Pretty Woman NYC

Here are the last of the polishes I received from Pretty Woman NYC, I do want to take a moment to thank the brand for their generosity. I had tried their polish on my own and fallen in love with their product so I am very grateful to have this opportunity to share just how great this brand is. 

I have five different polishes to share with you today and there were was one thing I wanted to bring to your attention. If you read my original post about Pretty Woman NYCs polish called "Pouty" you would know that one of the reasons I loved the polish was because of the brush, it was a medium sized brush but it was very dense and applied the polish quite easily. The story is not the same with these polishes unfortunately, I do not know if their standard brush is as dense as Poutys brush was or if they are all of regular density. If you own any polishes from Pretty Woman NYC, leave me a comment down below about their brush!

Three coats of Neverland Chrome

This polish if from their chrome collection and it is fully opaque at two coats, however the third coat does deepen the color a good amount. The formula on this was a little thicker than the usual consistency of polish but it was still easy to work with.

Three coats of Fairy Chrome

This stunning polish is also from the chrome collection and is absolutely beautiful. I really love green chrome and this one is no exception. Similar to the one above, this is opaque at two coats but the third coat deepens the color. It was fairly hard to photograph but the polish does have a pink, almost fuchsia shift to it.

Three coats of Pale Yellow Ceramic

Pale yellow ceramic has a "ceramic" or demi matte finish to it, so it is not a flat matte. Matte polishes are always fairly hard to work with since they dry so quickly that you don't have enough time to make your strokes even. I found that while two coats made the color fairly opaque, the third coat was really needed to make everything nice and smooth. I do want to make a disclaimer that the bristles on my brush were slightly bent which made it a little harder for me to get rid of the streaks. So you might be able to get away with just two coats. And this is from the ceramic collection.

Three coats of Relationship Goals

This bright bubblegum pink is from their valentines days collection and is stunning. It is very vibrant and I did not have to layer it over a white for it to be bright. This is a lovely color and I just love the way it contrasts with my skin tone.

Two coats of Cherry Bean 

I like to save the best for last and this polish from the Nude collection really stuck out to me. First of all, I enjoy the concept of having a nude collection and while this is not the "proper" nude for my skin tone I find that it still flatters it very nicely. This is almost a smokey taupe, it has more grey than purple and some brown as well. This had a great formula and was really easy to apply. 

Overall, even with the difference in brushes, I still enjoyed these polishes. I would have to say my top two colors have to be pouty and cherry bean they are fairly unique and have amazing formulas. If you have tried any Pretty Woman NYC polishes that you think I should try, leave me a comment down below.

Pretty Woman NYC Gelogic

Hello all,

Today I have a review and wear test of Pretty Woman NYC gelogic line. Their gelogic system is a two piece system which consists of a color and a top coat. The claims made by this system are that their formula resists chipping, cracking, fading and peeling. They do not make any claim for how long this polish will last, it is simply long lasting. Other claims from this line is that one coat should be enough for it to be opaque, it is self leveling and plumping, it dries quickly without a LED or UV light and that it removes with acetone nail polish remover.

For my review, I actually tested the gelogic line using only the color coat because I did not have the titanium top coat that comes with it. I did prep my nails with the Pretty Woman NYC nail detox since the instructions said to clean your nail with nail polish remover. So before I get into the details and results of my wear test, there are a few things I want you all to keep in mind while you read my review. At my job, I am constantly opening drawers that have no handle so I have to reach my fingers in; this eats away at my nail polish quite quickly. I have found that even with using my favorite base and top coat, my nails will have significant wear after one shift and definite chipping after a second shift. So I change my nail polish very quickly because of that and when I am working, I am putting way more "stress" on my polish than with usual wear.

Two coats of Something Blue

The application of the gelogic polish was easy enough, while I do think it was very opaque at one coat, I did two coats. Also even though this shade has a lovely shimmer running throughout it, I found the application was still smooth. I would agree 100% that it self leveled and it dried very quickly. As to the polish being plumping, I really noticed no difference from a regular nail polish. Even though I did not add a top coat to this polish, it had a fairly nice shine to it where I felt I did not need to add a top coat.

Five days of wear

I have to say I was blown away by the quality of this polish. On me, with base and top coat, regular nail polish lasts two work shifts before showing major chips forcing me to change it. I wore this polish for five days, through four shifts at work! I was able to get double the wear of my nail polish by using this gelogic color as opposed to regular nail polish. You can see that the major chips are on my index and pointer fingers while my ring and pinkie finger still only have tip wear. Adding the titanium top coat would also help prolong the wear of your manicure. Overall, I have to say that this gelogic system met all of their claims. The color did not fade or peel and I found it very resistant to chipping and cracking. It also removed easily with my acetone based nail polish remover.

The gelogic polishes have 9.5 mLs in them as opposed to Pretty Woman NYCs regular polish which have 10 mLs. However, they are the exact same price ($7.99)! So it really is up to you which formula you want to try without the worry of it being much more expensive. Also remember that Pretty Woman NYC has free shipping regardless of your order size! If you've tried any from their gelogic line or if you want me to pick up the titanium top coat and put it to the test, leave me a comment down below.

Pretty Woman NYC Treatments

Hey everyone,

So about a month ago, I got a nail polish in my Ipsy bag from the company Pretty Woman NYC. I did a full test of the polish and fell in love with it; you can read my original post here. The lovely people at Pretty Woman NYC were kind enough to supply me with some more of their products to share with you! I can assure you that even though these products were given to me, my reviews will still be 100% honest. I was allowed to pick out eight items from their website and I did select a good variety so as to get a good grasp on the brand overall.

Now this review is going to be on two of their nail treatments I had selected and how they performed for me. The first item I picked was their soft scrub, what drew me in with this item is how unique I thought it was. Here is an excerpt from their packaging:

"A nail and cuticle cleansing scrub containing microspheres, vitamin E and aloe vera. While providing exfoliation and smoothing to the nails and cuticles, Soft Scrub also generates hydration and nourishment and releases the vitamin E encapsulated within the moisture beads."

I have never seen a scrub for your nails and cuticles before that also promises hydration so I was definitely interested in seeing how this worked. I have been using this product for about two weeks now and want to show you just how it works. So for my demonstration, I actually rubbed some CND scrubfresh on my nails, if you are unfamiliar with scrubfresh it is essentially a way to dehydrate and cleanse your nail for shellac to better adhere. I was able to see the dryness on my nail fairly easily and then I applied a generous amount of soft scrub to my nails.

Starting with application, the scrub is easily applied just like a regular nail polish, my only issue was that I had to fish for the pink beads in the product. I would get around 4 beads total when I applied the products to both my hands. However, this product is amazing in terms of hydration. It honestly feels like a gel and it sinks in so easily. The instructions say to wipe away any access with a cotton pad but I never have any access, it all sinks into my nails by the time I am finished both of my hands. There is no oily residue so you can continue doing anything without being afraid of ruining stuff you touch. I have to say the scent is also a bonus, very spa like.

My favorite way to use this product has to be on my toes though. My toes are very unappreciated because I am quite lazy when it comes to taking care of them. I always forget cuticle oil or to use cuticle remover. But with Soft Scrub my cuticles look smoother and my nail plate and the surrounding area is wonderfully hydrated. I have put polish on top without cleansing my nail and have had no issues with nail polish peeling. 

Overall I love this product for my toes and think it is a wonderful way to maintain a healthy look and feel to your nails.

I also picked out something I thought was going to be gimmicky, and I think the only other brand I have seen with this product is Formula X. It is from their nail medic line and it is called Nail Detox; a nail cleanser and primer. I'm sure you have heard that you should cleanse your nail plate before a manicure to remove any oil or residue that could make your manicure come off quicker. Usually I use nail polish remover or just wash my hands before painting them. My issue with that is when I use my acetone remover, I dehydrate my nails too much and when I wash my hands I just want to put on hand cream again. So a nail cleanser sounded right up my alley.

Let's start with the packaging; you do get 15 mLs which I appreciate and the square shape of the bottle makes it feel more high end to me. This product does have a false lid but you can decide to keep it or take it off. The application was really easy because it is in a nail polish bottle again. My only issue was that I kept wiping off one side of the brush out of habit and so most of the liquid would come off the brush. But that is user error and not related to the product itself. Here is an excerpt from the packaging of the nail detox:

" An advanced nail cleanser and primer that eliminates impurities caused by environmental stress and preps the nail for a manicure, cranberry and lemon extracts purify the nail and lifts away embedded grime, soap bark extract and witch hazel detoxify the nail plate, helping to return it to a natural, balanced state."

I love using this product as opposed to nail polish remover. While it does have alcohol in it, you really can't smell it so it doesn't bother me. My nail is nicely cleansed without being dried out. My favorite way to use this is to only apply one coat and I do cap the tips of my nails with this as well. I have seen my manicures last longer when I use this product. Sometimes I even skip using a base coat because it's an extra layer that I just don't want but when I use this nail detox instead, my manicure still lasts.

Overall, I would say that the nail detox is a wonderful product because it helps cleanse my nail plate without over stripping them or drying out my whole hand. The great thing is that both of these products retail for $7.99 USD on Pretty Woman NYC's website and since they offer free shipping on all purchases and they ship internationally, you really can just pick one time to try out. If you only want to pick up one product, I would suggest their Soft Scrub since it is great and very unique! I hope you enjoyed reading this, I will have another post about some polishes I got as well so stay tuned.

My top ten OPI

Hello everyone, today I am going to be telling you all about my top ten OPIs currently. Before we get into my top ten I do have some disclaimers along with some stats about my collection for you. So as way of a disclaimer, I would say the vast majority of my collection is from older OPI collections. This is because OPI retails for over $10 now and the best sale they ever have for their core collection is buy 2 get 1 free which isn't the greatest discount. Their limited edition collections however, can be found for $6 or under at Sally Beauty, Trade Secrets, or Winners a few months after they've been released. So I tend to gravitate towards the discounted ones since I can get more of them and they're on their way out so it would be hard for me to find them again. However, once in a while, I do like to splurge on myself and purchase any OPI color for full price, but not necessarily from the core collection.

Now for some stats, I have 121 OPI polishes in my collection, the most I have of any one brand. I have 103 full sized polishes and 18 minis excluding any duplicates. Now picking just ten, was pretty hard for me. Each and every polish I've purchased has a story behind it and I appreciate for different reasons. Even a month from now, some of these polishes could very easily change but for now they are what they are. The last thing I want to let you know is that as with the good, there are polishes from each brand that are not as good. I do love OPI, and they were my first "high end" purchase when I was younger. However, there are some OPIs that have disappointed me. So for the sake of giving you a well rounded picture of how amazing the brand is, and what kind of issues I find with them, I have also included 5 disappointing colors. And the reason I only chose 5 is because out of 121, only 5 were disappointing to me.

Without further ado, here are my top ten OPIs in no particular order.

Here is two amazing coats of Green on the Runway. I fell in love with this polish from the moment I wore it, I had nothing like this when I got it. And this polish was actually a birthday gift from my niece, she had bought me the entire mini set of the Coca-Cola collection the summer it originally released. I loved it so much that I bought myself a full size bottle.

This is two coats of Coca-Cola Red and I have always loved re nail polish. I think it's very classy and something every skin tone can wear. And the reason I chose this one to be in my top ten was because of the formula. While I love reds, I personally don't appreciate cherry reds because in my experience they always turn out to be too jelly for my preference. This polish however is such a bright red creme with a very easy formula. This one was also from my niece and I have yet to find it in a full sized bottle. I will say that another OPI red I love is Big Apple Red.

Here is two coats of Ski Teal we Drop, This polish has an amazing formula and I just adore the color. It applied so smoothly and has a great tone.

Two coats of Koala Bear-y, first off I love the name. This formula is the reason why OPI is an amazing brand. This is almost opaque in one thin coat but it doesn't have a thick formula, it doesn't streak and dries quickly. I could have easily switched this with OPI Pink Flamenco because it has the same amazing formula, it's just a lighter pink.

This is three coats of My Gecko does Tricks. Now I'm not usually a big fan of three coaters, I have to be willing to spend more time on my nails if it's a three coater. But this polish applied so smoothly and dried so quick that it wasn't hard to build it up. Also I was very surprised at how this tone of green still flattered my skin tone.

Two coats of Hello Hawaii ya? So I remember hunting down and paying well over the standard pricing of OPI to find I'm feeling Sashy from the Miss Universe collection. I was convinced that it was the most beautiful purple and then I found this polish. First of all, the application is amazing, two really smooth and easy coats. But the main reason I love this is the combination of purple and grey. This polish has just enough grey to make it a very neutral purple and it looks stunning.

Two coats of Give me Space. This one just sneaked it's way into my top ten, it is relatively new to my collection and the first time I wore it, it felt so thick. But I gave it another chance and when I wore it outside in the sun, it was beautiful. Definitely different that the usual OPI I see.

Two coats of Jade is the New Black. I think this is a color that a lot of people would love, it is a cult classic for OPI. I got this on my birthday for myself and every time I wear it, I get a lot of compliments. It is a great mid tone green and again, great formula.

Two coats of My Dogsled is  Hybrid. I did have a few favorites from the Nordic collection, but this was the one that I found myself picking up most often. It is a lovely sea green creme and as I've been saying for the others, it has a really good formula.

Last but not least, is one coat of Push and Shove. I would recommend this polish for everyone as well. It is such an intense metallic with minimal steps. It does come with it's own special base coat but applies fine on your bare nail. I don't like how quickly this polish fades because it's only a one night polish but since it's easy to put on, I am okay with it.


Now for my 5 disappointing polishes; a quick disclaimer here is that these polishes are not necessarily bad polishes, they just didn't live up to my expectations or the hype. I did not swatch these because I didn't want to put them on my nails again and I had a bad nail break.

Alpine snow, OPIs classic white from their core collection. I got this from a 10 pack at Trade Secrets and I'm really happy I got to try this. Now I had heard that it was a two coater and it lasted nicely on the nail. Unfortunately for me, I found that it took three coats and it had a pretty thick formula. I think the most disappointing aspect to me was that for this mini bottle, which is only one fourth of a regular bottle, I had to add nail polish thinner 3 to 4 times to be able to use it. And that doesn't sit well with me for a mini. I'm not sure if it's because it's a mini that I had problems with their formula but Alpine Snow just didn't live up to the hype for me.

From that same mini pack I also got Cajun Shrimp and was really really disappointed. I had heard so many great things about this color; it was opaque in nearly one coat, it was a nice bright red/orange creme. This was a jelly formula and didn't get opaque even after 3 coats. I have no idea why my bottle is so drastically different. I would be willing to try this again if I could get a good deal on it, but as it stands now, I wouldn't even recommend this to someone.

Suzi's Hungary Again is a beautiful bubble gum pink. After three coats, this was not opaque at all, it had patches and didn't build nicely. So again, another pass for me.

Superstar Status is an interesting polish but it was ultimately disappointing for me. The mix of gold and silver glitter was in an uneven proportion and I found that the longer I wore it, the more I found it looked bad on me. If you wanted nails for a night out, this would be perfect but seeing this polish up close and for long periods of time it just doesn't sit well on the nail plate so it was disappointing for me.

I have no idea why the DS series is more expensive than the regular line so when I found DS Titanium for 50% off at Trade Secrets I decided to give it a try. This was very sheer and wasn't opaque after 3 coats. The main reason this disappointed me was that for a DS series polish, I thought it would be a step up from their regular formula and I found it was sub-par.


Overall, I still love OPI and I buy OPI without hesitation when I find them for good prices. I love their brushes and the shape of their bottle. I'm not a huge fan of their minis since they are hard to use but I still use them. Feel free to leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite OPI is or even one that disappointed you.

Pretty Woman nail polish

Hello all,I hope you are having a great day. So in my April Ipsy glam bag, I received a beautiful fuchsia nail polish called "Pouty" from a brand named Pretty Woman. And I have to tell you, I was blown away when I saw the polish. On Ipsy's website, the color looked similar to another color I owned and simply wasn't exciting me. However, when I got the polish in my mail, I fell in love. Pouty turned out to be a bright fuchsia that practically looks neon on your nails and screamed summer.

Two coats of Pouty

Lets talk about the application of the polish and the formula. I have tried plenty of nail polishes before but I feel like the brush on this one was fairly unique. In terms of size, I would say it was a medium brush but to me, it felt more dense than a typical nail polish brush. This density helped the brush fan out a bit more so that you could coat most of your nail with one swipe. Something interesting I noticed about the formula was how much it reminded me of a neon. But if you visit Pretty Woman's website, this polish is not specifically labeled as a neon.

However, after the first coat I noticed that the polish dried down matte similar to a neon. And so I tried layering this over a white base to see if the color would change, however it stayed the same. Therefore I would have to say Pouty is a bright fuchsia that borders neon. This polish was opaque in two coats for me and surprisingly it dried shiny. In some lights or angles I could still see my nail line but I was alright with it.

As for the wear of this polish, I did conduct a wear test on my Cinderella hand. Some things to keep in mind as you view the pictures is that to truly test the quality of the polish itself, I wear no base or top coat. In addition, this is my dominant hand and I don't wear gloves when I do the dishes.

Day three

After wearing the polish for three days, I only had tip wear on all of my nails. This is fairly natural and doesn't speak against the quality of the polish.

Day four 

My troubles with this polish began on day four. I found my first major chip on my middle finger. Now since my middle finger is my longest finger, the fact that it chipped first was not surprising to me. However, it is important to note that the polish chipped four days into my manicure. As you can see in the photo, I also broke my middle nail but that is not related to the nail polish.

Day five

I ended my wear test on day five because I was unhappy with my thumb, pointer and middle finger. Now I did file down the nail on my middle finger which left some tip wear but it just seemed to keep chipping off, even after I took my picture. I had a chip near the middle on my pointer finger that also kept increasing and too much wear on my thumb. 

Overall, I would say that the Pretty Woman nail lacquer in Pouty is good. The color is fairly unique and application was very easy. This polish did last five days on my nails by itself, if you used your favorite base and top coat you would probably be able to get a longer wear. Now these polishes retail for $7.99 USD but they offer free shipping on all orders which is amazing and is something I don't see often. However, if you are a part of Ipsy, you can get these beauties for $5.99 USD! If you aren't signed up for Ipsy, feel free to use my referral link here. Hope you enjoyed this review, and if you have a favorite Pretty Woman nail polish, tell me in the comments below.

Wet n Wild 1 Step Wonder Gel swatch and review

(L-R Left Marooned, Condensed Milk, Stay Classy, Pretty Peas, Lavender out Loud)

Hello everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day. Two weeks ago, I wandered to my local Loblaws Superstore and found that they had the new Wet n Wild 1 Step Wonder Gel for $6 CDN and of course, I grabbed as much as I could.These polishes are supposed to mimic a true UV cured gel polish without the use of a UV light. So if you are interested in seeing my swatches, pros and cons, as well as the results of my 2 week wear test, just keep reading!

So lets start with some swatches, the range of this product consists of 18 different shades however, I only picked up 5.

Starting with the lightest shade I picked up, this is condensed milk. I did use three coats for this swatch and if you look carefully, you will see that there are still some spots where the polish is not completely opaque. Furthermore, the color that you see on my nails is lighter than the color you see on the bottle.

Next we have pretty peas, which is a beautiful seafoam green. I did use three coats for my swatch and I was able to get it fully opaque but I tried not to overwork the polish. On the first and second coat, I found that the more I brushed the polish, the streakier it got. Therefore I would recommend using the three strokes method with this particular color.

Stay classy is a wonderful mauve shade, and had the best formula of the bunch. It was almost opaque in one coat, however I did use two. This is the shade I chose for my wear test so you will be seeing it again soon.

Lavender out loud is probably the second best of the bunch but did need two coats to be fully opaque. It is a light and sightly dusty purple.

Last we have the worst of the bunch, left marooned. This was opaque in two coats but the formula was really tricky to work with so you might need three. This was incredibly hard to photograph using my regular lights, so I also took a picture in the sun.

 Nope, I did not change my polish. Left marooned is a cherry red. This color did not deepen on a third coat, and as you can see the color is nowhere near the same as the label. Also as I mentioned, the formula was tricky; it was goopy and hard to work with.

Next, lets talk about the wear test I did; I wore stay classy for 2 whole weeks with no base or top coat.

Say hello to my Cinderella hand, this picture was taken 9 days later. I do have a disclaimer, I hit my hand while closing a cabinet and I bent the nail on my middle finger which resulted in the chips you can see on the side. So please keep in mind that those chips have nothing to do with the formulation of the polish itself. Overall, I have to say I was definitely impressed by this polish. I do have a good amount of tip-wear, but this my dominant hand  and for nine days, it really held up well. As for the shine, I felt like I had the same amount of shine as the day I applied it.

Day 14, as you can see the chips on the side of my middle finger have gotten worse. I have more tip-wear and some chips on the sides of my other nails. However, the shine is still pretty prevalent and after fourteen days, I'm still impressed.

Overall, this polish by Wet n Wild has three main claims; color and shine for up to 2 weeks, no base or top coat needed, and easy removal. It has been my experience that all of those claims were true. After two weeks, it's still on your nails and it was a easy one step process. A lot of the time, if you don't use a base or top coat to extend the life of your manicure, your polish won't last for even a week. Also it did remove as easily as regular nail polish.

To wrap up, lets talk about some pros and cons, starting with the cons. $6 is expensive for Wet n Wild, their regular megalast polishes retail for about $3 CDN. This polish is really prone to bubbling, you really have to let it sit before you go in to paint your nails. The bubbles show up easy and since there is no top coat, you can't smooth out the polish is you do get the bubbles. No top coat also means that the shineyness of the polish itself is all you have, so if it's too dull for you, this line doesn't have a top coat for you to add on top. My major con with this line, is that since the bottles are opaque (the lacquer is light sensitive) you really depend on the sticker to depict the color. And while I can overlook the variation on condensed milk; it was a little lighter than the label, left marooned was really off. The label showed a classic maroon shade and the polish itself turned out to be a cherry red. So, what you see on the sticker, is not necessarily what you get.

To end on a positive note, I have a lot of pros for you. As you could see from my wear test, the polish did last a really long time. I got tired of the color long before I thought the manicure looked bad. For four out the five polishes I used, they applied really smoothly, self leveled nicely, no issues. The brush is the same as their megalast brushes so you can cover your nail easily. The polish also dries really fast! It is supposed to cure from regular ambient light or sunlight and I found that I only had to wait a handful of minutes in between coats and in the end.

While $6 is expensive for Wet n Wild , if you consider the other brands in the drug store, none of them have this kind of gel formula. To name a few, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel is a two step process; the polish and the top coat. Loreal Gel-Extraordinaire is a three step process;  base coat, polish, and top coat. Even Essence, gel nail polish has a base coat and top coat in addition to the colors. Therefore, since you only have to purchase the color you like, it is still an affordable polish.

Overall, I think this product is a 4/5 and my favorite color is pretty peas. Thank you so much for reading my review, if you've tried any of these comment below and let me know your thoughts!

Olivia Palermo x Ciate London Nail Polish

Hello all, today I will be reviewing a Ciate polish which is from their Olivia Palermo collection. I received my polish from my February Ipsy bag but the polish is also sold at Sephora and directly from Ciate London.

This is two coats of "Hutch- my go to red" and I have to say, this polish is beautiful. First, even though this is a mini bottle, the brush is large and perfectly rounded at the tip. Application was amazing, there were no streaks, no patches, it applied evenly. It was almost opaque on one coat, but I did have to do two. The polish also dries down darker than when you apply it.

I did a wear test to test out the quality of the polish and so I wore it without a base or top coat. I kept this on for 6 days with regular tip wear and the only reason I took it off was because I had to clean up a nail polish spill. The quality of this polish really impressed me and the only downside is that I found it took longer than normal for the polish to dry down. This can be easily solved with a fast drying top coat or some dry drops. Overall, I would definitely recommend this shade and hope to try out more Ciate nail polish.

Leave me a comment down below about what your favorite Ciate nail polish is, or which one you really want to try! If you are interested in signing up for your own Ipsy bag, feel free to use my referral link:  https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=vfxwa