NAILS INC Unicorn Dot Com

NAILS INC Unicorn Dot Com

2 coats

from the Sparkle Like a Unicorn set from Sephora

Unicorn Nails!

NAILS INC Unicorn Vibes

1 coat over black

How fun is this? I recently purchased the NAILS INC Sparkle Like a Unicorn set from Sephora and knew that I had to try the rainbow clear glitter over black ASAP. And I LOVE it! It looks gorgeous indoors and in the sun.

NOTD: Nails Inc Judo Red

Nails Inc Judo Red

(2 coats)

 from a collaboration with Victoria Beckham and her Victoria, Victoria Beckham collection

Judo Red is from the Nails Inc Victoria, Victoria Beckham for Nails Inc. Duo Collection from Sephora that I purchased a few years ago for $45. The set includeed Judo Red and Bamboo White. The individual shades were available for $25 each.

Judo Red was amazing to apply- well-pigmented, it pretty much gave opaque coverage in just one coat, but I added a second to get a perfect finish. They call this a tomato red, and it actually leans a bit orange, even more than you can see in the pic. I love it! The outer rectangular part of the lid can be removed, leaving you with a regular round cap to paint with.

Here's some info from Sephora.com: Created with an exclusive formulation, featuring Stretch-To-Fit technology and Bamboo Extract with Silica, this collectible set features two new polish shades: Judo Red, a vibrant tomato shade, and Bamboo White, a bone shade inspired and created to complement key pieces from the collection. Designed by Fabien Baron and Victoria Beckham, Nails Inc’s concave glass bottled have been reinvented for the collaboration: each bottle is made with fine Venetian glass and is hand-frosted in matte black and matte white to leave a subtle reveal window on either side.

Formula X for Sephora in Spectrum

Formula X for Sephora in Spectrum

2 coats

from the Spring 2014 Liquid Crystals collection

2 coats of Spectrum is a bit sheer- you can see my nail line a bit. A third coat would have most likely helped it be more opaque, but I wasn't bothered too much.

Nails Inc. Gel Effect in Regents Park Place

Nails Inc. Gel Effect in Regents Park Place

2 coats

Here's another shade of Nails Inc. Gel Effect I found recently trolling the clearance section at my local Sephora inside JC Penney marked down to $2.99 each. This is one of the shades still listed on sephora.com for $15!

Regents Park Place is listed as "burnt orange" but it leans more red on me.

From sephora.com: Let Gel Effect treat you to next-level nails without a trip to the salon. This long-lasting nail polish creates a plumping effect and is formulated with plasticizer technology to give your mani a glossy, pro-finish, flawless look. Infused with a rare flower extract that works to condition and strengthen your nails, its extra wide brush allows the polish to glide on easily. 

I really LOVE this formula- and brush is perfect for my nail shape and I barely even needed to clean up after my 2 coats. I'm looking forward to trying the other shades and excited that I got such a great deal on a great bottle of nail polish!

Nails inc Nailkale Bright Street Illuminator

Nails Inc Nailkale Bright Street Illuminator

2 coats

I recently purchased a set from Nails inc called "Nails inc Baby NailKale Nail Polish Collection"

 that included small mini bottles of the Nailkale Superfood Base Coat, the Nailkale Bright Street Illuminator and St John's Wood pale pink polish. The set originally retailed for $19, but I was able to purchased it in the clearance section of Sephora for $3.99. Score!

I was excited to try the Illuminator. Two coats gave me a gorgeous shimmery finish. I am seriously in love with the brush- it's the perfect shape for my nails.

Info from Sephora.com on the Bright Street Illuminator:

What it is:
A nail polish with iridescent pearls that brighten the pink nail bed, leaving the appearance of whiter tips and healthier nails. 

What it does:
Give nails a dose of healthy-looking illumination with this limited-edition polish. The ultimate treatment for yellowing, stained, or dull looking nails, its patented Regenerating Complex—a blend of aldehyde, zinc, and calcium—boosts the production of keratin for harder, stronger, and well-nourished nails. 

Nails Inc. Gel Effect in Mayfair Lane

Nails Inc. Gel Effect in Mayfair Lane

2 coats

Here's another shade of Nails Inc. Gel Effect I found recently trolling the clearance section at my local Sephora inside JC Penney marked down to $2.99 each. This is one of the shades still listed on sephora.com for $15!

Mayfair Lane is listed as "pale pink" and I've got to say- it's a perfect nude four my skin tone. I shy away from shades like this normally, but Mayfair Lane looks really nice on me!

From sephora.com: Let Gel Effect treat you to next-level nails without a trip to the salon. This long-lasting nail polish creates a plumping effect and is formulated with plasticizer technology to give your mani a glossy, pro-finish, flawless look. Infused with a rare flower extract that works to condition and strengthen your nails, its extra wide brush allows the polish to glide on easily. 

I really LOVE this formula- and brush is perfect for my nail shape and I barely even needed to clean up after my 2 coats. I'm looking forward to trying the other shades and excited that I got such a great deal on a great bottle of nail polish!

Nails Inc. Gel Effect in St. James

 Nails Inc. Gel Effect in St. James

2 coats

Last week I was trolling the clearance section at my local Sephora inside JC Penney and found four shades of Nails Inc. Gel Effect marked down to $2.99 each. Three of these are still listed on sephora.com for $15! I of course snatched them up, along with lots of other nail goodies.

St. James is listed as "pillarbox red" and appears to be a recycled shade name from the original Nails Inc. line back when they had round bottles. I scoured the web and saw no mention of the pink shimmer that's in there... indoors it's not at all noticeable, but in the sun you can see it and it really makes it glow. You'll definitely notice it in the bottle in the pic above.

From sephora.com: Let Gel Effect treat you to next-level nails without a trip to the salon. This long-lasting nail polish creates a plumping effect and is formulated with plasticizer technology to give your mani a glossy, pro-finish, flawless look. Infused with a rare flower extract that works to condition and strengthen your nails, its extra wide brush allows the polish to glide on easily. 

I really LOVE this formula- and brush is perfect for my nail shape and I barely even needed to clean up after my 2 coats. I'm looking forward to trying the other shades and excited that I got such a great deal on a great bottle of nail polish!

Sephora Formula X Mastermind

Sephora Formula X Mastermind

2 coats

Recently, I went to TJ Maxx in search of polish gems, and I found a 2 full-sized bottles of Sephora Formula X packaged together for just $4.50. The pack contained Mastermind, swatches above, and a holo topcoat called Oh! Zone. (You can never have too many holo topcoats! #amiright)

A Google search didn't tell me much about Mastermind, but it appears it was part of the New Classics collection, described as "lavender pearl", and is no longer available. To me, lavender is usually used to describe lighter shades, so it just doesn't suit this shade. It's more of a plum to me. It's really quite pretty and it you enlarge the pic, you'll see flashes of red in there that make it shine in the sun.

Sephora Formula X Aphrodite

 Sephora Formula X Aphrodite

2 coats

from the Divine Stardust collection ($12.50 each)

From Sephora.com: Bring a celestial sheen to your manicure with Divine Stardust. Named after Greek goddesses, these shades feature a selection of soft pastel hues that are infused with fine, holographic glitter to create an iridescent effect under direct light. Each glittering shade coats nails with a sleek, smooth finish. 

Aphrodite is described as violet holographic glitter, and it's just gorgeous! After the first coat I was concerned about coverage because it was quite sheer, but surprisingly a second coat gave me opaque coverage. It's absolutely gorgeous in the sun!

Sephora Formula X Sheer Strength in Wondrous

Sephora Formula X Sheer Strength in Wondrous

3 coats

 

I saw these a few months ago when Karen Falcone swatched them and I was intrigued... they reminded me of the Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect Color + Care line that came out a few years ago. I really liked those, but I don't have the pink shade called Satin, and I had a credit eating a hole in my pocket at Sephora... so into my cart Wondrous went.

 

Application was pretty much fool-proof and even a muggle could get a great looking mani with this color. I pretty much just slapped it on and didn't even bother to do any clean-up around my cuticles and I still think it looks great.

 

At $12.50, these are more than twice as much as Sally's original version is at $5.50. It looks like the Color + Care line is still available, so if this looks like your cup of tea, I'd go for the more reasonably priced Sally Hansen line myself. 

 

Sephora Formula X in A+

Sephora Formula X in A+

(2 coats)

 

At some point, I received this mini-sized bottle of A+, I believe as a 100 point perk. I'm not positive, but I decided to give it a try along with the mini set of The Formula X System I received as a 500 point perk. 

 

 

Side note on this little set: I had this set on my list of thing to try, and I love when I can spend my points on something off my wishlist! I was really surprised when I received my package and realized that all four of the little bottles were just tossed in together with some shredded paper. Luckily, none of them arrived damaged, but this packaging was just asking for trouble.

 

But back to the polish..... I really really like The System! The topcoat was pretty fabulous- self-leveling and fast-drying and just all-around awesome.

 

A+ is a nice shade, but it appears to be discontinued.  The way the Formula X shades are organized makes it pretty hard to navigate and search for an individual shade. If you know the name of the shade, you can use the search box on their website, but if you are just browsing and looking for something pretty to buy, it's cumbersome because you have to go to an individual page for each type of polish- Transformers, Sparklers, Sea Glass etc.

 

 

 

Nails Inc Bamboo White

Nails Inc Bamboo White

(2 coats)

 

 from a collaboration with Victoria Beckham and her Victoria, Victoria Beckham collection

 

I recently purchased the Nails Inc Victoria, Victoria Beckham for Nails Inc. Duo Collection from Sephora for $45. The set includes Judo Red and Bamboo White. The individual shades are also available for $25 each.

Just like Judo Red, Bamboo White was amazing to apply- it is well-pigmented and gave opaque coverage in two coats. It more than just a plain white- it's a creamy off-white with a touch of pink. Since it's not so stark, it's just gorgeous. The outer rectangular part of the lid can be removed, leaving you with a regular round cap to paint with.

You'll have to pardon my short, somewhat uneven nails.... I made it through almost 3 weeks of loading and unloading cases of Girl Scout cookies without a break, but Saturday's 5 hour booth sale left me with a broken nail on my middle finger. I cut down the others as much as I could bear to.... they were such a great length and I hate when a break ruins perfect length!

Here's some info from Sephora.com: Created with an exclusive formulation, featuring Stretch-To-Fit technology and Bamboo Extract with Silica, this collectible set features two new polish shades: Judo Red, a vibrant tomato shade, and Bamboo White, a bone shade inspired and created to complement key pieces from the collection. Designed by Fabien Baron and Victoria Beckham, Nails Inc’s concave glass bottled have been reinvented for the collaboration: each bottle is made with fine Venetian glass and is hand-frosted in matte black and matte white to leave a subtle reveal window on either side.

Nails Inc Judo Red

Nails Inc Judo Red

(2 coats)

 

 from a collaboration with Victoria Beckham and her Victoria, Victoria Beckham collection

 

I recently purchased the Nails Inc Victoria, Victoria Beckham for Nails Inc. Duo Collection from Sephora for $45. The set includes Judo Red and Bamboo White. The individual shades are also available for $25 each.

Judo Red was amazing to apply- well-pigmented, it pretty much gave opaque coverage in just one coat, but I added a second to get a perfect finish. They call this a tomato red, and it actually leans a bit orange, even more than you can see in the pic. I love it! The outer rectangular part of the lid can be removed, leaving you with a regular round cap to paint with.

Here's some info from Sephora.com: Created with an exclusive formulation, featuring Stretch-To-Fit technology and Bamboo Extract with Silica, this collectible set features two new polish shades: Judo Red, a vibrant tomato shade, and Bamboo White, a bone shade inspired and created to complement key pieces from the collection. Designed by Fabien Baron and Victoria Beckham, Nails Inc’s concave glass bottled have been reinvented for the collaboration: each bottle is made with fine Venetian glass and is hand-frosted in matte black and matte white to leave a subtle reveal window on either side.

Christian Louboutin Rouge Louboutin

Christian Louboutin Rouge Louboutin

2 coats

 

When Sephora had their VIB sale a few weeks ago, I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and buy one of the high-priced items I'd been eyeing..... a bottle of Christian Louboutin nail polish. Regularily priced at $50, the 20% sale brought it down to $40, and I used Ebates to get an additional 7% off (regular cash back of 4%, plus 3% more for using my Ebates Visa). I figured $37.20 wasn't nearly as bad as $50. :-)

 

It's definitely the most spendy bottle in my collection. My other pricey bottles include a bottle of Dior Adventure ($25) that I bought with a giftcard I received in a Glossybox I purchased, and 2 Chanels that I purchased for about that same price (Paradoxal and Taboo.)

 

But back to my Louboutin.........

 

 

Although the actual glass portion containing the polish is protected by the box shown in this picture, I'm sad to say that the sharp tip wasn't protected at all in the large box it was shipped in with the rest of my order, and a piece of the tip had snapped off. I did contact Sephora and they have shipped me another (the broken bottle will be returned when the new one arrives), but I haven't received it yet to see if the tip was more protected for the second shipment. Let's hope so!

 

 

Close-up shot of the box covering the polish portion of the bottle

 

 

I'm going to be honest and tell you I was stumped when it came to opening the box and getting to the polish. I could not figure out how the box came apart! It fits together so well, it's pretty tight. You have to pull pretty hard on the top portion of the box to get it to come off. Thankfully, some videos on YouTube came to my rescue and my polish was released from the boxy prison.

And now that I know how it comes off, I can get it off easily.

 

 

 

The bottle itself is pretty cool. The 7 inch cap is modeled after the heel on the Ballerina ULTIMA shoe, the highest heel Christian Louboutin ever designed. The bottle is molded from cut glass and has an ombre color effect that goes from red to black down the bottle.

 

I found the wand easy to hold. I know that Julep recently released their Plié wand, and they remind me of each other, although it looks like the Plié wand is bendable. At any rate, this fit nicely in my hand and gave me really good control. I got great application from the brush, although I didn't notice anything in particular that was different about the brush. Supposedly, the brush has a triangle-bristle construction to aid in smooth application.

 

The formula was fabulous. I started with a coat of my normal base, NailTek Intensive Therapy II. I got pretty darn good coverage with just one coat of Rouge Louboutin, but I decided to do two coats because I really wanted to test the wear. I used my typical top coat- NYC Grand Central Station, although it felt a little funny using a $1.99 product on top of a luxury product! It's my HG and never fails me so I used it as usual.

So far I'm pretty impressed. I'm on day 3 and I have barely visible tip wear on just a few nails. Not impressed enough to buy additional bottles, but impressed enough to say that I would suggest a bottle of this as a luxury gift for someone who loves makeup and nail polish as much as I do. I don't know that a muggle would appreciate it, but since I will probably never own a pair of Louboutin shoes, I can be satisfied with this little bottle of fabulous polish.

 

 



Sephora Formula X in X ♥'s Rouge

Sephora Formula X in X ♥'s Rouge

2 coats

 

A striking nail lacquer in a classic candy apple red, exclusively for VIB Rouge requalifying members.

 

Wow, this is a pigmented red! So pigmented, in fact, that I wasn't able to clean up my mistakes...... You can see on my pinkie and ring finger that a little polish ran off the nail, and try as I did to clean up with my clean-up brush and acetone, I couldn't get it off.

 

I purchased X ♥'s Rouge for $10.50, but I have also read that it is being given to requalifying VIB Rouge members for free as a gift.

 

 

 

 

Sephora Formula X in Perfection

Sephora Formula X in Perfection

from the New Neutrals collection ($10.50 for 0.4 fl oz)

 

I have to admit to being disappointed when Sephora discontinued their partnership with OPI last year. Or it might have been the other way around, I don't know. In any case, after the Sephora by OPI line (or OPI for Sephora as it was sometimes referred to) was discontinued, Sephora released the Formula X line. I received this mini (.16 fl oz) as a 100 point perk.

 

I first tried a mani with two thin coats- I find, of course, that thin coats try better and faster than thicker coats. However, two thin coats didn't cover very well, and I dislike having to do three coats as a general rule, so I re-tried the mani with two thicker coats and got much better results.

 

The color is so similar to Metro Chic, of course I love it. It's such a great neutral.

 

Anyone have any other thoughts on this line? I noticed they have an VIB Rouge-exclusive shade called X ♥'s Rouge and embarrassingly enough, I've attained Rouge status, so I am pretty sure I need it. :-)

 



Sephora's Ariel Whatcha-Nail-Callit Collection Wrap-Up

Now that I finally finished swatching Sephora's Ariel Whatcha-Nail-Callit 6 Piece Nail Set ($24.50), I thought I'd do a post with all the swatches together.

Sephora X Devotin' To Floatin'

2 coats

Sephora X Ariel (1 coat)

over Devotin' To Floatin' (2 coats)

photo taken in the shade

Sephora X Ariel (1 coat)

over Devotin' To Floatin' (2 coats)

photo taken in the sun

Sephora X Hotter Under the Water

2 coats

Sephora X Life Is the Bubbles (1 coat)
over Sephora X Hotter Under the Water (2 coats)
photo taken in sun

Sephora X Life Is the Bubbles (1 coat)
over Sephora X Hotter Under the Water (2 coats)
photo taken in shade

Sephora X Off the Hook

2 coats

 Sephora X We Are In Luck Here

2 coats