Wet n Wild Summer Collection 2016: Lost in the Wild Flowers

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Janelle

This collection is almost old news by now, but I’m still seeing it in stores, so I’ll still tell you about it. Plus, I bought the whole collection and in my head that’s not really justifiable if I don’t officially blog about it. So here it is, the Wet n Wild Summer Collection for 2016: Lost in the Wild Flowers!

This is such a pretty collection, right? Let’s start with the pink…

Cherry Blossom On Top

This bright pink cream is opaque in two coats and dries to a really shiny finish. There’s not too much else to say about it. The formula is really nice and it’s a really pretty color.

In looking through my collection for dupes, I found a match that is almost dead on, and that is Wet n Wild – Lavender Creme. The one I own is in the old style bottle, but this same shade is still available in the new shaped bottles. Really, they are super close! Lavender Creme is a hair lighter than Cherry Blossom On Top, but really, if you already have Lavender Creme, you can skip picking up Cherry Blossom On Top. It baffles me when a brand puts out pretty much the exact same color like this. I mean, I know Lavender Creme is in the Wild Shine line, and Cherry Blossom On Top is in the Megalast line, but really…. I feel like it’s not too much to ask for a limited edition polish to be different from what that particular brand already makes available. First world problems, I know.

Leaf Me Be

This bright spring green polish is a jelly formula, so it dries really shiny. On my index and ring finger is three coats of the polish on its own. On my middle and pinky fingers is three coats over white. Jelly polishes are always fun because of the nail art and jelly sandwich potential that they have. And actually, the first thing I did with these polishes when I got them home, was to make a jelly sandwich! Here it is on the left with two coats of Leaf Me Be, a coat of silver glitter polish, and then another coat of Leaf Me Be. So sparkly and fun, but muted at the same time!

As far as dupes of this polish go, I didn’t really have any good ones in my own collection, but I did find a kind of close one while I was at Dollar General. (By the way, there are a bunch of the Wet n Wild polish colors that are exclusive to Dollar General. Really pretty colors, too!) This polish is called Limelight, and it’s just about the same color as Leaf Me Be, except it has a yellow/gold shimmer. It’s really pretty, but since I just bought Leaf Me Be, I couldn’t justify buying Limelight. I’m not sure what Limelight’s formula is like.

Oh, one more thing about Leaf Me Be: it’s a stainer. After my jelly sandwich mani, my nails were (well, still are) a lovely booger green color. Really unattractive. It’s not a big deal for me because I just slapped more polish over my gross looking nails, but if you don’t always wear polish, this might be a deal-breaker for you.

Wild Wild Violet

Wild Wild Violet is a beautiful warm purple polish. Much like Cherry Blossom On Top, it’s opaque in two coats and dries to a really shiny finish. This is such a flattering color against my really light skin!

In comparing it to other purples in my collection, I found that I don’t have anything super close to this color. In the comparison picture, Wild Wild Violet is in the middle, Fresh Paint – Sophia is on the left, and Wet n Wild – On a Trip is on the right. You can see that Wild Wild Violet is the warmest of the three. Sophia is a much more intense color; it’s almost neon in person. On a Trip is obviously much cooler in tone. I really like this polish and I’m super happy to have it in my collection.

One more thing, though… This polish is the mother of all stainers. What you’re looking at here on the right is my middle and ring finger on my right hand after I removed the mani I was wearing on the left. Wild Wild Violet left the nail on my middle finger a crazy bright pink! I’ve never seen a purple polish (or even a red or pink one for that matter) stain like this! Holy moly! And even on my ring finger (which is still kind of green from my Leaf Me Be jelly sandwich) you can see pink dots which are from the leopard spots! That means that this polish is capable of staining your nails even if you are wearing white polish underneath it! And I had a base coat on! The fact that I’ve ended the last five sentences with exclamation marks should be a good indicator of how crazy that is.

By the way, isn’t this mani using all of the polishes from this collection so fun? I enjoyed sporting these nails.

Poppy Culture

The last polish in this collection is a vibrant reddish-orange cream. This one took three coats to be opaque, and like all of the others in this collection, it dries to a high shine. This polish is red enough to not look too bad on my fair skin, but I think it would look extra good on darker skin.

As far as dupes for this polish go… There are a lot. Pictured from left to right are Revlon – Fearless, LA Colors – Moody Red, Poppy Culture, and NYC Spring Street. If I had realized that I had so many polishes that were nearly identical to Poppy Culture, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. If you don’t have a fiery orange-red in your collection, Poppy Culture is a perfectly fine polish to pick up, but this color is hardly unique.

Overall, I think this is a really fun collection, and the colors all work well with each other, even though they are not crazy unique. The formulas are consistently good and the price tag of under $2 a bottle is awesome! The only negative is that two of the four polishes are mega stainers.

So, what do you think of this collection? Have you picked up any of these polishes? Is staining a deal-breaker for you? Let me know what you think!

My Polish Collection

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Janelle

For the past few years I’ve had my polishes arranged by color. I have some dupes (and near dupes) and it just made sense to me to keep them next to each other on my nail polish rack. Recently, though, I started to think that it would look nice if the were organized by brand. Then all of the like bottles would be next to each other. Of course the first logical step in my reorganization was to dump all of my polishes onto my living room floor. And that’s what you see here in the above picture.

As I started to sort them, I decided to snap a picture of each brand, and here’s what I found…

I have a huge pile of Wet n Wild polishes. This was probably the first brand of polish I started to accumulate back in my youth. The bottles in the upper left with the white caps are OLD! I’ve got a good mix of permanent and limited edition polishes. They’re all between $1-$3, so it’s kind of a no-brainer to grab an awesome Wet n Wild polish when I see it.

I have a lot of Sinful Colors. I mean, they’re so readily available and there’s only $1.99. They are always on top of color trends. Really, what’s not to love?

Here’s my little Revlon pile. My favorite is on the left: Matte Pearl Glaze. It’s an awesome transformative topcoat for pretty much any polish.

My L’Oreals. Yes, that’s Masked Affair on the left.

My Orly polishes. I really like Orly a lot! Most of the polishes I have are neons or crazy toppers. I think of them as summer polishes.

Look at my sad little Essie collection! Three Silk Watercolors and one other one. I just tend not to splurge on Essie because I hear too many bad things about the formulas. If I can get a great formula in a $2 Wet n Wild, I just don’t want to risk getting a bad formula from a $7 Essie.

And these are my OPI polishes. The only one that I have ever paid full price for was Charmy & Sugar (third polish in the top row). The rest were either given to me or found on clearance. It just pains me to pay $9 for a polish, and they are always exempt from sales and coupons it seems. That makes me grumpy.

Nicole by OPI: OPI’s less snobby sister. The two Modern Family polishes are really stunners!

Fresh paint is available exclusively at Five Below. They tend to be thicker in formula and they’re great for water marbling and stamping. They have such awesome colors! The third polish in the top row is Sugar Crush and it’s a dupe for Essie – Shine of the Times. If I ever see this polish again in a five Below, I am buying a BUNCH of bottles.

Speaking of Five Below, that’s where you also find Funky Fingers. Okay, these polishes are sort of juvenile, but they have such fun bright colors and crazy glitter mixes! Plus, they’re only $2 or 3 for $5!

LA Colors polishes tend to be disappointing. If you’re going to spend $1 on polish, just get a Wet n Wild or a NYC. The only exception is the one in the upper left which is a lilac crelly with a bunch of glitter. It’s tough to find those in mainstream polishes.

I picked up these Finger Paints at Sally Beauty Supply. So sparkly!

The only place that sells Pure Ice that I know of, is Walmart, and I just don’t end up in Walmart that often. If I did, I would probably own more of these.

Broadway Nails are found in either Dollar General or Family Dollar. I swear I can never remember. My favorites are Space Flight (third polish in the top row), an deep blue jelly, and Hot n Sexy (bottom left), which is a dupe for China Glaze – Ruby Pumps.

I first discovered Bonita polish in Francesca’s about 5 years ago when I bought the little bottles. I now usually find them in Rite Aid or Kmart. So affordable and so beautiful! (I’ve actually bought 3 more since I took this picture.)

Yes, I only have two Zoya, both found on clearance at Ulta. They’re both great, though, and I definitely want to add to these!

I’m not sure why I don’t own more Jordana. They have such vibrant colors, and great formulas, and they’re only $2. I need more of these.

I’m a sucker for NYC polishes. Good formula, good colors, really good price. The pink on the bottom right is OLD.

I only own two Milani. The one on the right is a good 10 years old, but I still love it! The one on the left was the first black and white matte glitter polish that I ever saw, and the first time I saw it, my brain almost exploded.

I picked this Nina polish up at Sally awhile ago. The green is less awesome than I thought it was going to be. I bought the blue while I was on the hunt for the most pure and pigmented blue that I could find.

I own three Ulta polishes and they are all in different bottles. What’s up with that? The blue is really beautiful, though.

Spoiled by Wet n Wild used to be available exclusively at CVS. They’ve been discontinued, but most (if not all) of these colors are in the Wet n Wild Megalast bottles and are sold exclusively at Dollar General/Family Dollar. I was sad to see this line of polishes leave CVS, though.

I have a good pile of China Glaze. Most of these were purchased on clearance or on really good sales at either Sally or Ulta. Man, I love so many of these!

Does anyone remember Petites? These polishes are a solid 10 years old. I went through a phase where I loved each of these polishes.

Anyone remember Bon Bons either? Are these still around? Seriously, each bottle has like, four drops of polish in it.

Speaking of teeny tiny bottles, these are Sally Beauty Supply’s brand called Sally Girl. Pretty nice little polishes, actually.

We here in ‘Murica can’t get Joe Fresh polishes, so I picked these up a year or so ago when I was in Canada. Great little polishes! I’m definitely picking up more then next time I visit our neighbors to the north, assuming that they don’t build a wall to keep us out if Trump is elected.

Sally Hansen sure likes their different bottle shapes and various lines, huh? The first three polishes in the top row are OLD. I know for sure I got the teal one in the top left corner when I was in college. I graduated 16 years ago.

I picked up this little pile of polishes when I was in London last year. The one on the left is Seventeen, the next two are Barry M, and the two on the right are Rimmel. I like them all, but I love the Barry M polishes. If/when I get back over there, I’m nabbing more of these!

These polishes are from Old Navy. “Why would anyone buy polish at Old Navy,” you ask? I don’t know either. The metallic pink and gold are both pretty good, though.

These polishes are from Gap. Obviously I’m a sucker for polish, if I bought some from the Gap.

I got these LA Girl Color Pop polishes at Rite Aid. The neon pink on the right is my favorite neon pick of all time.

CQ2 polishes? Yeah, I don’t know either. They’re old.

Mary Kay polish. The one on the left is good as a base for French manicures or negative space manis.

Playboy Polishes…. How and why? It’s a long weird story.

I have two Color Club stripers, but only one color club regular polish! I know, that’s sad! I’m gonna fix that.

This pile of Kiss stuff was given to me. It’s okay, I guess.

Bath and Body Works polishes. I know, it’s just as weird as Old Navy and Gap. Aren’t the little bottles on the right so cute though? These are actually nice polishes, albeit old.

My only two Nails Inc polishes are magnetic and were found in a clearance bin at Marshalls/TJ Maxx/Ross. Those stores are all the same to me.

These Del Sol Polishes change color in the sun, or at least they used to. They are about 5 years old and only about half of them change color anymore. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

This tiny pile is all the indie polishes that I own! I know, it’s sad! I will definitely be adding to this pile over the next year.

These are all of my one-of-a-kind or weirdo polishes. I just threw them all into their own pile.

These are all of my Frankenpolishes. In other words, I mixed up these polish colors on my own…. Mwahahaha!

Here is my pile of empty bottles waiting for some Frankenpolish to happen to them.

And here’s my pile of base and top coats.

Here’s my whole collection after I got them all organized! Aren’t they so pretty?

And now all of my friends and family know exactly what I have in case they need to do some borrowing. I really don’t mind, though. Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments about your collection!

Wet n Wild Spring into the Wild Collection (Spring 2016)

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Janelle

So, I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done before. I bought an entire collection. I just have never been able to justify it before. An entire collection of China Glaze or OPI can easily cost north of $50, and often I don’t really need or want all of the polishes. I love reading blogs or watching videos made by ladies who have purchased entire collections, but for me it just seems a little frivolous, especially since my little blog doesn’t actually generate any income. So how did I come to purchase an entire collection, then?

Well, we (my hubby and some other extended family members) had been putting in lots of long exhausting hours cleaning out a house for another family member. After several days of working, working, working, I ended up in a Christmas Tree Shops staring at the newest Wet n Wild collection called Spring into the Wild. The display still had all four of the polishes in it, and they were pretty… And they were only $1.79 each. That meant for under $8, I could get the entire collection. So I did. Seriously, aren’t they so pretty?

A day or so after I bought this collection at Christmas Tree Shops, I spotted it at Kmart. While I was there, I looked through Sinfull Colors, Sally Hansen, and Revlon for any duplicates (aka “dupes”) of these colors.

The four polishes are from left to right: Love Fest, Lay out in Lavender, Breeze on By, and Kiss My Mints.

Let’s start with Love Fest. This is just a lovely pastel pink. Next to the other polishes in the collection, it looks like it’s pretty warm toned, but when it’s on its own, I feel it’s almost cool toned. I’ll just say it’s a middle-of-the-road pastel pink. The formula is pretty sheer, though. What you’re looking at here is four coats. Yeah, I know. Ain’t nobody got time for that. It dries really glossy and it just looks so pretty once it’s on the nail, so I’ll probably suck it up and wear it anyway. I think I might attempt some jelly sandwiches with this one.

I have a ton of pink polishes (well, like 30) but I didn’t have any that were a really close match to this one. The closest that I could pull out of my collection was Wet n Wild – Tickled Pink, but as you can see, these polishes really aren’t that close at all.

At Kmart, however, I did find two dead-on dupes for Love Fest. Here’s Love Fest on the left, then in the Middle is Sally Hansen – Hard-Core Party in the middle, and Sally Hansen – Tickled Pink on the Right. (Yeah, both the Sally Hansen polish and the Wet n Wild Polish are called Tickled Pick. People need to come up with more clever names.) I picked up Hard-Core Party since it was only $.50, and I can definitely verify that these two are pretty much exactly the same.

Next we have Lay Out in Lavender. This one’s a stunner, right? It’s just so pretty! This is sort of a muted lavender. This polish was opaque in two coats. None of that four coat nonsense here.

When I first saw this polish, I thought it might be similar to China Glaze – Release from The Giver collection from a few years ago, and when you look at them in the bottle, they actually don’t look that different. Once I got the polish on the nail, it was clear that they were really different. Release is a gray polish that leans purple, and Lay Out in Lavender is a purple polish that leans gray.

Just for kicks, I also pulled out Broadway Nails – Easter Annie for comparison, but this polish is obviously much more pink with no hint of gray. I’m super happy to add Lay Out in Lavender to my collection since I really don’t have anything like it!

While I was at Kmart, I found a few polishes worth comparing to Lay Out in Lavender. The polish on the left was the closest match, and that is Sally Hansen Miracle Gel – All Chalked Up. All Chalked Up is just a tiny bit warmer than Lay out in Lavender, like it’s got a half a drop of yellow polish in the bottle. It’s still super close, though. The polish on the right is Sally Hansen – Lacey Lilac. Lacey Lilac is definitely more pink and it doesn’t have that hint of gray that Lay Out in Lavender has.

Next we have Breeze on By. This is a pretty periwinkle cream that was opaque in two coats. Another really beautiful color!

As soon as I saw this polish, I thought it looked exactly like Wear Skinny Jeans from last year’s Silver Lake Collection. As you can see, they are pretty darn close. The one difference is that Wear Skinny Jeans has a silver shimmer running through it, but since the shimmer doesn’t actually show up on your nail, that difference really doesn’t count for much. I threw in Sinful Colors – Sail La Vie for comparison as well. I have Breeze on my on my first finger, Wear Skinny Jeans on my middle finger, and Sail La Vie on my ring finger. As you can see, Breeze on By is a hint more purple than Wear Skinny Jeans, but if you already own Wear Skinny Jeans, I’d say you could skip picking up Breeze on By. Sail La Vie is obviously more blue than either of the Wet n Wild polishes. I’m sure that Essie – Bikini So Teeny is super similar as well, but I don’t own that one. I know it’s a classic Essie polish, but I seriously don’t need anymore periwinkle polish.

When I was at Kmart I found a few more polishes worth comparing to Breeze on By. The polish on the left is Sail La Vie, which I just threw in the picture for comparison’s sake. The next polish is Sally Hansen – Hard Bitten. This is a little less purple than Breeze on By, and it has a fine silver shimmer. I’m not sure if that shimmer actually shows up when you get it on your nails or not. Next is Sally Hansen – Babe Blue. Babe Blue also has a shimmer running through it. From images I’ve seen online of this polish, the shimmer just barely shows up. (Rant: Why is it so difficult to make a periwinkle polish with a shimmer that actually shows up? Am I missing something here? Nothing is more annoying than purchasing a polish and then not being able to get what you see in the bottle to show up on your nails.) Babe Blue is really close to Breeze on By, maybe just a hair more blue. I think it’s probably just about identical to Wet n Wild – Wear Skinny Jeans.

Now we come to our final – and maybe my favorite – polish of the of the collection: Kiss My Mints! This is the most beautifully perfect mint color ever! It’s not too green, not too blue. I just love it so much! This is perfect in two coats and it’s just so pretty!!!

I compared this to three other polishes in my collection. On my little finger is Wet n Wild – Tree Hugger from last year’s Silver Lake collection. This polish is obviously much greener. On my ring finger is Joe Fresh – Mint. (Whoa, such a creative name. My mind is blown!) This polish is also more green than Kiss My Mints and it has a bit of a dusty gray quality to it, also. On my first finger is China Glaze – For Audrey. I knew this polish wouldn’t be a match, but it felt to me like Kiss My Mints is the exact same hue as For Audrey, only a lighter tint. ( I had to check an art dictionary to make sure I was using “hue” and “tint” correctly.) Petty much that means that if you added white polish to For Audrey, I think you’d get Kiss My Mints.

At Kmart, I found a few polishes worth comparing to Kiss My Mints. The one on the left is Sally Hansen Miracle Gel – B Girl. This one is really close to Kiss My Mints, maybe just a hair darker. The polish on the right is Sally Hansen – Mint Sorbet, which is obviously much more green. I just figured it was worth comparing since it had the word “mint” in the name and it’s readily available.

So, Here are my final thoughts…

Skip buying Love Fest and pick up one of the Sally Hansen polishes if you really love this color. Nobody should be applying four coats of anything.
Lay Out in Lavender is really beautiful and different from most purple/lilac/lavender polishes that are out there. I think this is a good one to grab.
Breeze on By is definitely pretty and it has a good formula, but it’s hardly unique. Only pick this one up if you don’t have a periwinkle in your collection.
Kiss my Mints is awesome! The formula is great, and although there are a lot of mint green/teal/aqua/turquoise polishes out there, this exact shade is still pretty unique. If you’re only going to pick up one, I’d pick up this one.

Oh, and just one more thing. Breeze on By and Love Fest are super close to the Pantone colors of the year for 2016, Rose Quartz and Serenity. I’m sure that’s no accident.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! Find me on instagram and Facebook!

February Favorites

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Janelle

I figure that if I get my monthly favorites posted within the first two weeks of the following month, they are not completely irrelevant yet. That’s my logic and I’m sticking to it.

The last few months have been extra super busy for me because of my work schedule, and I am itching for life to settle down so that I can get back to posting regularly. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, as I’ve been told my work schedule will go back to normal in a few week. Yay!

I did manage to come up with some favorites for the month of February. And I thought the would look nice in a star formation. Lets start at 12:00 and go clockwise….

At noon we have Wet n Wild Fergie – Going Platinum. This polish, is amazing! It’s a foil finish, so it has a little more sparkle that just a straight metallic polish. Also, metallic polishes tend to show brush strokes, but this doesn’t at all. It’s opaque in two easy coats.

Really, this is just a great polish. All of the stuff I just said also goes for Wet n Wild Fergie – Gold Album. Gold album has the exact same formula and finish. It’s just gold instead of platinum. (That last sentence was probably unnecessary.) Plus, they are only $3 per bottle! I don’t love all of the Wet n Wild Fergie polishes, but Going Platinum and Gold album are definite winners.

At 2:30 we have China Glaze – Thistle Do Nicely. This is from the 2014 spring collection, so it’ll be tough to find in stores. This is not a shockingly unique polish or anything. It’s just a really pretty neon coral. And while it’s not an eye-searing neon, it does do that cool thing where it looks like it’s glowing when the light is a little dim, like at dusk. With the brutal February we had in PA (and pretty much every other state east of the Rockies) I was itching for something that felt like springtime. This is a polish that just makes you feel happy inside when you wear it.

In this picture, I topped it with an shredded iridescent glitter which looks flaky-like. I added a matte top coat for extra fun.

At 5:00, is Fresh Paint – Honeydew. This polish is a lovely light minty, springtime-y cream polish. The formula is a tad on the thick side, but it’s almost a one-coater. One of the reasons that I’m really loving this polish right now is because it works well for water marbling. Someone on instagram (I can’t remember who, so I’m a little sad that I can’t give that instagramer proper credit) said that she had good success water marbling with Fresh Paint cream polishes, including Honeydew. Well, that gave me the inspiration I needed to take another stab at water marbling… She was right! I tested several fresh paint polishes and they all spread beautifully in the water and were easy to manipulate. I’m so happy about that! I hate using expensive polishes for water marbling, because I feel like so much is wasted. Fresh Paint polishes are always 3 for $5 at Five Below, so… that’s awesome.

At 7:30 we have LA Colors – Candy Sprinkles. This is such a fun polish! It’s a rarity for a cheapo line of polish to have a crelly polish with awesome glitter like this. I had been eyeballing this one for a little while before I finally picked it up. This polish is sort of versatile, too. You can do 2 or 3 coats of the polish on its own if you want a really dense glitter look, or you can just do one coat over pink or purple polish if you like your polish a little more sparse. Very fun, and totally worth the $1.5Pictured is two coats of Candy Sprinkles over one coat of a pinky-lavender polish.

At 10:00, we have this beauty. Such a classic. Sally Hansen – Pacific Blue original formula. And this picture is one coat. I know, it’s amazing. The nail polish world mourned when Sally Hansen reformulated this polish last summer, but I still see the occasional bottle of the original formulaon the shelf in drugstores. Really, I just saw one at the Rite Aid in Middletown, PA like, four hours ago. The new formula is a darker blue with a shimmer running through it. The original is just this perfect cream color. They both say “420 Pacific Blue” on the cap. Stupid, sneaky Sally Hansen, thinking we wouldn’t notice.

So, those are my February favorites. Do you have any of these polishes? What have you been loving lately? Thanks for reading, following, and liking both here and on instagram. You people are the greatest!

Fun Times with Glossy on Matte

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Janelle

This past week I’ve done two different manis that have featured the same technique: glossy designs over a matte finish. This technique is so simple, but the end result is pretty impressive looking! I found that this works bet with dark colors that have a cream formula. I tried this with some lighter colors and polishes with some shimmer in them, and it’s much harder to see the matte/glossy contrast. So, here’s all you have to do:

1. Pick a nice, dark, cream polish and paint your nails.

2. Apply a matte top coat. I use one from NYC that works just fine. No need to purchase something fancy.

3. After your matte top coat is dry, add your dots or stripes or whatever to your nails with a clear polish. Please note: you don’t want to use a fast drying topcoat as your clear polish. It will dry up before you can complete your design and you’ll end up with a clumpy mess. Just plain, clear Wet n Wild polish or NYC polish (the $.99 kind) works perfectly.

For the first look, I used Wet n Wild Megalast – Careful, It’s Vine-tage as my base. This polish was from their limited edition matte collection that came out last fall. Even though the polish was supposed to have a matte finish, it only looked semi-matte to me, so I put a matte top coat on it anyway. Then I took some various sized dotting tools and my $.99 clear polish and made some dots. That’s it!

For my second look, I used Wet n Wild Megalast – Echo Dark, a navy polish from the same matte collection. This polish bums me out a little because it looks navy blue in the bottle, but on the nail it really looks black most of the time. Anyway, I applied a matte top coat, and then took my striping brush dipped in clear polish and made diagonal stripes on my nails.

The first time I ever tried this technique was back in September and you can read about that here, if you so desire. I got way fancier with that design.

For some reason, I always do glossy designs on a matte base, but you could always switch it around and do matte designs on a glossy base. Really, the possibilities are endless with this technique. Any animal prints would look really cool like this, or you could even do something as simple as a matte nails with just a glossy french tip! And since it works so well with dark colors, it’s perfect to do now before everything turns pastel and neon for the warmer months.

Anyway, I hope you feel inspired to make yourself some beautiful nails! Thanks for reading!

My 14 Favorite Polishes of 2014

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Janelle

It seems like pretty much every blogger and YouTuber has listed their 14 favorites from 2014. I’m totally jumping on that bandwagon. This was tough, but I did it. There were a few polishes that it pained me to leave out, but I finally narrowed it down to the 14 polishes that I just couldn’t stop reaching for last year. Here they are:

Aren’t they so pretty?

Starting in the upper left corner we have Funky Finger – Sand & Stilettos.

This is just the best sparkly polish ever. It’s available exclusively at 5 Below. I’ve seen it at my local 5 Below within the past few weeks, so you can still grab this stunner for yourself for a mere $2.

Next, also available exclusively from 5 Below is Fresh Paint – Guava. Fabulous color, fabulous formula. A must-have for summer. Here it is paired with Sand & Stillettos:

It’s just the perfect neon peachy color, and a perfect dupe for China Glaze – Flip Flop Fantasy. I just couldn’t get enough of this color over the summer.

Next, we have one more 5 Below polish: Fresh Paint – Sugar Crush. This is the first true flaky polish that I’ve ever owned.

This polish is a show-stopper over any dark color. It’s mind blowing over black, teal, or dark purple, and I don’t know if I love it better shiny or matte. You just can’t go wrong with this one. I’m not sure if you can still find this at 5 Below or not, but if you see it there. GRAB IT!

Next, I loved China Glaze – Turned Up Turquoise.

The intense color and the shimmer make me swoon! I don’t have a picture of it with a shiny top coat, but when you do put a shiny top coat on, the shimmer really pops. Such a perfect color!

Yes, I’m a sucker for turquoise. Next is Jordana – Boy Oh Boy.

It almost looks green in the middle picture, but it’s not. It’s a deep, beautiful turquoise. And the formula on this baby is wonderful! Almost a one coater!

Next we have Ulta – Joined at the Hippo.

This is one of my more recent favorites. Actually, I just talked about this polish in my December Favorites. It’s got a great formula, and while it is a really deep blue, it never looks black. Just a beautiful polish!

Then there’s Broadway Nails – Space Flight, a really deep blue jelly.

I’ve actually got this on my nails right now, as you’ll see in a post later this week. This is an amazingly beautiful polish and it only costs $1! You can find this at Dollar General.

Now we come to the first indie polish that I ever owned: Valley Girl Lacquer – Fantasm.

Even in a really ugly jelly sandwich , I still love this polish:

This was my first exposure to the super huge round glitters that are pretty common in indie polishes and they really blew my mind when I first used them. Heck, they still blow my mind!

Next is Wet n Wild – Deception. This was my first really great jelly polish.

This was in a limited edition collection from the spring, so I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to find this anywhere and I’m very sorry about that. I’ve used about 1/4 of this bottle already, and I’m going to be heartbroken when it’s gone.This polish takes 5 or 6 coats to get that perfect jelly look, but it’s so worth it!

Next is China Glaze – Peonies & Park Ave from the 2014 spring collection.

This almost neon pink really doesn’t seem like anything special, but it’s the pink that I reached for repeatedly back in the summer. I feel like it works well with my fair skin.

Next is a polish that I’ve talked about so many times: Wet n Wild Fergie – Gold Album.

This is the best gold polish that I’ve ever used! I love the stuff! It’s perfect and beautiful every time.

Next is Broadway Nails – Hot & Sexy. This is a dupe for China Glaze – Ruby Pumps.

So beautiful and red and sparkly! I stare at my nails a lot when I’m wearing this! Also available at Dollar General for $1.

Now we have the polish that I loved the most in the fall. NYC – Royal Chic. This was from a limited edition collection, but really, there are lots of great browns out there.

Sadly, these pictures really don’t capture the chocolaty brown goodness that is this polish. It’s just so pretty and rich looking on the nail.

Last, but certainly not least is Polish me Silly – Tealing no lies. This is my first indie holographic polish, and wow, it’s amazing.

I just got this guy for Christmas, so I’ve only worn it once so far, but I pretty much couldn’t stop staring at my nails while it was on. And I forced my husband to admire my nails so many times while I was wearing this. It’s really, really amazing, especially in the sun.

So that’s it! My 14 favorite polishes of the past year! Thanks for reading! What were some of your favorite polishes in 2014? I’d love to know!

Frosty Blue Nails

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Janelle

Here’s a quickie tutorial that requires minimal skill. Those are the best kind of tutorials, right?

I started off painting my nails with China Glaze – Capacity to See Beyond from the Giver collection.

I was able to find the complete Giver collection on clearance at Sally Beauty Supply! I didn’t buy the whole collection – only three – but I FOUND the whole collection! I had had my eye on this polish in particular, but I just can’t bring myself to spend full price on polishes that are over like, $4. This one really is a beauty, though!

After letting the base color dry really well, I cut some little round labels that I had into quarters and applied them to my nails.

These little stickers are the same size and the reenforcer stickers and you can get these pretty much at any office supply store. I like cutting them into quarters for two reasons. 1. I’m frugal, and if I can get four nails covered with one sticker, I’m gonna do it. And 2. I think it’s a lot easier to get a good, tight seal between the sticker and your nail along the sides of your nail when you are working with a smaller piece of sticker.

For this look, I put the curved edge of the sticker right across the middle of my nail, but you can use these same stickers for either a half moon mani or a french mani, depending on your placement of the stickers.

Next I painted the top half of my nails with L’Oreal – The True Diamond, which is a shimmery white top coat. I’m pretty sure this is not available any more, but a silver glitter topper would work really well, too. Then before the polish could dry, I peeled the stickers off really carefully with tweezers, and I was left with this:

I wanted to add a little something, so I took my tiny brush and Wet n Wild Fergie – Going Platnum and added a little line where the polishes meet. Really, though, if you don’t have a tiny brush or you don’t trust your hand to be steady enough, you can skip this part.

I got my little brush at Michael’s with a coupon, so it only cost about $3. I love it!

Here’s the final result:

Cute and simple and perfect for these frosty months! Thanks for reading!

December Favorites

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Janelle

I’m finally getting around to my December favorites. Ugh, I have so much catching up to do! Not surprisingly, in December I loved all sorts of red and gold and glittery polishes.

Let’s start with the top left. This is Broadway Nails – Hot & Sexy.

I used this as my base color for my Sparkly Red Snowman Nails. I just love this polish! This is a great dupe for China Glaze – Ruby Slippers, and it only costs $1! The only place I’ve seen these sold is at Dollar General. (You can read more about that here.) This polish has a red jelly base with tons of red micro glitter. And if I remember correctly, it’s easy to remove, unlike a lot of glitter polishes. My little swatch isn’t doing this polish justice. It’s super beautiful!

Next we’ve got Wet n Wild Fergie – Gold Album.

I’ve talked about this polish lots of times. Every time I use it, I’m amazed and how beautiful and sparkly and shiny and GOLD it is. I used this in December in my Advent manicure. It’s pretty much a one coater, but but I tend to do two coats just to make sure it’s perfect.

Another favorite is Ulta – Joined at the Hippo.

This was the base color for my Nativity Nails. This is a beautiful deep blue cream polish. The thing I love about it is that it is really dark blue, but it never looks black. The formula is wonderfully easy to work with, also.

I also loved Pure Ice – Studette in December.

The bottle is a little fuzzy in the picture because I focused my camera on the nail swatch instead of the bottle. This is a really dense micro glitter polish in a clear base that is about 98% gold and 2% red. So cool! I used this for my New Year’s Nails. Really, if there’s ever a time that you can sport obnoxiously glittery nails, it’s New Year’s. This one is a bugger to remove, but it’s worth it!

Next are my three new Polish Me Silly polishes! I ordered these through Polish Me Silly’s Etsy shop, along with some polishes for my sister for Christmas. Then I gave the polishes that I ordered for myself to my Hubby so that he could give them back to me on Christmas. I know. We’re weird.

(Again, the bottles are a little fuzzy, but the swatches are clear.)

The first one is Are You Elfin Kiddin Me? This is a thermal polish. The color in the picture is the cold color, but then when it gets warm, the green base turns to white, which makes the dark green glitter really pop out. It dries to kind of a semi-matte finish, but that’s fixable with a top coat. (You can read more about what kind of top coat NOT to use with this polish here.)

The middle one is There’s Snow Place Like Home. This is a dark blue jelly base with a ton, and I mean TON of gold, white and silver glitter in it. All of that glitter makes it kind of a pain to apply, but the end results are like this:

The sparkliness is over-the-top! This is the polish that I’m currently wearing, and I’ve been asked about it so many times.

Tealing No Lies is my final polish. This is amazingly holographic!

I can’t even tell you how many times I forced my husband to admire my nails while I was wearing this. In bright sunlight it is so beautiful that it pretty much just makes you go numb with joy just looking at them. This is definitely one of my favorite polishes of the year. So amazing!

So, that’s all of my nail polish news, but I do have a little review for you in my new section that I’m calling….

Non-Nail News and Reviews

So, compliments of Influenster, I was sent this new antipersperant to try: Dove Dry Spray. This is the stuff with the commercials with people touching their armpits and then snapping. I know, it’s a little weird. This products claims to be dry instantly. I think it’s a little more accurate to say that it’s dry in 5-10 seconds. It has really light sent, sort of like baby powder, but not quite. Pleasant. It also claims to give 48 hour protection. I’m not the type to go 2 days without a shower unless I’m in some sort of camping situation, but I will say that after 24 hours, my pits were still stank free. That’s saying something, because usually I have a little bit of funk going on after 24 hours. The coolest thing about this deodorant, though, is how it made my armpits feel to the touch. Even after a full day, I couldn’t feel any weird residue or anything! My armpit skin just felt clean and smooth and dry! It was in that moment of touching my own armpit that I suddenly got those commercials with people touching their armpits and snapping. After 3 days of testing this deodorant, I switched back to my old deodorant with the plan to use up the old stuff here in the colder months so that I can save my Dove Dry Spray for the warm months. This stuff would be perfect for sleeveless outfits. (Currently the windchill is below zero {Fahrenheit} and I’ve got three layers on, one of which is wool. I think I’m a solid four months away from wearing anything sleeveless. Come on, spring!) This product is $5.47 at Walmart, and I saw in in Rite Aid for over $7, so it’s definitely a little pricy. Definitely worth a try, though if you are in search of the perfect antiperspirant.

Thanks for reading!

Advent Nails

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Janelle

I’m guessing that some of you are super familiar with Advent, while others of you are like, “Wha…?” Advent, which simply means “arrival” is celebrated by Christians for the four weeks leading up to Christmas, Jesus’ arrival. (Yeah, we all know that He wasn’t actually born on December 25, but that’s when we celebrate His birth anyway. Can we please avoid arguments about that? Thanks.) Anyway, each of the four weeks has a theme. Week 1 is hope, week 2 is peace, week 3 is joy, week 4 is love. Lots of churches, including ours will light one candle the first week, 2 candles the second week, etc., and read scripture and/or sing songs that revolve around the week’s theme.

My hubby and I were asked to light the candles and read the scripture for this past week, so I figured that I should have appropriate nails. Here they are:

The gold is Wet n Wild Fergie – Gold Album. I topped it with a multicolored glitter polish. The purple on my middle finger is Gap – Pop Star. I’m pretty sure this polish is more than a decade old. The background color for the candles is Wet n Wild – Echo Dark that I used most recently for a matte jelly sandwich in this post.

Here’s a close up of my ring finger:

Everything on this nail, besides Echo Dark is craft paint.

I’m really happy with how these turned out! They are so festive, but are a nice change of pace from snowmen, reindeer, and Santa.

Thanks for reading!

November Favorites

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Janelle

Wow, it’s December 1st already! That means it’s time to talk about November favorites. Here are the polishes that I was loving last month:

The first one is Wet n Wild Fergie – Gold Album. This is just the prettiest, sparkliest gold polish. I love it more every time I use it! Here I used it for the leaves in this my Golden Leafy Nails.

The base for these nails is NYC – Royal Chic. I am seriously in love with this polish right now. I know I’ve said this before, but it is just the perfect chocolate brown. It’s such a rich color. So dark, but it never looks black. I also used Royal Chic as the base for these next nails:

The polish I’m holding is one of my favorites for November also. It’s Spoiled – Vitamin C. These polishes are available exclusively at CVS for $1.99.

Vitamin C is pretty sheer on its own. It takes about 4 coats to be opaque. It’s almost an orange jelly base with tons of orangey-gold shimmer. I’ve layered it over orange polish in the past, but this is the first time I’ve ever tried to layer it over a darker polish. I was actually really surprised with the results! I fully expected it to add a bright orange shimmer to my nails, but it it really more of a golden – almost greenish – shimmer. I always love to discover that polish I have owned for a while can be worn some new and different way.

Here’s another one of my favorites:

This is NYC – Precious Peacock. This was really sheer and took 4 coats to be opaque, but the results were totally worth it! Such a beautiful shimmery teal polish! Most of the time this polish looked teal on my nails, but there were times when I felt like it was an emerald green. Such a perfect color for this time of year!

I was also a huge fan of this polish:

This is Fresh Paint – Let the Games Begin. In this picture it looks almost navy, but in real life it’s not quite that dark. It’s just a really beautiful creamy blue, and it’s opaque in one coat! I don’t know how much I’ll be wearing this color this month, since I plan to hit the red and green Christmas colors pretty hard, but I’m sure I’ll wear this a bunch in January and February. By the way, the white crelly polish with the colored matte glitter is Funky Fingers – Jawbreaker. The formula is just a little too thick and gloppy for me to call it a favorite.

Lastly, I loved this pale blueish-grey polish last month:

The base for this mani is Fresh Paint – Firefly. The second picture shows it on the right next to a white polish, just to prove that firefly isn’t actually white. Firefly’s formula is a little on the thick side, but it is a one coat polish, which is pretty amazing for a light polish! It’s a great color to us as a base for nail art if you don’t want to use a really stark white. I’m not sure how this color compares to OPI – My Boyfriend Scales Walls, but I think it might be close.

So, those are my favorites for last month! I plan to dive head first into Christmas nail art next. ‘Tis the season!

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Tag Archives: wet n wild

Wet n Wild Summer Collection 2016: Lost in the Wild Flowers

My Polish Collection

Wet n Wild Spring into the Wild Collection (Spring 2016)

February Favorites

Fun Times with Glossy on Matte

My 14 Favorite Polishes of 2014

Frosty Blue Nails

December Favorites

Advent Nails

November Favorites

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