Essie "Off The Shoulder"

Hi everyone!  I know it is officially Autumn but I have been in Florida for the last week and it still feels like Summer here so I decided to wear a super fun hot pink!  This week I decided to try out Essie's "Over The Shoulder" which is the perfect hot pink!

"Over The Shoulder" is a hot pink crème nail polish.  Formula wise this polish is pretty good and after two coats "Over The Shoulder" was completely opaque and had very minimal streak marks.  As for chipping this nail polish lasted about three days before it started to chip off the tips and sides of my nails.

Overall I am neither disappointed or overly thrilled with Essie's "Off The Shoulder."  The formula is nice and after two coats the polish was opaque, but there were some minor streak marks and it chipped after only three days.  The color is very pretty and would be a great color for the Spring or Summer and I am willing to give this nail polish anther try.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

If you want to give this polish a try it is available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat "Wool Lite"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying some Autumn like weather!  So today's pink polish is Sally Hansen's Fuzzy Coat in "Wool Lite" which is a special topcoat made of bar glitter.  Sally Hansen's Fuzzy Coat collection came out right around the same time as Nails INC's Feather Collection and both are meant to create a feather-like look.  However to create that feather-like look it requires a lot of polish so instead I use the Fuzzy Coat collection as a bar glitter top coat. 

Sally Hansen's "Wool Lite" is a fun baby pink bar glitter and I decided to try it out over several different colored polishes!  But first a bit more about "Wool Lite."  Formula wise, like most glitters and special effects top coats, it is in a clear base.  I had a slightly difficult time applying "Wool Lite" and it was semi-hard to get an even coat on each nail.  However with a little patience I managed to do okay.  Also since the bar glitter pieces are larger only one coat of "Wool Lite" was required on my nails, a second coat would have hidden the colored polish underneath.  In terms of the actual bar glitter it did lay flat, but is even the tiniest bit stuck off the edge of a nail it caused the finger to get caught on stuff.  I tried hard to watch where the brush left glitter and remove it while it was wet, but I also used nail clippers to trim the hanging glitter.

When I paint my nails I always start with a base coat, I use Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Invisible," then I apply the nail polish, and glitter and I finish it all off with a quick drying topcoat.  For my topcoat I use Orly's "Sec'N'Dry."  I thought I would put that here instead of being so repetitive below!  :)

The first color I decided to try is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "White On" which is a white crème polish.  It took two coats of "White On" the be completely opaque and then I applied one coat of "Wool Lite."  Out of all the colors I tested under "Wool Lite" this one was the most disappointing because you can hardly see the bar glitter pieces.  (And it isn't just in this picture, I could not see it in real life on my nails either.)

I've used this nail polish over and over again, underneath neons, as a base for glitter and other special effects polishes, and for nail art and it is consistently my favorite white nail polish.

The second color I tested "Wool Lite" over is OPI's "Italian Love Affair" which is a pastel pink polish.  OPI's "Italian Love Affair" needed two coats of polish to be opaque and then one coat of "Wool Lite" was used to create this look.  I initially though that "Wool Lite" would not be visible but I was wrong, it instead it created a lovely subtle look.  This was the most textured look I got from "Wool Lite."

Later this month I'll have a post up all about OPI's "Italian Love Affair."  Be sure to look for it and I promise to post the link once that post is up!

The third nail polish I decided to try out with "Wool Lite" is Essie's "Off The Shoulder" which is a hot pink polish.  "Off The Shoulder" is completely opaque after two coats of polish and then I applied one coat of "Wool Lite."  This combination thrilled me and reminded me of strawberry ice cream and Summertime!

Early next week I'll have a blog all about Essie's "Off The Shoulder" so be sure to check back for it!  EDIT:  Here's the link to Essie's "Off The Shoulder": http://perfectlypolished12.blogspot.com/2014/10/essie-off-shoulder.html

The fourth and final polish I tried out with "Wool Lite" is Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails in "Black Heart."  "Black Heart" requires only one oat of polish to be opaque and then just one coat of "Wool Lite" to get this fun look!  I thought this would be a fun contrast and also black and pink always look cute together and I was right.  I think this look is perfect for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  (And please forgive that ugly smudge on my middle finger, it looks horrible I know!)

Overall Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in "Wool Lite" is very nice.  I probably would never use it as it was intended, which is as a complete coverage special effects coat, but as a bar glitter it creates some super fun nails!  Aside from how bad "Wool Lite" looked over white polish, it looked lovely on top of both pinks and black.  I will definitely be rocking these looks again soon!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can get "Wool Lite" for yourself on Amazon (affiliate link)

Nicole by OPI "I'll Have The Salmon"

Hey guys!  I hope everyone is having a great week, I know I am since I am currently at Walt Disney World in Florida.  So today I decided to try out Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" which is another gorgeous pink polish to help celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

"I'll Have The Salmon" was part of the Spring 2014 addition to Nicole by OPI's regular line of polishes and the color is so gorgeous that I ran out and bought it as soon as it hit the shelves!  Formula wise this polish is fantastic and very easy to apply.  After two coats of "I'll Have The Salmon" my nails were completely opaque and had no visible streak marks.  As for chipping Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" lasted about four days before the tip chips started.  The tip chips were actually only noticeable if you looked closed because the peachy colored looked very similar to my skin, which was nice.  (I love a nail polish that doesn't show a lot of the small tip chips!)

Overall I am very pleased with Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon."  The formula is nice and applied easily, the polish was opaque after two coats and had no visible streak marks and it lasted four days before chipping and even then the chips were not very noticeable!  I definitely will be wearing this nail polish again and again!

Also check out the comparison I did between Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" and Essie's "Resort Fling":  http://perfectlypolished12.blogspot.com/2014/05/comparison-nicole-by-opis-ill-have.html

Thanks for reading my blog!  And Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  :)

China Glaze "Rose Among Thorns"

Hi everyone!  Happy October and Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  During the month of October I only wear pink nail polish to show my support of Breast Cancer Awareness.  This week I decided to try out China Glaze's "Rose Among Thorns" which is a hot pink neon.  Since "Rose Among Thorns" is a neon polish I decided to try it with and without white nail polish underneath it.

First I tried out China Glaze's "Rose Among Thorns" without any white nail polish as a base.  I applied a clear base coat, two coats of "Rose Among Thorns" and then a quick drying top coat.  Formula wise "Rose Among Thorns" is very good.  I had no trouble at all applying this nail polish as it was neither too thick or too watery.  After two coats the polish was not completely opaque but it had no visible streak marks.  As with most neon nail polishes "Rose Among Thorns" dries matte.  (I used a quick drying topcoat that creates a glossy/shiny finish for the photos in this post!)

(Also sorry for the photo of only three finger but I smudged my pointer finger beyond repair and decided to just photograph the nails that came out nicely!)

Secondly I tried out China Glaze's "Rose Among Thorns" with a white base coat.  I applied a clear base coat, one coat of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in "White On," two coats of "Rose Among Thorns," and then a quick drying top coats.  This time the brightness in "Rose Among Thorns" was much more visible, which is perfect since this is a neon polish!  However there were some minor visible streak marks because of the white polish.

Overall I really love how bright China Glaze's "Rose Among Thorns" is and the formula is great.  But I struggled to decide which version I liked best.  Without the white base I loved how smooth and even the polished look but with the white polish you really get the neon pop of color!  In the end I will probably wear both versions again and again.  Also I think "Rose Among Thorns" would make a great nail polish for a Summertime pedicure!

Thanks for reading my blog and Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  :)

If you want to try this polish out it is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)

OPI "Every Month Is Oktoberfest"

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone is looking forward to October as much as I am!  I love Autumn and the lovely changing leaves and of course Halloween!  So this week to celebrate the end of September and the beginning or October I decided to try out OPI's "Every Month Is Oktoberfest."

"Every Month Is Oktoberfest" is a gorgeous burgundy/brown polish with a ton of gold shimmer in it.  (And I'm not even doing justice describing it because in person it is so pretty!)  The formula of this nail polish is very good and after two coats "Every Month Is Oktoberfest" was completely opaque and had no visible streak marks.  But I will say that OPI's wide brush does make it a hair difficult to apply on my not so wide nails!  As for chipping "Every Month Is Oktoberfest" lasted about three days and then it started to chip off in chunks.

Overall I am pretty pleased with OPI's "Every Month Is Oktoberfest."  The color is amazing, the formula is great and it was easy to apply.  My only dislike was how quickly this polish chipped because the color is so fantastic that I just wanted to keep on wearing it!

Thanks for reading my blog and Happy Autumn!  :)

A Behind The Scenes Look At How I Blog!

Hi everyone and happy Autumn!  Now today's post is a bit different than my usual posts.  It dawned on me a while ago that while I post blogs regularly I have never discussed how I blog.  So today's post is going to give you a better look at how I blog!

I guess first things first, I own a lot of nail polish.  My collection features everything from drugstore brands to high end brands, to specialty brands like Disney World's brand of nail polish.  I buy my nail polish from all over.  Over time I have purchased from most drugstores, Wal-Mart, Target, ULTA, Sephora, Sally Beauty supply stores, and even Amazon.  I am always on the look out for good sales.  I have found that signing up for store's reward systems is a great way to get coupons and to earn points that can be exchanged for money off a purchase or free items.  ULTA and Sephora offer free programs while Sally Beauty's costs $5 (USD) a year.  While Sally Beauty's does cost money it automatically saves you money off of every purchase by offering members a special price.  Amazon is another great way to buy nail polish and can save you money.  I often times check out various sellers to see their competitive prices and look to see which has a good price on shipping too.  My only suggestion for ordering nail polish on Amazon is to make sure that the seller lists the polish as new, which is how most Amazon stores sell nail polish.  Here is my collection of nail polish laid out by brand from A to Z:

Typically I store my nail polish in Rubbermaid bins by brand and I use blank white rectangular stickers to label each bin so I know where each brand of nail polish is.  Here are what my bins look like:

With all this nail polish I needed an efficient and quick way to be able to see what nail polish I own and what each nail polish looks like.  So I created my own nail polish binder.  The binder features swatches of each polish I own, as well as a written list of the nail polish's names, and a calendar which I use to remind myself to post.  The calendar also helps me pre-select which nail polishes I will blog about each month.  Here's my binder:

Here is my binder.  I use a red pen to denote which nail polishes have been blogged about and to mark the calendar so I know which blogs have been published each month.  It is simple but effective!

However the binder is not my only means of nail polish organization!  I also keep an Excel spreadsheet of my nail polish.  The spreadsheet is alphabetical order by nail polish brand and then within each brand the nail polish is alphabetical by the polish's name.  The spreadsheet also allows me to keep track of the collection the nail polish came from, the date I posted a blog about it, how long I was able to wear the nail polish before it chipped and best of also I keep links to each post so I can quickly access them!  I also use the Excel spreadsheet to keep track of blog views, how many posts I have planned for each month, total number of polishes and the number of polishes by each brand.  Here is a screen shot of my spreadsheet:

Now that you've seen how I store and keep track of my nail polish I'm going to show you how I pick out nail polish to blog about!  To pick out nail polish every month I try to include a variety of brand of nail polish and a variety of colors.  (The only exception to this is October where I only wear pink  nails polish to celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.)  I like to select a mixture of older nail polishes I have had in my collection for a while and some more recent purchases.  I pre-select what polishes will appear on my blog for a few months in advance that way I have time to wear them and really test each one out.  I use the top of one of my Rubbermaid bins to lay the upcoming nail polishes out on.  It looks like this:

Here are all the nail polishes that will appear on my blog from August of 2014 to January of 2015.  August is at the bottom and the top row (before the bottles of nail polish remover) is January.

After selecting the nail polishes and trying them out I write out each blog post soon after that way I can accurately remember how each polish was.  I take photos using Fugifilm FinePix S4300 camera, which is a nice camera that has a variety of settings and good zoom.  (It isn't a Cannon but it works wonderfully!)  The only work I do on the pictures is to crop them down to an appropriate size.

Once each post is ready to be published it typically sits as a draft for a few weeks until its post date.  (Like I said above I use a calendar to predetermine when each post goes live!)  After a post goes live in my blog I post a link to it on several sites.  Here's the list:

StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/LondonLover27
Twitter: @PerfPolished12 (Which is the Twitter for this blog)
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/londonlover27/ (I post the pictures in the "Nail Polish" board)

I hope everyone has enjoyed this little behind the scenes look at how I blog!  The next post will be all about the nail polish again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails "Firm Fig"

Hi everyone and Happy Autumn!  Now that Summer is officially over, and the weather is cooling off, I decided to pull out a nice polish to celebrate the seasonal change!  This week I decided to test out Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in "Firm Fig."

"Firm Fig" is, just as its name suggests, is a berry colored polish.  Formula wise "Firm Fig" is pretty watery and it was difficult to get even coats on my nails.  After two coats of polish "Firm Fig" was mostly opaque but there were some visible streak marks.  As for chipping "Firm Fig" lasted about two days before it began to chip off in large chunks.  I believe this polish chipped so quickly because of the uneven coats of polish.  Had I been able to get more even coats of polish on my nails I think "Firm Fig" would have lasted longer before chipping.

Overall I really wanted to like Sally Hansen's "Firm Fig" because the color is very pretty, but I did not like the formula and how difficult it was to apply and then it chipped so quickly that it didn't feel worth the time and effort it took to apply!  I will probably give this polish a second try at some point and maybe next time it will work out better.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)