Get ‘em before they’re gone… maybe

As reported last month, Pure Ice is discontinuing a fair number of their polishes and will be introducing some new ones in 2013.  I have a few discontinued colors to show you in case you’re wondering whether to get them or not before they’re gone.

First is, appropriately, First Time.  It’s a light leaf green pearl/chrome; Pure Ice calls it a pearl moss green.  Man, I wanted to like this one so much!  It is a very pretty shade of green, and at a distance it gives a chrome look, but brushstrokes were terrible and the more I tried to correct them the worse they got.  I think you could make it look better if you sponged on the polish, but I wanted to just use the provided brush.

It might also look good with a matte top coat but that would obviously negate the chrome appearance.  Here’s First Time in reflected cloudy outdoor light (where the brushstrokes don’t look bad) and then with the flash:

Next I tried a sheer iridescent white-green called Mint Dream.  It’s a top coat for other colors or would give your nails a very sheer greenish cast.  Not crazy about this one; it seemed to have kind of a “space alien” look to it.  In the following pictures I have Mint Dream alone on my index finger (two coats) and one coat of it over First Time on my other three nails.  Overall it’s too frosty for my taste.

Iced Copper is called “pearl copper” by the company but I’d call it a shimmer.  It’s a pretty shade of copper with lots of silver sparkle in it.  Now this one, I like!  It covered well in two coats.  If you’re looking to pick up an inexpensive copper shade and you like shimmers, this would be a good one.

Finally, I have a very unusual creme to show you.  When I received the bottle I thought the polish was dark brown.  When I held it up to the light, I thought it was purple.  When I opened it, I didn’t know what to call it!  Pure Ice calls it “dark blood red,” but I wouldn’t say red.  It’s definitely a blackened, vampy shade.

The first and second coats were streaky but the third looked good, and it’s very shiny.  I either should have used a fourth coat or shouldn’t have rushed my application, since I see  few thin spots near my cuticles.  Scandal is much darker than what I usually wear, but it’s so different that I like it.

Pure Ice polishes are 3-free and retail for $1.97 at Wal-Mart.

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Samples provided by Pure Ice.

Metallic, foil, frost — what’s the difference?

Jelly or sheer?  What’s bar glitter?  The aforementioned metallic, foil, and frost — are they the same?  And how about shimmer?

There are many different finishes and looks in nail polish and often the terms get confusing, partly because there are just so many of them.  I thought about writing up an exhaustive list but find that other bloggers have already done it, illustrated it with photos, and have done a much better job than I ever could.

So I give you a visual dictionary from Lacquerized and thank her for her great efforts.  Some of the terms are more about color and glitter shape than finish but I think they’re still good to know.

Shimmer and foil have become some of my favorites lately, and I want to try holographic polish.  And jelly.  And and and….