Guest Nail Art

Nails by my sister, Melanie.
China Glaze Dress Me Up and China Glaze Liquid Leather

China Glaze Luxe & Lush

One coat over coral

Guest Nails ft. My Sister & China Glaze

My sister is way more creative & better at nail art than I am. Here's a little something she did not to long ago:

She used China Glaze Life Preserver and China Glaze Aquadelic.

China Glaze Visit Me in Prism

Sup yall. Let's rock & roll.

Apparently this is a light lilac/lavender/whatever holo, but I don't see it. It's hard to see a base color when there's so much awesome going on. I think this is probably 2 coats. Or maybe 3. I don't remember. I don't remember anything technical or remotely helpful. Whoops.

I've been watching a ton of Ally McBeal lately. I remember knowing it existed when I was a youngster, but never watched it because I was like, 10 years old when the show was in its prime. Also, there is no way I would have gotten any of the jokes. Anywho, I had forgotten about it until I started reading Portia de Rossi's autobiography (which was great, by the way) and as luck would have it, the entire series is streaming on Netflix. Really the only reasons I was interested are 1) Portia and 2) it's a show about a law firm and I work in one. I can't help but criticize the errors in the legal system, even though I know it's all fake, but seriously, all of those attorneys would be banned from practicing law if it was real life. Other than that, it's not a terrible show and I rather enjoy it now, save for the fact I think Ally is annoying. But, I'm still in season one, so maybe I'll come around. There's like 25 episodes per season...crazy. The 90s were a different time.

Speaking of law...
I was in Vegas at the end of July-early August, and when I came back to work I found out that we had been set for trial on TWO(!!!) cases. The fuh. So I've been pretty busy. That's the explanation for my most recent hiatus. I'm also supa dupa backlogged. I've been trying to schedule as many posts as I can on the weekends, but that doesn't always work out because I'm the biggest procrastinator. Most of my posts will probably not be this wordy, but I'll try to toss in some updates here and there. If you're into fancy technology, you can follow me on Instagram where I sometimes post manis and mostly post pictures of dogs/cats, food, and weird things I see in Chicago. My username is fooliescraper, which also happens to be my Twitter name, too *wink*

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.)

A Very Strategic Haul

I normally don't blog about my purchases, but this one I just had to share. Swatches soon!

top row: ulta
layla flash black, china glaze sun kissed, china glaze love's a beach, china glaze custom kicks
$36.50
less $13 in ULTAmate rewards
new total with tax $25.62
less $25 amex gift card
out of pocket total $0.62

bottom row: sally's
china glaze ride the waves, china glaze flirty tankini, china glaze orange you hot, orly be brave (bar glitter!)
$20.96
less $10 from june birthday coupon
less $1.64 from june 15% off coupon (bless my sally's SA for letting me keep the coupon, too!)
new total with tax $10.16
less $10 sally's gift card
out of pocket total $0.16

grand total at both stores $0.78 for 8 polishes

China Glaze Secret Periwinkle

2 coats.

Oh snap, this is gorgeous.

China Glaze Agro Comparisons

More comparisons! This time we're focusing on China Glaze Agro.

In the sun.
From left to right:
OPI At Your Quebec & Call
China Glaze Agro
China Glaze Peace on Earth
Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches

In the shade.
From left to right:
OPI At Your Quebec & Call
China Glaze Agro
China Glaze Peace on Earth
Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches

There are slight color differences in each. AYQ&C is the most different and the sheerest. Agro had the best formula and only needed one & a half coats. Agro, Peace on Earth, & Mossy Britches are extremely similar, but not dupes. I returned Agro because I didn't think I needed it. I also plan on getting rid of Mossy Britches, because I just don't need it. Plus it's core at Sally's, so it's easy to find.

Comparison: China Glaze Orange Pacific v. China Glaze Riveting

Greetings! I've been starting to go through my stash to de-dupe. I have SO MUCH polish that it's getting a little out of hand. My new "rule" is to not buy polishes that are too close to each other, even if they're not dupes. Most normal people don't even notice the little differences that I notice.

First up is China Glaze Riveting, from the Hunger Games Collection. I'm not a fan of Hunger Games so I could care less, but I am a fan of polish! I thought Riveting was awesome, but then I realized it was close to another polish I have in my collection.

China Glaze Orange Pacific is from the Surf Collection, one of my favorite collections of all time. GLASS FLECKS!

Let's see the two side by side. Orange Pacific is on the left, and Riveting on the right:

 Close, yeah? I can spot a few minor differences. Riveting seems a bit more "juicy" and is a slightly brighter orange than Orange Pacific. The shimmer in Riveting is also larger & more golden. This is three coats each, and they're both opaque, but Orange Pacific needed the third coat, while Riveting was opaque at two. It was a tough decision, but I ended up keeping Orange Pacific.

Which is your favorite?

China Glaze Haunting

2 coats. Formula was good. It went on slightly sheerer than expected with the first coat, but then I realized it was a black polish and everything was opaque after coat 2. You can feel some texture (it is glitter after all), but it's not top coat hungry, so one coat of a thicker top coat should suffice.

Haunting was released this past Halloween. It's similar to Orly Goth in that it's black with silver glitter, but the glitter is more dense in Haunting.

Honestly, I don't really care for this. It doesn't wow me. I've been noticing that I'm not really digging blackened colors in general. I have Nicole by OPI I'm a Pool for Love on my toes and I don't like that one either. I'm sure there are probably some exceptions in my collection somewhere, but I usually like my polish to be bright and in your face - not to say I don't like darker colors, but I don't want to have to explain to someone "Oh this is red, it's just so dark that it looks black all the time..." because if I want to wear black polish, I will. If I want red, I want RED... Ok, this turned into kind of a crazy rant. Simply put, I'm going to purge Haunting.

I did a funky french a few days later to cover tipwear...yeah. Doesn't look so hot. I used China Glaze Millennium for the tips. And I freehanded them. Good in theory, but I think I painted the tips on a little too thick.

China Glaze Limonyte

*drool*

 3 coats. I couldn't quite capture the eye-searing brightness.

In honor of the outrageously warm Chicago weather (seriously, 80 degrees in March!), here is Limonyte on North Ave Beach!

China Glaze Wagon Trail

2 coats

Love My Nails Envy + China Glaze Fairy Dust

2 coats of Envy
1 coat of Fairy Dust