Honest Babes

I pretty much covered my description of Obscurity here, but I do want to say that Obscurity's wear does depend on the quality of your base.  I must've used CND's Stickey (my non-Big 3 Free bottle, no less ) or Ridge Out (possibly more likely ) as a base coat this time, and the wear has greatly improved.  I wouldn't bank on this color lasting forever- I have the very, very tiniest bit of tipwear after a few days- but the lasting quality is not as poor as I had once believed.

In these images, the base coat on long nails is NailTek Foundation II.  On the short nails, it's one of the CND base coats I mentioned above.

Can you guess what book that is?

Orly's Plastix is a limited edition collection of four colors with a really interesting finish.  Despite how airbrushed or Photoshopped the polishes look on my nail, you only need look at my poor, starved for moisture cuticles to see that the picture hasn't been altered.  (OK, I may have used the blur tool on some of the more heinous cuticle parts, but not on the nails or colors themselves! )  The bottles say, "unique texture effect nail lacquer" and I gotta admit- the texture is pretty darn cool.

On my thumb is Retro Red (40738), which seemed to be the hot seller at my Ulta.  Two coats didn't seem to be enough, so I did three, but that could be my fault, not application issues. With the extra coat, the drying time did seem to be affected; I did get some subtle lines in the polish as it was drying.  I must have hit my shirt with my nail while it was drying.   The color is more of an orange red, though there may be a smidge of pink in there, too.  It's more vibrant than what you see in the bottle (also pictured), but then, the bottle is frosted.  I liked the name of Old School Orange, which is a straight up orange, but it's not a color I wear often.  I left it for someone else to enjoy.  On my index finger is Purple Pleather (40740), and it's pretty much purple.  It's darker on than it looks in the bottle.  Two coats was good for it and the color on my middle finger.  Viridian Vinyl (40741) is blue green, though it may lean a bit more teal than green.  It's more vibrant and darker than the bottle.

To compare, I added two coats of Wet n Wild Black Crème covered in CND's Super Matte topcoat (ring finger) and two coats of Orly Iron Butterfly (40255) on my pinkie.  The Plastix formula is in between the still slightly shiny finish of Super Matte and the matte finish of Iron Butterfly.Full sun pictures!

I found five of the six Essie Wedding 2010 polishes today, as well as a promotional flier regarding CND's Spring/Summer 2010 limited edition Color and Effect.  Pillow Talk (714) is the only Essie I'm missing from the Wedding collex, but I doubt I'm really missing all that much, if you get my drift...You know what to do if you're interested...

I can't say I'm in love with OPI's Holiday collection this year, but it is a solid collection.  I don't think there are any standouts that a polish collector really has to have, though Merry Midnight and Shim-merry Chic are rather unusual and worth a look.

PICTURE AND FRAZZLE HEAVY

For my final new CND post, I have Inkwell and Oilslick.  These two polishes are verrrry similar, so perhaps not so stunning by themselves.  But wait until you see the Effects over them!   No basecoat and no topcoat on these either... we were going for speed! Read more »

I've already used CND Rose Water for a manicure, but here's a no basecoat and no topcoat swatch of it with more Effects over it.  I'm also including CND Tutu in this post, since it's pink and lighter than the other two colors I'm going to post.  One thing I haven't mentioned about the new caps is that the rubber somehow shards off the handle.  It ends up on the bottle, the neck of the polish, and occasionally in the bottle itself.  Anyway, here's more about Rose Water and Tutu...Read more »

Here are some more no basecoat and no topcoat pictures of CND polishes.  This time, it's Silver Chrome and Green Scene.Read more »

CND's new line goes on sale today, so here are some no basecoat and no topcoat swatches of CND's Bloodline and Dark Ruby, plus four Effects. I have three more sets of two polishes each to post, so look for those later in the day. And away we go!Read more »

I really had high hopes for CND's new Super Matte topcoat.  It's described on the box as "a protective top coat that transforms glossy nail color into a modern matte finish."  The directions advise applying a CND basecoat (I used the new Ridge Out), two coats of CND polish (I used the new color Dark Ruby (#540/Cool/Opaque)), and then one coat of Super Matte.

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I figured I'd try out the lighter of the two CND reds I got since it's "True Blood" night and the polish name is blood-themed.  Bloodline (#529/Cool/Opaque) looks like a kind of blah darker red in the bottle.  But on the nail, it definitely looks better.  Depending on the light, the color (at two coats) is a medium to dark cherry crème.  I would suggest being careful when applying this one.  I can see where only one layer of polish is on certain sections of my nails, and it looks sloppy.  (Speaking my application with this one wasn't stellar to begin with. )  I do think it's a pretty shade of red for cool-toned gals.  I used two coats on every finger but one.  A third coat darkened the base color by a half a shade to a full shade.  I used two coats of Essie Fill the Gap! for a basecoat and Seche Vite for topcoat and I do have some tipwear and chips already.  I think my Seche is having issues, though...

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Since my nails are getting long, I decided to try the only sheer French/American-style sheer CND I bought.  Rose Water (#505/Cool/Sheer) looks like the usual milky pink sheer in the bottle.  On the nail, it was much more of a hint of tint, a your nails but better healthy shine.  I did three coats of Rose Water until I felt it had adequately softened the look of the moons of my nails.  My nails looked nice and presentable, but not all that interesting.  This is the kind of polish someone might reach for if they needed natural-looking nails that aren't distracting.

But what fun is it if your nails aren't distracting? Read more »

Just in case y'all aren't convinced that this blog will be offering no T&A... let's talk nail polish.  Back in the day, Creative Nail Design offered seasonal collections plus a core group of polish colors.  This included Rock Royalty, Hyde in the Dark, Cuppa Joe, Blue Blood and NFS.  Creative shortened their name to CND and discontinued the polish line.  CND was still doing nails for fashion shows and still manufacturing their other products, but there was no word on what CND would do with their polish.Read more »

Coming soon: new CND colors. Sorry, no boobs, military dating, etc.