Friday, January 31, 2020

First Displays of 2020

I'm going to try and do at least monthly display posts this year, starting now. It's been a little over a month since the last display post of 2019, so it's time.

This year's Essie Valentine's collection is Piece Love & Chocolate; I saw it at Walgreens. Six shades with themed overwraps on the bottles: Don't Be Choco-late, Unwrap Me, Piece Love & Chocolate, Talk Sweet to Me, Surprise & Delight, Love-Fate Relationship.



At Fred Meyer, I spotted an Essie Gel Couture display for the Timeless Tweeds collection. Shades here: Woven with Wisdom, All I Tweed, Down to the Herringbone, Polished and Poised, Not What It Seams, Wool Me Over. There's also the top coat (white bottles on the right).



Right next to the Timeless Tweeds (which I didn't know about ahead of time), there was the new Essie Expressie quick dry line I was looking forward to seeing. I was quite pleased to see some more daring colors in this one, especially a couple of fugly yellows. Top row (there are two bottles of each shade throughout): Crop Top & Roll, Second Hand First Love, Checked In, Buns Up, Busy Beeline. Second row: Don't Hate Curate, All Things OOO, Strong at 1%, Bait and Be Bold, Seize the Minute. Third row: In the Time Zone, Throw It On, IRL, Not so Low-Key, Taxi Hopping. Bottom row: Express To Impress, Air Dry, Binge-Worthy, Now or Never, Always Transparent.



Walmart had a new line of fake nails from imPress: the Couture Collection. These have crystals and similar embellishments.



After Christmas, I came across some LA Colors polishes at Walmart that surely were intended for Christmas gift giving; I thought I'd been in there before the holidays but missed these somehow. It's a a line I hadn't seen before called Glitter Bash, and by the time I found them, there were six shades left: Nobility, Exemplary, Reign, Crown Princess, Coronation, and Prestigious. I know there's at least one more shade, a teal called Blue Blood; I know this because someone on ebay has it listed as a duo with Reign for $16.95. No thank you. Someone in a Facebook group mentioned a multicolored one, but had no photos so I don't know if they meant Coronation or not. LA Colors website has no mention of them at all at this point.



Rite Aid has a new exclusive line called PXL Pixellated Color. I've seen it at two stores so far; in both cases it was on one of the ends of the Nail Bar, so easy to overlook if you, like I, mostly scan the seasonal shelves for new stuff. At least they did put a card announcing the brand on the top of the Nail Bar on that side. The shade line up skews heavily toward neutrals and pinks, but that's what sells best, so that makes sense. Top row: Base Coat, Top Coat, White, Nude, Pale Pink, Oyster, Champagne, Rose Gold, Pink, Mauve, Metallic Rose, Fuschia. Bottom row: Deep Purple, Pink Glitter, Metallic Eggplant, Black, Bubble Gum, Golden Pink, Coral Red, Taupe, Purple Sheen, Purple Pearl, Golden Rose, Taupe (again). Looking at the Rite Aid website, there is one color missing from this display: True Red. No surprise that the classic red creme was the first to get sold out.





Just after Christmas, I found a Sally Hansen Happy Holidays display without price stickers covering up some of the shade names, so I can now tell you that the polish I didn't know the name of last month is All the Jingle Ladies (white one on the left).



On to current Sally Hansen, they've introduced a whole new line: Good Kind Pure (which they style as Good. Kind. Pure., and that's too many periods for me). I first saw it at Walgreens, in a standalone floor display with polishes on two sides.

First side, top row: Hardener (times 2), White Tea (in slot that should be top coat), Top Coat. Second row (Duo Packs): Soft Plum & Top Coat (times 2; second should be Pinky Clay & Top Coat). Third row: Rose Petal, Pink Cloud, Pinky Clay, Be-gon-ia. Fourth row: Pink Cardamon, Golden Quartz, Meteorite, Lava Rocks. Fifth row: Elderflower Power, Soft Plum, Mother Earth, Soothing Slate. Bottom row: Coconut Milk, Romantic Peach, Almond Tan, Raw Cocoa.



Second side, top row: Top Coat (times 4; first two should be Hardener). Second row (Duo Packs): Soft Plum & Top Coat, Pinky Clay and Top Coat. Third row: Pomegranate Punch, Cherry Amore, Beet It (times 2). Fourth row: Pink Sapphire, Eco-Rose, Grape Vine (times 2). Fifth row: Coral Calm, Fruity Papaya, Peony Origins, Sweet Berries. Bottom row: White Tea, Sun-tastic, Crystal Blue, Laven-dear.



Fred Meyer had a smaller shelf top display of Good Kind Pure. Front row: Top Coat, Hardener, White Tea, Romantic Peach, Pink Cloud, Pink Caradamom, Golden Quartz. Back row: Laven-dear, Pinky Clay, Pink Sapphire, Eco-Rose, Soothing Slate, Crystal Blue, Sweet Berries.



Walmart had an endcap for Good Kind Pure. Top row: Romantic Peach (times 2), Mother Earth (times 2), Raw Cocoa (times 2), Soft Plum (times 2), Top Coat (times 2). Second row: Rose Petal, Be-gone-ia (times 2), Rose Petal (I should have rearranged these), Pink
Cardamom, Coral Calm (times 2), Golden Quartz (times 2), Top Coat. Third row: Fruity Papaya (times 2), Peony Origins (times 2), Sweet Berries (times 2), Pomegranate Punch (times 2), Top Coat (times 2). Fourth row: Cherry Amore (times 2), Beet It (times 2), Grape Vine (times 2), Soothing Slate (times 2), Laven-dear, Top Coat. Bottom row: Laven-dear, Crystal Blue (times 2), Sun-Tastic (times 2), Meteorite (times 2), Lava Rock (times 2), Top Coat.



Sally Hansen has also added to the Color Therapy line with "Beautifiers and Sheers". All the new stuff is in the front row: three sheer shades—Give Me a Tint, Bare Kiss, My Sheer—Nail Primer, Nail Corrector, and High Gloss Top Coat. The back row is core shades (Powder Room, Rosy Quartz, Pomegratitude, Burnished Bronze, Well Well Well) and the old top coat (which says "glossy shine" in the fine print but I guess that's regular glossy and not "high gloss" like the new one). I saw the display below at Walgreens.



Fred Meyer had a different Color Therapy display with more treatments and different polishes. Front row: Nail Primer, Nail Corrector, High Gloss Top Coat, Nail & Cuticle Serum (sold out), Strenthening Base Coat, Strengthening Top Coat. Back row: Well Well Well, Savasan-ahhh, Give Me a Tint (new sheer), My Sheer (new sheer), Unveiled (new sheer), Bare Kiss (new sheer).



There are new shades of Insta Dri from Sally Hansen, too, in a shelf top display I saw at Fred Meyer. Left to right: Taupe Priority, Beet-ing Heart, Hail Cherry, Jet Setter, Against the Grey-in, Gold Play, Cuticle Rehab Oil Balm (in a stick; this is new for them), No More Stains Spray-On Base Coat.



We didn't get a holiday collection from SinfulColors but something new showed up at Fred Meyer in this new year: Sporty Brights, which says it's "inspired by the look & feel of your sneakers". Apparently these are textured polishes. Also apparent: they changed the printing on the bottles, with a new font, and splitting the words Sinful and Colors, so I guess maybe they don't style their name as SinfulColors any more, but who the heck knows as their website is a mess. Front row: Trainers, Double Time, Shoot & Swishhh, Warning, Fitspo. Back row: Rubber Top Coat, Fit Chick (times 2), Rubber Top Coat, Werk Out.



And that's it; all the new stuff I've seen in the last month. Thank goodness for Sally Hansen and Essie or this would have been a really short post!

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Wheel I12: Still Not Done with the Orange Cremes

If anything gets me to finally slim down my stash, it will be forcing myself to go through my remaining cremes hue by hue and have to face how very many "maybe not dupes but close enough that they may as well be" shades I have. I missed Nail Wheel Wednesday last week due to really stellar snow conditions ... best of the season so far, by far ... but I'm back today with more orange cremes, and there are more still to come.




1. Deborah Lippmann Don't Stop Believin' (2 coats)
2. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Poppin' Paprika (2)
3. Studio M Fiesta (2)
4. Sally Hansen Triple Shine Play Koi (2)
5. Essie Saturday Disco Fever (3)
6. Sephora Formula X Oomph (4) [maybe 3 coats would have worked]
7. Cult Nails Ay Poppy (2)
8. Beautifully Disney Celtic Fire (2)
9. Dermelect Head Turner (2)
10. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Rebel (2)
11. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Beach Redy (2)
12. Milani Juicy Glo (3)
13. Revlon Mai Tai Ask (2)
14. Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Spitfire (3)
15. SinfulColors Big Daddy (3)
16. Rimmel 60 Seconds Oragasm (2)
17. Cover Girl XL Nail Gel Overblown Orange (2)
18. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Say it Lycra Mean It (2)
19. Essie Color Binge (2)
20. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Carnivale (2)


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 15:



16 through 20:

















Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Bee's Knees Lacquer Get Your Buzz On

Today I have a random pretty from this past summer: Get Your Buzz On, the Indie Expo Canada 2019 cocktail party exclusive from Bee's Knees Lacquer.



This is a beautifully complex polish; a lot going on, but it all works together. There are flakes in several colors, shifting shimmer, and a touch of metallic sheen, all in a green base that makes a wonderful background for the pink and gold and bright green pops of color from the shimmer and flakes



My swatch is two coats, and I didn't need to add topcoat.





Under direct lamp light, the metallic sheen shows up more.



I'm so glad to have this in my collection.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Wheel H12: Orange Cremes (Again)




1. SinfulColors Bright Lights Pink City (3 coats) [not pink, at least not now; maybe it changed color with time)
2. Inocos A Maria Vaidosa Laranja (3) [almost 2 coats]
3. OPI Juice Bar Hopping (3)
4. SinfulColors Summer Peach (4) [should have been three but I wasn't careful with the first couple coats so needed four to even out; dries to satin finish]
5. Girly Bits Thump Your Melons (2)
6. Studio M Wham Pow (2)
7. Studio M Glee Club (2) [dries to beautiful matte finish]
8. Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Jailhouse Shock (2)
9. Sally Hansen Triple Shine Tahiti (2)
10. SinfulColors Feel the Vibe (2)
11. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Firey Island (2)
12. Essie Sunshine State of Mind (2)
13. Whim Drinks at Sunset (2)
14. Bonita unlabeled (2) [possibly from Hello Sunshine set circa 2014]
15. Studio M Touch Down (2)
16. Finger Paints Kitchy Tangerine (2) [maybe they meant "kitschy"?]
17. Nicole by OPI The Look Is Orange (2)
18. Essie Roarrrrnge (2)
19. L'Oreal Engergetic Tangerine (3)
20. Deborah Lippmann Lara's Theme (2)


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 15:



16 through 20:



















Tuesday, January 7, 2020

SinfulColors Pride Collection 2019

While I wait to see if SinfulColors is going to release anything new I can get my hands on (I never did see that Chrome set anywhere around here), I'm playing with some of the colors they put out last year, like the glitters for Pride (which I bought off Amazon as a set if I recall correctly; I'm still annoyed I missed the 2018 set which as far as I know was only online). Left to right: Tainted Love, Tight Squeeze, Natural Blonde, Filthy Rich, Love is Love, Drag Queen. These are all jelly bases with small silver glitter.



By now, I imagine there are plenty of straight up swatches of these online, so I went for something else and used them all in one look. I did two coats of each shade (the red and purple ones seemed like they might have worked with just one as they seemed to have more pigment in their bases) and added clear topcoat (though as glitter polishes go, these aren't bumpy).





Then I added matte topcoat, which I rather liked the look of over these glitters.







These aren't ground breaking (what is at this point in the nail world?) but still they make me happy being all squishy and rainbow-y.