Hi Goddesses
I want to explain a little bit today about how my whole "vault" situation arose, as this mani is a perfect example.
Pretty much, for the last 2 years, I've been obsessed with building a vault of manis I could fall back on, if for any reason I couldn't post for a month. Often, this meant doing a swatch, and then arting over it, so that 2 posts were created every time I did my nails. Also, as some of you know, I paint both hands differently each day, so that could often make 4 manis in each "round" of painting. And some days, I could get 6 rounds done. Yes, maths you do now mmmm.
As you can imagine, this resulted in a lot of quantity, but not so high on the quality. When you challenge yourself to "quickly plop some stamping on top", you're never going to end up with a nuanced or imaginative mani.
So for 2 years, this is how the vault grew. It also meant that most things inside it stagnated. They weren't sensational enough to be dragged out to play, so often they could languish there for months (and some even managed a year!)
Also, the pressure of the vault meant that new manis were never posted as quickly as I wanted, and I ended up in this horrible twilight between the 2. So ultimately my salvation became a prison, and in an act of rebellion and spontaneity, that's why it's being emptied, so I am only tied to the now and the future.
And today's mani is LOVELY. I really really liked it, and it hasn't deserved to sit in the Vault since 16th August lol. This has ILNP Grape Taffy on base, with this brilliant stamp from Cheeky 33 on top, courtesy of Essie Penny Talk, and a lick of matte top coat.
Hi Goddesses
Every once in a while, a brand you love drops a clanger. Whether it's a beauty brand, or an actor choosing a bad role, or an author penning a lazy book, it's always a disappointment, but sometimes your love for that brand allows you some forgiveness, and that's where we are today.
So again we have 2 polishes I bought back in the summer, and whilst both are gorgeous cremes, I hope the first thing you will notice is how neither of them look like the colour in the bottle.
This is one of the things that is guaranteed to piss me off when I buy a polish or a lipstick. If it looks ruby red, I don't expect it to come out baby pink, and sadly, that's what happened with both these polishes.
Sniffany is a gorgeous pale mint green, with slight echoes of Tiffany. It looks lovely on the nail, but looks nothing like the contents of the bottle.
Grape Taffy, again, lovely colour - but wow, HOW MANY clicks darker is it on the nail? A click or 2 (as you get with ALL Zoyas) I can live with, but not half a spectrum.
I also noticed that the bottles had started to puddle (within 3 months of buying them). It's hard to see in the photos, but there are distinct swathes of white in the bottle, where the colour has detached from the base. This is often par for the course with older polishes (especially OPIs), but I have never seen it with young 'uns before.
I mentioned this to Barbra, who with good grace offered me a refund. She felt the base should have been tested longer, which I would have to agree with BUT ... when you're a major brand (like ILNP is; they have one of THE best indie brandings of all), I expect more. I expect this kind of obvious kink to have been worked out BEFORE sale, not after.
For the record, I've "sat" on this post for over 6 months. I am not here to be negative or to diss or damage a brand, but I think ILNP is big enough to withstand a few (hopefully balanced) words from me :)
So, disappointed, yes. Will it stop me buying more of Barbra's polishes? No. These are the only 2 disappointments out of at least 20, so maybe I'll just avoid the cremes for a while.
