Stash Swatch Initiative: Wet'n'Wild Red Tape

Hello!

Today, I've swatch the bright red polish I used for last week's GOT Polish Challenge. This is Wet'n'Wild Red Tape!

Wet'n'Wild Red Tape. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Red Tape is a crazy-bright red-orange creme which has a slight jelly-like finish.

Wet'n'Wild Red Tape. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Sinful Colors Base Coat, two coats of Red Tape, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. The formula is good and smooth, but my brush on this little bottle is terrible. It's very large and fluffy.

Wet'n'Wild Red Tape. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I purchased this bottle about three years ago -- about the time I first moved out here and started getting into polish. I don't think I have anything comparable in my sizable collection at the moment, so I do hope Wet'n'Wild still has this color as part of its lineup. It's bright and eye-catching!

Wet'n'Wild Red Tape. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Swatch Swatch Initiative: Wet n' Wild Sparked

Hello!

Today's polish is a great, drugstore find. This is Sparked from Wet n' Wild.

Wet n' Wild Sparked. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Sparked is a micro glitter topper in a clear base. The glitter is mostly metallic, pink micro-glitter, but there is a smattering of silver micro-glitter in there as well.

Wet n' Wild Sparked. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat plus NYC In a New York Minute over yesterday's Orly Au Champagne swatch. No problems to report with the application of this polish, however, it does fall victim to settling if left to sit for awhile. Mine re-homogenized easily with a bit of shaking, so no worries.

Wet n' Wild Sparked. Outdoors, natural light (shade), no flash.

I'm pretty sure I found this on sale at my local Walgreens a very long time ago... before I got into nail polish. I think I was just after some new options for my little stash, and this looked fun.

Wet n' Wild Sparked. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Spoiled Jewelry Heist

Hello again!!! Happy Thanksgiving!! Enjoy the day, the food, and your families!

Today I have a quick post to show you Spoiled Jewelry Heist.

Spoiled Jewelry Heist. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is a glitter topcoat in a clear base. Swatches today are one coat over Essie Sand Tropez from yesterday plus a coat of Seche Vite. This is predominantly light pink hexes with fewer gold hexes mixed in. I also see tiny blue glitter (I think they might be squares) and tiny iridescent hexes. At first I thought the iridescent glitters were gold, but as I wore this, I noticed they flashed blue and green at different angles. It is a really great color combination. Super pretty!

Spoiled Jewelry Heist. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

The glitter is very sparse and there seems to be an excess of the clear base. I let a lot of clear base drain off the brush (bent at an angle on the inside of the bottle neck to keep the glitter on the brush) to get the glitter coverage I wanted without having to do extra coats. The brushes on these are the flat, fat paddles like Essence Colour and Go and the Sally Hansen Gem Crush series.

Spoiled Jewelry Heist. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

I think these are CVS exclusive. That's where I got mine. They retail for $2 normally, I think, but I took advantage of a 2 for $3 sale.

Spoiled Jewelry Heist. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Wet n' Wild Night Prowl

Hello again!!

Just a quickie post to show you Wet n' Wild Night Prowl.

Wet n' Wild Night Prowl. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is a black jelly with a ton of purple micro-glitter. Swatches are a base of Sinful Colors Nail Hardener, three coats of Night Prowl, one coat of Seche Vite, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute Fastdry Topcoat.

Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

I needed three coats to get this even. It was a little patchy still at two coats. Due to all that glitter, this dries gritty and necessitated two coats of topcoat to get smooth. Small issues aside, I think it's worth it. This is a great dark, brooding polish--perfect for Halloween, which was when I had this one on.

Wet n' Wild Night Prowl. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

From pictures around the internets, I'm thinking this might be close to AEngland's new polish, Ophelia, but I don't have that one to compare it to. What do you think? Potential dupes? For less than $1 (got mine on sale for 70 cents!), is this close enough for you? I think it is for me!

I found mine at Walgreens! Happy hunting if you're looking to try it out!

Wet n' Wild Night Prowl. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

More soon!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Wet n' Wild Dreamy Poppy

Hello again!!!

Today I have one of my great polish loves up for your viewing pleasure. This is Wet n' Wild Dreamy Poppy.

Wet n' Wild Dreamy Poppy. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is a gorgeous, bright, coral pink creme. I can't get enough of this. I reach for this one a lot. The bottle is a bit beat up, but I think that is because this was the one of the few polishes I elected to take on vacation with me back in September (you can see my vacation manis and read about the rest of the adventure here). It has got a lot of miles on it, hehe.

Wet n' Wild Dreamy Poppy. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Seche Clear, two of Dreamy Poppy, and one coat of Seche Vite. I like the brushes on these particular polishes--they are long and thin with just enough stiffness to allow for good control. The formula is okay (but for the price tag, no worries) -- it was a little patchy on the first coat, but I only used two, so really not bad for a creme. The only bad thing about this polish is that it stains. I've taken to using two coats of basecoat when I wear this normally. For the time it was on my nails to do the swatch photos, I didn't have an issue.

Wet n' Wild Dreamy Poppy. Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

This was a completely random find for me. I went into my local Walgreens for something else, and walked by the display. Wet n' Wild Wild Shine polishes were on sale for 70 cents! 70 cents! Woohoo! I love it when impulse buys are cheap and awesome!!

Wet n' Wild Dreamy Poppy. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters

Hello again!!

Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I've got a layering polish swatched up for today! This is Wet n' Wild's Party of Five Glitters over Zoya Blaze from Tuesday.

Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Application was easy--it's not one swiped coat though. Like previous glitters, I swirl the brush in the bottle then bend the brush on the inside of the bottle neck, which traps the glitter on top of the brush but allows excess clear polish to drain off. Then I dab this on my nail and smoosh it around with the brush until I'm happy with the dispersion of glitter.

Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Party of Five Glitters looks awesome in the bottle. I see green, silver, blue, red, and deep pink hexes in various sizes. The colored glitters got rather lost over my choice of Blaze for undies, unfortunately. I thought Blaze would work well, but perhaps it's just too awesome on it's own! I always have trouble pairing glitter polishes with base colors. This one I actually rather like even if the silver glitter stands out the most and steals all the attention. Expect to see some more of this one as the holidays near!

I found this at Walgreens. It was in a random display, so I'm not sure on availability. Good luck if you're hunting it! 

Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!!! ^_^

Bonus Post: Catch-up Time!

Hello again!!

My last month and a half has been busy, busy! I've got a totally random post today with some things I wanted to share, but didn't have time to post until now. Blog catch-up time, if you will.

First up, a few vacation pictures! Northwest Montana is an incredibly beautiful place. We were fortunate for some lovely weather while we were there and got out on the trails for some hiking. Here are a couple pictures from our day in Glacier National Park.

Me in a very large rock. Hidden Lake Overlook Trail, Logan Pass.

Here's the gorgeous view from the overlook. This is Hidden Lake.

Lake MacDonald shore.

And here is our favorite coffee shop in all the world:

Copper Mountain Coffee. Best. Coffee. Ever.

That's Copper Mountain Coffee. One bonus to the northwest is all that fantastic coffee they have there. These little roadside, drive-up espresso joints are everywhere. This one makes the best coffee I have ever had. We stopped here almost everyday of our vacation (sometimes twice!). I'm pretty sure I brought home an extra five pounds of latte weight!

Nail Mail is the best kind of mail!

Next up, I snagged a few deals and got all this nail mail in one day! Orders from Coterie, Zoya, and llarowe. What's in these lovely packages, you say? Well, I snagged the Butter London deal from Coterie while it was still available (it was amazing--three polishes plus the matte topcoat for $11!). I justified this purchase for myself because All Hail the Queen was one of the six polishes to choose from, and it had been on my Wish List for... since I had a nail polish wish list, I think! I figured, if I was intending to buy this one polish anyway, I might as well take advantage of this sale since that one polish would've have cost me just as much! I also picked up Knackered (already swatched over here!) and West End Wonderland.

Butter London from Coterie Haul, plus CrowsToes Absolum.

My sister's birthday is coming up soon, and she's just starting the transition from acrylics to natural nails. So, I thought I'd spread some polish love. I thought she'd like Zoya Carly, Kimber, and Breezi. I also snagged  Sea Lore Ariel from llarowe since The Little Mermaid was her favorite movie as a child, and it's glitter. And, of course, I couldn't just order one polish from llarowe while I was at it, could I? I was quite proud in my show of self-control--I only included one extra polish for myself in the order. CrowsToes Absolum was in stock, and I couldn't pass that by! As far as I know, my sister does not read my blog, so this shouldn't ruin her birthday surprise, but if she does, she should stop lurking and let me know! Teehee!

Zoya and Sea Lore for my sistah!

I'm still trying to be good and stay on a "low-buy". I'm planning on using my two remaining Zoya Share the Love reward offers for "3 Zoyas for $10" before they expire at the end of December, but nothing else after that until my birthday in March! That might be hard.....

Finally, a few "nails of the week" I haven't made time to post separately. While on vacation, I wore my black lace french tips since I ran out of time before we left to do anything else. After those started to chip, I cut them down and just painted them a simple coral color. It's Wet n' Wild's Poppy Dream. I have to get a swatch up of this soon because I absolutely love it! I topped it with Zoya Chloe and the only topcoat I had, which was a new bottle of New York Color's In a New York Minute Fast Dry Topcoat. Did they change this stuff? I remember it drying pretty quickly before, but this new bottle never dried. I was pretty ginger with them for a few hours, and still smudged/dented/ruined them later in the day. No pictures of that--they didn't last long enough! So I redid the coral and went for this zebra striped look (and, yes, I brought a stamping plate and all needed accessories on vacation with me).

Once that Coterie package came, I couldn't resist putting on All Hail the Queen. I added an accent nail of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rockstar Pink sponged on from the tip up. I quite loved this look.

Butter London All Hail the Queen plus Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Butter London All Hail the Queen plus Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink close-up! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

And to round out this post, we come to what I wore this week! This is a base of Sinful Colors Nail Hardener, two brushed on coats of Zoya Penny, another sponged on coat of Penny to alleviate the brushstrokes, a coat of Seche Vite, stamped with Rimmel Tequila Sunset, Orly Luxe, and Zoya Elisa with image plate BM04 , and, finally, a coat of NYC's In a New York Minute (my bottle seems to be fine on dry time as long as the rest of the mani is dry... that might have been my problem in Montana--I think I slathered it on there like you would with Seche while everything was still wet. Lesson learned!). I was quite pleased at how well Elisa worked for stamping. I have yet to test it on a full or bigger image, but I think it has promise!

Zoya Penny stamped with autumn! Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

Detail of the accent finger. Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

If only the trees here matched! Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Happy weekend! And if all that wasn't enough, more Monday!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Barielle Elle's Spell

Hello again!

Barielle Elle's Spell. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today I have Barielle Elle's Spell for you! This is the polish that made me try this brand. I was enticed by the flakies. ^_^

Elle's Spell is a red jelly with red and orange flakies. I see some of the flakies shift to a yellowish gold at times as well, but it's not as abundant as the red and orange. This is a lovely polish. I had no issues with the formula. It's great for layering or wearing alone.

First, I layered one coat of Elle's Spell over yesterday's Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost swatch.



Barielle Elle's Spell over Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.



Here it is on it's own. This is a base coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix, three coats of Elle's Spell, and I skipped the topcoat on this one because it was pretty and shiny all by itself.

Barielle Elle's Spell. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I'm not sure where Barielles can be found in the real world. I ordered mine from the interwebs at Barielle's website. I recommend liking Barielle's Facebook page. They do flash sales for their fans on occassion, which is why I ordered when I did (they offered a code to their Facebook fans that gave me 40% off everything--including shipping!). My only gripe is the packaging. My three bottles came in a large, slightly padded envelope-type mailer but were not individually wrapped up, so they could bounce around in there and bump into one another. Thankfully, my order arrived unbroken, but I can see the potential for breakage in transit.

Barielle Elle's Spell. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^



Barielle Elle's Spell over Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost, Indoors, artificial light, no flash.



Stash Swatch Initiative: Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost

Hello again!!

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

 Just a quick post today. Here is Wet n Wild's Eggplant Frost.

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, no flash. A lovely warm-toned purple.

 Swatches today are one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix base, two coats of Eggplant Frost, and one coat of Seche Vite. The first coat of this was streaky, but it leveled out with two. Some of the pictures show some patchiness, which I couldn't see in person, but a third coat wouldn't hurt next time.

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, with flash. Check out the deep purple shimmer! Love it!

For 70 cents, this polish is pretty awesome. I found it during a random Walgreens stop. I wasn't really after any polish that day, but they were having a big sale on Wet n Wild polish, so, of course, I had to get some! I think I grabbed four polishes for less than $3 that day! ^_^ This one is really pretty. It's got a warm purple base with this gorgeous deep purple/blue shimmer in it. This polish glows in the right light. I love it when random (and cheap!) polish finds turn out to be lovely.

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^