January Nail Art Challenge Day 1: Ab Initio

Someone (I can't remember who now) mentioned this challenge a couple days ago on Instagram or Twitter and I thought it looked both doable and fun, so I decided to jump in. It was after the third when I saw it, so I went straight to glitter nails and wore my first and only Urban Lacquer polish, Ab Initio.

I remember I first saw this polish on Chalkboard Nails about a year ago and was absolutely smitten. However, I have to say I was just a little bit disappointed when I finally got it and put it on, because I think they must have changed it. The glitter is really dense, which I normally like, but one of the things I'd liked about Ab Initio when I saw it on Chalkboard Nails was that the glitter was sparse enough that you could really see the different layers of glitter glow through the deep purple jelly base. While I still really like this polish and am glad I bought it, I am a bit disappointed because it wasn't how I expected. I could layer it with another purple jelly, but my only purple jelly is Milani Rad Purple, which isn't the right color at all. But I have no objection to expanding my purple jelly collection... ;) Any suggestions?

Red Nail Art

EDIT 09/16/13: Obviously I expect too much of myself, as I haven't had time to do another nail art mani since I posted this originally. I am still going to try to post more nail art and I will probably use the challenge as inspiration; however, I am a college student with unrealistic expectations of what I can do with my time, so...yeah.

Hello all! I decided to do the 31 day challenge again this year, as I did two years ago in November. This time I'm not going to be able to do a post every day, and you'll notice it is no longer the 1st of the month (oops), but I really enjoyed it before and thought it'd be a good way to get my mojo going again. For those of you who haven't seen it before, here's the challenge:

The first day of the challenge is red, so I decided to wear one of my top two favorite juicy reds, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure All Fired Up. It's a squishy, super-bright red that really pops, and I always feel a little more put together when I wear it. After sporting All Fired Up by itself for a day, I decided to add some stripes. I used acrylic paint because I think it's easier to work with, but of course you could use polish as well.

Isn't it a great combination? I've been seeing a lot of the first two fingers as accent nails lately, so I thought I'd try it out. I originally intended the pink to stand out a little bit more, but I think maybe I like it as it is after all - it provides a little balance against the screamingly bright orange, purple and red. Sadly, as I'm typing this my nails have already chipped. C'est la vie, non? *sigh* Anyway, I won't be posting the rest of the weekend because I'm taking a short trip home to go fishing, but I look forward to painting my nails and posting again as soon as I get back! Have a great weekend!

Bad Moon Rising Jelly Sandwich

Hello there! I hope you're all having a lovely Wednesday. I've been having a hectic couple of weeks, with a 6-page paper, two presentations, and a literary review (part of a 20-page paper; the whole thing will be due on my birthday in May) in the past week and a half, so needless to say I haven't had time for much recreational activity, except sleeping. Yes, that is considered a recreational activity now. But I'm taking a brief break today to write a blog post! And by brief break, I mean I just woke up and am not awake to go back to outlining journal articles yet. Either way, I have a jelly sandwich to show today, which is one of my favorite kinds of manicures, even though it's hell to remove. I used Zoya Frida and Lac Attack Bad Moon Rising.

Aren't they gorgeous together! I love Bad Moon Rising, and I think it went perfectly with Frida. This is actually the first time I've used one of the Zoya jellies and not taken it off immediately, because I really don't like them on their own. Now that I've tried (and loved) this combination, though, I might have to try jelly sandwiches with the other two!

P.S. I forgot to mention the fact that the lit review and the 6-page paper are still not done...and due Friday...what am I doing blogging?!

Lac Attack Beauxbatons Academy

GUYS. I am so super excited about this polish. It's the first indie nail polish on Never Unpolished (I know, I'm behind the times), and it couldn't be more deserving of the title. I was so thrilled about this beauty that I went out and stood around in the damp and chill taking pictures of my nails, probably confirming my neighbors' opinion that I am strange - and I guess they wouldn't be wrong. In any case, Beauxbatons Academy is absolutely gorgeous. I used four coats, but it was definitely worth it, and it hasn't shown any signs of wear so far (I've worn it for two days as I type this). As always, you can click the pictures to enlarge them, and I strongly encourage it with this one. So pretty!

Zoya Rekha

I'm here again! Zoya Rekha is the second polish I've worn from Zoya's fall collections this year. Normally I'm not a huge red person, but I really, really, really like Rekha. It's one of those that blurs the line between jellies and cremes, giving this wonderfully glossy sheen while still being entirely opaque. I had an unusually hard time getting my camera to shoot accurately when it came to Rekha's color. In my pictures, it appears brighter and more candy-like than it is in real life. It's hard to describe, but Rekha's closer to what I think of as a true cherry red (you know, like actual cherries).

 natural light

Milani Rad Purple + Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple

Happy Friday! The end of the week is here at last...at that just means finals are even closer. But for now, I'm glad it's Friday. Today I'm going to show you my most recent layering manicure. Every time I get a new layering polish, I'm always tempted to try it over Milani Rad Purple - it's one of the best jellies I own, and it's purple to boot. Naturally, when I got Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple in the mail after buying it from Colour Coated's blog sale, I had to slap it on over Rad Purple as soon as possible.

 natural light

sunlight

Look at that squishiness! I used three or four coats of Rad Purple Cult Nails Get it On, added a layer of Chunky Holo Purple, and finished it off with Cult Nails Wicked Fast. I'm hoping to find the time to review both of the Cult Nails treatments soon, though top and base coat posts always take me longer for some reason, but in the meantime I will tell you readily that I'm loving them both - so much, in fact, that I may yet say goodbye to my tried-and-true Barielle Clearly Noticeable Nail Thickener, Orly Nailtrition, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. Anyway, that discussion's for another post. Enjoy your Friday!

Revlon Whimsical

Hello there! I hope the weather is as nice wherever you are as it is here in St. Louis. Now if only it could just stay in the low- to mid-70s for the rest of the spring and summer, that would be just fine with me! I really don't like the heat, but I suppose it's at least a good opportunity to wear shorts and cute skirts and dresses, right? Anyway, the polish I'm showing you today is one I'm sure you've all seen before: Revlon Whimsical, a.k.a. a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air.

natural light

natural light

I have to say, this is not a polish to get if you're one of those who doesn't like to use more than two coats unless you're prepared to layer. I'm not absolutely sure, as I wore this in early March, but if my memory serves me correctly, this was five coats. I probably would've been better off to layer Whimsical over a light blue, but I didn't have any that were pale enough - Sally Hansen Blue Away is the lightest blue I have, and I wanted the base color of my mani to be the actual base color of Whimsical. However, I must say that I think all those coats paid off. I really liked how the glitter was sort of embedded in the jelly, and I think Revlon did a pretty good job naming Whimsical (though I think Glitter in the Air is cleverer, but I'm not willing to pay that much for a cuter name). It's kind of a sweet look, which isn't always what I go for, but it's definitely a polish I'm glad to have in my collection.

What do you think about Whimsical - do you like it, do you prefer GitA, or are you passing them up entirely?

Dr.'s Remedy Fall Fever Swatches & Review

Hello again! Two posts in a day, woohoo! I'm on a roll, what can I say? :) Actually, I usually try not to post two substantive posts in one day because I feel like it's a little bit much (not to mention that I really don't have the time), but since I'm doing the 31 day challenge this month, there's no way I could avoid it. Like I mentioned in my last post, I got the Dr.'s Remedy Fall Fever to review today, and I got to swatching right away. Unfortunately, I was in a race against the sun, so my pictures aren't quite as good as usual. I also have a hangnail on my middle finger that I retouched because I don't want to look at it, and I don't want you to have to look at it either. I promise that's the one thing I retouched, though (and I'll always tell you when I do retouch something). The above photo is a collage of the three polishes, with the bottle shot from the press release thrown in for good measure.

 natural light

First, we have DEFENSE Deep Red, which Dr.'s Remedy describes as "a rich bordeaux with a mystifying matte finish." To be honest, I expected this to be my least favorite polish in the collection. However, it turned out to be my favorite! I'm not a huge fan of most vampy reds, and this is the first one I've really fallen in love with. It's a gorgeous burgundy-red jelly that almost glows in the sunlight and only takes two coats - it does look a bit sheer in my picture, but it didn't in real life. I used two coats without top coat, and while it says it's matte, my base coat (Essie Protein Basecoat) tends to make semi-matte polishes glossy for some reason. It probably would be a little more matte on its own, but it didn't look like it'd be completely matte when I swatched it on an index card. I actually think it's prettier glossy anyway, because it allows the polish to show off its jelliness.

natural light

Next, we have BALANCE Brick, a "modern maroon with body and balance." I honestly am not sure what the "body and balance" part of that description is supposed to mean - I'd describe the shade as a delightfully juicy raspberry-maroon jelly. (And now I'm hungry for raspberries.) BALANCE Brick also took two coats for opacity. I'm not sure if it's a unique color or not, but I don't have anything exactly like it in my collection. 

natural light

Finally, there's NOBLE Navy, "a sea-at-dusk shade that reflects light and brings dimension to tips and toes alike." Unlike the other two polishes in this collection, NOBLE Navy is not a jelly, but a creme. But guess how many coats it took? One. That's right - one. It's vampier than DEFENSE Deep Red, but I can still tell it's blue in dimmish light, though it does look black once the lighting gets very dim. One thing I like about this shade as opposed to other deep blues is that it's slightly dusty, which I quite like. It kind of reminds me of a darker version of China Glaze First Mate.

I'm not a fan of dancing around the point, so I'll just say it straight out: I didn't think I'd be a huuuuge fan of this collection. I thought I'd like it well enough, but I didn't think I'd fall head over heels in love. However, with two gorgeous, two-coat-and-done jellies and one rich, one-coater blue, I'm definitely smitten. If you're smitten, too, you can get any of these shades for $17 at www.remedynails.com.

Also, if you're interested, you can like Dr.'s Remedy on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Just click the words "Facebook" and "Twitter!"

These polishes were sent to me by the company for review. However, I will always review products honestly. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

SLU Crackle

Hello there! I've worn two different manicures since the layering in my last post (a Harry Potter mani and Orly Fowl Play), but unfortunately, they both chipped fairly badly before I got to take a picture. C'est la vie. Today, however, was homecoming, so I switched to SLU blue and white before the soccer game (which we tied 1-1). I used three coats of Revlon Royal, one coat of China Glaze Lightning Bolt, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

indoors, artificial light

Isn't it gorgeous? I thought Lightning Bolt cracked especially well this time. You know how sometimes crackles don't crack in the most aesthetically pleasing way? That definitely didn't happen, so I guess it was my lucky day. Sorry about the glare; the combination of Royal's jelly-ness and the top coat was just too shiny for my camera to handle. I think that's about all I have to say about this one, except that I'll definitely be wearing it until it chips - though, honestly, that's been the case for pretty much any manicure since I got to college, as I don't have time to change my nails on a mere whim anymore. Taking 6 normal and 10 honors credit hours tends to do that to a person. I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Royal Layering

You know those days when you can't think of a good title for your blog post? Yeah, it one of those days. It's a shame, too, because today's layering is (in my entirely unbiased opinion... *cough*) absolutely gorgeous. I grabbed Revlon Royal, Nubar 2010, and Savina Diamond Ice - and then this happened:

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

Holy crapola...is that not the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen? Okay, maybe not, but it's still pretty effing awesome (aside from my dry fingers and chipped index fingernail, which I apologize for - college happens). As I've learned, Royal is an excellent base for any sort of layering, Nubar 2010 is awesome over anything, and glittery nails are nirvana. So, yeah. No big deal. In all seriousness, though, I think this is probably one of my best layering combinations. Writing this post, I kind of wish I'd put this back on instead of Orly Fowl Play - and I've been lusting over Fowl Play for a while, so that's saying something. What do you think?

GT No. 9

Guess what? I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro! I've had a PC laptop forever, so it's really nice to be able to go Mac. I'm loving it so far, though there are a few things to get used to. I'm taking advantage of a 30-day free trial of Aperture at the moment (next I'm trying Photoshop), and it's much quicker and has more features than PicasaWeb, which is what I was using. I haven't decided if it's worth the money, though - although since I got a free $100 Mac App Store gift card with my laptop since I bought it for college, I wouldn't really be paying for it. ;) Today I'd like to show you one of the nail polishes I got in Greece, GT Nail Lacquer No. 9. Although I wish it had a proper name instead of a number, I somehow feel like "No. 9" (which is what it says on the bottle) is a bit classier than just "9." Anyway, here it is with four coats. Sorry for the bits of glitter on my ring finger...I promise I could not see those until I'd changed my polish and uploaded the photos. :/

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

GT No. 9 is quite the finicky color. Not only is it a diva like most purples and refuses to photograph completely accurately, it likes to change color. No, it's not a mood polish...it just looks completely different in different lights. In some lights, it looks like the perfect bright kelly green. In some lights, it looks like a medium neon green. In some lights, it looks like a dupe (or at least a close cousin) to OPI Jade is the New Black. In all lights, however, it looks fantastic, and I wish I could've captured that better with my camera. Also, it's an opaque (well, only my camera sees the VNL, anyway) jelly, which pretty much means I'm guaranteed to fall head over heels for it. 

However, I do have one small complaint. No. 9, why must you bubble? I love you. You are gorgeous. You are one of my new favorite greens. Why?! I solved the bumpiness problem by buffing the bubbles out before I applied the final coat and top coat, but since it's a jelly, you can still see the bubbles if you look closely enough. Sad, I know. Also, my index finger got sheet marks even though I waited for each coat to dry completely and entirely before adding the next (what can I say - I had a lot of time on my hands). Also sad. But, despite the formula problems, this is still an awesome opaque green jelly from Greece, and I love it pretty much unconditionally. It's not often that I completely overlook such problems, so if you're ever in Greece...this one's worth it.

P.S. I haven't tallied up the giveaway entries yet because I've been college shopping and drooling over my Mac (and recreating all my iTunes playlists, which will take a while), but hopefully I'll get them done this weekend.

Pink Wednesday: Revlon Dawn

Hello there! Revlon Dawn is the second polish I tried out of the Just Tinted collection from earlier this year. All three of the polishes are very sheer pink jellies that dry semi-matte. Dawn is the most differently colored of the three, with warm peachy tones that almost make it a coral. I used three coats with one coat of top coat here.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

I really like the color of this one, and I think it suits my skin tone rather nicely. With the addition of top coat, Dawn has that wonderfully squishy look we've come to expect from any jelly worth its salt (or since it's a jelly, maybe I should say "worth its sugar?"). However, one thing I can't get past is that the warmer tones in Dawn makes my yellow nail tips look even yellower than they actually are, which, um . . . ick. As much as it pains me, I've put Dawn on my MUA swap list for that reason. As much as I love the color and squishiness, I know I won't wear a polish that brings out the yellow in my nails. Though they have improved since I've started using Develop 10 Whitening Scrub, I can't imagine that there will be a time when my nails are perfectly unblemished. However, I'm thinking about taking it back off my swap list - I just don't know. What do you think - should I keep Dawn, or pass it on?

Franken: Firework

This is one polish that I've meant to use for a long time, and haven't . . . and now that I have, I don't think I did a very good job capturing it on camera. :/ I made Firework (which I did not name after the Katy Perry song, just to be clear) out of Zoya Roxy, Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink, OPI Sparkle-icious, OPI Absolutely Alice, Finger Paints Holly Good Time, and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. I used two coats, and left it there partly because it was all but opaque in my eyes (though not that camera's, as you'll see), and partly because I honestly did not feel like taking three coats of glitter off. The picture to the left is a bottle shot taken outside in cloudy light.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

The shaded photo shows the opacity much more accurately than the one taken in sunlight; however, neither of the pictures show how spectacular Firework is in real life. I'll definitely have to re-do this one, perhaps when I eventually wear it for a full manicure . . . which, if I have any sense at all, will be soon! I may also add some more flakies to this one, though I'm reluctant to use up any of my small supply. Perhaps I'll add some OPI I Lily Love You . . . ? Anyway, while I'd happily do some tweaking, I'm also happy with Firework as it is.

Pink Wednesday: Jelly Sandwich

Today's Pink Wednesday post is my first (I think) jelly sandwich. I used Revlon Desire, one of the new Revlon jellies, Nubar 2010, and a base of Wet n Wild White Creme to satisfy my hate of VNL. I used quite a few coats, as my manicure went something like this: Wet n Wild White Creme, Revlon Desire, Nubar 2010, Revlon Desire, Nubar 2010, Revlon Desire, Nubar 2010, Revlon Desire. Yeah. And then I put Insta-Dri on top to make it all shiny.

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

I really like this combination, though I don't think I'm quite as fond of the jelly-flakie sandwich as I am of matteified flakies...we shall see. I need to buy a new bottle of Revlon Royal (I used the last for frankens) so I can try one with that.

Franken: I Am Not Yours

Today I have another Autism Awareness Month blue for you, and this time it's a franken - a choir franken, in fact. I started out wanting to make a jelly blue with silver glitter, and when I got done it reminded me of a line in a song we sing in choir called "I Am Not Yours" (the lyrics are a poem by Sara Teasdale), so that's what I named the polish. In case you're curious, the line is "Oh plunge me deep in love, put out my senses, leave me deaf and blind." Anyway, here it is at three coats with Seche Vite (which gave me a bit of shrinkage, as you can see):

outdoors, sunlight

indoors, artificial light 

outdoors, shade

I didn't take a bottle shot because the bottle I used (an old Seche Rebuild bottle) was made of foggy glass, and unfortunately you can't see the holographic bits, but I hope you get a good idea of what this polish is like nonetheless. For some reason I didn't write down the polishes I used when I made this like I usually do, but my best guess and remembrance is that I used Icing Electric Feeling, Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope, China Glaze Fairy Dust, Wet n Wild White Creme, and Wet n Wild Clear. I'm reasonably happy with this franken, though I feel like it lacks something at times...we'll see.

Icing Electric Feeling

Icing Electric Feeling is a rather interesting polish, and I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It's a jelly, but it's opaque in three coats. It's like a neon in that it dries to a satin finish, but it's not as eye-searing as a neon. It's streaky, but it builds and evens out quickly. I guess the best thing to do is just show the pictures! This is three coats without top coat, and then with a coat of Rush.

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

With top coat, Electric Feeling is like a lighter cousin to Revlon Royal, which is a plus in my opinion. Since it's not completely flat without top coat (I'm not a huge fan of super-matte cremes), I can see myself wearing this with or without top coat. I'm pretty sure it'll stain if you don't wear base coat, but I did wear base coat and had no staining. And you should always wear a base coat, anyway. :) Until next time!

Franken Week Day 4: Fresh Squeezed

I believe I was inspired to make an orange jelly flakie after a brief exchange with L on twitter...I could be totally wrong though, my memory is horrible. At any rate, I did it using Sally Hansen Sun Kissed, Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, and clear polish - one of my simplest frankens. Unfortunately, it was a bit thick - I'll be adding some thinner - and it didn't photograph particularly well. The flakies are more prominent in real life...I think there's something about my camera that makes flakies not show up well when they're in a base as opposed to layered on top of a polish. Also, sorry for my janky cuticles.

indoors, artificial light

Again, this is another one I need to re-take pictures of when (if) the sun ever comes out again...it poured and then hailed yesterday. At least I guess that means it's almost spring? Wait, no, it's 28 degrees outside as I'm typing this. Never mind. :/ Hope your Wednesday is sunnier than mine!

I keep forgetting to add my "new polish blogs" thing to the end of my post...I've been reading all of these for at least a week now and I haven't posted them. Anyway, go read! :)

Polish Infatuated
Death By Polish
Glitta Gloves
Polishing and Make-Up
Solensdanserinde

Finger Paints Curator's Crimson

I bought Curator's Crimson in a two-pack that was on clearance at Sally Beauty Supply, and I will confess that I only bought the set for the other polish, Romanticism Ruby. However, I ended up trying this one first and I really like it! It's not sheer enough to be a "real" jelly, but it has that shiny, squishy look that comes with a jelly polish - so I guess it's one of those jelly/creme hybrids. This was two coats.

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

I don't know why Curator's Crimson appears so bright and orange in the first picture and so much darker in the second, as I used the exact same lighting for both pictures. Whatever happened, know that Curator's Crimson is actually somewhere in between the two pictures, though the first is more color-accurate than the second. I kind of thought that there would be VNL in my pictures, even though there wasn't in real life, since that tends to happen with semi-jelly polishes. I guess this polish just baffles my camera.

I've discovered two new nail polish blogs lately that I'm following and would like to share with you:

On My Nail

!Kendal

Have a great Wednesday! I can't believe we're over halfway through January already...eek!

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to say THANK YOU for following me! I've reached 200 followers, and I literally squealed and jumped up and down when I went to my Blogger homepage and saw "200 Followers" right next to Never Unpolished. Thanks for following and commenting and being awesome!

Rad Purple + Hidden Treasure

After wearing Rad Purple on its own for a day or so, I added Hidden Treasure. And then my brain exploded. I've layered Hidden Treasure over a ton of polishes, and I've loved every single combination - but this? This is the best, by far. Let there be picspam!

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I am in love. Despite the fact that it's barely halfway through January, I am sure that this will be one of my top manicures of 2011, if not THE top manicure. Not only do the flakies in Hidden Treasure and the jelly finish of Rad Purple complement each other perfectly, I've never seen the green in Hidden Treasure so prominent over any other polish. I really don't have anything else to say about this....let the pictures speak for themselves! I really hope this doesn't chip soon. Or ever. :) 

Milani Rad Purple

I received Milani Rad Purple in a giveaway some time back, but I only just now tried it. It's one of Milani's neons, and while it's not really what I would consider a neon, it's so much better (in my opinion) than if it were. It's a plummy, red-based purple jelly that dries to a satin finish. I prefer it with a top coat because it really brings out the squishiness of the polish. I didn't get it to be truly opaque, but the only time I ever saw VNL was directly under the very bright light of the desk lamp I use for taking my nail photos. I used four coats, but since it dried quickly this wasn't a problem for me.

indoors, artificial light, without top coat

 indoors, artificial light, with top coat

See how it shines in the second picture? I'm in love. Even better, it doesn't look as transparent in real life as it does in the pictures, but it does luck as juicy and squishy. If all jellies were like this, I'd probably have as many jellies as I do glitters or cremes. Of course, it also helps that it's such a rad purple. Yuck, yuck, yuck... Seriously, though. This is awesome.