OPI Gelcolor "Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow"

Hi again!  This is a color I've wanted for a really long time.  Like, I've wanted it for years.  In 2012, I reviewed Gelish "A Runway for the Money" and was pretty disappointed at its application and dirty green color.  I wanted a color that was darker but still a richer forest green tone.

And that's why I've finally picked up OPI GelColor "Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow".  It's the perfect almost-black forest-green creme color.  It's another classic OPI color along the lines of "Lincoln Park After Dark", in that if you don't look closely and don't know what you're looking for, you may mistake it for a plain black color.  But the reality is it has a little more depth and complexity than that!

Of course the snow storms roll in when I take pictures!

A flash photo to hopefully get another perspective of this color.

It took two coats to get full coverage, although I might recommend that you go for three thinner coats, because this is how my application went:

The first coat was really splotchy, and wanted to sink into the ridges and imperfections in my nails.  That's why my nail beds don't look so perfect!

The second coat seemed to fully cover those imperfections in all but the brightest daylight, but as a trade off for being a bit more heavy-handed with my polish, I did suffer some lifting between the layers of one of my nails within two days, because the dark color didn't cure all the way through.  This problem can be resolved by curing for a bit longer than usual--45 seconds or a minute versus 30 seconds--and using thinner layers as I mentioned before.


Looking through my posts, I seem to really love creme colors... not to mention greens!  Did you know: green the most popular nail polish color in my state?  Check it out at Allure: you can see the most popular nail color in every state!  I went home for the holidays and my mother was even wearing a very similar color. :)

Hey there! Featuring NaiLuv "Working Woman"

Long time,  no see, internet!  I'm not going to make a ton of excuses; I've been so busy with school in the past year that blogging about my gel polish has become the last thing on my mind.  I even had to cut back my hours at my job because of school.   And, as silly as it may sound, school even dictates what color nail polish I can wear most of the time, which makes life a little boring.

I still love gel polish, of course, though--even though I haven't posted in a year, I still think UV/LED cured gel polishes are the best thing on the market, way better than any "gel effect" polishes that don't require curing under a light.

So, I'm finally back to share my holiday nails this year--nothing crazy or decorative, but bright and fun!

Indirect sunlight.

Direct Sunlight--the gel is true-to-color, but my skin's so pale, it got a little washed out!

This is NaiLuv "Working Woman", which is a cool-toned cherry red gel filled with red and pink microshimmer.  The shimmer is more subtle without direct light, but in sunlight the hot pink in it really shines through!  It's one of NaiLuv's original colors, and while it may not be entirely "on trend" or unique it is pretty awesome, and very festive for any holiday with some red in its theme.

By the way, this gel only required 2 thin coats for full coverage!  On the down side, though, it did suffer some minor chips at the tips about a week into the manicure, but I did put these nails through some heavy crafting and gift-wrapping.  The chips were minor, about 1 mm in size, and not even noticeable from arm's length away.  Interesting enough, the chips did not cause the gel to lift much beyond the chipping point, which is usually what limits the life of my gel manicure.

See ya later, internet--hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later, this time!

UV-Nails Deals on Zulily

Hi again!  I should be getting some holiday reprieve soon, with the chance to gather up some blog posts with swatches and reviews.  But, in the mean time, I do have the time to share another deal I found!

From now until Tuesday Morning, UV-Nails Gel Polish is on sale for $8.99 on Zulily. 

I only have a limited experience with UV-Nails so far, but the experience I had was awesome--the colors were unique and applied well, you receive a full size 15mL bottle for the price, and their color range is AMAZING.  I'm not sure I have the money to spare on this deal, because if I buy 1 bottle, I'm going to want to buy 10!  I'm really into green and brown colors this winter, and they have a great selection of those plus many, many more.  And did I mention UV-Nails Gel Polish now carries a matte top coat?  Pretty neat!

RedCarpetManicure.com Black Friday Deals!

I've got another awesome holiday deal to share with you all today!  

For two days only, 11/27 and 11/28, all Red Carpet Manicure gel polishes are half off.  This deal can only be taken advantage of on their website, redcarpetmanicure.com, but it's still a pretty awesome steal!  They even offer free shipping for orders over $50.00, so if you order 10 polishes for half price--that's a total of about $50.00 without taxes--you'd get free shipping.

Look closely at their website, too; you might notice that they have a few shades on there that are from limited edition collections over the past year or so.  You can't buy these shades at Ulta anymore, but you can find them on their website!  In particular, I'm kind of sad I didn't pick up more shades from the "Post Cards from Milan" collection last fall, but all six shades can be found at the end of the list on their color selection page.  And their gold and silver sparkle shades from the 2013 holidays are still up there, too!

To make things even more interesting, Red Carpet Manicure also has 3 sets of 6 gel polishes on sale for $29.99. The downside here is that the site doesn't tell you exactly what colors you're getting in these prepackaged sets, and the 50% off coupon code doesn't stack with them... so the deal really isn't any cheaper than picking out your own polishes.  But if your gel polish collection is a little small, and you're in for a holiday surprise, you might want to pick these up.

Once again, have fun shopping! :)

Black Friday Deals at Sally Beauty - Starting Today!

Hello again!  Like I said in the last post, I've been looking out for some gel polish deals for this holiday season... well, a email from Sally Beauty Supply today presented me with some awesome deals!

Sally Beauty posted their Black Friday deals online already--and as a bonus, you can also take advantage of the deals if you shop on line, too!

Of major interest to gel polish lovers like myself, ASP Gel Polish is $6.99 a bottle and Gelish gel polishes are $8.99 a bottle.   This deal lasts from now until 11/30/2014, although if you want to catch the deals in store, they won't start until black Friday, 11/28/2014.  And since this is a regular sale, it should combine with any discounts you have--such as a birthday reward, a 15% off coupon, etc!  

Check out the Black Friday deals page!

And if you want to shop online, here's the links for some things that might be relevant to your interests:

ASP Gel Polish

Gelish Gel Polish

Gelish Complete Mini Starter Kit

As an aside, FingerPaints gel polishes are also on sale for $8.99 this month, although that isn't a sale at all if you're already getting the benefits of a Sally's Club Card.  But if you buy two, you get a free wristlet as a gift with purchase.  Now if only FingerPaints came out with some holiday collections - I haven't seen anything new from them since this summer!

Gellaka Deals on Zulily!

Hello again!  I've been really, really busy lately--and while I've still been painting my nails and taking pictures, I've been too busy writing papers to edit blog posts.  I'm really sorry, guys!   But I've been hoping that some stores and online businesses will start having some great gel polish sales in preparation for the holidays, though, so I've been trying to keep my eye out a little more.

Well, today I just realized that Gellaka is finally back on sale!  Gellaka gel polishes are on sale at Zulily from now until 11/21.  Individual gel polishes are $7.99 each for 8 ml, or you can buy some pre-made sets that save you a little more - each gel polish costs as low as $6.00 in some of these sets!

I've only used Gellaka two times before, and while I had an iffy experience with soaking-off the color the first time around, I did things a little differently the second time and had much better results!  Plus,  I like the size of the Gellaka bottles for the price, and their color selection is a-maz-ing!  If you can manage to spare some money for yourself at this time of the year, you might want to check them out. :)

I hope to see you guys again soon!

Fingerpaints "Fine Art Auction"

I've been eying up FingerPaints' gel polishes ever since the end of summer, when I fell in love with "As If Figuratifs".  Truth be told, I never really noticed that color in FingerPaints' permanent collection before--and when I found it, my first thought was, "what other duochrome gems are hidden in this rack?"  Well, I started opening up bottle after bottle, and I found this duochrome (or more appropriately: a MULTI-chrome!) along with it:

Yeah, another gel polish I couldn't stop taking pictures of.  But look how gorgeous it is!  I tried to get one picture with flash at the end there, but mostly, you need some good overhead lighting to make this polish shine.

FingerPaints "Fine Art Auction" is a multi-chrome metallic brown gel polish.  In some lights, it is a warm red-brown with a light aquamarine-like blue-green duochrome.  In others, it is much more fuchsia toned with a violet to light lavender-blue duochrome.  The shifts in color were so different, sometimes I felt like I was wearing two different gel polishes in one!  I took two pictures in the same setting, one in the sunlight and one without any direct sunlight, to show you how different it can look:

 

It reminds me a little bit of that famous MAC cosmetics pigment called "Blue Brown", or their very similar eye shadow called "Club"--but more awesome!  Funnily enough, I'm not sure if this was the most flattering color on my skin tone, especially with the very warm brown base, but I was so enamored by the shifting colors that I didn't even really care. 

And again...I couldn't stop trying to take pictures.  I was trying to capture the multiple shifts all in one photograph--I think I kind of succeeded!

 

Formula-wise, it required three coats for full coverage, although you could probably get away with two if you have shorter nails. 

I'm so excited to find out if FingerPaints has more duochrome gel polishes now! I think there's one more I'm missing--a blue-pink color.