A Few More Displays Before Summer Vacation

I know I did a display post just recently, but I've seen a few more things since then, and I'm about to go on a month long hiatus so wanted to get them posted before that. Thus the rare Saturday post, as I've been running around getting ready for the trip and only able to sit and work on this today. I went back to those Ardell fake nails that I shared from Fred Meyer last display post, as I decided I wanted to try a few of the sets and saw one set that must have been hiding last time, a Flash & Sparkle set with gold reflective glitter.

 

Ulta had a Maybelline and Essie display nowhere near where the rest of the Essie was. This had the four new Expressie FX topcoats: Iced Out, Immaterial Frost, Faux Real, and Ethereal Glow. Given I've yet to use any of the first set of FX topcoats I got, I passed on these, but I don't know how long I'll stay strong.

 

Ulta had an endcap display of Glamnetic fake nails. This had three sections: Bestsellers on Top (Favorites for Every Occasion), Limited Edition in the middle (Trend-Setting, Viral-Worthy Manis), and Customizable on the bottom (Create Your Perfect Length and Shape. The bottom section was the most interesting, as it had a very elaborate nail clipper promising a perfect cut every time. It's got a dial with different nail shapes and lengths. I've been cutting and shaping mine by eye, and I think they look okay so I'll just keep doing that. I was confused by the nails in this section as most had designs that wouldn't work so well if the ends of the tips were cut off.

 

I saw a Kiss display with a Marilyn Monroe themed collection of fake nails. I don't know much about nail trends in the 1950s but these did seem like classic colors and styles.

 

Fred Meyer had a relatively untouched display of OPI Nature Strong. This said "Even More Flowerful" and "New botancial base coat, shades, and glitters" on it, but I haven't paid hardly any attention to this line since it was first introduced so not sure how new any of this is. I should do some more research on the glitters at least, to see if they really are better for the environment that the ones in traditional polish. Front row, left to right: Botanical Base Coat, Big Bluetiful Planet, Eco For It, Mind-full of Glitter, Glowing Places.Top row: Natural Origin Top Coat, Kind of a Twig Deal, A Kick in the Bud, Bee the Change, Leaf By Example.

 

A Walgreens had some Sally Hansen polishes lined up on a shelf next to the beauty section cash register. I almost walked on by because they weren't in a display and looked like shades I'd seen before, but I figured I was there and not in that big a hurry so stopped and found one of the new Miracle Gel toppers, Moonlit Top Coat. This is the flaky one similar to Essie Shine of the Times. The only sign of the other new one, Glazed, was the price tag stuck to the shelf. That one is also a flaky but iridescent rather than shifty (as I understand based on my five minutes of internet research). I think these are supposed to be part of the core line, but there were not slots for them in the core display area when I went to look.

 

The Rite Aid around the corner from the Walgreens (well, around the corner and down one very long block) had the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel 90s Nail Party display. In addition to the top and base coats and few core colors in the back row, this had eight bright shades: Did I Blue That, Nostalchick, Frosted Tips, Nice Nice Baby, Toadally Buggin', Mixtape, Be Bright Back, and Meet Me at the Mall. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to dry up into dust and blow away now, as the 90s being retro and nostalgic now makes me feel ancient.

 

I was very sad to see that the display at Ulta for the Sally Hansen Sesame Street collection was nearly empty by the time I saw it. Fortunately (I guess?) the slots were labeled so I could get an idea of what I was missing. Nine shades in this collection: Elmo Loves Hue, Perfect Friendship, Up to Snuff, Think Big, Scram, Turquesa Brilliante, C is for Color, Am I Not Adora-blue, and 1 Polish Ah Ah Ah. The Clearly Quick was there, too. The last slot on the right appears to have been for fake nail sets, which I surmise only becacuse there was a photo of them on a second display (see below). I looked online and Ulta already has these colors on clearance and only four were left when I looked, so I guess I'm going to have to miss out seeing the missing ones in person.

 

The other Sesame Street display had sets of four polishes next to a photo of those aforementioned fake nails.

 

I felt bad that I hadn't recorded (or even looked at) the names of the W7 polishes I shared in my previous display post, so I took the time to look when I was back at that store. I'm reusing the previous photo, as on this visit the display was a bit worse for wear (cretins who test polish on the displays need to stay home until they can control themselves). Colors left to right: Puerto Rico, Nicosia, Watermelon (pretty sure; my photo is blurry), Pink About, White, Lake, Brazen Blue, Mintimalistic, St. Lucia, Sprung Lilac, Brazil, Hawaii.

 

That's all for now. See you in late August if all goes to plan.

Wheel G16: Charcoal and Black Shimmers

Nail Wheel Wednesday is back with charcoal and black shimmers. Some of these seem like they might actually be textured, too.

 

1. Orly Color Blast Hearts of Steel (2 coats)
2. Rescue Beauty Lounge An Accidental Interloper (3)
3. Milani 176 2.0 (2)
4. Wet 'n' Wild Fergie Heels of Steel (3)
5. Jesse's Girl Black Satin (2) [satin finish]
6. elf Metal Madness (2)
7. Zoya Claudine (2)
8. Essie Gel Couture Hang Up the Heels (2)
9. Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Keep Vinyl Alive (2)
10. OPI Queen of the Road (2)
11. Sally Hansen Satin Glam Silk Onyx (2)
12. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure To the Moon and Black (2)
13. Studio M Show Time (2)
14. GOSH Stardust Night Sky (2)
15. 2B Colours Jeans Look Black (2)
16. Formula X for Sephora Black Hole (2)
17. Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Diva After Dark (2)
18. OPI Center of the You-niverse (2)
19. Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Edward's Love (2)
20. The New Black Gold Grenade (1)

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Nail Wheel, Just Displays

Nail Wheel Wednesday should return next week; this week I've got a few displays I've seen while out and about in the months since I last shared displays. I'm still not back to my old display hunting habits (and don't think I ever will be but who knows), but do have to go into stores that have nail polish along with other things and sometimes I see things to take photos of.= Let's kick things off with the three displays of Ardell Nail Addict fake nails I saw at Fred Meyer. There were some interesting things here I hadn't seen in fake nails before. This first display featured Flash & Sparkle nails, which have reflective glitter applied to them in different patterns. Tucked in center back there is a set of Ecofab, the box for which says they're "plant based" and "100% biodegradable". I guess those are something like the compostable cutlery offered at some places as a plastic alternative?

 

The second Ardell display had another two things I hadn't seen in fake nails before. The Sun Kissed sets are like solar polishes, changing color in the sun. The Eco Mani sets are made from recycled plastic.

 

The last display had sets similar to ones I'd seen from other brands but they were still pretty. These are called Velvet. At first I thought that meant a physical texture, but it's meant to evoke the visual texture of velvet fabric that shimmers and shifts. Similar to some magnetic polishes.

 

There was a China Glaze collection for Pride (I assume, what with the rainbow colors and Love Is Love tagline) at Fred Meyer. A bold/neon twist on traditional Pride flag colors. Left to right: Flame-boyant, In the Lime Light (not yellow-leaning enough to be lime in my book but ok), Tropic Like It's Hot, Summer Reign, Orange Knockout, Crushin' on Blue.

 

This Dashing Diva display at Ulta caught my eye. The top shelf has semi-cured gel strips, both pedicure and manicure versions, with an emphasis on the glazed donut look for the latter. The middle shelf has the no-light/no curing needed strips like the ones I used back in March,

 

A Walgreens had what I assume is the Essie summer collection, Push Play. Bold colors with neutral accents here. Left to right: Grass Never Greener, Press Play, Sunshine Be Mine, Start Signs Only, Climbing High, and In My Sandbox.

 

Ulta had the Push Play collection, too, though in a slightly different display (not pictured as it wasn't that different from the one above). They also had the Essie Vintage Vanity collection, which was tagged "New + Only Here". In front, left to right: Born to Adorn, Vintage Vanity, Pretty in Pearls, and Unhidden Gem. In back: Primp & Powder, Not So Naturale.

 

At a Fred Meyer store in Washington, I saw a display of the Hip Chic semi-cured gel strips that, unlike the ones at the Idaho store I go to most often, weren't on clearance. These were all designs I hadn't seen at my store, so maybe it was just old sets that were being clearanced and there's a display like this I missed there? In addition to the strips, this display had cuticle oil and something called "fresh serum", which I guess a treatment.

 

The OPI sections of the big nail unit at the Ulta I was in were poorly stocked and of course poorly lit for photos. I guess the summer collection is called Summer Make the Rules.

 

When I was on my road trip last month, I stopped in a Five Below and saw this display for Pretty Woman Stardust collection. Some of these were really tempting, but I told myself I have similar polishes at home. Left to right: Intergalatic (deep blue shimmer with purple flash), Eternity (burgundy shimmer with gold flash), Break the Silence (deep teal shimmer), Stardust (gold glitter topper), Black Shadow (deep charcoal shimmer), and Looks Can Kill (rosy red shimmer with peach flash).

 

My old friend Sally Hansen has slowed down some, but she's still putting out limited edition collections, like this year's Pride offering, which I saw at Fred Meyer. It's called Pride & Shine, though that's hard to see since come cretins painted over that part. Mischievous kids or bigots? In north Idaho, it's hard to know who did it. I did have to rearrange bottles to get the front row stocked with the main rainbow colors, plus two of the trans ones. Left to right: Cherry-ish You, Healing Feeling, Sunshine Shimmers, Petal Dance, Blue Serenity, Berry Spirited, Someone Like Blue, and Pinky Please. There are a few more that didn't fit into the front row: Pearl Treasure (white), Espresso Yourself (brown), and Bold Rush (black).

 

I later saw a Pride & Shine display at Ulta, which only had a box set of the trans colors: Someone Like Blue, Pinky Please, and Pearl Treasure. There were prices listed for two other sets, a duo and a six-pack, but those appeared to be sold out. The display card had circles with twelve different colors, all the ones I'd seen at Fred Meyer plus one I hadn't noticed that appeared to be a glitter topper.

 

So I'm a bit bummed about the nearly empty display then round the corner and find the missing two sets just sitting on top of the big nail polish unit. The duo has the mysterious glitter in it, Get GLAAD, and Pearl Treasure. The six-pack is a ROYGBV (no indigo) rainbow. No idea where the black and brown came into Ulta's display; they're in those color circles on the card but doesn't seem there was a place for them in the display. Odd. Also odd is that I failed to notice the glitter was in the Fred Meyer display, three bottles of it in the back. I guess I saw the Peeps white also thrown in there and figured it was an old polish from another collection. I'm slipping.

 

Sally Hansen has another collection out now in the Miracle Gel line. This is a collaboration with the Keith Haring foundation/estate and has cremes in it. Left to right: Go Figures, Sketched in Stone, Red-iant Baby, Writing on the Walls, Colour Instinct, Contempor-airy, Blanc Canvas. There were also top coats in the display. Looking at this photo, I might have to see if I can find Go Figures to buy; it's a fairly unusual shade and I like that they changed the color of the Miracle Gel logo on the bottle for this one (and the black and the white, but I sure have enough of those creme shades in my stash).

 

This past weekend, I saw a display for the W7 brand at Fred Meyer. I didn't take the time to document the names, as I was in bit of a rush getting to a party (not so much of one I didn't swing through the beauty aisles, obviously). These looked to be cremes, and the shade range was mostly "safe" colors with a few pops of blue and yellow, but I'm all for more mainstream polish, so I did stop and look. Plus they're priced at only $2.99 so yay for a more afforadable option.

 

I wonder if there will be another resurgence of mainstream/drugstore brands. Or has the business landscape changed too much and we'll never get back to the number of brands and collections there were before. I still plan to be the lady in the assisted living home with wild nails, but I have enough polish in my collection to make that happen regardless of what's in stores decades from now.