China Glaze City Flourish Gradient: At Vase Value, In a Lily Bit, & What a Pansy

After seeing Paint Those Piggies! beautiful bubblegum gradient, I was itching to do a gradient myself!  I reached into my stash of recently-purchased China Glaze City Flourish polishes and pulled out these three cool tones.

China Glaze In a Lily Bit, At Vase Value, and What a Pansy

I got these as part of a Buy One Get One Free deal, so I feel a bit better about snatching up so many pretty polishes with such a mediocre formula.  I have to say though, all three polishes were perfectly suited for a gradient!  I didn't have many/any issues, and the colors are fantastic.

All in all, I'm happy with how this turned out!

Butter London Summer 2014 Lolly Brights Swatch & Stamp: Lolly

Oh, Butter London.  What a complicated relationship we have.  I adore you, but you sure are an expensive date.  For a $15 nail pol-- ahem-- lacquer, I expect quality, dammit!  And sometimes... you just don't put out.  I can't tell you how many times you've chipped on me the same day I put you on, or even more disappointingly, the color/shimmer in the bottle just doesn't transfer to the nail.  But, like, *shiny*... pretty... I just keep coming back for more hoping we'll fall in love.  Well, I have to give it to you.  This time you certainly don't disappoint!

Butter London-- Lolly

As soon as Butter London sent me the announcement of the Lolly Brights collection, I was in love.  I mean, I'm a sucker for bright colors, and this is a collection made of them.  I was proud of myself for passing on the (mostly nude) spring Boho Rock collection, but I can't resist the shimmery technicolor wonder that is the Lolly Brights.  Even the red looks gorgeous, and lord knows I have enough red!

When I first saw the collection at Ulta, I picked up five of the polishes at first glance.  I had to talk myself down because, honestly, it's a bit ridiculous spending $15 on nail polish, but it's absolutely ABSURD to spend $75 on polish in one go.  Right???  I've got to pace myself, and I'm not going to wear all of them at once.  So I made do with just the two I was really lusting after: Lolly (the pink here) and Airy Fairy (a blue polish with a similar finish).  Lolly's up first because I  really needed a bright pick-me-up since today was so cloudyrainyblech.

Lolly is a fantastic glowy, glass fleck-y, foil-y confection that shines even in the shade!  It's pretty enough and even enough to wear one coat, although it's a bit sheerer.  As usual, I prefer two coats to make sure it's opaque. 

I can't wait to wear this polish all summer.  It's going to look simply amazing in full-blown sun!  As usual, I wanted to add something to make this manicure more "me."  I broke out my stamper and added a vine print from Bundle Monster stamping plate 406 using the Konad special polish in black.  I'm a bit rusty on my stamping, but I'm happy with this mani overall.

Here's What's on My Nails:
-1 coat Butter London Nail Foundation base coat
-2 coats Butter London Lolly
-1 coat Butter London Hardwear top coat
-Stamp using Konad special polish in black
-1 coat Seche Vite for some quick-dry shiny

Sidenote:  So here's something weird.  I really do want at least five of the six Lolly Brights, so I went on Butter London's website to see if they had a deal if I got the whole collection..  They did-- $65 for the six polishes instead of $90-- but this polish, Lolly, isn't listed as one of the collection!  Instead they have Disco Biscuit listed as the pink.  I'm so confused.  I guess I'll still get the set, but I already have (and kinda dislike) Disco Biscuit.  I have no clue what I'll do with two... maybe give one away as a gift?

Well, what do you think?  Are you a fan of Butter London or does it kill your soul a little bit each time you shell out $15 for a polish?  Are you planning on picking up any of the Lolly Brights collection?

China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener

I've walked by that China Glaze City Flourish display more times than I can count, but I've heard horrible things about the formula. The colors were so pretty though!  I finally caved in and got a bunch of the City Flourish polishes since I found them at buy one get one free. Sold!

First up is the one that really caught my eye: Grass is Lime Greener.  I can't say it was the best formula, but I can put up with it for such a pretty color. The first coat was horrendous-- thick and patchy. But the second coat evened it out a bit and made the polish totally opaque. It's not completely even, but it's close enough for me, and a nice top coat made everything better. The polish reminded me a bit of China Glaze's Sunsational collection from last summer since it's kind of a neon pastel that dries chalky until I slathered some Seche Vite on top.

In order to make this mani a bit more over the top exciting, I added a cool blue and black matte glitter, Bachelor Party by Hard Candy, in a kind of glitter gradient.  I've been lusting after these types of matte glitters from the Sephora X line, but I really can't justify spending that much on glitter.  I satisfied my desire with this great find in a $4 Hard Candy glitter.  Yessss!!

Hard Candy- Bachelor Party & China Glaze- Grass is Lime Greener

 Hard Candy's Bachelor Party is simply awesome.  Besides the great price point, it was so packed with glitter-- no glitter-fishing needed!  I actually had to wipe a lot off on the rim because there as simply too much on the brush.  Does that ever happen with glitter!?  I usually spend forever wading through the clear base, but not so with this polish.

So that's it!  My first real post. What did you think?  I'm pretty happy with how with mani came out, and I'm excited to keep rocking Grass is Lime Greener throughout the summer.

Welcome to Vibrant Vice!

Hi everyone!  I'm an avid nail polish fan (read: hoarder), and I switch up my nails about every other day.  I wanted a place to keep track of some of the manicures and combinations I create since I rarely wear a single polish or color alone.  I usually add something different to the manicure like a stamp, stud, glitter topcoat, or doodled design.

A sampling of my ridiculously large collection of polish.

I'm excited to share my passion and enthusiasm for nail polish with you.  I'm a sucker for glitter, a pushover for pastels, and I absolutely adore a colorful cream polish. And that's where this blog title comes in: Vibrant Vice.  I just can't say no to a vibrant new lacquer!