OPI - Push and Shove Swatch & Review

IlikednodoubtwhenIwasyoungerandIkindoflikedthatbananassongbutI'mprettydisinterestedingwenstefanigenerallyspeaking.

Hey, Push and Shove was on sale at Sally Beauty for half off! And I almost bought it at Ulta for zero off! Bullet dodged 4 sho.

Do you remember that Maybelline Mirror Image nail polish set from the 90s? Or was it the early 2000s? Well, this is pretty much that.

Push and Shove is a reflective chrome polish that is sold with a mini base coat called Lay Down That Base that essentially smooths out the nail's surface since the polish highlights every little teeny tiny flaw on the nail. It works all right but I buffed my nails prior to application for full mirror-ocity and you can still see a bit of wonk on my ring and pinkie fingers. I tried, okay? Geez.

Shown below is one thin layer of Lay Down That Base (per instructions) with two coats of Push and Shove (also per instructions) without topcoat.

I really like this polish. It wears awfully (my tips are chipped and I just put it on five hours ago. To be fair, OPI does state that it's only a one-day kind of deal. Also to be fair I did a crap ton of dishes in those five hours, so I mean) but it looks real neat. The formula is nice and it's pretty fast drying -- note that immediately after application it looks kind of like a brushstrokey nightmare but the brushstrokes diminish once dry. Hooray!

Also it gives me robot fingers kind of! Anything that gives me robot fingers is all right in my book, you know?

Finger Paints - Chromatic Creation Swatch & Review

Visited my Sally Beauty yesterday to take advantage of the 2-for-1 sale on Finger Paints nail polish. In addition to Chromatic Creation, I got one of their new textures, Symmetrical Symphony and a gorgeous red glass fleck I hadn't noticed before. I really like Finger Paints' rebranding-- the bottle font before was just so, I dunno, wacky.

Wacky, she says.

By the way, I don't love chrome polish. I'm pretty interested in OPI - Push and Shove but I'm pretty excited for the day when polish can be formulated to have a legitimate mirror finish. Chromes just fall a little flat to me. Metallics, in general, just aren't my thing.

That being said... Chromatic Creation is a silver chrome with barely-there linear holo. Neat that Finger Paints tried jumping on board the holo train but I wish it had more of an impact. I didn't, uh, use a base coat for this swatch so you can see the true effery that is the state of my poor abused nails. I have every intention on getting Duri Rejuvicote or Nail Envy, really.

Chromatic Creation built to opacity in three thin coats (though I'm sure two would probably be acceptable) and is shown below without topcoat.

I'd like to note that I tried every available light source around me to bring the holo out and this was the strongest I could get it (my trusty OttLite who I swear does not endorse me in any way). This is how it looked even in direct sunlight, in my camera's flash... even in the awful kitchen light that I have dubbed The Holo Whisperer.

If you're looking for a decent, bright silver metallic/chrome, this isn't a bad option. Just don't get it looking for dem rainbowz because the chrome is definitely more of what this guy is about.

Zoya - Jules Swatch & Review

Jules was one of like 18 polishes I got from the first Pinterest board sale I ever bought from. That was so awesome.

Anyway, Jules here is this greige base with loads of gold and silver shimmer. Zoya does these kinds of polishes so well. A little watery but it built well enough in three thin coats. Essie G2G on le top.

Jules is one of those neutrals that had a nice added oomph, like skin-tone polishes that have, say, pink shimmer. Definitely one of my faves.

First-time Dusty Hunting Success

So, okay, I'm brand-new to the polish world. Like, I've always liked painting my nails but I had no, you know, technique. I didn't know you weren't supposed to paint all the way down to the cuticle, or what even to do WITH the cuticle. Wtf is base coat? Top coat? Plus I had bitten my nails since I can remember. Nervous habit. Soooo bad. Basically, I had chippy, streaky, nubby little rainbow bits on the ends of my fingers.

THAT BEING SAID, I still don't know for SURE what's, you know, legitimately rare and whatnot these days. I didn't even know nail polish could be frigging collectible until like two months ago. I don't claim to be any kind of nail polish aficionado, but from what I've read on various blogs (from googling things like "how to dusty hunt" and "htf nail polish" like a true champion) I done good.

Behold:

L to R: Blue Moon Lagoon, LOL, DV8, Sexagon (real subtle, CG)

The first strip mall salon I went into had two ladies working, one being the store owner. I asked if she sold polish and she showed me two displays; one containing OPI, one containing China Glaze. I immediately recognized the silver caps as being potentially awesome. I wanted polishes specifically from the OMG collection but I figured since it came out in 2008 I would likely have to do some pretty hardcore searching. Well, the first bottle I picked up was DV8. I nervously looked at the names of other silver-capped bottles and quickly, without remembering any of them, paid for a new bottle of DV8 ($7, btw) and left, giddy.

I got home and did some research. I started writing down the names of every htf nail polish I liked and then, armed with a bit more info, went back to that glorious salon and picked up the other three. That was the last bottle of Sexagon and it's a little over halfway full so she only charged me $3. LOL was also $7. BML was $8. The lighting wasn't the best so I almost didn't even look at the label on that one as it appeared to be a fairly regular baby blue shimmer, but once I did my heart did a little back flip. Prior to this mini-haul, the only holo polish I owned was Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Diamond from like a hundred years ago and the bottle's almost empty, tears.

Aaaaanyway, I saw a couple of other colors I intend on picking up (Parlez-Vous OPI being one, and likely the rest of whatever she has of the OMG and Kaleidoscope collections) but I need to stagger my purchases so everybody that knows me doesn't, like, force me into addiction therapy.

So, as a newbie-supreme, did I do all right for my first (and second, kinda) dusty hunt? 

Fingr's Striping Tape Manicure Round 2

I used Salon Perfect Robin's Egg and Essie Go Overboard, Seche Vite blah blah blah.

Look at how long my nails are getting. Ha ha. But it's true... I keep catching the tips on, like, everything. I guarantee these mofos are all going to break off within a week of my getting them to a decent length. I'm a clumsy Clara. I somehow forget that it's not only because I bite them that I can't grow them out.

HEY SO I'M THE WORST BLOGGER EVER. I started this as a draft like a week ago, or like, however long it was since my last post. I've done like 239846203984 manicures since then and took pictures of exactly zero of them. Cool!

In other news: my little baby boy turned 1 two days ago! He likes to sit in my completely disorganized bin of polishes and crawl around absconding said polishes and I find them all over the house. Whatever, guys. Don't judge. (Guys... pfft. Me. I already know I'm a hot mess).

Today, also, is MY birthday! I'm about a million years old. No, okay, I'm 28 but that's CRAZY. I was 18 TEN YEARS AGO. Shoot my brains out.

I'm making a swatch book, thanks for asking. I'm using these Post-it page marker thingers and I'll probably never get around to taking any pictures or any of that because of that being an awful blogger thing.