Five Looks in Four Days

I've finally had a chance to sort through the photos I took on my trip. You may recall the layered look I had on the first day of my long weekend from Tuesday's post (China Glaze Gaga for Green plus Girly Bits Magically Delicious plus Nfu Oh 51); here's one more shot of it (I didn't bring my lightbox with me, so all the photos today are candid shots in whatever light I could get):



For Friday, I changed into China Glaze You Move Me from their new Magnetix line. This was great for a quick change, as I only needed one coat of color. I painted one nail at a time and then held the star part of the three-design magnet over the wet polish for about 10 seconds. I didn't do that great a job of centering the design on every nail, but I'm okay with that—variation adds interest. After I put this on, I discovered I'd forgotten my clean up brush, so had to make do with a cotton swab, which is a poor substitute. As soon as I could, I made a quick run to JoAnn Fabrics to get a new brush (two, actually, since they didn't have an exact replacement for the one I've been using and I wasn't sure which of the ones they did have would work the best).



Since magnetics are so hot right now, I used another one for Saturday. This is Nabi Magnetic in Wine. Unlike the separate magnet that China Glaze has, Nabi's magnet is glued to the top of the cap, which is a bit awkward to use. It also doesn't have a lip on one side of it to aid positioning like the China Glaze one does, so it's a bit harder to get it close to the nail without touching the wet polish. It was like the China Glaze in that I used one coat of color for this one, too.



Saturday night there was an 80s theme party, so after dinner I put on Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips in Wishful Pinking (which I believe has been discontinued along with the rest of the neon colored strips, though some stores still have stock left). Because I was short on time (I also had to make my hair big) I just put them on right over the Nabi Wine, which I'm sure dimmed their brightness somewhat (and looked a bit sloppy around the edges). Since I was only going to have them on for one night, I could live with those issues.



For the last day and the drive home, I put on Layla Hologram Effect Ultra Violet. I'd heard these were good holos, and Ultra Violet did not disappoint. I used Nfu Oh Aqua Base, two coats of the Layla, and topcoat (Sally Hansen Insta Dri in the red bottle, as usual). Here's the holo indoors:



And here's the holo in the sun coming through my car window at a stoplight:



I've sworn off backups but might have to make an exception for these, since good holos are hard to come by. They're pricey (I paid $15.50 a bottle, and they're 10ml) but well worth it.