FingerPaints To-teally Chic & Konad m63

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I went with another from the FingerPaints Fall Fashionista Collection, To-teally Chic.  It the teal creme, as the name implies, and I used two coats for perfectly smooth, opaque, shiny goodness.  After it had dried, I stamped it with the ribbon-y pattern from Konad plate m63 in Konad White Pearl Special Polish.

My stamping fell a little short of my usual standards, I think because of the humidity.  Everything through picking up the stamp was business as usual, but applying the stamp, the polish stuck to the stamper and only about half of it transferred to my nails with the other half staying on the stamp.  Some polishes have done that before, but White Pearl never has and it's a color (and particular bottle of that color ) which gets plenty of use, so it seems like it has to be an outside factor.  Since I was left with light image on the stamper after applying, rather than double stamp to cover the small edge that was left bare, I just applied leftover bits from the stamper to fill it in.  Some came off, some stayed stuck, but I was able to finish the mani that way.

FingerPaints To-teally Chic Nail Polish with Konad Plate m63

See?  Not great, but not awful.  If I'd managed to make super clean stamps, in which case I would have done a careful double-stamp to fill in rather than a half-assed job of using stamper leftovers, this one could have been really striking, I think.  I'll have to give it another shot after either the weather lightens up a bit or I figure out a workaround.

That's today's near miss of a manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

FingerPaints Fall 2011

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have swatches of FingerPaints' Fall Fashionista Collection for Fall 2011, which will be available at Sally Beauty Supply in August in stores and online.  For the swatches, all are two coats of color over a base coat and finished with Poshe, which I allowed to dry for about five minutes before I took a picture in sunlight.

Fall Fashionista is a collection of nine cremes, and they're all incredibly nice to apply.  The formula is very smooth and even to work with, and it's so well pigmented that only two of the nine shades actually needed the two coats of color I used.  The remaining seven were even an opaque at one thin coat, but I added a second because I prefer the look of two coats on my nails (I have ridges, they don't show with the second coat).  However, for nail art stamping, layering, pretty much anything other than wearing the polish alone, one coat would be just fine for me.

Catwalk Queen is a weird-in-a-good-way sort of Dijon mustard colored creme, and it's one of the two that really needed both coats to achieve the color in the bottle.  My middle nail is not shiny here because my nails fogged up from the heat and humidity, and that went unnoticed until I was selecting pictures.

FingerPaints Catwalk Queen Nail Polish, Two Coats

Military Green is a really cool one - it's the same color as U.S Army uniforms, that green with a touch of grey mixed into it.  It's good at one coat, but here's a picture of two.

FingerPaints Military Green Nail Polish, Two Coats

To-teally Chic (that's the press release spelling, the label says "To-telly Chic," but it looks like a sample label, so we'll know which it is when they're at Sally's) is a vivid teal creme.  I believe this is the nicest teal creme that $4.99 will buy you .  Again, one thin coat was even and opaque for me, but the picture is of two coats.

FingerPaints To-teally Chic Nail Polish, Two Coats

Purple Pinstripe is a very pretty muted purple creme, and like most of the others, the color was great in one coat.  The second gives a little more depth and a lot more shine, so here's two coats of Purple Pinstripe (and I see the bottom finger's nail fogged up).

FingerPaints Purple Pinstripe Nail Polish, Two Coats

Haute Taupe is a soft light brown creme, a good basic polish.

FingerPaints Haute Taupe Nail Polish, Two Coats

Raspberry Taffeta, a really gorgeous berry shade, is one of my favorites.  A couple of months ago I was looking for an article of clothing, and in that process noticed for the very first time that at least half of my clothing that's not black or white at least includes this shade.  It seems I'm a big fan!

FingerPaints Raspberry Taffeta Nail Polish, Two Coats

Vintage Velvet is another contender for the Favorite position, a muted blue green creme.  It's an unusual, modern, very pretty shade.

FingerPaints Vintage Velvet Nail Polish, Two Coats

Stunning Stilettos, a grey creme, is the other one that really needed a second coat (so I needed two for Catwalk Queen and Stunning Stilettos, all seven others could have gotten away with one coat of color).  It's a good grey creme.

FingerPaints Stunning Stilettos Nail Polish, Two Coats

Last but very definitely not least is the one I am wearing, Cordur-Orange (I know the name looks silly, say it out loud and it makes sense).  It's a Fall orange that brings to mind maple leaves changing and apple cider for me, but somehow FingerPaints avoided doing to Cordur-Orange whatever OPI did to Ginger Bells because Cordur-Orange is pretty.  It's the one I'm wearing today.

FingerPaints Cordur-Orange Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's all of them.  My sense of the collection as a whole is that it's perfect for Fall, and several of the colors are an interesting take on a more ordinary shade.  The quality of the polishes is exceptional, and the application is amazing.  I don't have a favorite picked out yet because there are four battling for it, and since I'll change my mind about it tomorrow anyhow I haven't really put the screws to myself to sort that one out.

That's what I know about FingerPaints Fall Fashionista Collection for 2011, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!




*FingerPaints Fall Fashionista was sent by Sally Beauty supply for independent honest review.