Wet N' Wild Bloom Collection: Garden Hose...and layering

Garden Hose is from the new Bloom Collection that's been popping up in drugstores lately. The collection consists of several pretty pastel cremes, but this one jumped out at me as being a must-have. I've been loving the swatches I've seen of OPI Mermaid's Tears from the new Pirates of the Carribean collection, and I think this may be close. I don't think they're dupes, but I'm on a low-buy so Garden Hose will have to do!

This beauty is a seafoam green creme. This is three coats with Revlon Colorstay on top:





The formula wasn't too bad. I had some issues with patchiness so I needed three coats, but I'm sure someone could get away with two coats. The consistency is quite good but the brush is NOT. My brush had a few wayward bristles, and of course, the short thickness is cumbersome.

After I swatched, I decided to layer, which is something I rarely do. I've gotten really into NYX Girls polishes, and I've noticed they have some amazing glitters. I bought a few and decided to try some combos. Here is two coats of NYX Girls Maven over Garden Hose:



Maven has a teal tinted jelly base with teal, silver, and iridescent glitter particles:



Now THIS looks like mermaid tears! :)

Happy painting!

Wet 'N Wild Sweet Spot Collection: CANDY CORN on the COB

Today I have another shade from the Wet 'N Wild Sweet Spot Collection. I don't really get the name on this one since candy corn is orange and yellow, but whatever. The theme is cute so I can give it a pass.

CANDY CORN is a tomato red with gold shimmer. Now, I don't generally wear reds like this because I don't like them with my skintone, but I'm a gold shimmer whore lol. Also, I've been lemming China Glaze Pin Prick and this looked to be pretty close. When I saw this at Rite Aid, I had to have it. One day when I get my hands on Pin Prick, I'll do a comparison.

Two coats, no topcoat (and I apologize for the photo quality. I was losing the sunlight and they aren't as bright as they should be).

Shade:



Sunlight:





The formula on this one was pretty good, and it's pretty well pigmented so someone with skills could probably get away with one thick coat.

I'm very pleased with what I've seen of the Sweet Spot collection so far. I may have to take a trip back out to Rite Aid to get my hands on the rest of them.

Happy painting!

Wet 'N Wild: How I Met Your Magenta

Today I have an adorable pink for you; Wet 'N Wild How I Met Your Magenta. It's a hot pink creme with gorgeous pink shimmer. This shade isn't terribly unique, but I'm a sucker for anything pink and anything with gold shimmer. Three coats, no topcoat:




Sunlight:






The formula on this shade was fine as far as application goes, but it's oddly sheer. You can see VNL in my pics. The reason I say oddly is because it doesn't seem sheer when you're applying it...it's pigmented, but still needs to be built up. It's not a jelly, but it has jelly-like tendencies. Also, it dries to an almost satiny finish.

At any rate, it's a fun, summery color for a great price.

Happy painting!

Wet 'N Wild Sweet Spot Collection: NERDS Need Love Too

Why yes, they do. Am I the only one who loves nerds? I've never really been into the bad boy type. No, give me the guy with the good grades or the guy with a passion for a particular subject. My husband is a nerd when it comes to his profession, and I love that about him. The best part? He still has some swagger. Best of both worlds. :)

Anyway, those aren't the kind of nerds we're talking about here. This shade is from the Sweet Spot collection (I reviewed another shade from the collection here). Now I'm kinda wishing I had purchased the whole collection when I saw it, because I'm really loving this shade.

NERDS Need Love Too is best described as a dusty cornflower blue with subtle light blue shimmer (I suck at descriptions). My pictures don't do it justice because it's dustier in real life. This is two coats, Revlon Colorstay on top:






You can see the shimmer in the upper right side of the bottle:



I was quite surprised by the formula. It was pretty nice. It went on smoothly and was opaque in two coats. The shade isn't super unique, but it's very pretty and the price is definitely right.

Don't forget, April is Autism Awareness Month!

Happy painting!

Wet n Wild Sweet Spot Collection: Toss Me a LIFESAVERS

Wet n Wild has a new (?) collection out called Sweet Spot. Nouveau Cheap has pics of the display. I came across these at a RiteAid, and the only one that stood out to me was Toss Me a LIFESAVERS, a bright lime green with pretty shimmer. This is three coats, Revlon topcoat on top:

Sunlight:




Shade:



The formula was not good. It was sticky and thick, and I had cuticle drag. It's nicely pigmented and should have been a two-coater, but because of streaks, I needed a third coat for evenness.

It sucks, because I love this shade so much. It's very spring-y and it's bright but not neon. That said, I can overlook the formula for $.99. I'm easy like that. :-)

Happy painting!

Franken: Teal We Meet Again

I just kind of threw this together last night because I was feeling frustrated. Have you ever looked at your stash and thought, "I don't want to wear any of these"? Well, that was me last night. So I pulled out a half empty bottle of Color Club Naughtycal Navy and started adding stuff to it. I added ChG fairy Dust, Maybelline Going Green, Wet 'N Wild Hallucinate, and Misa Indescribable, and this is what I got. Two coats, Seche Vite on top:



Sunlight:





It's a beautiful sunny day here so I plan to clean my house. Woo hoo! Well, at least my nails will be pretty while I do it. :-)

Happy painting!

Black Beauties

Today I have two black-based polishes: Wet 'N Wild Blackmail and NYX Girls Robotic. Both of these polishes have a black base with beautiful shimmer/glitter.

First up is Blackmail. The base contains blue and bronze glitter, and possibly pink and a few other colors that only flash occasionally. Nail pics are two coats, no topcoat.








Next up is NYX Girls Robotic. This one contains turquoise shimmer. It actually flashes green in the bottle, but it doesn't translate to the nail. I was really surprised by the depth of this polish. Nail pics are three coats, no topcoat.









This one reminds me of Cult Nails Living Water, only not as pretty.

Formula-wise, Blackmail really surprised me. It went on smoothly and was opaque in two coats. The only problem I had was with the brush. This was my first experience with the short bottles and the short, stubby brush. I'm sorry, but some things in life just should not be short and stubby. *Ahem* The other drawback is that this polish dries to a bumpy finish, so topcoat is a must.

Robotic wasn't as easy to work with. It was watery and needed three coats for opacity. One positive is that it dries to a very glossy finish.

Overall, I love them both and I especially love the prices.

Happy painting!

Franken: Leaving Pine Valley

This polish has a forest green base with light green, silver, and pink shimmer.

Two coats, Revlon topcoat.





With flash


My original franken was called Pine Valley, and it looked like this (two coats, Seche Vite topcoat):


The recipe for the original was three parts Icing Envy and one part Color Club Naughtycal Navy. I made this years ago and only wore it once or twice. I was going through my stash today, saw it sitting there, and decided to do something with it.


I added about 20 drops of Wet 'N Wild Hallucinate, which is has pink, silver, and light green glitter in a clear base. Next I added about 10 drops of Maybelline Go Go Green, 10 drops of Zoya Bailey, 5 drops of Sinful Colors Mint Apple, and 5 drops of China Glaze Naked. I shook it all up and got a dusty forest green with subtle shimmer.

The formula was pretty darn good, I must say lol. It dried to a sheen rather than a shine, and it was a tad on the grainy side, so topcoat was a must.

Happy painting!

Old NsOTD

I have tons of old NOTD pics, but some of them look like crap. I've since gotten a little better at taking pictures so the bulk of my postings will be new swatches. I did find some old ones that don't look too bad, and I'll share those now.

OPI Dating a Royal

This is royal blue creme goodness. Two coats, Seche Vite on top.




China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

This has a turquoise base with turquoise shimmer. Two coats, Seche Vite on top.




Essie Charmeuse

Baby pink base with very subtle pink shimmer. This one was a little streaky, but it evened out by the third coat. This is three coats, Seche Vite on top.


See the pretty shimmer?




NYC Molten Metal

This was one of the those polishes that had a ton of buzz surrounding it's release. I think I scoured every CVS and Walgreens within a 10 mile radius to find it.

It's hard to describe, but it appears to have a greyish/tan base with lots of silver glitter. It really does look like molten metal. This is three coats, Seche Vite on top.





Wet N' Wild Quartz of Course

This has a fuchsia base with gold shimmer. Very pretty and the formula was great. Not too shabby for a cheapie brand! Two coats, Seche Vite on top.


With flash:



OPI Designer Series Glamour

Blue base with lots and lots of rainbow holo glitter. It's beautiful. My pics don't do it justice. Two coats, Seche Vite on top.





Happy Painting!