Sally Hansen 420 Pacific Blue Swatch and Review (Comparison of 2009 and 2014 formula, and bonus nail art!)

OK guys, I read my post yesterday and thought it was a bit grouchy. But that's because I woke up with a fever today and all the phlegm town and ugh. But you know, it's way better now than later this summer (#becauseweddings) so I am going to just update here and then power through the day. And by powering through the day, I actually just mean sleeping on the couch watching World Cup and most likely falling asleep. I'm kind of bummed out I'll miss out on Cheap Tuesday burgers but you know what, I won't miss out on Cheap Polish Tuesday because this one is apparently a big deal. This is Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (which can be found for $2-3 at most drugstores).

(Wait there's two?) I'll get to that in a sec.









Admittedly, I was never an original owner of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue until recently. Either of them. But last week the nail polish community (as passionate as they are), exploded over seeing that their beloved 2009 formula of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue was reformulated. Not only was it reformulated, but the colour was completely redone.

Here's why the 2009 permutation was so loved:

+ one coater blue
+ non-staining blue
+ perfect medium toned blue
+ considered a "gateway polish"
+ rumours of a marijuana scent

Alright well I can never pass up a non-staining blue - that shit is almost unheard of. So I had to try it myself. Also a one coater? OK we'll see about that one. Here's my one coat swatch of the 2009 formula of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue with no top coat:









Let's take a look at the new 2014 formula. Apparently it's "disgusting and runny and terrible". Here's two coats of the *new* Sally Hansen Pacific Blue:









If you haven't caught onto the differences, here's a comparison swatch. One coater 2009 original Pacific Blue creme on my index and ring, and two coats of the *new* 2014 Pacific Blue:







CLAW of CTHULHU'S VERDICT: OK guys I get it. The 2009 Pacific Blue polish is awesome - it's just like you said - a non-staining, one coater perfect medium toned blue creme. I am definitely biased towards creme polishes. They're so versatile for use of nail art. I can see why it was called a "gateway polish" to get into the hobby because the formula is very sleek and allowed for so many creative endeavors into the hobby. Did it smell like marijuana? Ehhhh I dunno about that. I think if you look hard enough for it, you can smell it but it doesn't smell like straight up marijuana. (Yes I would know this because BC Bud, you know.)

Now the 2014 formula... Guys, let's be real. It's not as shitty as you guys are making it out to be. I don't like it. It's not my kind of blue, it's definitely not something I would go out of my way to buy. The formula is a two coater - which is honestly pretty standard for most of the polishes I own! I'm not a huge fan of polishes that have a hint of shimmer to them either. I definitely don't care for it much and the 2014 formula will never be a good nail art polish.

My personal final stance is mostly indifference. As an Essence fan, we see polishes in their line come and go, and some of them being great formulas as well. I feel that Sally Hansen should have gone one of two routes: 1) Completely discontinue Sally Hansen Pacific Blue 2009 formula; or 2) Continue producing Sally Hansen Pacific Blue in its 2009 permutation and introducing the "2014 Pacific Blue" as its own entity. Not 420 Pacific Blue. That really sucks for fans of Pacific Blue who are really gung ho. I would be pissed off too.

As a bonus, generally one coaters fare well as stamping polish and I think Pacific Blue did fairly decent over top of white, at least. I think that was pushing it a bit. Still, it reminds me of those white and blue chinaware! I used Nailz Craze NC03 and NC06 for these.





For whatever reason, I actually ended up buying two back-ups of Pacific Blue (2009 formula) (I feel like I shouldn't have to clarify that one haha). If I had to be honest with myself, I truly buy stuff when I am stressed out and the next month is definitely stressful.

What do you make of the great Pacific Blue debacle? Do you feel like people are making something of nothing? Is Pacific Blue one of your gateway polishes?

Essence 182 Hello Rosy Sparkle Sand Effect Swatch and Review

It's Cheap Polish Tuesday here where I explore the land of polishes priced at or under (always preferably under) $5 Canadian dollars, all while simultaneously trying to stop worrying about the awful lack of smoothness my car is driving and cost to fix said awful lack of smoothness. (How's that for a run-on?) For serious though, I am really worried about my car and I hope nothing too bad is wrong. Gahhhh. OK. Cheap Polish Tuesday. This is Essence Hello Rosy.





I got Essence Hello Rosy when I was in Ireland at Penneys for €1.79 which comes out to about $2.50 CAD and since there's no tax, it's about the same price as it would be at Shoppers Drug Mart ($1.99 not including tax). Close enough. Essence recently came out with the Sparkle Sand Effect polishes, (there's a couple in Canada's selection at Shoppers Drug Mart) and I have Hello Rosy. It's a slight dusty rose base with red glittery flecks. The application went on alright, but the dry time was... Very slow, as is the norm with these textured polishes. Having tried the OPI Liquid Sands and Zoya Pixie Dusts, I have to say that out of all of them - Essence Sparkly Sand Effect has been my least favourite textured polish. It finishes a bit more flush with the texture. I definitely prefer a sugared finished rather than something that just seems lumpy. Here's my swatch in two coats and its natural finish below:









I think the removal of textured polish is OK but I still used my Julep Party's Over finger caps to remove it. It was just a lot easier than having to scrub on my nails with cotton and remover. Anyhoo, I still have a few more "Sparkle Sand Effect" polishes from Essence so we'll see if I fancy them but in all honesty, I don't like textured polishes much. I may actually give this one away. But I have hoarding tendencies. Anyway.

What do you think of textured polishes? Have they been played out a la shatter polishes from a couple years ago? What do you think of Essence's stab at texture?

Pure Ice Nail Polish Flirt Alert Swatch and Review (Bonus: Rainbow Honey Suu)

So I always thought that if I was ever going to be featured on Kotaku, it would be because of my esports or cosplay photography, but as fate would have it... It would be for my nail art! Last night, my Transistor nails made it onto Screenburn a la Kotaku. Thanks guys for having me - I'm so humbled to be up there! Anyhow, today we're flipping tables and it's Cheap Polish Tuesday! Here's Pure Ice Flirt Alert.





I remember I picked this polish up from Wal-Mart last year - it's been a while now but I believe that these were in the $2 range, which makes it a perfect candidate for Cheap Polish Tuesday. Pure Ice Flirt Alert is a near-neon raspberry creme that has a pretty cringe-worthy name, right next to the last Pure Ice nail polish I looked at named Jail Bait. (It seems like I have a penchant for getting nail polish for the sake of the name!) Formula-wise, it's actually quite decent - a very pigmented and opaque self-levelling creme and you get full guaranteed coverage in two coats. It also has a pretty decent natural shine without the use of top coat!:









For funsies, here's Rainbow Honey Suu over top, with some vanilla highlights:



And then I immediately decided I wanted to go matte with OPI Matte Top Coat because matte top coat and glitter together make a whole lot of magic!:







Overall, it's a pretty decent polish especially considering the price of the $2 range. It's nothing too unique but if you're lacking this kind of colour and might use it occasionally, it's a fairly decent candidate!

Have you ever accomplished one of your goals in a not-so-orthodox way? Or in a way that you wouldn't have expected to? Did you still give yourself a pat on the back? What do you make of NEON raspberry cremes with funny names?

Essence 106 Free Hugs Swatch and Review (Bonus: Psuedo Ladurée Inspired Nail Art)

I am back from a long weekend and I am supposed to feel refreshed! And I do sort of but now I have a gazillion things to do, ahhhh! I'm pretty excited about a lot of the things on my plate though so that's always a good thing. I just wish I had more time for my own things because I am thinking that I would love to make a hardcover printed photo book of my trip to Europe! Maybe soon. In the meantime, I am back for Cheap Polish Tuesday - today I have a polish that I bought from my trip to Europe. As some of you know, I am a huge Essence fan but not a lot of colours are available here in Canada. In fact we only have a quarter of the selection. You can get Essence polish in Ireland from budget fashion store Penneys (Primark in England) as well as a pharmacy store called Cora's. At Penneys, they're priced at €1.79 (which is under the $5 CAD mark to qualify for Cheap Polish Tuesday!)

Essence 'Free Hugs' (because yes, sometimes I do buy polish for the name sake!) is a baby pink creme with enough vibrance to get out of the pastel category. It applies very smooth and opaque and can possibly be swatched in one coat but I used two for good measure. My swatch below is of two coats with no top coat:











For funsies, I wanted to do some sort of fun nail art because like I mentioned, I have a bit of a mad week with photos! My boyfriend surprised me with Ladurée macarons upon my arrival and I brought the box back to store all the polaroid photos we took together. I've been staring longingly at it since I've been back, gahhh! It's not the right shade of pink, but I got my dotting tool and quickly made this polka dot outline nail art. I used a Kiss striper brush for the black outlines. Even though they don't match the Ladurée perfectly, I think it's still cute (even though it's typically pretty loud for me!):









I've got a wicked ton of Essence polish but I am pretty stoked about it because I plan on making this blog less of a swatch blog and more of a nail art blog. I love doing up swatches but sometimes I feel like no one cares about an OPI polish that was released two years ago and that's pretty much my whole polish collection - one giant backlog. Anyway, hope you liked FREE HUGS! Right now, I'd give free hugs to everyone because I'm freaking out here, haha!

What do you think of FREE HUGS? Do you ever buy polish for its name, or is that just my weirdness?

Essence 'Ticket to Paradise' Dive With Me To The Island Swatch and Review (Bonus: Rainbow Honey Bubble Beam)

Alright so I haven't posted any of it yet but I am just addicted to outlining and doing geometric designs on my nails lately! I've decided to actually update this blog once or twice a week while I am abroad that way I can show off these designs I've been playing around with and well, maybe I can talk about any polish I spot in Ireland, England and Paris? Oh I didn't think I mentioned it before - but that's where I am going and I'll be flying in just two days, ahhhhh! So much to do! But it's Tuesday so let's chill out and celebrate Cheap Polish Tuesday.

This one is a bit "old" in the fast changing polish world but this is Essence Dive With Me To The Island from the 'Ticket to Paradise' capsule collection. It's one of those 'Tiffany blue' type of shades and is meant to be a jelly (or as they say a "semi-transparent nail polish"!) as the other shades in the collection. The formula was good, my second coat applied a bit patchy and I was worried but it was self-levelling and evened out. Only needed two coats after all! Here's my swatch in two coats, with no top coat:











And for funsies, I finally took out Rainbow Honey Bubble Beam to add a bit of shimmer over top. Not the best colour to showcase Bubble Beam in all her blue shimmery glory, but it can be subtle too!:



And here it is matted with Cheap Polish Tuesday's favourite cheap matte top coat from GOSH. There's really no taming that shimmer at all:



Overall, I still love this polish - it had a nice natural shiny finish; sure it's not unique but it had a great formula. Another winner, another great "bang for your buck" in Cheap Polish Tuesday.

So now that I am bringing a checked baggage, I think I might bring my nail strengthener and a couple of polishes, hehe. Is this absurd? I hope not. What do you think of these Tiffany blue polishes? Have you had enough of them? I certainly haven't!

Revlon 736 Elusive Swatch and Review

I am wearing Pokemon on my leggings today and it makes me a happy panda even though sometimes I question my shitty choices in fashion and wondering if I am ever going to dress my age. Just whenever I dress nice, I feel like an imposter. HAY GUYZ I AM A BIZNIZ WO-MAN. Anyway, today is Tuesday and it's cheap day - I might even grab a cheap burger today at work for lunch, but in the case that I don't, I've also got Cheap Polish Tuesday!

This is Revlon Elusive. I picked it up for $3.99 from Superstore a couple of weeks ago when I was buying medicine. Elusive is a black based jelly, packed with blue toned emerald green multi-sized hex glitters and microglitter. The formula goes on swimmingly and it only took two coats with a tad of retouch strokes to get to full opacity. It finishes to a wax/satin-like finish - I personally don't find it flattering at all. It looks far more to its namesake - elusive - when finished glossy. Here it is first with a coat of Seche Vite:











Here's Revlon Elusive with its natural wax/satin finish. I personally don't like it because I feel like the glitters are still bumpy. I am also a bit over this finish - if I want this finish, I'll use a matte top coat. I don't think the glitters are particular more stand out in this finish - I feel like it actually dulls it down. Not a fan. Here it is:







Do you dress your age? Does it even matter? What do you think of polishes that have a "built-in" wax/satin finish? Is it soooooo 2013? Or are you still into them? Tell me what you're doing for Cheap Tuesday!