I really have a love/hate with fake finger nails. I love to look at them. In a box. I hate to attempt to wear them. I picked these up at Wal-Mart for just a few bucks - maybe $5 at the max? The only reason I got them was because they had stick-on tabs. Again, I'm a no-glue kinda girl.
The design is pretty awesome! They don't have names, just numbers so this is fing'rs EDGE 31120
Now you can also use glue, but um, no thanks. There are 24 different sized sticker tabs that you first peel off the backing and stick it to your finger, but leave the other side of the sticker still on.
Can you already smell trouble? The glue on the pointer finger started to SLIDE off my finger, as you can see right at the top (tip) of my finger. Also, I picked a size too small on my ring finger, and it didn't even cover the whole nail. Plus as you can see, the sticker just didn't "sit" right on all the nails.
I apologize for the bad picture quality - I took these in my office, right before bed. I was going to give them the "sleep test" like I did for my Claire's nails... see how they hold up in bed. You can see that the ringer finger was definitely too short, but also that the glue was bubbling weird on the pinkie.
I swear to you, not even 3 minutes after taking this picture, I spied this.
Houston, we have lift off! I was a little shocked, but just decided to type a blog post out anyway, and then it literally just fell off. Like, fell off. Just "plop" onto my keyboard. But that's not the only one. My MIDDLE finger plopped off next - just fell off. I looked at my thumb and it was lifting too, so I just touched the tip with my ring finger, and pop, it fell off too.
At this point, I was flat out annoyed. I peeled off the remaining two nails (which were the only ones that stuck on) and went to go brush my nails off with all this gross glue. How was it that the glue was massively STUCK to my nails, but didn't even PHASE the fake nails? LAME.
Rating? F. Like, don't even bother. What's worse, is I went to their website tonight, and the main site is definitely geared to younger girls [official website]. The pinks and purples, the young models, the girlie young fonts on the products. Yeah. It took me a minute to even find the nails I bought which is apparently it's own subdomain [EDGE official website]. They have a MySpace which REALLY showed me how "young" this stuff is marketed... loves Justin Timberlake, loves Paris Hilton... I don't know any 22 year old (the MySpace age on the profile) that has their head that far up in the clouds. Apparently you can also sign up for a free sample on their website under "Be A Product Tester". Go for it - just don't pay for this stuff... at least not the "tab" ones. I can't comment on the glue - maybe it's the best ever! OH I found it - they DO have a Twitter. I'm very into companies being on Twitter... I feel it's MUCH more personal. Well, they aren't going to enjoy this review - sorry Fing'rs [official Twitter page].
I never thought I was a matte person until I started seeing multiple postings of ManGlaze show up online. ManGlaze is cruelty-free and big 3 free, and made by hand here in the States. The best part is their owner and founder, Marc. That guy is seriously a riot. I mean it. Check out his Twitter page sometime.
ManGlaze was launched in 2007 and claims to be the original matte polish. I wouldn't doubt it, since I don't ever remember seeing matte polish prior to this - not in black or grey. There are 4 stores that sell ManGlaze but unless you live in NYC, Chicago, or um, Greece (not sure how they got the stuff), then you can only find it on their website [official website]. Now I have to have my bonding moment - the name "Man Glaze" came from when Marc's friend Cory came back from a GWAR concert. During the concert, GWAR has these anatomically correct cannons that shoot various bodily looking fluids at the audience. In 2005, I got to go to the Sounds of the Underground tour and actually interview GWAR (this was back when I was a radio DJ and news director for a local tv station), and let me tell you... scariest and weirdest interview of my LIFE. I also got to be in the media pit for their concert and I was THE ONLY PHOTOGRAPHER there. Can you say "easy target"? So I have a very ... frightfully funny memory of GWAR, needless to say.
Believe it or not, their customer base is about 50/50 with men and women. Not only is is rough and tough enough for men, women love matte polish as of lately, and you can use a top coat and ManGlaze has a secret rainbow soft side (more on that later). I really think ManGlaze and Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics need to combine their powers one day. Now that would be something awesome.
Now I KNOW that there is 5 bottles out there of ManGlaze... but they are only selling 4 of them on their website, so you know - I bought the whole line. The one that I didn't get was their "The Death Tar" which I believe is a matte black, but according to their website, the last bottle was purchased in October 2009, and Matte Is Murder was their new, more awful matte black. So I purchased the grey matte "Fuggen Ugly", the matte top coat "#Matte Astrophe", the black matte "#Matte is Murder" and the silver top coat "Hot Mess". Now I don't really know why, but my Fuggen Ugly cap was shorter than the others. The bottle was the same, but as you can see in the first picture, it's got a short handle.
Now these bottles are not for the faint at heart. The artwork is pretty out there, but hey, who's to say all polish is supposed to be pretty roses and whatnot? ManGlaze DOES market to men, with its dark, matte color and finish. I decided to use my AWESOME computer skills to make this animation of the bottle's entire label (and each bottle is covered completely in a label). This is "Fuggen Ugly"
Now a few things that I automatically have loved about this brand.
(1) He answers his Twitter - frequently. Granted he has "only" 1,013 followers, but that's still a LOT of followers to individually be answering a TON of those Tweets.
(2) The bottles are all designed at an angle. As a former graphic designer, I can appreciate the little things like that. Even though the bottles are square, all the artwork is so that you have to put the bottle in a diamond shape to see the label "properly". LOVE IT.
(3) His website takes PayPal (!) as well as major credit cards.
(4) Shipping was FAST. I purchased on May 11th (around 10 a.m.), and it was shipped on May 12 (at 2 a.m.!). I received it by May 15th. Hello, 4 days waiting for nail polish? Very happy me.
(5) Shipping and handling is included in the cost of the polish. Each polish is $6.66 and each top coat is $13.13.
(6) Everything was packed SO well, even to how the packing peanuts were arranged in the boxes. Again, I'm very appreciative of the little things.
The polishes come in cardboard boxes that again, are stamped on the edges so you have to diamond it up to see it properly.
Also with my order, I got some free business cards (these rock) and some decal stickers. I'm totally slapping one on my Guitar Hero guitar.
The fine print at the top of the back of the card says "Fill in your contact info below and give this card to someone kinda forty." LOVE IT.
Check back for my reviews of each product - I was seriously happy with the way this stuff turned out. And of course, I get to giggle and say "I'm wearing ManGlaze" whenever I walk out with this stuff on.
Yay for more paint and peel! Slate is a yellow brown creme color that I thought would be a great neutral for the office, or just when I don't feel like WOWing people with my nail polish (and believe it or not, that happens more often nowadays, hah). Once again, I didn't use any kind of base or top coat, and used 2 thin coats, waiting about 2 minutes between coats so I wouldn't screw anything up.
I still think I'm just doing it wrong, because as you can see, there is some bald spots especially on my pointer and middle fingers. I have considered more coats - I mean hey, it's paint and peel - where's the downside in this? As you can see, it's just a nice yellow brown - nothing too crazy.
Oh shade - this makes the color look much more brown, and you know it just might be my skin that threw such a yellow cast in my pictures. The application was nice and clean with this color, and I'm sorry I didn't have the official "Slate" image from the bottom of the bottle. The stickers are clear with writing so it makes it quite hard to photograph - I'd prefer a white sticker with black writing.
Sula is available on their website [official website] or check the "Where to find Sula products" [link] page to see what stores carry it near you.
Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration. For more information, please read this post.
While at a local nail salon, I decided to press my luck and try to buy an old bottle off the place. I am a horrible sales and negotiation person. HORRIBLE.
The lady was terribly confused at what I was asking (English was not her first language, and Mandarin Chinese is actually my 6th language - took a whole semester of it in college), so that was the first speed bump. Finally she got that I wanted to BUY the bottle and told me to name my price. I figured since the bottle looked at least half empty (don't go by the above picture), I'd offer her $3 since a new bottle can be easily $5. However, this is a dusty - a term I heard on another blog. Basically, the bottle is so old there is a fine layer of dust on it (and there was). She wanted to thin it for me but I lounged for the bottle and said I'd do it myself, haha.
This is one of the OLD China Glaze colors, from before the Big 3 formula was introduced. Now I have no idea how old this bottle really is - everything I find online is just that this is a HTF (hard to find) color. Score?
Problem is, the color was seriously OLD. First I added a bit of clear NYC polish to it to try and thicken up the base a bit (um, bad idea), and then I resorted to adding some Seche Restore (which I heard from somewhere... I think the Seche Twitter Feed?) because it's a pre-big 3 formula so Restore would thin it properly because it got to be a goopy mess... then I added 5 ballz to it (to help the polish mix) and well, I just don't know anymore. I need to play with it a bit more.
I do like the base color which is a good medium purple - not as pigmented as China Glaze Grape Pop but almost on the same wavelength as China Glaze Grape Juice. (They are running out of Grape words, I think).
I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 3 thin coats of Grape Juice, and a top coat of Seche Vite. Just like China Glaze Cosmic (from the Glitters & Cremes Collection), there is more rainbow glitter in the bottle than translates on the nail. (Boo)
You can see a bit of the rainbow on my nails - I was a fan of the color despite it not having a heavy rainbow glitter like I hoped for. Plus it's purple. Win.
Ooh shiny! I'm having a bit of an issue with my shade pictures being too "green" - not sure why, but whatever. You can see that the bottle name is starting to rub off here, haha. Overall I'm a fan of this polish for sure - purple, rainbow, glitter... my favorites. ^_^
China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].
I thought it was just me, but I've noticed a few other bloggers having nail bubbling problems. Sometimes I think that Deborah Lippmann herself reads my blog. I know she doesn't, but I'm going to pretend like she does. Or at least her assistant's assistant's doorman's wife does. Whatever.
This email came in last Thursday all about nail bubbling. Thanks Deborah! However, because her text was actually a picture, I'm just going to type it out (not so thanks).
The Bubble Trouble...
We all hate those little tiny bubbles in a manicure. And they may not be noticeable until a few minutes after you're done. Here are solutions to the problem.
1) Never shake your bottle of polish before use.
If you do, you'll have to wait 45 minutes or so before you using the polish. All polish separates over time, to mix it, roll the bottle between your palms, you've probably seen your manicurist do this.
2) Applying polish before the previous coat is dry can cause bubbles.
Polish needs time to set, use thin coats (it will dry faster) and wait 2 minutes between each coat (your manicure will last longer).
3) Humidity can cause bubbles and your polish will take longer to dry.
So ends the words of Deborah. Please note, that's straight from her email (typo included) and not my words or my advice. I'm still trying to keep the bubbles away from my nails. ^_^
