today! Before I used to hate Valentines Day (still kind of do lol) but I've been having fun coming up with Valentines Day designs lately. This is a simple and cute design that I came up with today after one of my designs failed. Let's get to the design!

For this design, I applied two coats of Wet n Wild's I Red a Good Book (my favorite red polish right now!) as my base color.

With a dotting tool, I made three hearts going diagonal on the nail with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Finally, I sealed my design with a top coat.

I love how simplistic this design is. It's really cute.  I wish I had used a different color than white because of the major glare on the photos, but I'm happy with it.

What do you think of this "Hearts in a Row" design?

Thanks for reading! 

Rainbow Colorblock Nails

Hey everyone!

I've been into bright colors lately because I'm still a little down. I originally wanted to do rainbow stripes, but it's been done so many times by others. I came up with these colorblock nails instead. I wanted to keep the stripe element, but also make them different. They're pretty simple to do (a little time consuming though) and you can use any amount of colors that you want. Let's get to the design!

For this design, I started off with a white base using Sinful Colors Snow Me White. To make the colors have an even amount of space, I made a straight line  in the middle of the nail using Sinful Colors Innocent and Endless Blue.

Next, I made another line using the same colors at the bottom of the nail side by side. Building up the colors, I repeated the same steps for the green and blue for the other colors. The colors I used are Wet n Wild's I Red a Good Book, Sally Hansen's Sunkissed, Sinful Colors Let's Meet, Sinful Colors Amethyst, Sinful Colors Dream On, and Sinful Colors Cream Pink.  

I freehanded this design with a detail brush, but you can also do this with a striper polish or brush.

I love how cool this design came out. If I look at it far away, it kind of looks like an optical illusion. I want to do it with more colors in the future.

What do you think of this design? Have you done colorblock nails before?

Thanks for reading!

Sinful Colors - Innocent

Hello everyone!

If you follow me on Instagram, I said that my internet was being really dumb, but now it's back on! I'm hoping that it doesn't cut off again, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed lol.

I have a swatch of Sinful Colors Innocent for you all today. I wanted a bright color to cheer me up since I've kind of been down lately. This color definitely cheered me up, especially with my new nail shape. My nails are round again! I forgot how much they look good rounded. But anyways, onto the swatches!

Sinful Colors Innocent is a lime green polish. In some lights, it looks like a yellowish green. This is two coats with a top coat. I received this polish as a gift, but Sinful Color polishes run for $1.99 at various stores.

I really had no problems with the application and formula. I did use two coats of base coat instead of one because it is a green polish, and green polishes are known to usually stain nails. Other than that, this was easy to work with.

I actually really love the color of this polish. I usually don't like to use greens except for nail art, but I love it on my nails. This polish might be on my top 10 list of my Sinful Colors polishes.

I really wanted to do some nail art, so I did some simple stripes down the middle of my nail using Sinful Colors Endless Blue. With a detail brush, I outlined the blue stripes with white acrylic pant. Finally, I sealed my design with a top coat.

This was such a simple design to do. I wanted to add more inside the blue stripe, but my design didn't look good lol. I'll settle with this for now though. It reminds me of football for some reason though. Is this a team's colors by any chance? 

Overall, I'm loving Innocent. It's so easy to work with and it looks great by itself or in nail art! I would recommend buying this polish for your collection if you're looking for an inexpensive lime green.

What do you think of this polish? 

Thanks for reading!