Mani Monday: Some Bargains and Where I Found Them

I’ve gotten way behind on my Mani Monday posts, so once again we’re doing several manicures at once. Let’s start with this past week. I wore Zoya Azalea, which I found half price at my local Ulta. Ulta is hit or miss for bargains on polishes. I either totally score, or I walk away with nothin’. They have a rather hidden clearance section, and sometimes nail polish is there, but sometimes it’s actually in the nail polish section, often on the bottom shelf.

Zoya Azalea in Not My Car--I had a rental for work. I was not actually driving when I took this photo! — Zoya Azalea in not my car–I had a rental for work. I was not actually driving when I took this photo!

This polish is pretty, and I liked it fairly well. It applied nicely. It dried to kind of a semi-matte finish, which I don’t love, so I used my essie Gel Setter top coat to make it shine. In the bottle this has a bit of holographic shimmer, but I really couldn’t see that much on the nail. It wore pretty well, considering how my nail polish normally chips. I touched this up a time or two during the week, and mostly it looked great.

The previous week, I wore this polish from the OPI Venice Collection. I got several of these at JC Penny on clearance. The JC Penny salon is actually a great place to get OPI’s collection before whatever collection is new at a good price. Essentially they always get the full display for whatever newest thing OPI has out, and they put the previous one all on clearance. Plus, you can then use those awesome JC Penny coupons and save even more!

Apparently my second bottle of I Cannoli Wear OPI, with a bad shadow from my cell phone.

This is I Cannoli Wear OPI, a color I suspected I already had, but knew I really wanted, so bought anyway. (I did already have it. Damn.) Okay, I like this one, but you should know, it’s totally grey in the bottle. And it totally looked grey to me on my nails, but it looks blue in this photo, and everyone who complimented me on my nails that week (and there were a lot, so there’s that) complimented me on my BLUE nails. Anyway, you should also know that I had to do three coats to get it this opaque, and even then, there were some streaks that bothered me all week. It wore pretty well, with my usual amount of chips and touch ups.

OPI Rich Girls and Po Boys. Look at that Olivia song on my XM Radio! One you don't often hear. — OPI Rich Girls and Po Boys. Look at that Olivia song on my XM Radio! One you don’t often hear.

This one for reals is blue, another OPI, from the New Orleans Collection, Rich Girls and Po Boys. This applied like a dream. Two coats and opaque, and an easy to work with formula. Also, I got major compliments on this polish all week. The color is pretty true in this photo. I’d call it a cornflower blue, and it’s a cream. It wore pretty well too. This photo may even be a day or two into my manicure. I’m sure I eventually had some chips and had to touch up, but not bad.

OPI She's a Bad Muffuletta, with flowers on one nail because FUN. — OPI She’s a Bad Muffuletta, with flowers on one nail because FUN.

And the last one for this post, another OPI New Orleans Collection one, She’s a Bad Muffuletta. Another cream with a good formula. Maybe not a very unique color, but I like it. It’s a bit off because I topped it with a coat of my Sally Hansen Miracle Gel topcoat, and somehow it’s got dark streaks in it now?! Anybody else had this happen? I need to get a new one I guess, or stick to Essie. The color showing on my pinkie is the most accurate.

Nobody much noticed my manicure that week, until I got crazy ya’ll and decided to do a stamp on my accent nail on about Thursday. The stamp plate is from MASH, plate 45. The white polish is Konad Nail Art Stamping Polish in White.

So there ya go. Four weeks of manicures. This week I’m super excited to be using Essie’s Gel Couture polish and topcoat for the first time! Wear test with images coming soon. For science.

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