N.Y.C. Empire State Blue

I have reduced prices on China Glaze, OPI, OPI & more. I've also added 25+ polishes to my blog sale. 

I pretty much stopped shopping N.Y.C. polishes a year ago. Why? This is a very lazy reason, but wherever I see them they're always on the bottom row of some aisle, and I don't feel like sitting on my behind to look at them. Hey, I'm being honest! Also, I think their look is kind of a dated. I admit I'm drawn in by sleek or flashy bottle design, and these are not that. However, I got a this color as an extra in a swap, and I'm starting to think maybe I'm being a bit of a snob about N.Y.C. polishes.

Empire State Blue

Empire State Blue is a medium blue with a golden-teal shimmer.

This polish is beautiful! Shame on me. I was really pleasantly surprised with this one. Plus, these polishes are $0.99. I mean, even if you hate some after you get it, it's not like you're sacrificing a lot. I think I'll be getting on my bottom now to look at some of these polishes. I won't be a lazy bum about them anymore.

Are there any brands you've neglected for petty reasons?

Come on..validate me people. I can't be the only one!

Happy Friday!

N.Y.C. Polish Swatches

I got a request from Tanya her blog is visions in color to do a swatch of some N.Y.C. colors. I only have around 4 so I decided to do a whole post for them.

Times Square Tangerine Creme

This photographed a little darker than it actually is. The bottle picture is the most accurate. This is a true orange creme. It's not too bright and not muted. I like this color a lot and for 99 cents you can't really go wrong!

Fuchsia Shock Creme

I wouldn't call this fuchsia, but it's a medium pink bubble gum creme. It's a pretty creme. It's a bright color, but it's not neon or fluorescent.

Charming Rose Creme


This is my problem with N.Y.C. This is obviously not a creme, yet it is labeled that way? The same goes for some other polishes I've seen in stores. This is what I'd call a muave frost. This is a pretty color, but honestly not one I'd really reach for in my stash. It's OK.

Canal Street

I'd call this maroon-brown with gold shimmer throughout. I love this color! These type of shades are my favorite for fall and winter I love them on my tips and toes. I had a bit of trouble with the application of this though. I'm not sure what it was but it seemed to go on dry and streaky. I didn't apply it any different than I'd apply any other polish. This is a fast drying polish so I think if I applied it a bit thicker and didn't wait as much between coats it would of gone on more smoothly. The overall result looks great though you couldn't tell I had trouble!

That's it for my N.Y.C. swatches. I hope this helps you out Tanya! Thank you for your requests! If anyone has any other requests make sure the check out My Stash and send me an email letting me know what you'd like to see!

Have a great Saturday!

I Won't Spend More Than 10! Part One

One of the reasons I started this blog was to be able to share affordable nail polish with everyone. As a personal choice and financial choice I will not pay more than $10 on nail polish. I have nothing against higher end brands and I definitely encourage anyone who wants to purchase a higher end brand to go for it! However, I know many of us are living in a day in age where we need to save our money, but saving money doesn't mean you can't still have fun and enjoy great products!

The next 3 days I'm going to showcase the drugstore brands I'm familiar with including their pros and cons. All the brands I'll be featuring will be between $1-$10. Today I'll start with the lower end ($1-$3), tomorrow will be moderate end ($3-$6)and Friday will be higher end ($7-10). My pros and cons on these brands are purely my opinion, so I do not mean to offend if I may find something I don't like in product you love. Also, the price ranges I came up are averages based off of stores and e-tailers. You will sometimes see these products for more or less in other places. The bottles I'll be showing are not necessarily favorites just ones I picked out to use for the pictures. I hope with these next few posts I can help shed some light on drugstore brands, give you shopping ideas, and help keep more money in your pocket!

International Readers: See bottom of post. I would love some help from you. :)


Low End $1-$3

Frankens

Featured Colors: Red Giant, Firecracker, Mythical Forest, & London Fog
Price: $1+
Pros:
- Most creative & less expensive option
-Create your own colors using colors in bottles you already have, mixing makeup pigments/glitters in clear polish, and etc.
Cons:
-Polishes this way can become goopy make sure put some silver balls (BB pellets found at Walmart) so the polish can mix properly. Also nail polish thinner can help thin out the polishes.

E.L.F.

Featured Color: Coral
Price: $1
Where to buy: E.L.F website, some Targets, and K-Marts
Pros:
-Price
-Many colors are similar to core line colors of other drugstore brands
Cons:
-Not a wide color selection

Wet N' Wild

Featured Colors: Wild Orchid, Caribbean Frost, Quartz of Course
Price: $1-$2
Where to buy: Walgreens, KMart, some Walmarts, and some grocery stores
Pros:
-Recently have introduced innovative and trendy colors
-Typically have BOGO free or BOGO 1/2 sales often depending on the store
-Usually introduce different collections for seasons
-Wide color selection
Cons:
-Some bottles are duds with brush problems
-Polishes do have the tendency to thicken up (can be fixed with nail thinner)
-Some colors are not the most exciting

NYC

Featured Colors: Fuchsia Shock Creme, Times Square Tangerine Creme, Canal Street
Price: $1-$2
Where to buy: CVS, Target, Walmart, some grocery stores
Pros:
-Price
-New York Color minute line dries quickly
-Basic line has some colors that could be dupes to other more expensive drugstore core line brands
-Typically have BOGO free or BOGO 1/2 sales often depending on the store
Cons:
-Probably the least imaginative as far as color selection goes
-Polishes tend to be on the thicker side
-Polish names are misleading some things labeled as cremes are not true cremes

Pure Ice

Featured Colors: All Nighter, Splash, Spit Fire, Celestial Frost
Price: $2
Where to buy: Walmart
Pros:
-Wide selection of colors, finishes, and pretty shimmer/glitter top coats
-Good application
-Price
Cons:
-Only can be found in one store
-As far as I know they don't introduce new collections so you're not really sure if you're getting a newer color or one that has been there for awhile.

Sinful Colors

Featured Colors: What's Your Name, Sagitta, Boogie Nights, Cream Pink
Price: $2
Where to buy: Walgreens
Pros:
-Wide range of colors,finishes, and fun top coats
-On occasion are either BOGO 1/2 off or BOGO free depending on time of year
-Most colors are always readily available and easy to find
Cons:
-Some of their colors can be very similar to each other
-Some colors are bit stinky especially the glittery ones
-This is purely personal, but the naming of some their colors I find a bit odd and don't really relate to the colors at all


Enjoy your day!

Attn: International readers! I'd love for you participate in this to. I'd love if you'd share in the comments some affordable products in your country that are equal to or less than $10 in your currency. If you have a brand to share please just let me know the brand, what country you are from, price (in your currency), and where you can purchase the item. On Saturday I will gather up all the posts I get from international readers on their products and use that as a special international affordable products post for that day.

Revlon Lilac Pastelle & Haul Bottle Pics

I got Revlon's Lilac Pastelle yesterday at CVS. I must say pastels usually scare me, especially the cooler toned ones. They usually end up making my hands look dead. I saw Lilac Pastelle and had one of those conversations in my head with myself whether or not this will look awful on my skin tone. Well, I said screw it and got it anyways because it was a pretty color!



I think it looks good or am I horribly mistaken? LOL. I think it has more of pinkish tone to it which makes it work for me if it was more blue toned it wouldn't be pretty. It's a great color, it's not a typical color I'd pick out, but that's what makes me like it more. It seems trendy, different, and perfect for spring and summer. This is 3 coats. It went on smoothly and probably would look even better if I had a bit of tan going on, but overall I love it! <3

They also had Minted there which is a mint green -sigh-. Mint green is a very popular color among nail polish fans, but I have yet to find the perfect mint for me. I am scared of the mint green. Yes, I treat as if it's some evil monster who purposely doesn't mix well with my skin tone just to spite me! I think I'll leave my mint green and green polish story for another blog post, because maybe you guys can help me!

Anyways here are some polishes I snagged recently. I'll swatch these at some point for you all, or let me know if there is one specifically you want to see, so I can do it sooner.

L-R:
NYC-Canal Street, Sally Hansen- Pink Promise, Sally Hansen- Antique Bronze, Sally Hansen-Zip, Hard Candy- Lava, & China Glaze- Bing Cherry




Happy Friday! Yay weekend and yay sleep!

My Favorite Layering Polishes

As an off shoot of my last post I wanted to show you all my favorite layering polishes. Before that though I'd like to make note that when typing out the title of my blog I put in in "My Favorite Laying Polishes" not layering. That's a good idea for a post, but I don't think we'll be doing that today. :P

I decided to swatch these on nail wheel because I wanted to show you how they look on 2 different color polishes. I'll be layering these over Essie's Mod Squad (a standard bubble gum pink creme) and N.Y.C. Black Lace Creme.

To enlarge any picture just click on it. :)



Here are the layering polishes I'll be using..
L-R: Cover Girl- City Lights, Sally Hansen- In the Spotlight, Cover Girl-Crystal Mist, Milani-Disco Lights, Pure Ice- Spit Fire, Tropez-Sassy, Sinful Colors- Frenzy, Pure Ice- Busted, & Pure Ice- Heartbreaker



and here is how they look on these polishes..




As I kind of touched on in my last post these are great options for adding some depth and life to some plain colors or even great colors you just want to spice up a bit. There are endless combinations too, so if you ever need to hold off on purchasing polishes for awhile you have many different options for creating your own custom colors. All of these polishes cost under $10 and most all you can find either at Walmart, Target, and various drug stores.

On that note I will bid you adieu!

Preview for next time I got these BBCouture pretties in the mail today. Swatches & Reviews tomorrow
L-R:
Napa Valley Red, Hermosa Surfer Girl, Horned Devil



--Steph