That last time out for this Sinful Colors Nail Polish

Have you ever had a nail polish that was hard to let go of? For me it is the Sinful Colors in Ruby Glisten (#1300). This Nail Polish has been with me for a long time and it is always the polish I say, maybe not just yet to when a declutter comes along.

I don’t think Sinful colors makes this exact shade any more. I can’t find it on their website, but I can find it on Amazon. The Amazon link will take you to the specific shade I am talking about and the other links will just take you to the Sinful Colors website (not n affiliate)

This shade of red is not just a shade of red. It is a red that has the glitter embedded in the shade. It actually reminds me more of the automotive paint that was on my brother’s favorite Hot Wheels Car growing up.

And while the look of that is something I like, I really love that the polish is flat and not bumpy from glitter and that when it is time to remove the polish it comes off like regular nail polish not like glitter nail polish. There is no scrubbing hard to get those last little bits of glitter off of the fingertips. It comes off, nice and easy.

The applicator brush is a little on the thin side so you will need several strokes to cover the nail. The first coat of this polish comes out watery looking. To get the intense red that I have on my nails took three coats. It does dry relatively quickly though so by the time you have finished painting both hands with one coat, it is time to apply the second. And then when you finish with the second, you will have to wait a little bit longer before adding the third. Then the third takes a little longer to dry. There is a very slight texture to the nail polish. Not as much as normal glitter polish, but a slight texture. That goes away with a clear top coat.

The clear top coat will make the polish last a longer time without chipping, naturally because it is a top coat. It will also last longer because the top coat makes it perfectly smooth so there is nothing to snag on anything. I generally find that if I don’t have a clear coat on then when i do something like wash dishes, the color will start to fade a bit and the sparkle to dim. I really think that is just because of the slight texture causing it to be abraded more easily. With a top coat this isn’t a problem and I can get a good week out out the Sinful Colors Nail polish. (as long as there is no gardening involved, no polish survives the garden).

This brand came out with affordable Nail polish in the 1990s (1991 is I think when they released their first line). At one time I had a huge collection of their polishes as they were good and affordable. I made them last by getting the best base coat and best top coat I could and then used inexpensive nail polishes for color. which I still recommend doing if you want to get the best out of any nail polish. A good base smooths out the nail bed so the polish lays flat and then a top coat locks it in place. You can actually get a lot more mileage out of inexpensive nail colors with this trick.

Alas, this is the last Sinful Colors in my collection. My grocery store stopped selling them and as I generally picked them up on a whim when I was grocery shopping, I stopped picking them up. While I am sure that I will at some point pick up more of their nail polishes, it is time for this one to go. Ruby Glisten is no longer in production and the top is getting a bit gloppy. What is worse is that it is now getting a little gloppy when applied to the nails. It is time for this nail polish to retire from the field of battle. It is a fantastic shade, it was a good affordable polish, but I think I might have had this bottle close to ten years now and it is mostly empty. It is time to let it go.

Nails: Mineral Fusion Mauve Ur Hips (430)

I have used the Mineral Fusion Nail Polish Remover for a while now. It is acetone free and it it really takes the nail polish off without damaging my nails, which I really appreciate. This is the travel sized bottle which I filled up last time I traveled and have been using up. Now it seems I am getting ready to fill it up again. I know I am only going to be gone for the weekend, but my mother for some reason doesn’t have nail polish remover and somehow expects that i always will. She now has the one hand as the other was amputated last year and she really likes getting her nails done. She usually goes to the salon nearby but likes when I do them when I am home. Hence the traveling nail polish remover.

It is a really good polish remover. You have to work a little extra to get glitter off, but what nail polish remover doesn’t? I love putting glitter polish on. I hate taking glitter polish off.

But I don’t have to worry about that today. Today I used the Mineral Fusion Nail Polish in Mauve ur Hips. I thought it looked lovely and went with my soon it’s Easter vibe. My babydoll thinks that it makes my fingernails look vaguely corpse like.

Isn’t he sweet?

I should also point out that the only person who ever wore makeup or nail polish in his family was is grandmother. She only wore red nail polish and 1950s style makeup and therefore all nail polish (and lipstick) should be bright red or it is listed as weird.

I will admit that the mauve is a little bit darker than a bright lavender would be but I like it. And I will use this shade all year round rather than just at Easter. It just seemed Easter-y to me.

One of the things I do like about this polish is that it covers with just one coat. That’s right, all of the colors I have tried whether they are deep and dark shades or light and bright cover my nails with just one coat.

It means less product used with each polish. Which means the polish in the bottle lasts longer. And with one coat it dries faster so there is less likely a chance for me to mess the nails up while they are still wet. Which I have to say is a common occurrence. It never fails, as soon as I polish my nails I will find I have an itch or suddenly have to go to the bathroom. So the quicker the polish dries, the less chance I have to mess it up. As with all polish it does need a top coat to extend it’s life. The picture is without the top coat on so you can get a feel for the polish on it’s own. Without the top coat i looks good but i generally only have a day or two without chips if I don’t add the top coat and I like to do my nails only once a week if I can.

I really enjoy this polish and I like that it is available at Publix so I can add a shade when i am shopping. There are, of course, way more shades on the Mineral Fusion website, but I do like the option of in person selection. Over all I am very happy with my selection even if someone else I know is frowning that my nails aren’t cherry red.

Nail Care | Flawless Application, Vegan Formula. Long Lasting Polishes & Treatments

Nails: Ohora Semicured Gel Nails

This week I did something different. I went with the Ohora Semi-cured Gel nails. I have always liked the thought of gel nails, but at the same time I was leery of the thickness of them and the fact that you had to get someone else to put them on and take them off.

At the moment, Ohora has a sale. Buy three and get one free on select designs.

I will occasionally wear press on nails for events but for me they aren’t an everyday thing. I simply spend way too much time typing for them to be comfortable. I do have pretty good natural nails, I just can’t let them grow past a certain point because the clicking on the keyboard irritates me and I find working with them a little clunky. I some how equated gel nails to more or less the same thing.

The Ohora semi-cured Gel nails are something different though. They come in a package and look like nail stickers. Basically that is what they are. Each pack contains enough for two manicures. There are two sheets of sixteen nails . So you have sizes to choose from and there are one or two you can sort of practice with if you mess up.

I expected to mess up more than I did. I actually didn’t mess up any of the nails to the point where I couldn’t use them.

There is one piece of specialized equipment needed. It is the gel lamp to harden the gel nails and make them fully cured. Right now with your first order you can get the gel lamp for free. They do sell them independently for $20. This was my first order from them so I did get the gel lamp. It has a USB port and it folds up to save space. If you press the button in then the blue lights go on for 45 seconds and your fingers get a little warm as the nails cure. Then after 45 seconds it goes off. If you want a longer cure you hold the button down a little longer and it will go on for 60 seconds. I really like the fact that it automatically turns off when it is done.

I really wanted to make sure they were done so I went with the 60 second cure which worked perfectly.

I did have some concerns with my right hand so I started with my left. For me I peeled the sticker off the back, placed it on the nail, tripped the sticker down and then proceeded to the second nail. You want to leave them a little longer than the nail. After I had all of the nail stickers on each hand I cured the hand. The gel became harder and stiffer and felt like actual nails. I then took the nail file to the tops of the gel nails and filed them down so everything was smooth and even. I was very impressed with the way they turned out actually.

But then came the nails for the right hand. I was thrilled that there were a few extra nails because I expected to make a mess when putting everything on my right hand. The stickers themselves were not hard to apply. It was the trimming I was really worried about. I do not have left handed scissors and even with left handed scissors I am not so very good at cutting things with my left hand. After trimming them down my left hand looked quite a bit more jagged than my left hand had.

I decided to call it an experiment and put my hand under the gel lamp. The nails cured and then i went to work with the file. Because they were messier they took longer to file. Unless you are ambidextrous or do this often then that is just what is going to happen. One hand is naturally going to take a little longer than the others. In the end though, they looked really nice and I am thrilled with the way they turned out. I am having no problems with the nails as I work. It feels like my own nails with polish on them.

The color I chose was called N Felice. I chose it because I really like the subtle soft gray with the sparkle at the base of the nail bed. I also liked the more dramatic colors with the sparkle, but these seem suited for daily use. I love that the glitter is encapsulated so when i run my finger over the top of the nail it is smooth and there is no glitter fall out as I work. there will be no shedding of glitter causing unwarranted sparkles.

I think for me, these are actually a better alternative than false nails as I don’t feel like they are false and can work with them as though they were natural nails. Perhaps that is what gel nails do. All of the ones I have seen looked a little thick and heavy for my liking. These are light and feel durable. As I just put them on, there is no wear showing, however time will tell. If they still look good next Tuesday I will do a check in and leave them in place. The cost for these ranges between $14-16 per pack. Each pack will give you two full manicures. So that is about $7-8 per manicure. Which isn’t bad at all. Now that I have the gel lamp I am going to be looking into more of these to have around for different occasions. I love the look of them. Time will tell how long they last, but even if they just look good for a weekend event, that is well worth the price. At the moment, I am quite honestly in love with these Ohora Semi-cured gel nails. ho would have thought it would be this easy to do at home?

OHORA Semi- Cured Gel Nails. Check out the amazing variety of manicure and pedicure styles available today!

Nails: Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup

Recently I have been running through and using my newer nail polishes. Mostly because I just signed up for a quarterly nail polish subscription so i have new polishes coming in. This weekend I decided to go for the oldest polish in my collection. This is the Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup Nail Polish in the shade in Gemstone Chrome. I am certain this has been discontinued. It is all over e-bay but i can’t find it for sale. There do seem to be two updated versions from Sally Hansen, one is in the Miracle Gel formula (I love this formula and have it in several shades so I will probably end up picking up the chrome to try out) They also have something called Color Foil which also looks like it could be a good replacement.

While I do like this polish as a polish I also like it when I actually do decorations on my nails. I am only good at the basic polka dot, but I am working on branching out. If you have a dark polish and use this Chrome for detail it really pops.

I decided to go ahead and review this even if it is discontinued in case anyone looks at picking them up and also as a reminder to myself when I pick up the updated version, because I’m pretty sure I am going to.

this polish has made it through every declutter of my nail polishes I have made. It is a purple tinted chrome. I think one of the reasons I really like it is not just because of the color, but because it has a thin brush. I like a lot of the thicker brushes however I find that I am a lot neater in my nail polish application if I use a thinner brush. ,This brush is long and thin however it also has enough of the polish on the thin brush that I do not have to dip again. One dip into the bottle will gather enough polish to cover the nail, which is also important as it means there is no drying as I re dip the brush to get more polish. I almost always end up with an uneven look when I have to do that.

So the brush is good and the color fabulous. I love the metallic look. This is a polish that does require a top coat. If it doesn’t get a top coat over it then it will have about two days before it kind of looks a bit trashed.

One of the things I find interesting though, is how this wears. For some reason it doesn’t chip like other polishes but seems to wear in striations along the brush lines. It is almost as though it is spreading out and the lines from the brush just become separate. When you polish your nails don’t show the brush lines. they just show up as the polish wears out. They are there a little when the polish is still wet. In the top photo with the bottle the polish is still wet and you can see a little of the lines. In the lower thumb photo the polish is dry.

And then in the final pick you can see the wear lines. With a good top coat, this polish lasts for the week and looks fantastic. It is a great chrome color that covers in just one coat. It will not fill in any dips in your nails. It is a thinner polish so if you have texture on your nails you might want to look at a base coat.

This polish has made it through every declutter I have done in my nail polishes because it is just a favorite. I will be trying out the updated version but if you happen to come across a bottle of this, it is well worth picking up. Whether on a single coat (under a protective top coat) or used to create decorative designs on top of a darker color, this is a good polish to have around.

Nails: Orly Nail Lacquer in Oh Darling

Okay I know I mentioned this in the last couple of nail polish posts, but i recently subscribed to the Orly Color Pass quarterly Nail subscription. The only thing from Orly that i tried in the past was their base coat which I really liked so i was hoping their nail polishes would be nice as well. Plus I also discovered that when i cleared out the duplicate colors and crusty old unusable bottles, I had far fewer polishes than I thought and many in the same basic range. So I thought it would be a good way to branch out. The Spring 2023 Collection was called Hopeless Romantic.

There were several shimmery shades that I gravitated towards because I simply couldn’t resist and I realized I needed to test out at least one of the solid shades before the next quarter’s subscription was charged. After all the subscription is only worth keeping if I like the polish, right?

So today I chose the red of Oh Darling to try out.

I want you to look at this nail. You see it all nice and red and shiny. Do you know what? That is one coat. I know right? I did go back with a top coat later, but this was just the one coat of Orly polish.

No here is the thing. I am sure after seeing a lot of these pictures you realize that I am not a professional nail artist. In fact I am far from a professional nail artist. I am also pretty messy when it comes to painting my nails. Mostly because when i was youngest i realized if I was a little messy and lt my nails dry completely, then took a shower and washed my hair, the shampoo and hair washing as well as water would actually neaten up my efforts. It is less laziness and more of a consolation to encourage practice I suppose.

The thing is that the fewer coats I have to put on the neater my polish is. After all this finger nail doesn’t look half bad. Part of it is that I sometimes don’t wait long enough between coats. I get in a rush and if you don’t wait between coats it can look gloppy. I know this and yet, I still often rush. Pluss there is always the sudden need to do something with my hands that sometimes wrecks my polish before it is dry. Hence why I like a lot of quick drying polishes. This wasn’t quick drying. The Orly does take a little while to dry. It isn’t a really long time, but it isn’t an insta dry polish either. What really helped me out was that I only needed one coat to get this fabulous cherry red.

I like the polish and it makes me quite optimistic about trying out future polishes. I am not even more excited to see what next quarters Orly Subscription holds. I am also really pleased to actually have a classic cherry red polish in my collection. I have a few berry shades but nothing classically red. I think it is a welcome addition to my collection.

Nails: Orly Nail Lacquer in Serendipity

I know, you look at the above picture and you think, Oh my there needs to be some clean up done there,” I get it, and I did the clean up, but i wanted to to show it there. So let’s get into it.

This was one of the nail polishes that came in my Orly Color Pass subscription box (Sprint 2023). It is the Hopeless Romantic Collection and this is Serendipity. There were a mix of solids and shimmers in the collection but I couldn’t resist starting on the shimmers.

In the bottle, I love this color. On the nails it is a lighter blue and it took four coats to get it to this opacity. While the nail polish can be built up to a solid color that I really ended u liking. I think it might be designed to serve as a more translucent overlay.

With the single coat on my nails I find myself thinking that this would look good over a really solid matte shade.

I also began to think that maybe that was what the nail polish was designed for and trying to use it as a single shade might be a mistake.

With these polishes there is no real designation. They all simply say Lacquer on the bottle. I know many of my other nail polishes do the same. Some you can tell are just sheer polishes meant for something underneath, with this it looked like it could be an actual color in the bottle.

As I put the second coat on my nails it began to look like an actual color on it’s own and not something that I would have to wear over another shade. Although truthfully, I could see this brushed thinly over so many colors. I have a black polish this would look stunning over and a bright red that would look lovely as well. I was pleased though that it was starting to look solid.

Then I went for the third coat.

In all fairness I should have stopped with the third coat. It gives me a really nice solid color. While the edges are a bit messy it just takes a moment of clean up and I would be fine.

With this polish, the brush more or less covers the nail in one swipe and the polish is a little on the thin side. I think that is why the first layer was so transparent. It is this thinness of polish that led me to think that a fourth coat might be a good idea.

The picture at the top is coat number four. Do I like the color? Yes. I love the color and i like the depth of color that the fourth coat gave. However it was a mistake. You can see it has gone a little gloppy looking and doesn’t look as fabulous as it should with four coats.

Hence the reason I left the gloppy picture at the top. Sometimes we must all acknowledge out mistakes. I got color greedy and went one layer too far. Three layers works well with this polish. Four is a step too far. The polish becomes heavy and a bit on the gloppy side. Perhaps if I waited longer so that the polish underneath wasn’t just dry to the touch but sort of air cured for an hour before putting on that fourth coat, but I didn’t wait that long. And honestly, probably will never wait that long. Sometimes you have to know yourself.

after these photos I couldn’t take the gloppy look and took the polish off and went back for three coats. The three coat color was just right with no glop. The polish is durable and could use a top coat. I was hesitant to apply it so I decided to try it without the top coat. It is holding up well but it would be better with a top coat. Next I will be trying the more solid colors from the brand and we shall see if they need as many coats or not. In the end while I love the coat serendipity on it’s own, I think I may use it more as a thin wash of sparkle over something else more often than I will wear it alone. It is a lovely shade and from the way my brain is already trying to pair it with other colors in my collection, I know I will get a lot of use from it. Thus far I am liking the Orly Nail Polishes. I just need to practice a little self restraint.

Nails: Deco Miami and Sally Hansen

As you all know I love doing my nails at home. Don’t get me wrong I love being pampered at the nail salon, however there is just something about going to the rack of polishes and choosing the color that suits you at the moment. Which is something i absolutely love.

Recently I have realized that it has been a long time since i have gone through my nail polishes. There are duplicate shades, polishes I don’t use and some that are so old that they can’t really be used. This weekend I actually reached for a polish only to find it was a solid block rather than a liquid polish. So i went through and threw out a bunch of them. I also got rid of a bunch of duplicates. I tend to not reach for duplicates so they were new (never used) so I passed them along.

It turns out I have a lot less nail polish than i thought i did.

Which is nice because i am going to be trying out a nail polish subscription soon. But that is another post.

Today I am trying another of the Deco Miami polishes. I recently picked up a trio of them from IPSY because I had never tried anything from the brand before and I liked the colors. I tried the green one on it’s own with no top coat or anything last week. This week I went for a purple shade called Not Your Fortune Teller. I ended up topping it with Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gel in Five Golden Blings, but we will get to that in a second.

First Deco Miami. This polish has a short brush which is harder to control (at least for me) than a regular length polish brush. I can see why it is short from the shape of the bottle. It is also hard to pick up product on the brush. I had to dip in twice to get each nail polished. I really like getting enough product on the brush with one dip so it is less streaky.

The first coat was streaky, but i knew i would need at least two to three coats from my use of the Green from this trio. So I applied a second coat. The color coverage was really patchy. So I added a third coat. I really liked the pigment color of the polish, but it still looked uneven to me. The color simply wasn’t evening out. It is a thin polish so three coats wasn’t too heavy on the nails.

I think the thinness of the polish is why it looks a little streaky. I like the color, but the uneven ness was going to drive me crazy. So I reached for one of my Miracle Gel toppers from Sally Hansen. I love these toppers They are like shimmer eyeshadows for your nails. The Gold worked well with the purple and has flecks of green as well which I liked and provided a nice durable top coat, extending the length of time I could wear the Deco Miami polish. It is a polish that needs a top coat if it is going to last more than a couple of days.

With the uneven color I was not going to be able to wear this without a topper. It is a nice deep color that does take a sparkly polish well. I just can’t wear it on it’s own. To be honest, this more or less proved the value of Sally Hansen but didn’t do much for my opinion of Deco Miami.

Nails: Art Deco Miami

This is going to be a little bit different for one of my nail posts, simply because this is a new to me brand of polish. I know I have far too many nail polishes and I am going through them to clear out the duplicates, but I did see this trio of nail polishes on IPSY and had to pick them up because I was curious about the brand.

They are from Deco Miami and I thought the bottles looked nice. Plus the shades were shades of Green Purple and Red that i didn’t have in my collection so I figured why not. For the first try out I went with the green. It is a dark green and is actually named Bad Reputation.

the bottle looks pretty although the lid is definitely a metal look plastic. I will admit that I am not always the neatest when polishing my nails. My plan is usually to paint my nails, let them dry fully and then let the shower that night help me tidy up the edges. However even with that, I am fairly competent with the nail polish brush.

This polish was interesting. It has a really long handle as you can see, but a really short brush. It is obvious why given the shape of the bottle, but the really shore brush made it a little bit harder to apply so I was messier than usual with my application.

While i know that a top coat is essential for keeping the polish looking fresh throughout the week, as I had not tried this polish before I wanted to give it a bit of a trial on it’s own before seeing how it worked with a top coat.

The polish took two coats to apply before it looked solid. I probably should have added a third coat, but I generally test with two a that is my standard. I generally find if I have to add more than two coats and then put a top coat on then it is just going to be too thick and I will pick at it. I think next time though, I will try three coasts as this seems to need it.

It also needs a top coat. I painted my nails on Sunday and after two days without a top coat it looks like a week’s worth of wear. In fact i will be taking it off tonight. I will be trying another shade from the brand to see how I like it. But I can’t take this beat up polish longer than today.

I do like the depth of color. I think that it will always be messy to apply because of the shape of the brush, but it is workable. I think it needs three coats for color coverage and it definitely needs a protective top coat. I don’t have this color so I think it is worth playing around with. i still have the other two colors in the trio to try, but at the moment I am not so certain I would purchase additional polishes from Deco Miami.

Nails: Expressie and Sally Hanson Gel

You know I do my nails at home about once a week and to be honest, my nail polish collection has become a bit much. I will pick up a nail polish pretty much anywhere I go. I have some that are drugstore polishes, some I picked up at TJMAXX, and some I have ordered. I have nail polishes in pretty much every price range, along with assorted other nail products (press ons, gels etc). There are also polishes I have picked up due to subscription boxes.

All of which means I have repeat shades. So I decided to work my way through the nail polishes trying every one that is in my collection to see if it needs to stay in my collection.

This week I chose to start with the Expressie shade Misfit right in (270). Some of you might know this, others might recognize the Essie part of the name. This is a line from the Essie brand that is quick dry. And it is a really quick dry formula. It is a great nail polish to reach for in a hurry. This color was done with one coat and by the time i was finished polishing the last nail, the first nail was dry.

There have been days where this has really been helpful. Especially in the summer. Gardening tends to beat up my nails and occasionally I don’t realize this until I have to go somewhere so I do a quick polish and it looks really good.

The trick though is that while it will look good for a day, if you want it to last the week you need a top coat. It does chip pretty fast without the top coat. And while my top coat is not quick dry, the fact that the Expressie dries so fast means that I can apply the top coat fairly fast.

And then I have to wait for it to dry.

My current favorite Top Coat is the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Top Coat (101). I have used this for a while now. I think this might be my second bottle of this top coat actually. It just works well with everything. It gives a really good shine and gel like finish to the nails and it makes even the polish likely to chip fast last longer than it would on it’s own. With this top coat I will get a week of use out of this Expressie polish. And since I really like this color, I am happy to keep it around longer.

Weekly Nails: Smith and Cult

I love painting my nails. Don’t get me wrong I do like having other people give me manicures and hand massages, but there is something about surveying a row of colors at home and deciding that today, this is what suits me. And then applying it.

As a result though, I have accumulated a lot of nail polishes. Some are from pricy brands, others picked up on a whim at the grocery store or because there was a sale. Some are new acquisitions and others I have had for a while. I think I also have some repeat colors.

And so a plan has formed. I plan to go through my nail polishes one week at a time. Since I tend to paint my nails each week, I will basically just post about what I am wearing that week. And as I rotate through the polishes I will see what I want to keep and what needs to either be sent to a new home or (if it has outlived its usefulness), thrown away.

Today I went with two Smith and Cult Nail polishes. I know the brand makes other things but to be honest I have only tried their nail polishes. And so I tend to think of the brand as a Nail Polish Brand.

The bottles look so lovely sitting on the shelf actually. I have several and i really like to see them all lines up. The heavy gold cap is decorative. It pulls off and there is a more manageable handle for the brush when you apply your polish.

Today I layered two of the polishes. The first was a solid color in a kind of fern green. It is named Bitter Cashmere Daydream. I used two coats to get the polish to a fully opaque finish. If left on it’s own I would put a clear top coat. Otherwise around three days in it would start to wear off of the tips of my nails. It is a minor wearing away as this is a pretty long lasting polish. But the top coat keeps it looking nice all week.

Instead of topping it with a clear coat I went for the sparkle of a second Smith and Cult Polish. This is called Take Fountain. What I like about this is that while it is filled with light reflecting sparkles it is not the chunky glitter. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good chunky glitter, but often times it is hard to get off and it can be a bit much for everyday use.

This sparkly polish has smaller bits that just catch the light as you shift your fingers around. There is a slight pinkish tone to the gloss in which the particles are suspended. While it doesn’t alter the color of this polish too much, I have noticed that when I wear it with pink/red tones it can soften them up just a little bit. It helps to tone down really intense pinks just a smidge.

Over all I am quite pleased with this week’s selection and to be honest even though this is my way of doing a nail polish clear out, I am really rather excited about working my way through the polishes.

For me, this was a great way to begin.