Dear Rus Shade Shift 09

I love thermal polish...when it works.  I'm always a little wary when trying a new one, but this one was only $6 when I was placing that big-ish Llarowe order last month.  I did a quick google and found swatches on A Little Polish.  It's hard to really tell on short nails, but it seemed like decent stuff, so it went in my cart.  I broke it out to wear as a work mani last week.


Shade Shift 09 is a bright-to-dark orangey gold thermal shimmer.

warm

Rainbow Honey June 2014 Mystery Bag

In the interests of trying new things, I picked up a mystery bag from Rainbow Honey. I have seen so many awesome pictures featuring this stuff, but I had never tried it...and since I've been making an effort to investigate more indie-everything, I figured this was the perfect time. It just so happened that I had exactly $10 left in my paypal account. It was meant to be.

Dance Legend Argus and Dorado

I've said it before.  If there was a Dance Legend store in NYC, I'd make the trip...probably far too often.  As gorgeous as their polishes look in photos, every single one I've worn has been even better in person.  Many are even mesmerizing in the bottle.  I gasped out loud the first time I saw the Caviar Shine collection on their website.  They're all a mix of tiny black and white glitter, most in jelly bases and with a kick of shimmer.  The white glitter is...square!  I figured they'd be too tiny to really see, but I was still so drawn to the two in clear bases, Argus and Dorado.  I wound up buying them from Llarowe a few weeks ago and I spent more time than I should admit just turning the bottles over in my hands and watching the glitter and shimmer flow around.  Somehow it took me a little while to actually wear them.  So glad I finally did!  I'm in love!

Ipsy Bag: June 2014

I should really call this "A Tale of Two Bags" this month. My original bag arrived reeking of perfume and beach spray, so they sent me a second one. Hooray Ipsy. I'm hoping that it doesn't turn into another Augustember. But if it does, I am totally prepared to post a "Junly 2014" bag.

Spreadsheets - Know Your Stash

When people find out how much polish I have, one of the questions I usually get is "How do you keep track of it all?"  I'd be lost without my beloved spreadsheet.  Nail Board made me do it back when I first really started growing my stash.  I'm so glad they did!  I only had maybe 150 when I created the spreadsheet.  Adding to it as my collection grew was much easier than starting later would have been.  Keeping up with it has been work, especially if I do a BIG haul, but it's become vital to the way I use and store my polish.  There's been a page with a link to mine and a template to make your own, but I've never given it the post it deserves.  Time to fix that!

Here's an almost pointless screenshot of my spreadsheet as-is, just to get things rolling.  I use Google Drive.

Gothic Gala Lacquers: Floor 500

It feels like the wrong time of year for this color, but I am trying to get through my increasing horde of untried polishes. There are some that I have completely forgotten about, like this one from Gothic Gala. I feel ashamed  now, because this one is positively beautiful.

Sally Hansen On Pines and Needles

Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure line quickly became one of my favorites once I got back into polish.  I'd really liked their old Salon line, so I went in with fairly high expectations.  Overall, they don't disappoint, so my eyebrows went up when I saw this post on Nouveau Cheap.  I'd wondered what shades might be replacing the ones dropped in recent clearances.  I found the display at CVS a few days later and spent a long time making up my mind.  So far I've only bought On Pines And Needles, but I've eyed a few others.  Camelflage looks like it might be a good nude for me.  I'll be trying it soon, I'm sure.  Everything in this Luxe Jewels display catches my interest except for the white, Let's Snow.  I hope these really are new core shades like they seem to be, since I want at least a couple more.  I usually wait until I've gotten all of my picks from a new collection or display, but this deep green beauty was calling to me.


On Pines And Needles is a deep pine green with fine, dense blue-green shimmer.

It's beautiful, isn't it?  Deep and dark, but it didn't look black on me in any light.  Oh man is it THICK though!  Crazy thick, and almost unworkable.  I'm gonna be adding some thinner before I use it again...but I'll absolutely use it again.  This is two coats because it's opaque enough to probably be a one-coater, but it went on so unevenly that I needed a second coat.  G.'s experience was completely different, so I'm a bit confused.  Maybe it varies by batch and we got bottles from two different batches?  Mine may have evaporated in shipping or something...I don't know.  I just know that it was a world of glop...but I love the color, so hopefully a bit of thinner will fix it up.

Bottom line:  My bottle went on absurdly thick, but I love the color!


Have you tried this shade yet?  How'd yours apply?

The Planets: Mercury

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to space. Not about the science of it, really. I am not a big fan of math. But planets absolutely fascinate me. Space travel, nebulae, stars...its all so amazing and awesome. It's no secret that I am fighting a bit of a rut these days, and I figured that there may be no better time to finally do one of the pet projects I've had in my head for years. So, without further ado, lets start the show!

Sinful Colors Turn Up The Heat

There are so many new Sinful Colors displays this summer that I've been kinda trickling them out so they don't flood out everything else I post.  The "new" is starting to be a stretch for these, since they first started showing up in April...but oh well.  I'm definitely still seeing them in stores.  In this area that includes Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Wegmans.  Like the name suggests, the colors in this display are brighter and bolder than those in Chill Out.  There are four new shades, one new-ish, and three older repromotes.  This doesn't happen that often, but I have all of them.  Hooray for the 99¢ sale at Walgreens!  Let's take a look...

Hand Placed Glitter is Insane

A certain young lady that I admire, from Instagram and Reddit respectively, has a flair for manicures featuring hand placed glitter. It is madness and beauty and a little bit of witchcraft. I want to learn this skill. I want to master it. But first, baby steps with whatever random glitter I have laying about.

A Hairbrush Brush?

Someday maybe I'll do a hair post that isn't even slightly gross.  This isn't that day.  If you're sensitive, you might wanna skip this one entirely.  If you're not and you've ever been skeeved by your own hairbrush, read on!

When your hair is a few feet long, your hairbrush fills up with shed hair quickly.  I have to clean mine pretty often, but I never felt like I got it really clean.  I know I'm not the only one who gets this weird buildup of lint at the bases of the pins.  Back before I cared about my nails, I'd pick it out by hand, then wash my hands and the brush.  Now I try not to use my nails as tools, so my brush has become a linty disaster.  When I wash it, all I get is wet lint.  I got fed up one day and googled "hairbrush cleaner".  Chinese sellers on eBay have dozens of listings for exactly that, so I ordered one.  One dollar and few weeks later, here it is!

DIY Color Correcting Polish for Yellow Nails

Wearing nail polish is a glorious thing. But it does come with a few drawbacks...chiefly the severe yellowing of the nails. For some insane reason, I want my nails to be normal colored and I still want to wear polish all the time. Bleaches, scrubs, and nonsense just don't work for me. It's time to break out some science on this problem.

A Little Bit Of OPI Spam

My 70-some untried OPI's have been weighing on my conscience.  As a fangirl they're a bit embarrassing.   For every shade I've worn, there's another I haven't.  I own some real classics that I've only admired in the bottles so far.  I don't have all of my lemmings, but I do have a collection I adore.  At this point I'm kinda tempted to do a whole OPI week sometime.  Could happen.  For now I've been making a point of using them for undies and work manis and slowly chipping away at my backlog.  It's been a great reminder of what makes them my favorite!


Mermaid's Tears is a pale, dusty green cream.

Bleached Neons and Tape

It feels like I might be back on the nail-art horse again! Today's offering is a ridiculously complex manicure made with striping tape, some bleached neons, and some random black polish from a flocking kit. I have never tried any sort of taping this detailed, and I am loving the outcome.

My Picks from Sally Hansen Color Foil

I've mentioned that I squeak when I'm happy.  I may have full-on shrieked for pure joy when I saw this post on Nouveau Cheap.  I loved the original Chrome Nail Makeup and Color Quick Chromes and I still have a few.  This new bunch brings back tons of happy old polish memories for me...and maybe for you too.  I wound up with five of the ten shades, some bought at CVS and others at Target, since I had coupons for both stores.  If you're new to chromes, you probably don't know about their reputation.  I'll be blunt.  Chromes are divas.  Get them right and they're glorious.  Slip up and they look awful.  There's a trick to these that has made them so easy though.  I can't say I got them perfect, because I didn't, but...well...judge for yourself.

Feeling Retro

I have been slacking a lot lately when it comes to nail art. It's hard to feel inspired, especially this time of year. My kids are out of school (and at each others throat half the time) and we are trying to keep busy. But for some reason, when I threw on these color to test out the Smoky top coat, I had a flash of inspiration.

Bundle Monster Creative Art Polish - Part 2

Time for a look at more of those new Bundle Monster stamping polishes!  If you missed it, Part 1 was the "basics".  Today I've got the four cooler colors and next time I'll finish up with the brights.  I used only Pueen Buffet plates this time, since my nails have gotten long.  I really wish there were more plates for nails longer than 15mm!  Actually...there will be more very soon, but that's a tangent I'll save for later.  We're here for the polish now, so let's get to it!

Younique. There are Things Other Than Mascara.

 Press Samples 

Younique. A company most famous for scary eyelashes and oppressive sales tactics. Most people who are obsessed with cosmetics are skeptical of them, to put it nicely. Generally, anything that is superawesomefantastic will sell itself without someone having to post a picture of it every eight seconds. The aggressive sales people turned me off, and I wrote the company off all together...until I met a girl named Crystal in a beauty-centric Facebook group. (email me if this interests you) She wasn't pushy, and was actually willing to discuss the merits of this mascara...and told me about the mineral pigments the brand sells. She offered up samplers for anyone who wanted to check them out, and of course I jumped at the chance. 

source

Sinful Colors Opalescent Toppers

Toppers!  My polish addiction has a lot of subsets, but toppers are one of my favorites.  Shades that transform base colors multiply my options and for me polish is all about options.  When I first saw these new, Walgreens-exclusive Sinful Colors Opalescent Toppers on Nouveau Cheap...well...I may have squeaked out loud.  I do that.  It took me a little while to get to Walgreens, but the 99¢ sale happened just in time!  I love when that happens.  I bought all three...and a few others you'll be seeing in upcoming posts.  It took me almost as long to swatch them as it did to buy them, with all of the birthday, blog birthday *coughGIVEAWAYcough*,  and then sinus infection happenings...well at least I'm done now and eager to show these off!

Sally Hansen Big Smoky Top Coat

Trans-formative top coats are not new. Every glitter top coat is basically a transformer. Smoky coats aren't new either, though for the life of me I can't remember who else had them a few years ago (if you do, tell me in the comments? It's killing me). I finally succumbed to the novelty of it, and picked up this one when it was on sale at Target.

Sally Hansen Big Smoky Top Coat

I've been wanting to get my hands on this one for what feels like aaaaaages.  The collection showed up on Nouveau Cheap just after xmas.  In addition to Big Smoky, Big Matte, and Big Shiny there are also Big Crackle, Big Shimmer (which is actually microglitter), and a trio of Big Glitter toppers in this collection.  G. and I were commiserating over not finding it and then suddenly...there it was, turning up everywhere!  I found it at Target first, but waited a few days to get it at CVS instead.  The silly part of this lemming was that I've had a similar topper from NYC for almost two years...and never even used it!  More on that later though.  You might be wondering just what Smoky Top Coat is.  It's a black-tinted topper with a little bit of shimmer, for darkening base colors.  As venividivarnished demonstrated on Nail Board, it's ideal for ombres.  I decided to do something similar-ish, a subtle accent that also shows the level of darkening.


Big Smoky Top Coat is a black-tinted shimmer topper.

accent over Sinful Colors Sheer Genius and Zoya Brigitte, no additional topcoat

Review: Stila Stay All Day Lipstick in Firey

I seem to be on a red kick these days, especially with lip colors. For Mother's Day, the "kids" got me a tiny haul from Stila (there was a 40% off coupon. I am no longer buying things without a coupon) and I had my heart set on one of the Stay All Day lipsticks. I had originally wanted Beso, but it was sold out. I decided to take a chance on Firey, and I am so glad I did!

My First Emily de Molly Polishes

I've been sitting on these for a long time...as evidenced by the difference in nail length below. I've been quite distracted by makeup lately, indies and not. A friend sent these to me back in May for my birthday, along with an epic horde of polish, and these got pushed even further to the back of the queue. Which is a shame, because these really are some pretty colors.

KleanColor Femme Lipsticks

I've had these sitting around for a while.  I think I bought two of them last year.  Last month I showed you guys a little layering I did with Teal Attraction and NYX Chambord.  Layering was so much fun that I bought a set of twelve more for $14 from an eBay listing.  There are four different sets of Femme Lipsticks on KleanColor's site.  The twelve I bought from eBay were this entire set.  Teal Attraction is from this bunch and I also have Fiesta from this set.  I grouped all fourteen together for today's post.

CrowsToes Huginn & Muninn

With their dark themes and gorgeous shimmers, I always had it in the back of my mind that when I did eventually succumb to indie polish CrowsToes would be the first.  Turns out it wasn't.  It was the second...and for a weird reason.  My first Llarowe order went several kinds of wrong.  To make it up to me, they gave me "store credit", so I placed a second order.  Huginn & Muninn was the first thing that went into my cart.  I'd been sighing over swatches of the 9 Realms collection in general, but this one in particular.  It's so...me.


Huginn & Muninn has purple/gold/green multichrome shimmer in an indigo jelly base.

DIY Charcoal Masks

It's no secret that I am fond of DIY skincare. I will try most anything at least once, and I have been like this for years. When I was younger, things were easier as my skin was more oily and less sensitive. I could try most things myself without worrying about irritation and misery. As I've gotten older, my skin has changed a lot. I went from clear-but-oily skin to dry/sensitive-and-acne-prone skin. Life is weird.

OPI Opening Night Gold

I've been swearing all year that I'd wear more polish than I buy, but I'm only treading water.  I still have over 750 untrieds!  People ask me pretty often if that bothers me.  For the most part, not really.  I'll get to them someday.  The exception is my 70-ish untried OPI's.  That number bothers me and makes me wish I had more fingers or at least more free time.  They're a collection within a collection, since it's my favorite brand.  I'll buy a pretty new polish from almost any brand if the price is good, but OPI is one of very few brands whose older shades I'll seek out and pay more for.  I've had exceptionally good luck (and gotten a few wonderful gifts) and most of my OPI wishlist is checked off.  Actually wearing them has been another matter.  Most are still sadly untried.  Lately I've been working on fixing that, wearing some as undies when I swatch newer things and others as full manis.  This one was special enough to need its own post.


Opening Night Gold is a soft, bronze-toned gold linear holo.

See what I mean?  Opening Night Gold is part of the pride of my collection.  I still forget sometimes that I have the entire Holiday On Broadway collection.  It feels like a dream because I never hoped to have them all.  I picked up my first three (including Rent and Movin' Out ) here and there.  My birthday gift from The Beard last year brought me the other three shimmers.  Zeus went out of his way and stalked eBay for weeks to get me the holos for xmas.  I'm still blown away by that!  It took me way too long to wear Opening Night Gold, but he was so happy when I finally did.  It's sheer-ish, so I needed three coats.  I'll probably wear one or two over a nude next time instead, to conserve such a special polish.  I always forget just how much I love the black label formula for it's smoothness and easy application...but I also forget how glacial the dry time is!  Even with Seche Vite, I smudged a few nails while cooking and had to fix them up the next day.  I swear older polishes also patch up better too though.  I was able to use acetone to smooth out the lumpy spots and add another coat.  Phew!

I wore ONG for a few days, hoping for sunshine.  By the time I got it, I had a little tipwear.  Sorry about that!  Focus on the beautiful flame and ignore the little margin of bare nail, ok?

There are tons of holos out there now, but there really is something about vintage OPI holos!  I think it's the particle size.  It's not ultra-fine, but it's also not exactly coarse.  The base colors don't get hidden and they never look as dull and frosty as holos by other brands can.

Absolutely gorgeous and classic!  I can't believe I had this for six months before wearing it!

As much fun as old stuff is, I'm eager to get back to new shades.  I liked doing nail art last week for a change, but swatching is my real love!

Sally Hansen Color Foil in Leaden Lilac

I'm not usually one for grabbing whatever shiny new thing I see. But the pictures I've seen of this particular polish made me want them badly. However, I'm in a bit of a polish desert when it comes to new stuff...and I gave up any hope of finding them. 

Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across a completely full display at my local Target! I wanted to grab them all, but instead settled on one color: Leaden Lilac.

Denman Be-Bop Shampoo Massage Brush

I'm flaky.  Personality, skin...but my scalp most of all.  I have seborrheic dermatitis.  My immune system kinda hates my skin in general.  My scalp is harder to treat than most of the rest of it because of my hair, which is fine but fairly dense.  Dandruff shampoo helps a little, along with treatments like Scalpacin and tea tree oil, but this year it wasn't enough.  The Northeast is having a horrendous spring allergy season because of the unusually cold winter.  Even some people who are usually fine are getting the sniffles.  Severely allergic people like me are miserable, congested, wheezy, itchy messes.  My scalp was infuriatingly itchy and the seborrheic buildup was getting out of control.  I swear Nichole reads my mind sometimes.  Right after I started investigating shampoo bushes, she posted about one!  Since she liked hers, I decided it was time for me to try one too.

I went for one that's A) not pink, B) more klutz-friendly, and C) from a brand I know.  This is the Denman Be-Bop Shampoo Massage Brush.

peekaboo

Coastal Scents Revealed 2...and a Surprise

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered...and especially to those who came up with some neat crime fighting duos!

Last week, Coastal Scents ran a special on the new Revealed 2 palette: 50% off!! I finally caved, and bought some stuff from them. I am not sorry. I grabbed some brushes, the original Revealed palette, and the Revealed 2. There was some hauling. Oh yes.

Summer Stripes

For the last post of our blog birthday week, I finally plucked up the nerve to retry a failicure from last summer.  Borrowing Nichole's Red Cloud mani warmed me back up to free-handing, so this seemed like the perfect time to try again.  I think it turned out ok...

neons go a little nuts for the camera

Birthday Gifts: Mac Maleficent

Normally, when it comes to my birthday, I pick out my own gifts and let my kids pretend they gave them to me. (Hey, they're little. If I left it up to them, I'd get rocks and cereal.) This year, my lovely husband completely surprised me by sneaking down to Macy's and grabbing me two pieces from the new-ish Maleficent collection from MAC.

China Glaze Instant Chemistry...Again

Magnetic polish may be passé, but I still love it and it played a big role in the Pretty Girl Science origin story.  This blog wouldn't exist if not for magnetics and the first actual post was my awkward newbie attempt at reviewing China Glaze Instant Chemistry.  I have to wince a little.  It's like looking back at high school photos.  Nichole and I, and the blog in general, have both come so far in the two years since then.  To continue the celebration and the nostalgia, I'm calling a do-over on that old review.


Instant Chemistry is a dark plum magnetic with a frosty plum pull.

Darling Girl Cosmetics Sampler Haul

More indie madness today! I am slowing getting round to trying all of the samplers. (I'm trying not to just swatch-and-stash these things. I want to really get some use out of them, to get a true feeling for the quality.) Today's favorite is Darling Girl Cosmetics. I grabbed another blog sampler from them a while back, and once again I am in love.

A Blog Birthday Present...For One Of You!

Today's the day!  Pretty Girl Science is two years old!  I've hinted about my giveaway, but it obviously wasn't the only surprise.  Nichole and I have been getting the new look (if you're on mobile, look here) ready for a while now and soon we'll have a fancy banner by my sister, Cat.  Nichole's planning a giveaway of her own too!  The celebration's only just starting.

I didn't get to do a giveaway for the blog's birthday last year.  To make up for that, I'm going BIG this time around.  One lucky reader will win their own bottles of FIFTEEN of my favorite polish toppers.  Glitters, shimmers, a jelly, and even a real gold leaf topper could be yours!

The winner will get one bottle each of:

• Essie Shine Of The Times
• Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k Gold
• NYC Shimmer Blast
• NYC Sweet Candy Shimmer Blast
• Sally Hansen Nail Prisms South Sea Pearl
• Sally Hansen Frazzle Dazzle
• L'Oréal The Bigger, The Better
• L'Oréal Sparklicious
• Claire's Splatter Paint
• Sally Hansen Sparkling Rosé
• Sally Hansen HD Byte
• Sinful Colors Green Ocean
• Diamond Cosmetics Dark Blue (jelly)
• Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment
• Love & Beauty Crystal/Black

To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I think I'm as excited to give this gift as the winner will be to get it!  Almost all of these are discontinued or were LE.  Some are even HTF.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

Birthday Fun: DIY Jelly and Flakies

A wonderful friend of mine sent me a nice package for my birthday. Among the shiny things in there were a bottle of NYC Plaza Plumberry and a bottle of Fresh Paint Sugar Crush. Now that I had a spare of Plaza Plumberry (which is a great budget vamp color) I could finally make a jelly version...which of course necessitated a jelly sandwich with the flakies.

Red Clouds Revisited

More blog birthday week fun!  Yesterday we took a look back at some of my old nail art.  Today I'm going back to one of Nichole's old posts from March of last year.  I picked it not just because it's a striking look, but also because it was a bit of a challenge for me.  I don't do much freehand nail art and I've never done clouds before.  Well...not the stylized cloud nail art anyway.  There were clouds in my Earth Day mani.  I figured it was time I try something new and what better for my first clouds than to try to recreate Nichole's first clouds?


She used such bold colors!  I love it!  She says there was shrinkage, but I don't really see it.

Hello Waffle Cosmetics Sampler Haul

I'm still on an indie bender, and I promise these posts are going to be showing up here for the foreseeable future. Today's bucket -o- fun is from Hello Waffle Cosmetics. I first saw these on Reddit months ago, but I was too broke at the time (I try to keep a small stash of cash just for buying polish and makeup) to snatch up her samplers of lip balms. Once I finally had some spare cash, I found that the lip balm samplers were gone...but in their place was the amazing Blogger Sampler. It's a little more spendy than most, but holyshityall...there is a lot of stuff here.

Boho Triangles Revisited

I've hinted at it at the bottom of a few recent posts and mentioned it on Instagram, but now it's time to say it right at the top...PGS turns two this week!  I've been working on a few things to celebrate, but it's not quite time for them yet.  The blog's birthday isn't until Wednesday.  To kick things off, I've revisited something from an old post.  China Glaze's New Bohemian collection was one of the first that I knew about before its release, instead of just happening upon it in a store.  My series of posts playing around with it (pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3) were some of my first to actually get anyone's attention and were some of the earliest that I felt good about showing to people.  My pictures weren't great, but they weren't outright embarrassing anymore.  The whole thing was intoxicating; the anticipation of a new collection, finding it, trying the polishes, showing them off, all of it.  It's a feeling I haven't gotten over yet...and I hope I never do!

The specific nail art that I redid for today was the taped and sponged triangles.

DIY: Mobile Makeup Battlestation with Things You May Already Have

Battlestation, for those who don't know, is a fancy way of saying vanity. The term makes me giggle a bit, because it makes me sound like some kind of warrior and I am definitely not that. But I do need a place to store my most oft-used cosmetics that is easy and within reach. It also needs to be budget friendly, because I still haven't found that damned money tree. What I lack in money, I more than make up for in random boxes...what, I'm a bit of a hoarder!

Walgreens' 99¢ Sinful Colors Sale...AGAIN!

It's only been just over a month since the last 99¢ Sinful Colors Sale at Walgreens, but they're bringing it back again already!  Hooray!  I'm posting today so you guys can take full advantage of the sale (now through 6/7) and because this is going to be a big week around here.  Pretty Girl Science turns two on Wednesday!  Back to the Sinful Colors sale though...  It hasn't been that long since the last one and I don't have all of my summer picks swatched yet, but I figured I might as well stick to my tradition and update with a list of what you might find at your local store.  At the stores I visit, the dregs of Boldacious and Tough Love are still hanging around in some, but I've taken those shades out of this post since they're from months ago.  Walgreens didn't get a St. Patrick's display this year.  They might be in the process of changing the core line too, but I haven't seen any changes locally yet so I can't be sure.  Mod Mod World shades are probably pretty picked-over by now, but should still be relatively findable.  The only parts of Destination Color (see it on Nouveau Cheap) that I've swatched so far are the ones that are also in the Chill Out display and a handful of repromoted shades.  I wish I knew when these sales were coming...but I'm always happy when they do!  I've got my eye on the new Walgreens exclusive toppers and I'm glad I didn't go out and buy them last week like I'd planned.  Enough babble though...swatches!