Cross Country Displays

About a month after my last display post, here I am with yet another better late than never offering from my rounds of drug and big box and beauty supply stores. This one has photos from my new home territory in Idaho as well as places I drove through on my road trip to Michigan and back. I even made a quick day trip to Canada looking for displays while I was back in metro Detroit.

I spotted the Bonita New Beginnings display at a Rite Aid in Michigan. Left to right: Live with Passion, First Things First, Year of Riches, Royale Kisses, Tomorrow is a New Day, Early Access.



That Rite Aid also had a Bonita by Royal Essence Kiss of the Decade display. Six shades here: Truth Fairy, Cerulean Killer, Kiss of the Decade, To the Batmobile, Flirty Shirley, and Big Dipper.



At the start of my road trip, I stopped at the Ulta closest to my Idahome, I saw the China Glaze Spring 2016 collection, House of Colour. There were 24 spaces in the display but I only found 12 distinct colors placed rather willy nilly.



Left section&msdash;Front row: Pink or Swim, Chrome is Where the Heart Is. Middle row: Let's Chalk About It, Don't Be Shallow, About Layin' Out. Back row: Girls Just Wanna Have Sun, Come Rain or Shine, Sorry I'm Latte, Moonlight the Night.



Middle section—Front row: Let's Chalk About It, Come Rain or Shine, Sorry I'm Latte. Middle: Girls Just Wanna Have Sun, Shut the Front Door. Back: Glitter Me This.



Right section—Front row: In the Near Fuchsia (x2). Middle: About Layin' Out, Pink or Swim, Chrome is Where the Heart Is. Back: Shut the Front Door, Moonlight the Night, Glitter Me This, Don't Be Shallow.



Cover Girl appears to have three new Outlast nail colors. I first saw them tucked at the bottom of this endcap at Walgreens in Montana.



You can see them better in this shelftop display I saw at a store in Michigan. Left to right: Camel, Rose Gold, Mink.



I don't tend to include Target on my usual rounds since they don't have the standard displays, but I do stop in once in a while, and this time spotted a new brand which is a Target exclusive: Defy & Inspire. The bottles look just like the Orchid brand at HEB in Texas, though the shades are generally less interesting than I recall Orchid being; these are mostly cremes. Top row: All About That Base Base Coat, Over the Top Top Coat, At First Sight, Say Yes, The Right Reason, Dynasty, Tribal Counsel, Next, Ladies Who Lunch, Storm Chaser, Gauntlet, Mom the Manager. Second row: Toddlers and Tiaras, Pinky Swear, Newlyweds, Bachelorette, Girls Tell All, XOXO, Rich Kids, GTL, Made, The Hills, You're Fired, Rose Ceremony, The Final Rose, Real Housewife, Bridezilla, Confessional. Bottom row: True Story, Top Model, Simple Life, Bachelor, Laguna Beach, Big Brother, Pack Your Bags, Paradise Island, Make It Work, You're Going to Vegas, Fantasy Suite, Auf Wiedersehen.



There were a couple new top coats slipped into the Essence displays at both Fred Meyer and Ulta: Satin Matte and Pastel Ombre. The former is yet another matte topper I'll need to try at some point, and the latter appears to be a milky white that softens color.



Fred Meyer had the Essence Hidden Stories display with four polishes: Mauve-llous Fairy, Where Did I Park My Unicorn, Enchanted by Hint of Mint, and Enter Wonderland.



Also at Fred Meyer, they had added Essence I Heart Trends The Metals to the regular display: Steel the World, Chrome Paradise, Turn Up the Volume, and Rebel at Heart.



When I returned to the Ulta in Idaho that in my previous visit had the signage for Essie's Retro Revival collection but not the display, they'd fixed that situation. Left to right: Cabana Boy, Birthday Suit, Sequin Sash, Bikini with a Martini, Life of the Party, and Starry Starry Night.



I saw a slightly different display for Retro Revival in Canada:



I saw other display configurations for Retro Revival—a tall skinny floor display at a CVS, a sidekick at Meijer, shelf tops at Fred Meyer and Walgreens and CVS and Target—but can't muster the motivation to crop and post them since I have such mixed feelings about this collection. I like Essie as a brand, and I like their neat square bottles, and the idea of bringing back greatest hits for an anniversary is a good one, but the execution here is just disappointing. Yes, they gave us Starry Starry Night, but it's not a match for the original; some indie brands have done a much better job providing a dupe. As for the rest of these, I don't recall anyone in the nail community clamoring for these shades. Where's Dominica Green? Viva la Vespa? Barbuda Banana? I guess SSN was the one nod to the nail community and the rest of these shades are for the general public. And why there are none from the 90s, I'm not sure. Seems if you were celebrating 35 years, you'd want to represent that middle decade. Oh well, I'm not in charge here.



Ulta also had Essie's 2016 Resort collection. Four shades: Going Guru, Nama-stay the Night, Delhi Dance, and Taj-ma-haul.



The first place I spotted the Essie Spring 2016 collection was Fred Meyer. Left to right: High Class Affair, Lounge Lover, Shades On, Off Tropic, Pool Side Service, and Sunshine State of Mind. I also saw a four-color version of the display which lacked Pool Side Service and Sunshine State of Mind.



Essie also has a display out called Petal Pushers that I've seen in various configurations in drugstores. This is not a new collection but "new shades" which are from earlier collections such as Spring 2015. Meh. I cannot be roused to post pictures of that, either.

I saw a St. Patrick's themed LA Colors Color Craze display called Lucky Charm at Fred Meyer and just had to include it even though I think these are all core colors, since I rarely see shelftop displays for this brand. Left to right: Circuits, Palm Tree, Spring Frost, Mint, Scream, Dizzy.



At a CVS in Michigan, I saw a brand I'd never heard of before: LIT NYC. Like some of the novelty holiday polishes and Cinapro Nail Sugar, these polishes have little lights in the cap that are turned on by pressing a switch on the top. Gimmicky, yes, but I liked some of the colors in the bottles. The display was somewhat picked over (yet oddly also had some Christmas gift sets with lip gloss and polish, and this was the end of January) but there was enough left to tempt me. Top row: Pop (x2), Laser Beam, High Voltage (x2), Spark. Middle row: Outrageous, Uptown, Pout, Redhead, Rosie Rama, Enchanted, NY Days, Uptown. Bottom row: Sky, Power, Outrageous, Envious, Risque, Sassy, Desire, Ego, Lovergirl, Madness, LA Nights.



I'd seen OPI's Hello Kitty collection at Sally Beauty before my previous display post; after that, the collection showed up at Ulta, too. The best stocked store I came across was in North Dakota (though even they were sold out of a couple colors).



This Ulta had the plain 12-shade display that I'd seen at Sally, but also a more decorative display with just the white and pink polishes. Front row: Small + Cute = Heart and Spoken from the Heart. Middle row: Kitty White and Let's Be Friends. Back row: Charmmy & Sugar and Look at My Bow.



Ulta had the charm purse polish gift set like Sally did, but not the toe separators plus polish set. They did, however, have a mini set with five polishes and a double ended nail art tool with a thin brush at one end and a dotting tool at the other. Shades here: Milk Bottle (set exclusive, but might just be Alpine Snow relabeled), Let's Be Friends, Never Have Too Mani Friends, 5 Apples Tall, and My Twin Mimmy.



In addition to the mini set, Ulta had another Hello Kitty item I'd not seen at Sally: a shimmery pink shade called Say Hello Kitty that wasn't in any other display packaged with two Swarovski crystal bows.



Only one of the many Ulta stores I stopped at on my trip (and since) had the OPI New Orleans collection. Top row: Let Me Bayou a Drink (x2), Humidi-tea (x2), Crawfishin' for a Compliment (x3), Got Myself into a Jam-balaya (x2), Base Coat. Second row: Suzi Nails New Orleans (x3), She's a Bad Muffuletta (x3), I Manicure for Beads (x2), Take a Right on Bourbon, Matte Top Coat. Bottom Row: Spare Me a French Quarter (x3), Show Us Your Tips (x2), Rich Girls & Po Boys (x2), I'm Sooo Swamped, Top Coat. The mini set has Got Myself Into a Jam-balaya, Take a Right on Bourbon, I'm Sooo Swamped, and Show Us Your Tips.



At a CVS in Michigan, I saw some Pop-arazzi colors I'd not seen before packaged with a container of rhinestones and a dotting tool. Top to bottom: Dazzle Berry, Perfect Pistachio, Pretty & Peachy.



In Illinois, I saw those kits plus single bottles of those shades plus two more hanging alongside the core Pop-arazzi display. Apparently this is the Spring Sorbet collection (subtitled "Shine Bright, Stay Sweet"). Non-kit colors, top to bottom: Forever Sunset, Pretty & Peachy, Polka Mocha, Perfect Pistachio, Dazzle Berry.



In Montana, I saw mini kits with six colors; the five I'd previously seen plus The Hue is Blue (hiding behind the base of the display here).



Another CVS in Minnesota had just the bottles of Spring Sorbet, no kits or minis, and several CVS stores I saw had none of these spring colors at all.

At a Walgreens in Montana, I saw a Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy Love Is On display with some new shades and a new and improved topcoat. Left to right: Well Suited, Lovestruck, Berry Treasure, Stroke of Love, High Roller, Vegas Baby, Wild Card, and Queen of Hearts. The first four plus Vegas Baby are marked as new shades.



At a Rite Aid in Michigan, I saw a Season's Best by Heaven display. The card looked like a fall scene, and the colors looked suited to 4th of July, so I don't know what's up with this one. None of the shades had names; they were a red shimmer, grey creme, red microglitter, wine creme, blue creme, and rose microglitter.



I'll share the SinfulColors Valentine's display, which I spotted at Fred Meyere, for historical purposes. I'm not sure what it's called, as it's covered in candy hearts with different sayings on them. Polish colors, front row: Gogo Girl, Feeling Great, Pink Smart, Tempest, Sail La Vie, Clear Coat. None of those are new, as far as I know. What is new is the glitter in the back right, Love Bombs. There are also the heart nail stickers I shared in my Valentine's Day entry.



Slighty more timely is the SinfulColors St. Patrick's Day display, Shamrock Out, which I saw at a Walgreens in North Dakota. Shades here, front row: Green Ocean, Happy Ending, Feeling Lucky (new, x2), Exotic Green, Gold Medal. Clear Coat and San Francisco are tucked in the back. There are also gold temporary tattoos.



Fred Meyer in Idaho had a shelf top display for the Wet 'n' Wild 1 Step Wonder Gel. This had a subset of the colors in the big display I'd seen at Walgreen last month. Front: Pinky Swear, It's Sher-bert Day, Crime of Passion, Left Marooned, Under My Plum, Stay Classy. Back: Pretty Peas, Cyantific Method, Power Outage.



There was a bigger shelftop display for the 1 Step Wonder Gel at Rite Aid in Michigan. Front row: Pardon My Peach, Coral Support, Crime of Passion, It's a Sher-bert Day, Missy in Pink, Pinky Swear, Pale in Comparison, Condensed Milk, All That Jazzy. Back row: Bye Felucchia, Lavender Out Loud, Per-wink-le of an Eye, Cyantific Method, Pretty Peas, Stay Classy, Left Marooned, Under My Plum, Power Outage.



Three of the 1 Step Wonder Gel colors were in a small Wild at Heart display I saw at a Walgreens: Pinky Swear, Missy in Pink, and Crime of Passion.



Finally in the 1 Step Wonder Gel potpourri of display configurations, I saw one at CVS that I almost missed because it was over in the seasonal aisle. This had more colors than any display for this line I'd seen, with eight additional shades. Top row: All That Jazzy, Condensed Milk, Pale in Comparison, Pinky Swear. Second row: Missy in Pink, It's Sher-bert Day, Crime of Passion, Coral Support. Third row: Pardon My Peach, Bye Feluschia, Lavender Out Loud, Peri-wink-le of an Eye. Fourth row: Cyantific Method, Pretty Peas, Stay Classy, Left Marooned. Fifth row: Under My Plum, Power Outage, Flying Colors, Air Apparent. Bottom row: Don't Be Jelly, Wasa-Be with You, Un-Teal Next Time, The Silver Screen.



The last new display I saw this go round was the Wet 'n' Wild Spring Into the Wild with four limited edition Megalast colors and some temporary tattoos. Polish shades: Lay Out in Lavender, Love Fest, Breeze on By, Kiss My Mints.



I'll finish with a non-polish product that was so odd I had to snap a photo: Jurassic World Body Wash, with a fierce looking dinosaur on the tube and a toasted marshmallow scent. What?



I have more travel planned soon, so my next display post should also have geographic diversity provided there are more spring collections coming. I can't think of any off the top of my head but am hoping to be surprised.

Throwback Thursday

Today I harken back to a simpler time in the nail polish world, before there were eleventy million indie brands, a time when if you wanted an exclusive shade, you made it yourself from the materials available to you. You frankened (a la Frankenstein's monster, constructed from disparate parts). Recently I dusted off my frankening hat and mixed enough of a flakie polish to fill two bottles, one for me and one for a very close friend in Michigan I don't get to see nearly enough of now that I'm off in Idaho. I call her Miss Nikki.



My two main ingredients were Fresh Paint Sugar Crush and Cover Girl Boundless Color Pink Twinkle, with just enough Revlon Lunar and Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme to darken the base a bit.

I'd never gotten around to trying the polishes I'd gotten which purported to be Pantone's color of last year, Marsala, so I pulled those out to make a base for Miss Nikki. Top to bottom: Essence The Gel My Love Diary, Studio M Marsala Shimmer, Studio M Marsala Creme, and Essence My My Love Diary (again). All were two coats. Which one is the closest to what Pantone had in mind, I've no idea.



Then I topped the marsalas with one coat of Miss Nikki and clear top coat.



Of course I had to give the flakies a chance to really show their stuff, so I donned a black creme base, then one coat of Miss Nikki plus clear topcoat. Hello, green and gold and orange.





I also tried Miss Nikki over a red base, Orly Scandal.





I'm happy with how this turned out. Granted, the effect is not dramatically different than Sugar Crush alone, but I like knowing that my friend and I are the only two people who have this exact polish. And she'd never tried flakies before, so it was extra special.

Nails of Valentine's Day

A rare Sunday post here, as I managed to put something holiday-appropriate on my nails and wanted to share them before the holiday was over. Once again I turned to my trusty friend that I initially didn't think I'd like: nail polish strips. This time, they're from Incoco, in the First Crush design that was in some Walgreens stores last February. This has black writing and dark pink hearts on a pearly white background.



I put these on a few days ago, and the only trouble I had was making sure the writing was oriented that same on all my nails; my usual "cut the strips in half to make them go farther" approach is not suited to one direction designs. Also, apparently my brain was not suited on this particular day to remembering to moisturize my cuticles, but I'm going to post this photo anyway, as it's the best from the first day I wore these strips.



These are holding up pretty well, especially considering how many times a day I'm washing my hands trying to keep from getting sick again this winter.



I also did a Valentine's pedi, which I will not share in deference to those of you with feet phobia. That has OPI Kitty White over a white creme base with some of these Sinful heart stickers providing the seasonal touch. It just occured to me that I don't think I ever got that display into a display post. Ooops. Will have to work on that soon, for historical purposes if nothing else.



I hope all of you reading this are celebrating the holiday however you wish to, be that doing romantic stuff or avoiding all the hoopla.

Orly and Rimmel Clearance Haul

I was on my way to getting my blogging mojo back when I messed up my new routine by driving to Michigan and back via Chicagoland, visiting with friends and family and getting some things from our house that we wanted out in Idaho sooner rather than later. But now I am back on my mountain and trying to get back in a blogging groove.

As I've probably mentioned way too often already, my retirement budget doesn't allow for as much stash acquisition as I had been doing, and even if it did, our smaller living space should impress upon a sensible person that not growing one's collection would be prudent. I am not that sensible. I happened upon a clearance bin at Kmart that fit my budget quite nicely, with discontinued shades of Orly Color Blast and Rimmel 60 Seconds for half price, making them $3.49 and .97 respectively. I stocked up, space concerns dismissed in the face of cheap pretties.

Top row: Orly Multicolored Gloss Glitter, Shamrock Gloss Glitter, Green Gold Chunky Glitter, and Black Holo Chunky Glitter. (Rather refreshing to have names that make a good effort to describe the polishes.) Bottom row: Rimmel Mind the Gap Victoria, District-ly Come Dancing, Central Love Heart, Round and Round in Circles, Pink-a-Boo, Piccasilly Line, and Pulsating.



Rimmel Round and Round in Circles is a light yellow with very subtle shimmer. I used three coats, which was not surprising for a light yellow. As yellows go, this one is pretty nice.



The shimmer is so subtle that even direct light didn't really coax it out for the camera. I think having it in the formula does help this shade not be streaky like so many yellows are, so I'm not too fussed that it's so shy.



I topped Round and Round with Orly Multicolored Gloss Glitter, which like the name implies, has multiple colors of glitter. There are medium and tiny hexes plus some microglitter in a clear base.



I started with one coat of the glitter and it looked okay, but I did two on my index finger to see if I'd like that better. I did.



Rimmel Mind the Gap Victoria was up next. This is a light cornflower blue creme that covered in two coats. Of course I loved this one, being a cool colors fan.



I paired Mind the Gap Victoria with Orly Shamrock Gloss Glitter, which has green and holo microglitter in a clear base.



I left my index finger bare and put two coats of the glitter on my other digits. It looked more silvery and holo than green.



In low light the holo in Shamrock popped more.



Rimmel District-ly Come Dancing is a light teal crelly. I used three coats for my swatch.



Orly Black Holo Chunky Glitter got into the swatching act at this point. This one has tiny black glitter plus dark holo bar glitter in a slightly smoky clear base.



I put two coats of the glitter on District-ly, dabbing a bit to get the bars to look more random. I don't know why this has "chunky" in the name, as it lays pretty flat.



I also tried District-ly topped by Orly Green Gold Chunky Glitter, which has green, gold, holo, and blue hexes plus silver squares in a clear base. This one also lays pretty flat.





Rimmel Central Love Heat is a slightly orange-leaning red creme. I did three coats for my swatch, but two probably would have been fine.



I added one coat of Orly Black Holo Chunky Glitter to Central Love Heat on all but my index finger; you may be able to see the effect of the smoky base of the glitter on the underlying color.



Rimmel Pink-a-Boo and Piccasilly Line are both purple-y pink cremes. I did three coats of Pink-a-Boo, the lighter of the pair, on my index and middle fingers, and two coats of Piccasilly Line on my ring and pinky.



I topped these two with Orly Multicolored Gloss Glitter. The tiny microglitter shimmer showed up better on these shades than on the yellow earlier.





Rimmel Pulsating is a fuchsia shimmer with a slight blue flash. I did two coats for my swatch, though three might have been better to hide the phantom dirt line.



I'm happy to have all of these in my stash, but my two favorites are Mind the Gap Victoria and Multicolored Gloss Glitter. I really should combine the two at some point, but of course got distracted by other polishes, which I shall post about in coming days. Unless I get distracted by skiing or something.