I love nail polish. I have always given myself pedicures, but then graduated to mixing in the occasional professional one over the past five years. Growing up, I remember that a salon manicure was a special treat before a big event such as a family vacation during the summer, but fell out of the habit, saving money for my next trip to Italy. Then, I got into having my fingernails painted again after one at a girly getaway to New York in October 2013. For awhile now, I set a goal of a manicure and a pedicure once each month …and have actually accomplished that! Usually these are performed at home, but there are sporadic salon visits as well. My last salon visit was for a manicure in October, I believe. How ever it happens, I feel chic with my nails polished.
I own six bottles of nail polish, five of which are my favorites, ones I could not live without. Thus, I consider each one of these five my signature nail polish. In a mini sub-series throughout 2016, I will publish a post featuring each one. My favorites include a dark pink creme (flat), a dark pink shimmer, a red creme, a red shimmer, and a sheer neutral. Not a pastel kind of gal, I love rich, vibrant color. All of these are either OPI or essie. I appreciate things finished, so I enjoy having already decided on my ‘go to’ polishes. Of course, I may choose a different color at a salon for a change.
I start this Nail Polish series with my favorite lacquer, a dark pink creme by essie called Style Hunter. This shade is actually my favorite color, a dark pink one may call raspberry. It reminds me of the dark pink azaleas that are due to bloom around my April birthday. This reddish pink is stunningly beautiful. I remember discovering it at my regular salon, near my apartment. Style Hunter debuted in the Spring 2014 collection called Hide & Go Chic, but seems available now, so they must have added this to their permanent collection. Thank goodness! I recently ordered another bottle from Ulta replacing the old one I had bought sometime during 2014, maybe in the summer… Dutch Tulips by OPI seems to be Style Hunter’s dupe. I believe it to be the same color, but from memory, I feel like the OPI lacquer is just a bit more dull than the bright essie color. Style Hunter is also a little more red than Watermelon by essie, which is my sixth polish, perfect for summer. I painted my fingernails my favorite color Wednesday evening and will probably remove it tonight.
In addition to these colors, I also possess a base coat by OPI and a new quick dry top coat by Seche Vite. I picked it up at Target recently. I love this particular top coat because it enables me to paint my nails after work on a weeknight and not have them all dented while asleep overnight. Therefore, I no longer have to wait until my weekend for a manicure, which makes my once-a-month task much easier to accomplish! Even though it is thick, I also liked its easy application. I highly recommend this product.
Style Hunter is such a great pop of color during the rather dull winter. I started writing this post at home, but am finishing it seated at my parents’ dining room table, watching it snow through the bay window.
Style Hunter looks fab! I'll have to try it. I have a love/hate relationship with Seche Vite. I find about half way through it's wasted due to turning too gunky/thick….even if it works wonders. Also it doesn't play nicely with many brands….it can cause 'shrinkage' as the polish shrinks back into the nail off the tips. :-`( Luckily Essie seems ok with it.
I hope you do. I really love it.
In my research of OPI's quick dry coat and this one, I did learn that it thickens with age. The cost of two SV bottles would just be barely more expensive than a single bottle of the OPI formula though. I didn't read about shrinkage, but now that I think about it, I honestly did notice just a bit of a white tip on each nail on that last manicure… Thank you for letting me know as this was a new purchase for me. Since I don't have those sheet marks makes it winner for me.
I agree, i hate sheet marks or any dents and seche vite does work well for this! If I find a cheaper alt without shrinkage i'll let you know
That's so nice of you! Thank you!
That's a great color! Maybe I'll make that my next color…I don't have Style Hunter but I'm sure I have something similar in my stash of gazillion nail polishes lol. My last mani/pedi was at a salon for my sister's wedding. My sis chose a shimmery orange for her toes (French mani for hands)…I thought the orange was so pretty, that was what I picked for my mani & pedi.
Have you heard of spraying cooking spray on your nails to get the polish to dry faster? I haven't tried it myself but I'm curious about it.
Looking forward to your upcoming nail polish posts!
Thank you! I thought it was a nice pop of color for January. I have heard about the cooking spray. I had mentioned waiting for nail polish to dry to a friend once and he googled a solution and came up that result. I told him that I heard of dipping nails in ice cold water. I haven't tried any of those. The quick dry top coat was actually the first solution I tried.
grt