Essie - Exposure | Swatches & Review

You'll have to excuse my wonky nubbin' nails - they're STILL recovering after having acrylics back in the beginning of June. My poor nails just haven't been the same. And even when my nails look like poo, I can't resist painting them fun, bright colors. So despite my funky fingernails, I had to show you this  polish. (It's not new to the polish world, but I picked it up only recently -- I'm always so late on the polish game!)

Say hello to Essie's "Exposure", a hot pink cream polish. There's no shimmer or glitter to this beaut, it's just plain ol' hot pink and I absolutely love it. I also used Exposure on my toes too, and it is the perfect summer pedicure color.

For this manicure, I used two coats for full opacity and topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. I have experienced some chipping along the tip of my nail within just 1-2 days, however I do think that's because of the top coat and not a testament to the staying power of this Essie polish.

While I'm not sure this color can be found in stores anymore, I do know you can find it on Amazon and eBay so if you love it - go get it! 

What are you wearing on your nails? Let me know!

Quick Look: Sally Hansen - Grape Race

Here's a quick peek at Sally Hansen's Insta Dri polish in Grape Race. This is part of a limited edition collection that didn't seem to have a name, but it came out this past spring. This is a really beautiful milky purple creme polish. The application was effortless, and the nice thing about the brushes on these Insta Dri polishes is they have rounded tips which make it really easy to get every bit of the nail covered without making a huge mess (especially nice if you have a hard time staying within the lines!)

I really enjoy the Insta Dri line by Sally Hansen, and Grape Race is yet another that I love. I've received quite a few compliments on this color, and I have to agree - it's gorgeous!

The accent nail is a purple glitter crackle from China Glaze called Luminous Lavender. I don't like how this looks at all - really it just looks like I have weird chunky glitter on my nail. Truth be told, I'm over crackle polish but I hadn't ever tried this one and wanted it out of my untried stash. 

I topped this manicure off with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat and wa-lah!

What are you wearing this Wednesday? 

Sally Hansen - Get Juiced

Could I have picked a better color to start out August with, or what? This gorgeous coral creme is absolutely perfect for celebrating summer. This is two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Get Juiced (400), topped off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat (one of my absolute favorite top coats.) The "Complete Salon Manicure" line claims to be a base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, color, top coat, chip-resistant and a gel finish all in 1 bottle - however, I think I'll take my chances and use a base and top coat to ensure even less chipping happens. 

One thing I especially love about this polish is the brush applicator. It has a rounded end which makes for very easy and precise application. Get Juiced went on very well, wasn't too sticky, and dried quickly. 

I'm fairly certain I have a couple other colors just like this (I'm especially reminded of Sally Hansen's Coral Reef) but I am a sucker for true coral colors like this one. I'm not sure there's a color that says "SUMMER!" quite as well as coral, don't you agree?

What's your go-to summer color?

OPI - Big Hair... Big Nails

Today I've got an oldie but a goodie, and one I've never tried. It's called Big Hair...Big Nails (LOVE that name) and it's from OPI's Texas Collection which came out in spring of 2011. 

To me, this color screams SUMMER not spring, but that's really beside the point. This is a gorgeous pinkish orange jelly. The application was very smooth and easy to work with. As with most jellies, one coat would not be enough, unless you like the streaky nail look. I used three coats and as you can see, I still have some visible nail line (jellies like Big Hair...Big Nails finish kind of see through).

If you like this color, you might also like Kate by Zoya or Coraline which is also a Zoya polish. I think the plain old jelly fad has kind of passed (now on to jelly sandwiches - layering glitters with jellies) but I still think they're really fun, and this color is certainly really pretty. What do you think?