Um, hi, hello

 Hey everyone (if anyone still sees this?)

I'm going to post again. But I'm not watermarking anymore because I simply don't have the time to edit these pictures. They're iPhone photos and unedited, and I'm sorry if that's not as good as before, but it's the best I've got.

Anyway, this is Lippmann's I Know What Boys Like with Essie's As Gold as it Gets.

The manicure matched my debit card, which made me laugh way more than it should've.

Yum. Assorted Sinful Colors!

The picture on Island Coral looks weird, but that was all in an effort to get the darn color of the polish accurate. I think I succeeded.

Calypso is super gorgeous and I love it.

Sweet Tooth is a red-leaning light purple with a hint of shimmer and I love it for spring.

Overall, my pictures have weird lighting because all the colors were being difficult to photograph. Still, A+ for Sinful Colors, these polishes are great! 

Oldie but goodie

Lippmann's Across the Universe. MMMMMMM. I love this polish. 

China Nails

This is Pure Ice Draped in Satin with an Ulta polish (I don't remember the name, sorry!) stamped on top using my MASH plates. 

I really adore this combination.

Some products in this post were sent to me for review. 

Sation Dance with the Drummer

A super gorgeous, dusty navy blue. I love this. Sation got it right with this one (Dance with the Drummer, in case you didn't read the post title).

Then I put Sation Can Buy Me Love on top. There we go, look at that black glitter (!). It really makes it come alive, no?

Another Sation for you

'Can Buy Me Love' is impossible to photograph but actually really pretty. I didn't think I'd like it (I am not a bar glitter fan in the slightest), but the charming purple and blue combo won me over. It just looks super festive in a non-denominational kind of way! And yes, yes there is some black glitter in there. So pretty!

I wore it as one coat over a black creme polish.

Ulta Lust in Lace

This collection was super cool. Four dark vampy shimmers. Here's the breakdown:

Underneath it All (green)

Of Corset it Is! (brown/red)

Let Your Garter Down (blue)

Let it Slip (emerald)

A long time between posts

I know, I know, I haven't been posting regularly.

Well, I just want to say that I'm a senior in high school now (WUT?) and am pretty busy. If I don't check in for a bit, that's why.

Pure Ice sent me some awesome polishes right after Fourth of July and I got them way later (wohooo, vacation), but I'm posting them all now. I think they're still available at Walmart for a pretty cheap price.

There's silver glitter called Beware which I really liked. It was opaque to the eye in three coats, though macro disagrees (should've done a fourth, I suppose).

French Kiss is this incredible blue creme that took two coats. LOVE this one.

Draped in Satin is a frosty white. Yes, it is frosty, but it felt so elegant on. I surprisingly liked this a lot.

Show Stopper is a red crackle. I'm not super in love with crackle anymore, but playing with it was fun.

Speaking of playing, I threw the last nail look together in less than a half hour. Yup, patriotic nails can be *that* easy. No special brushes or anything, just the polish and the brush that is already with it.

Alpha Nail Polishes!

Alpha Nail, a polish company for men, sent me some of their nail pens and Clean Slate remover for review. Check their products out here, just don't do it at work!

The polishes come in a pen applicator, which is, I suppose, intended to look less feminine for their target audience. Honestly, I found it just made things more difficult, especially on Cocaine. I eventually got the hang of application, though, and the nails came out a little better looking. My method was pumping the pen for polish, dabbing that on a piece of paper, and then using the brush to put that on the nail. More complicated, yes, but also more uniform.

Now, as for the colors, these were pretty darn cool! Deep Ocean has this shimmer that's unbelievable and Burnin' Rubber is SO matte. Gasoline has a slight holographic effect. It's not a lot, but it's there. Cocaine, though, wasn't salvageable. I love how dirty and off-white it is, but the formula was too chunky for the unforgiving finish.

The remover Alpha Nail sent me is called "Clean Slate" and comes in a twist-off cylinder that contains the pre-moistened pads. It smells a little odd and feels a little greasy. They weren't my cup of tea, but my little sister now uses them and swears by them, saying she can get all the polish off her fingers and toes with just one wipe. They're acetone free.

Overall, I'm never super crazy about products being branded for one specific gender but I see what Alpha Nail is trying to do here. The polishes deliver cool "toughness" without looking too feminine, though they just as easily work on any girl.

These products were sent to me for review. I still have given my honest opinion of them.

Station Polishes!

I'm missing two of the six sent to me, Stirring Silver and an unnamed (or, at least, nameless due to label adhesive issues) red jelly with red glitter. I need to swatch these again as it appears that I saved them to the wrong folder and thus lost them. D'oh!

One & Only Orange is AWESOME. My favorite of the group. An almost neon jelly orange with an easy formula and a good shine when dry. This is already on my toes.

Lemon Pearl is a pretty pale yellow with silver shimmer. I like but don't love this. The formula rocks, though. I could see some darker toned gals rocking this color.

This one was impossible to photograph! Miss McTeal is a teal (duh) with a good dose of blue shimmer. Very murky/moody/pretty.

Power to the Purple is a purple, of course. It practically broke my camera, hence the blurry photo. Anyway, it's a red toned purple with gold and red shimmer. Easy application, if I remember correctly. 

I liked most all of these. Lemon Pearl didn't look super terrific on me, but I'm going to give it another shot when I'm a little tanner. Of the six, One & Only Orange is the most glaringly obvious necessity. Power to the Purple looks dupe-y for $OPI Hell to the No, which I'll compare soon enough. 

I did get these for review, but I stated my opinion on each polish honestly and without any bias.

Mash Stamping Plates!

I got 25 Mash (http://www.mashnails.com/) image plates in the mail recently and so far I'm over the moon with 'em. They work like a charm, the images are unique and fun, and there's so many to choose from. They all come individually wrapped and are each backed with some paper, just like Konad. Something to note: they're covered in a thin blue plastic film. You gotta peel that off before you can stamp!

Here's where you can pick these pretties up for an inexpensive $12.99, just about $.50 a plate: (CLICK ME!) Mash 26-50 is the set!

And here's some on the nail shots. This is Sally Hansen Presto Pewter stamped over Sally Hansen Blue-Away

And here's some quick comparisons to Konad. The images with the stamped "47" (pinkie and middle) are Mash. The other two are similar Konad designs I had in my stash. Of the two designs, Konad's houndstooth works better for me though I love Mash's abstract lines MUCH more.

Overall, I adore this set. It's inexpensive and has some really, really cute designs. I do think that all the individual packaging amounts to a lot of waste, and the Oregonian in me cringes at that thought, but that's just about the only negative I have.

I know this is a rave review, but that was not influenced in any way by the company's sending me these for review. I gave my honest opinion, just as I always endeavor to do.