New Years Nails - Ciate Very Colourfoil Kit - Kaleidoscope Klash

Happy New Year! My first New Year's Resolution is to post on this blog more! And also to try and do a better job of keeping up with reading other blogs... I'm happy to report that my hand is mostly recovered... (story at the very end of this post) I can't quite straighten my middle finger yet but I can make a fist and more importantly I can do my normal nail poses again! So back to posting! I have a bunch of swatches from when my left hand was in a cast (I somehow managed to still paint my right hand with only my left index and left thumb... my friends and coworkers were very impressed :D) Anyway onto my New Year's Nails!

JENsations Sticks 'n Stones over Essie Mojito Madness

JENsations - Sticks 'n Stones (1)
Essie - Mojito Madness (2)
Essie Grow Stronger as base, Gelous on top (2)

I was really behind on my nail blog reading list before I went on vacation. I finally caught up and realized that October is Depression Awareness month. The color for Depression Awareness is green and many nail bloggers have posted green manis in support. I happen to be wearing green nail polish anyway so here is my late post for Depression Awareness month. Please read Scrangie's post about depression for more information. As a psych major I probably should be writing my own but I'm a bit short on time and I feel like her post covered everything and was quite moving.

Anyway on to the nails. I had much better luck with Sticks 'n Stones this time than I did the first time I used it. Sticks 'n Stones is another Indie polish very similar to the famous Connect the Dots by the now infamous Lynnderella. It consists of black and white glitter in a variety of shapes: very small circles, small hexes, medium squares, bars, and large hexes. The base is clear with some subtle shimmer, The first time I used this polish I found I had to dab it on in order to get good coverage. This time, I kind of stirred the polish with the brush before each nail to get more glitter on the brush. I found that this way I usually got a good amount of glitter coverage on the first try, and didn't have too much clear base on my nails. On my middle nail however, the glitter kept sliding to the tips of my nails and I tried to prod the glitter around to fix it. This made the clear coat a bit lumpy and you can see this in my pictures. It's not too noticeable in real life however. I also didn't have any issues with the large hexagon glitter pieces lifting off this time. Only one of the bar glitters came off on its own. I think the curling and lifting was due to using Seche Vite on the glitter.

Essie Mojito Madness is a gorgeous Kelly green creme. It applied well in two thin coats. The first coat was a bit sheer and lumpy and looked like it would be a three-coater, but everything evened out at two coats. I think it worked really well as a base color for Sticks 'n Stones. Both the white and black pieces really stood out. 

China Glaze - Frostbite

Frostbite is a very vibrant royal blue. There's so much shimmer to it it's just stunning! This is three coats. I probably could have left it at two but there was a bit of visible nail line that was bothering me. I guess with the shimmer it wasn't too visible but I'm just OCD like that sometimes. 

It's been a long time since I've worn a polish on it's own without adding anything on top but this one is pretty enough on it's own. This blue reminds me of superhero Spandex with the color and shimmer finish. Maybe Wonder Woman's short shorts?

Revlon Always On Sealant. I think this was part of some set since it has a 2 on it but I can't remember now. I found this lying around my house and decided to try it because I talked to this girl that swears by Revlon Extra Life top coat. She said it's just as shiny as Seche Vite and doesn't chip or have shrinkage issues plus it's cheaper. So when my Seche Vite brush got dirty I decided to give this a try. I know it's not the same top coat but I thought maybe it would give me some idea since it's also Revlon. It was nice and thick and applies easily as a thick bead that glides over the nail like Seche Vite. Unfortunately, it dries painfully slowly and as a result I got several dents in the surface of the polish. Wear time on this wasn't great either. Minor tip wear after only a day and a chip on my thumb after two.