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.

The Worst Nail Products I Ever Purchased

I'm back! My cable/internet company really screwed up. My BF and I woke up to no internet or TV yesterday and didn't get it repaired until today. Our neighbors have been getting notices on their door from the cable company regarding payment of their account and it turned out instead of shutting off their cable they shut off ours! Annoying! Well all is fixed now and I have my sanity back. TV and internet gone at the same time is bad.

Back on topic! I like to keep my posts positive, but while going through swatching nail wheels I came across 2 products I completely regret buying. The culprits are....



Sally Hansen "No Chip" (hahaha) Acrylic Top Coat & Quick Dry Top Coat.

We'll start with Sally. I'd say for the most part I like Sally products. In my opinion Sally Hansen can be hit or miss especially when it comes to products for your nails, not polish. In the dark ages long ago before I knew the joys of Seche Vite I ran out of top coat (I was using Sally Hansen Mega shine, which is alright). I was in a rush and I grabbed this Sally Hansen No Chip. I got home and went on MUA to look at reviews and they were medicore, but for the most part pretty bad. Since, I already had it, I figured I'd give it a shot myself. The biggest joke about this product is its name "No Chip". This is chip city. I put this over my nail polish and within few hours I was chipping not just small chips but big chips. It was a disaster. I'm a big fan or Seche, but I'm not going to rub it in peoples faces. There are plenty of good top coats out there, but I would avoid this one. In fact I fixed the bottle for them.


On to Quick Dry Top Coat. I got this at Dollar Tree a few months ago for $1. I know it's a $1 you can't expect much and I didn't, but it's a dollar I could of spent on something else. This is not quick dry and this leaves your nails sticky. I waited an hour and my nails were still sticky. I ended up taking it all off and starting over. Blech, it's shame you can sometimes find great stuff for $1 this isn't one of them. I could of used that dollar on pretty nail polish! :(

That all being said, these are the only 2 products I really am disappointed by. There are of course nail polish colors that didn't turn out how I expected. However, since everyone has their own ideas on colors and different skin tones one color could look great on someone else and horrible on me, so I figured I'd leave those out. I might make post on those later though. :D

What are some nail products you regret buying?

Have a great day!

No Cable/Internet Today

I have no Internet or cable today so I am typing this out through my iPhone. They can't come out and fix it until tomorrow :( . I don't know how I'm going to survive without TV and Internet. I am so bored! Anyways, hopefully I'll be back to blogging tomorrow!

Anyone have any stories or anything entertaining to share? I can read
blogspot through my phone.

Have a great day!
Steph

Orly Pink Fun

Lately, I have been getting into Orly polishes. I LOVE them and I don't know why I hadn't tried some of them before. Their colors are not as funky as China Glaze, but they do create wearable colors that are beautiful and playful. They always have some neat collections. Plus, I love how big the bottles are you get .6fl oz which makes me happy!

Here are some pretty pinks I acquired recently.
L-R: Oh Cabana Boy, Pixy Stix, & Passion Fruit


Oh Cabana Boy

Oh Cabana Boy wasn't the easiest to capture because it is somewhat of a neon. It is a light-med pink shimmer with a violet flash throughout. I used 3 coats. This is a fun summer color name included!

Pixy Stix

Pixy Stix to me looks just like the Crayola color "pink" that you get in a box of crayons. It's a pink that leans a bit on the coral side. I think it could go either way as a pink or as coral pink. Either way it's a great creme polish that I love. This is 2 coats.

Passion Fruit

Passion Fruit is true neon. It is that highlighter pink color. It's not hot pink per say, but it is a bright neon pink. I could get more detailed with this, but I think you get what I mean. This was 3 coats and it does dry matte. If you like matte put a matte top coat on. If you like it shiny add just a regular top coat. Personally, I'm a shiny gal, but it's up to you what you like best!

Today I am wearing Pixy Stixy, I decided I'd put a coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure on it for extra pop. Don't worry I'm not going to get into Hidden Treasure it's been covered so many times! If you're not sure what it is just visit MakeupAlley Nail Board and there will probably be 100+ posts on it :P. It's becoming like the Twilight of the nail world. I get it :P. Anyways, it looks pretty cool! I figured I'd show you.


That's all for today lovelies. I'm off to Dollar Tree. I told myself I was on a nail polish buying ban,but it's Dollar Tree! $1 nail polish isn't that big of deal, right??? Validate me people! Hehehe

Peace!

Milani Dot Com & 2.0 Liquid Metals

I picked up two polishes from the Milani Liquid Metals collection today from CVS. They are BOGO 1/2 off right now. These colors are really unique and gorgeous. Milani has an amazing color selection and their collections follow in the same suit. They have trendy funky colors for great prices!

Today, I got Dot Com & 2.0


2.0

2.0 is a black foil/metallic with silvery metallic shimmer throughout. This goes on smooth and it is completely opaque with 2 coats.

Dot Com

This in my opinion is the winner of this collection. I was on the hunt for this one! It is a deep purple metallic foil with bronze/gold shimmer throughout. This is one of those polishes that looks different when you look at it at certain angles or different types of light. I love polishes like this, they never cease to amaze you. This is 2 coats.

If you want to see the full collection I suggest visiting Kris Primps! for a review of them all. My display was a bit picked over for me to get more. Overall, I think this a great collection. There is shade for everyone and the formula is great!

That's it for today!

Happy Saturday! :D