OPI "He's My Surfing Instructor"

Hi everyone!  It is hard to believe that June is almost over, this year seems to be flying by!  Now during the Summer I go to the pool a lot and dream of being at the beach and this week I found the perfect nail polish for that: OPI's "He's My Surfing Instructor."

OPI's "He's My Surfing Instructor is an interesting chunky, blue, glitter nail polish that I found at ULTA a while back.  Many people online are discussing how this nail polish is a dupe of OPI's "Last Friday Night" from the Katy Perry collection.  (Really OPI just re-released several colors under new names and called it an exclusive collection at ULTA store.)  Anyways onto the part about the quality of this polish!  The formula is so-so, since it is a chunky glitter it takes a bit of work to get an nice even coat and still have glitter on your nails.  After two coats it was not opaque in the slightest bit but it did not have any noticeable streak marks.  As for chipping I have no idea because it looked so horrible by itself that I refused to wear it out of the house.  Removing "He's My Surfing Instructor" was very easy and all of the glitter came off without any work.

Now in the bottle "He's My Surfing Instructor" looks like this gorgeous deep blue glitter, but on the nail you can not see any of that blue base color and only very small bits of clear and light blue glitter.  On its own it is entirely disappointing, so I decided to try using a crème blue nail polish as a base and apply "He's My Surfing Instructor" on top.  And it turned out to look so much better!  The blue crème I selected is Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in "Pacific Blue."

Now this gorgeous combo of Sally Hansen's "Pacific Blue" with OPI's "He's My Surfing Instructor" lasted about two days before it began to chip.  I think it started to chip so quickly because the glitter from "He's My Surfing Instructor" kept getting caught on everything, even though I used a very thick layer of quick drying topcoat.  As for removing this pretty polish it was surprisingly easy, taking less than 15 minutes to do all 10 nails!

Overall I have mixed opinions of OPI's "He's My Surfing Instructor."  On its own it looks lovely in the bottle but looks hideous on the nail.  Also its formula isn't anything special.  However when applied on top of a similar blue colored crème nail polish it looks very pretty.  So on its own I would never wear this nail polish again, but paired with another polish and I would most definitely wear this polish again.  I truly love the way OPI's "He's My Surfing Instructor" looks over Sally Hansen's "Pacific Blue" it reminds me of sunshine reflecting off the ocean and I think it could be great in the Winter too because it also looks kind of icy.

Availability:  Unless you can find OPI's "He's My Surfing Instructor" or OPI's "Last Friday Night" online on Amazon or E-bay they may be unavailable as they were part of special collections which were only available for a limited time.

Also I've just recently learned that Sally Hansen has re-done "Pacific Blue."  I have the old version and not the new version.  Lately I haven't been able to find either version in stores.

Thanks for reading my blog!  And I hope everyone is enjoying their Summer!  :)

Maybelline "Coral Crush"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying Summer!  Around me the weather has been hot and sunny, which is fine by me because I am definitely not a Winter girl!  This week I decided to rock a fun and happy coral colored polish to celebrate the lovely Summer weather!  And that polish is Maybelline's "Coral Crush."

Maybelline's "Coral Crush" is a crème polish and it feels very summery!  Formula wise "Coral Crush" is okay, it wasn't too watery or too thick.  However the brush either held a lot of nail polish or none which made it a bit difficult to apply to my nails and caused a few streak marks.  After two coats of polish "Coral Crush" was opaque, which was nice.  As for chipping I started to see some minor tip chips on day two, but I was able to wear "Coral Crush" for about five days.  (3/9)

Overall I am pretty pleased with Maybelline's "Coral Crush"!  While the formula was just okay "Coral Crush" was opaque after two coats and lasted about five days before seriously chipping.  I wish that this polish was a bit easier to apply but I'm just so happy to be able to wear "Coral Crush" for five days that I definitely plan on wearing this polish over and over again.  (And who knows maybe it'll be easier to apply with some practice!)

(Also please forgive the horribly blurry picture!  I just could not get the camera to focus on my nails!)

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Orly "Lemonade"

Hi guys!  I can't believe that June is almost over!  (How can we be halfway thought 2014!)  So this week I decided to try out Orly's "Lemonade" which is this super pretty yellow nail polish!  I figured Summer is the perfect time for this nail polish because it is super happy and bright!

Orly's "Lemonade" is this fantastic yellow nail polish that changes depending on the light.  In naturally light "Lemonade" looks like a pastel and other times when the sun hits my nails "Lemonade" looks very bright!  Formula wise Orly's "Lemonade" is pretty good.  After the first coat of polish my nails had a fair amount of streaking and I was worried the polish was going to look terrible when it was done.  But thankfully after the second coat of color "Lemonade" evened out and my nails looked good!  Two coats was completely opaque and only had some very minor streaking, and the streaking was only visible if you looked very closely.  As for chipping I am very happy to say that Orly's "Lemonade" lasted for a week and still looked great!  I removed the polish after seven days but it definitely could have been worn longer!

Overall I am very happy with Orly's "Lemonade"!  The color is lovely, the formula is nice and it lasted quite a while before chipping!  Really the worst part of this nail polish was how many streak marks it had after the first coat of color, but thankfully the second coat of polish evened it out.  I really like Orly's "Lemonade" and can't wait to wear it again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Wet n Wild "Through the Grapevine"

Hi everyone!  So this week I decided to try out one of my older nail polishes: Wet n Wild "Through The Grapevine."  Like I said I have had this polish for a long time so I went looking online to see if Wet n Wild still makes this color, and the do.  But my bottle reads it is shade number: 208A and Wet n Wild's website reads that the color is: 208B.  So my best guess is that the color has been changed slightly but they are very similar, if not identical.

Wet n Wild's "Through The Grapevine" is a very pretty purple fuchsia.  Formula wise I was very impressed.  This is my first time trying out a Wet n Wild nail polish and I guess I didn't expect much, but I was very happily surprised with its quality!  The formula was just right and was very easy to apply, and after two coats of polish "Through The Grapevine" was completely opaque and had no visible streak marks!  As for chipping it started on day two as tip chips, though as the day went by the chips got worse.

Overall I really like Wet n Wild's "Through The Grapevine."  The color is gorgeous, the formula is fantastic and it was super easy to apply.  The only thing I dislike about this polish is how quickly it chipped!  Another positive of this nail polish was it looks so shiny and nice on the nail that I had someone ask me if it was a gel polish, which is awesome since Wet n Wild is a drugstore polish!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Sally Hansen "Perfect Pearing"

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone is having a less eventful week than I am!  I had a bat get into my house a few days ago and terrorize me, thankfully the bat has been caught and removed!  This week I decided to cool things off and relax with a nice relaxing green nail polish.  I picked out Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's "Perfect Pear-ing" which is a gorgeous honey dew green color!  "Perfect Pear-ing" was released in the Summer of 2013 as part of a limited edition collection.

Sally Hansen's "Perfect Pear-ing" as I said before is a gorgeous green color, and when I saw it at the store I knew I wanted it.  I own a fair amount of green polish but none quite like "Perfect Pear-ing."  Formula wise "Perfect Pear-ing" is very watery, which made it difficult to apply.  After two coats of polish there were visible streak marks and it was obvious that I was unable to get nice even coats of polish onto my nails.  Also two coats of "Perfect Pear-ing" were not opaque.  As for chipping it started after only a day or two.  I believe the uneven coats of polish made it easier to chip and flake off in decent sized chunks.

Overall I am a bit disappointed in Sally Hansen's "Perfect Pear-ing."  I love the color, but I wish it had been easier to apply and had lasted longer before it chipped.  However I will most likely wear "Perfect Pear-ing" again because of its pretty color!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

butterLONDON "Lillibet's Jubilee"

Hi everyone!  So this week I decided to try out butterLONDON's "Lillibet's Jubilee" which is this gorgeous silver metallic polish!  "Lillibet's Jubilee" was a special release for Queen Elizabeth II's 60 year anniversary of sitting on the throne, and it is currently "on holiday" and not available on butterLONDON's website.

As I already said "Lillibet's Jubilee" is a silver metallic and it is gorgeous!  The shimmer it creates is unreal and it sparkles in the sunshine!  Formula wise I am very impressed with "Lillibet's Jubilee" because it went on very easily and in nice even coats.  After two coats the polish was completely opaque, and while there was some minor streaking it was not very noticeable.  As for chipping "Lillibet's Jubilee" lasted two days before the chips started to look horrible.  I think the metallic made the chips very visible!

Overall I have mixed feelings about butterLONDON's "Lillibet's Jubilee."  The formula is great, the color is gorgeous and the application was fantastic!  But I was not impressed with how quickly the polish chipped and I would have loved to have worn "Lillibet's Jubilee" longer than two days!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Hi everyone!  So today's post is a bit different instead of nail polish it is a beauty product that is for nails: CUTICLE CREAM!  Recently I was at my local Walmart and I ran across the Burt's Bees display and noticed they have a Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream and decided to give it a try!  I'm pretty rough on my nails and after an extremely long Winter my cuticles looked horrible so I figured any help I could get would be great!

First of Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream is very affordable at around $5 a container and is 100% natural (meaning you can actually read the ingredients label with ease!)  Also Burt's Bees is a local company for me as it is headquartered and produced in Durham, NC, which a really neat!  Anyways the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream is yellow and looks like a hard wax, but application is easy because when you rub your finger on the wax it softens up.  It doesn't take much Cuticle Cream to cover your nail and cuticle, which means you won't run out any time soon!  Also let's discuss how wonderful the Cuticle Cream smells!  It smells like fresh made Lemon Squares!

I've been applying Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream to my nails and cuticles about twice a week now and I have definitely noticed an improvement!  My nails feel healthier and don't seem to be breaking as often and my cuticles are easier to maintain.  I will definitely be continuing to use Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream along with Burt's Bees lip balms and lotions!  (I've had great luck with all the Burt's Bees products I've tried.)

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can try this cuticle cream for your self since it's available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Sephora Formula X "Pyrotechnic"

Hi guys!  So this week I decided to try out Formula X for Sephora in "Pyrotechnic" which is a super bright red nail polish.  Now I got this nail polish for free at Sephora several months ago.  At Sephora if you become a Beauty Insider (which is their rewards system and it is free!) you start collecting points when you buy items and you can trade the points in for items.  So I got this nail polish for 100 points, which I think it a pretty nice gift.

"Pyrotechnic" is a very bright red nail polish and while red polishes can be tricky I just love how red nails look!  The formula of "Pyrotechnic" is fantastic!  It applied very easily and in nice even coats.  After only one coat the polish was nearly opaque, though I always apply two coats.  So after two coats of polish "Pyrotechnic" was completely opaque and had absolutely no streak marks!  As for chipping it took four days before I saw any chips, and the chips were small and mostly on the tips of my nails.  Red nail polish tends to show chips very easily but "Pyrotechnic" was not that way, which is fantastic!  I was a bit worried about removing such a red nail polish but was pleasantly surprised when it came off easily and only left a few red stains on my nails.  The stains were very minor and with a little patience I was able to get most of it off, or at least less noticeable.

Side note:  While my bottle is a miniature, "Pyrotechnic" is available in the full size bottle at Sephora for $10.50 (USD).

Overall I am pleased with Formula X for Sephora's "Pyrotechnic."  The color is pretty, the formula is great, as is the brush and application and most of all I enjoyed being able to wear "Pyrotechnic" for four days before I saw any chips!  This nail polish has no negatives for me and I definitely plan on wearing it over and over again!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Piggy Polish "Make Waves"

Hi guys!  The Summer heat has kicked in and I keep hoping to make it to the pool, but I'll settle for gorgeous water blue nails!  This week I decided to try out Piggy Polish's "Make Waves" which is a pretty sky blue nail polish!  It has been a long time since I last tried a Piggy Polish out so I was kind of excited to try out "Make Waves"!

I thought that "Make Waves" was a sky blue crème until I started applying it and realized it is less of a crème and more of a jelly.  I suppose it is some kind of blend between the two, which makes for an interesting nail polish.  Formula wise "Make Waves" is decent, but almost a bit on the watery side.  It was easy enough to apply, but the coats were very uneven.  After two coats of "Make Waves" it was not opaque and had lots of streak marks.  As for chipping, it didn't actually chipped but it smudged horribly and refused to dry.  I managed to wear "Make Waves" for about 24 hours, or one day, but since I went to bed about two hours after I painted my nails I had tons of wrinkle marks from the sheets on my nails.  In fact, I actually repainted my nails to get the picture you see above!

Overall I am pretty unimpressed by Piggy Polish's "Make Waves."  While the color is pretty and the formula is okay, the fact that it refused to dry, was not opaque after two coats of polish, and had streak marks all over is pretty disappointing!  Also I find the smell of Piggy Polish to be very overwhelming, which is not too surprising since the brand is not 3 Free.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Covergirl "Sulfur Blaze"

 

Hi guys!  So now that June is in full swing and the sun is out all day long I decided to pick a nail polish that reminds me of the sun.  And I found just the perfect one a yellow glitter by Covergirl called "Sulfur Blaze."  This nail polish is part of the 2013 Catching Fire collection which came out shortly before the movie last year.

Like I mentioned above "Sulfur Blaze" is a yellow glitter, almost a gold color in the bottle.  It is a very pretty color and it shimmers in the sunlight.  The formula is pretty good for a glitter.  It is slightly on the watery side but that is good for a glitter polish because it makes it easier to apply.  After two coats of polish you could still see through "Sulfur Blaze" straight to my nails, especially on the tips, but there were no noticeable streak marks.  As for chipping it started to wear off my nails on day two, which is common for heavy glitter polishes because they tend to snag on anything and everything (even when you put on a topcoat!)  As for removing "Sulfur Blaze" it was surprisingly easy, especially considering all the glitter.  However I did find bits of glitter sticking to my hands for a day or two.

Overall I like Covergirl's "Sulfur Blaze."  The color is very pretty and the formula is nice which are two good things for a nail polish.  However I do wish it hadn't chipped so quickly and that I could have gotten it opaque on my nails.  (And yes I am aware that I could have done a third coat of polish instead of my usual two but I feared that it would make the nail polish too thick and would chip even faster!)  I will definitely be wearing Covergirl's "Sulfur Blaze" again this Summer because it just looks amazing in the sunshine!  (The picture above is in direct sunlight.)

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

If you want to give this polish a go it's available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Essie "Pink Works"

Hi guys and happy June!  This week I decided to try out a pretty pink nail polish by Essie named "Pink Works."  "Pink Works" is from Essie's 2013 Breast Cancer Awareness Mini-Collection, which I purchased at Kohl's.  Every once in a while Kohl's puts Essie nail polish and sale and if you can find a 20 or 30% off coupon then you can get Essie polishes for a great price!

Essie's "Pink Works" is a bright baby pink (if that makes any sense at all!)  Unlike most baby pink polishes that are very pale "Pink Works" seems brighter and more vibrant, but I still would not consider it s hot pink.  This nail polish also has a secret shimmer, which is almost invisible in the bottle but looks lovely on the nail.  Formula wise "Pink Works" is somewhat watery and it made it difficult to put on in even coats.  And after two coats of polish there were very noticeable streak marks on all of my nails.  As for chipping it started after only a few hours, and it only got worse from there.  In the end Essie's "Pink Works" lasted about one day before it looked so chipped it had to be removed.

Overall I am very disappointed in Essie's "Pink Works."  The formula was difficult to control, it was very streaky and it chipped after only a couple hours.  However the color is pretty and I like that Essie does a Breast Cancer Awareness Mini-Collection each year.  I may wear this nail polish again, but probably not any time soon.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Try out "Pink Works" yourself since it is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)