Showing posts with label Finger Paints. Show all posts

Finger Paints Special Effects Flakie Top Coat Collection Swatches and Review


Flashy, Flecked, Twisted, Asylum, Motley



Happy Happy Joy Joy! I found these awesome Finger Paints flakie topcoats at Sally Beauty Supply last week. They are part of the Finger Paints Special Effects collection coming out in January, but I was able to snag these early, thanks to some very nice Sally sales associates. I was disappointed when I dropped by my neighborhood Sally's and these were nowhere to be found. I was on my way out the door when I decided to go back and ask. The SA said that yes, they received a new shipment of Finger Paints, but she thought they were "bad" nail polishes because they looked all the same, and looked mottled/ruined. LOL! When I asked to see them, there are the pretties! The SAs asked me what they were for, and I demonstrated by applying one on top of my nail polish for that pretty flakie effect. Needless to say, they were mesmerized and told me that at last they knew what it was for. It was just weird that I was actually the one telling the sales associates what these were for!

Here are some amazing swatches of these pretty flakies. These are all swatched over Wet n Wild Black Creme:


Nail Stamp Art: Finger Paints Nail Polish in Purple Pinstripe and XL Image Plate B







Remember these XL plates I purchased at Magnonails.de earlier this year?









I used one of those full nail designs from XL plate B. These are like machine cog wheels, so cute! I used one of my favorite nail polish brands, Finger Paints, a Sally Beauty exclusive. I used Purple Pinstripe which is a purple cream that is very pretty. I used Konad special polish in Pastel Violet. I missed a spot on my ring finger, but I think it still looks nice. The good thing about using an image polish in the same color family as your base polish is that the design turns out a lot more subtle, so you can actually wear it to conservative venues like the workplace without attracting too much attention.

I'll be using more of these full-nail images from my XL plates for you to see how pretty the designs are. Stay tuned!

Konad Nail Art and Pearls: Finger Paints Nail Lacquer in Vintage Velvet





Orly Nail Polish Review and Sally Polish Haul





I went to Sally Beauty Supply to take advantage of their 20% off total purchase coupon I got in the mail. I saw the new fall collections from Finger Paints and Orly, so I snagged some of the shades that caught my fancy. I also got a couple of shades from China Glaze's Retro Diva collection. Here are my thoughts on these.

Enchanted Forest is from Orly's fall collection called Once Upon A Time. I bought this together with Orly in Prince Charming which is also from the same collection (more on that in a minute). I noticed that the colors are not your usual pixie/fairy colors from fairy tales. These shades show the darker, forboding spirit of medieval tales, which is perfect for me, as I am craving for deeper, more mysterious shades to add to my collection. Enchanted Forest is an amazing creamy deep hunter green that I love because my favorite color is green, and add to that my current penchant for deep, almost masculine polish. I can't wait to try this.

Finger Paints Plum Pumps is a lighter plum that is your classic fall color. I love the texture, finish and formula of Finger Paints, so I know this will apply pretty smooth. I will be posting swatches of these colors in future posts.

Cords from China Glaze Retro Diva collection is a beautiful rustic grey shimmer that has some bronze undertones to my eye. It kinda has the Romantique formula, so I'm guessing this might be a good Konad image polish just like the Romantiques. This is a grey-based hue, and since I love grey polish, this is becoming a favorite.

Let's Groove is a retro deep purple color that really reminds me of the 70s. This has an edgy purple twist to it, and I can see this an amazing pedicure color.



(Read Orly polish review after the jump)



As I said, I also purchased Orly polish in Prince Charming that is a gorgeous brown-grey cream. This and Enchanted Forest were my first ever Orly polishes. I am a huge fan of the Orly treatments and base and top coats, especially Orly Bonder, Orly Smudge Fixer, Orly In A Snap and Orly Won't Chip, and have been using these for years. However, with regard to Orly polishes, these were my first purchases. Application was a cinch, and consistency was good. My main gripe was the poor staying power on me. The photo above was taken less than 24 hours after I applied the polish, and you can already see tip wear. I used my staple Orly base coat (Bonder) and top coat (Won't Chip), but it DID chip after only a few hours. I was really disappointed with my first Orly experience. I was better off with OPI Over the Taupe which I believe is similar to Prince Charming. OPI and China Glaze's staying power is a lot better than Orly's in my experience. What is weird is that I used all Orly products from base coat to polish to top coat, which are supposed to work in tandem with each other since they come from the same brand. It turned out that my Orly base and top coats actually work better with OPI and China Glaze.

I will try Enchanted Forest and will see if my Orly experience will improve. In the meantime, stay tuned for polish swatches!

Finger Paints, OPI and Nail Art Polishes Haul, Plus Organizing Ideas

Here are just some of the items I got from this amazing nail supply store that I found in our neighborhood. Take note: it's not a beauty supply store, it is a huge store solely for nail care, nail art and polish supply. It's a nail polish/nail art enthusiast's candy store! Tons of nail polish, rhinestones, nail art decals, stickers, artificial and natural nail art, the works! I believe they are also wholesaler for a lot of nail salons in our area. Good thing they do retail too. Here are some stuff I bought from that store.


I finally found some Designer Series from OPI in our area. I got DS in Opulence and Signature that are really pretty. I also got Fiji Weejee Fawn which would be a great office color. Speaking of the office, I don't really indulge in nail art because I work in a very conservative office environment, but it would be fun to play with nail art on weekends. I decided to get some supplies like the striper nail art polishes in silver and gold.


On my second trip to that nail supply store, I got some more striper polishes (they have extra long and thin brushes that would be great for adding designs to your nails). They are pretty inexpensive for $2 each. I also got a french tip brush that would make it a lot easier to apply french tips to your own nails. You simply apply the white tip using your white nail polish, then dip the brush in 100% pure acetone and clean the bottom of the white tip to make it a neat crescent shape. Then apply the base color over the white tip, apply top coat and you're done!


I also got OPI Significant Other Color polish, and it is such a pretty lavender with lots of white pearl shimmer. It is very pretty.







I usually don't do nail designs for the reasons stated above, but I couldn't resist getting this dotter set for only $7. It has 5 dual-sided dotters that would be perfect for any kind of design you can think for your nails. Now that I have this, I am pressured to do some designs!



This one though is a haul from Sally Beauty Supply. Easel Come, Easel Go was bought for a co-polish enthusiast, while I got the Pretty as a Portrait and Putty in My Hands for my own collection.

Speaking of my nail polish collection, I have been having a hard time looking for a particular polish because they were just housed in those six-pack cartons that 8ty8 or Head-2-Toe online nail stores ship their nail polishes in. I finally asked my husband to make me a nail polish display rack we often see in nail salons, but he made me several nail polish drawers instead. I have a desk that has a significant amount of vacant space, so he decided to put that space to good use. He made several drawers with rollers and compartments that would house my polish and nail care tools and inclements. Here is what he came up with (the polishes were not yet organized when this picture was taken; it was hubby who dumped everything haphazardly):


The "Don't Bite It" anti-nail bite polish is for my 5-year-old. Note for moms: Do your kids get sick most of the time in school or daycare? They probably bite their nails or put their fingers in their mouths a lot. Schools and daycares are germ factories, so I had to prevent my child from putting his hands in his mouth. I paint his fingernails with the anti-nail biting polish regularly. I told him he would get sick if he bites his hands (he thought it was the "poison" on his nails), and the nasty bitter taste prevents nail biting. This anti-nail biting polish single-handedly helped my child become healthier in school and daycare.

Obviously, this wouldn't hold all my polishes so he is making maybe 3 more of these. I love how convenient it is because it is built right in my desk, so I can just pull the drawers from where I am sitting right now and pick which color I want to use. I also love the fact that the polishes are neatly tucked away so our room isn't cluttered with dozens of polishes all over the place.



Remember this ingenious idea, again from my MacGyver husband? This is exactly the position I want my brushes to be in while drying from their weekly washes, especially my synthetic mineral makeup kabuki and flat-top brushes because it takes one whole day for them to dry up. I want all the moisture away from the ferrules and the base of the hairs, so I want them upside down. My husband thought of doing it another way, so he decided to make this for me:



It's a wet foam for fresh flowers that you can buy at Wal-Mart or any other kind of general merchandise store. He skewered it with a pipe thing and attached suction cups on either side and attached it to the wall of the bathroom. I have three more of these so I can replace the wet foam after several uses. You just gotta admire the ingenious ways you can dry your makeup brushes that hubby comes up with!

OPI, China Glaze and Finger Paints Summer Collection Nail Polish Haul



Here are some recent cumulative summer collection nail polish acquisitions. I got this amazing deal at ULTA - they call it Pint Size Pink. It's a free pink shimmer wristlet that contains two full-size OPI nail products: OPI nail lacquer in Shorts Story and the famed OPI Top Coat. And get this: it was a $17 value that I only got for - $4.95! A bottle of OPI polish alone costs almost nine bucks at ULTA! It was such an amazing deal that I just had to snag it. The pink polish is perfect for the toes and tips. It just totally screams "summer!".





When I went to my neighborhood Sally's, I fell in love with the new shades from Finger Paints' Sunburst of Summer collection. I totally loved the candy colors! I can't wait to wear Turquoise Tile both on the toes and tips. It's the perfect summer shade in my opinion. Strawberry Shake is a pretty light pink with lots of amazing shimmer. I also had to get Lilac Lagoon because - you guessed it - lilacs and purples are my best nail polish shades. I've also read good reviews about the quality of Finger Paints - they are underrated, in my opinion.



I also bought my first-ever Nina Ultra Pro polish in Maple Syrup - it's the perfect red-brown-burgundy that is just gorgeous. It reminds me of OPI's Espresso Your Style but the former has heavier red undertones.



When I passed by Sally's, I didn't know that they had a deal for China Glaze Polish: buy 2 for $10. I know that 8ty8beauty and Head2Toe carry China Glaze at half that price, but at least I didn't have to pay for shipping at Sally's, and they were already right in my grubby hands! That being said, I snagged these four shades from the China Glaze Summer Days collection that I'd been drooling over online. Watermelon Rind is an amazing teal-ocean green color that is so beautiful. Grape Juice is, of course, a must-have for me given my penchant for purple polish. Strawberry Fields and Raspberry Festival are amazing pedicure colors that I can't wait to sport on my toes while wearing flipflops. I had a lot of fun snagging these babies.



Finally, here's a pic of MAC Love & Friendship nail lacquer on my nails. Of course, I just had to add the tacky flowers! I love them, though! =D