Recycle, Reuse, Reduce – A Manicure Refresh

July 19, 2013happyjoylove Brand/Product Reviews and Comparisons, Dotting, Glitter/Holographic, Stamping Leave a comment

The polish from my “Holo Racing Stripe” manicure stayed on so well after five days that I decided to just do some stamping on top to give it a fresh look. I’m not sure whether it lasted so well because of the polish, the topcoat, my “Making Your Mani Last” procedure or the perfect storm of all three. Each hand is a little different, but I think they both turned out fun. The two colors I used for stamping are Pure Ice “Silver Mercedes” and Sally Hansen’s “Sonic Bloom” – both work really well with stamping, although the Sonic Bloom stamping on the glitter accent came out textured. The stamping plate I used was the Cheeky Jumbo Plate A. No topcoat on these bad boys.

Left Refresh

Right Refresh

Super Sparkle Thumb With Dots

What do you do to “refresh” your manicures?

Holo Racing Stripe – Plus Seche Vite vs Orly Sec ‘n Dry

July 15, 2013happyjoylove Brand/Product Reviews and Comparisons, Glitter/Holographic, Taping Leave a comment

I feel like I should go drive a fast car right now! The original plan for this set was to do stamping on top of the colors, but I liked the simple look so much that I stopped while I was ahead. I feel like the racing stripe on the thumb really makes this manicure pop and I can’t stop staring!

Also, I’m officially in love with holographic nail polish and now I know I’m going to want more. I picked up this LA Splash “Sparkling Torpedo” at Bed Bath and Beyond on a whim to get my order up so I could use a $5 off coupon. It was fairly solid at 2 coats, but I did a third for good measure. Well worth the $3! The coral-reddish color is 3 coats of Milani “Just Peachy”, which I found at the dollar store – totally worth it, this color is fabulous. It’s super shimmery and applied really smooth (not thick), but doesn’t dry super glossy so use a topcoat for extra shine.

My Seche Vite topcoat is almost out so on the same trip I picked up Orly’s Sec ‘n Dry to see how it compares. I used Orly on most of my fingers, but the pinky’s got the dregs of the Seche. I think the Seche drys slightly faster, is also slightly glossier, but thicker so potentially more difficult to apply. The Orly polish is toulene free (it still smelled strong) and applied smoothly. I bumped a nail probably 10-20 minutes after application and got a small smudge, so for now I will say that I think Seche probably still does a better job. I’ll keep an open mind since I have only tried the Sec ‘n Dry once.

Which fast dry topcoat do you prefer?

Summer Brights – A Neon Adventure

July 15, 2013happyjoylove Brand/Product Reviews and Comparisons, Dotting Leave a comment

This mani was both fun and frustrating. The fun part is that I love the design and I love the colors; the frustrating part is that I used some no-name brands, which resulted in difficulty painting as well as the polish rippling once I added the top coat.

The green nails are painted with 3 coats of Summer Brights Pastel Collection “Light Creme Green Mint” (a bottle I picked up at CVS). I have to say I’m in love with this green; the camera just doesn’t capture how the color softly glows and I love that it’s bright without being obnoxious. It applied a little uneven so it took the three coats to get a solid look. It’s topped with dots of blue Expressions “Mint” and purple China Glaze “Neon Flying Dragon. Seche Vite base and topcoats.

Sally Hansen Coral Reef, Sonic Bloom, China Glaze New Dragon (Neon), Expressions Mint

The orange nails have a Sally Hansen “White On” base, then two coats of the orange-scented Ross-obtained Expressions “Orange”. They’re topped with dots in Sally Hansen’s “Sonic Bloom” and “Coral Reef”. PSA – Don’t ever buy the Expressions brand polish – actually, if you want to buy it for a little girl I’m sure that would be great because they’re cheap and scented with pretty simple ingredients, but the polish didn’t apply evenly and when the top coat was applied it became horrible mess…it never really dried completely.

To do this design all you need is something to make dots with. You can either drop a couple dollars for an actual dotting tools set or if you’re like me and not willing to spend the $1.50, just stick some pins into the eraser end of a pencil or grab some toothpicks.

The design reminds me of something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it, maybe cartoon dinosaur eggs? Even with the cheap no name polish issues I’m still happy with the way this turned out.

What’s your favorite cheap polish?