Tag: essie
Mrs. Always Right
I received essie “Mrs. Always Right” in a National Nail Polish Day promo earlier this year. I love a good terracotta polish, especially if they have more of a mauve/rose tone. I call this shade “Lolita”, after the OG Kat Von D shade.
This is two coats of “Mrs. Always Right” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
National Nail Polish Day 2023
Last June, I wanted the Scünci Pride Claw Clips ($7.99), but I didn’t order them in time and they were sold out. Not this year! One for me and one for daughter. The Great Hair Event was still going on when I placed the order, so I ordered Arctic Fox “Poison” for 50% off ($9.24 instead of $18.49). I intended it for my daughter, and even ordered a Lime Crime Bushy Brow Pencil in “Valentine” ($15)…but it was missing from my order! Then she told me that she has to die her hair back brown for Band…so I guess I’ll use it in my hair? I don’t need the brow pencil, so I just accepted a refund from customer care.
Oh, and I have been liking moisturizing primers lately, so I decided to try Tula Filter Primer Blurring & Moisturizing Primer ($38). I really like it so far – it is very smoothing and as far as I can tell, I am NOT breaking out. It’s a similar texture to Benefit Primers, except it doesn’t roll up into booger particles on your fingers.
Since I ordered this little haul on National Nail Polish Day, I received one of two different samplers with my $50 purchase. Inside the sampler: Flowery Duraboard Nail File 2 pack; Dashing Diva Glow Gel Nail Strips in “Ballet Blooms Mini”; Londontown KUR Perfecting Nail Veil “Shade 4” (‘Nail Veil’ – that’s a new one); Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Petal Pusher”; Essie “Mrs. Always Right” (it me!); OPI Infinite Shine “Sage Simulation”; and China Glaze “Tropic Like It’s Hot”.
Just $591 to Diamond in 2024.
Champagne Bubbles
After being disappointed in “Rock Candy”, I demanded an immediate do-over to create Champagne Bubbles.
I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and two coats of Funky Fingers “Oh Be One”. It’s an oyster shell polish, so a few streaks and brush marks, but nothing a little glitter cannot handle. For the gold glitter, I used essie “Summit of Style”. I topped with Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber and Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I am VERY pleased with how my Champagne Bubbles turned out! I thought I was being original, but it turns out I did something similar…
Crave the Chaos
Essie has launched a new line of 8 Free, Quick Dry Nail called expressie. I got a sample of essie expressie “Crave the Chaos” in the “Pampered Nails” Target Beauty Capsule. At first glance, “Crave the Chaos” seems to be a plain old pink polish…but it not a plain girly pink – it’s not exactly a masculine pink. Maybe mature is the word I am looking for?
This is two coats of “Crave the Chaos” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. Even though it’s supposedly a quick dry formula, I didn’t skip the top coats. My first four nails got Glisten & Glow Top Coat, while my pinkies got Glisten & Glow. I almost like it better matte. Almost.
Essie Expressie polishes are normally $9, so I was glad to get this one as part of that $14.99 box.
Target Beauty Capsule – Pampered Nails
The other Target Beauty Capsule that I ordered is the Pampered Nails Set. No shock there, I am a little obsessed with my nails.
Obviously, I won’t be using the KISS Gel Fantasy Nails – they’ll be gifted to anyone who wants them. I also already have a bottle of Sinful Colors “Low-Key Lavender”, which will also be gifted.
I will use everything else in this box: OLLY Undeniable Beauty Vitamins; Dr. Scholl’s Ultra Hydrating Foot Mask; Essie Expressie Quick-Dry Nail Polish in “Crave the Chaos”; BeLoved Cherry Blossom Hand Cream in “Blossom”; Up&Up Premium Cotton Rounds; Japonesque Essential 4-Way Nail Buffer; Up&Up Strengthening Nail Polish Remover; and a Manicure Set (great for purse or travel).
Another $5 off $15 coupon that must be used in-store. Ugh.
The Pampered Nails Target Beauty Capsule is $14.99 and still available! Use your Target Red Card for 5% off.
National Nail Polish Day 2021
June 1st was National Nail Polish Day and Ulta had a lovely 11 piece gift with a $40 purchase. I just happened to need a few things…
I stocked up on 3 bottles of Zoya Remove+ ($10) and decided to splurge on a bottle of Pacifica Plant Magic 16 Free Polish in “Green Goddess” ($10). I wouldn’t ordinarily spend $10 on a single bottle of nail polish, but this color is so beautiful…plus, I used a $3.50 off coupon…so…
The 11 piece gift is worth more than what I bought! The gift included: Dashing Diva Gloss Gel Nail Strips; le Mini Macaron Sweet Mandarin Hand Mask; ella + mila Soy Polish Remover Wipes; Pacifica BioGlitter Translucent Topper in “Fairy Dust”; China Glaze “Summer Moon”; Orly Breathable 1-Step Manicure in “Power Packed”; OPI “Magic Hour”; lakur “Kissed by Rose Gold”; essie “Bahama Mama”; CND Solar Oil; and Nailtopia “Nails on Fleek”. So many new polishes!
$697 to Diamond Status…
Blue-Tiful Horizon
essie “Blue-Tiful Horizon” is the first polish I sampled from my National Nail Polish Day haul – it was just too tempting.
I was fooled by the bottle – it appears so much lighter – like a sky blue – in the bottle. On the nails though, it turns to the color of a thunderstorm rolling in – it’s absolutely insane. I think it’s the pink flash that is so deceiving. It’s like sunset during a thunderstorm, when the light is almost yellow.
This is two coats of “Blue-Tiful Horizon” over Glisten & Glow Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I didn’t mattify any of my nails this time – my matte top coat is almost empty!
By the way, Glisten & Glow is having a customer appreciation sale – 15% off using code EmailBlast1 – go get you some!
National Nail Polish Day
Did you know that June 1st is National Nail Polish Day? Me either! Even though it sounds like a totally made up holiday, I am willing to play along since Target offered 25% off on nail products that day. I was too lazy to go there in person, so I placed an online order…
The first one I added was OPI “Tutti Frutti Tonga”, on clearance for $2.84. I also added essie “Blue-Tiful Horizon” ($6.59), which is a stunning periwinkle blue with a pink flash.
Target was also had a deal offering a $5 gift card with the purchase of 3 Sally Hansen polishes. I jumped on that deal. I picked up Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Rose Flush” ($3.99) and two of the Color Therapy polishes – “Reflection Pool” ($6.79) and “Burnished Bronze” ($7.99). I haven’t tried the Color Therapy formula, but I’ve read that it is REALLY good.
So with my 25% off + %5 off with my Target Red Card + $3 off $15 from last month’s Target Beauty Box + free shipping, my order total was $21.61 for five polishes. The $5 gift card (which I just used towards a new Mr. Coffee) brings the total down to ~$15 for five polishes. Not bad, if I do say so myself!
Worst. Polish. EVER.
I’m not even kidding. Essie “Belugaria” is literally the worst polish EVER. Words cannot describe how awful this polish is…but I’m going to try to explain.
My first hint should have been the fact that it was $2.12. I’ve never seen an essie that cheap. This poor sad polish had been sitting at Walgreen’s for three fucking years. Seriously…NO ONE wanted this polish. Then I googled and saw that it came out in the Winter 2013 collection. But I made the mistake of taking it home with me.
Why is this polish so horrible? First…the bottle lied to me. I thought it was a black jelly with glitter…but NOOOOOO. It’s textured, which would be great if it was fine textured like “Sugar High” or if it was chunkier like one of the Zoya Pixie Dusts AND had visual interest. Nope – it was chunky as fuck and MATTE black with just a few holo hex glitters thrown in. Seriously, it was like spreading sugar scrub on my nails. After Orly Bonder, The first coat wasn’t too bad…thick and goopy, but not quite full coverage. My mistake was going for the second coat. It didn’t spread – it just made little mountains on my nails.
Although it dried quickly, the formula chipped easily. The first time I washed my hands – BOOM, half my nails were chipped to fuck. To be fair, this is a common problem with textured polishes, but this one is the most fragile I’ve ever tried.
Worst of all…it damaged my cooter. This might be TMI…but I feel like I need to make a public service announcement. This stuff is so sharp that it cut through several layers of toilet paper and scratched me. No blood…but a close call, nonetheless. Don’t worry, I took it off as soon as I got home from work.
Remember…just say NO to “Belugaria”.
6 Walgreen’s Trips
I’ve been waiting for Walgreen’s to have another Sinful Colors sale…this week, they brought back the 2/$3 sale, which is NOT the same as $1.50 each.
There were just 2 polishes I wanted – “Let Me Flamingo” and “Bye Felicia!” – mostly because of the names. It should be simple, enough, right?
On Wednesday, I ran to the Walgreen’s by my work during lunch…couldn’t find either.
There was another Walgreen’s 10 minutes away, so I checked there, too. It was one of those fancy Walgreen’s with the upgraded beauty section…again, nothing. They even had the PRIDE display that “Bye Felicia!” – but none of the PRIDE polishes. Oh well, back to work.
On Thursday, I took my daughter to the Orthodontist and hit the Walgreen’s there. (There really ARE Walgreen’s everywhere.) Success as I found “Let Me Flamingo”, but no “Bye Felicia!” Lily wanted some polish, too. She picked out “Forever Pink”, “No FIlter” and “Curry Up” (which was on surprise clearance for 49 cents). She even paid for them herself!
After dropping Lily off, I hit two more Walgreen’s on my way to work. Still…no “Bye Felicia!”, although I did find a clearance essie “Belugaria” for $2.12 at the last one. A small win…
Flash forward to today. After Lily’s gymnastics class, I decided to run into Walgreen’s (yes, the SIXTH one) to look for Coconut Water. Sally has been raving about it and sampled three different kinds…unfortunately, Walgreen’s only had the worst one – Vita Coco. I grabbed it and the Delish (store brand). I agree with her assessment of the Vita Coco – thick and a bit oily, but still not bad. I have high hopes for the Delish, since the label doesn’t list any added sugars. I’m not a convert yet…there’s a possibility that it gives me the trots…not that it takes much.
ANYWAY, this Walgreen’s also had my beloved “Bye Felicia!” in all it’s yellow glory. YASSSSS BITCH. I also picked up “Vacation Time”, because DUH. Lily had to get more polish, too – “Cloud 9” (another surprise 49 cent clearance) and “GoGo Boy”. She’s a chip off of the old block.
I’m done for real now…although I know where a 7th and 8th Walgreen’s are…