Pure Ice Faraway Land

I'm pulling up the rear on the Pure Ice Fairytale Forest collection. I know this collection is probably no longer available though as it was released in December. I did really like majority of these polishes from this collection. As you know, cool drugstore and mainstream nail polishes are few and far between these days. This polish I do like even though I know glitter toppers are not really in high demand anymore.

Faraway Land (over an aqua creme)

Faraway Land is a color shifting aqua shimmer and teal glitters in a clear base.

Collection: Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Winter 2015

Color: I love the mermaid-y look of this topper. It's so shimmery and sparkly. The color shifting shimmer in here is intense on the bottle and pretty subtle on the nail. I don't think that takes away from this polish though it just looks so magical.

Formula: This had a nice and easy to use formula. I used 2 coats over a base.

Price: I paid $1.99 for this at Walmart.

Overall: I really like this topper. It really has a beautiful effect over a polish and I like the ocean/mermaid fantasy look of Faraway Land. Toppers like this remind me to breakout my polish toppers more often. I know there are so many opaque glitters and shimmers these days, but toppers are such an easy way to liven up a manicure with no effort.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Pure Ice Fairytale Forest

I have the last of the Pure Ice Fairytale Forest polishes to share with you today. This was collection that was released early in December. The collection was limited edition, but there could be a few stragglers hanging out in a Pure Ice display. I adored this collection. I thought it was unique for a drugstore price collection especially in a time when drugstore/mainstream polish is waning in appeal. This color however, I think was a dud in the collection and I'm peeved at how they made this one!

Fairytale Forest

Fairytale Forest is a steely frosty blue shimmer.

Collection: Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Winter 2016

Color: I can't. I can't. I can't. If you recall from my other reviews of this collection (Tales Untold, Precious Jewel, and True Love's Kiss), these were pastel cremes with beautiful glass fleck golden shimmer. Well, that beautiful glass fleck golden shimmer is in this color too. You just can't see it because instead of a creme polish they paired it with this frosty shimmer blue crap. In person, you can see that gold shimmer in the bottle, but on the nail it's completely covered up by this atrocious blue frost of sadness. The color isn't bad, but it doesn't fit the collection and it's just not a nice finish much less a modern finish.

Formula: The formula applies nicely. I used 2 coats here. 

Price: This was $1.99 at Walmart. I can't fault the price.

Overall: Why?!?!? I almost feel like I can't fault it because everything else in the collection was great. It was a unique collection at $1.99 a pop. This color just doesn't make sense and I don't know why they thought this would look nice? Why bother putting that same shimmer in this color but use a frost? Frost polishes do not pair well with glitter or shimmer. The frost will always overpower those elements. It's stupid a amateur nail polish mistake that I'm clearly overly upset about. I'll get over it, but come on now. No more frost polishes of sadness please. 

My Rating: 1 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday! 

Pure Ice Precious Jewel

I have another polish from the Pure Ice Fairytale Forest collection to share with you today. This was a winter collection that was found at Walmart in early winter. I'm not sure if you can still find these, but I hope there maybe a few bottles hanging around somewhere because this is a great color.

Precious Jewel

Precious Jewel is soft aqua/aquamarine with an intense golden shimmer.

Collection: Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Winter 2015

Color: I love this beautiful shade of blue-green. What makes this polish though is that beautiful golden shimmer. This is that magical kind of shimmer that makes it look sun-kissed. You know I love cool-toned colors with gold shimmer!

Formula: The formula on this was OK. It was a bit streaky and uneven. I needed 3 coats. I can't really fault it too much because the price is so low.

Price: This was $1.99 at Walmart.

Overall: This is a great find for a drugstore priced polish. I think the color is beautiful and I adore the shimmer. The formula isn't the best, but it's not terrible either. I can't complain much $2.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Pure Ice Tales Untold

I have another one of the Fairytale Forest polishes by Pure Ice to show you today. This is their newest collection I happened to come across at Walmart for winter. To be quite frank, it's the first drugstore level polish collection I've been excited about in a very long time. I love this purple shade and I think you all will like it too.

Tales Untold

Tales Untold is a lavender creme with micro fine iridescent golden shimmer.

Collection: Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Winter 2015

Color: I love lavender polish. Soft purples are my favorite colors to wear in spring, but I'll wear them in winter too! What makes this polish is that beautiful golden iridescent shimmer. The shimmer really brings this polish to life without being overwhelming or harsh. This is stunning!

Formula: This had a nice formula. I don't have complaints. I thought this formula was better than True Love's Kiss. It is a bit streaky on the first coat, but it was fully opaque in 3 coats.

Price: This is $1.97 at Walmart.

Overall: I can't get over the $1.97 price tag on this polish. It seems though, long gone are the days of beautiful polish being under $5 much less under $8. This is a stunning polish for under $2! I love this beautiful shimmer and the formula isn't anything to complain about. This is a definite contender for my Top 25 of 2015. Did I mention that is only a few weeks away!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Wednesday!

Pure Ice True Love's Kiss

I walked into Walmart a few weeks ago with no intent to look at their beauty section. I needed kitty litter. In all honesty as I've mentioned before I have not found anything of interest when it comes to drugstore nail polish, so I don't bother looking much. On the way to the kitty litter, which happens to be near the beauty section I came across a new display of Pure Ice polishes. The collection was called Fairytale Forest and it is a new collection for winter with 8 polishes. I stopped dead in my tracks in awe of finding such a beautiful collection these days in a store! They all were gorgeous pastel shades with beautiful glass fleck like glitters in them. I had to get them all!

 I have the pink one of this bunch to share with you today called True Love's Kiss.

True Love's Kiss

True Love's Kiss is a pale pink with a golden iridescent glass fleck shimmer.

Collection: Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Winter 2015

Color: This is a beautiful soft pink. I say this often, but there is a severe lack of beautiful and original pinks in nail polish these days. True Love's Kiss is beautiful and unique. I love this soft shade of pink, but we all know it's this beautiful golden iridescent shimmer that gives it the wow factor. This color is stunning.

Formula: I'd say for $1.97 nail polish this formula is pretty good. It's not great or out of this world, but it is good. The first 2 coats are bit streaky and patchy, but it is opaque on a 3rd coat. This isn't a sheer pink it is opaque and meant to be.

Price: $1.97 each at Walmart. Polishes that are unique these days at $1.97 are unheard of.

Overall: I'm extremely happy about discovering this collection and this color. This is a stunning pink with an extraordinary shimmer added to it. It stands out as unique in a sea of hum-drum mainstream and drugstore nail polishes these days. The formula for the price point is good, it's not perfect, but I can honestly let that aspect go. It's great polish and I think us oldsters in nail polish world and newbies to polish will equally love this one.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Pure Ice Poppin Bottles

I had an interesting polish find at Walmart from Pure Ice. I really haven't paid any attention to Pure Ice in years. I haven't really found anything unique or worthwhile from them. It's a very affordable brand at $2 a bottle. They're a great value, but when you have a collection of my size it's hard to find something original in the mix. I did spot this one recently and was surprised to see a color like this in their line.

Poppin Bottles over China Glaze DJ Blew My Mind

Poppin Bottles is a silvery-golden glass fleck shimmer with sliver glitters.

Collection: Pure Ice Core

Color: This instantly reminds me of the type of shimmer glitters from the Maybelline Brocades collection, in particular Silver Swank. I love this highly reflective shimmer-glitter combination. It's really beautiful, and not something I think really caught on much in nail polish. That being said, in comparison to the Maybelline it's pretty weak.

Formula: This formula is very sheer and the larger siliver glitters are very sparse. I used 2 coats over a base. I would find this impossible to get an opaque finish unless you did 5+ coats. Poppin Bottles does apply nicely and easily, it's just a top coat. 

Price: I paid $2 for this at Walmart.

Overall: I have to give it to Pure Ice for creating a polish like this. It's unique to a brand of this value. The polish could be better though. It could be more opaque and more glitter could be added. It's a nice polish, but that's about it. It could be better.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday! 

Pure Ice Siren

There are some good Walmarts and there are some downright terrible Walmarts. Unfortunately, the Walmart closest to me is one of the terrible ones. I swear the whole cosmetics department there looks it's been ransacked. It's trashed and their are makeup swatches all over the displays. It does not look like it's been properly restocked since 2007. This makes shopping Pure Ice polishes stinky. Thankfully, there is another Walmart a little farther away that is the completey antithesis of the other Walmart. They have a nicely stocked Pure Ice section. This is one of my first polishes I ever got a few years ago.  

Siren

Siren is a  fire engine red creme.

I think this color is pretty self-explanatory. I love this red, it's definitely more warm-toned than other red cremes. It's not glaringly bright or anything, but this shade of red definitely makes statement. The formula is great. The pigmentation is good. The best part is you're only paying $2 for it!

Happy Friday!

Pure Ice Twinkle & New Doggie!!

I haven't done Pure Ice polishes in awhile. I really like Pure Ice, they have a great selection of funky and unique colors. The only downside to them for me is they're at Walmart. The Walmart closest to me isn't very good at restocking their cosmetics, so over the past few years the Pure Ice selection has whittled into almost nothing :(. I did happen to find this gem!

Twinkle

Twinkle is a warm summer peach creme with golden shimmer.

I don't even need to say it, you know why I love this. The peachy tone and the shimmer are perfect. This could easily be a $7 Zoya color, but it's a $2 Pure Ice color. Why it's called Twinkle, I do not know, but I don't care. I can make weird name exceptions for beautiful polish!

On another note, my parents adopted a dog yesterday. They were getting very lonely without a furry friend. Her name is Maggie, and she is a 4 year old Labrador mix. My parents live in Texas, so I won't get a chance to meet Maggie for a little while, but she looks like she will fit in nicely with parents. She's already claimed a spot on their bed. She will be very spoiled!

Happy Tuesday!

Pure Ice Strapless

 I went shopping today for Christmas stuff. I like to decorate the weekend before Thanksgiving..I'm a little Christmas obsessed. We don't have room for a big tree in my apartment so I got a 2 foot one to put on this table in the living room. I also have mini 10 inch? tree for the bedroom. I got all these sparkly/glittery decorations and I'm excited to decorate. I love glitter and sparkle! Speaking of glittah......

Pure Ice Strapless

This is Strapless layered over Wet n' Wild Black Creme. Strapless is bright medium toned blue compacted glitter. You could probably layer this up to get it opaque, but I find it easier to layer it over a solid color first.

Wee! I love this. I know there are a lot of people who don't care for glitter in nail polish, but I love it. This is  a great shade that is blingy and it's on $2 at Walmart. Cheap pretty glitter..I'm on board. Speaking of glitter polishes, I heard that Milani has released a collection of "One Coat Glitters" and "Jewel FX" with a glitter similar to Lippmann Happy Birthday. I read this on the Nail Board on MakeupAlley. I also saw some bottle pics (these pictures/post belong to violetivy) . I'm SUPER excited. I know last week I mentioned that it's been awhile since Milani released a new collection. I hope this hits stores soon here. Orlando is usually slow about getting new collections, but I'll keep my eye out!

Happy Monday!

Pure Ice Hot Tamale

I don't venture much into Wal-Mart anymore. Honestly, the store is rather scary. It's always jammed packed and takes forever to get through the lines. That being said, I do like to check out their polishes when I garner up the courage to face the swarm of crowds! This is a nice color I picked up recently.

Hot Tamale

Hot Tamale is a rich red-orange with gold shimmer throughout. I'm sure you know why I went for this color the gold shimmer. :P

I'm actually really impressed with this Pure Ice. This reminds me of a deeper version of Zoya's Gwin. I love how Zoya is the master of gold shimmer, but Pure Ice did just a good of a job here. I've also seen some other colors by Pure Ice that remind me of Zoya colors. Pure Ice is $2 so it's a great deal. I think even though this is a brighter color, it is suitable for autumn. I think this would be a great color for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or any day!

Happy Sunday!

Baseball Mani for Father's Day!!!

Hello there! I want to wish everyone's fathers/grandfathers/husbands with kids out there a Happy Father's Day!

I'm pretty sure not many fathers or males for that fact read this blog, but I know my Dad does. I've mentioned him a few times before, he has no interest in nail polish, but I know he reads my blog because he knows how important and special it is to me. I can't express enough the appreciation and admiration I have for my Dad. He has supported me in all my successes, failures, and everything in between. I can always count on him to be my #1 fan and biggest support. I only wish we didn't live over 1000 miles apart, because I miss him so much!

In honor of my Dad on Father's Day I did a special fun manicure for him. My Dad is a HUGE baseball fan. He loves the Atlanta Braves. They are his team since he was born and raised in Atlanta,GA. He loves the Braves I'd say more than I love nail polish and for WAY longer. I decided to do a little Atlanta Braves funky french manicure for him today. I'm not great with nail art, but I tried!


I used dark blue, red, and white their team colors for the manicure. The "A" is a little wonky, but for the most part I like it. It's very team spirited!

Here is what I used...
L-R: Sally Hansen White Nail Art Pen, Orly La Playa, Pure Ice Siren, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, & Nailene French Polish Guides


That's all for today!

Those of you who are celebrating Father's Day dd you get anything special or are you doing anything special for your dad today?

Happy Father's Day!

Pure Ice French Kiss

My last Pure Ice post seemed to draw a lot of attention, so I figured I'd share another with you. I like Pure Ice for the most part. I think they have a unique range of colors and for a great price $2. However, some of their polishes are hit and miss formula wise. This color though is definitely a winner!

French Kiss

French Kiss is a royal blue creme.

This a beautiful shade. The formula is excellent on this polish. You could get away with one coat if you wanted to, but I always do two. I don't think of blue when I think of "French Kiss", but who cares the color is great. I'm noticing a lot of brands releasing blue cremes, but for over $5. I think this a great alternative to those pricier shades. It's a great blue not too bright nor is it not too dark. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think this would be a universal flattering shade.

The downside is you can only find these at Walmart. I have to admit Walmart is far from my favorite place shop. I have no problem with the store itself, it is just the Walmarts near me are always crowded and it takes ages to get through the checkout lanes. I always feel rushed to shop there for some reason. I like to have some peace and quiet when shopping for nail polish. Regardless, I think it's worth the insanity and long checkout lines for a good cheap nail polish!

Do you have some Pure Ice favorites? Do you have similar shopping experiences at Walmart or is it just me?

Have a nice Sunday!

Nail Stickers: Yay or Nay?

I’m going to talk about nail stickers today. I have had a fear of nail stickers. I have one of those aunts. I have an aunt who over does everything especially in the clothes, makeup, and beauty department. She’s the type who likes to celebrate EVERY holiday by dressing up in goofy sweaters/shirts with bells, lights, characters with googly eyes, and so on. She will even dress up for Columbus Day. In addition to her attire, she will do her nails to represent every holiday. She will paint each nail a different color and put holiday themed nail stickers on each nail sometimes even more than one. She will put turkeys, Santa Claus, Easter eggs, American flags, shamrocks, smiley faces, anthropomorphic birthday cakes, and etc.

This started a fear of nail stickers for me. I thought all nail stickers were silly turkeys, dancing leprechauns, and overly happy Hanukkah menorahs. I don’t have problems if you throw a Christmas tree on your nails, but if you saw how my aunt does this you’d understand my fear. It was taking it to the extreme! Suffice it to say, I wanted to stay as far away as possible because I didn’t want people to start thinking I get my nail inspiration from my aunt!

Anyways, recently I saw some nail stickers and to my surprise they were not all those scary things I expected.

These are made by Nailene. I believe they are around $5-$6. I really like these. They are simplistic and pretty. They have lots of options to some pearls/jewels, stars, butterflies, and cute tropical flowers. I gathered up my courage and put one on, and I love it!

This is Pure Ice Jackpot with blue hibiscus flowers on my ring finger. I really like this look! I don’t think it looks silly or ridiculous it adds and nice artsy and fun touch in the right way. I’m really glad that I tried these. I think they will become a part of some of my manicures this summer since so many of them are summer themed.

I’m also glad I got these because I don’t have a Konad and I stink at doing my own nail art. These are a great cheap alternative to doing Konads. They also are very user friendly. I put these on with 2 coats of regular top coat followed by 1 coat of Seche Vite and it worked out perfectly.

That’s it for today! Are there any nail things you’ve tried recently that you love or things you’re unsure about trying on your nails? If, so please share in the comment section.

Have a great Saturday!

Pure Ice Swatches

Today, I'm going to show you some Pure Ice swatches. You can find Pure Ice polishes at Walmart for $2 each. I have mixed feelings on them more good than bad. They make some great layering polishes and have some neat colors in general. There are a few ones that are hit and miss formula wise. They're a great price though and have some great funky colors!

Purple Reign

Purple Rein is a muted purple with gold glitter/shimmer throughout. I really like this color. I find it unusual. You don't typically find muted colors with a pop of sparkly glitter in it. Thumbs up!

Celestial Frost

This is a royal blue frost. I know frosts are not in style anymore and are not faves among many, but I really like this one. I know you can see brushstrokes, but I don't mind frosts if they're in funky colors. It's a great blue, plus I like the name. :P

Super Star

Please excuse my graphic description
This is one of those cases where this looks better on the bottle than on the nails. I grabbed this so quickly because I thought it look gorgeous. It's a cranberry with iridescent glitter thought. This looks terrible on my nails. It looks as though I left my fingers soaking in a glass of wine all night and then Tinkerbell came over and threw up gritty pixie dust all over my nails. This stained my nails rather than gave me a shiny pretty finish. It felt gritty and overall looked ugly. I tried painting on another coat. I tried using top coat before taking the picture. I don't know, perhaps if I did another coat of top coat this would look better. I don't know. I'm very disappointed with this one. I still want to try to make it work, but I can't get over how it looks like it stains my nails -tear-

Those are my swatches. I have more Pure Ice polishes I'll share with you all later. I think I may go look for some too. I see they have some pretty blue creme I want!

Happy Friday!

I Won't Spend More Than 10! Part One

One of the reasons I started this blog was to be able to share affordable nail polish with everyone. As a personal choice and financial choice I will not pay more than $10 on nail polish. I have nothing against higher end brands and I definitely encourage anyone who wants to purchase a higher end brand to go for it! However, I know many of us are living in a day in age where we need to save our money, but saving money doesn't mean you can't still have fun and enjoy great products!

The next 3 days I'm going to showcase the drugstore brands I'm familiar with including their pros and cons. All the brands I'll be featuring will be between $1-$10. Today I'll start with the lower end ($1-$3), tomorrow will be moderate end ($3-$6)and Friday will be higher end ($7-10). My pros and cons on these brands are purely my opinion, so I do not mean to offend if I may find something I don't like in product you love. Also, the price ranges I came up are averages based off of stores and e-tailers. You will sometimes see these products for more or less in other places. The bottles I'll be showing are not necessarily favorites just ones I picked out to use for the pictures. I hope with these next few posts I can help shed some light on drugstore brands, give you shopping ideas, and help keep more money in your pocket!

International Readers: See bottom of post. I would love some help from you. :)


Low End $1-$3

Frankens

Featured Colors: Red Giant, Firecracker, Mythical Forest, & London Fog
Price: $1+
Pros:
- Most creative & less expensive option
-Create your own colors using colors in bottles you already have, mixing makeup pigments/glitters in clear polish, and etc.
Cons:
-Polishes this way can become goopy make sure put some silver balls (BB pellets found at Walmart) so the polish can mix properly. Also nail polish thinner can help thin out the polishes.

E.L.F.

Featured Color: Coral
Price: $1
Where to buy: E.L.F website, some Targets, and K-Marts
Pros:
-Price
-Many colors are similar to core line colors of other drugstore brands
Cons:
-Not a wide color selection

Wet N' Wild

Featured Colors: Wild Orchid, Caribbean Frost, Quartz of Course
Price: $1-$2
Where to buy: Walgreens, KMart, some Walmarts, and some grocery stores
Pros:
-Recently have introduced innovative and trendy colors
-Typically have BOGO free or BOGO 1/2 sales often depending on the store
-Usually introduce different collections for seasons
-Wide color selection
Cons:
-Some bottles are duds with brush problems
-Polishes do have the tendency to thicken up (can be fixed with nail thinner)
-Some colors are not the most exciting

NYC

Featured Colors: Fuchsia Shock Creme, Times Square Tangerine Creme, Canal Street
Price: $1-$2
Where to buy: CVS, Target, Walmart, some grocery stores
Pros:
-Price
-New York Color minute line dries quickly
-Basic line has some colors that could be dupes to other more expensive drugstore core line brands
-Typically have BOGO free or BOGO 1/2 sales often depending on the store
Cons:
-Probably the least imaginative as far as color selection goes
-Polishes tend to be on the thicker side
-Polish names are misleading some things labeled as cremes are not true cremes

Pure Ice

Featured Colors: All Nighter, Splash, Spit Fire, Celestial Frost
Price: $2
Where to buy: Walmart
Pros:
-Wide selection of colors, finishes, and pretty shimmer/glitter top coats
-Good application
-Price
Cons:
-Only can be found in one store
-As far as I know they don't introduce new collections so you're not really sure if you're getting a newer color or one that has been there for awhile.

Sinful Colors

Featured Colors: What's Your Name, Sagitta, Boogie Nights, Cream Pink
Price: $2
Where to buy: Walgreens
Pros:
-Wide range of colors,finishes, and fun top coats
-On occasion are either BOGO 1/2 off or BOGO free depending on time of year
-Most colors are always readily available and easy to find
Cons:
-Some of their colors can be very similar to each other
-Some colors are bit stinky especially the glittery ones
-This is purely personal, but the naming of some their colors I find a bit odd and don't really relate to the colors at all


Enjoy your day!

Attn: International readers! I'd love for you participate in this to. I'd love if you'd share in the comments some affordable products in your country that are equal to or less than $10 in your currency. If you have a brand to share please just let me know the brand, what country you are from, price (in your currency), and where you can purchase the item. On Saturday I will gather up all the posts I get from international readers on their products and use that as a special international affordable products post for that day.