Show Me Your Nails 2.0

[Tamara76]

Due to some technical glitches with the original Show Me Your Nails Thread, I am starting a new thread with @vegchililover78's blessing (She says "hello," by the way!).

Please share your nail looks, nail art and manicures!

...And don't forget to check out @Beadshopgirl's Nail Stamping Thread for stamping inspiration! ❤️  

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Nailed-It/The-Nail-Stamping-Thread/m-p/3328865

[ShayeZee]

thx @jaaayp !! I am loving them too!

[CorgiMommy]

@ShayeZee love the grey

[ShayeZee]

thank you! @CorgiMommy  wow, getting so many comments on the grey! and to think thats the ones colour i wasnt 100% sure about!

[CynthieLu]

This is gorgeous @ShayeZee I love the mix of color and pattern. It's a good contrast. Beautiful!

Oh yes, I also would be curious to hear where you get your stickers from 😁 if you don't mind me asking 😘

[JoSometimes]

@ShayeZee I love the colour combo! Very autumnal. Where do you get your stickers from?

[JoSometimes]

Ooo thanks @ShayeZee! I’m gonna check that out before Sephora takes down the link (they don’t like it when we link to things outside of Sephora…. 👀)

[RGbrown]

@ShayeZee 

Wine and grey are a fabulous combo, and your accent nail is fab as well...love the simple design! ❤️🖤

[ShayeZee]

thank you soo much @RGbrown !!

[Titian06]

Love your mani, @ShayeZee !  Great color combo and the decal is perfect! 🥰

[ShayeZee]

thank you @Titian06 ! Last time i went crazy on the stickies so the goal was to take it down a notch this time  😁

[Saradestin]

Very beautiful @ShayeZee! 😍

[ShayeZee]

thank you @Saradestin !!

[RGbrown]

The Orly x Kelli Marissa Halloween set is up!

$99, and I'll put the spoilers in a spoiler if you want to be surprised 🙈

ETA: code 10BONES for $10 off (thanks @Titian06!)

 

Spoiler

 

[Saradestin]

Wow! That’s really nice @RGbrown ! 🩷

[CookieGirl1]

@RGbrown are you buying it?

[RGbrown]

@CookieGirl1 

I am not, at least not without a pretty hefty sale. It's a cute set, but $89 feels steep for 3 full size polishes and 5 minis (especially when a few of those don't quite appeal to me). I've got base and topcoats out the wazoo, along with clean up brushes and dotting tools, so the price is a bit inflated compared to what I'd actually use from the set

[CorgiMommy]

@RGbrown that is adorable 

[CookieGirl1]

Thought I'd drop in with a little mini review that no one asked for 😁.

I've decided that I weirdly enjoy trying new top coats, probably because I keep looking for my Goldilocks top coat that dries really quickly and actually keeps my polish on my nails for more than two days without chipping.  Admittedly, I'm pretty hard on my nails both because of what I do for work as well as just normal everyday living so nail polish doesn't have a fair shot at survival for very long.  Despite trying quite a few, I still haven't found my perfect top coat that checks off all of my boxes very successfully.

So far KB Shimmer's "Clearly on Top" has been my most-used and prior to that it was Glisten and Glow's QDTC but last month I bought Sweet and Sour Lacquer's "Gloss Sauce" to try out.

Per the Sweet and Sour Lacquer website:

Gloss Sauce is free of DBP, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, & Camphor.

It contains Toluene, which allows for it to be a high gloss, quick dry top coat.

Additional ingredients in this top coat are: Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Acrylate Copolymer, Butyl Benzyl Phthalate, Cellulose, Benzophenone

Gloss Sauce dries very quickly, there is no shrinkage, and it does not smear nail art! It can be very frustrating to ruin the nail art you worked so hard on! With Gloss Sauce, you won't have to worry about ruining your watermarbles, stamps, and nail vinyl art. Its gloss lasts for days and your manicure can last up to a week, with proper application.

1) Apply a base coat, like Sticky Sauce or Smoothing Sauce. Let dry.
2) Apply a coat of your favorite nail polish. If necessary, apply a second or 3rd coat. Let dry completely between each coat.

a. If you are not planning to do nail art, feel free to add Gloss Sauce over wet nail polish and let dry.
b. If you are doing nail art, continue to step 3.

3) Apply Gloss Sauce. Let dry completely.
4) Allow 2 - 3 minutes for Gloss Sauce to dry completely before you move on to add a watermarble design or a stamped design.

a. If you are going to be using nail vinyls, please allow at least 15 minutes of dry time before placing the vinyls on your nails to avoid lifting your nail polish.

5) Finally, make sure to wrap the free edge of your nails using Gloss Sauce. This will help prevent your manicure from quickly chipping or peeling off. It will also help minimize tip wear.

After using it three times now on three different polishes from different brands, here are a few thoughts:

--It does dry quickly; comparing the dry time to my experience with KBS, this dries just slightly more slowly but only by a couple of minutes.  Dry time is important to me; if my polish isn't at least mostly set within about ten minutes I'm probably going to manage to smear it 😂.

--The consistency is slightly thinner compared to KBS or G&G.  Granted, because of the toluene the formula will thicken over time but initially it's very fluid which is ideal because it isn't going to smear the polish underneath.  

--It is glossy.  Even with a lot of hand-washing and hand sanitizer which normally break down that glossy effect, the shine is still evident and in this way it seemed to outperform KBS or G&G.

--In terms of longevity, it definitely does better than G&G did for me and it might actually just barely trump KBS.  I'll have a more solid opinion on that after trying it a few more times but so far my manis have been holding up unexpectedly well with just a minor amount of tip wear compared to how they normally fare.

--Prices are comparable between the three since S&S and KBS retail for $8 and G&G is $7.50

Overall I'm very happy that I got it.  Will it become my new fav?  Jury is still out on that one since KBS has been my go-to for at least the last year but it's definitely a contender.  If you're in the mood to try out a new top coat for funsies, here's one to add to your list.

*If any of you have any recommendations for me, feel free to share 😊.

[Saradestin]

Thank you for the review, so detailed @CookieGirl1 !! 

[RGbrown]

So, depending on where toluene falls on their list, the ingredient list is the same as both G&G and KBS, with one exception. Ignoring the colorant at the end of KBS, the next to last ingredient is slightly different between the three...cellulose vs nitrocellulose vs cellulose acetate butyrate

I'm not enough of a chemist to say how much difference that one ingredient makes 🤷‍♀️ I know I couldn't tell much of a difference at all between G&G and KBS, but I also didn't super scrutinize wear or gloss; other folks definitely have a fave for one reason or another. I was equally happy with both, and have reverted to G&G simply because that was my first love and because I already had 6oz on hand when I got the whim to try KBS for a bit 😅

Sweet & Sour Gloss Sauce

Butyl Acetate, (toluene here? just a guess!), Ethyl Acetate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Acrylate Copolymer, Butyl Benzyl Phthalate, Cellulose, Benzophenone

Glisten & Glow

Butyl Acetate, toluene, ethyl acetate, alcohol, acrylate copolymer, butyl benzyl phthalate, nitrocellulose, benzophenone

KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Butyl Acetate, Toluene, Ethyl Acetate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Acrylate Copolymer, Butyl Benzyl Phthalate, Cellulose Acetate Butyrate, Benzophenone, CI 60725 Violet #2

[CookieGirl1]

@RGbrown I did the same thing that you did in comparing the ingredients which is, of course, why the three all seem very similar with just minor differences.  In reality one is just as good as the other and I don't think that any of them performed outrageously differently from each other so I'm really splitting hairs. 

That being said, I'm sure that I'll still try other options and maybe one day I'll find The One.