Top Coat Trials: Wet n' Wild MegaLast Quick Dry Ultra Gloss Topcoat

Isn't that name ridiculous? Companies really should give their products shorter names. Here I am with another topcoat review in my long search for a wonderful topcoat. For some reason I'm feeling too lazy today to give a real review to Megalast, so here are the pros and cons of this topcoat.

Pros

- very quick drying (dry to the touch within 5 minutes)

- quite shiny

- extremely cheap! (about $2) :)

Cons

- it did really weird things to one of my friends; it actually dulled her polish rather than enhance it. I didn't get that, but I thought I would just throw it in there.

- didn't protect the nail well enough. My polish would chip very quickly.

- *sigh* the usual con. Extreme thickening in the last half of the bottle!

So, overall we have 3 pluses and 3 minuses. But I was very irritated at the end of my bottle, what with the inferior wear-and-tear of the polish, and the stupid thickening. I know that several people love this polish, but I wouldn't recommend it. I haven't found anything to replace Seche Vite yet! This is the fourth topcoat I've reviewed, and if things don't start looking up soon I'll be back bowing before Seche's altar.

Topcoat Trials Take Three

Welcome to the Topcoat Trials, my darlings. It's been a while since I last posted one of these babies. In my search for a top coat that matches the extremely quick dry time and lovely glossiness of Seche Vite yet is without the gloppiness, short brush, and expensiveness, I picked up Sally Hansen Mega Shine Extended Wear Top Coat. Long name, yes? This is one that many people recommended to me, and so I decided to take a shot at it.

How did I like it? I found that the claim of a 90 second dry time really was quite true, or at least a 2 minute dry time was very easily obtained. My nails were dry to the touch in about 2 minutes, and completely dry in 5. Very lovely. The shtuff itself did not get goopy once I got down past the halfway mark, but stayed nice and thin. However, the thin part is something I wanted to talk about. Mega Shine really was not shiny and thick enough for me - I quite like how Seche lays such a thick layer over the polish, since it makes it impervious to chips and beautifully mirror-like. Mega Shine has a thin formula, and does not form this lovely thick layer.

In conclusion, I liked Mega Shine, but I did not stop there. I am pushing on with my search to find a new topcoat! :)

Topcoat Trials: Sally Hansen Double Duty

Today, I am posting. I know, it's a weird thing. What? Faith post? Nooo, that doesn't happen. But, as it turns out, I realized I hadn't posted in a long time, and I'm trying to write a paper that's due tomorrow, so what better way to procrastinate than write a blog post?

Remember how I need to find a new top coat? Here is the first thing I tried, Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat. I grabbed it while I was in CVS one day and needed a cheap base coat. This one was cheapest (about $4), and it happened to be a top coat as well, so I tried it out as both things.

Doubly Duty works admirable as a pillowy base coat that keeps polish from streaking. However, I've been truly spoiled with Seche Vite's lightning-quick drying time, and I found that I could not handle a normal drying top coat in any way, shape, or form. "15 minutes before I can touch it? I don't understand! Please take it away!" I'm too clumsy to have a slow-drying top coat ... I would hit my nails on something after 10 minutes, and then be very angry. "Shit! Now I've got to redo 3 nails!" I hate redoing my nails; because I'm fickle and would like to put a different color on when I smack them on something, but then I feel guilty about putting a different color on, so I just go around all unhappy for the rest of the day. Haha!

A Great Lacquer Hunt

I have a confession to make!
I've become dissatisfied with Seche Vite. So much so that I'd like to find a new top coat.
I know! It's pure blasphemy! It's treason! But, it is so.

If you are unfamiliar with the glories of Seche Vite, let me enlighten you. Seche is a extremely fast drying top coat ... I mean, like 5 minutes after you slap it on, you're good to go. It also forms a hard, shiny, gelatinous coating over your polish that keeps the polish from chipping for quite a long time.
Why would I want to abandon this wonderful invention, you say? Well, I have a couple of reasons.
First off, the brush in this thing is ridiculous. After you've made your way through about half of the bottle, it is pretty much impossible to get anything out unless you revert to tipping the bottle to odd angles and screwing the top back on every time you dip the brush in. Very irritating.
Secondly, Seche Vite bubbles and thickens like no other. After 1/2 the bottle is gone, you'll notice some thickening of the polish and a little bubbling. Nothing too serious, but annoying all the same. But then when the bottle is maybe 2/3 gone, this stuff goes insane. Bubbles everywhere and it turns into glue. I've tried adding huge amounts of (Seche brand) thinner. While that does help a little with the thickening, it does nothing for the bubbles. And who wants bubbles in their manicure?

So here's what I'm proposing to do. I will start a great lacquer hunt for another amazing top coat. It must dry quickly, be shiny and gelatinous, be cheap (Seche Vite is expensive-ola), and not thicken or bubble. That's quite a list, we'll see what I come up with! I'll be posting about all the new top coats I try.

Do y'all have any suggestions for me?

Cuticle Chronicles: Sally Hansen Cuticle Remover

Hello y'all! Here is finally another Cuticle Chronicles post! :)

Today I'm showing you the Sally Hansen Cuticle Remover. Cuticle removers, shockingly enough, remove your excess cuticles. You know the stuff that grows up over your moons? That stuff. With this stuff you just smear some on your cuticles, wait 2 minutes, and push back your cuticles with a manicure stick. Then wash your hands or you will die a slow and painful death. :D

As you can see, this guy is very easy to use and isvery inexpensive (less than $4) as well. This is the first cuticle remover I tried, and I like it quite a lot. My friends and I oo and ahh over the way our cuticles just slide off after applying it. I'm eager to try CND Cuticle Eraser, and CND Solar Oil. Hopefully my next CC post will be about the Cuticle Eraser, as I plan to buy it after I get home from Colorado.

What is y'all's favorite cuticle remover? Do you use a cuticle remover?

The Cuticle Chronicles: Sally Hansen Cuticle Pen

Yay for The Cuticle Chronicles! Today is post two in this series of everything cuticle-wise. :)
This little lovely is the Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Cuticle Pen. It's one of those little pens that you twist and it makes a clicky noise and goop comes out. Nice goop. I guess it's not really goop, it's a clear liquid that smells really good. Like almond flowers! I love that smell. :)
I also love this pen. It's ah-mazing. It sinks in quickly - I'd say about 5 minutes. And then your cuticles are happy and moisturized.
I bought this without any thought of it making my nails grow ... I'm generally pretty skeptical of anything that claims to grow my nails or whatever. But I've noticed that my nails have been growing particularly fast lately. Now this could just be a fluke-y thing, like maybe I've got some nail-growing hormones running wild in me right now or something, but I like to think that it's the result of this cuticle pen. :)

The Cuticle Chronicles: Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Hey there! I know that lots of y'all are always looking for different treatments for your nails, so I've decided to start a series about cuticle creams/oils/removers, etc. I'm going to start off with my favorite cuticle cream, Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.This stuff works wonders. I've gone through at least 2 tins of it ... and they're a pretty decent size. :) I'd advise putting it on at night, as it tends be a little greasy and dulls your polish until it soaks in. So you put it on before bed, let it soak in all night, and wake up with gorgeous cuticles! Plus it smells super good. Lemony but not lemon-cleaner smelling. Oh, and did I mention that Burt's Bees is an organic line? I love anything organic, my family is all into being 'green'. All of Burt's Bees stuff is at least 90 or 95% organic, I believe. I also swear by their lip balm. Looove it. :)
You can find this cuticle cream at most drugstores and grocerys. Drugstore.com has it for $5.99, but I believe mine cost more like $4.

What NOT to buy

Do y'all remember that base coat I was talking about in my last post? The one that nearly ruined my manicure? Well, here it is. DO NOT BUY IT! It's a huge waste of 5 bucks. Yeah, it sucks. At first (meaning about for the first 1/4 of the bottle) it is fine ... nothing fabulous, but nothing horrible. Theennn, it gets nasty. You know how Seche Vite gets kind of bubbly and thick 1/2 through the bottle? This does that, except wayyyy worse. As in, by the time you get to the last 1/3 of the bottle it doesn't even really apply any more. It draaagggs hugely. It's basically not even a liquid anymore. It's like trying to apply hot glue. Oh, and those little string-ys that you get when you use a hot glue gun? Yeah, you get those here too. HOW WEIRD AND HORRIBLE IS THAT?! Ugh.
I am not a happy customer. It makes me not ever want to buy anything Sally Hansen again, even though I know that Sally's makes lots of good stuff. Except maybe not base coats. Haha!
As you can see, I have completely given up on this. I bought some Seche Clear yesterday. Hopefully I'll have good luck with it! :)