Ardell Nail Addict Sun Kissed Nails

As usual, I had the best of intentions for posting more here now that I'm home, except I've been sick. I spent the first week after I got home thinking I was just tired from travel. Then I woke up with a swollen, red, goopy eye and decided I needed to get that checked out. I also had some bug bites that were not healing well, so I had the doctor look a those too. She gave me some antibiotics for the infection she diagnosed, and I took those for almost another week, feeling worse and worse rather than better. I went back to the doctor's this past Friday and saw a different professional and got some different drugs and have slowly been feeling better. Still don't know exactly what I've got, as the first sample they took wasn't usable when it got to the lab. Hoping to hear on the second sample when I go back on Wednesday. I have enough energy now to do more than huddle on the couch under a blanket, so today I've got one of the sets of fake nails I wore on my recent trip, the Ardell Nail Addict Sun Kissed in Color Cadet.

 

These came with nail glue only, but I used adhesive tabs instead since I continue to think they're less damaging to my nails. The fit and base shape of these worked pretty well with my own nails, though they were a tiny bit too square at the base. The pinky peach color indoors went nicely with my skintone, if maybe being a bit unexciting. The nail material was a bit on the sheer side, which meant some air bubbles between the adhesive tabs and the nails showed through, as well as my nail tips, which were shorter than the fakes. It bothered me at first but after a while I stopped noticing it, and I don't think anyone else saw those details the way I do.

 

In filtered sun, hints of pink showed up.

 

In full sun, they went to a light magenta.

 

I kept hoping I'd see the deeper purple shown on the box, but I never caught them doing that in the week I wore them. Here they are at a rest area somewhere along the road.

 

These stayed on pretty well with the tabs and the color change aspect was fun. I'd wear this style again.

Purple Thermals Comparison

Before I left for vacation, my nails were long enough and the weather was moderate enough to show off thermals, so I pulled out two that had been languishing in my swatching boxes for months: Girly Bits Basic Witch (from Polish Pickup for September 2020) and KBShimmer In the Mood (from PPU for November 2020).

 

Girly Bits Basic Witch is a deep purple with blue shimmer and pink/orange/green flakes that shifts to lavender (cool light purple) when warm.

 

 

Apparently my index and middle fingers run warmer; you can see above the cool color is fading faster on them than the ring and pinky. I ran my hand under cool water again and ran back to my lightbox to get the picture below while more of the cool color was still in evidence.

 

Another look at this beauty. I don't care which state it eventually settles in once the thermal dies as I like both the cool and warm states.

 

KBShimmer In the Mood is also a deep purple; it has pink/purple shimmer and pink/blue/green flakes. When warm it shifts to lilac (warm light purple).

 

The contrast between warm and cold was very dramatic with this one, and seemed to last longer in that I was able to get a photo before the tips started to warm up (though perhaps my hands were cooler by then having been under the water a couple times with the Girly Bits).

 

 

 

 

I realized a couple days later than I hadn't done a nail to nail comparison of these two, so did that quickly on my somewhat shorter travel-ready nails before I left on my trip. Top to bottom: Girly Bits (heat already taken over the cool zone), KBShimmer, Girly Bits, KBShimmer.

 

These definitely are in "similar but not the same" category. The Girly Bits is a cooler-toned purple while the KBShimmer is warmer, and while they both have shimmer and flakies, they're not the same color shimmer and flakies. So I'm good with having them both. And good with whatever state they get stuck in when that happens, as it does with all thermals eventually.

Wheel X11: Funky Fingers Solar Polishes

I haven't managed to sort through all my photos and get my IEC writeup done yet. I did manage to paint something new for Nail Wheel Wednesday; when I found I had exactly 20 Funky Fingers bottles in the solar/UV section of my shelves, it seemed like fate. I was a bit disappointed but not surprised that most of these no longer change in the sun. Some of the base colors have transformed, too.



In the sun:




1. Funky Fingers Lil Miss Sunshine (3 coats) [shimmer; darkened slightly in the sun, to ivory]
2. Funky Fingers Solar Flare (3) [shimmer]
3. Funky Fingers Hang Ten Brah (4) [shimmer; this would have been three coats if I hadn't brushed against it while it was wet]
4. Funky Fingers Pluto 4Ever (3)
5. Funky Fingers Burning Melon (3) [darkened slightly in sun]
6. Funky Fingers To Infinity and Beyond (2)
7. Funky Fingers Sunset (2)
8. Funky Fingers Cowabunga (2)
9. Funky Fingers Punkrock Pink (3) [shimmer]
10. Funky Fingers Aurora Borealis (3) [dried to satin finish]
11. Funky Fingers Comet Mebro (3)
12. Funky Fingers Free Spirit (3)
13. Funky Fingers Partly Cloudy (3)
14. Funky Fingers Space Cadet (3)
15. Funky Fingers Surf's Up (3) [changed to blue grey in the sun]
16. Funky Fingers Waverunner (2)
17. Funky Fingers Vibe With Me (3)
18. Funky Fingers Bling Dipper (3) [changed to purple base in sun; I like the rainbows from the glitter in this one]
19. Funky Fingers Gnarly Dude (3)
20. Funky Fingers Riptide (3) [changed to warm pink base in sun]


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 15:



16 through 20:




In below pictures, ones with smooth background are indoors in the lightbox (if there's a second one of a set of colors on the smooth background, that's pulled out of the lightbox for direct indoor light) and ones with the textured background are in the sun.

































The tops of the caps show what the inside and outside colors were supposed to be (though those did sometimes vary from reality even when they were new, so hard to say from that which bases have changed with time).




I did swatch some of these when they were new and still changes (as much as they were going to; a few weren't that dramatic even then):

Funky Fingers Summer 2016 Solars (Burning Melon, Punkrock Pink, Vibe with Me, and Free Spirit)

Funky Fingers Summer 2015 Solar Polishes (Bling Dipper, Pluto 4Ever, To Infinity and Beyond, Comet Mebro, and Space Cadet)

Wheel V8: Color Changing Polishes

My internet service at home mysteriously started working again this morning after being out since Sunday night, despite no one calling about the work order that was put in for someone to come out to troubleshoot it or even contacting us to say they'd fixed things at their end. So I'm blogging in my bathrobe today, having a lazy morning before possibly skiing this afternoon.

Today for Nail Wheel Wednesday I have a mix of solar and thermal polishes. All the Solars are from Ruby Wing, and all of them are more recent than the thermals from China Glaze and Dare 2 Wear. Those thermals are some ancient treasures I found at nail supply stores; the China Glaze were literally dusty they'd been sitting there so long.

First full wheel photo is in the lightbox as usual; the second is outside in the sun (in the parking lot of the building my studio is in). It wasn't blazing sun, unfortunately, but still strong enough to show some color change in the solars.






1. Ruby Wing Electric Firefly (3 coats)
2. Ruby Wing Wild Flower (3)
3. Ruby Wing Green Peace (2)
4. Ruby Wing Eternal (2)
5. Ruby Wing Poppy (2)
6. Ruby Wing Kitten Heels (2)
7. Ruby Wing Crowd Surf (3)
8. Ruby Wing Eclipse (2)
9. Ruby Wing Centerfold (2)
10. Ruby Wing Sunflower (2)
11. Ruby Wing Desert Valley (2)
12. Ruby Wing Silk Sheets (2)
13. Ruby Wing Myth (2)
14. Ruby Wing In Your Dreams (2)
15. China Glaze In the Mood Plum Red to Shocking Pink (3)
16. China Glaze In the Mood Purple to Sparkle Blue Neon (2)
17. Dare 2 Wear Mood Polish Green 2 Gold Opal (2)
18. Dare 2 Wear Mood Polish Coco Brown 2 Lime Stone (2)
19. Dare 2 Wear Mood Polish Ashy Gold 2 24K Gold (2)
20. Dare 2 Wear Mood Polish Night Stars 2 White Cloud (2)


Bottles 1 through 4:



5 through 9:


10 through 14:



15 through 20:


















The thermals are past their expiration date for changing; no temperature of water I could get out of my sink made them budge:



Destash notes: We all know I'm not good at destashing. That said, I don't spend enough time in the sun to make the solars a big draw for me, so have to judge them based on their indoor color, which gives the shimmers and glitters an edge as far as staying in my stash. As for the thermals, since none of them change anymore, they also get judged based on their bottle color. 16 and 20 are keepers for sure, and I love the fugliness of 19, too.