Greens #5, 6 &7

I just put on my 7th green and I'm loving this theme month. I've been saving my greens for so long and pulling them out now is so much fun! Yesterday I put on one of the Sally Hansen HD's, Hi-Def. These came out last summer and this green was actually the start of my collection. And it was a big sad disappointment. Streaky, sheer, and so many bubbles! Also since this was the first nail polish I had worn in 8+ years, my family teased me about my "Kermit fingers". They've gotten used to my love of greens now though so it's all good. But even though I didn't like the formula on this HD, I bought another 5 colors, mostly because I didn't know where to buy other nail polish in my tiny town and I still hadn't heard about Transdesign (discovering that was like the best. day. evar.), and partly because the rainbow of 8 colors looked so cute together. Anyways, I pulled it out again yesterday to see if my feelings had changed about it.... Nope. Still hate it. This was with 4 sloppy coats.



I only wore Hi-Def for about 45 minutes before pulling out one of my new Sally Hansens, Going Green. I've never tried Xtreme Wear, but I loved it! Check out this green! I thought it was a cream and was a little disappointed when I brought it out in the sunlight at home and saw shimmer, but after wearing it I was really happy with it. This is with 2 coats. I liked the application with this, the brush was pretty wide but super manageable; this picture was taken with no cleanup! I'm such a klutz and I've never been able to stay in the lines but this polish made it easy.



I've been stalking my Walgreens and even Walmart for 10 days trying to get the new Maybelline Minty. A wonderful NBer read about my plight and offered to swap me her extra, which arrived yesterday. I just put this one on for green #7, and wow. Wow. Wow!! This is my new favorite mint! The application was maybe not as smooth as my all-time favorite, RGB Minty, but it was a lot better than 90% of my other mints. The first coat was streaky, the second evened it out a bit, but the third coat was flawless perfection. I need to go back to stalking the drugstore so I can get a back up!




I also did a quick comparison swatch but I didn't take the time to clean up as acetone is drying out my skin terribly, so please excuse the mess. Left to right is China Glaze Re-fresh Mint, Maybelline Minty, RGB Minty and Essie Mint Candy Apple. MCA doesn't really have anything to do with Minty, but it seems like everyone has MCA so it's a good one for comparison.



I'd also like to let you all know that in addition to being a klutz with nail polish, I'm totally forgetful. Wonderful reader Isa asked me who the winner of my Who Loves Purple? giveway was and I realized I completely forgot to post the wrap up! Reader Caitlin, who is new to nail polish, won 3 awesome purples to expand her collection. Congrats, Caitlin!

I'm planning on doing another giveway sometime in April and was planning on doing a theme of my newest obsession, coral. But since YOU guys are the one winning polish, I'll let you decide! Vote in the poll on the sidebar for which color family you'd like to win! I'm also accepting write-in votes, leave a comment on this post with your suggestion.

Mint Comparisons

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Minty Fresh

Today I have more lovely mint shades! I recently found OPI's discontinued Hey! Get in Lime! for what I thought was a reasonable deal on Ebay. And while I generally don't like to buy from the auction site in this case it was totally worth it! While it took 4 coats and seemed kinda watery the end result is beautiful. If you are at all lemming this, pick it up before you won't be able to find it for under $20.

Claire's Dream Catcher is super popular right now. Just google search for "Dream Catcher Channel Jade Dupe" and you'll see why. While it's not a dead on dupe, it's just a touch more yellow based, it's close enough for you to close your eyes and think of Jade. This one is a super bargain too, I think Claire's always has BOGO 50% off on their nail polish. The application was a little finicky but not the worst I've ever dealt with. This was 4 coats.

Essie Mint Candy Apple was also popular this last month but it seemed like the jury was split on this one. You either loved it or didn't. I loved it, but not as a mint. It's more of a robin's egg blue. This is one you have to see in person because almost every picture I've seen makes it look chalky and pastel-ish and it's really not. It's bold and smooth. This applied really well with 2 coats but I needed a third to cover up some bald spots.


So my mint collection is growing slowly! Anyone have any recommendations I should hunt down?

American Apparel Nail Polish

I've never really shopped at American Apparel before, but after seeing their new nail polish line I was in love. The shades are hip and cool and very workable. So I took a chance and ordered three nail polishes hoping they'd be okay. And guess what? They're better than that. Much better. They applied so smooth that when I was doing comparison swatches with RBL, I kept thinking, "Wow, these $6 polishes are on par with ones 3 times the price!" The polishes are so pigmented that you can get away with one coat easily and the lacquer flows over the nail in a few seconds without any manipulation from the brush. I think I'll be picking up a few more!

Peacock is a lovely super blue teal. This is one coat.



Office is a dusty mint shade that was instant love. I'm wearing it now and it's subtle but so pretty!




Hunter is a deep dark slightly muddy green. Dried darker than the bottle and is near black in some lights.


And for fun here are some comparison pictures. Peacock next to RBL teal. Teal is much deeper and Peacock almost looks like Muse, but I've seen a few other swatches and Peacock is much bluer.



Here's Office in the middle with RGB Minty on the left and Essie's Mint Candy Apple on the right. Though Minty still reigns as my fave, I love office for it's dustiness! Great addition to any mint collection.


Hunter is a million miles away from RBL's recycle. It's very opaque so it's nice if you want a non-jelly deep green. It has a bit of a bluey-browny quality to it too.

If you have a store near you, I know they sell these for 3 for $15 rather than $6 for an individual. And if you can only order online, do a quick search for coupon codes! They often have free shipping or 10-15% off.

The beginning of my mint obsession

As a flavor, I hate mint. It makes me gag. I really like chocolate cake but if I see it garnished with a mint leaf I turn my nose at it. Yuck. But mint nail polish? That's a horse of a different color. I'm obsessed with mint. Yesterday I received Essie's Mint Candy Apple in the mail with my latest TransDesign order. I hadn't tried it yet but today RGB Minty came in the mail. Of course the mail came 5 minutes before my German final and it's all I could think about during the entire test.

RGB intrigued me when I saw some of their early swatches. They have common colors but unique hues, and I've been quite interested in Cognac, Steel and Slate, but Minty was something I had to have after seeing it on a few blogs. The formula was thick, but it applied amazingly well. It was self leveling and I am amazed to say that these pictures were done with one coat of polish. I've heard they wear well, which is good, I don't plan on changing my polish again until Friday. And the color. Well, I'll let the picture speak for itself. It's wonderful. A new favorite!

I also took a comparison picture with Mint Candy Apple and the only other similar color I currently have, which is For Audrey. You can see that MCA is a bit more blue than Minty, but it's still nice. I am looking forward to trying that too.

Minty on my first two fingers, MCA on the ring finger and For Audrey on my pinkie.