Second time's a charm

I decided I needed to conquer this gorgeous mint green. This is actually probably closer to my third or fourth try and after waiting for each coat to dry completely, I got it to work pretty well imo, though far from perfect. I looked at different swatches and noticed that there are almost no perfect (ah!! no offense) applications of Refresh-mint, and that's because quite honestly, it's a serious pita to apply. But worth the effort for that minty shade, despite the next day chipping.

This is probably one of my most proud mani days, haha.

China Glaze Refresh-mint. Artificial Light.

China Glaze Refresh-mint. Artificial Light.

Mints compared l to r: Refresh-mint, Milani Dressmaker, For Audrey.

Mints compared l to r: Refresh-mint, Milani Dressmaker, For Audrey.

Sometimes things don't go exactly how one plans and while I love every flavor of pudding that comes to mind, I had to use a nail wheel for this pudding. Pudding Lane is a gorgeous turquoise possibly teal but I'd say turquoise blue sheer base with two different small hex glitters--a navy and a lime greenish gold. Nails Inc and Sephora say gold for the latter but they look more green to me, which might just be the mix of the blue polish over the gold.

I think Pudding Lane applied similarly to it's counterparts Sugar House and Sweets, maybe closer to Sugar House in that it was a tad thicker, though my brush in this bottle was a funky brush, it's bristles splaying every which way :( imo best method as with many thicker polishes is maximum dry time between. It's easy because these dry pretty fast! 

I used one coat each of Gelous and Poshe on top of each swatch below. I didn't use my own nails for this because after using these other two glitter bombs over the past week, my nails felt like they needed a break from the serious removal process.

As for using Sprinkles as a topcoat, I've seen a couple people do it and it looks awesome! I have layered it below over OPI Teal the Cows Come Home, which was the closest color I had to the base. I think a contrasting color would look awesome under Sweets Way, perhaps a light pink :) perhaps with just using one coat, I wouldn't get the break neck removal :)

Sprinkles...

Natural Light (overcast). Pudding Lane. Sweets Way. Sugar House Lane (from left).

 

Natural Light. Pudding Lane. One. Two. Three. One + OPI Teal the Cows Come Home. Two + TtCCH.

IMO in nail "three" and "Two + TtCCH" the extra layers give super depth. But as in One + TtCCH, I think even one coat over a base color looks great.

Artificial Light. Same order as above. I realized I labeled these in the photo, but they came out tiny :(

 

Pudding Lane. Macro Bottle.

OPI Teal the Cows Come Home and Pudding Lane.

 $40 in one place is a lot for me to drop on polish, yet I realize I don't have a favorite from this line. I wonder if it's because of my failure to buy the pink! I did this because I own two versions of Lippmann's Candy Shop and thought it was close enough. Which is your fav? Which should be mine ;)

I can't help but be drawn to pastels. Though I almost won't touch touch them in the clothing or accessories department, they were huge in the late 80s and the 90s and that is when I did most of my growing up (sort of). It's part of the color nostalgia of my generation. That and mauve.

The last polish I have from the China Glaze Up and Away collection: Refresh-mint. I have four or five colors that are in or near this minty/pastel turquoise color family and I did a few comparison swatches. 

Pastels seem to have a fast dry time which can be helpful, but I don't think they are known for their ease of application. I find the fast dry can also equal add to challenging application because it leads to dragging, especially at the tips (evident on nail wheel swatches). I encountered this dry-time effect with Refresh-mint.

In pics I swatched it next to Mint Candy Apple (left), I think it looks close in the pictures, but also is a bit more toward being a light baby blue with green mixed in, slightly muted, where Refresh is more of a true pastel lime. I also added in Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver because I thought it would be similar. Obviously it is way off (in pics and real life) and more like a blue-leaning turquoise. 

Two more I might have added would be Milani Dressmaker which I couldn't find the YSL mint green from the Spring Duo no.7 which I didn't think to do. Oops O.o

 Refresh-Mint. Sunlight.

Refresh-Mint. Mint Candy Apple. My Life Saver. Refresh-Mint. Shade.

Mint Candy Apple. My Life Saver. Refresh-Mint. Artificial Light.

One of my first nail pictures. Refresh-Mint with Spoiled Don't Pet My Peacock and Trust Fund Baby topped with Don't Touch my Tutu.