Pretty and Polished Martian Salad

First I just have to say its my BIRTHDAY!!! Sorry, I love birthdays and seeing how I don't own Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, a holographic nail polish will do. Pretty and Polished Martian Salad is a bright kelly green, holographic nail polish. It went on smoothly with full coverage in three coats. I was a little nervous because there was some bubble after doing the second and third coat but disappeared shortly after applying the topcoat which was done after these pictures were taken. Let me just say I love this shade of green alone. It is a nice bright "grassy" green that makes me think of shamrocks and St. Patricks Day. I think I know what polish I will be wearing then! Anyways, It has some green microglitter in it as well. When you are not in the sunlight it looks like a shimmery green, but in direct sunlight the holographic beauty comes out in full force. The holo-rainbow is beautiful! This can be purchased on etsy in the Pretty and Polished store http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrettyandPolished. Tell me what do you think. Is it out of this world?? Sorry, couldn't help but be a little corny.

Forgive the dry skin, I was out and about trying to get some sunlight and I had no lotion. Ugh, hideous!

 This is one coat.

 I have four more polishes from Pretty and Polished and will be posting those reviews soon!
This was purchased by me for review.

Wet N Wild Believe Me, It's Real

Wet N Wild Believe Me, It's Real a blue glitter with purple hexagon glitter in a clear base from the 2011 Color Icon Series. It took three coats for full opacity. Now as beautiful as this glitter is, you have to use a topcoat! It has a weird matte (not in a good way) look to it, like you painted your nail with glue and dipped it in glitter sort of thing. Now having said that, with a topcoat, this stuff is beautiful. It will add so much more depth, sparkle, and shine to your manicure you will be distracted so be careful.

Now this was before any topcoat was added. It had a nice bling but wasn't quite there yet.

 This is one coat so I could show you opacity.

Still no topcoat so wait for it ...

 BAM! Look at the difference.

Tell me it doesn't look better with a topcoat. I used 1 coat of Seche Vite quick dry topcoat. I think the purple hexagon glitter gives, what would be a basic bright blue glitter, that added umph!

This polish was purchased by me.

OPI Not Like the Movies

OPI Not Like the Movies is from the 2011 Katy Perry Collection. This is a purple/green/silver duochrome frost that goes on a little sheer. This color even has a small amount of silver microglitter. The swatches took four coats so there would be no visible nail line. It went on a little streaky for me but it is definitely a cool color besides, I love Katy Perry.

Sorry about the blurry close up, but it was the only way to show you the green in the duochrome shift.

This polish was purchased by me.

Essie Meet Me at Sunset

Essie Meet Me at Sunset is a beautiful bright orange creme that dries almost to a jelly finish. It was a dream to apply with only two coats and no top coat. I almost didn't want to take it off, but I was in the middle of a swatching session. I can't wait to wear this color in the summer. Meet Me at Sunset came from Essie's 2011 Summer Collection.

 The bottom picture is the actual color but I thought you all might appreciate the close up to see the jelly finish.

This product was purchased by me.

Speciallita HITS Ares

Speciallita HITS Ares is a Brazilian holographic nail polish from their No Olimpio collection. This would be a stunning red even if it wasn't holographic. It applied easily with full coverage in two coats. The images are three coats for swatching purposes. I have received a ton of compliments on this color. It looks beautiful in both direct sunlight and indoors. Of course, indoors you will only get a weak holographic effect in certain lighting. I don't know why, but this color makes me think of Candy Apples.

Yummy!

Click on the images for bigger pictures.

All of these pictures were taken inside.

Look at the rainbow. :)

Closeup!

Isn't this color delicious! There is no top coat used in these images. When I wear this as a manicure I do use a top coat and it does not affect the holographic effect. This polish was purchased online from the wonderful Leah Ann at Llarowe. She keeps my holographic addiction satisfied!

Orly Nail Rescue

To fix my crack (ha ha ha), I tried out Orly Nail Rescue. It was a toss up between trying the "silk wrap," which seemed a little intimidating, or this product. It looked user friendly and came with everything I needed.

When I came home from my shopping trip I decided to see if anyone had any tips or tricks before I seriously screwed up my nail any further. Makeup Alley had a few reviews with some advice that I am glad I took. The instructions tell you to have a clean nail, brush on the nail glue to the entire nail bed, and quickly dip your entire nail into the nail repair powder. First, let me address that the advice given on Makeup Alley by reviewers was to only apply the glue and powder to the affected area. I am glad I did because the step after application is buffing and I can only imagine how difficult and long that would have been to smooth down an entire nail!

Continuing on, you are to use their buffing square to even out the repaired nail. Once completely even, your nail is good to go. They do recommend using a ridge filler base coat until the repaired nail has grown out. So, back to how I did it. The buffing square that is provided doesn't seem to be coarse enough to smooth out the repair without taking hours so I used one of my buffing files to do the job faster. You need to be very careful when filing the repair down that you don't go too far and start filing down your actual nail. While being extremely careful, I buffed my nail down to as smooth as I felt safe doing without damaging my actual nail and I must say it feels great. I can feel that my actual nail is stronger and no longer trying to separate! The area of repair is only noticeable if you get your eye directly on the nail and know where to look when covered with nail polish.

The only possible problem is the repair is white, so sheer nail polish will still show the repair. I have had several colors over the repair site and it has not stained it nor has any of the repair dissolved due to my almost constant use of nail polish remover. I can definitely say this will remain a permanent fixture in my nail care collection!    

This product was purchased by me at Sally Beauty Supply.

Color Club Fashion Addict

I absolutely LOVE Fashion Addict from Color Club. This was my "gateway" holographic polish. Since then I have been addicted. You can ask my husband, who isn't too thrilled about it. Anyways, These pictures took three coats of polish, but I probably could have gotten away with two thick coats. It has a good drying time and dries to a nice gloss. Indoors you can sometimes see the holographic shimmer, otherwise it will look like a light purple to lavender shimmer nail polish. To see it in its full glory, you need to go outside in direct sunlight. It will dazzle you. Now, don't expect this to be a true linear holographic nail polish like Speciallita HITS, Nfu-Oh, or Glitter Gals. The holographic effect is more dispersed. The polish was perfect consistency and I had no issues with it being streaky. So now you have seen what started it all, just a innocent looking little bottle of awesome! What do you think?

(This polish was purchased by me.)

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Check It Out

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Check It Out. This was my first experience using nail polish strips. I think it went fairly well. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. This is, by far, the coolest my manicure has ever looked! I have not had the joy of trying out a Konad stamping system yet, so this was this closest I could get for now. It took roughly 15-20 min from package being opened to finished product. This was partially because I messed up once and had to take off some of the polish. Thank goodness it was at the beginning of the application. I would definitely use a product like this again, especially with this dramatic of an effect. Tell me what you think.

Here it is, still pristine in the box.

Here is what it looks like outside of the box.

I still can't get over how cool this mani looks!

Close up.

How has everyone else's experience been using these types of products?

(This product was purchased by me.)




**** UPDATE****
This polish strip was difficult to get off. The colors come off in layers and were a little "gummy." I had no base coat, but it did not stain my nail. I got a TON of compliments on this manicure. It even helped my college football team win the BCS National Championship. Roll Tide!! (Let me believe it helped, okay.)

Orly Rage

Here we go...

Orly Rage is a softer rose gold metallic foil. It comes from the Foil FX Collection. This was three thin coats for full coverage with a Revlon fast drying topcoat. The topcoat wasn't necessary for shine but I was impatient and needed to go to sleep because I had to work the next day. Application was fairly easy, but brushstrokes are noticeable. This is the only color I have from this collection because I thought it would best suit my skin tone. Overall, I was really happy with this polish. I've always wanted metallic looking nails. I now need to find a good chrome! Any suggestions?

I don't think the pic's turned out too bad if I don't say so myself! :)


(This polish was purchased by me.)

Getting Started

Hello everyone. I recently decided to share my love of all things beauty related in a weekly blog. I will be featuring skincare, makeup, nail polish, etc. I have always made it a point before purchasing anything, to thoroughly research how others have liked it, what the professionals are saying, and just general ratings on different websites. I think it is time I returned the favor and started doing reviews of my own. I have always wanted to see reviews that address my concerns with products and now I have a voice to do it with! I can't wait to help others like so many others have helped me. Please feel free to send me questions or post comments on the reviews I post. I will do my best to answer them as completely as possible. Please keep in mind that these reviews are completely my personal opinion and I am in no way an expert, so please use your own judgment before using any new products. Well, here's to an exciting new year. Wish me luck!

Kim <3