2 True Crystal Nail Polish: Shade 3 Mysterious Turquoise

An update: Nail Envy seems pretty good. At least, after a week of using it, my nubs have 1) failed to completely break all the way back to the quick like they usually do without acrylic overlays, and 2) they seem to have grown. Just a little bit. Also, the new cuticle butter I've been using seems to be helping my poor long suffering cuticles. They're still not perfect but they're getting there!

I've been putting the Nail Envy on religiously but I have to say... I'm bored of looking at my naked nubbins :/
The Nail Envy instructions do hint at the possibility of using nail polish at the same time (it says 'remove along with any nail polish after a week') so I figured it couldn't hurt too much to restore some colour to my nails!

So without further ado I present to you: 2True Crystal Nail Polish, in shade 3.

Now before we start, I'd just like to say I wish companies would stop only using a number to describe their shades instead of a name. It's boring, uninspiring, and uninventive. A little poking around on the 2True website has revealed that this shade is actually called Mysterious Turquoise: still not that inventive, but at least they tried. I'm just not sure why they don't actually put the name on the bottle? It'd make it a lot easier to picture the colour when you don't have the bottle in front of you, for a start.

Anyway, mini rant aside, this polish is from a limited edition collection 2True have released in the run up to Christmas this year. There's 4 shades: a red, a purple, a blue and this turquoise, all are very pretty, vivid jewel toned metallic/shimmer shades, with more than a hint of sparkle and an attractive price tag of £1.99 for 7ml (I got 3 for £4.99 on a special offer deal).

Application is surprisingly good for such a cheapie polish: the first coat is disturbingly sheer and you catch yourself thinking 'oh no... it's going to be an 8-coater'. But appearances are deceptive and it's actually opaque after two coats; I did three for the extra depth of colour. The brush is long and thin and quite narrow, nicely flexible without being floppy, and holds just the right amount of polish for a neat and tidy cuticle line - handy for me at the moment, since whilst my cuticles are recovering from their recent trauma, clean up, and any more acetone than absolutely necessary to remove the mani once I'm done wearing it, are banned!

Drying time is average, though it's touch dry pretty quickly, it's a while longer before you can risk poking it any harder without expecting it to leave a mark. Wear is good; considering my nails are so short now and chip much faster than they did when long, I only got a little wear and no chips after 24 hours even though I didn't use a topcoat. The finish is really good: heaps of really fine grade glitter that catches the light well and gives an eyecatching shimmery metallic effect. There's no hint of brush strokes or patchiness either (once you get past that uber-sheer first coat: brace yourself, it's all going to turn out fine!).

Overall, I really like this polish. It's cheap and cheerful yet with a decent formula: a colour that hasn't been too done to death by the other brands yet, and is pleasantly sparkly, yet with fine enough glitter that removal isn't a big deal. I suspect that the sheerness seen when you only use one coat might make it a good polish for layering, too... some experimentation needed, methinks! It looks pretty festive, without screaming 'Christmas Manicure', and with the trend this season for jewel toned clothes and accessories, you'll get use out of it for more than just the office Xmas do.

The Horror!

They're so short :( and it feels weird! And look how sad my cuticles are! Poor neglected things... They're not enjoying all the work I've been doing .(or the harsh disinfectant foam I'm using at work, evil stuff, ugh). I need to break out the cuticle treatments STAT!

Change is afoot (or should that be a-nail?)

Some nail news for y'all... I'm going to have to cut my nails short! -sob- Life issues at the moment have left me having to do lots of manual work of the kind that makes long nails impractical... and I'd rather cut them short now than rip them off by accident.

Rather than wailing too much about my impending nubbins, I figured it might be a good opportunity to try something new. I have a medical condition that causes my nails to grow very fast, but also ridiculously thin and weak. In their natural state they tear and peel and break off below the quick (yes, that does hurt, a LOT) and I can barely maintain a 1mm free edge, let alone the length they are at now. At the moment, to stop them turning into bloody stumps I have to protect them with a layer of acrylic gel, but quite frankly it's a pain to maintain and it makes swatching difficult, slow and annoying :(

SO... whilst they're short, I'm going to try out an alternative solution that I've heard many other bloggers raving about: OPI Nail Envy. Hopefully this will succeed where many other nail strengtheners have failed me (Mavala, Sally Hansen, I'm looking at you) and I can quit the gel overlays in favour of all natural nails.

The Nail Envy has been ordered... watch this space! (though you may want to avert your gaze for a while if nubbins aren't your thing...)

Wish me luck... I'm a little scared!! Haven't had nubs for over a year!

China Glaze : Secret Peri-wink-le

Good morning! Life's got in the way recently and forced a short break from blogging... sorry for the silence, everyone! I'm back now, and hopefully things will stay quiet(ish) this time!

I thought for my next mani it would be nice to use a polish I've worn a few times before now : Secret Peri-wink-le, from the Operation Color collection by China Glaze.

A gorgeous dusty periwinkle blue creme, this polish differs from my other periwinkle shades (I have several, mostly because it's a colour I can't seem to resist buying) because it leans quite noticeably towards a lilac tone. Of course my camera completely refuses to capture this hint of lilac and would rather make me look like I'm imagining it, but I promise it's there in real life!

The formula is a little odd. It's quite thick and creamy, so you'd think it would have good coverage, but it tends to dry a bit patchy. Two coats can be opaque if you're careful but I had to do three because of patches on a couple of nails. Drying time could be better, probably because of the thickness, but it's not terrible (just don't do it if you're in a rush). On the other hand, application is pretty tidy, the brush is nice (no bells or whistles or funny shapes, but the length and flexibility are good and together with the thicker polish, it allows for good control). I didn't have to clean up this mani at all.

 

The slightly blah formula is more than made up for by the wear. Three coats with no topcoat - three days later and a lot of typing and hand washing have had NO EFFECT on this polish - I kid you not, I have no chips, my cuticle line is intact and there is no tip wear at all! It also dries pretty glossy - this is definitely a polish you can skip the topcoat on, if you want!

Whilst I have you, check out my new shape! I'm testing out a shorter length on my thumb nails - since squares and squovals don't really look right on me, I played around and came up with this kind of almond shape. What do you think looks better? Long and pointy or short almonds?

SpaRitual: Sacred Ground

Hey, lovelies... so I still don't have my new camera,, but I've managed to borrow one so that I can get back to blogging, hurrah! Sorry for the long wait!

I thought I'd celebrate by posting a mani I've been waiting to do for a long time now: Sacred Ground, from the Wilde collection at SpaRitual.

SpaRitual is a brand I have a lot of love for (and a lot of bottles of their polish, too). They're an eco-friendly brand who produce wonderful vegan friendly polishes; all their products are free from synthetic dyes as well as DBP and formaldehyde. They're a 'professional' brand, much bigger in the US than they are here - which means you usually only find their products in salons and spas, although you can buy them online in the UK from SpaRitual UK (very pleasant and helpful people, not at all put off by rabid nail bloggers ringing up to order polish 5 minutes before the end of office hours!).

Normally, SpaRitual have their strength in muted, natural colors and subtle shimmers and glitters (although they have their share of brighter blues and such like, you won't find any eye watering neons or garish glitter you can see from space). But when I saw the press release for their Autumn 2011 collection 'Wilde', my heart skipped a beat. 6 lovely bottles of vivid jewel tones, subtle yet gorgeous glitter and Autumn fruitfulness that made me wish it was already time to be standing by a bonfire, watching fireworks with a hot chocolate in hand (gorgeous nails on display, of course).

Of course, I had to buy all six - and here is the first, Sacred Ground.

Sacred Ground starts off with a charcoal grey/gunmetal coloured base that would be pretty on its own, but then they added lots of fine gold and blue/purple glitter and the whole thing became stunning. It's not garish, the glitter is quite subtle, but get it into sunshine or bright light and you'll be spending a lot of time staring at your nails! My camera didn't like capturing the glitter, so here's a very close up picture of the bottle, blurred, to show it more clearly.

Application is wonderful, considering it's a glitter it still goes on beautifully and dries well, I had no chipping after three days and only a little tip wear (the pictures here are after one day and a lot of typing, basecoat and two coats of polish, plus NO topcoat). The brush is fairly standard shaped but works well, I didn't have to do any clean up at all. It dries pretty smooth, not gritty at all. Removal isn't bad either, it takes a little more effort than a creme but I didn't have to resort to the dreaded tinfoil-and-cotton wool nightmare that glitter can demand.

A closeup of Sacred Ground on the nail. It's much prettier in person (curse you, substandard camera!). You can see some of the blue glitter and how it shines purple in some lights - the gold is the more dominant glitter but the blue definitely holds its own.

Isn't it pretty? I'll definitely be wearing this one again :)

Liebster Blog Award & Top 10 Award

Liebster Blog Award & Top 10 Award

I was tagged just recently by Polish'd Cindy from Nail'd and Polish'd for the Liebster Blog Award & the Top 10 Cosmetics List Award.  Cindy's blog is just wonderful, she takes gorgeous swatches and I wish my nails looked as good as hers! (Plus she has a great name, thanks fellow Cindy!)

1. Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows? Definitely eyeshadows. I don't use shadow very often as I have hooded eyelids and most 'looks' don't work too well on me. I'm trying to learn to cut a crease but for now, my lids mostly stay bare. On the other hand, I never leave the house without at least mascara and preferably eyeliner and I'm pretty sure I'm actually addicted to lipstick ;p

2. Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again? Chop it off! I did that just recently having had it super long for years and it looks SO much better now. I love long hair but on me it just goes stringy and doesn't look good :/

3. Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek? I guess coral but really, I'm scared of blusher and almost never use it.
4. If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or makeup? Clothes
5. Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner or eyeliner as lipstick? Eyeliner as lipstick. Done right, and blended well, black liner with red lipstick can look amazing as part of a gothic look ;)
6. Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora? MAC (though I've never really tried Sephora, don't think we have them here)
7. Would you rather use only one eyeshadow color or one lip color the rest of your life? One eyeshadow.
8. Would you rather wear winter clothes in the summer or summer clothes in the winter? I'm cold blooded - I'd rather be roasting hot than not warm enough. So winter clothes in summer.
9. Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round? I used to only wear dark colours so they are my comfort zone in a way. But I've really got into brights recently, they're so much fun!
10. Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a pony tail or a messy bun? Pony tail
11. Would you rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss? Never use lipgloss
12. Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all? Shave them. That way they will grow back if you change your mind.
13. Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish? Nail polish. It's fun but my face sans makeup scares small children!

Here are the blogs I'm tagging for this award, all are under 300 followers (since this award is for newer/smaller blogs) but they're all lovely little gems and deserve many more - go check them out and give them your support! ^^

Tag:

The Bristol Beauty Blog

Trials & Tribulations of the Tinted Tankadin

Une Ruxi à Paris

Beauty Baby

Beauty She Writes

 "Top 10 Cosmetics" List

**Rules of the Top 10 Award**
1. Thank the person who tagged you and link to their blog.
2. Put the Top 10 Award logo on your blog.
3. List your Top 10 cosmetics.
4. Choose 10 bloggers to tag, link to their blogs, and let them know.

My Top 10

1. Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer

2. 17 Falsifeye Mascara

3. Every single lipstick in the MUA collection!

4. MAC Rebel lipstick

5. Reb'l Fleur Perfume

6. CND Nail Polish 'Wildfire'

7. Essie Nail Polish 'Bordeaux'

8. Essie Nail Polish 'Jazz'

9. Black eyeliner (any kind)

10. Coconut Oil

In addition to the blogs above, I tag:

Nightly Nails

SBTCD

Midnight Manicures

The Unknown Beauty Blog

Aimee Blogs

and anyone else who would like to do this!  Thanks again for the tag Cindy!

I may never swatch again...

...according to the phone/camera delivery company, anyway. They literally send me a DAILY message now, which, summarised, reads 'we know we said you'd get your delivery today, but actually we mean tomorrow, ahaha.'

I've given up waiting (tomorrow never comes!) and have arranged to borrow a camera so that I can get back to blogging again.

I'm hoping to get something up by tomorrow night. Thanks for waiting so patiently :)

In the meantime, I've occupied my time by cataloguing all my nail polishes. I spend far too long deciding which colour to use next, so I'm going to let Random.org decide for me. It's like taking a magical mystery adventure :D