Essie Action In Action

Well, hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! I'm just chilling at home watching "The Hunger Games" and having a nice drink with the hubby:) doesn't happen very often! Yet, I still can't resist the tempatation to blog! Here's why:
So, I had my little quiz last night and one of my winners asked for Essie Action.  I told her that I had the polish, but had tried to wear it once and it was so difficult and streaky that I gave up and almost threw it away. It has been sitting on my shelf until she now. So, I did a little googling reviews of Action...turns out it is a difficult polish but very pretty. So, I had to give it another try and some attention. This is what I got:

3 coats, no topcoat, direct sunlight

I have to say this has been the most difficult Essie polish I've ever "worked with". The brush didn't want to work with me, but I messed with it and it started to cooperate. Then the polish itself...well, I had to add a steel ball to the mixture and it seemed to help the streakiness. First, I have to say that in the bottle this color looks like a pastel, but there's nothing light about Action. This collection Poppi Razzi Summer 2012 for Essie brings 4 "neons" that have a semi-matte finish, which you can clearly see above. I didn't buy any of the other colors in this collections, but from what I read about the other colors, only one besides Action, is the only other polish that presents itself like a true neon.

Well, I started off with Orly Bonder, hoping this would help the polish stick to my nails. This is a very thin polish and is streaky and dries quickly. So, this is a tricky polish and needs precision and patience. It took 3 coats to get the polish a more opaque look. This is with no top coat, simply b/c I just loved the satin look this polish naturally gives! (again, I can't make my pictures bigger...what up Google??)

Next, I added a thin coat of Seche Vite (unlike my usual thick coat of goopy Seche).  The gloss added to the neon just make it sparkle...well, see for yourself:

Here it is with topcoat in the shade:

So, as with all neons, I wanted to try a white "undie" color, Circus Reverso, to see if it was any brighter. I didn't find that that it is, but I only applied 2 coats of Action instead of 3. But, here we are with no topcoat:

And in the shade, white undie, 2 coats, no topcoat:

Lastly with Seche Vite:

And in the shade:

So, my conclusion is that is a difficult polish, but if you have the patience and right tools, this can be a beautiful manicure! I love neons and this definitely is one of my favorites for the summer. I'm glad that Iris asked for this polish, because I don't know that I would have given it a second thought! Hope you found this helpful! Let me know what you think. And if you own this polish, how did it work out for you?

Polishing with the Un-Named

Hey all you polish girlies! As I was looking at all my polishes I came across this polish that I got a while back called "Designers Choice" that I got for 99 cents. It's such a pretty copper/yellow duochrome foil that I had to was just sitting on my shelf calling my name.  I started out with Orly Bonder then applied 3 coats of this cheap polish.  I will say that the saying "you get what you pay for" definitely applies to this polish...

Here's what it looks like in regular light- kind of a coppery foil with a hint of reddish yellow

It's thin and I had to put the top back on and shake it up a few times during application to keep it from I found that it was thin then it would be really clumpy- especially at the end of my nail where it would gather and just clump up and I would have to wipe it off. I just kept in mind that I paid less than one dollar for it, so...

In direct sunlight- has a yellow foil duochrome

Lastly, I applied Seche Vite top coat, as always, as this stuff works miracles to seal off the color! I just got this bottle a few weeks ago and it's already almost half gone! But it's only $6 at Wal-Mart and Sally's. All in all, it was worth my $1 and I will probably use this to make Frankens and such. I am happy with the results I got and wish it had a name, but alas, I suppose I will give it a name...

Here is the straight cooper foil color in the sunlight

Here it has a green tint to it

Here's a clear view of the duochrome colors- red, orange, gold,
green, and yellow

We'll call this one DC (Designers Choice) Golden Girlies...

Stamping With ULTA For Bitten and RA-104

Wow, this has been a long week! I have been dying to swatch and photograph, but the weather has been horrible all week! Storms Thursday through Saturday afternoon. I don't mind swatching inside, but my camera seems to work best on macro when I'm outside without the flash, so I don't argue with it.  Doesn't matter how awesome my nails look, if I can't get a good pic, then I can't share :(

So, last this past week I ordered a lot of goodies from Amazon that I've been picking out for a while now- Red Angel Plates, MASH dotting tools (as shown below), MASH plate holder, some Konad special polishes, nail art rhinestones and tweezers for them, Konad plate, and a MASH crystal/glass file, and finally some empty polish bottles so I can make Frankens! So excited!! I got half of my stuff, but still waiting for the rest. I love getting packages! Oh, and I ordered some Bootie Babe polishes! (will post when I get those!)

I was really inspired and wanted to use just about everything I got all at the same time, but it's not as easy for me as it looks.  I was so excited and started out with a look I thought would look great, but it turned out crappy, so waited until this morning to try something else.

I started off with Color Club Stuck On You basecoat, then two coats of ULTA For Bitten, which is a beautiful deep red/purple/gold duochrome, shimmer that I have bought a few weeks ago, but haven't used yet. I think I will try this again soon without stamping, which kind of hides its beauty.

ULTA For Bitten

I then used my new Red Angel stamps, which I found I like a lot more than the Bundle Monster plates I have, as they are larger- BM has 6 on one plate while RA has 4 and RA was a bit cheaper. The Nailasaurus made put all the plates side by side with their size in this review. I think they only have that one set, though, so I'll be watching to see when they make more! As shown to the right, I used the stamp highlighted on plate RA-104. I used Konad Special Polish in White, which  I understand aren't necessary to use, but I wanted to see for myself. Since I've only used it this once and I haven't been stamping for long, I don't know how much my opinon counts, but I like the special polishes...this is why:

1. As shown on the left, the brush is shorter than regular brushes (compared to Sinful Colors brush), which makes painting the stamp faster and easier so polish doesn't drip.

2. All the colors are very opaque, since they are made for stamping, you don't have to spend time testing polishes, which I will still do...

3. The stamp picks up the polish very easily, without hardly any pressure picking up and applying to the nail.

4. The price of the polish runs anywhere from $3 to $6 a bottle...yes, they are simply for stamping, but in my opinon it's worth it, especially when using white and black, since I will probably use them the most.

5. They dry very quickly and I can still use a regular top coat after a short time.

I finished it up with 2 coats of Seche Vite topcoat.  I tried to get different angles to show the polish in different light, although I didn't have much light to work with as it was overcast for like the 20th day in a row...I just couldn't wait to swatch. I do still need some work as far as my stamping, but I suppose everyone has to start somewhere.  I don't really know how crazy I am about the white over this color, but I went with it, but might try again with a darker color for stamping.
I am excited to get the rest of my loot in, so I will try to get another post or two in this week.

And, to end today, here's my little helper that loves to grab my polish and drop it in the trash thinking he's helping me pick up:)

Stamping with BM20

Hey all you polish lovers! Today I thought I would try some stamping. I got some Bundle Monster plates a few weeks ago, but haven't had the patience to practice.  Because of the crappy, overcast weather today I didn't plan on taking any pictures, but I think my look turned out okay and the sun came out for about 5 minutes and I got a few pictures I thought I might share. 

I used Orly Bonder as a basecoat, then I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen
 Commander in Chic, which is a light taupe opaque polish.   I then used China Glaze White Cap, which I am IN LOVE with and I think everyone should have in their stash if you don't already!

Since I don't have any special Konad polish to use for the stamping I used the most opaque, one-coater polish I thought I had on plate BM20, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Plum LuckThen I topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry top coat. I think it turned out alright, but still need some practice- I have trouble getting my whole nail covered at one time. So, practice, practice, practice for me!