FingerPaints Inkblot Blue

FingerPaints has introduced a collection of neons for summer. I'm normally not a neon girl, though occasionally a blue or green one will grab me (go figure), and Inkblot Blue practically jumped into my hand the last time I was at Sally's. =)

Aw, yeah! The formula is perfect in two coats and dries mega fast, like most neons.

I love that once I added top coat, it almost looks like a jelly. It's really squishy in real life, even more so than these pictures show.

I snapped a couple of pictures of it in the shade as well.

I'm very, very impressed with Inkblot Blue. Great formula, gorgeous color, just stunning and cheerful and bright.

Once I had it on, I thought that it looked similar to Ulta Blue Streak (which is also very, very close to OPI Ogre the Top Blue), so I did a quick nail wheel comparison. As you can see, they are similar, but they're not dupes. Inkblot Blue is brighter and more squishy looking, and the difference is slightly more pronounced in person. But depending upon your tolerance for similar colors, you might not need both. =)

Hope you all are doing well! Thanks for reading!

FingerPaints Hipnotic

Yay, more magnetics! Even though they are everywhere, I'm not tired of magnetic polishes yet. I was at Sally's the other night, and I picked up a couple of the new Finger Paints magnetics. I'll mention right off the bat that these appear to be completely identical to the Color Club Magnetic Force polishes. The bottles, the magnets, even the names are the same. So if you have those, you really don't need these because I am certain they are the same exact polishes, just with different brand names on the bottles.

So with that out of the way, here's what we have. Hipnotic is an absolutely lovely berry shade. The formula and brush are both fab, no complaints whatsoever.

One of the things I like the most about these is the magnet. Each polish comes with one (though they do all appear to be the same wavy pattern), and I especially like that the magnet is housed in an overcap that comes off. This makes it super easy to use, rather than fighting a magnet that's actually at the end of the brush like the Layla magnetics.

Likewise, I really like that the magnet has the little step to help with positioning. I had a really easy time both centering the magnet over my nail AND making sure I didn't touch the magnet to my wet polish. Awesomely awkward one hand pose showing the magnet over my nail:

I held the magnet over each nail for about 20 seconds. I think the pattern was forming faster than that, but I wanted to give it plenty of time. It worked great, no complaints at all.

If you're not over the magnetics thing yet, now is a good time to pick these up at Sally's, since all polishes are B2G1 for the entire month of April. =)

Thanks for reading!

CND Sapphire Sparkle + FingerPaints Black Expressionism

Hello, my lovely readers! I only have time for a quick post today, which is okay because this mani speaks volumes on its own. =D This is two coats of CND Sapphire Sparkle over one coat of FingerPaints Black Expressionism. 

Is this not perfect? ^.^

FingerPaints Black Expressionism - My New Go-To Black

Like most lacquerheads, I felt like I was constantly on a quest for a good one-coater black polish that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I know a lot of people swear by Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, but it just never worked that great for me. It was super thick, even with thinner. It was an uncooperative consistency. Plus, it chipped really badly on me. I was just on the brink of breaking down and getting Illamasqua Boosh, when one of my nail buddies told me that she really likes FingerPaints Black Expressionism. I figured it was worth a $5.00 gamble to see how I liked it.

The verdict? I don't just like it, I LOVE it. Great formula, easy to work with. I could tell it would probably need thinning within a few uses, but meh, I can live with that. Super pigmented, what you see here is one coat.

I found that I was really enjoying having plain black nails, which I hadn't done in a while, so I left it on for about three days as a wear test. No chips, barely any tip wear. And I kept getting compliments on it, which I thought was funny cause it was like, "Thanks... they're just black?" =D

So if you're looking for a good black creme and you have access to FingerPaints, I highly recommend Black Expressionism. Love, love, love!

FingerPaints Sketch N Etch

A friend of mine recently put me onto Sketch N Etch, telling me that it was probably the closest easy to obtain dupe for the elusive Essie Dominica Green. It's not an exact dupe, but it's pretty darn close. Here she is.

Beautiful, no? I used three coats in these pictures. Two probably would have been enough if I'd been careful, but I wasn't. I had some patchiness after two coats, but it was perfect after three.

I absolutely love this. And the best part is, it's in the core FingerPaints line at Sally's. =)

And one more for good measure!

Until next time, thanks for dropping by! <3

FingerPaints Artistic Azure

I'm pretty sure I actually posted pictures of this one before, but they weren't that great. I wore Artistic Azure again today, so I figured I'd take some better shots and toss them up here. 

And in the shade. I love that it never looks black. =D

FingerPaints Cordur-Orange

We had our first blast of fall last week, which is actually kind of early for the deep south. It's warming back up again, but I've been in a fall mood ever since. I don't normally feel a desire to match my polish to the seasons (I wear what I want!), but this polish just screams fall. =)

It makes me want to go and pick apples and drink cider. It makes me want to drink pumpkin lattes. It makes me want to eat pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and wear a jacket and closed-toe shoes instead of flip flops... it makes me want to do all the things that mean fall to me.

I never buy orange polish, seriously. But I just fell in love with this when I saw it at Sally's. It doesn't disappoint either. It's a little thick, but that's often the case with FingerPaints' cremes. About 4 drops of thinner and all was right with the world. This baby is super pigmented and all around awesome - I did 2 coats, but it was honestly fine with one.

Maybe wearing this will conjure more of the cooler weather that was so nice last week!

Happy Hump Day and, as always, thanks for stopping by!

FingerPaints Vintage Velvet

I'm taking a break from Forgotten Loves week to bring you a swatch of one of the shades from the FingerPaints Fall 2011 collection, Fall Fashionista.

This is really sort of an atypical fall collection. I'm used to seeing lots of shimmers and jewel tones for fall collections, and I was fascinated that FingerPaints went this way with theirs. Many of the colors do feel like fall to me though, and I picked up Vintage Velvet and Cordur-Orange last night.

This is the one that's described on the press release as blue/green... and it is, but it's really a strange blue/green. It's murky and dusty and I absolutely love it.

I did some comparisons on swatchsicles because I was too tired to do actual nail comparisons. These are the closest things I have in my collection. Vintage Velvet is greener than Sapphire Silk, but more blue than Green Up Your Act. It reminds me a lot of Catrice I Sea You!/Misa Dirty Sexy Money, but it's much darker.

I thought the formula was pretty typical FingerPaints fare. I find their cremes a little thick (in fact, some of them are ridiculously thick), but it's nothing that a little thinner doesn't fix. This polish is highly pigmented, and I probably could have done one coat if I'd been careful... and if I wasn't a habitual two-coater. =) 

All in all, I like this collection very much. I was tempted to get more of them, but I was afraid they would be too close to colors I already had. I was quite pleased to find that I didn't have a dupe in my collection for this one. I really, really love it. It's one of those shades that feels sophisticated to me, and it definitely feels like fall. Now if only fall would get here!

So there you go! As always, thanks for stopping by!

FingerPaints Artist's Sapphire - AKA Why My Husband is Awesome

Today I have for you FingerPaints Artist's Sapphire, a deep, shimmery blue with that "lit from within" quality so many of us love so much.

This is one of 13 shades that are on clearance right now at Sally's for $1.99, as I mentioned in this post a few weeks ago. I had never noticed it in the core display before. It's funny how sometimes these gems are right under our noses for a while before we see them.

This polish really doesn't look that remarkable in the bottle either. This is the part about why my husband is awesome. Well... he is awesome for many, many reasons, but the one that's germane to this post is that he has this knack for picking out polish for me. The day I was in Sally's and saw this, I picked it up and put it back down. The exchange that followed went like this:

Him:  You don't want that? It's only $1.99.

Me:  Nah. I have lots of dark blues. Pretty sure it's close to something I have. 

Him:  I don't think it is. It's only $1.99, you should totally get it.

Me:  Nah. Look how dark it is. It's just gonna look black.

Him:  I don't think so. You really should get it. I think you'll be surprised.

Me:  Hmm, okay. I guess since it's only $1.99....

Did I also mention he's persistent when he has this feeling about a polish?? =) He's never wrong about this stuff. Never. It's uncanny, and I love it. That's why he's my favorite polish shopping partner. The closest thing I have to this is OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue, which is... not very close at all, as it turns out!

 

I left the big old red LAST CHANCE sticker on there so you know that time is running out to pick this up if you want it. It's really so amazing, and my experience is that once FingerPaints polishes are gone, they are well and truly gone. I think it's because of the limited distribution through Sally's, so there just aren't as many sources for them to start out with. It's a challenge even trying to swap for these once they're gone.

And lastly, here's a pic of it in full sun. Ah-maze-ing!

Thanks for stopping by, as always! And to my DH - thanks again, honey! You were totally right! =D

Orly Frisky + Comparisons

When I first saw the promotional bottle pics of Orly's Happy Go Lucky collection, I immediately got that telltale tingle of a lemming being born.

The blue shade practically screamed that it had to come and live with me. I was also interested in the green and the purple, but the blue... the blue! I was a bit concerned, though, that this would turn out to be too close to other sort of medium turquoise blue/aquas that I own, so I knew that I had to see this one in person before blindly purchasing it. I popped into Sally's yesterday to find a full display of these. Yay, I could compare the bottle to other similar shades! I compared it to China Glaze For Audrey and Orly Gumdrop, and it was more blue than either of those, so home with me it came!

Ooh, ahh. It's so pretty! It practically screams summer to me. I was still worried about duplicates in my stash though, so I pulled out some the most likely candidates.

Once I had them lined up like this, I could tell that none of them were actually that close. But bottle appearances can be deceiving, so I swatched them all next to each other.

Now. If you don't have the same kind of crazy that I do, you might not need this color. But for me, the fact that it's more blue and brighter than any of its cousins that I own means that I am a very happy camper right now. =)

The formula is what I've come to expect from Orly. It's the right consistency, neither too thin nor too thick, and gives full coverage in two easy and cooperative coats.

What can I say? I love it! =D

I hope you found this post helpful and, as always, thanks for stopping by!

Trying to De-Dupe My Stash - A Bunch of Comparisons

I've been working on my stash a bit lately, getting rid of the things I'll never wear again, and my project tonight was to actually swatch some of the polishes I have that look so close to each other in the bottle. I found doing this really, really helpful, and I hope it helps you guys out too! =)

China Glaze Tree Hugger vs. China Glaze Entourage

My verdict:  They are close... very close. Tree Hugger has more straight out shimmer, while Entourage is more of a glass fleck. Entourage also has a little less yellow, so it's more flattering on me. It gets to stay.

CND Eclectic Purple vs. Zoya Kieko

My verdict:  I really struggled with this one trying to convince myself they're different enough to keep both. They're not. The CND stays.

OPI Jade is the New Black vs. Ulta The Jungle Look

My verdict:  These might as well be the same polish in different bottles. I'm leaning towards keeping the OPI, but I really do like Ulta's brushes more. I dunno. One is definitely going though.

OPI Malaga Wine vs. Zoya Stacy

My verdict:  I thought these were much closer than they actually are. They both get to stay.

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise vs. Sinful Rise & Shine

My verdict:  I've seen a lot of people call these dupes, but in real life, they're actually not dead on dupes. The China Glaze is brighter with more shimmer. Having said that, though, they are too similar to keep both. Turned up Turquoise stays.

Orly Sapphire Silk vs. American Apparel Peacock

My verdict:  These are closer than I thought. Peacock is a little more vibrant, plus it's a one coat wonder, which makes it better for layering. It's hard to part with the Orly because I really love Orlys so much, but I really think Peacock is staying and Sapphire Silk is going.

OPI Yoga-ta Get this Blue vs. FingerPaints Artist's Sapphire

My verdict:  Much more different than I thought. They both get to stay. I'm sure they're thrilled. ^.^

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic vs. Essie Dive Bar

My verdict:  I saved this one for last specifically to show how deceptive the bottle color can be. In the bottles, these look completely identical. They even both have the purple flash in the bottle that doesn't translate to the nail. But as you can see in the comparison, they are really not that close. Rodeo Fanatic stays for sure. I'm on the fence about Dive Bar. I think it's a smidgen too dark.