All About the Base and Top Coat

Hello everyone! If you have been following the M.M.M blog then you know it has been a struggle finding a good base and top coat combo. It seem like I have had more trouble finding a good base coat, over a good top coat. First I tried OPI Nail Envy for sensitive and peeling nails (which is mainly a nail strengthener, but can still be used as a base coat), and a few other in between, then the base coat that I thought was the one was Nicole By OPI 3 in 1- Base, top, and strengthener, but this base coat would make my creme polishes look cracked after about two days. Now I think I have finally found the base coat that I like and I want to share it with all of you.

 

 CND Sticky Base Coat and Revlon's Extra Life No Chip Top Coat

After hearing good review about CND Stickey Base coat for some time now I deiced to pick it up. Being a nail tech student their are some perks, at different beauty supplies stores around your area you can get discounts, so I stopped into my local Salon Centric (sorry this store is only for salon professionals and students) and picked up this base coat, due to the fact that I can now get it for a good price. 

 

 Here is the base coat next to the box it comes in.

This base coat comes in two different sizes the one in the photo above the 33 fl oz, 9.8 ML the small bottle and the 2.3 fl oz, 68 ML the large globe size bottle. If you use a lot of base coat the large size might be best for you, but for me I have found getting the smaller size to be best. When it comes to top coats I have found when I get about half way and have had it for a year it get thick and hard to use, that is why I usually get the smallest bottle. 

 

The side of the box.

On the side of the box it just says a soft, sticky base coat designed to anchor colour to the nail to prevent peeling and chipping. I would say these clams are true! I have been using this base coat scene February and it has be great! I feel like it has helped my nail polish to not chip and that it works well with the Revlon Extra Life top coat. I do wear my polish for a week then change it for blog purpose and for fun, but I feel like I don't have to touch up my nail as much, which is always a good thing.

  

 The back of the box.

This base coat has a green tint to it, but it does not go on green when applied to the nails. This base coat is sticky (hence the name sticky) which I have learned while going to school that base coats need to be a little bit sticky, that way the nail polish/ color can adhere to the nails. Like any other base coat you apply one coat of your base, one or two coats of your lacquer, emamel, or color, and then one coat of your top coat. 

So now I think I have finally found the right base coat and top coat comb.CND Stickey Base seems to work well the the Revlon top coat and any brand of nail polish.

This base coat you can purchase at Ulta for $8.50 

CND Stickey Base 33oz

Amazon CND Stickey Base 33oz (Small) for $6.28

Amazon CND Stickey Base 2.3 oz (Large)  for  $11.99

Here is some information about base and top coats that I wanted to share with all of you that I have learned in nail tech school.

Base coats are a form of adhesive that help polishes last longer, or to stick to the nail for a longer time, once they are dry they become sticky and that's what helps the polish "sticky to the nail" or last longer. Base coats also help to prevent possible staining that can happen with nail polish, mainly your darker colors.  

Top coats are applied over your colored nail polishes to prevent chipping and to add a shine. Top coats are meant to protect your nails as well.  

Hope all of you enjoyed this CND Stickey base coat review and maybe even learned something about base and top coats as well.

See you next time for more nail fun!      

Live Love Polish- Review Time

Hello everyone! Today I have a kind of long over do review of some polishes that I purchased back in February, from the online company Live Love Polish. They are a polish company that has a lot of indie brands and some mainstream brands as well, they of course sell nail polishes, nail care items, even some lipsticks.

 

   Here is the cute pink box that your polishes will be shipped to you in. A long with a cute card with a message in it, my card said Thanks Christina Happy Polishing! 

The card was a nice touch!

 When you open the box you can see your polishes are protected by some foam and will come to you in good condition. 

Now let's take a closer look at the four polishes!

 

 Pretty & Polished- Donut Ever Let Me Go

First we will start off with one of the two Pretty & Polished polishes that I purchased, Donut Ever Let Me Go. This polish I wore in Who Wants Dessert tutorial, I have only wore this polish for this tutorial not on it's own as of yet.

Donut Ever Let Me Go is a pretty strawberry/ light pink crelly polish that has a lot of multicolored bar glitters in it. Do to this polish being a crelly it is kind of sheer and took three coats to be opaque. The glitter in the polish was easy to get out, you don't have to fish to get any glitter out, a lot comes out on the brush. I really liked this polish, it is unique and after all it does look like icing on a donut, which makes it so cool!

Here is a link to purchase this polish:

Pretty & Polish Donut Ever Let Me Go  cost $12.00

 

 Petty & Polished Double, Double Toil and Truffle 

Next is Pretty & Polished Double, Double Toil and Truffle, which unfortunately is unavailable on the Live Love Polish website, but maybe if you keep looking they will bring it back. This is another polish that I only wore with the Who Wants Dessert tutorial.

Double, Double Toil and Truffle is a chocolate brown crelly polish, with small and large hex gold glitter in it. This polish also was kind of sheer and took three coats to be opaque. 

If you have been following the M.M.M blog for a while, then you know I don't really like browns and neutral polishes, and you may wonder why I got this polish? Well as you may know I love unique looking polishes and this one reminded me of chocolate, which is so cool, so I just had to purchase it and give it a try.

Double, Double Toil and Truffle I also really liked, it is a pretty chocolate looking polish, and if you love chocolate and nail polish like me then this polish is perfect for you.

As stated above this polish is unavailable right now, but here is a link to the Dessert for nails collection that you can check on to see if it will come back.

Pretty & Polished-Dessert for Nails Collection 

Double, Double Toil and Truffle was $10.99 when I purchased it.

 

Powder Perfect Forbidden City

The next polish I purchased was from Powder Perfect Forbidden City. This polish is a burgundy or red wine colored polish that has a lot of micro glitter pieces in it, which makes this polish very textured. This polish took two coats to be opaque, and had a very thick formula due to all the glitter.

This polish for me was sadly a let down. When I looked at the photos on the website and online this polish looked amazing! Yes this polish goes on very textured, but when I applied it on the nails it was very dull. In the photo above I applied two coats of top coat to try and get it to look glossy like the photo on the website, but it just was not working and I really didn't want to add anymore layers of topcoat.

With this polish maybe if you used a thicker topcoat or applied maybe three generous layers you could get it to look glossy and shinny, like the photo on their website.

Forbidden City looks very pretty in the bottle, but was just not working out on the nails. Do to me spending a lot on this polish I will give it another go, maybe with a different topcoat or more coat of my favorite topcoat.

Powder Perfect-Forbidden City cost $12.50 

 

 

       Color Club Crystal Baller

Last but far from lest is Color Club's Crystal Baller. This is a denim blue or a blue/ with some purple, linear holographic polish. This polish goes on very smooth in two coats.

As you may know any holographic polish I love! After all it's like having a rainbow on your nails and they look amazing in sunlight! Just be careful when driving on a sunny day while wearing a holographic polish, they can become very distracting. 

As you may have guess I loved this polish, all of the Color Club polishes I own have great formula and apply very well. Really any holographic polish applies very well (well at lest the ones I have.) 

As soon as I wrote this blog post the next day this polish was sold out (sadness), but it has come back before so if you are interested keep a look out for it, it is very popular and sells out very fast when it is back in stock.

Another alternative would be Color Clubs Over the Moon a blue holographic polish  

Color Club-Crystal Baller  cost $10.00 (keep looking for this one!)

As far as Live Love Polish goes, I do recommend them. They have a good selection of unique indie brand nail polishes (along with some main stream.) Shipping was also very good it did not take a long time to get, I chose the free shipping option, if you are ordering from the US and  your order comes to $39 or more, which can easily be done you can get free shipping. A lot of their polishes are kind of pricey, but I feel that if they are unique enough I will pay a little bit more for a unique looking polish. Also if you are a first time buyer at Live Love Polish you can get 10% off, and their has been a few time that they have sent me 10% in my email as well.

Lastly out of the four polishes I purchased my favorite is of course Color Clubs Crystal Baller, then Pretty & Polished- Donut Ever Let Me Go and  Double, Double Toil and Truffle. I recommend all three of these polishes.  

Here is a link if you are interested in checking out Live Love Polish:

http://www.livelovepolish.com/  

Hope all off you enjoyed this review of Live Love Polish!

See you next time for more nail fun!