Orly Charged Up

Brighter and less red in real life.

Milani 3D Holographic Hi-Res

When I first saw this while on my no buy, I wasn't all that impressed. But reviews on the blogs and the nail board said it was way better on the nail than in the bottle, so I picked it up this evening, and yes. Yes it is. Two coats over the Mirror Image base, but I don't think I needed it. Diamont top coat, no dulling of the holo. Happy day before cheap chocolate day, nails!

Pretty, isn't it?

Tomorrow's polish today: China Glaze LOL

See the previous post for the application warning. Like many holos, this one's grabby, so let each coat dry before putting on a new one.

I was able to get away with two coats per nail, once I put the Mirror Image base on, but I suspect with a regular basecoat, this polish would take three.coats to get even.

The OMG line holos are smooth, and the holo effect is very impressive under bright light. It also photographs well.

China Glaze LOL, (l-halogen light, r-fluorescent light, injury on middle finger from a tragic gate accident.)

The finish on this when it dries is almost satiny, which, combined with the slight grey tones in the base color, just makes it look like a muddy purple in dimmer light. This is one holo where I think it's worth the slight loss of holo effect to throw on a top coat. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (technically a treatment), the one the MUA nail board posters have recommended, seems to work pretty well, with minimal dulling. Over all, a decent purple holo, but not one that makes me weak at the knees,

LOL with Hard as Nails on top.

How to get through a no-buy month by shopping your stash (and starting a [second] polish blog)

So at some point, looking at my budget, looking at my overflowing fraternal twin Helmers, I decided that, after the holidays, no really, I was going to go on a no-buy. And, of course, start actually trying some of the many, many untrieds in the place.

After three days of that, and daily photos sent to my Tumblr (where I have been sending photos of my nails whenever I remember to do so for a while now), I realized, nope, that wasn't going to cut it. Too quick, too easy, too much time left to go drool at picspam over at the nailboard and "accidentally" make large online orders of polish that was just too good a deal to pass up.

So I'm going to try my hand (my left one, because it won the coin toss or drew the short straw) at actually blogging about polish for a while. And what better way to start than by talking about me and nail polish?

The first time I remember counting my polishes, I had over 100. That was 1998. I  hit 200+ before 1999, a polish volume that remained more or less constant for the better part of a decade.

And then I started reading nail polish blogs. And reading the Makeup Alley nail board. Suddenly, 200 polishes didn't seem like that many, and hey! If you stuck them in one of those Helmers everyone was talking about, they'd take up hardly any space at all.

I think I have over 500 polishes now. I had to get a second Helmer about six months after the first. My blue, green, and purple drawers are all stuffed to the gills, and my glitter drawer is getting there.

And speaking of purple...

Today's nails are Nfu-Oh 554, a stunning true purple jelly that photographs a lot bluer than it is in real life.

Nfu-Oh 554

Three coats to bottle color (the first two were a streaky mess), and it's worn fairly well on a day when I've been more than usually active. The formula is typically Nfu-Oh drippy, so I had a purple polish stigmata look going on for a while, but if you're more patient than I am and actually wipe your brush before you apply, you shouldn't have that problem.