I’ll be honest, I’m not in love with this polish. But I heard about it online and people were going gaga over it. However, I don’t like metallic-ish polishes that show brush strokes. And this one, while very lovely, definitely shows brush strokes. Sad to say I took it off immediately after taking photos.
The colors are really cool, though. I think I’ll be giving it away to a friend instead of keeping it. :)
Years ago when I first started painting my nails in earnest, I researched online for the best polishes and topcoats. I distinctly remember TONS of people online recommending Essie Wicked and Seche Vite topcoat. I really believe that if you try a polish and topcoat that work extremely well, it will most likely change the way you look at nail polish. It’s like a beginner artist trying professional brushes and paints for the first time—you see how the tools really can make your job easier. That’s the experience I had with Wicked and Seche Vite.
I’ve mentioned in the past here at Daily Something that I adore Essie Wicked. It’s the perfect vampy dark blood red, in my opinion. It can almost do no wrong. That’s how much I love it. Well, since we’re knee-deep in autumn nail polish colors, I thought Essie Wicked deserved another look.
It’s really quite a color-shifter. Indoors, it looks almost black. But in direct sunlight, it’s a deep burgundy red. So pretty. :)
Sorry for not posting for SO long, guys! I’ve been posting nail pictures on my Instagram, though. Be sure to check those out.
Anyhow, this is definitely not one of the gruesome, scary Halloween manicures out there. Yikes! I’m definitely more of a Casper the Friendly Ghost type of Halloween celebrator. :)
Here are the details on each finger…
All nails were topped with Seche Vite topcoat. :)
Unfortunately when I wore this color for the first time it was a bit bubbly. But I think that was because of my topcoat. The particular bottle of Seche Vite that I used was old, sticky, and I think I was in a hurry when I applied it. But I’ve worn DJ Plat That Song one more time since. I used a newer bottle of Seche Vite and had no problems with bubbles. :)
Pin ItFor six weeks or so, I’ve been in the process of packing and moving houses. One of the things from my usual routine that was pushed to the wayside was my regular manicures. Granted, my nails probably needed a bit of time without polish anyway, but I sorely missed it. :)
I’m just now starting to paint them again. Currently I’m at my old house, waiting while the carpets are being cleaned. Since I’m just sitting here, I thought I’d show you guys what I’m wearing today…
Essie In the Cab-ana
(Such a pretty blue!)
Base Color: OPI Black Onyx
Stamping Color: Essie No Place Like Chrome
Stamping Plate: Winstona W119
And a photo of just the Black Onyx…
(photos taken with my iPhone and edited in Instagram)
* Winstonia plates were sent to me for review.
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to mention that you can get 10% off your order at winstoniastore.com through April 30, 2013, by using the code DAILYSOMETHING. Thanks, Winstonia!
Winstonia sent me their stamping plates to review and they arrived yesterday. Couldn’t wait to try them out! I’ll have a more thorough review later after I’ve tried a few more designs out, but for now here’s some polish and stamping. As for a short review, I had no problems stamping this one design. I used a regular Konad scraper and stamper.
NOTE: The plates are available for purchase straight from Winstonia HERE, or they’re also available through Amazon HERE.
Base Color: A-England Avalon & Smitten Hocus Pocus
Stamping Color: Essie No Place Like Chrome
Stamping Plate: Winstonia W108
I think this almost looks like a Halloween nail design! LOL!
From start to finish… First, I painted two coats of A-England Avalon (it’s the perfect purple under the glitter polish I wanted to use)…
Then I added one coat of Smitten Hocus Pocus. I don’t want to run out of this glitter polish so that’s why I layered it over the A-England Avalon. The purples are perfectly matched. :)
For the stamping, I used Winstonia plate W108 and Essie No Place Like Chrome (silver) to stamp a “paint dripping” tip. There were a couple nails that I didn’t get the design on the complete tip of the nail, so I went over the tip with the silver polish.
Years and years ago when my nail polish obsession was just in its infancy, I bought Essie Wicked. I adored Essie Wicked. I think it was my exclusive polish for two or three months. Just couldn’t get enough of it. It wears well and seems to match everything.
It’s a dark vampy burgundy, slightly gel-ish, black indoors and rich red out in the sun. It’s just an awesome color.
So when I go through a nail polish funk (i.e. when I don’t feel like doing super fun nail art or stamping), sometimes I go back to Wicked. It just makes me happy. :)
P.S. This photo below makes it look really purple, but it’s really a color shifter! Depending on the lighting, Wicked can go more red, more brown, more black. It’s an awesome color.
Wearing some dots today. :) The dots are from a Cheeky plate and were sort of hard to stamp. It was strange. I was trying to be super careful but you can see that some of the dots are warped. I think I need to practice a bit more with this one. :)
Anyhow, here are some dots!
Base Color: Essie Bikini So Teeny
Stamping Color: Konad Special Polish White
Stamping Plate: Cheeky CH6
Topcoat: Seche Vite
In other news, I had an awful pedicure over the weekend. The technician cut my toes multiple times! I’ve always heard that you should never trim your cuticles, but just push them back. I generally don’t have much dead cuticle to work with anyway, so I’ve never had to warn anyone to NOT trim my cuticles. Anyway, before I knew it the tech was going to town on my toes and making me bleed! Nip! Nip! Nip! I could feel her cutting my skin!
I should have spoken up sooner. Learn from me, people! SPEAK UP AND TELL THEM THEY ARE HURTING YOU! She was going so fast, I just assumed it would be over quickly. Three days later and I still can’t wear socks or closed toe shoes because they rub against my healing WOUNDS. :(
Dude. Never again. I’ll just do my own dang pedicure, thanks.
I adore this green… So summery…
BTW, I had a marathon cleaning session in my kitchen tonight. I hate cleaning. Boo. Anyway, the only way my nail polish can survive cleaning is to wear rubber gloves. SO attractive, let me tell you. And I hate the way it makes my hands sweat. But on the other hand, at least my manicure comes out unscathed. :)
