Water Marbled Christmas Ornaments

One thing I had fun with last year, was using the technique of pouring nail polish into Christmas ornaments to make custom decorations. I wanted to do that again this year with smaller ornaments since my tree is small, but I couldn’t find any plain clear ones the right size. Then I hit on an idea. What if I water marbled them instead?

I got a couple different kinds of ornaments in the name of science. There was a set of black, white and silver ornaments at Wal-Mart I saw as blank canvasses, and I got a box of small clear ones from Michael’s that had an iridescent coating on them. 

I didn’t want to waste good polish on this, so I figured I’d try some Sally Hansen Color Foils on them. I picked up a couple when they first came out. (I should have waited.) Ocean State Job Lot has them for $2 right now, which is about the right price for party polish. When I tried water marbling with Purple Alloy, Liquid Gold and Minted Metal, I wasn’t happy with the results. However, Pink Platinum and Cobalt Chrome work great. I found I got the best results when I combined one of the great ones with one of the difficult ones. I also used a bottle of Claire’s Gold Roses, which is another reluctant to marble polish. 

I ran into some pitfalls along the way. First of all, if you’re going to try this, go easy on the polish. Don’t do this:

If you use too much,  they take forever to dry, leaving the design highly vulnerable to damage. Assuming that doesn’t happen, the dreaded air bubbles appear. Or, you get both. 

I really liked how they worked on the clear ornaments best. They made me think of blown glass.

The other ornaments worked well too, so depending on what look you want, these are totally viable options.

All in all, this is a great way to make fantastic looking ornaments. I’m totally doing this again next year!  

Nail Polish Stress Test: Finger Paints Sea Temptress

I grabbed this one from Sally Beauty Supply’s last 50% off red tag clearance sale.  Sea Temptress is part of Finger Paints' Enchanted Mermaid Collection. It's supposed to have “real mermaid texture”. I’m not sure what that even means. What it actually is; a very pretty polish that is ruined by the addition of texture it didn’t need.

It’s actually quite sinister. When you look at the bottle and see the beautiful pearly blue green shimmer within, there’s no way to tell there’s clear glitter pieces inside that provide texture that in my opinion makes it look like you ruined your manicure and couldn’t be bothered to fix it. I really want to like it, but that finish…..ugh! I used three coats with no top coat.

Disappointment aside, how did it hold up?

It did okay. I had a couple chips on the first day, but again because of the shimmer, they weren’t easy to spot. After the second day, it was pretty much game over.

Verdict: Good

It’s a decent polish if you can look past the texture. Only paying $1.65 helped.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Pure Ice Winter Blues

When I first heard about this collection on Nouveau Cheap, I was really interested in checking them out. When I saw them in the store, I was surprised to see they looked a bit different from the company promo pics. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be. As I work to improve my photography, I’m learning some things are hard to accurately capture on camera.

After some agonizing, I chose Winter Blues. It’s a gold micro fleck shimmer with blue hex glitter. I was able to get fully opaque coverage in four coats, and as usual, I put a coat of Seche Vite on top of that.

I have to admit, I was kind of meh about how this looked. At the end of the day, I think it’s really meant to be a topper, not a standalone polish. This would look great over a dark blue. My ambivalence aside, how did it hold up?

It held up like a champ! I was able to go a good three days before I saw any damage. Better yet, the nature of this polish makes the chips hard to spot, so I could have easily pushed it another day or two.

Verdict: Excellent

No matter how you choose to wear it, this is a great value for the money. All $1.97 of it.

Nail Polish Stress Test: e.l.f. Fire Coral, Misty Haze, and Midnight Mystery

e.l.f. is another brand I see around a lot, but have never tried. I came across a set in T.J.Maxx I liked for $3. I can justify $1 a bottle, so I pulled the trigger and bought it. This set contained Fire Coral, Misty Haze and Midnight Mystery.

Fire Coral is a darker orange creme.  Misty Haze is a gray creme, and Midnight Mystery is a silver glitter topper.

The bottles annoy me. Most polishes with this design have a removable cover over the cap. Not these! Maybe it's so you can tell if anyone tampered with it before you buy it? More importantly, the brushes are chintzy. The brush in Fire Coral was not securely attached to the inside of the cap. I fully expect it to fall out at some point, likely when I’m wearing something it’ll clash with the most.

The polish itself went on okay. It was a little streaky at first, but it looked fine after two coats each for Misty Haze and Fire Coral. Midnight Mystery was another story. The glitter itself is pretty, but it’s also shy and doesn’t want to leave its bottle home. I ended up using two coats of Fire Coral and Misty Haze with two coats of Midnight Mystery on top, with a coat of Seche Vite. Because reasons.

 Cheap bottles and glitter issues aside, how did it do? 

Quite well! It held up great at work. This was after a full day. It performed better than LAColors Animate did, which I did not expect. Since it went on in two coats, I decided to see how it would do with nail art. It did water marble, although it did take a couple tries to dial it in, and stamped just fine.

Fire Coral and Misty Haze Verdict: Good

In spite of the poor quality bottles, the polish within did quite well, turning out to be both versatile and durable.

Midnight Mystery Verdict: Loser polish

I know there are ways to get more glitter out of the bottle. I would accept this if we were talking large or unusual shaped pieces, but when it comes to the standard kind, I shouldn’t have to. This is a bottle of fail.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Sally Hansen Sun Sheen

When I first got into nail polish, I really liked the Sally Hansen brand. It always seemed to work well for me, and it was in my high school student budget. As an adult, I find I rarely buy them. I keep seeing interesting colors and promises that ultimately don’t seem to hold up well on my nails.

That being said, if I genuinely like how one looks, and if it’s cheap enough I’ll still try it. That leads me to today’s polish, Sun Sheen from Sally Hansen’s Satin Glam collection. As I write this, it’s on clearance at Walgreen’s and CVS, which puts it in the range I’m willing to spend for a brand I don’t completely trust.

Sun Sheen is a very pretty orange matte polish with orange and gold glass flecks. It looks more sparkly on the nail than it does in the bottle. I don’t know if it’s because it doesn’t have a glossy finish, or it’s just that you have to see it on the nail to appreciate it, but that’s how it is. I was worried about the durability of this one because of the satin texture. Was I justified?

 

Oh yes. One day of work destroyed it.

I know two data points aren’t a trend, but I’m getting the impression the words matte and durable can’t be used together in reference to polish. The damage doesn’t show as clearly as it did with China Glaze’s I Love Your Guts, but I’d say it was equal in severity.

Verdict: Party Polish

This is another polish that’s good for special occasions, but just won’t stand up to real life. If you’re going to get one of these, spend as little money as possible on it.

Nail Polish Stress Test: NYC: Queen’s Jewels

NYC is one of those drugstore brands I tend to ignore. I don’t associate them with much of anything new or interesting. However, I spotted their Crystal Couture collection on my last pass through Rite Aid and thought I’d give it a try. Was that a good idea? Read on to find out!

I chose Queen’s Jewels, which is a green jelly full of green glitter. There’s so much glitter that I wasn’t expecting it to be a jelly. It was nice and smooth after it dried too, no 30 grit sandpaper finish here! I used three coats, although two probably would have been enough. I used one coat of Seche Vite on top.

So how did it do?
 

Turns out this polish holds up like a champ! It lasted a full three days at work with minimal damage. All things being equal, this isn’t the easiest polish to remove, but I’m okay with that. It did stain a bit too.

Verdict: Excellent

This was a pleasant surprise. Clearly, I need to pay more attention to this brand. I also need to go back and see if any of the other polishes in this collection are left!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Republic Nail Gel Effect Monaco

When I first came across this product in T.J. Maxx, I must have picked it up and put it back like six times. I’m always suspicious of companies that don’t put photos of the actual product on their packaging. However, since it was only $3.99, I figured I’d potentially waste some money for science.

 

This is one of those polishes that claim to last a long time without using a UV lamp. I was really wary as the last time I tried a product with that promise, it was Nutra Nail. That was a disaster. I decided to do only one nail at first, just in case this polish worked the same way. 

According to the directions, you put one coat of nail polish on, wait six minutes, put the gel effect top coat on, wait six minutes, done. The colored part went on streaky as heck. I tried to go over it again but it didn’t help. Once I applied the top coat and waited the required six minutes, it was completely dry, so I took the plunge and did a full manicure. 

The results were not pretty, but I foraged on. So how did it last?

This stuff was definitely on the fragile side. After one day at work I had chips at both ends of my nail, and a major chip on my thumb too. Long wearing? Um, no.

Verdict: Loser polish

This polish fails in every way possible. It’s a pain to apply, it looks terrible once it’s on, and it doesn’t last. Do not buy this.

Update 8/30/15: I gave this brand another go. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: SpaRitual Intention

This polish is from their Illuminate collection, which came out in 2013, but has been showing up in TJ Maxx recently. I missed out getting any, but my friend was nice enough to loan this one to me, so let’s see how it does!

This is another tomato red polish, but this one is a jelly with red and gold glass flecks in it. While it’s on the sheer side, three coats were enough for full coverage. Putting this on was a joy. It went on smoothly and dried quickly. I put a coat of Seche Vite on top to make everything nice and shiny. I couldn’t resist stamping an accent design on my ring finger. This polish felt like it deserved a little something fancy. 

So, how did it last?

It did! After two days, it’s sustained minimal damage. It’s very rare for me to find a brand of polish that lasts this long at work. Why did I give it back???

 ….Oh yeah, karma.

Verdict: Excellent

This is one of THE best polishes it has ever been my pleasure to use. I absolutely need to track down my own bottle, and check out what else this brand has to offer!

Nail Product Stress Test: Essie Sleek Sticks

Essie Sleek Sticks are supposed to be made of already UV cured long lasting gel polish. How long? Let’s find out!

I picked this up at Dollar tree for...wait for it......$1! The idea is to apply them like stickers to your bare nails, then file off the excess. I found they were a bit tricky to apply. They really wanted to wrinkle, although I was able to reposition them a few times. I still had a couple wrinkles, but on this particular design, they didn’t show. I found applying the strip at the cuticle line, then stretching it over the edge of my nail worked best. I suspect lacqueristas with shorter nails might be able to cut them in half and possibly get two manicures out of one set.

The other problem I had was that in some cases, there wasn’t a stick that was quite the right size for my nail. Again, not a problem with this particular design, but I could see that being annoying with others.

There’s no denying they sure looked good! It’d be nigh impossible to replicate with traditional nail polish.

But what about that all important durability? 

There isn’t any. You see, this product is meant to be peeled off when you’re done. It’s as if I painted my nails with white glue. As I unpacked boxes, this product rubbed off or peeled off. What you see here is literally all that survived.

Verdict: Party Polish

For $1, it would be great to wear for a party. In an office setting, I’m sure it would hold up way better than it did for me. If I’d paid the regular price of $10, I would have been super ticked off. Of course if I’d paid that much, I’d never wear it to my job!

Nail Polish Stress Test: L.A. Colors Animated

I’ve seen the L.A. Colors brand quite a bit lately. They had a display in Walmart over the summer, T.J. Maxx gets in sets of it from time to time, and Dollar Tree stores sell it as well. I have no idea how good this brand is, so I decided it’s time to find out. I went with Animated. I’m not sure how they chose that name for a bright tomato red polish, but eh, whatever.

I had a bit of trouble applying this one. I prefer to apply thin coats when I’m doing my nails, but I had to use thicker coats with this one or it would start getting globby on me. This ended up being a three heavier coat operation. I used one coat of Seche Vite on top. 

The results were pretty good, considering this is $1 polish. I did get significant tip wear after one day, but that’s par for the course for me when it comes to the average lacquer. Someone with a desk job would get more mileage out of it. I could have covered that up with glitter, French manicure style, but I figured I’d see if this polish could be used for nail art instead. 

Turns out, it’s great for nail art. Animated has a lot of pigment in it, so it’s great for nail stamping and gradients. It’s even easy to use for water marbling, although the color does bleed, so you should plan accordingly.

Verdict: Good, especially for nail art

I was impressed by what this polish could do for the money. I will definitely pick up more of these to try in the future.

Nail Polish Stress Test: China Glaze I Love Your Guts

I like China Glaze’s core polishes. I’ve found them to be reliable across the board. Their gimmicky polishes? Not so much. I have one of them to test out today; I Love Your Guts from their Apocalypse of Color collection. I picked this one up during my last trip to Sally Beauty Supply. They put their Halloween displays on a rear facing end cap in the middle of the store, which was weird. I almost missed it!

This is actually an iridescent matte polish with black glitter in it.  It’s much prettier on than it is in the bottle. I found two heavier coats were enough for full coverage. It dried very quickly too. 

So, how did it last? Well, it didn’t. It was pretty much wrecked after one day at work, and it wasn’t even that busy! Honestly, I can’t say I’m surprised. Matte polish is less durable than traditional polish. Some companies will even go so far as to put disclaimers on their displays or websites to make that clear. 

Verdict: Party Polish

This polish is too pretty not to use, but it’s not going to hold up unless you’re just going to sit there and look gorgeous. I can’t recommend getting it otherwise.

What I'm About

I've been a polishaholic since I was a teenager. As an adult, I've been grateful for all the info out there, showing me wonderful lacquers I want to buy. There's one vital stat that's hard to find out, one that's really important to me; how durable is it?

You see, even though I love nail polish, and my nails are rarely naked, I work in a warehouse. I take things out of boxes, and sometimes put things in other boxes. This tends to kill off manicures quickly when done hundreds of times over the course of a day. Why not take that experience, and make something useful of it?

I'm also frugal. Warehouse work isn't the most lucrative, so I tend to buy polish that's on sale. I've found if I'm patient, there's no reason to pay full price for what I want unless it's a color I have to have. The lacquers I review aren't always going to be brand new, but new to stores like Big Lots. I want to call attention to the ones that fell off the radar, or deserve a second look.

I hope you find what I have to say useful. Thank you for coming along for the ride.