Nails of Previous Days: Blue Matte with Chrome Accents

As you may have guessed if you've been reading this blog for any length of time other than just starting now, I've been absent from here due to having too much fun on other things. This time it was drving cross country by myself from Idaho to Illinois to meet up with friends at a conference over the long Memorial Day weekend. I'll be doing a bit more wandering before I head back home in a week or so. Right now, I'm holed up in a public library recharging my batteries from so much people-ing over the last five days. Seems like a great time to share some fake nails I wore a while back. These are from Dashing Diva; the Brave New World design of MagicPress nails pairs matte navy with iridescent pewter accents.



The shape of these gets along very nicely with my nail beds; they're self stick with the adhesive tabs already attached to the nails, which makes application go more quickly than ones where the tabs are separate. Here it's just a matter of verifying fit, peeling off the backing, and sticking the nails on firmly. Ideally, I do this just before bed, or when that's not possible, at least at a time when I won't need to get my hands wet for a few hours. Water on freshly applied self-stick nails definitely seems to make them more prone to popping off before their time; giving the adhesive a chance to "set up" undisturbed makes a difference. (I put these on at night in a hotel room on a previous trip, thus the lighting in the pic below.)



Here they are the next morining in mixed daylight/hotel overhead light; you can see some of the green to blue iridescense on the accent nails along the edges.



Six days after I'd put them on, the accent nails were showing a lot of wear, with the chrome coating rubbing off the black base underneath. Considering how hard I am on my hands, especially on road trips with all the shifting luggage around (often I stay in a different place each night), I wasn't surprised. It actually looking kind of interesting, similar to distressed denim. You can also see the matte finish had moved into satin territory thanks to nearly a week of hand lotion applications.



Instead of taking off this set at this point, I just removed the accent nails and replaced them with extra matte blue ones; they weren't quite as good a fit but worked decently well. I then wore them another two days (the gap at the base of my nails shows the difference between the ones that were matte blue all along and the replacements).



I really am liking fake nails these days; they're so easy and if I use the adhesive tabs, they're not hard on my natural nails and aren't hard to remove. I don't think they look any more fake than a lot of the acrylics out there, and so what if they do look fake ... nails aren't naturally colored blue and chrome so even if I used polish to achieve the same look, that wouldn't be any less fake. My philosphy: it makes me happy and hurts no one, so I'm going for it.

Wheel S11: Solid Color Crack

I tell you what ... when the crack polish trend comes back around, I am going to be sitting pretty. Today I've got a rainbow of solid crackles. Some I painted on diagonally, some straight. They all still work, which is reassuring; I don't have to worry about getting to these before they poop out, unlike thermals.



(all one coat over white creme base)

1. Wet 'n' Wild Color Craze Construction Zone [I should have let the base dry just a touch more before I painted this one on]
2. Color Club The Big Bang
3. Wet 'n' Wild Color Craze Inmate in Love
4. Color Club Bomb-blast-ic
5. Revlon Nail Art Break-Up Break
6. NYC New York Color Crack Me Up Heat Wave
7. LA Splash Crackle'd Love'd
8. Color Club Burst Things First
9. Wet 'n' Wild Color Craze Pretty Pink Punk
10. Nabi Crack 47-CNP60
11. Color Club Shock Rock
12. Kleancolor Crack Purple Crackle [very slow to dry but when it did it had a pattern unlike any other on the wheel]
13. NYC New York Color Crack Me Up Broadway Smash
14. Finger Paints Crackle Effect Blue Crackle
15. Color Club Take a Crack at It
16. LA Splash Crackle'd Psych'd
17. Burst Crackle Rolling Hills
18. Wet 'n' Wild Color Craze Living in the Limelight
19. Color Club Living on the Edge
20. KDS Nail Manufactory Cracker Shatter


Bottles 1 through 4:



5 through 9:



10 through 12:



13 through 15:



16 through 20:

Long Overdue Displays

Once again I've let my displays folder on my laptop get overstuffed with photos. Once again I have the ususal excuses; since my last display post in January, I went on four trips of varying lengths and wore myself out skiing a lot of days when I was home (at least once my injured ankle healed enough to allow that). But now I'm home for a whole two weeks in a row and the ski lifts have been shut down for a month, so I have no good reason to put it off any longer. In the interest of getting this done before too much more time passes, I'm going to cut back on my usual penchant for sharing every variation of displays and just stick with one per collection, but I know there are going to be some I'll just have to include.

The first sign of the China Glaze Spring 2019 release that I saw was two sets of fake nails on a shelf at Ulta, without a display. Then at a another Ulta, I saw three sets, again just loose on the shelf. I didn't see any design names on the boxes; there were coffin shaped iridescent purple, rounded in a silvery mirror finish, almond pale pink ones with a see through stripe dividing the tip from the rest of the nail.



Sally Beauty had a display with the polishes from the China Glaze The Arrangement collection (which I had to re-arrange before I took my pic, what with the unrelated colors that were stuck in there). Front row, left to right: What's Up Buttercup, I Still Beleaf, Show 'em Who's Blossom, This is Ranunculus, Hydrangea Dangea, Saved by the Bluebell, Wildflower Hour (sold out), Lavenduh, There She Rose Again, Señora Flora, Good as Marigold, Better Late Than Nectar.



Walgreens had a spring collection from CND Vinylux: Soulmate, Exquisite, Coquette, and Plume. The polishes are marked as new on the display and the mini pack (which lacks Plume but has top coat) is marked as limited edition.



Some Walmart stores now have Color Club Water Colors polishes in their nail polish aisle. These are water-based polishes, not sheer/jelly polishes as I'd hope when I saw the name of this line (and the very pretty caps which have what almost looks like a plastic wrap mani done with jellies over a white base). Top row: Top Coat, I Have a Sea-cret, A Shore Thing, Keep Swimming, Smooth Sailing, Keep it Reel, Ahoy Matey, You Will Be Mist. Bottom row: Just Dew It (sold out), Make a Splash, Water You Waiting For, Whale Hello There, In Hot Water, Pier Pressure, Off the Hook, Anchors Away.



One store had three rows of Water Colors instead of two (now I'm wondering if some have four, and what other inconsistencies in stocking I've missed). Additional row, left to right: Who Gives a Ship (sold out), You Float My Boat, Rain Rain Go Away, Cry Me a River, You're So Shallow, Wave Goodbye (sold out), Don't Rock the Boat, Surf's Up. Since the color chips on the display don't match up very well with the polish colors in the bottles, I can't say I have a good idea of what the colors that are sold out look like. Also, while I was looking at the Water Colors, I noticed some Walmarts have incorporated the Color Club Meet Your Match skintone shades in their nail polish aisles, so maybe they're core for now, at least the 16 shades that fit in the space alloted (missing were Stark Naked and Dare to Bare).



Seeing Cutex polishes at London Drugs made me feel nostalgic; I used a lot of Cutex polish back in the day because it was something I could afford on my allowance.



This Dashing Diva display was Valentine's themed, though I believe the designs are part of their core line, so probably still available. The interesting thing, which I didn't pick up on at first since the display wasn't full at the time I saw it, is that they've paired MagicPress fake nail sets with Expressions 3D nail stickers (the stickers were sold out). That's not something I've thought to do, despite how often I wear fake nails these days. The nail designs that were left were Unbreakable, Love Shack, and Date Night.



At a Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, I saw the Essence Glitter On Glitter Off peel-off glitters: Put a Ring On It, Razzle Dazzle, Party Queen, Spotlight On, Starlight Express, and Glitter in the Air. I later saw these same shades at Fred Meyer in the States.



I'm not sure what happened with me and the Essie spring collection; I never saw a full display until I went to Canada a few weeks ago. Kohls had two lonely polishes; my Ulta was empty every time I looked, but at a London Drugs in Vancouver, I found an almost full display. least it had pictures of what the colors were: Stirring Secrets, A Touch of Sugar, Pinkies Out, Tiers of Joy, Reign Check, Teacup Half Full.



I'm not sure what season the #essielove Moments collection is for; maybe it's core since people have events year 'round. Left to right: Birthday Girl, The Best-est, Nailed It, Congrats, Sheer Luck, Mani Thanks. First place I saw this was a NW Beauty, though I've since seen spaces for five of the shades at Kohls (missing was The Best-est).



I've been seeing Essie Summer 2019 at Rite Aid but no where else so far. They're putting the six shades in a display that's only four wide, which is odd but I guess good that they're getting the whole collection. Left to right: In Full Swing, Claim to Flame, Strike a Rose (front), Soles on Fire (back), Tangoed in Love (front), Take the Lead (back).



Fred Meyer had an Essie Gel Couture display with skintone neutrals and reds. According to the Essie website, the three reds are new shades. I'm not sure about the others. Left to right: Buttoned & Buffed, Tailor-Made With Love, Walk the Hemline, Paint the Gown Red, Scarlet Starlet, Lady in Red.



FingerPaints continues to put new cap colors on polishes in an attempt to get me to buy them; the Rose Quartz collection I saw at Sally Beauty recently has pearlescent white caps. Front: You're a Gem, Well of Quartz, Don't Be Mineral-istic. Back: Love is Blinding, Crushing and Blushing, Pearls of Wisdom.



I popped into a few Five Below stores in my travels and was, as expected, underwhelmed by their polish selection. I saw no new Fresh Paint or Funky Fingers colors. I did see some NPW Arctic Nail Stickers.



Five Below also had a variety fake nail sets at $3, $4, and $5 price points. I especially like the Pretty Woman duochrome ones.





Walmart had an end of aisle display for ImPress press-on fake nails, mostly in spring shades of pinks and other pastels. They are all in on the accent nail concept; all of these sets had at least two types of design/finish in them, and some had three.



Stamping is stil having its moments of fame in the mainstream nail world. This Kiss display at Fred Meyer had nail art stickers plus something new: a stamping kit called Stamp Styler, with a plate, stamper, scraper, and black and white stamping polishes.



Slipped into the regular polish section at Fred Meyer, I found two lines from LA Colors I hadn't seen before: Hypno Holographic (by which they seem to mean iridescent) and Metal. Top: Sentiment, Surreal, Wander, Divine, Paranoia, Euphoric, Dazed, Voodoo. Bottom: Crushed Diamond, Bubbly, Marvelous, Crystal Pink, Majestic, Sublime, Gold Coin, Violet Vixen.



Last display post I had to share a very picked over LA Girl Liquid Metal display, with half the colors sold out. When I later spotted one at a different Rite Aid with all the colors, I had to snap a pic.



The OPI Tokyo collection has shown up at the usual places. I saw it first at Ulta. Left side of this display is the OPI Shine versions; right is traditional formula (thought I have seen these swapped at other Ultas). Top row: Primer, Gloss, Rice Rice Baby, Another Ramen-tic Evening, Arigato from Tokyo, Hurry-juku Get this Color, All Your Dreams in Vending Machines; right side is same (Base Coat & Top Coat instead of Primer & Gloss). Second row: Samurai Breaks a Nail, How Does Your Zen Garden Grow, I'm on a Sushi Roll, Suzi-san Climbs Fuji-san, Tempura-ture is Rising, Kanpai OPI, Chopstix and Stones; right side is the same. Third row: repeats of some colors above on Infinite Shine side; Just Karate Kidding YOu (times 2), Left My Yens in Ginza (x2), R U Happy 2 C Me (x3). I understand that these last three are Ulta exclusives. Mini sets on the bottom have the bottles arranged in a sort of random manner that I don't recall seeing before.





The Sally Beauty OPI Tokyo display I saw was somewhat less organized, but did have the Sally Beauty exclusives front and center: Judo'nt Say (pale pink, not sure what's up with that punctuation), This Shade is Blossom (champagne), and Robots are Forever (white).



Hot on the heels of Tokyo, the OPI Always Bare for You collection showed up at NW Beauty. This is the bridal/Soft Shades collection for 2019. Front (two bottles of each shade): Bare My Soul, Engage-ment to Be, Ring Bare-er. Back (ditto): Baby Take a Vow, Throw Me a Kiss, Chiffon-d of You.



And the Infinite Shine Always Bare for You display, which has Primer and Gloss in addition to the colors:



I go into CVS when I'm on the road more through force of habit than expecting anything good polish-wise, but in one store in Wisconsin on the nail polish wall, I found Pop-arazzi polishes in cylindrical bottles with silver caps, which was a change from the black with white spotted handles they used to have on a more traditional bottle shape. They only had treatments, topcoats (including special effect ones), and peel off glitters here, no core/regular shades. Top row: Avocado Oil & Bamboo Treatment, Clay & Vitamin E Treatment (sold out), Quick Dry Top Coat (sold out), Flaky Glitter Top Coat, Holographic Top Coat, Matte Top Coat, Iridescent Top Coat, Glow in the Dark Top Coat (sold out). Bottom row, al peel off glitters: Lavender, Royal Blue, Fuschia, Red, Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Charcoal.



The Prim + Proper line at London Drugs surprised me; I'd never heard of it before, and also the bottles were the same as the Whim line that Ulta had for a while, with the gentle curve front to back. There were too many colors here for me to get their names in the time I had before we needed to get to the theater for the show that brought us to Canada.



I first saw the Sally Hansen + Jelly Belly Insta Dri shades at a Meijer store while I was traveling. These were released for Easter, but as recently as this past weekend, I saw a fairly full display of them left at an Ulta in my area. Top row: Coconut, Buttered Popcorn, Peach, Very Cherry, Strawberry Cheesecake, Bubble Gum, Tutti Frutti, Island Punch. Second row (duo sets): Bubble Gum & Buttered Popcorn, Berry Blue & Tutti Frutti (times 2), Coconut & Peach. Fourth row: Blueberry, Berry Blue, Green Apple, Coconut, Buttered Popcorn, Peach, Very Cherry, Strawberry Cheesecake. Remaining rows: all repeats or core colors







I shared the Sally Hansen Insta Dri Matte Metallic shades last time; for this time, I saw them tucked in a new style of display at Walgreens with other Insta Dri colors. This space used to be for SinfulColors, but those are no longer carried.



At London Drugs in Canada, I saw a spring Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure display. Left to right: Daisy Dreaming, Dahlia Darling, Freesia Fancy (but this is not Freesia Fancy; wish I hadn't been so rushed when I was there and had taken pics of the bottle tops), Freesia Fancy (new), Bluebell Bloom, Balmy Blush, Romantic Rose. In addition to the polish, there are scented cuticle oils in Peony and Rose. The backing card for this display was missing, so I didn't know what the collection is called. Googling leads me to believe it's Petal Soft.



At Rite Aid, I saw a stand alone Sally Hansen display with Miracle Gel, Color Therapy, and Mega Strength colors. The front touted Neon; the back, Nails that Go Bloom.





The Miracle Gel Neon shades are referred to as limited edition: Fuchsia Fever, Peach Please, Electri-Lime, Miami Ice, and Violet Voltage. They're paired with the Miracle Gel Matte Top Coat. On the shelf below, there are some Color Therapy shades that would seem to be more properly placed on the other side: Bluebell Bloom, Balmy Blush, Dahlia Darling, Peony Cuticle Oil, and Pretty Peony nail art stickers. Yes, these shade names match some from the Canadian Complet Salon Manicure display.



The other side has core Miracle Gel shades on top. The second shelf has the Color Therapy pastel florals: Beautiful Bouquet nail art stickers, Daisy Dreaming, Freesia Fancy, Romantic Rose, and Rose Cuticle Oil. I would have put all the florals on this side, and if we had to have Miracle Gel shades, pick out some bright ones to go with the neons on the other side. I'm not even going bother with the Mega Strength shades; nothing new there and all the shades were in earlier display posts. This display also has Hard as Nail Vitamin Strength Serum and No More Stains Spray-On Base Coat.



One more from Sally Hansen: at Walgreens I saw a Pride display with Xtreme Wear colors. None were new, but the ones in the back row that made the rainbow had rainbow heart stickers on the cap that I thought was a nice touch.



The first and only place I've ever seen the Sensationail Nailtural line is at Shoppers Drug Mart. Top row: Base Coat, empty slot where I assume top coat would go, Whimsical White, Sheer Selflessness, Soft Seashell, Buff Brilliance, Peaceful Peony, Trusting Terracotta, Tender Tulip. Bottom row: Dainty Dahlia, Reliable Rose, Lively Lavender, Optimistic Orchid, Sweet Sand, Steady Stone, Gorgeous Granite, Sensitive Storm, Lyrical Licorice.



With Walgreens getting rid of SinfulColors and Rite Aid seemingly as not getting many new displays either, Walmart is the place to look for new colors. When I first saw the Fearless Colors Outrageous Nails display at this particular store, it was mostly empty and I was worried I'd missed out, but apparently all the polishes didn't arrive with it because when I went back it had been restocked.



The first two rows are SinfulShine colors. Top, left to right (I think all previously released, but don't quote me on that): Prosecco, Tutu Thrill, Pragmatic, Alfresco, Shine Annie, Sinorita, Plumberry, Caribbean Cool, Top Coat. Bottom (I believe these are new): Diamond in the Raw, Shimmarine, Magic Dragon, Liquid Gold, Poison Apple, Spice, Wine Not, Galaxy, Top Coat.



Next two rows are new shades. Top row are the Silky Mattes: Purplexed, Coral Craze, Dragonfly, State-mint, Let's Flamingle, Blue Me Away, Blacklist, Mattifly Top Coat, White Lies. Bottom row are the Naughty Nudes: Strike a Pose, Tease, Nakey Nay, Copper a Feel, Come Closer, Body Language, Skin-tillating, Nude Mood, Skinny Dip. Note that these Silky Mattes are in regular bottles; later I saw them in frosted glass bottles at another store.



Other rows are shades we've seen before (and not all slots were stocked or had the right polishes in them when I saw this one). For completeness' sake, here are the slots: Let's Talk, Yolo Yellow, Boom Boom, Snow Me White, Sugar Sugar, Supernova, Electric Sage, Rise & Shine, Black on Black, Wonder Mint, Hush Money, Queen of Beauty, Pink Smart, Dream On, Sail La Vie, Decadent, Endless Blue, Gogo Girl, Violet Riot, You Goji, Show and Teal, Vacation Time, Pride, Forbitten Fruit, Clear Coat, Raisin the Roof, Acapella Ella.

One Rite Aid did have a new SinfulColors display, specifically a SinfulShine one; no shades here that weren't also at Walmart. Front: Wine Not, Liquid Gold, Spice, Poison Apple, Diamond in the Raw. Back: Shimmarine, Galaxy, Magic Dragon, Top Coat.



There was a SinfulColors St. Patrick's Day display called Get Lucky, but it had no new shades in it and all the ones I knew of are gone or picked over by now.

At a Save On Foods in Canada, I found a brand I'd not seen before: True Fiction. Top row: Muffin Top Coat, Sugar Pie, Black Patent, Wedding Wishes, Cha Cha Cha, Double Double, High Society, Bottom row: Sangria, Almost Famous, Runway Red, Fancy Pants, Temptations Test, True Blue, Shady Lady.



I solemnly swear I won't save up so many displays for next time.