Classic Color: Sexy Divide...with a twist!

Quick weirdness update: If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen my tweets about asking my doc why in the hell my fingertips and cuticles have been swelling and flaking even when I'm babying them. Well, it turns out that I have extremely sensitive skin on my hands (just like my face - I can't use any soap products, lotions, or chemical products on my face unless I want to be red as a tomato, shedding like a snake and feel like thousands of tiny needles are poking me in the face), and all those wonderful cuticle products I've been using have actually been irritating the hell out of my skin. So I get to be very very light with the cuticle remover, and can't use it too often, as well as cutting out most of my cuticle balms and oils in favor of all natural balms or Olive Oil. Fun stuff. Anyone have any recommendations for good cuticle removers and creams/balms that don't have a ton of irritating chemicals or acidic ingredients? I'm tired of having swollen cuticles and painful fingertips.

Now, on to the polish!

I really felt like wearing Sexy Divide today. I have been holding on off on wearing her for some time now, and I just had to give in today. I love Sexy Divide like crazy..one of my all time fave purples.

Sexy Divide is from Essie's Winter 2008 Collection. She's a bright, saturated purple with pink and blue shimmer, and another color that I have yet to see look as wonderful in swatches as she does in person. This is one color that I will never be without!

Here is Sexy Divide on her own:

Isn't Sexy Divide....well, sexy? I couldn't' really manage to catch any of the blue shimmer in my lightbox. It seems to really only come out to play in sunlight, which I am all out of at the moment. It's been a bit gloomy here this week. Formula on this gal is a little on the thin side; I used 2 coats but seeing it in pictures, it really could've used 3. Otherwise this polish is perfection and I really have no complaints.

I wore Sexy Divide alone for a day, but I just couldn't wait to play with China Glaze Luxe and Lush, so decided to layer it over SD. I'm still not sure if I like this combo, but at least you can see all the colors that Luxe and Lush has to share. L & L is from The China Glaze Hunger Games/Capital Colours Collection, and is one of my very faves. It's a flakie polish, but these flakies are very thick and chunky, and there is a lot of playing with flakie placement with this girl. So far she looks a little different over every color I have tried her with, but showed more color with Sexy Divide than any other.

Luxe and Lush tends to lean the usual copper/green/teal that we're used to seeeing with Flakies over most polish. Layered over a deep purple she shows all of those colors at once, instead of flashes here and there. However, Luxe and Lush has a secret! Hopefully I'll be able to swatch them on my hands soon, but on my color wheel when I layered this baby over deep pinks, teal and baby blue? The colors morphed into more of a fiery red and irridescent blue. Very cool. I foresee this polish getting a lot of use, and I apologize in advance if I end up spamming you with it.

Formula wise Luxe and Lush is VERY thick, and if you want more than just slight scatters of flakies you'll be spending some time pushing flakes around on your nail. I started off that way with my thumb, but my time to play was running out, so I just used 2 coats and hoped for the best. The flakies themselves are also very heavy, leaving the nail slightly textured. Nothing a coat of gelous can't smooth out if you like your nails to be smooth.  I'm picking up a backup bottle of L & L tomorrow since I just love the heavy mylar flakies so much.

I can't wait to wear this layered over Stone Cold! I think that's my very fave combination right now. Are you planning on picking up Luxe and Lush? What do you think of these chunky flakies?

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection, Smoke and Ashes

Hi guys! Hope you're having a fabulous week!

Today I have my first polish from China Glaze's Hunger Games/Capitol Colours Collection, Smoke & Ashes. S&A is a blackened blue/green glass fleck, very reminiscent of Blk-Bila-Bong. I have a love for blackened blues and greens, and since this polish combines both, it was the first one I grabbed. I'll be honest with you, I have yet to see a swatch that does this color justice. In person the green and blue flecks, although muted, are much more apparent. I was mildly disappointed that the color fell flat on the nail as opposed to how gorgeous it is in the bottle, but in the right lighting it really is beautiful.  Of course, this color combo is being done to death lately, so it's really not a huge stand out for me.

Here she is in the lightbox: (Forgive my fingertips/cuticles! I tried to catch a falling cactus and paid dearly for it. I realized mid-catch that I probably shouldn't be trying to save flying pointy plants, but the damage was done. And I didn't even manage to save the damned thing! It ended up falling right out of it's little pot.)

And a couple in sunlight (still couldn't capture much of that blue/green glass fleck goodness):

I do love this polish, but I really am a bit disappointed that it doesn't translate that well on the nail.  I keep buying blackened blue/glass fleck colors and hoping this will be the one that really shines, and none of them ever translate like I want them to. So far this is the winner, but I'll still be on the lookout for one that outdoes them all!

Formula on this baby was amazing at first - thick, but not gloppy, easy to work with and no dragging or balding. However it did glop up quickly and I had to add a bit of thinner to keep it from glopping onto my nails like tar. Wear was average, with some minor tip wear and one chip on day 2.  Keep in mind that my idea of wear is pretty rough; I work with dogs for a living and have a 21 month old, so I'm incredibly hard on my polish. What wears average for me is usually really good for most.

I'm looking forward to playing with the other 2 polishes I grabbed from this collection. My Sally's only had 4 colors left, 3 of which they had to go hunt in the back for. I'm hoping that they get more in soon since I really want Agro and Electrify.  I did manage to pick up the much coveted Luxe & Lush, that I plan on using tonight. I can't wait to play with that baby!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber