Category Archives: Challenges

Summer of Untrieds Day 10: Purple

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The Summer of Untrieds Challenge requires me to wear purple today, so I went with Ciate’s Pillow Fight, a dusky, dreamy lilac creme. I’m wearing three coats of it with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. All photos were taken in the studio today.

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This Ciate experience went a little better than my last; Hopscotch was never fully opaque, even after three coats. Pillow Fight is nice, though. It applied well and dried pretty quickly. My brush had a loose hair in it though, which looks like it came off on my pinky nail. Lame.

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I’m not sure how much I like the color, though; I don’t feel like I’m pulling it off well. It’s so soft and really pretty in the bottle, but it doesn’t look like much on me, at least not on its own. I bet it would look awesome in a gradient or with some glitter.

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On a side note, it feels like this month is moving so slowly because I’ve been painting my nails and posting every single day. I actually like it a little. The first half of this year went by so quickly and quietly, and that kind of unnerves me.

Summer of Untrieds Day 8: Glitter With Colored Base

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The polish I chose for the challenge today is another recent acquisition from my vacation; I bought this and a few others from the Times Square Sephora. This is Candy Shop from Deborah Lippmann; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Candy Shop is a pink crelly with a rainbow of glitter, very similar to China Glaze’s It’s a Trapeze. I love these glitter crellies; they are always so cute and sparkly without being too flashy. What I don’t love is trying to clean my cuticles up with these; I never get clean, sharp edges.

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Even though it was overcast, I took a couple outdoor shots anyway, and they turned out pretty well. There’s a nice shine from the glitter, and you can really see the dimension in the layers.

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Despite the mess, this polish is fun and cute. I almost feel bad that I won’t be wearing it for very long. Good thing it’s going to be impossible to take off tomorrow.

Summer of Untrieds Day Six: Orange

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Day Six of the Summer Untrieds Challenge is orange, and my first untried orange on the polish list is Ciate’s Hopscotch, so here we are. I have a ton of untried Ciate polishes from their advent calendars and various nail art kits, so I’m excited to finally use one. I’m wearing three coats of Hopscotch with one coat of Seche Vite.

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This one varies a bit in different lighting conditions. In my office, it looks pretty orange, but in the studio, it’s a tomato red. I liked the formula and consistency of the polish, it applies evenly and easily. It dries with a very shiny finish, almost shiny enough to go without a top coat. My one complaint is that it’s still sheer enough after three coats that my nail line is still visible; this is something that’s not too obvious in photos. It’s not a bad thing, really; I’d hoped for more opacity.

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You can see the visible nail lines here.

You can see the visible nail lines here.

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I love orange polish, and this is one I definitely want to revisit in the future.

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Summer of Untrieds Day Four: Red, White, and Blue

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When I saw the order of the day today, I knew exactly what polish I had to use. 1776 by Different Dimension is a patriotic-as-hell glitter topper with red, white, and blue stars, white bars, red dots, and tiny white glitters throughout. I bought this on sale last year, and it’s my first-ever Different Dimension polish, so I’m excited to be using it today. I feel like I cheated a bit on the challenge today, because I’m seeing a lot of intricate and ornate nail art pieces for this day of the challenge, and I just put glitter over yesterday’s creme polish. This is two coats of 1776 over three coats of Butter London’s Bumster, with one coat of Seche Vite.

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I did a pretty poor job applying this. I put it on in a hurry and didn’t expect the star glitters to be so tough to get out. I managed to get one star on my left hand, but it looks great there, so it’s got that going for it. Next time, I will definitely turn this bottle over and let the glitters redistribute themselves a bit better.

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It looks crazy awesome over Bumster, too. I loved Bumster on its own, and I felt a little bad painting over it, but I think these polishes compliment each other well. I love glitter over nudes, it’s such a simple look.

I thought I did a pretty good job cleaning up my cuticles, and then I went into the sun and took some photos. Nope!

I thought I did a pretty good job cleaning up my cuticles, and then I went into the sun and took some photos. Nope!

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Now that I’ve done this, it’s time to dive into July 4th festivities.

Summer of Untrieds Day 3: Creme

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So this month, I’m doing something a little different. I’m doing the Summer Untrieds Challenge, a month-long challenge devised by Julie at Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl; the idea is that, every day, you use a polish you’ve never tried before. There’s a handy set of rules, and even though I don’t plan to stop my scheduled Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday manicures, I don’t see the harm in doing the rest of the polishes on the days I don’t have anything set. Technically, all the polishes I plan to use are untried, so I say that still counts. I’m picking up late on Day 3, but Day 1 was OPI and I had an OPI mani on Monday, so I say that counts too. Anyway, I’m kicking off at Day 3. The order of the day is a creme polish, so I went down the polish list and landed on my first untried creme: Butter London’s Bumster. This is three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

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So I like Bumster. I have actually no idea what color this is: peanut butter? butterscotch? khaki? I have no idea, but I freaking love it. Every time I use a neutral polish in a manicure, I always feel bad that I have to paint over it. My nails always look so long and healthy and awesome in nude polish; I think I’ve said this before, but nude polish is like mascara for nails. I’m so glad I get to wear this for a while and not have to worry about painting right over it and spoiling the color.

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This is the first Butter London I’ve featured on the blog. This is one of the five-dollar jobbies I found at Nordstrom Rack that one time. This is a really nice formula; even the first coat went on evenly and streak-free. There were absolutely no surprises here, and I love it.

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As a result of the challenge, there will be a new post on this blog every single day. I’ve never been one to change my nail color every single day, so that’s new for me. I think it’ll be a good thing, though. I always put off my chores because I’m too attached to my new manicure. Maybe I’ll finally get some dishes done.