Milani Dressmaker

Ahhh yes. The infamous Chanel Jade dupe. Firstly, excuse the outrageous shrinkage. I think it was a direct cause of the not-so-great formula. Yeah. This is 3 medium-thick coats. Kind of a pain in the butt. It's super flattering on my skin tone and does not give me lobster hands. Plus, that shimmer is to die for. Definitely a worthy purchase, but next time I'll thin it a bit and use a top coat other than Seche Vite.

Wet N Wild Glitz Matte

Flashback...here's a SUPER old mani I never posted:

This is probably 2 or 3 coats of Glitz, and a coat of Essie Matte About You. I remember FREAKING OUT about how awesome matte glitter looked. I mattified every manicure for like, a month after this! I need to start using a matte topcoat more often; I've kind of been neglecting it.

Sheer Pink Battle!

Before you guys think I'm crazy...I swear there is a point to this. Bear with me.

I recently graduated from college (YAY), so the next step in life is to find a career. Which means job interviews. Which is scary. I don't want my nails to distract a potential employer, but they're so terribly stained that I can't go without polish or even with clear polish. Enter sheer pink.

I have THREE sheer pink polishes. I should probably only have one. This is my journey into figuring out which one is perfect for me. Here's my "criteria":
- Blur imperfections. I know this is a vague statement, but my pictures will be able to explain better than words. I'm not looking for something opaque, I just want to look well-groomed.
- Two coats. Self-explanatory that I don't want a 6-coater.
- Decent formula. I'm using the word "decent" instead of "good" because sheers can be a pain in the butt most of the time. I'm allowing for a bit of wiggle room here. Basically, I'm willing to work with an average formula if it makes my nails look awesome.

The first polish I tried was the brand 10, called Pinky Promise. I wore this to an actual interview.

This is three coats. I thought it blurred my imperfections well, but the next day I thought it was looking a bit too sheer, like I should have done four coats. The formula was surprisingly awesome and not streaky.

For my next interview, I tried China Glaze Innocence.

Two coats. This is terribly streaky. It's more obvious with thinner coats, but is still uneven when using medium-thick coats. This is more opaque than Pinky Promise, and it is obvious I have polish on when I wear this.

I had a follow-up interview a week later, and I picked OPI Bubble Bath.

I used three coats here. It looked alright at two, but I was really curious to see what it looked like at three, and I definitely prefer it this way. There were a few streaks, but they leveled themselves out and are not noticeable.

I did not perform a wear-test on any of these polishes; however, I did not experience any chipping or tipwear during the 4-ish days I had each polish on.

So, which polish am I keeping? I'm gonna have to go with Bubble Bath. There's a reason it's so popular. (And yes, for those wondering, I got the job! That explains my lack of posts lately.)

OPI Sparkle Teal Sunrise

One coat of STS over Julep Megan. Gorgeous.

Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment

2 coats of holo glitter blingy goodness.