The Best of You: Interview at Sweet Sugar

Gwenn from Sweet Sugar is on vacation and is posting guest posts and interviews from other nail bloggers in her absence. I entered her interviews and ended up appearing on her blog! Thanks again Gwenn for featuring my little blog! :)

Here is the mani that I ended up submitting, my personal favorite best mani

Products used: OPI Black Onyx, Deborah Lippmann Flat Top, Konad m57, Seche Vite, Gelous (to stick on chains), OPI Nail Envy. Chains are from a random nail art stall at the night market. 

Click here to read my interview at Sweet Sugar!

Original post of this mani here

JENsations - Sticks n Stones over China Glaze - For Audrey

 

China Glaze - For Audrey (2 coats)

JENsations - Sticks n Stones (1 dabbed on coat) Etsy store here

Essie - Grow Stronger as base, 1 coat of Seche Vite on top

For Audrey applied flawlessly in 2 coats with absolutely no application issues! Sticks n Stones is another Indie polish very similar to the famous Connect the Dots by the now infamous Lynderella. It consists of black and white glitter in a variety of shapes: very small circles, small hexes, medium squares, bars, and large hexes. It required some dabbing in order to get good glitter coverage. The base is clear with some subtle shimmer, which you can see a bit in the macro shot. I had some trouble applying this polish. I kept getting way too much base on the nail when I was trying to dab on the glitter. Then when I would try to wipe away the excess base the glitter bits would move around with it. Some of the glitter also ended up with a kind of milky looking layer over it because it was covered in too much shimmer. I think maybe this is just me being OCD though I don't really think people would notice in real life. 

I also had issues with the large hexes staying down. Several of them were curled right after application, and over the course of the next few days, more them started lifting up. A few of them peeled off before I even took these pictures the next day. Most of the glitter pieces left a hole/crater looking thing behind when they fell off. I wouldn't really mind that much if the glitter just fell off, but it bugged me that the base color came off too so it was more noticeable. I don't know if this was to do with using Seche VIte or something with my application. On my right middle finger towards the tip a piece of glitter did fall off without leaving a hole in the polish (just a slight indent), but on my left thumb and right index the base color polish came off also. I did my nails on Saturday afternoon and these wear pictures below were taken on Thursday, so 5 days later. I was really happy that there is almost no tip wear and no chipping. The only visible "chips" are actually from the glitter peeling off and taking polish with it. If I could figure out how to get those pesky glitter bits to stay down I could easily leave this on for over a week I think. I'm considering buying JENsation's Shimmer FX polishes. If the formula is the same and doesn't have any chipping or tip wear without the glitter bits falling off, it would be the perfect polish to wear for an extended time!   

 

 

Hole left from glitter peeling off. The silver piece was actually a large black hex I tried to peel off when it was bugging me at work and it somehow split into layers and became silver. The silver layer was stuck down well though.

China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy

More color accurate picture. Sorry for the blurriness!

Glows under black light! Doesn't glow in the dark though

I was really surprised by how many people commented on and complimented these nails! I mean it is a beautiful color (and very bright and in your face) but I just wasn't expecting that many random people to take notice! Shown here is 4 coats with Seche Vite on top, Essie grow stronger as base coat. 

Formula wise this was easy to spread and control but was a bit thick and not very pigmented. I needed 4 coats to fully cover my nails without any visible nail line. In the black light picture you can see that it does look streaky/lumpy although it isn't noticeable in normal light. I'm not sure if I just have a bad bottle or maybe didn't mix it well enough before use (I rolled it between my hands a bit but didn't shake it because I was scared of getting bubbles). My coworker always wears this on her toes and said she only uses 2 coats. I did a quick search to see how many coats other nail bloggers used. Pointless cafe used 2 coats, while Rebecca likes nails, All Lacquered Up, Temptalia, and Swatch and Learn all used 3 coats. Since this is neon polish it dries extremely fast which is always nice. It dries semi-matte, not glossy but with a slight sheen that looks kind of like plastic. This chipped faster than average. I had it on for 4 days without any major chips (but 3 of those 4 days I didn't have work so I wasn't really using my hands much). My manis usually stay on for 5-7 days depending on when/how badly they chip although I do lower my standards somewhat when I get lazy haha.

What makes this polish even more awesome is that it glows under black light! It doesn't glow in the dark though unfortunately, only under black light. In the picture, my hand is under the black light we have at work to make sure the cash we receive isn't fake. My coworker told me that her nails did glow when she was at a club so this should glow under those black lights too although I haven't tried myself. I'll definitely wear this polish next time I'm at a club!

Essie - Mesmerize, China Glaze - Fairy Dust, Revlon - Stunning

One very thick coat of Essie Mesmerize followed by one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust and Seche Vite.  (indoors)

I probably should have done 2 thinner coats of Mesmerize instead of one really thick coat. It was such a thick coat that I went over the nails twice. Not sure why I thought it would be a better idea to do that rather than just do 2 thin coats haha oops but I was really rushing. I used OPI drying spray in between Mesmerize and Fairy Dust since the  polish was so thick, but I still ended up smearing my index finger after Fairy Dust. I used a tip from Chloe's nails to fix it. Basically just lick your nail (yeah it sounds really gross but usually if its gone to the goopy stage it won't taste like anything) and the polish kind of becomes like dough and you just use your fingers to mold it so its flat on your nail with no bare spots or noticeable dents. It worked pretty well with this mani. I ended up with fingerprints in the polish but Seche Vite covered that up. The spot does look like it's missing a bit of glitter in my pictures but it isn't noticeable in real life.

Blurry picture to show holo glitter better. Probably should have taken one in the sun but didn't get a chance before it chipped.

Was going to add a coat of Revlon Stunning to all my nails but I didn't end up liking the look (way too much glitter) so I only did my left hand. Somehow it chipped way faster than my right hand, even though I'm right handed. This picture was after one day of wear (the other ones were also taken after one day of wear). (outdoors)

Layla Magneffect Metallic Sky

Second attempt at using magnetic polish. I still suck at it haha. I think my first attempt actually turned out better than my second because I was in a rush this time and didn't really have the patience to hold the magnet for that long. Also my hands were really shaky when I was dong this so I didn't get a sharp pattern. I kind of like the pattern it created though - like a streaky painting I guess. I just don't think the results I got are worth the steep price ($18/10ml). Even on my nails with a sharp pattern I feel like no one really noticed. It's a pretty subtle effect especially with this color since the magnetized area is just lighter blue shimmer and there isn't much contrast.

I used 1 coat of Metallic Sky over 2 coats of Revlon 006 PetalChrome, a metallic light blue tinted silver kind of color. I won't bother talking about 006 PetalChrome's formula since I've probably had it for 10 years and you won't be able to find it anywhere now. I don't think adding a base color really did anything for this mani except maybe make it last a bit longer. I still had tip wear after only a day but it was a bit less. The first time I wore this polish I just wore one coat on it's own with Seche Vite. Mani shown here with Seche Vite over as well.

You can see my first attempt here. I can't believe how short, stubby and fat my nails used to look. I cringe when I look at them now haha. Here you can see my swatches for all the Layla Magneffect colors.

I accidentally hit my pnky nail on my right hand with the magnet :( I regret going out and buying this crazy expensive magnetic polish right when it came out. I wish I waited for cheaper magnetic polish. Now they're making magnetic polishes with removable magnets which I think would be a lot easier to manage than one built into the cap. There's also a ledge on the edge of many of them (Nails Inc, new Sally Hansen) which prevents you from hitting your nails