Sinful Colors: Savage and Green Ocean

Sinful Color’s Savage is a very weird polish, and it was very difficult to photograph. Most of these pictures are not very color accurate.
When I look at Savage, this is about the color that I see:

Savage is a dark, green-leaning teal creme – darker and greener than it is here, honestly. And, without top coat, it isn’t nearly as shiny.
What does Savage look like it when it is first applied? Texture-wise, it looks like this.

I believe that this is three coats of color inaccurate plastic-y chalkiness. And I don’t mean that in a bad way – it’s a very interesting texture, and this polish dries very quickly! I was seriously impressed with it in this respect.
For this mani, I did decide to add top coat, and… Well. Savage sucks up top coat, and it felt like my top coat took longer than usual to dry (although that could be, at least in part, because Savage itself dried so quickly). I ended up using two layers of top coat instead of my usual one layer.

Later, I decided to layer Sinful Color’s Green Ocean on top of my mani. A while ago, I did a mani with Green Ocean over Sinful Color’s Gorgeous, and the colors weren’t really different enough to let Green Ocean shine. That was much less of a problem here.

(Again, Savage is much darker and greener than this, but Green Ocean is pretty accurate.) Look at those flashes of color! Really, really lovely.

For fun, I added up the number of layers in this mani:

3 coats Savage + 2 coats top coat + 2 coats Green Ocean + 1 (really thick) coat top coat = 8 coats

It beats out my OPI Mermaid’s Tears and Austin-tatious Turquoise mani by several coats! Wow.
Despite the number of layers, I have to give this mani props for staying power. Several days later, I have only minor chipping (mainly on two nails that, due to issues with the nails themselves, I expected to chip), and some tipwear. I am impressed. Overall, despite the weirdness, I am going to rate both Savage and Green Ocean as winners.

Essie: Absolutely Shore

Guys… I have found a polish that being really, really shiny will not redeem. Unfortunately that polish is Essie’s Absolutely Shore, which I purchased at a whim because it was half-price and looked like an interesting color.

Is it an interesting color? Yes. To me it comes across as a very pale grey that leans green or blue, depending on the light.
However, being interesting does not redeem the four coats that it took to make it that interesting color – nor does it redeem the fact that it could really, really use a fifth coat.
While that is more visible in person, here you can (hopefully) see that I still have some bald/awkwardly uneven patches.

I will give it this: the problems with it were much more visible before I added my Sinful Colors top coat! I really should have taken pictures of it before I added a top coat, and I think that that is a policy which I will implement in later nail polish picture posts.
This is not a polish that I particularly like, and I will admit that after four coats and a top coat I was done. There is a fuzzy on one of my fingers, and, well, that is just too bad. I am not redoing it. In fact, I imagine that I will be taking this off pretty soon. It’s a shame, because I do like the color all right!
And, before I sign off, a bad joke that I just cannot avoid: if you’re thinking about picking up Absolutely Shore, make sure that you’re absolutely shore that you’re patient enough to deal with the application. Hehe.

OPI: Austin-tatious Turquoise

This mani was a mess. I had read about the sheerness with OPI’s Austin-tatious Turquoise, but it was also the only shade in the Texas collection that had really struck me. When I saw it for sale (at Bartell’s!) I pounced.
In the bottle, Austin-tatious Turquoise is a stunner: a teal shimmer polish that goes purple at some angles. I decided to layer it over OPI Mermaid’s Tears in order to combat the sheerness; what is seen in these pictures is three layers of Austin-tatious Turquoise over two layers of Mermaid’s Tears, plus my Sinful Colors topcoat.* That is a lot of polish.
What I had hoped to get was all that beautiful shimmer supported by a solid color, making it more opaque. From some angles, I more-or-less succeeded: while I lost a lot of the purple shimmer, my nails were definitely shimmery and teal.

From other angles… I was not nearly so successful. This picture captures it best – look at that streaky, see-through mess. (Remember that this is five layers of colored polish.)

While I am unsure how many days of wear I took these photos after (probably not more than two), also look at the chipping and tip-wear. While that may have been due to too much polish, it was disappointing.

Overall, I was not particularly impressed by Austin-tatious Turquoise, and I am very glad that I did not attempt it without a solid color underneath. Perhaps using a darker color would help to alleviate some of the problems that I had?
While this polish is still in my collection, I don’t know when I will use it again.

* I had to redo my pinky, and I believe that I used one layer of Mermaid’s Tears, not two.

Bad Fashion

I have a list of about 16 Fashion Don’ts that I have compiled over the past few days while observing people on public transit which seems to have a few of every kind of person. As I started on my ramble-rant, I realized that I could not comment on all 16 in one post, so I’ll start with 4 of my favorites-the first 4 that came to mind.

1. Denim on Denim: I’m sorry, but this is NOT 1994. There are too many fun and flattering styles for you to ever merit wearing both a top and a bottom piece in uber-casual denim. You do not want to look like a saggy, baggy column of 90s pride. Or worse, clad in an overly tight pair of jeans (hello, camel toe) and a loose fitting jacket. Proportions, people! If you have, by chance, already left the house wearing denim on denim and are reading this page, GO HOME AND CHANGE. Better yet, throw out your denim jacket, give it to your dog, burn it, just get rid of it. There is no excuse. You want to wear jeans? Fine. I’m wearing jeans right now (but they are grey and distressed and legging style and very chic, if I do say so myself-I actually kind of despise blue jeans, but more on that later). Pair your jeans with a cardigan, a boyfriend blazer, a tailored jacket, ANYTHING but a denim jacket. Once I saw a fitted denim blazer at Eddie Bauer. It was a cute cut, but denim nonetheless. Where are you going to wear a denim blazer? To the office? No. Just buy a normal blazer out of normal blazer material. This is called wardrobe versatility. While you can wear the regular blazer inside the work place or out, you are going to find very few acceptable uses for the denim jacket, fitted or not. It’s just a casual fabric. Denim on Denim: Just don’t do it. Not in a light wash, not in a dark wash.

“All the way around the eye” eye-liner: We have all seen this look. Squinty little eyes staring out at you from the inside of a gothy looking frame of black eye-liner. Liner is used to define your eyes, maybe bring out the color and usually it does it’s job well, but, and this may blow your mind, it does not make your eyes look bigger. We’ve all heard that black/dark colors are slimming. This optical illusion does not simply go away when you apply black eye liner. Your eyes will look smaller, tiny if you put it all the way around. So, please, apply sparingly. Use it on the top lid only, draw it out into a subtle cat eye or something. You will still draw plenty of attention to your peepers this way. Want to make your eyes look larger? Use a white, water proof eyeliner all around the lash line. The light will reflect off the white and your eyes will look bigger. The only exception to this rule should be if you’re going to a night club or something because, let’s be honest, you’re going there to make out with cute boys and, frankly, lining your eyes entirely kinda makes you look like a hoe. Fun fact: All the teen moms on ’16 and Pregnant’ wear their eye liner all the way around. For realz.

Lip Liner: Ditto everything I just said above, but replace “eyes” with “lips.” We don’t need you to outline your lips to know they’re there. We see them. Your mouth does not look voluptuous outlined in black or any shade, really, just terrifying. You look like you’re being prepped for plastic surgery. Most women want to look younger, wear lip liner and you’re adding 25 years. Blah blah blah, you say, it helps my lip stick not bleed out. NEWSFLASH: Lip stick is old school. It settles into the cracks and it’s typically matte. Try a tinted lip gloss. I use Burt’s Bees Super Shiny Lip Gloss in Juicy Peach. It’s really good for you and most lip glosses are shiny so they also reflect light and give your mouth the appearance of added fullness. Moreover, they don’t flake and make your mouth look shriveled which is…always a plus. Welcome to 2011, ladies. It’s time to throw out your lipliner and pick up your lipgloss.

Those Ugg Boots that all the Sorority Girls Wear: I get it, all the popular girls have them. And all the popular girls say “Oh, they’re just really comfortable.” And maybe they are. But you know…there are hundreds of thousands of really, really comfortable shoes that do not give you elephant calves. Try Aerosoles. They make a ton of cute and comfy styles. I bought a pair to wear at work and they both adhere to the very strict Banana dresscode and make standing up for 8-10 hours ohhhh so much easier. Banana Republic puts memory foam in the soles of their shoes so you can walk around in them all day long. If all else fails, go to the drug store and get you some Doctor Scholl’s. They do wonders and they are, like 9 dollars. Whoever thought of these shoes should be shot. They make your legs look fat (no really, where did your ankles go?) and are in no way versatile which, regardless of your price point, is really important. Uggs instantly dress down whatever you’re wearing-they are really only appropriate with sweat pants or torn up Abercrombie and Fitch jeans. Bitches everywhere tend to favor the tan variety and those things get dirty unnaturally fast. They’re suede so water leaves spots and you can’t really wash them. Seriously, those things look nasty after a mere week of wear and make an otherwise cute girl look like she robbed a homeless person. Please, for the love of all that is cute and classy, pick a different boot. A sleeker boot in a less blah color. The fashion gods will thank you.