TARDIS Blue Nails

Hey There!

I have quite the geeky side and a major reason for that side is because I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan. I mean I am a BIG, BIG, BIG Doctor Who fan. For instance, last weekend was the series opener and I DARED anyone to call me, text me, or even look at me for the approximately 2 hours it was on.

And people respected my wish.

That tells you that they understand my obsession or they understand my crazy and have no desire to deal with it. Either way, no one called, texted or looked at me from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. ET. And I watched The Doctor.

And I did so with blue toe nails.

If you have no idea why I would do this, take a minute and read what Tardis Blue is. Or, if you just don't have the time, TARDIS is what The Doctor travels in (think spaceship, in the form of an English police box). There is a whole world of Whovians (people that are BIG Doctor Who fans) that will have toe nails and finger nails painted for the show. I just happen to be one of them.

 

Orly's Macabre Masquerade & Sinful Colors Break Away 

I have several blue nail polishes but a few weeks ago I had to weed out the ones that weren't the perfect shade of pantone 2955C (TARDIS blue). Unfortunately, I don't own polish that is that shade, but I came close enough (in my mind). Here are the losers (put such pretty blues) and the winner (made prettier by the fact that it's the closest and I think other Whovians would approve).

First, let me have a geeky moment and say, many of the tardis blue polishes aren't fantastical or anything. They are simply pantone 2955c blue. BUT, polishes that fall into Who fanfare are sparkly and dazzling and have sparkles and shapes in them and that makes them "tardis blue-like" -- which in many parts of Who-world, makes them ok.

Ok, back from that. Any who (LOL - I'm a laughing my butt off at that joke) here's what I had to choose from.

Orly's Macabre Masquerade is a sparkly blue that glitters and shines and makes it a great "tardis blue-like" color. The TARDIS doesn't shimmer but this is so pretty, it's ok.

Sinful Colors Break Away is such a rich denim blue. It is sooo pretty. It's perfect for the fall. It's almost TARDIS blue but it's not quite there.

KleanColor in Leap of Grape

KleanColor in Leap of Grape is the closest that I have to TARDIS blue. It's what I wore on my toes for  the Doctor Who series premiere weekend. It's a beautiful blue that I think The Doctor would be proud of.

Wet n Wild in Blue Visionary is very un TARDIS blue. It almost doesn't fit the "tardis blue-like" qualifications. It's a very pretty pearl blue but you'd never mistake it for a Doctor Who blue.

Sephora Formula X in Zing is pretty and just qualifies for "tardis blue-like". Because of the touch of warmth in the color, I can get away with it on my fingers. The other blues are too cool for my hands but remember, my toes are party toes and they get party colors!

 

Wet n Wild in Blue Visionary , Sephora Formula X in Zing & Revlon's I'm Electro blue

And last but not least is Revlon's I'm Electro blue. Very far from "tardis blue-like" but still very galactic in nature. Because of that, you won't get kicked off of the TARDIS for wearing it.

Those are the TARDIS-ish colors that I had to choose from (and the one that won). Hopefully you too have loved a show or something so much that you had to pay homage to it in polish or makeup. It takes fandom to another level!

Golden Summer

Hey there!

A good friend of mine told me that she wanted to try a gold nail polish on her nails for her summer trip. She likes to go to the beach and I guess the sand inspired her. She asked if I had a gold nail polish.

Do I have a gold nail polish? At last count, I had just over 200 nail polish colors. I know, I know -- that seems extreme. But, it's not. I've probably worn about half of them at least once and I've worn a quarter of them more than that (my toes get a lot of polish action).

Anywho, I rambled through my collection and oddly enough, I only came up with 4 gold nail polishes. With my complexion, I don't normally gravitate toward gold polish so I was kind surprised I had any. To be fair, one of them isn't a true gold and another one is an overlay color, so technically, I only have 2 gold nail polishes. That's not bad, right?

The first color is one of my favorite colors for my toes. It's Sally Hansen Xtreme Nail in Golden-I. No, I don't have that bottle of polish because that's the one my friend decided to use and I didn't take a picture of it first. I didn't tell you I was the smartest cookie in the jar. It's my favorite of the four because Sally Hansen Xtreme Nail Polish is an awesome formula. It's my go to polish each and every time. This color is perfect for my toesies.

The next color is a Maybelline Color Show polish in Gilded Rose. It's actually an overlay color. I've used it on my party nail several times. You can use it over any color and it looks beautiful. 1 coat is pretty for a small hint of gold and 2 coats makes you go ka-bam! I've never used 3 coats.

The third polish is one I've never used. No real reason. I just haven't. It's A Star Is Born by Color Secrets. I think I may have found this at a beauty supply store. It was probably a BOGO or buy-three-for-a-price or something. I don't know the brand and I've never used anything by them so I don't know how well it works. It looks pretty though.

And finally I have 1000 Volts by Revlon. It's a green based gold and looks really pretty as a party nail. It's also nice on the toes. I tried using it on all the nails once and immediately took it off. I wasn't impressed. Revlon polishes also wear well so I like to reach for them as well. This color probably doesn't get as much love as it should.

And so there you have it. If you decide that you need to match your toes with the sand, here are 4 really good choices. I never thought of matching my toes to the sand but I would jump at the chance to match them to cotton candy or ice cream. Maybe though, just maybe I'll follow in my friends footsteps and wear gold next week.

What do you think?

Nail Polish Change - Nail Treatment Week

I decided that this week I'd keep polish free and just treat my finger nails this week. I clipped them down, removing split and jagged ends, and then gave them a little treatment each night (and during the day Friday, Saturday and Sunday). But, don't fret. I did use polish on the toesies!!

So let's start with my finger nail treatment. I've been raving about my Sephora Formula X nail treatment. I did use it but then I picked up 2 new Revlon nail treatment products during my Super Spectacular CVS Spring Clearance Haul (I know. I'm so dramatic!). I picked up the Revlon Cuticle Softener and the Revlon Treat & Boost Nail Treatment. I only used each one twice so I can't really give a full review but so far I'm happy with my purchases. I'll check back in, in a few weeks and let you know.

And to seal the deal, as always, I used my Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Top Coat. Did you not drink the Kool-Aid yet? Are you not onboard the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry train? Then folks, my work here is not done! This is the most amazing discovery in nail polish history. I dare you to tell me anything better. Go ahead, I'll wait. That's what I thought. This stuff is amaze-balls. You need this in your life.

Oh! And on nights that I remember, I use my Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. I love this stuff. The smell is great and it really does moisturize my cuticles. I just keep forgetting to use it. And, yes it is right next to my bed! Maybe I should make my bed and put this tin on the pillow. Yeahhhhh, no. That's not going to happen. Oh well!

As far as the toesies, I decided to keep it all springy pink and use The Balm Cosmetics Hot Ticket nail polish in Don't Pink and Drive. Don't you love that color? I do. I think it looks darling with my little pink flippy flops. Now, full price for this polish is $10. I got mine during the 50% off sale so I only paid $5. Is it worth it? Let's see, shall we.

The formula is not the best. 1 coat was streaky and 2 coats only helped slightly. I can't tell you about the wear because it's on my toes (and I don't type or do housework with my toes) but I know that it isn't $10 lasting. I'd give it $3.99 lasting. So that means the other color that I purchased from The Bam will be a toes color too, unless I use an overlay of some sort on it.

So now that my fingernails are nice, hydrated and treated, I'll go back to polish this week. What color will I use? Since I'm running low on polish (HA! Had to laugh at my own self!!) I'll have to work really hard to figure something out. Maybe I'll go springy but maybe I'll go spicy because it's starting to get hot outside (just the way I like it).

You'll have to wait until next Monday to find out!!

Or you can cheat and check out Instagram. 

Nail Polish Change - Wet n Wild Megalast in Through The Grapevine & L.A. Colors Color Craze in Jewel Tone (and bonus color - Revlon Nail Enamel in Enchanting)

DoNOT talk about my crappy polish skills! I make up for it with my witty charm!

I don't know when this party nail craze is going to end but I'm going to be sad when it does!

This past week I wore purple in honor of my kiddo's prom dress. She got her nails done in purple so I did the same thing and used the same color for my party nail.

 

I know -- blurry as all get out. I wasn't drunk, I promise!

I've touted my love for the Wet n Wild Megalast nail polishes and because I discovered that Dollar General has a line exclusive to them (see, I'm late to the party, again!), you will be seeing lots of pretty colors from them. Their polishes wear well, stay chip free for most of the week and have that tapered brush that I have grown to love. This week, of course, was no exception. The color was beautiful and I plan to wear it again and again.

L.A. Colors nail polishes, on the other hand, are hit or miss. I've had some colors/formulations that I thought wore beautifully and others that didn't do the trick. Jewel Tone was more miss than hit and didn't really do what I wanted it to do, how I wanted it to do it.

When I create a party nail, I want to run the brush over it twice and be done. I'd like whatever sparkle, glitter, fuzz or confetti is going on inside the bottle, to flow seamlessly onto my nails. It took FOUR passes over the nail to get this sparkle on. That was a bit too much for me because it meant that my nail looked funky. You can't tell in the picture (or maybe you can) but I wasn't a fan of it. I like the sparkle result, mind you, just not what it took to get there. Especially since there are other polishes in my collection that will give me a pop of purple sparkle if I want. I would not buy this type of polish from L.A. Colors again.

Oh and you get a bonus cause I painted my toes! In keeping with the purple theme I used Revlon Nail Enamel in Enchanting. Very nice! I don't know if I'd use it on my nails but it is gorgeous on my tootsies. I can't really give you the deets on chipping and all that cause my toes don't type and cook and open packages and stuff so my toe nail polish lasts for weeks...until they grow. So I normally go 2 -3 weeks before painting them. But I wanted to show you the swatch cause it's purty!

And, just as I mentioned, I picked up a TON of new polish this past week. I can't even tell you how many Wet n Wild polishes I bought because it's embarrassing! No, not that I got them...that I didn't have them already! No one told me about the Dollar General exclusives! Sighhhhh. I made up for it though and you know what that means.

You're going to see a lot of WnW polishes! Get ready (But not next week. I'm doing something else next week).

Revlon Nail Enamel - Electric Chrome Collections

*Spiderman, Spiderman, 
Does whatever a spider can 
Spins a web, any size...

The entire time I was painting my nail wheel I was singing the Spiderman theme song. Cray-cray, I know but it's what I did.

I didn't think that I was going to purchase all of these polishes.  When I first saw the collection I decided to only pick up Spidey Sense and Electric Web. Those looked like safe nail colors. I did a swatch of both and loved them, so when I went back to my "Upscale Walgreens", I decided to add Gwen's Crush to my collection. I saw but left 1000 Volts in the store because I didn't think it was for me. And then, I spent an entire week waiting for Saturday so that I could travel back to my Walgreens and pick it up. I picked it up and decided that I needed I'm Electro as well. I didn't pick up Super Powered because it wasn't at my Walgreens but if I find it, yes sir, it's mine!

I think I made some good decisions. Do you see those colors? All of them are so pretty and vibrant. They all have a shimmer to them and a rich color. The one thing that kind of bothered me was that they dry, well,  not exactly matte, but not "wet". I like my polish to look shiny and this doesn't. It doesn't matter all that much though because I use the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Top Coat and it gives a shine.

Spidey Sense is my favorite with Gwen's Crush following close behind. These colors are more than just party nail colors. These nail polishes are party HAND colors!

I really like them and the Revlon formulation just adds to the joy. This is one collection that I had no problem paying full price for and if you have the opportunity to pick up one or two of them, I suggest you do so!

(*source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/)

Nail Polish Change - Wet n Wild Megalast in Candid Affair & Revlon Nail Enamel in Girly

Hey There!

Did you see when I posted my NOTD on my Instagram feed? I really liked this combo and I couldn't wait to share it with everyone. I was feeling very spring-like (even though it's cold and mostly rainy here in Atlanta). I used my Wet n Wild spring color and a Revlon "party nail" color.

I know it's supposed to just be an accent nail but my accent nails have been more along the lines of party nails. Don't you think that this week's accent color is reminiscent of colorful confetti? Me too. It's the Revlon Nail Enamel in Girly. It's a good brand of polish that I've purchased for years. The drugstore retail for this polish is $4.99 but you know to always buy BOGO 1/2 off and/or use a coupon. I can't remember what I did but I'm sure I didn't pay full price.

The other 8 fingers enjoyed Wet n Wild Megalast Salon Nail Color in Candid Affair all week. It's such a pretty sparkling lilac color. I really liked it and of course, I like the WnW formula and brush. I used 2 heavy coats (not just a swipe) and didn't have any streaking. My nails lasted quite a long time before chipping. I only paid about a dollar and change after a BOGO 1/2 off and a coupon.

I liked both colors a lot and plan on adding them to my spring time rotation.

What are you wearing this spring? Are you into the pastels or the nudes?

Monthly Nail Polish Review - January

Hey there.

I know that I've already given you a first impression (and a first look) of most of the nail (and toe) colors that I've worn this month. Now it's time to see how they did in the 6 day challenge. Well, not challenge but you know. I wore them for about 6 days to see if there were any significant chips or problems with the formula or if the color wasn't that great or if it took hours to remove or if it turned my nails black after use...you get the picture.

You are in luck! This month I've tried some really nice polishes and that means I have new brands to add to my collection. This month I wore Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Color in 200 Bare Naked, China Glaze in 1181 Glitz'n pieces, L'Oreal Nail Color in 320 Marvelous, Kleancolor Nail Lacquer in 310 3D duochrome, Wet n Wild Fastdry Nail Color in 237C Gray's Anatomy and Revlon Nail Enamel in 330 Naughty.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Color in 200 Bare Naked scared me at first. Not the color, the nice peach color was actually very pretty but you can't go wrong with a soft nude/peach color. The brush scared me. It's a thick, brush with a tapered end. Maybe that shows I've been buying cheap polish too long. I thought that the brush would give me waaaaay too much polish. It actually did the opposite. The tapered end meant I got a more precise stroke of color and probably used less polish. The staying power wasn't fantabulous but I'm not sure I was expecting more than I got. There were two chips within 4 days but I spend my days typing and using my hands a lot so that wasn't bad. Overall, I'd purchase another color from this line and give it a whirl.

I used China Glaze in 1181 Glitz'n pieces as an accent nail color over my Rimmel Bare Naked color. It was different for me but a nice different. It was really pretty over the Bare Naked but next time, I'll use a different color. The Bare Naked was a warm color and Glitz'n pieces probably needed to go over a cooler color. The staying power was terrific and I didn't have much trouble taking the color off. I had to do the 'cotton pad on the nail for 10 minutes' trick but I do that with normal polish anyway.

I loved L'Oreal Nail Color in 320 Marvelous. I've only been wearing it for 5 days but there don't appear to be any major chips. The color is a warm, rich cocoa brown that looks really good against my complexion. It also has the tapered brush that I'm getting use to. I plan on keeping this in the rotation. Of all the polishes I wore this month, this is the clear winner! Love it!!

I had a New Years Eve party that I went to and I need a metallic pale purple polish. I had two colors in my collection, Kleancolor Nail Lacquer in 310 3D duochrome and Wet n Wild Fastdry Nail Color in 237C Gray's Anatomy. I used the duochrome purple and then added a coat of the Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy on top. So pretty. Really pretty. I'd have picture for you but...it was on my tootsies. Not sure that anyone wants to see that!

And last (and liked least) I used Revlon Nail Enamel in 330 Naughty on my tootsies. They aren't a stranger to darker colors; purples, browns, greens, etc. I've also used the Revlon Nail Enamel brand before and like it. I wasn't fond of this color though. Even thought it was a dark purple, it was a flat color that left much to be desired. Polish lasts on my toes for about 2 weeks so the wear is fine I just didn't like the color. I think I'll give it to the kiddo. She liked it.

So there you have it. The best dressed nails in town belonged to me! And the toes with the flattest purple every created belonged to me.

You can't win them all I guess.