Very Denniee Nails :): April 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

45. China Glaze - Atlantis

Atlantis is a gorgeous teal jelly with a chunky holo glitter in it.  If you look in the sun, this polish is actually a really chunky linear holo.  The name is really fitting, as this polish reminds me of glittering treasures submerged in deep, mysterious, tropical waters.  It's actually really sheer, and kind of accentuates the yellow in my natural nail color.  Other than that though, it's really pretty, and I think I'll really enjoy this manicure.  It's been really hot and sunny lately, and I'm sure that this polish will be a stunner in the sun this polish really shines in the sun!  It's actually a really chunky linear holo (sadly, I haven't gotten any pictures, but it's true)!!! It dries surprisingly smooth for a chunky glitter, as well as really fast.


First two coats were streaky, third evened it out, and the fourth (a thick coat) definitely added to the opacity of the polish.  Formula was good, good distribution of glitters, a little bit on the watery side.  However, I'm not really happy with this...the polish chipped only after one day of wear!  D:

Such a pretty polish...I couldn't choose just 1 or 2 pictures, so there's more...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

44. Revlon - Whimsical

A couple of days ago, Whimsical is what I had on my nails!  It's a really pretty color...baby blue jelly base with pink and blue large hex and small glitters.  It was a lot sheerer than I thought it would be, but it was still really pretty on my nails.  I didn't really mind it being sheer, surprisingly.  It actually makes your natural nails look clean; I'm guessing it's the blue base that's countering my yellow nails.


Application was good, a tiny bit streaky, but after 3 coats it evened out.  Shown is 4 coats with Poshe on top.

And since it was so pretty, I couldn't choose just 1 or 2 pics.  So there's a couple more after the jump!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Nail Art: Valentine's Mani

So this was my mani from Valentine's day.  Waaaaaay old, I know; but I realized that I never posted any pictures of it, except on Facebook.  So here it is!


 More after the jump!

43. Essie - Ole Caliente

Ole Caliente is a very orange-toned coral cream.  At first, I thought it didn't really look good on me; it made me look really dark.  However, as the day's going by, I like it more and more!  It's such a fun, bright color, and I never really wear anything this bright (it's currently blinding me).


Application was a dream, 2 easy coats here.  There's a bald spot on my pointer finger, but I was being really careless during application...it's not very noticeable anyways!  Formula's good, typical of Essies.  It's also pretty fast drying, YAY!

Friday, April 20, 2012

42. American Apparel - Hunter

I got Hunter as one of the discount polishes I found at an AA outlet.  It was only a dollar I believe, quite a steal!  I think it was discounted, due to the discoloration that you can see on the outside of the bottle; but that doesn't mess with the color of the actual polish.  In fact, I quite like the discoloration, it looks unique and kind of like abstract art.  Hunter is a forest-green cream, my boyfriend's favorite color (I wore this on our anniversary a week ago).  It's not quite so dark as Zoya Envy (I think), but this is definitely more of a fall color, than a spring color.  But hey, since when have I been one to follow the fashion trends of the world?



Sorry for the nubbins here.  My nails have suffered a lot of damage in the last couple weeks, so I cut them down to let them have some rest.  The state of my nailbeds is kind of disgusting right now, too many almost-breaks lately...

Application was good, kind of streaky on the first coat, but perfectly even and opaque on the second.  It was a bit watery for my taste, and my cuticles got flooded.  But for the price, I can't really complain! :D

41. OPI - Fly

OPI Fly is from the recent Nicki Minaj collection, and I just gotta say that this color is very fitting for her persona.  Fly is a aqua-green, not-quite-teal cream polish.  It's got just a hint of dustiness, and little too much green to be considered a true teal.


Application was good, polish was very easy to control.  Opacity was a little lacking though.  This is 3 coats, and whereas I don't mind applying that many coats for a glitter or a jelly, it's pushing it for a cream. I think OPI needs to step up their game; they used to be my favorites, but Zoya/China Glaze has surpassed them, both in color selection, and formula/opacity.  Although, nothing can really beat the OPI pro-wide brush :)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

40. OPI - Russian Navy

I have to say, OPI Russian Navy was a little bit of a disappointment for me.  I guess I was hoping for more shimmer to show up on the nail.  Nonetheless, it's still a pretty polish: dark navy blue/purple (think OPI Yoga-ta Get this Blue!, but with more purple) with magenta shimmer.  It has that lit-from-within look that I love so much!  The shimmer is pretty hidden though; you have to stare at your nails really closely to see it.  Luckily, I got lots of pictures that show the pretty shimmer!





Pretty shimmer!

First three pictures are more color-accurate, the fourth is for that gorgeous magenta shimmer <3

Formula was a little bit runny and hard to control during application.  Pigmentation was good though; this mani is two easy (but messy) coats, no drag anywhere.  Wear time was a little bit below average.  Usually I can get 3 days of wear before I see noticable tipwear, but this one had tipwear after one day!  Not cool, man, not cool.

39. Revlon - Royal

Revlon Royal is famous throughout the nail-blogging community!  It's a bright, saturated, royal blue jelly. Considering how much I like jellies (and how few of them I actually have), I just had to have this one!  And boy, it did not disappoint.  This was such a bright, yet deep color, and I quite enjoyed having it on my nails :)


Application was easy.  This here is 2 coats of this beauty, no topcoat.  There were no issues with streaking or dragging whatsoever.  Formula was a little waterier than expected, but nothing too bad.  Watch out for the staining on this one though!  Took me forever to get the pigment out of my cuticles.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

38. Orly - Fresh

Sorry for the sporadic posts lately.  The only time I have to edit and post pictures is when I'm at a specific workplace, and I'm only here once a week.  Needless to say, most of my posts are queued posts...sorry!

This is my first Orly polish!  I have to say, the experience was quite good for a first time.  Today, I'm wearing Fresh, a fun, grass green cream.   It's very bright, but it's not neon.  It's less dusty than OPI's Greenwich Village.  Actually, the color kind of reminds me of limes.

Application was good.  The formula was watery, but very easy to control.  This is 3 coats, with a tiny bit of VNL, so it is a little bit sheerer than I usually go for.  Normally I don't like to do 3 coats, but this polish dries fairly fast.


I think this color actually gives me lobstery hands, but it's fun enough that I don't really care!  Later I'll have to compare the OPI to the Orly, to see how close they are.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Major Haul: What happens after 3 months on a no-buy.

So during spring break, my friends and I went to this little nail supply shop down in San Jose.  I admit, every time I've gone there, I go a little crazy on the nail polish splurging.  I also found a bunch of cheap nail polishes in the most random places.  In total, over the break, I bought 34 new polishes, in addition to everything I have now.  I'm never going to finish all my untrieds .____.  Oh well, more polish never hurt anyone!

Most of the colors I bought were blues, as opposed to the last time where it was mainly purples I picked up.  I also picked up a couple Orlys, so I'm excited to try those (never used that brand before)!  I also found a couple of classics that I haven't been able to get a hold of until now :)  I was kind of disappointed that a few of the colors I wanted most were sold out (like Bevin, Aquadelic, Fowl Play), but I think I have enough polish to last til the next break (when I'll go crazy and splurge again).

This post is rather pic-heavy, so see more after the jump!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

37. Color Club - Wild and Willing

Wild and Willing is like taking a sunset and stuffing it into a bottle!  This is an absolutely gorgeous yellow/gold/rose/orange multichrome.  In the bottle, there is a little green that shows up at the edges, but it doesn't seem to translate to the nail, as far as I can tell.  On the nail, the polish seems to have a little less depth, but it is pretty nonetheless.  In most indoor lighting, the main color is this rose color and the edges are orange.  At certain angles, you'll get a flash of a really yellow-toned gold.  Wild and Willing is a very interesting color.  It's colored like a neutral, but it's too flashy to actually be a neutral.  I don't think it's really a good  match for my skintone, but it's a pretty enough color for me to keep it and wear it anyways :)


Formula on this polish was a bit strange.  It was kinda stringy, but application did not suffer at all from that.  It's a little sheer though, sheerer than I'm used to from Color Club.  This is 3 coats of Wild and Willing, one coat of Poshe on top.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

36. American Apparel Metallic - Gold Flash

Here is two coats of Gold Flash, no topcoat.  Gold Flash is an understated, slightly pale metallic gold.  I think it's simply beautiful, but application could have been better.  The formula was slightly thick and hard to control. I would think I got just the right amount of polish on the brush, and then -PLOP- a huge drop falls on my nail.  There was also some cuticle drag in some spots.


I'll be keeping this one though, or at least until I find a better metallic gold (China Glaze 2030, perhaps?), since it's the only true gold I have in my stash.  Gold is such a pretty color, I don't understand why I don't have more of them...

Friday, April 13, 2012

35. Dating a Royal/Nail Art - Midnight Half Moons

Dating a Royal is a gorgeous deep blue jelly.  Admittedly, I'm not very good at telling the difference between creams and jellys yet (which is a sign I need more jellys), but other swatches and my experience applying this suggest that it is indeed a jelly.  I absolutely LOVE this color!  It's very flattering on my skin, and it is such an elegant color without being too soft.  When I saw the bottle, I knew I just HAD to have it.  And I'm glad I did get it, it's one of my go-to polishes.  It makes me very calm when I look at it, and I could just stare at it for days :)  And the fact that it's a jelly means that it has a lot of extra depth and that special squishy look that you cannot get from looking at a cream; it's kind of like looking at the sky. <3

Formula's a little watery on this polish, but other than that, there weren't many issues with application.  Here shown is 2 thick coats, but 3 regular coats would be necessary for full opacity.

The reason I'm doing a combined post on my nail art and the swatch is because I may have accidentally deleted all my pictures of DAR.  Oops!

Okay, so they aren't exactly the color of the sky at midnight, but these nails did remind me of a night sky with some golden stars :)  Today, I have a half-moon mani.  I used half of those paper-hole reinforcers to make the half moons.  This is 2 coats of American Apparel's Gold Flash as the base, with 2 coats of OPI's Dating a Royal on top.  I absolutely love this color combination!  The pairing of the deep blue with the gold looks elegant and mesmerizing!


This mani gave me so much trouble.  The thing about me and tape manicures is that I am too impatient and put down the tape before the polish is fully dry.  Then, when I try to take off the tape, the entire base layer of polish will peel off with the tape :(  Luckily, that only happened on 2 nails, so I just started over on those nails; it's still annoying though.

Half moon manis are pretty awesome!  I really like how this one turned out, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've successfully done one :)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

34. China Glaze - Shower Together

Sorry for the long time between posts!  I don't have photoshop at work anymore, so I have to find time where I'm on campus to edit and upload pictures. :\

Here is China Glaze's Shower Together.  Such a fun name for a fun polish!  Shower Together is a bright aqua cream, almost teal, but a little more blue.  Kind of like electric blue, but not really >.<  Application was mostly good on this polish, with a tiny bit of dragging.  Not too noticable though.  Very easy to control where the polish flows and very little cleanup required :)


The polish is more green toned than these pictures would suggest.

Monday, April 9, 2012

32. OPI - What's With the Cattitude?

What's With the Cattitude is a true sky blue cream, very cheerful looking.  It would probably pair well with Zoya's Pippa, the two remind me so much of the sky on a spring day!  Speaking of spring, it's finally warming up here in Davis.  cute shirts and skirts/shorts, here I come!


Application was smooth, but the polish was kind of watery and sheer.  Being an OPI, I had no trouble controlling where it went (I<3 Pro-wide brush), but just something to note.  This is 3 coats for total opacity, but you can still see some nail on my pinky due to the huge ridges I have on that nail @_@

33. Zoya - Kristen

Kristin is from last winter's Feel collection.  She is a blue-tinged grey cream and applies beautifully.  Kristin is really opaque, full coverage in almost one coat (my ridges make it so there are a couple bald spots at 1 coat).  No problems with application whatsoever!  Kristin is very flattering, I think the most flattering polish I bought from this collection.  The other ones tend to give me corpse hands.


Monday, April 2, 2012

Nail Art: White Tiger

Here is my latest nail art!  I decided to try my hand at some stamping.  I'm not the best at stamping yet, and I'm still experimenting with my polishes to find the ones best suited for stamping.  I think this one's not too shabby though.  I could use some work with getting the right amount of polish on the stamp and aligning the design in just the right way, but it's good progress :)

This is 2 coats of Antiquated stamped with WnW's Black Creme using Bundle Monster Plate 223.


31. Color Club - Antiquated

Antiquated is a champagne-colored metallic foil polish.  It's very feminine on the nail, without looking too soft.  Application was a breeze, it almost applied itself.  It wasn't too runny or too thick, letting me put the polish exactly where I wanted it.


Here is two coats of this beauty, no top coat :)