A super bright blue cream.. yum!! Spa Ritual is a vegan nail polish line sold in AVEDA salons and spas. I’ve become much more familiar with their line since I started my esthiology course at Aveda Institute Charlotte (which, by the way, I graduated from last Friday!!!). Enjoy this new Spa Ritual color from their Truth collection, and look forward to more from Truth soon!
Without flash you get a much more accurate idea of the color of this polish.
With flash, it appears much brighter and lighter, when in fact it is a bright royal blue.
This was photographed with a base coat and no top coat. What you see is two thick coats. The formula is okay, drying quicker than average, but there seems to be a settling problem with the Spa Rituals line (probably has something to do with the vegan ingredients)–basically, the settling is either very slow or simply doesn’t happen before drying. If you don’t know what I mean, it basically manifests in sloppy, uneven-looking applications of polish. In these pictures, a good example would be at the base of my ring finger, the little clump that is there. I went back in with the brush to fill in a very small unevenness in the line, and it never settled with the rest of the polish, basically clumped up and dried that way. Not cute, but probably also not impossible to fix with a nice self-settling top coat like Seche Vite (I’m out and need to restock, hence no top coat!).
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Sea Spray is my favorite color from China Glaze’s new nautical Anchor’s Away collection. I am such a sucker for everything nautical, especially because my bestest friend is in the Coast Guard. I have to go back for a few more colors, but I knew I had to have this gorgeous grey-blue-sky cream as soon as I saw it. It’s the color of a pretty cloudy sky, a greyer tone but with a lot of blue. I love looking at my nails with this on.
If I were to speculate, even though I don’t own any other polish like it, I would guess that Eyeko‘s Rain Polish is a great dupe for Sea Spray.
Application with this polish was really perfect, and drying time was QUICK! This is two coats.
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Today I’m bringing you some nail art inspired by one of the season’s trends… tartan!! I felt a little bad about bashing MAC’s holiday nail set, so I thought I’d show appreciation where it’s due. Also, I think it’s appropriate that I welcome December with some tartan loveliness! :)
USED:
Layer 1: Gelous Base Coat
Layer 2: Asiatique Nail Lacquer
Layer 3: mixture of Icing Jaded & MAC Blue India
Layer 4: MAC Blue India
Layer 5: China Glaze Lemon Fizz
Layer 6: mixture of China Glaze Lemon Fizz & Confetti White Wedding
Layer 7: Seche Vite
I started by painting my entire nail with one coat of Gelous. I let it dry for a few minutes and followed it with a coat of Asiatique. Next, I painted half of my nail with the layer 3 mixture. Then, I painted a small spot of Blue India over the red half, right on the border of the green half. Next, I painted a line of diagonal stripes horizontally and vertically with Lemon Fizz. Lastly, I painted two vertical lines with the layer 6 mixture around the dot of Blue India. Finished with a coat of Seche Vite! I used a very thin, short-bristled paint brush from an art store for all the steps after Asiatique.
This nail art was clearly inspired by the promo image for MAC’s A Tartan Tale collection.
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It’s finally feeling like Autumn here in coastal South Carolina, and this feels like the perfect polish for the new season. From MAC’s Venomous Villians Disney collaboration collection comes the star nail polish of the three limited edition releases: Baaaaaad Faaaaairy!!! (Cue angels singing.)
Before I get on with the review and pictures I should mention that there are 2 other polishes that were released with the Venomous Villians/Maleficent: Formidable! and Mean & Green. The reason that I didn’t purchase these is because Orly Galaxy Girl and Orly Space Cadet are dupes (and cheaper, no less!!) for both of those, respectively. I will have comparison pictures coming up soon! Now, onto BF!
Bad Fairy is a beautiful multichrome nail polish which changes depending on the sunlight between fuchsia, purple, a warm pink, copper, orange, and gold. It’s a sparkle formula, with large particles of shimmer that aren’t exactly glitter. The formula is pretty sheer, but I see that as a pro and not a con. Why? Because its being sheer allows you to either layer it over other colors without covering them completely, or use it alone. I’m anxious to try it over both dark and light colors, but this is 3 coats by itself. It’s a really gorgeous and versatile color, and definitely eye-catching. One person asked me, “So is your nail polish copper or purple?” I was happy to clarify by turning my fingers every which way to show her how the color changed in the sunlight and shadows.
Without further ado, here are a BUNCH of photos! Bottle pics first:
An accidental shot that I thought looked cool, with Wicked Ways lip glass in the background!
Nails & bottle pics!
Just nails in different lights!
Base: Gelous
Layer 1: MAC Bad Fairy
Topcoat: Sally Hansen Mega-Shine Topcoat
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One of the polishes I picked up at Rite Aid during the BOGOF Sally Hansen sale is this Insta-Dri in Pronto Purple. Pronto Purple is a violet-based frost with fuchsia and tiny hints of blue shimmer.
Color
I love this color, but it’s purple so that’s not too surprising. Despite its being a frost, it didn’t apply streaky at all for me (partly because of the wide brush, I’m sure). I love the subtle blue shimmer that you can see when you look closely. Alone, the base color may lean towards vampy, but the shimmer lightens it up and makes it a stunning polish, in the sunlight and indoors.
Formula
Personally, I like the Insta-Dri formula, but you may find it to be goopy or thick. I found it easy to use, though, super smooth opaque in one coat if you’re careful. One problem: despite a coat of Gelous, this polish bubbled like CRAZY on me. Funny thing was, as soon as I applied my topcoat, it completely smoothed out the appearance. It was like an illusion, I really couldn’t believe it. But, lesson learned: definitely use a top coat with this polish.
Final Recommendations
I’d definitely recommend the color to add to your collection. I think it’s a great transition from summer to fall if you like to keep up with nail trends, but I’d wear this yearround. Luckily, it’s a permanent color in the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line, so you don’t have to worry about shuffling out to grab it immediately.
Base: Gelous
Layer 1: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pronto Purple
Top: Sally Hansen Mega-Shine Topcoat
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This is probably the first successful Konadicure I’ve ever done. While I really enjoy hand-painting nail art, I’ve never been able to get good results from the Konad stamping system–there’s definitely a learning curve I’ve been slow to grasp. Anyway, I thought this was a really awesome looking manicure. I love the contrasting textures along with the contrasting finishes and colors. I really suggest getting China Glaze Millennium if only to stamp with, because it’s a fantastically smooth, opaque silver in just one coat. I found this along with other China Glaze Khromes on clearance at Sally’s for $3.99!
Base: Gelous
First layer: Orly Iron Butterfly (matte)
Second layer: China Glaze Millennium with plate M62
Topcoat: Sally Hansen Mega-shine Topcoat (only over the tips)
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