Monday, August 10, 2009

Blue Drug Store Nail Polish & Konad Coupon!!!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'll get to the more interesting thing first: a really great Konad coupon! WowSoCool contacted me last night to let me know that through August, they're doing a 30% off code, wowsocool1, with the only limit being that the Build Your Own kit (those are already pretty heavily discounted). So it looks like there's no minimum order for the 30%, but it gets even better... Once you have a $20 order (I'm assuming after the discount, since that's how it usually works), shipping is free in the U.S. That's a pretty dang good deal. As you may have guessed, I'm good for plates, but it's likely I'll try more Konad regular nail polishes (which will be $3.50-ish there after the code - that's officially cheapo to me) and go for more Princess polishes. It's the best Konad deal I've heard of.

If I had any idea I'd like Konad as much as I do, I would have had the good sense to add labels for plate numbers and pattern descriptions for you (like "Tip Plate," "Flowers," "Vines," etc.), so you could find things, but I didn't, and now I've been Konaddicted for so long and have so much here, the prospect of going through all the Konad posts to add labels would be a gargantuan project. Worse yet, I've been remiss in adding pictures to NailGal for months, which are so well organized and searchable (thank you, Cat!!!). Here, as of late, I've been doing my best to use the plate number and some verbal description of the pattern in each post, so a search for "Konad plate flowers" should yield decent results now. The other option for looking at plates is to look at the images on WowSoCool and search NailGal's Nail Art category for the plate number you're interested in. In any case, with the plates being $4.90 with this code, August is going to be a good time to load up on them - I doubt they'll get cheaper. The Coraline sets are still there, too, both of them, and those are a novelty that I'd wager will be gone soon, and they're cool as heck!

With how the votes for going with theme weeks have been going, I've jumped the gun and am doing a Drug Store Week since I started Sunday that way, but I mentioned I'd break a theme for something noteworthy... I get a lot of emails asking me about Konad plates and polishes, likely the most common questions, so I think either later today or tomorrow, depending on time, maybe both depending on quantity, I'll go through my pictures and do a Best of Konad According to Me to show you my personal favorites.

So that's the Konad code! I'm not affiliated with WowSoCool, nor do I profit in any way from the use of any codes I publish here, I'm just a huge fan... I think Konad is the coolest thing I've encountered since nail polish itself, expanding any stash exponentially, and the folks at WowSoCool have always filled every order I've placed perfectly and within hours (before they knew I had a blog - if a company does it because they know I have a blog, it doesn't count...).

On to nail polish! I mentioned I'm doing a drug store theme this week. Today's aren't the easiest to find, they're dumb luck, but I really liked both. Both were two-coaters, applied well, and cool colors. They're different brands, so I'll tell you about each in general and specifically about the color pictured.

First up is today's Nails of the Day, Wet n Wild Craze in Nocturnal (with a little Fauxnad heart pattern, in an uncharacteristically understated way, in a Revlon Chrome on the ring fingers). Nocturnal is a blue black creme. I've heard it described as a jelly, and in my pics, taken in absolutely blazing sunlight, I see why. However, that jelly look only shows in glaring direct light, not in normal light, so I call it a creme. I got it, despite my previous expression in disdain at "is it blue, is it black" shades, because this one is absolutely devoid of shimmer, making it unique for me. It's not just one more blue black with a subtle shimmer, it's a creme (or arguably, jelly). In general, the WnW Crazes I've used are excellent - they're opaque in two coats, very well pigmented, and in cool colors (I left the pink behind, so it doesn't count!). Also, they're $1.89, that's dang cheap, certainly cheap enough to roll the dice on whether I'll like it. The down side is this one had some wonky bristles on the brush that I'm otherwise content with, and since I hold the bottle in the hand I'm polishing, the bottle shape is not the most practical for me (not a problem for most). Here she is, my best attempt at pictures with my eyes watering from the bright sun.

Wet N Wild Craze Nail Polish
Wet N Wild Craze Nail Polish Bottle

Nocturnal is a nice break from the more summery nail polished I've been wearing. Which lead us to today's other blue drug store nail polish...

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away! is the other (with the exclamation point being part of the name). This one is from the display of 25+ colors, a tabletop display, that have silver lids. Some of these, possibly all, are repromotes (my beloved Emerald City is there with a silver cap). For me, Xtreme Wears are one of the most hit-or-miss DS lines out there. Some can take four coats and still not be opaque, some can take two and be perfect. These are closer to $4, so I only get them if I really, really like a color enough to find out which is the case. Also, I'm not a fan of the brush on these. The actual brush is fine, but the stem on the brush is really long, just a little bit longer than is comfortable for me to use. Blue Me Away!, however, was such a perfect sky blue creme that I went for it, and I was pleased and surprised that after two coats, it was opaque and even (rare for a creme!). I added the flower garden pattern from Konad plate M74 using White Konad Princess Nail Polish (which is the same as Special Nail Polish, it seems, but cheaper per ml in the Princess bottle). The result was just what I hoped for, cheery, summery, a little 1960's.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Polish
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Polish Bottle

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. It got long, sorry about that. I kind of figured it was a waste to be publishing current drug store nail polishes without rendering an opinion on both the specific shade and my experience with the line, so I had to use more words that usual... Please feel free to comment with your experience with either of these lines. The more info we have to share, the more it helps someone else!

I'll try to get a Best of Konad put together for you soon. If it takes a few parts, it takes a few parts. Maybe I'll even be smart enough to remember to add a label that says "Best of Konad" so we can all find it a month from now!

That's all for now. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

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