Bettina Week Recap + Final Thoughts

Hi everyone!!

I hope all of you enjoyed Bettina Week(: Here is a recap just in case you missed anything. I'll have the names link back to their post if you want to read them separately. I also wanted to mention that these aren't all the Bettina's I own, I had two more that I swatched earlier and then two more that I didn't have time to swatch. Anyway, moving onto the photos! :)

Art Deco Yellow: Three coats of my new favorite yellow, then stamped it using another Bettina color... I love the way this turned out, I got so many compliments!

Secret: I have to say that I am not a fan of black. I did find a use for this color though! It works for stamping, yay!! I used two coats and layered Sinful Colors Out Of This World over it. I apologize about the lightning.. the pics were taken hours apart.

Art Deco Orange:  This is probably my new favorite orange! I love love LOVE it:) This is two buttery smooth coats. I then stamped it using a fun flower print. I think it looks super summ-ery and fresh(:

#4: This is one of the two only pinks in my collection... and I love it! It's a little peachy for my skintone but I like it nontheless:) This is two slightly thick coats and I stamped it using another Bettina color. 

Trees: Green jelly perfection! Formula was awesome (as usual) and dry time was great. Stamped with another Bettina color... not crazy about the print though.t

~

Final Thoughts: Overall I am in LOVE with Bettina. They come in a bunch of fun colors, and even when they are basic they still have that something that makes them special. The formulas are amazing, even for the tougher colors such as yellow. Dry times are usually above average and they dry shiny, which I love. Even the colors which I didn't exactly love, I still found a use for them. 

About Bettina: Bettina is a cosmetic brand from Puerto Rico. I first heard about them through Let Them Have Polish! They just recently started distributing their lacquer in the US, starting in Miami, Florida. Not sure about retail locations, but I am pretty sure you can order them.  If you have any questions visit their FB page, they are pretty good (and fast) at answering your questions. To see more of their enamels visit their website: www.bettinacosmetics.com

If you are want to know exactly what products and things I used, please click on the name of the polish, it will redirect you to their post. If you want to see the colors that I didn't feature in Bettina Week, you can click my Nail Polish Collection tab below my header(:

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my recap! :D

(**Products were sent for review**)

Bettina Trees

Alas, it's Saturday. Bettina Week is coming to an end. lol. Anyway, I wanted to end Bettina Week with a really fun color, so I decided to use Trees(:

Trees is a granny smith apple sheer but build-able jelly. I am in love. It's such a pretty green... my photos do it no justice. The formula on this was amazing. Probably better than yesterdays. Trees is sheer on the first coat but is pretty much opaque by the third. Dry time was fast and like my other Bettina's, this baby dried shiny! This is three thin coats.

Afterwards I stamped it using Bettina Secret... it's nice but I am not crazy about it... I wish I would have picked some other image, lol. What are your thoughts?

I also wanted to mention that if you have been wondering all week what that little dot on my ring finger is... I cut my cuticle last Sunday...

I hoped you enjoyed Bettina Week. I still have two more to try (but I did demo them) so be sure to be on the lookout for those posts! They should be up sometime this month lol. I'll post a Bettina Week recap either on Sunday or Monday along with my (honest) final thoughts :)

• Base Color: Bettina Trees
• Stamp Color: Bettina Secret
• Plate: BM223

(**Products were sent for review**)

Bettina #4

Today I have a lovely soft pink to show you :)

Please ignore the water drops... it started to rain :P

#4 is a peachy nude color with pink undertones. It's very pretty... but I think it may be a little to peachy for my skintone. My friend tried it though and it looked great! (and we are basically the same color). Anyway, the formula on this was great, which is what I have come to expect from Bettina. Dry time was fast and it dried shiny. Bettina #4 is slightly sheer (jelly formula) but it builds up nicely. This is two slightly thick coats.

Afterwards I stamped it using another Bettina polish which you can see (HERE).

So, what do you think?? :)

• Base Color: Bettina #4
• Stamp Color: Bettina Secret
• Plate: BM206

(**Products sent for review**)

Bettina Art Deco Orange

This is seriously the best orange I have seen in a while....

Art Deco Orange is basically a vibrant red orange. So pretty. For me, it's hard to find a good orange color and this is perfection. My photos don't do it any justice. It's much more bright and red-ish in real life. The formula on this was buttery smooth and extremely opaque. Dry time was average. Like my other Bettina's, Art Deco Orange dried shiny(: This is two thin coats.

I also wanted to mention that this works fairly well for stamping. Not over darker colors, but over lighter ones. You can see it being used (HERE). 

So, what do you think?? Like it?? Don't like it?? I would love to know! :)

• Base Color: Bettina Art Deco Orange
• Stamp Color: Luv My Nails White
• Plate: BM221

(**Product sent for review**)

Bettina Secret + Sinful Colors Out Of This World

I don't normally use black, but I know a lot of people do, so I decided to feature it today:)

Ok, so let's start with Bettina Secret. Secret (from their Glamour collection) is a charcoal black. Although it doesn't seem very charcoal in the photos, trust me, it is. I also provided a bottle comparison between Secret and an actual black ( Wet N Wild Black Creme). You can see it's charcoal-ness in the sunlight pictures. The formula on this was great, nice and smooth. It's pretty opaque so if you are careful you can get away with one coat, but out of habit I did two. Dry time was fast, and look at how shiny it is!

Today was a lazy day and I didn't feel like stamping, so I did some layering:) I have been meaning to swatch Sinful Colors Out of This World for a while now, and I thought it would look great over black. So I killed two birds with one stone:)

Out of This World is a super sheer silver-y, shimmery polish that I believe, is meant for layering. Dry time was normal. I used one coat so that's why in the sunlight pic it's a little patchy.

Also, pictures were taken at different times of the day so that's why the lighting is different.

So, what do you think of my layer combo? :)

• Base Color: Bettina Secret
• Layered Silver: Sinful Colors Out of This World

(**Certain products were sent for review**)

Bettina Art Deco Yellow

Loving my nails right now! So cute and summer-y(:

If you follow me on Twitter, which I suggest you do ;), you would know that this week is Bettina Week!   So this whole week is going to be focused on the Bettina brand. I wanted to start things off with something bright and fun, so I chose Bettina Art Deco Yellow(:

Art Deco Yellow is this fun, bright yellow creme. The formula on this wasn't great, but it was better than my other yellow. I don't think it was Bettina's fault though... It's hard to make a good yellow polish. And like I said, the formula on this yellow was way better than my Sally Hansen yellow. This is three coats but dry time was fast so it didn't bother me(: Overall this color is gorgeous and if your looking for a good yellow I recommend it. 

Afterwards, I stamped it using Bettina Art Deco Orange and this fun circular image from BM206. The stamping is way more stark and vibrant in real life. I love the way this turned out, what about you?? :)

• Base Color: Bettina Art Deco Yellow
• Stamp Color: Bettina Art Deco Orange
• Plate: BM206

(**Products were sent for review**)

Mermaid Tears Comparison Post

While I was applying Mermaid Tears the other day (HERE) I noticed that it looked similar to NOPI My Lifesaver and Revlon Minted. I thought it would be fun to do a comparison post so here it is(:

As you can see both My Lifesaver and Minted look similar to Mermaid Tears in the bottle, but on the nail, it's a whole different story...

 Index: Mermaid Tears, Middle: My Life Saver, Ring: Mermaid Tears, Pinky: Minted

  Index: Mermaid Tears, Middle: My Life Saver, Ring: Mermaid Tears

Ring: Mermaid Tears, Pinky: Minted

Please excuse my dinged nails lol... I was moving around a lot. Overall, My Lifesaver was closer to Mermaid Tears than Minted was, but it's still not a dupe. In the same color family, but there was just a hint of more blue in it. Not to mention more vibrant. Minted was a couple shade lighter than the OPI color, I was expecting that though. 

I also wanted to mention that My Lifesaver is a little less blue/vibrant in real life... it's more like the bottle picture.