Harmon Face Values Haul

Hi peanuts,

I'll admit. This is kind of a boring, practical haul. I tend to go to Harmon's to stock up on essentials and only occasionally get crazy items at a discount. This haul is a little of both. I'll be doing a Drugstore Product Stalking post for Harmon's soon so you can judge me for not picking up more interesting things.

Three bottles of nail polish remover? Did I go a little overboard? Maybe...? #SorryNotSorry #SorryForTheHashtags Harmon's makes my favorite nail polish remover. I use Zoya for the heavy duty removal like glitters or foils but I don't care what they say, I think the Zoya brand remover dries out my nails. For me, Harmon's makes a gentle polish remover that works great for cremes. I have been out of the stuff for weeks and it sent me into panic mode. Thus, three bottles.

I basically can't go into Harmon's and not buy Seche Vite everytime I remember that it's only between $6-$7 and not $10-$12 like it is in the city. 

I'm a die hard Seche Vite fan but it does thicken up annoyingly when you're halfway through the bottle and sometimes it's full of bubbles. So after a lot of recommendations, I've decided to give Poshe a chance. Despite what everyone has told me, I've hated the Sally Hansen top coats I've tried but maybe this Poshe top coat will be different. We shall see.

And now for the fun purchase. Look at it. It's so shiny I'm going to die. I don't know if gold leaf nails are over. I don't really care. I have a flakie from Essie and Zoya Maria Luisa but none of them are dupes for this bottle of gorgeousness. I saw L'Oreal 24-carat and had to have it.

And back to the boring. I'm a gel liner girl but I've picked up a lot of pencil liners lately and they need to be sharpened. Of course I've misplaced my tarte sharpener somewhere so I decided to just pick up another sharpener in the meantime while I look for it.

I think this is supposed to be their take on a konjac sponge. I had a konjac sponge that I got at The Face Shop for around $5 but it got destroyed with hair dye. I do not want to talk about it. I don't know how well this will work but I'm willing to give it a shot.

REVIEW of Pure Ice Nail Polish in First Love With SWATCHES

Hello love bugs,

Full disclosure, I'm in a weird mood today. Anyway, let's put that aside to talk about another one of the polishes I purchased in my San Gennaro polish haul, Pure Ice Nail Polish in First Love. I've never come across Pure Ice polishes before as they are Walmart exclusive and there are no Walmart's near me.

Color: First Love is a white shimmer polish. It's a soft sheer color like a cream satin with a slight pink undertone. It can also throw off a little green but I think that's just when I get it around technology and it's reflecting off some of those colors because this is definitely not a duochrome. If you'd like I can do a comparison with Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Confetti I <3 U as those are the closest colors I have in my collection. I don't hate First Love but it's not really a stunner for me. I just wanted to take it easy after cutting my nails super short and wanting to get my manicure over with very quickly late at night. It's at those times that I really reach for the nude polishes or the inky dark polishes because application is usually a breeze.
Formula: The polish is sheer but it's not super thin. The consistency and viscosity are about the same as a standard creme polish that doesn't have a notably thin or thick formula.
Application: As expected, the first coat went on super smoothly. The second coat also went on smoothly. You have to pay a little bit of attention and make sure you're aligning your brushstrokes so all the lines are pointed in the same direction as this does show brushstrokes a little but I had no issues with getting nice even layers. I also liked the brush. It was firm but flexible with the bristles spreading nicely to get flush with the skin. At three coats, the polish was not opaque but I think this is one of those polishes where you're not going to get full opacity. The manicure was very even though.

CONCLUSION: I think this polish is prettier in the bottle than it is on the nail. It still has that pearlescent, satiny quality on the nail but you lose a lot of the depth because it is on the sheerer side. If you just cannot deal with visible nail line, this is not the polish for you. I may try layering it in the future even though that's something I generally don't do. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see this layered over black polish or some color. This isn't that special of a polish but if you like the look of these kinds of sheer opalescent polishes, application was excellent, so I would recommend checking this out. I was impressed at how smooth it looked and I think that stopped the polish from looking as cheap as it actually was. If you're going to go for a sheer, pearlescent polish totally go for the one that's only a dollar or two and has a really easy application with great results.

Please consider making your next purchase at amazon.com through one of my links. Regardless of what you purchase, as long as you start your shopping trip by clicking one of the links of my page, I will get a small percentage of the revenue at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support.

SWATCHES

REVIEW of Color Club Nail Lacquer in 1000 Silver Lake With SWATCHES

Hi guys,

Real talk for a second? What's going on? My polish reviews have been doing really poorly lately and I have no idea why. I would really appreciate it if you could give me some feedback in the comments. Is it the brands I'm picking? The colors? It's much more difficult for me to test products and write reviews for makeup, hair care, and possibly books and movies in the future so I'm going to need a little help figuring out what you want from the polish reviews that dominate on this blog. I always love to read your comments but I am in particular need of some insight right now. Right, back on track. Color Club Silver Lake is another one of the polishes I picked up in my recent San Gennaro polish haul.

Color: Color Club Silver Lake is a pale gray creme polish. When I say pale gray, I mean pale gray. It's almost off white. If you ask in the comments I'll do another gray polish comparison but I'm fairly certain this is the lightest gray creme that I own. There's no real mystery to this one. It's gray. It always looks gray. Sunlight, fluorescent lighting, etc. it's still gray. I think it's a nice alternative to a stark white polish and a good option if you're drawn to white polishes but you want a softer look.
Formula: The formula doesn't seem too thick but it was threading and I had some application issues.
Application: When I went to apply the first coat of Silver Lake, the polish was threading as I pulled the brush from the bottle. The threads were short and didn't hold together that long. The first coat of polish went on fairly smoothly, without any drag, but a bit streaky with the the brush creating ridges in the polish. However, I was impressed with the opacity in the first coat. The polish wasn't completely opaque but the opacity was higher in the first coat than it usually is with the first coat of a polish. Because the formula didn't seem thick to me, I wasn't sure what was affecting the application but with the second coat I was also struggling with the formula. There was no drag but it was hard to even out the polish. The final results turned out OK but the polish clearly applied unevenly. Also, full disclosure, I had to redo two of my nails. I redid my ring finger and thumb. I only needed two coats of polish for full opacity with my short nails and the Seche Vite I applied as my top coat did help to even things out a little. As for painting with my nondominant hand, things were a little more difficult. The ridges were deeper because I have less control with that hand and the final results looked a little messier.
Wear: I wore this polish for four days. In that time I experienced a little bit of tip wear but no chipping. For some reason the polish on my right hand got very dirty like lint was embedded in it. But the dirt didn't attach itself to the nail while it was wet but in the second or third day I was wearing this polish. There were also small dents that looked like popped bubbles. There was no damage like this on the nails of my left hand. I removed the polish because I was getting a bit bored of the color and the damage was preying on my obsessive nature.

CONCLUSION: All in all, this isn't a polish I'd enthusiastically recommend. I like the idea of a light gray polish but the formula is tricky and definitely not for beginner's. You might be able to get away with it if you brought it to a salon but even then, I think it'll be difficult to get a nice, even manicure with this polish. Only get this polish if you're absolutely in love with the color.

Please consider making your next purchase at amazon.com through one of my links. Regardless of what you purchase, as long as you start your shopping trip by clicking one of the links of my page, I will get a small percentage of the revenue at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support.

SWATCHES

REVIEW of Color Club Nail Lacquer in Halographic With SWATCHES

Hello darlings,

I think I just fell in love. No, I'm not about to turn this into a dating/wedding blog. The object of my affections is a nail polish, specifically Color Club Nail Lacquer in Halo-graphic. I introduced you to KBShimmer In Bare Form a little while ago, but this is my first real holo polish. And I adore it. I purchased this polish on a whim as part of my San Gennaro polish haul not thinking much of it and hoping to maybe layer it with some of the pink glitters I have but never use. I am shocked by how much I love this color as someone who normally doesn't like pinks. Guys, I'm gushing. I need to stop.

Color: Color Club Halographic is a holographic medium pink polish. I would call it a cool-toned pink but it can get a little warmer depending on the lighting. It can also veer towards more of a silvery lavender purple. The holo is absolutely blinding in direct mid-afternoon sunlight and I love it. It's been a while since I've worn an attention polish and I didn't know how much I needed to wearing one. The color reminds me of 60's futurism and Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. The holo is always fairly visible but generally I think it's stronger the more natural light there is.
Formula: The formula is not noticeably thin or thick.
Application: I applied three coats of this polish. I have no complaints about application. All three coats went on very smoothly. The polish did fail a light test at three coats meaning light could still pass through my nails but you can't tell that the polish isn't fully opaque because of the holo effect. I personally wouldn't bother applying a fourth coat just to get full opacity. I was a bit concerned about whether top coat would affect the holo so I only applied it to my ring fingernail and pinky fingernail. I don't think there's any difference.
Wear: I wore this polish for 6 days. In that time I experienced considerable tip wear but no chipping. I'd guess that was due to this being a little sheer and because I didn't apply top coat to two of my nails. Now, when I say considerable tip wear that just means more than normal as I usually don't experience any damage to my nails.

CONCLUSION: I would totally recommend this polish. I think it's gorgeous. The application is easy and while you don't get 100% full opacity, it's not noticeable.

SWATCHES

REVIEW of KBShimmer Nail Lacquer In Bare Form With SWATCHES

Hello chickadees,

Just to clarify, the polish is called "In Bare Form." I thought there might be some confusion as I usually write "in" before the polish names in the titles of the review posts. Anyway, this is another one of the KBShimmer polishes I picked up in my small haul. Let's Not Coral wasn't a big hit with me but I was hoping for better things from In Bare Form.

Color: In Bare Form is a nude holographic polish. I think the best way to describe the color of this polish is sand. I don't mean beige or yellow. To me, this polish perfectly evokes the color of actual sand. The holo is not super strong with this polish. I couldn't figure out the perfect ratio of indoor lighting and direct sunlight but regardless, this polish looks very different depending on the lighting conditions. Sometimes it's a very flat sandy color with gold and silver shimmer that reminded me a little of Essie Mochacino. At times there's a slight rainbow shimmer but not a true holo. And at times you get the true holo effect. Also, depending on the light source, sometimes this polish can lean a little more gray. I wish the holo effect were stronger but I kind of liked this polish anyway. For me, with my skintone, it ended up being a cool twist on mannequin hands. It also a little dead on me but don't tell me that in the comments.
Formula: The formula was thick.
Application: The first coat applied very smoothly. I had to even out the polish a bit with the brush but there were no issues. The first coat was sheer but very shimmery. The second coat also applied very smoothly and upped the opacity quite a bit though the polish the was still not opaque. The third coat required a bit more evening out but the polish still went on smoothly. However, the polish still totally failed a light test and was not opaque at three coats which is generally my limit except for special cases.

CONCLUSION: I would not recommend this polish. I might have said yes if this polish were more easily accessible or cheaper but you can do better. Application was smooth but it's unacceptable for a polish like this to not be opaque at three coats and a holographic polish should produce a stronger holo effect. Unless your object is a more subtle holo polish that's on the sheer side, I would skip In Bare Form.

SWATCHES

SWATCHES of CND Vinylux Weekly Polish in Azure Wish

Hello bunnies!

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you for so long. I've been caught up with work and writing and various means of procrastination. Also, just to keep you updated I've been to the doctor and as far as I know, everything's fine. Even without medication or treatment my foot seems to be healing nicely. I may not be that strong to begin with but I'm pretty resilient. Anyway, I thought I'd take advantage of this lull in the craziness to show off some swatches of CND Vinylux Weekly Polish in Azure Wish. The reason this isn't a proper review is that I didn't do this manicure myself. I had it done for me when I popped into Cosabella for the Lucky Shop Out NYC event.

Now, even though I didn't apply this polish myself I'm still able to remark that it went on rather streaky and patchy and was not even at three coats. The big selling point of this polish seems to be that it'll last a full week to which I say "pfft." I used to wear polishes for weeks at a time, maybe even a whole month, back in high school with the only issue being growth at the cuticles. Now, I wore this polish for five days and in that time wear wasn't really an issue but then again it started off looking patchy so I'm not sure why I should care that it didn't chip in the five days I had it on. The color is a pretty light blue somewhere between sky blue and robin's egg blue. There is a slight shimmer but it's really not that noticeable. I'd say it's cousins with polishes like Essie Sweet Talker and Sinful Colors Cinderella though the shimmer is closer to Sweet Talker than Cinderella.

SWATCHES