Monday blues

I've been working a lot between both of my jobs lately and trying to deal with some tough stuff with my family, so my posts have been pretty sparse.  I'm hoping to fix that now, but this week I have final papers to grade, so I'm not going to make any promises.  I do know that I needed a break for feeling obligated to post and, the funny thing is, it has been really good for me but I really miss it!  I needed some rest and quiet time, but I really miss posting here, which is a good sign that I have not burned myself out.  It also means I'm going to try a little harder to work it into my schedule.  Here is the second Liquid Sand polish that I picked up and loved!

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats OPI Get Your Number
*2 coats Orly Angel Eyes (accent)
*1 coat Hoof Lacquer
*2 coats Out the Door

Again, this Liquid Sand is much more sheer than I thought with visible nail lines after 2 coats, which is what the bottle recommends.  This also dries quite gritty, like sandpaper, which I hated.  The color is amazing, though!  The polish is a medium blue jelly packed with silver holo pieces.  I bought Angel Eyes at Ulta with a coupon after this and worried that the two were the same, so I painted them together for a comparison.  Luckily, they are pretty different.

Angel Eyes is a clear base packed with micro blue glitters.  It is similar in color to Get Your Number, but not opaque.  There are scattered iridescent pieces in the bottle that looked holo in the store, but they are much more subtle on the nail.  I'm a little disappointed with this polish, but think that it will make an awesome topper for other polishes. 
I LOVE how Get Your Number looks with top coats in this last picture!  I reminds me of the sun shinning off of water.  I even like the jelly look it has, though I think I'll go with 3 coats next time.  The top coats really bring out the holo flashes, which always wins me over.
Have you given the Liquid Sands a try?  Did you like the feel of the texture?  Did you try a great topper that smoothed them well (mine were still a bit bumpy with 3 coats of 2 different ones). 

Stay the night (maybe not)

When I was at Nordstrom Rack last week I picked up a couple of OPI Liquid Sand polishes.  I had been looking at them on blogs and hated the idea of a rough polish, but liked the look of a couple.  The first I wore was Stay the Night.

I used a base of Yello-Out and 2 coats of Stay the Night, like the bottle instructed.  When it dried, it was really gritty, almost like a nail file.  I knew I would hate it a lot.  My plan was always to add a top coat to this color.  I added 2 coats of Julep Rose as an accent because it is the closest color I could find to the glitter, but it's really not a very good match. Stay the Night is a black base with a magenta micro glitter throughout.

I added 1 thick coat of Hoof Lacquer and 2 thick coats of Out the Door.  This was still not as smooth as I had hoped, but not gritty like it is meant to be.  I was really surprised at how sheer these polishes are.  In the future, I think I will use a black base for this to eliminate the nail lines.  I was not as in-love with this as I was when I looked at swatches, which was a bit of a disappointment.  I'll hopefully love it more when it is more opaque.  Have you tried any of these yet?  What did you think?  Can you stand the gritty finish?