Wheel K15: Textures and Glitters from Kiko

I haven't gotten any new Kiko polishes in a long while. I used to swap for them way back in the day, then ordered some online after swapping left the Makeup Alley site (never did get going on whateve the replacement for that was) but shipping got to be expensive, so now I just treasure the ones I do have, like the twenty on this wheel. The Cupcake polishes (1 through 10) are speckled textures; I really should have left the topcoat off of these but there are swatches out there of them in their natural state. The rest are all Fancy Top Coat shades; you know I love my glitters.

 

[all two coats plus clear topcoat] 1. Kiko Cupcake 647 Jasmine
2. Kiko Cupcake 648 Pineapple
3. Kiko Cupcake 649 Apricot
4. Kiko Cupcake 650 Peach
5. Kiko Cupcake 651 Strawberry
6. Kiko Cupcake 652 Lilac
7. Kiko Cupcake 653 Wisteria
8. Kiko Cupcake 654 Anise
9. Kiko Cupcake 655 Mint
10. Kiko Cupcake 656 Pistachio
11. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 657 Silver
12. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 658 Golden Rose
13. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 659 Lilac
14. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 660 Dahlia Purple
15. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 661 Magenta [has heart glitter that I had to fish for]
16. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 662 Red
17. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 665 Violet
18. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 664 Sapphire [had to fish for the star glitters]
19. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 663 Turquoise
20. Kiko Fancy Top Coat 666 Black (over beige base)

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite Fakes

My apologies for the lack of posts last week. We finally got a good weather window for me and Mr. Karen to go visit his mom in western Washington, so we took advantage of that and were gone all last week. I did take my laptop, but ended up not even taking it out of its bag. Instead, I did some tasks around my mother-in-law's assisted living apartment and entertained her while Mr. K took care of some financial things for her that needed to get done. She was having a good week, so evenings were filled with family dinners over at my sister-in-law's house. It seemed appropriate to come back here with a post about the nails I wore on an earlier visit last year. I didn't include them in my Nails of 2021 post because I couldn't pick just one picture of them, I liked them so well. They're a set of imPress press-on nails. I put them on sitting in the passenger seat of the car on our drive out. The set (called Goal Digger) has mirror finish multichrome nails in green/blue/purple with fine silver glitter accent nails, which I didn't end up using any of since I liked the multichrome ones so much.

 

These were just entertaining to look at as I moved my hand around. From the side view below, you can see the purple coming out, as well as the little hint of gold at the edges.

 

When the sun hit them just right, they looked a lot like magnetic polish. Still not sure how I managed the green/blue alternating colors here.

 

Finally, a range of colors in the hotel room mirror.

 

I have no idea if these are still available for purchase, but I might have to look next time I'm at a Fred Meyer or Walgreens or Rite Aid. Looking at these photos makes me want to wear this look again.

Wheel J15: Trending Toward Turquoise Cremes

Staying on my blue kick from Monday, today's late in the day installment of Nail Wheel Wednesday has a bunch more blue cremes.

 

(all two coats each, except for #10, which was three) 1. Bonita Salon Santorini's Ocean
2. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure The Sky's the Limit
3. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Water Color
4. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Please Sea Me
5. Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Here Comes Trouble
6. China Glaze Sunday Funday
7. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Flame
8. OPI Fearlessly Alice
9. Butter London Keks
10. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blinding Blue
11. Essie Strut Your Stuff
12. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri High 'n' Dry
13. China Glaze Hanging in the Balance
14. SinfulColors Sunglasses at Night
15. SinfulColors Ocean Side
16. Kit Blue Jay
17. Rimmel Salon Pro Britpop
18. Orly Teal Unreal
19. Orly Color Blast Kristoff He Goes
20. Dior 792 Bahia

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue Cremes

In the seemingly never-ending quest to organize my nail polish stash, I was sorting through some blue cremes recently. Someday maybe I'll get around to getting them all on wheels at least, but I did pull out four Sally Hansen Insta Dri shades to see how they compared to each other. Left to right: Peppermint Dandy, Crusin' Blue (I would have sworn this was Cruisin' Blue but the label is clearly Crusin'), Brisk Blue, Boo-lue.

 

On the nail, top to bottom in the same order as bottles above:

 

Peppermint Dandy is the lightest, a bit lighter than Crusin' Blue and Brisk Blue, which are very close to each other. Boo-lue is noticeably darker. Another angle:

 

Wheel I15: Blue Green Shimmers

More greenish shimmers for this Nail Wheel Wednesday. I really should sort some more categories so I can have more variety but there's been so much snow I've been skiing a lot and not going to my studio as much.

 

1. Girly Bits Cross-Eyed Bear (2 coats) [such a pretty matte finish]
2. Color Club Taurus (2)
3. Milani Key West (3)
4. Zoya Zuza (3)
5. Catrice Mermaid My Day (3)
6. Dare to Wear Majestic Wonders (3)
7. LynB Designs Cocktail Swag (3)
8. SinfulColors Palm Breezy (3)
9. Sephora Formula X Daredevil (2) [almost a one-coater]
10. Pop-arazzi Money Honey (2)
11. The New Black unnamed (2) [maybe this is a textured polish?]
12. Zoya Selene (2)
13. SinfulColors Sinful Shine Kryptonite (3)
14. Milani Racy Green (2)
15. Sally Hansen Insta Dri S-teal a Base (2) [almost a one-coater]
16. Finger Paints Vintage Vincent (2)
17. Finger Paints Winter Sky (2)
18. Me Me Me Goddess (2)
19. Bonita unnamed (2) [this has thickened; in its original state might have needed more coats]
20. Bonita unnamed (2) [from the All Summer Long set]

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nails of 2021

Nails of 2021 I looked back at the writing I did here this year and see only a few nails of the day posts. I wasn't suprised; my photo folders are stuffed with pictures I've taken but not posted, and most of those are NOTD looks. Between polish swatching/play sessions, I've almost always been wearing fake nails or nail strips from my stash because those are so easy (and the fakes are so protective). To kick off this year, I thought I'd share some of last year's NOTD, lest all those photos go to waste. Back in the day, when Meijer carried MOB (Ministry of Beauty) fake nails for a short time, I scooped up multiple sets when they went on clearance and wore several of those in 2021, including these blue Ultra-Reflect ones, sibling of the orchid ones I wore in 2015 and reviewed .

 

I wore several different sets of Maybelline Nail Falsies (most of those grabbed on clearance, too), including the Keep It Red reverse french set. I first wore this brand of fakes back in 2013.

 

Not all of my looks came from stash, though. I bought a set of the imPress Color nails that I first saw at Walgreens early last year. I tried a shimmery shade called Peanut Pink when my nails were in a shorties stage that these imPress would cover. These have the adhesive already applied to the nail which is easier than having to use separate tabs. I got good wear from them, too. I liked them so well, I bought and wore a couple more sets over the course of the year (Paralyzed Pink and Taupe Prize). They're good basics if the length works for you.

 

I wore L'Oreal Colour Riche Press-On Nails for the first time last year. I bought them in Canada back when going to Canada was still a thing that was possible (I think it is again, with proof of vaccination and a PCR test, but testing is such a mess right now I don't need to burden that system so I can go see what nail polish is a Shoppers Drug Mart). These fit my nails well though the length was on the short side so had to wait until I had a break that made me cut down my natural nails. The adhesive tabs were good and I got about 10 days of wear from this set.

 

I wore these Kiss Gel Fantasy medium length ones at Easter time because the colors reminded me of a bowl of candy, those pastel mints specifically.

 

I liked the wear I got from the one set of SinfulColors Claws I wore last year, these beige with slightly see through red tips, though this shape left the corners of my natural nails exposed so that wasn't great from a protection angle.

 

I tried Clutch Nails for the first time last year, having bought them at Target on impulse when I was there looking for something else. I got the Natural Nude set, and immediately after putting them on, cut them shorter so they felt more natural. These are glue ons, and I had a lot of trouble with nails just popping off and having to be reglued. That can happen with adhesive tabs, too, though those often get loose first so I have a warning.

 

My Halloween look was a pink and black set with spiders from Magic Press.

 

One issue I had with fake nails this year was some of the plastics would change color from my hair dye (it's been blue for a while now). I use semi-permanent dye, and when it's fresh, there's a fair bit of excess dye that comes off. Look how the pink and taupe (from another set I wore) went grey just from me having my fingers in my hair to braid it. This doesn't happen with all sets and fortunately the color change is even rather than streaky when it does happen.

 

I did a couple different sets of Fing'rs Prints nail when my own were short enough. I wore the plaid and black Rock Rebel ones around Thanksgiving.

 

I finished out the year in a couple Christmas sets, including this red and green glitter from Kiss.

 

At the moment, my nails just have a treatment base on them, as I couldn't decide what I wanted for the new year. Happy 2022 everyone! May we all have more joy this year.