Seche Vite vs. Essie Good To Go

About a month ago, a friend of mine and I were talking about top coats and she told me how much she loved Essie Good To Go, so I naturally had to try it out. I've been using it in comparison to Seche Vite for a little over a week now and here are my findings!

 

Seche Vite, I swear by it. 

 

Essie Good To Go, a new love of mine.

In terms of formula, Seche Vite starts out a nice texture but then tends to get pretty thick after it's opened, and when that happens there is more of a chance the polish getting bubbly. Last time I used it, my thumb was so bubbly I could not take it. I haven't had anything like this happen with G2G as of yet. It hasn't gotten any thicker than when I opened the bottle, but I'll be monitoring that since it's a new bottle.

In terms of dry time, they are both quick dry top coat so they dry super fast. After dry, they are both super glossy and create a hard protective layer. You don't have to wait for your polish o be dry to add a top coat, but it does take a little longer to dry that way, I like to let my polish at least set before adding a top coat, to speed it up. I didn't find a difference in dry time when base polish was wet vs dry.

Both build up around the neck of the bottle, but Seche gets thick and makes it a little difficult to fully close the bottle sometimes, while G2G is thinner and the polish chips off the neck. 

In terms of discoloration, I haven't had any problems with either top coat discoloring polishes. Usually top coats intensify the color and make it brighter and glossier. Occasionally white polish can get a little discolored over time, even with a top coat, I've had this happen with Seche but it's not that drastic or noticeable. I've tested both on white and there was no immediate discoloration, but I assume that's just the nature of white polish.. just like white clothes lol But I'm still testing this out.

Until next time,

The Wicked

Happy New Year Nails!

Happy New Year's eve and an early Happy New Year to everyone! We had a little crisis for about two days where the blog got somehow deleted (I almost had a heart attack), but it's back now and his is my New Year's eve mani!

Crazy glitter explosion!

Two coats of China Glaze Tinsel Town, one coat of Forever 21 Silver (large and small holo glitter) over that and then one coat of Sally Hansen In the Spotlight (holo bar glitter) over that. Then of course trusty Seche Vite to smooth everything out.  Sorry this is a little blurry, but you can enlarge it to get the details of the various glitters I used. 

I really like the all the different shapes of holo glitter over the dark glitter and base of Tinsel Town. Definitely gives it more dimension and tons of added sparkle.

We, here at We are The Wicked, want to wish you guys a super awesome, fun and safe New Year! Hope you continue to follow us in 2012!!!

Until next time,

The Wicked

Cosmic Nails!

I've been contemplating doing some holiday themed nail art, but the end of December really crept on me! So I have something else thats super fun!

Hah! Love them. Definitely enlarge this to get more detail. 

Close up of my thumb.  I like how swirly it came out, like a real galaxy. 

I used a slew of different things for this:

1. Manglaze Matte as Muder for the base

2. OPI Alpine Snow

3. OPI Siberian Nights

4. Orly Frisky

5. Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

6. Revlon Silver Dollar

7. Forever 21 Silver (small holo glitter)

8. A tooth pick

9. A makeup sponge

10. A top coat (I used Seche Vite)

So, what you have to do is first do the base coat, then use the makeup sponge to make the galaxy looking shapes. I first used Alpine Snow for the shape, then Frisky and Siberian Nights to kind of outline the shape that was in white. Then I moved on to the glitter, also with the make up sponge, Silver Dollar then Nail Junkie around the colored outline. Next,  I used the Forever 21 holo glitter polish and sponged it all over the nail. Then I used a tooth pick to make the white dots that represent stars. Finally a coat of Seche to smooth everything out. So that's the gist or it, I know this is probably pretty confusing without pictures to go along with the instructions, so I can do a tutorial if you guys so wish. 

This was my first try, and it's pretty easy and comes out really cool. Just a note, if you want to use Silver Dollar like I did, definitely be careful with not putting too much on because it's pretty opaque and can muddle the overall look. So there you go, cosmic nails. Totally awesome!

Its a Celebration!

Today is a very special day. It's my sister's birthday! So, I decided to do a celebratory mani in honor of that.

(wow my hand looks funny here)

The first 2 pictures are in the shade and the last 2 are in the sunlight. My camera is having serious focus issues so I apologize for that. But, on to the nails. So, I have one 1 coat of OPI Alpine Snow, then a light coat of Wet n' Wild Glitz, then a coat of OPI Simmer and Shimmer, then a coat of Sally Hansen In the Spotlight and finally a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all out. So I have 3 coats of glitters in total. The Sally Hansen In the Spotlight is really more of a confetti type top coat so its strands of glitter. I'll have to put it on a darker color to show you what it really looks like. The inspiration for this was vanilla frosting with sprinkles! The different color glitter and the strands of silver confetti glitter really achieve the look of sprinkles. In person, you can clearly see all the different glitters and it looks pretty cool.

Before I did the birthday look, I actually succumbed to the Hallmark holiday that is Valentine's Day.

I decided to knock out the Valentine's Day thing and a ruffian manicure all in one shot.

This is called a ruffian manicure, I really don't know why, but I think it's cool. It was actually much easier than I thought it would be. You do your 1st coat normally, then you start each coat after that a little lower. It takes a pretty steady hand, but with some practice its very simple. 

I have a coat of OPI Alpine Snow, then a coat of Wet n' Wild Lust (which is pink, I'll be using and reviewing in my next post) then I added a coat of Sally Hansen Cherry Red and then finally to spice it up a coat of Revlon Galaxy. I was disappointed when I realized that Lust and Cherry red were so similar. It was really hard to see the Lust. I was trying to kind of replicate those valentine's you made as a kid. You know, when you cut out a heart that's one color then smaller hearts in different colors and glued each one inside the other. Yeah, I loved making those. You can kind of see the pink from the side view, but not as well as I had hoped :( But I think it looked pretty cool anyway.

There's more fun stuff to come this weekend so check back!!

Until next time,

The Wicked

The Base Coat/ Top Coat Dilemma

Two of the most confusing things about nail care are top coats and base coats. So I thought I would shed some light on the subject.

Base coats are usually used to strengthen nails and protect them from the actual polish.

This is the base coat that I use. It's Rejuvacote by Duri and its awesome! It strengthens nails and helps them grow. It dries very quickly and is just overall great. It really works wonders if you have brittle nails or need to repair your nails after having tips or gels. I swear by it. It can also be used as a top coat.

Top coats are used to help the finished manicure set, along with protecting it from dulling or chipping

 This is the god-given Seche Vite. It's a fast drying top coat, and when I say fast I mean FAST! (Seche Vite is french for "dry quickly") It literally take about 7 seconds to dry. This stuff is a terrific top coat and I suggest it to everyone. And I have found that is does help prevent chipping.

This is Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength No Chip top coat. It says that it prevents chipping, and I have seen it go both ways. Sometimes it did prevent chipping, while other times not so much. It also doesn't dry as fast as some others, which it probably because it's actually supposed to be a "no chip nail color". Obviously, it's clear so there is no color. That kind of baffles me. But I guess it has the same drying time as regular polishes because its made to be a nail color (without the color).

There are also some really good OPI top coats. I haven't tried any of them, but I've heard good things. They are called Nail Envy and they have a special formula for every time of nails. From brittle to thin to sensitive along with one for regular maintenance, original and a matte top coat. (I'll probably be trying the matte!) They can also be used as base coats.

I hope this helped answer some questions, and if anyone has any other questions feel free to post them or send us an email!

Until next time,

The Wicked