Pink Wednesday ~ Candeo Colors Melonball

Happy hump day dolls! Today I have pictures of Candeo Colors Melonball, which is a Llarowe exclusive color. I first saw a bottle shot of Melonball on Instagram (follow me @refinedandpolished). Pink and green glitter is ALL me! Melonball is full of various shades and sizes of pink glitter, red hexes, and smaller green glitter. The formula was extremely thick; I had to dab the glitter onto my nails, so I can't really say how many coats it was. This is Melonball over Essie Mojito Madness.

I really love Melonball! It's almost at my chunky glitter limit (you guys know I don't really do super chunky glitters). Mojito Madness was the perfect base color, but I do have a complaint. I got the most horrible staining I've ever had from Mojito Madness. It's extremely weird because I wore it last month and had absolutely no staining. I used a base coat both time, although I can't remember which one because I rotate between two. So weird! Has this ever happened to you?

Essie Mojito Madness

Happy Friday dolls! Today I'm wearing Essie Mojito Madness (I always want to call this polish mint mojito).  This gorgeous green creme went on my wish list as soon as it came out. I finally purchased it on Copious last month. The formula was good and is extremely pigmented. I almost got away with one thick coat, but I did a second just to level out some areas of patchiness.

Love, love, love Mojito Madness! This is actually my second time wearing it. I wore it for graduation, but failed to take pictures because of how crazy busy I was. Here are a few pictures from that big day, since I forgot to share them last month!

You can see the the polish in this one!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Fail ~ V-Gap Nails

Hey dolls! I told you all in my geometric stamping post that I failed at several other nail art attempts. Below you will see the only fail that I took pictures of. I started with two coats of Barielle Blossom. The formula was somewhat thick and didn't self-level well at all. I used three coats of Essie Turquoise and Caicos. I can't believe I've had this polish for over a year without wearing it! The formula on Turquoise and Caicos was sheerer than I thought it would be, but it wasn't problematic at all.

Using Nailside's tutorial, I wanted to do a V-gap/chevron look. This is what would be described as a Monet;  looks good from far away, but it's a total mess up close (two points for all my Clueless fans)!

Total fail. The lines were not clean at all. My gap also appears to be too small. I think my long nail beds made the space between the tape look deceptive. I even went to the store specifically to buy stationery tape because I tried cutting different designs with my craft scissors. I added Barielle Stardust to try and make the look cohesive, but overall, I'm just not a fan of this one. The only good thing about this look is that the colors are fab together. Oh well, we can't win them all, nor do I try to.

Pretty & Polished Cheer Camp

Hey dolls, today I'm wearing a gorgeous new release from Pretty & Polished. If you follow me on facebook, you've already seen a sneak peek of this polish on Friday night. Cheer Camp is a pale pink jelly filled with pastel pink and purple hex glitter and micro glitter. The bottle was laying on its side on my desk, so I did have to put it upside down for a few minutes before application. Cheer Camp's formula was easy to work with after that and I applied two coats over one coat of Essie Marshmallow.

Cheer Camp is just what I needed after my patriotic mani. The colors are so soft, feminine, and girly. I wanted a palate cleanser with a little sparkle and Cheer Camp definitely fit the bill. I was a little on the fence about ordering this polish a few weeks ago when Chelsea first showed pictures, but I'm so glad that I did. I also got Phat Camp in that order, which I'm really excited about wearing!

Do you ever feel like you need a palate cleanser for your nails?

The Hungry Asian Vote for Purple

Happy Memorial Day! My thanks and prayers go out to all of the service men and women who have fought for our countries and to their families. We have several military men in my family, so this is a special day.

I decided to add a little more sparkle to Essie She's Picture Perfect by layering The Hungry Asian Vote for Purple on top. Vote for Purple is jam packed with fine lavender and silver glitter. The formula is very dense, so I only needed one coat. It dries with some texture, but one layer of top coat smoothed it out. I only have a mini bottle of Vote for Purple, so I'm holding my Nubar Diamont for the pictures.

These mini bottles are just too cute!

These two are a perfect combination! Vote for Purple added just the right amount of bling that I was in need of. I'm even more excited to wear the other polishes from The Hungry Asian now. A lot of her polishes are in stock now, so check out her Etsy page here.

Essie She's Picture Perfect

Hey dolls, today I'm wearing Essie She's Picture Perfect. I immediately wanted this polish based on the description. She's Picture Perfect is a lilac polish filled with pink shimmer. Unfortunately on the nail, that shimmer wasn't very apparent. The formula was a little streaky and did not self-level that well. I applied two thick coats to get rid of the streaking.

While this color is really pretty, I wish more of the shimmer appeared. Don't you just hate when the polish looks like one thing in the bottle and totally different on your nail?

Hope you all are enjoying the long weekend! Make sure you thank our US service men and women!

Essie A Crewed Interest

Hi dolls, today I'm wearing a polish I got in my first swap post my Lent no-buy (I'm not sure if I mentioned it here or not, but I went 40+ days without buying polish or hair products) from my polish friend Michele. Essie A Crewed Interest is a pale peach cream that I knew I wanted as soon as I saw press release photos from the spring collection. The formula is relatively thin and the first coat was very streaky, but that's not unusual for pastels. I applied a second coat which helped to smooth everything out, but a third wouldn't have hurt.

direct sunlight

shade

I just love everything about A Crewed Interest! I put this polish on Wednesday evening and had planned to do a tape design to jazz it up a little bit. The cleanness of this color was just so refreshing that I didn't want to add anything else to it. Sometimes simple is just as good.

Do you like pale peaches?

Autism Awareness ~ Essence Chuck & Blair Matte-ified

Hi dolls, today I'm bringing you my second autism awareness mani. First, I'd like to share some facts about autism. It is a spectrum of disorders that ranges in severity and can results in difficulties in communication, social skills, and use of repetitive behaviors. Each individual with this disorder is very unique and some even demonstrate exceptional abilities in the areas of music, visual skills, and academic skills. I once had a kindergarten student that I was in awe of. He had extreme difficulties with verbal and nonverbal communication, basic concepts like following directions, and was unable to interact with his peers appropriately. When it came to reading, he was on a second grade level...in kindergarten! It was amazing to watch. For more information on autism, feel free to check out Autism Speaks.

Now onto the polish of the day. I received Essence Twins Chuck & Blair in a giveaway some time ago from Sweet Sugar. Chuck is a gorgeous cobalt blue creme that has purple undertones. This color is crazy pigmented. I applied only 1 coat for the pictures below.

I then added one thick coat of the other half of this set of twins, Blair. Blair is a top coat that has silver hexagonal glitter and smaller silver glitter. There are also some holographic particles included, but those barely show on the nail. Blair takes a little bit of pushing around to disperse evenly on the nail, but it wasn't impossible.

I really wish the holo showed a little more in this glitter. I actually prefer Chuck on its own. I wanted to see if adding Essie Matte About You top coat would make this mani better...and it did!

This is much, much better! The matte top coat really makes this glitter look so much cooler.

Which look do you prefer...glossy or matte?