A Little SFW Spam

Sometimes having a job...sucks.  I mostly like mine.  Mostly.  If I could change one thing though, it'd be the rules about polish.  They're un-fun...and vague!  The only guidelines are "conservative and simple" and the person who might randomly show up and judge my polish can interpret that however they want.  When the hammer first came down on my polishing habits, I panicked.  That was about a year ago.  Since then, I've learned to not just tolerate SFW polish, but to actually love it more than I'd ever have guessed.  I almost always post my work manis on Instagram, but they only occasionally wind up here.  Time to fix that a bit!


Color Club Cherubic is a soft gold linear holo.

When the Color Club Halo Hues collections came out, I took many long looks at them.  Almost all mass-market holos have the same problem for me.  They're bland.  If the holo isn't wimpy, then the color palette is silver, gold, maybe a few pastels, maybe a somewhat washed-out darker color.  Plenty of people like soft colors, but they're not generally vary flattering on me, so I tend to avoid them.  Out of the twelve Halo Hues shades, I originally only bought Beyond.  Then suddenly the nail supply had Halo Hues...and a $2.25 price tag turned my head.  I bought Cherubic and Cosmic Fate, mostly for stamping.  The next day, I had a whim and threw Cherubic on for work.  I'm not completely sure about it.  It applied beautifully (this is two coats), lasted admirably (even though I dug my car out of the snow), and the flame is great, but I don't know.  It's such a soft gold that I think I make it look a bit gray.

I wore it for several days, but could never really reached a real verdict.  It did stamp perfectly though!  Can't argue with this flame either...I'm just not sure about that base color.

Sally Hansen Crystalline is a sheer white satin with soft yellow, blue, and pink shimmer.

one coat over Revlon Trade Winds

You may have seen Crystalline here before.  It's actually been shown twice.  While I'm not crazy about it on its own, I do love it for layering, especially over my perfect nude.  I smiled at this combo a lot and posted it on Instagram three times.  Click here, here, and here to see it "in action".


Sephora by OPI Dance Til Fawn is a medium warm gray cream.

Woohoo one-coater!  This is another of my Big Lots finds and I'd glowingly recommend it.  It's probably in my top three from this discontinued line.  It was the base for one of my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri stamping looks.  It dries darker than I usually like to wear to work, so I'm not sure if I'll pick it for that again, but I do love it!


Revlon Bare Bones is a soft bisque cream.

I bought Bare Bones at Big Lots too and I'm surprised that it doesn't look ghastly on me.  It's not the most flattering thing ever, but it's not too bad either.  This is two coats, but I'd probably add a third for wear on its own, since it was a touch patchy.  It was the base for the next one, and I never wore it to work as-is.


Chelsea L.A. Springs is a rose-to-gold duochrome shimmer.

two coats over Revlon Bare Bones

I bought L.A. Springs on the same nail supply trip as Cherubic and Cosmic Fate.  I was poking around their dusty assortment of old Sations and Chelseas looking for a treasure for a friend when I kept finding bottles of this, so I threw one into my basket.  The color's a bit retro (in a way I'm not sure is good) but I figured it might be cool for stamping.  Plus it was only a dollar.  It was crazy thick, but thinner set it right.  It really didn't apply badly at all.  Very little brushstroking and no bubbles or other hooey.  I've gotta say though...it's....weird.  At times the shift is almost green.  I don't have a firm opinion on this one either.  It wrinkled when I was napping and I took it off the next day.  I haven't tried stamping with it yet.

two coats over Revlon Bare Bones

I linked to it up at the top of the post, but if you're on the hunt for SFW inspiration or recommendations, be sure to check out our SFW tag for more ideas.