Displays I've Been Saving Up

Since my previous display post back in early May, I've been doing some travelling again, with a couple trips to western Washington to visit family (I'm on a second one in two months as I type this), a quick weekend in Portland, and two weeks road tripping around Idaho, along with a few day trips down to the city. I am not quite as dedicated as before to going into all the locations of all the stores to look for polish displays but do try to get to a good variety of places to see what I can see. I saw a China Glaze Havana Nights display at Sally Beauty but because of the type of display it was I have no idea what was missing or if what was there was even what should be. I know, I've made this complaint before. I'll probably make it again.

 

I almost missed the Essie Let It Ripple collection at Fred Meyer because its display card was missing. Fortunately, a few of the shimmers were eye catching enough to pull my eye in their direction. Left to right: Earn Your Tidal, Tide of Your Life, Cliff Hanger, In the Cab-ana, Wetsuited Up, and Good Vibrations.

 

Fred Meyer had new shades of Essie Expressie as well. This had slots for: Multi-Player Moves, No Time to Pause (sold out), Thumb-Surfing, Remote Friends, Ahead of the Game(r) (sold out), Don't Glitch Get Better, Take Controller, Leveled Up, Virtual Velocity, and Beat the Clock (sold out).

 

I also saw the Essie Ferris of Them All collection at Fred Meyer. Nine shades here: Air Spun Fun, Ice Cream and Shout, Amuse Me, All Fun & Games, Ferris of Them All, Win Me Over, Let It Slide, and Main Attraction.

 

Rounding out the Essie finds at Fred Meyer, there was a display of Essie Gel Couture with six shades: First Fitting, Inside Scoop, Gallery Glam, Museum Muse, Behind the Glass, and Steel the Show. From what I can see online, Gallery Glam, Museum Muse, and Behind the Glass are the Museum Muse collection; the others are repromotes.

 

I had to visit three different Ulta stores to find a display for the Essie Tie-Dye collection Give It a Swirl (only at Ulta. This has Blanc from the core collection plus three limited edtion shimmers— Don't Get It Twisted (pink), Give It a Swirl (lilac), and All Tie-Dyed Up (sky blue)—plus Gel Setter Top Coat. There are directions on the display for creating nail art, plus a brush that was free with purchase of a polish.

 

 

When I was in Portland, I found a CVS; hadn't been in one of those in a long time. They had a display of imPress fake nails by Kiss, including some limited edition sets done in collaboration with Jess Conte, who is apparently a "content creator and musician".

 

In the core display section at Fred Meyer, I spotted the LA Color Glitter Vibes collection, which I don't recall seeing before (I usually remember glitter): Highkey, Pure Blush, Golden Glow, Pink Bling, City Girl, Purple-razzi, Drippin', and Finesse.

 

Not a display, but the endcap at Walmart with clearance items and random stuff people just decided to set down there had the only bottle of LA color Neon Jelly that I've seen in the wild. I looked everywhere to see if this bottle's display was still around but didn not find it. This blue is called Razzle Berry; there are seven other shades in the line, available on the LA Colors website.

 

There was an LBK display at Walgreens, a place I've not seen the brand before. This was Rockin' the Neon Palooza. There are nine bright shades here; I moved the bottles around so the right hand section was complete and filled with the colors that matched the names printed on the display. Front: Party Time, Funkadelic, Laser Lemon. Middle: Peace, Hot to Trot, Purple Haze. Back: Rave, Lime & Coconut, Pinkalooza.

 

I didn't see the Morgan Taylor Feel the Vibes display at Sally Beauty until it was mostly sold out, but fortunately they had a swatch card. Slots left to right: All Day All Night, Spin Me Around, Into the Lime-light, Orange Crush Blush, It's My Moment, Keepin' It Cool.

 

 

A Fred Meyer in Washington was the first place I saw the Nailtopia brand outside of an Ulta. It was just a single shelftop display with a fraction of the shades in the big core display at Ulta, but I was still happy to see it. This had slots for these shades: When the Night Falls, Blank Slate, Nailed It (the slot for which had what looked like a base coat in it, which was odd since there was no slot for base coat, so I wonder if there was another display I missed), Nails on Fleek (empty), Bali Baby, Kissin' in the Rain, Tira-Miss-You, Mocho Loco, Sol Glow, Tropinail, and Ruby Slippers (empty).

 

At a Fred Meyer closer to home in Idaho, the mystery of the Nailtopia base coat was resolved: this store had two shelf displays, one of which did have a slot for base coat. Top display, left to right: Started from the Bottom (base coat), Top of Your Game (top coat), So Fresh So Clean, Do or FiDi, Juice Cleanse, Yacht Week, Forest Hills (empty), Run Now Wine Later (empty), Smokey Road, Jomo (empty), Hawaiin Blues. Bottom display is same as at the other Fred Meyer above.

 

I am always happy when I see new OPI collections at Walgreens because the displays are so straightforward; one slot for each color, with an indication of what the shade looks like if it's sold out. So nice compared to the backlit cluttered jumble that usually faces me when I go to Ulta. In this case, Walgreens had the Malibu collection. Fron row: From Dusk Til Dune, Coastal Sand-tuary, El Mat-adoring You, Endless Sun-ner, Cliffside Karaoke, Bonfire Seranade. Back row: Marigolden Hour, PCH Love Song, Strawberry Waves Forever (empty), The Sound of Vibrance, Pear-adise Cove, Mali-blue Shore.

 

They had the same display for OPI Malibu at Sally Beauty, with a different one missing, plus a nail wheel (rectangle, I guess) with all the polishes swatched.

 

Here's the Ulta endcap for OPI Malibu. The bottles are mostly gone, but they at least did have the lineup pictured, and I did like the dotted rainbow heart.

 

It had been so long since I'd been in a CVS that this was the first time I saw the new Poparazzi bottles. They still have the polka dotted caps, but they're cylindrical now. I didn't document the whole lineup because I didn't want to push my luck taking photos.

 

 

Some time back, I swatched two Pop Beauty polishes I got out of the clearance bins at Walgreens. I noted I'd never seen the brand there and was puzzled. Well, I came across a Walgreens that had a display for Pop Beauty. Mostly empty, but still, evidence of what sort of thing I missed at that other store when I wasn't going out much. There are slots here for (starting top left): Lightshow, Zing-C, So Bomb, Watermelon Wow, POM POM, Wine O'Clock, Pastel Fleur, Passion Punch, ZZZ Pink, Purple AF,l Black Cherry, Marshmallow, Pirouette Pink, Hint of Mint, Be Green, Aqua Shot, and Blue Cosmos.

 

I shared a Sally Hansen Cruella collection display last time, but that one wasn't accompanied by these polish and topcoat sets with eye catching art on the box like these I saw at Ulta.

 

Ulta also came through with some Sally Hansen Insta Dri Pride variations that I hadn't seen or shared before. I think the box sets of six polishes are Ulta exclusives. One has the six colors of the familiar Pride flag (ASAP Apple, Love Wins, Yellow Lady, Yaaasss Green, Along for the Pride, and Va-Va Violet); the other has light blue (Jet Setter), pink (Pink Blink), dark blue (Along for the Pride), purple (Va-Va Violet), yellow (Yellow Lady), and white (White on Time) to use to make stripes to match the flags for transgender pride, asexual pride, and nonbinary pride as shown on the box.

 

Walgreens had a Sally Hansen Miracle Gel display called Neon Summer. Top row (these were labeled as limited edition): Feelin' Grape, Chill Out (sold out), Flash of Bright, Sun-shine On, Squeeze the Day, and Floresc-Pink. Second row (re-promotes): Miami Ice, Violet Voltage, Fuchsica Fever, Peach Please, Lemon Chilo (sold out, I seem to recall this used to be called Lemonchillo, all one word, two l's).

 

At Fred Meyer I saw the display for Sally Hansen Miracle Gel It Takes Two, which has color at one end and top coat at the other. Yes, this is more space efficient than carrying two full size bottles around but I've learned my lesson with these double ended deals and won't be buying any. There's no good way to store them that doesn't risk getting polish on the threads, for one thing. Polish shades: Quartz & Kisses, Saturn It Up, Sundown Socialite, Can't Beet Royalty, Rain-Glow, Once Chiffon a Time, Hyp-nautical, Sugar Fix, Get Mod, and Onyx Perfected. All paired with Shiny Top Coat. I also saw these in a free standing display at Walgreens, with full size Miracle Gel bottles below them (and maybe Cover Girl makeup on the other side? I didn't get a good photo of that one as I was in that store to pick up a prescription for my mother in law so wasn't supposed to be dawdling in the makeup aisle).

 

None of the Walmarts in my area had the collection that came out earlier this year which had some glitters in it (or if they did, I missed it), but one store did get the Color Your Way display which has brights for summer. The top section of this has the One-Step Gel Pen in various colors; these look like the next generation of the Sally Hansen Color Quick and Nicole by OPI Nic's Sticks. A USB compatible gel-curing lamp is below the nail polish pens. The bottom section has sets with fake nails for one's fingers and a matching mini bottle of polish for one's toes, which other than the matching is pretty much the combination I've been sporting in my life for quite a while now.

 

 

At Ulta, I saw a mostly empty display of Scratch nail wraps. I was thinking about buying one to try then saw the directions called for using a non-quick dry top coat on them, and that's not my jam.

 

SinfulColors distribution continues to be frustrating. I did see the Vacay Vibes display at Fred Meyer, but it only had three new (maybe limited edition?) shades mixed with Quick Bliss colors we've seen before. Left to right in front: Dragon Fruitie (new), Juicy, Colada Mama (new), Hit the Spot, Mushy Gushy Mango (new), Flushed. I was too discouraged to document the rest of the bottles. Apparently the only place to get the whole collection of six colors is Walmart, maybe only online as a set. I want to buy individually in the store; I don't need another pink creme like Dragon Fruitie, even if it is scented.

 

On the road, I visited a Walmart that had a whole endcap of SinfulColors, with eight SinfulColors Claws artificial nail sets right at the top, including some I'd not seen before. I might have gotten some but I just hate having to find an employee to unlock them. I'm sure they've done the math and found the sales they lose out on this way aren't as valuable as the stock they lose to theft. At least I hope they have.

 

Somewhere in my travels, I visited an Ulta that didn't have the backlist polish display unit, so was able to get this much better photo of the Ulta Gel Shine Trop the Beat collection than I shared last display post. Left to right: In Pursuit of Passion Fruit, Dragon-licious, Guava Stay Up All Night, Papaya to Dance, Mango Tango, Lei Back & Hula, Seashells & Sand Dollars.

 

At a different, regrettably backlit, Ulta, I saw the 90s Please collection (which doesn't say limited edition so may just be a grouping of core colors): Goal Getter, Facts (though now that I look at this bottle, seems it might be Finesse in Fact's slot), Party Like a Patriot, Finesse (sold out), Americana, #Mood, Black Magic.

 

Wet 'n' Wild is continuing to release stuff under the Fantasy Makers line even when it's not Halloween. This time it was some artificial nail sets I saw at Walmart, in a sidekick with general beauty products like applicators. Left to right: Wild Gal (solid black with black/white animal print accent nails), Feeling Myself (solid deep pink with lighter pink glitter accents), Sunset Spirit (peach iridiscent with coral/gold glitter accents), In a Daze (three colors of glitter: purple, magenta, and peach). These sets have glue included with them.

 

Okay, that's it for this display post. I'm hoping to have more next month, as I am planning some more travel, though of course the Delta variant may affect those plans. Yes, I'm vaccinated, but so many in my area are not (most by choice, not because they can't for legitimate medical reasons).

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.