Alter Ego Pretty Hair and Fire Light

I seem to lack the mojo to swatch whole collections lately (though I still have the mojo to buy some, so that part's still working), so today I have two pretty polishes I picked up from Alter Ego last year at Indie Expo Canada.

Pretty Hair was an IEC 2019 exclusive; it's a pink-leaning magenta with lots of silver holo scattered shimmer. It was opaque in two coats. I didn't use any top coat; it was plenty shiny on its own.





Here's a look in direct light:





Fire Light is a topper with flakes of purple, blue green, and magenta in a clear base. Some of the flakies seem to be a bit shifty ... I saw glints of gold at some angles, too. Unlike Pretty Hair, this one seems to be available even now on the Alter Ego website (along with some other flakie toppers that I did not buy but now think I should have).



I put two coats of Fire Light on top of Pretty Hair (no top coat needed with this one, either).







I like these together. I also think Fire Light will look splendid over a lot of my purple and blue and green polishes.

Wheel K12: Light Orange and Dusty Peach Cremes

Still working on getting through the rest of the orange cremes. The ones this week are on the lighter end, some of them on the pinkish side, some on the dusty side, some of them what might be called coral (or bleached coral at any rate).




1. Butter London Kerfuffle (2 coats)
2. L'Oreal Macaroon Me Madly (3)
3. Essie Excuse Me Sur (2)
4. Color Club East Austin (3)
5. Studio M East Austin (2)
6. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Melon (2)
7. Pop-arazzi Pretty & Peachy (2) [not 100% sure of this name as bottle isn't labeled and one I taped to it fell off]
8. Essie Love Every Minute (3)
9. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Cute-ture (2)
10. Finger Paints Paint Me Happy (3)
11. Finger Paints Circus Peanuts (2)
12. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure First Kiss (2)
13. Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Coral Heat (3)
14. LA Colors Color Craze Gel Good Vibes (3)
15. Fresh Paint Guava (2)
16. Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Ferris Wheel Romance (3) [almost 2]
17. Essie Stones Stones 'n' Roses (2)
18. Studio M Coral Cascade (2)
19. SinfulColors Wonder (2)
20. Jin Soon Tea Rose (2)


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 15:



16 through 20:

Valentine's Nails

In between swatching, my manicures have settled into a regular cycle: short fake nails, longer fake nails, regular polish or nail strips, flaking/tearing/breakage, repeat. My plan for Valentine's Day was to be in the nail strips step, accordingly I put on some Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips in How Romantic, a geometric pink and red design from one of the holiday collections back in the day. Something festive yet subtle so I could wear it past the holiday.





I wanted these to last, so I added glossy topcoat a few hours after I put the strips on:



And then over the next several days the plan fell apart. I jammed my hand into a few things as I'm wont to do and weakened a few nails, then I did a bunch of macrame with heavy cord (yeah, a new hobby I've picked up ... I find it very relaxing because I'm just playing around and practicing patterns and then undoing them over and over, so there's no product to fret about) and chipped off bits of the strips (and the nails underneath) on several of my fingers. Thus one day before today's holiday, I took the strips off, cut my nails way back and put on some short fakes, ones I can only wear when my nails are nearly nubbins: Maybelline Color Show Nail Falsies in Keep It Red.





And thus the cycle begins anew.

Wheel J12: Lightish Orange Cremes from Yellow Orange to Coral

You can tell I'm getting near the end of a hue when the wheels start looking semi-random like this one ... tangerines and peaches and cantelopes and I don't know what all next to each other. I think there'll be only four or five more wheels of oranges and we'll move on. But of course there will be more in the future because as often as I tell myself I'm not buying any more cremes, I buy more cremes. Most recently I got three yellow ones because they were interesting fugly ones. Which, yes, I probably do have dupes or close enoughs for already but I'm weak to the lure of the shiny and new. But right now, let's look at things that are still shiny but older.




1. LA Girl Ombre unlabeled (3 coats)
2. Studio M Feeling Fruity (3) [almost 2 coats]
3. Bonita unlabeled shade from Hello Sunshine set (4) [maybe could have been three if I'd been careful]
4. L'Oreal Oh So Orange (2)
5. Julie G Old San Juan (3) [almost 2 coats]
6. Revlon Parfumerie Apricot Nectar (3)
7. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Fast Lane (3)
8. Color Club Soak Lizzy House Persimmon (3)
9. POP Beauty Nail Glam Tangerine Taste (3)
10. Sally Hansen Triple Shine Peach Party (3)
11. Sally Hansen Insta Dri To the Peach (2)
12. SinfulColors Fuego (2)
13. Essie Resort Fling (3)
14. Essie Peach Side Babe (2)
15. Essie Serial Shopper (3)
16. Barielle Protect Plus Color Peach Popsicle (2)
17. Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Warm Filter (2)
18. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Kashmir Valley (2)
19. Essie Like an Unforgettable Kiss Nothing But Lovestoned (2)
20. Studio M Peach Echo (2)


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 15:



16 through 20: