Warm Weather Cool Colors

China Glaze Reggae to Riches

The weather is breaking here in the mid-west and although I love my deep dark moody polish, I have been really trying to step out of my box and get ready for spring and summer in style!  I would be lying if I said it was easy to step outside of my comfort zone!  IT IS NOT!  I am a true creature of habit even when it comes to my nail polish.  I was starting to find that even though I was buying polishes with different names, they began to all look very similar! What I had was blacks, blues, grays and silvers all just a shade different than the next.  Don't get me wrong, I will always be a lover of a good dark nail, but I have begun to see the error of my ways and hope to join the mainstream form of thought. When the sun comes out its time to brighten things up a bit!  So here goes nothing…

Why not start with a pink color?  LOL!  It may not seem like a big step to some, but I am so far from a pink girl its not funny!  I looked around the store for a while before I came across my first out of character purchase… Reggae to Riches by China Glaze!  I will say that I thought the color was ok in the bottle but the name really did something to me; I love reggae music and that was enough to make me want to buy it!  Good thing I did because I LOVE it… just in case you didn't get that the first time… I LOVE A PINK POLISH!!!!  (well that’s what I thought anyway)  I say that because this polish really is an awesome flip-flop of sorts! In some light it looks really pink and then in some light it looks really fuchsia and as a bonus you also get a bit of blue and purple in this duo-chrome! 

I started my polish with a nice coat of Beauty Secrets Hardener as a base coat.  I love this stuff!  It is fairly inexpensive and can be purchased at any Sally Beauty Supply.  It is thick enough to act as a nice ridge filler and it leaves a really nice smooth finish and holds polish really well.  I can keep a manicure for over a week when I use this polish.  Let me clarify that I take care of kids and a pet and cook and do dishes throughout the week so to keep a mani for week is a nice plus!

Reggae to Riches can be purchased for $5.99 ($4.99 if you have a Sally's Club Card) at Sally Beauty Supply.  I applied two coats of the polish... the first coat was pretty thin and then the second coat was a bit thicker.  I really didn't have too much trouble with streaking or thin spots.  The polish goes on pretty evenly and with my base coat it was really smooth and velvety.  I love easy polish and this really was an easy polish!  

The final step on my mani was to add a little pop with the white polka dots.  For this step I used L.A Colors white nail art liner.   Honestly, I found this polish for about $1.50 at a random Dollar General.  I know it doesn't sound too glamorous but some of the best deals on polish can be found at these types of stores.  When it comes to nail art, I would rather spend my money on a nice bottle of polish and be a little more frugal when it comes to nail art supplies.  Using a super small dotting tool I dotted my ring finger.  With a final coat of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat, I had achieved my look!