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.

Scattering of Displays

I feel like I haven't seen much new since my last display post, but I have seen some things, and it feels like it's time to share them lest they get stale sitting in my pending folder. Christmas stuff has begun to show up in stores despite the supply chain issues. I saw these sets of Clutch Nails fakes at Target. I was tempted to buy both and mix and match them but restrained myself. Fakes that long are not a good match with ski gloves and I do hope to be skiing a lot near Christmas.

 

Target also had a couple Dashing Diva Gloss nail strips sets in Christmas designs slipped in between less seasonal ones.

 

I'd previously only seen OPI's green polish line, Nature Strongm at Ulta but it has now shown up at Fred Meyer.

 

There was a shade card for Nature Strong, too.

 

Fred Meyer also had a full display of the OPI Downtown L.A., Ultimate Shine version. Top row: Isn't It Grand Avenue, Angles Flight to Starry Nights, OPI Hearts DTLA, Abstract After Dark, Violet Visionary, My Studio's on Spring. Bottom row: Metallic Composition, Graffiti Sweetie, (P)Ink on Canvas, Espresso Your Inner Self, 7th & Flower, Art Walk in Suzi's Shoes.

 

I know Halloween is long over, but I didn't see this Profusion UFO makeup display at Walgreens until after I did my Halloween display roundup, and I want to share it for future reference. It has a set of three nail polishes in it which caught my eye because they're the three small bottles that click/snap/stack together. That's a style I'd forgotten about until I saw these. I don't recall the brand that released them the first go 'round back in the day, and so far haven't come up with the right search terms to find them.

 

 

There was also a Profusion What's Your Sign makeup display that had a set of three more conventional nail polish bottles packaged with phase of the moon stickers. (Which I just noticed also appears in the UFO display since someone dropped it there.) Didn't seem especially Halloween-y to me but maybe they were working some astrology/witches angle.

 

 

Good old Sally Hansen has a holday collection of Miracle Gel colors, called You're a Gem. These have gift bows printed on the caps. I saw them first at Target. Left to right: Snow What You Want, Gift for Blue, Living in the Presents, Wrapped in Love, Online Shop-bling, Red It Twice, Glitter to Santa, and Under the Tree.

 

Later I saw a You're a Gem shelftop display at Fred Meyer. This was odd because it touted "8 festive shades" but then hid three of them in the back of the display behind the five in front that had their names listed and colors shown. There were also a couple non-festive shades shoved in there.

 

Another Halloween display that showed up late was the Salon Perfect one at Walmart. I swear it was not there when I saw the SinfulColors/LA Colors/Kiss behemoth in my previous display post. By the time I did see this one, almost all the polish was gone, but they'd helpfully labelled the display and provided pictures of what I missed.

 

Polish section with slots for Crystal Clear Top Coat, Traffic Cone (orange creme?), Too Cute To Spook (orange shimmer), Oil Slick (black creme), Dust to Dust (black and holo microglitter), Heart Strings (orange shimmer?), Hokiss Pokiss (red orange shimmer), Oil Slick, Traffic Cone, Crystal Clear Top Coat. Some of these names seemed familiar, so maybe re-promotes. I was tempted to grab that last bottle of Hokiss Pokiss due to the bats and stars printed on the cap, but for once I was able to talk myself out of it on the grounds of having plenty of shimmers like that already.

 

There were Salon Perfect FaBOOlous fake nail sets at the bottom of the display.

 

I don't remember if I'd seen the Salon Perfect Long Wear line before it showed up in this display at Walmart.

 

These Long Wear polishes have white caps instead of the black ones on the regular line. Slots were for: Take It Easy Terracotta (sold out), Relaxed Rose, Fresh Flora (times two), Clean Slate, Laid Back Lavender, Blissful Blue, Keen Green, Long Wear Base Coat (times two). I feel like there was some problem with assembly here since the bottles fell right through the holes so the colors weren't well displayed. I'm sure the employee who had to put this up isn't getting paid enough to deal with it.

 

The fake nails in this display were all Modern French sets.

 

I had to go to several Target stores before I found the SinfulColors display with their new stuff. It was odd because there was no display card, just a red box with the polishes and some text describing them that didn't even include the brand name on the front face of the display (it did say SINFULCOLORS on the side of the display). I am not sure which of these are limited edition and which are new core colors. At $2.99 a piece, best to buy them all, I figured.

 

Top section is Velvet Matte shades: Strawbery Cheesecake, Raspberries 'n' Cream, Rosewater Delight, Blueberry Macaron, and Pistachio Praline. (All rows have top coat on the end.)

 

Next section are the Sheer Matte colors: Petals in Pink, Icing on the Cake, Frosted Sugar Cooked, Iced Petit Four, and Lavender Notes.

 

Section below that contains the Sweet & Sugary textured polishes: Sweet Cherry Drop, Orange Slice, Watermelon Obsessed, Sour Melon Crush, and It's So Grape.

 

Finally in the last section there are Quick Bliss colors with Sassy Candy stickers on their caps: Green Apple Craze, Sugarplum Sucker, Candied Grapefruit, Royal Cake Pop, and Candy Coated Mint.

 

I admit I haven't made the effort to go into Ulta much since they closed the store in the same strip mall as one of my favorite shoe stores which I popped into quite a lot, so I probably missed some things there. Not that they've been as good a source for that as they were back in the day.

Decent Assortment of Displays

Given the current pace of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in my state and the large percentage of folks who refuse to act like responsible adults, I'm feeling it's going to be a long time before I can get back to display hunting the way I went about it in the Before Time, ranging far and wide and browsing in multiple locations of the same chains to see what I could see. Now, I mostly stay close to home, go into far fewer stores, and aim to get in and get out of those quickly. I did recently take a field trip to the county next to mine where they have more shopping options. I tried double masking for the first time, putting an N95 under a cloth mask, figuring with so many not masking at all around here, I needed to protect myself more. I didn't go to all the stores I would have in the Before Time, but I still managed to see a fair number of displays. Obviously some were already picked over since I didn't catch them soon enough after they were put out like I can when I'm in the stores every week or so instead every few months or more. That's life in the pandemic. Still, it felt good to do a bit of shopping in person and feel that thrill of turning into an aisle and seeing new polish. At Target, I saw a brand of fake nails that was new to me: Clutch Nails. The package says they're reusable, so I'm curious how that works, especially since they appear to be glue ons.

 

Essie's winter collection was old news by the time I was out and about; I saw this sidekick at Fred Meyer. Left to right: Love at Frost Sight (slot filled with what looks like Licorice), Twinkle in Time, Bonbon Nuit (sold out), In a Gingersnap (sold out), Peppermint Condition, Sugarplum Fairytale.

 

The shelftop I saw at Walgreens had some of the winter shades and a whole lot of randoms stuck in there. Front row: Love at Frost Sight, Twinkle in Time (sold out), Bonbon Nuit, In a Gingersnap (sold out), Peppermint Condition, Sugarplum Fairytale.

 

Walgreens had a sidekick with the Essie Valentine's collection, Cupid's Beau, and the Not Red-y for Bed collection (no idea what season/occasion that's for). Top row (Valentine's): Glow and Arrow, Heart of Gold, Gilded Goddess, Cupid's Beau, Love is in the Air, Tug at the Harpstrings. Middle row: Pillow Talk-the-Talk (two slots), The Snuggle is Real, Gossip 'n' Spill, Slumber Party-on. Bottom row: Not Red-y for Bed, PJammin' All Night, Sleepover Squad, Wink of Sleep, From A to ZZZ.

 

Rite Aid had Essie Not Red-y for Bed in a shelftop display.

 

Fred Meyer had a shelftop display with Essie Cupid's Beau.

 

I saw the Essie Spring 2021 collection at a second Walgreens I stopped at (I was only going to do one store per chain, but this second one was right there on my way home and I was weak): Get Oasis, Cacti on the Prize, Retreat Yourself, Light as Linen, Infinity Coat, and You Know the Espadrille. Interesting assortment of colors for spring, I'd say.

 

There's a Target-exclusive Essie collection called Keep You Posted (in an annoying backlit section of the nail polish wall. Left to right: Happy as Cannes Be (two slots), Berlin the Club, Madrid for the 'Gram, Rome Around, No Place Like Stockholm (two slots), Been There London That (two slots).

 

There are new shades of Essie Expressie. I saw them at Fred Meyer. Front row: Millennium, Mall Crawler, Dial It Up (slot filled with Binge-Worthy), Up Up & Away Message, Shook. Second row: In the Modem, What the Tech, Turn Up the Century (slot filled with Buns Up), Skip the Track, We Don't Mesh. (Third & fourth rows are mix of new and old shades.)

 

There was a corner cap at Walgreens with Impress Color press on nails on top (a new line, all solid colors, some "creme", some shimmer) and Dashing Diva Gloss strips on the bottom (some solid color sets, some with accent designs).

 

Fred Meyer had an OPI display that once was filled with the holiday collection but now was a mix of empty slots, random OPIs that didn't belong, and some of the holiday colors. I was not going to take the time to straigthen it out what with the infection rate in that county. Top row: Merry in Cranberry (sold out), Red-y for the Holidays, Let's Take an Elfie, Tinsel Tinsel Little Star (slot filled with random grey and some blues), To All a Good Night (slot filled with random blue), Heart and Coal (slot filled with a different rancome blue). Bottom row: Naughty or Ice, Snowfalling for You, This Shade is Ornamental (LA Colors clear shoved in front of slot), Dressed to the Wines, This Gold Sleighs Me, Gingerbread Man Can.

 

Target had PopSockets Nails, kits with fake nails coordinated with a phone grip. That's new.

 

At the next-closest Walmart to my local one (an hour's drive from it), I found a new line from Revlon tucked into one of the makeup aisles. I only went looking there because I'd found a bottle I didn't recognize abandoned on a random endcap where I was looking for displays. It's called Revlon Ultra HD Snap, and is a one-coat quick dry line (also 20-free, which seems ridiculous to me ... at what point are they touting taking things out that were never going to go in there in the first plae, or things that were inocuous?). I thought the fake polish pouring out of the display was eye-catching (just hope it doesn't give the cretins who regularly deface displays any new ideas).

 

I don't know if these were selling fast or just being put out or what; there were several slots that were empty, so it was nice that the colors were shown on the labels below the slots. Top row: Early Bird, Keep Cool (strange name for a warm beige), Birthday Suit (empty), Basic, Marigold Maven, Hot Stuff, She's on Fire, Cherry on Top (empty).

 

Bottom row: Rule the World (empty), Berry Blissed (empty), So Shady, Get Real, Grounded (not here, but no empty slot ... oddly this row only has room for seven shades), Daredevil, Commander in Chief, Under My Spell. (These bottles were covered in what looked like cardboard dust; in the Before Time, I would probably have wiped them off.)

 

There are some new "Prismatic Shine" shades of Sally Hansen Insta Dri. Walgreens had them, along with a bunch of existing colors, in a shelf top display. Slots for new shades in front: Moonstone (sold out), Cosmic Blu (sold out), Glow Getter, Conjure Copper, Pink Aurora, Purple Prism, The Future is Fuchsia, Celes-tial, Powerslide (these last three seem to be new glitters, not Prismatic Shine shades), Confetti Pop, Twinkle Twinkle (sold out).

 

At the second Walgreens I went to, they seemed to be in the process of resetting their Insta Dri display, and they had new colors missing from the shelftop I'd seen earlier. Twinkle Twinkle is top row, fourth from left. Two slots over is Moonstone. Cosmic Blu is the darker of the two blues on the bottom row.

 

There are also new shades of Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure, which Walgreens had in a shelf top display with many existing colors. I had to wait 'til I got home to Google which new shades made up the Wildflower Collection referred to on the display. Front row: Hardener, White Tea, Frosted Amethyst (new), Pinky Clay, Lavender Haze (new), Pink Sapphire, Crystal Blue, Pink Cloud, Eco-Rose. Back row: Island Coconut cuticle oil (new), Top Coat, Soft Plum, Passion Flower (new), Warm Cacao (new), Honey Harmony (new), Natural Spring (new), Pink Cardamon, Laven-dear.

 

The Valentine's themed Sally Hansen Miracle Gel display I saw at Fred Meyer didn't have any new shades, but it did have six existing colors with special Godiva cap wraps. They're in the front row: Sheer Happiness, Out of this Pearl, Saturn It Up, Can't Beet Royalty, Beet Pray Love, Get Mod.

 

The other Sally Hansen Miracle Gel display I saw at Fred Meyer did have new shades in it, the Rainbow Lights collection. As with the Good Kind Pure, the new shades are mixed in with old ones here. Front row: Sunken Treasure, Saturn It Up (slot is for Once Chiffon a Time, which is new, and which wasn't in this display), Can't Beet Royalty (slot is for Tutu the Ballet, which is new, and is the beige you can see behind Can't Beet Royalty here), Rain-glow (new), One Shell of a Party (new), Get Mod (slot is for top coat), Shiny Top Coat. Back row: Beet Pray Love, Sun-shower (new), Giving Altitude (new), Sugar Fix, Crying Out Cloud (new), Beet Pray Love, Sugar Fix.

 

There wasn't much new to see at my Ulta, but I did spot this almost empty display for Scratch nail wraps (i.e. strips).

 

Neither of the Walmarts I was in this round had any new SinfulColors. For those, I had to go to Target, where the new scented Essenchills were tucked into the nail polish wall. Left to right: Bath Goals, Eucalyptahhh, Low Key Lavender, Chamomile Calm, Beach Vibes, Coffee Drip, Salt Bath Babe, Smoky Palo Santo.

 

In my local Walmart, where I sometimes have to go to get things my grocery store doesn't carry, I saw a new line from Wet 'n' Wild called Fast Dry AF. The display says of these: "Dries in 40 seconds. 5-day extended wear. 1-stroke application". Top row: X-Ray Vision (3 slots), Lovey Dove-y (2 slots), Ballerina Dropout (2 slots). Second row: Throwing Shade (2 slots), Sorry I'm Latte (2 slots), Cotton Candy (2 slots), Heels on the Beach (sold out). Third row: Red Light District (2 slots), Happy Rosy Day (2 slots), Get Stoned (2 slots), Toasted. Bottom row: Southern Belle, Potassium-Rich, Out of Pistachios (sold out), Mermaids Do Exist (sold out), Sin-derella, Putting on Airs, Married into Royalty.

 

I got lucky at the only Rite Aid I've been in in months: they had an untouched display of the Wet 'n' Wild Fast AF. Front row: X-Ray Vison, Lovey Dove-y, Ballerina Dropout, Sorry I'm Latte, Cotton Candy, Heels on the Beach, Happy Rosy Day, Red Light District, Southern Belle. Back row: Toasted, Potassium-Rich, Out of Pistachios, Mermaids Do Exist, Sin-derella, Putting on Airs, Married into Royalty, Get Stoned, Throwing Shade.

 

I look forward to someday being able to roam about at will again; until then, these infrequent forays to limited places nearby will have to do.