Ulta3 Blues and Greens

Here are the greens and blues that I have in my Ulta3 collection.  If you know of others let me know, and I will see if I can find them.

Jelly - It's another nyc colour, but it's in the same Ulta3 bins and has the Head Group as the distributor.  So I class them as the same thing.  This is a fluro neon green jelly. Dries to a matte finish.  This was three coats and it was still very transparent.  I would like to see what it's like over white.  Not really a colour I image many people would wear, but it's good for nail art designs.

Lagoon - I love this one.  It's a pale shimmery green.  It applied smooth with no streaks.  This was three coats and it probably could use another to get rid of the nail line. 

Wasabi - This looked so beautiful in the bottle but I was really disappointed that it applied so streaky.    I hoped that the streaks would disappear when it dried but unfortunately they didn't.  Its such a nice colour with a strong shimmer to it.  This was two coats.

Bottle green - This is a frosty green that is a little dirtier in colour, but I really like it.  The good thing about this polish was that although it applied really streaky like wasabi, this one actually smoothed out as it dried, leaving no streaks.  I got a cat hair caught on my ring finger though, so it's a bit lumpy.  This was three coats - as I was trying to cover up the cat hair.  It really only needed two.

Jelly bean - This one is really pretty.  It's like its half way between blue and green.  This was a little streaky, but nothing like wasabi.  It's got a great metallic shimmer to it.  This was two coats.

Razzle.  A metallic pale blue.  It took me ages to decide whether to get razzle or little boy blue.  I actually got little boy blue first, then went back a week later and got razzle as well, cause I just had to see how they compared.  Razzle is a deeper blue than little boy blue and its shimmer metallic look isn't as strong either. This was three coats, and I smudged my index finger putting on the third coat. Otherwise application was good.  Streaky at first but the second and third coat smooth it out.

Little boy blue -  The metallic effect in this is better than razzle.  Its paler than razzle, in fact it's a pale blue version of Envy and Snazzle. This is three coats. 

Razzle and Little boy blue comparison. Very similar, but you can see that razzle is bluer and little boy blue is sparklier.

Metal - I love this colour.  This metallic grey has a beautiful blue tone to it.  Applied great. First coat was streaky, second coat perfect.  This was two coats.

When I apply my Ulta3, I always try to do a really thin coat first.  On most of their polishes, the first coat is really sheer and streaky.  Just let it dry for a moment (usually just doing all ten fingers is enough dry time for the first coat).  The second coat usually smoothes out the finish.  I usually only do more than two coats if the polish is still transparent on my nails, and I want to achieve a colour closer to that on the bottle. 

None of the above had a base coat - I'm a bit slack and tend not to wear one.  These swatches didn't have a top coat either, but for a mani I always put on two coats of Seche Vite (I bought mine on ebay and its been worth every cent).

Konad Decals, a Coupon Code, and a Giveaway

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been so busy showing you swatches of new collections in the last few days that other good stuff has been piling up. I'll show you manicures first, since that's what we're here for, and after the pictures tell you about the things where you save money and win things.

Last week I gave you the update that WSC had the full line of the Glam Rhinestone Stickers that I'd shown you the two packets of which Jessica had sent me as an extra to try out (those were the nail jewelry ones), and I told you I'd planned to load up on them (they're $3, so it wasn't some huge financial analysis to decide that). Well, I clicked the 3D Stickers & Bead Tattoos tab to get to them, and there was more cool stuff, all super cheap. I loaded up on the rhinestone decals, and have two of those for you today, the 3D stickers, and got just a few each of the bead tattoos and hologram stickers. I was reluctant on the bead and hologram decals because I wasn't sure exactly what the bead tattoos were (but for $3 I was willing to find out), and the hologram stickers looked like decals of patterns that are Konad stamps, but I was interested enough to spring for the $2 to find out more, and I have a hologram decal manicure for you today as well.

The one I did right away when they arrived (after spending about fifteen minutes leafing through the packets) is a base of two coats of SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby with the fake pink pearl decals. I pretty much did a little sampler of the decals in the packet, I was so fired up about them.

Konad Rhinestone Glam Decals in Pink Pearl & Rhinestones

Konad Rhinestone Glam Decals in Pink Pearl & Rhinestones over SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby Nail Polish

The next ones I tried were the hologram decals, using some Konad patterns I'm fond of. I thought they'd look good over a black shimmer nail polish, so I used two coats of Nubar Black Chrome. The picture completely downplays the hologram effect - once it came into focus, the reflections came off as silver. The hologram effect is markedly stronger, but the picture gives you a sense of it.

Konad Hologram Decals

Konad Hologram Decals over Nubar Black Chrome Nail Polish, Two Coats

Last is today's Nails of the Day. I used Rhinestone Glam Decals in one of the fake white pearl and rhinestones packets (I have one more white pearl & rhinestone packet that's different). At first I was thinking of using a pale pink shimmer base, kind of the inverse of the one I shows you above, but then decided they'd be cooler on Zoya Robyn, the blue creme from Flash.

Konad Rhinestone Glam Decals in White Pearl & Rhinestones

Konad Rhinestone Glam Decals in White Pearl & Rhinestones over Zoya Robyn Nail Polish

For all of these, I applied the decals about ten minutes after finishing the base color with Diamont, then sealed them with another coats of Diamont.

It ends up that the bead tattoos, which I have yet to try but will in coming days, are actually tiny seed beads on decals - I've never seen anything like them. One of my close friends makes elaborate beaded jewelry (think Grateful Dead parking lot wares fifteen years ago), and the beads are maybe a third to half the size of the smallest I've seen her use. They're really cool, and you don't have to wrap them up to your elbow like in Konad's promo pics. I got butterflies, hearts, and tip decals of those.

Those are the Konad decals, so let's move on to things where you get things for free!

First, the coupon code... Yen from Victoria's Nail Supply (VNS) is offering you a free Color Club 0-60 Speedy Topcoat with any purchase (I believe the site minimum is $15, but I've never ordered anywhere near just $15, so I'm not sure) with code NPhile042010. It's a great way to try it out and see if it works for you - free is a good price! VNS is a great etailer - all the basics, plus a TON of Art Club nail art stuff, which I went crazy ordering this week, as well as a bunch of HTF's, especially OPI. I can't say anything but good things about Yen's customer service, and I've been a customer there for about a year and a half now, have had help from her, but never a single problem. I'll add a "Codes" tab to the top of the page in a bit so you don't have to find this post later to get the code.

Second, the giveaway... That's from Jessica at WowSoCool. She's been awesome, working to get back the Konad discount codes that Konad USA put the kabosh on recently, and she even helped me by proofing and giving input on a letter I wrote to Konad USA myself trying to get the codes back. There's been no response from Konad USA yet, so since she can't give all of you a discount code, she wanted to give one of you a $50 gift certificate for her store. I'm running the contest here because Jessica specifically wanted to give something to my readers. At full price, $50 would be 7 plates, lots of polishes, or an absolute boatload of the decals I showed you.

I'll run the giveaway like always, and have verified that the usual way is okay with Jessica: it's open to readers worldwide, one entry per person, and I'll take entries for two weeks. The one variation from usual is about your email: it'll still just be used if you're the winner, but since I'm just hosting the giveaway for WowSoCool, I'll pass your email address on to her if you're the winner and she'll get your prize to you. No email addresses will be used in any other way. Here's the entry form, and I'll include it at the end of every post until it's over.

That's the update for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Vogue Ulta3 Forums

I know some of you gals came to my blog from the Vogue Forums.

I have been posting replies there, but cause I'm new my posts have to be checked by a moderator before going up.

Hopefully they are not gone for the entire easter break!.