This is one of the 5 Sinfuls I bought from Walgreens during their sale. It's super pretty, and super sparkly: love!
Depending on the light, NJ can look more green or more blue. It has a variety of differently colored and shaped glitters and shimmers, and enlarging the pictures below will give you a better idea of the complexity. Even with 3 coats, there's still a VNL (visible nail line), but it's not noticeable in most lights, and the color is so gorgeous that I don't even care.
Removal of glitters is notoriously difficult. I use the cotton ball-aluminum foil method espoused by Lipglossiping (visit her link for pictures!); I soak a cotton ball (or half a cotton ball for everything except my big toes) with nail polish remover, pressing it on the polish before wrapping it with tin foil and letting it sit for ~5 minutes. I look and feel ridiculous, but pressing down and swiping as I remove the cotton balls gets rid of most of the polish with much less hassle than removing it the normal way.
Nail Junkie certainly has its drawbacks; application isn't ideal, unless you want to sit around for hours waiting for it to dry (or use an ice bath, which is still annoying), and removal sucks, not to mention that it doesn't last as long as other polishes because glitter is persnickety. However, the color is so gorgeous that the hassles are completely worth it. I can't stop staring at my nails in their glittery glory! And I'm really looking forward to trying out the other colors I bought :-)
Overview
$1.99 for 0.50 oz, available from drugstores (I know Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Fred Meyer all carry Sinful, but I'm sure there are others)
Quality: 8.5
Effectiveness: 5
Ease of Use: 3
Senses: 4 (rough and bumpy, even with a top coat)
Pigmentation: 4.5 (on its own, it's not quite pigmented enough, but as it's intended to be layered, the pigmentation is fine)
Duration: 3.75
Consistency: 3.5 (very thick)
Price: 4.5
Value: 5 (0.50 oz is as big as nail polish bottles get)
Grade: B
Nail Junkie is really, really gorgeous, and my pictures don't do it justice. It's definitely not a low-maintenance shade, but I don't regret my purchase in the least!
What do you think of Nail Junkie? What's your take on glitter polishes? Do you find them pretty enough to justify the extra effort? Comments make polish last for a week with no tip wear or chips (oh, if only)!
Nail Junkie in sunlight
It's one of the more opaque sparklies, which means it's more feasible to wear it on its own. 
2 coats of Nail Junkie on Scotch tape in sunlight
Same swatch, but in warm indirect sunlight
1 coat of Nail Junkie over 2 coats WNW Black Creme on Scotch tape in sunlight
2 coats Nail Junkie over 2 coats Black Creme on Scotch tape in direct sunlight (so much sparkle!)
However, it is quite thick, so I would generally recommend using it to layer (though the nail swatches below are of it alone). Application was tricky for me at first, until I realized that I can't try and apply a thin layer of this stuff. It's best to just do a thick, even layer, and then dunk your hands in ice water (as in, a bowl filled with water and ice) to speed up the drying process, unless you're more patient than I am and can stand to not do anything while waiting for it to dry on its own. Depending on the light, NJ can look more green or more blue. It has a variety of differently colored and shaped glitters and shimmers, and enlarging the pictures below will give you a better idea of the complexity. Even with 3 coats, there's still a VNL (visible nail line), but it's not noticeable in most lights, and the color is so gorgeous that I don't even care.
3 coats Nail Junkie in sunlight; see the VNL?
Same swatch in shade (VNL less evident here)
Same swatch in partial shade, out of focus to show shimmer
Same swatch in warm indirect sunlight--see how much more green it looks here?
I'm wearing it over 1 layer of base coat, topped with 2 layers of top coat, because the glitter leaves a rough, uneven finish and the top coat helps mitigate that (and adds shine, whee!). I've been wearing it for 4 days now, and have some minor tip wear (not very evident unless you're looking for it) and some chipping along the sides of a couple of fingers, though I've not been gentle to my nails in the least. For a glitter polish, the wear time isn't bad at all.Removal of glitters is notoriously difficult. I use the cotton ball-aluminum foil method espoused by Lipglossiping (visit her link for pictures!); I soak a cotton ball (or half a cotton ball for everything except my big toes) with nail polish remover, pressing it on the polish before wrapping it with tin foil and letting it sit for ~5 minutes. I look and feel ridiculous, but pressing down and swiping as I remove the cotton balls gets rid of most of the polish with much less hassle than removing it the normal way.
Nail Junkie certainly has its drawbacks; application isn't ideal, unless you want to sit around for hours waiting for it to dry (or use an ice bath, which is still annoying), and removal sucks, not to mention that it doesn't last as long as other polishes because glitter is persnickety. However, the color is so gorgeous that the hassles are completely worth it. I can't stop staring at my nails in their glittery glory! And I'm really looking forward to trying out the other colors I bought :-)
Overview
$1.99 for 0.50 oz, available from drugstores (I know Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Fred Meyer all carry Sinful, but I'm sure there are others)
Quality: 8.5
Effectiveness: 5
Ease of Use: 3
Senses: 4 (rough and bumpy, even with a top coat)
Pigmentation: 4.5 (on its own, it's not quite pigmented enough, but as it's intended to be layered, the pigmentation is fine)
Duration: 3.75
Consistency: 3.5 (very thick)
Price: 4.5
Value: 5 (0.50 oz is as big as nail polish bottles get)
Grade: B
Nail Junkie is really, really gorgeous, and my pictures don't do it justice. It's definitely not a low-maintenance shade, but I don't regret my purchase in the least!
What do you think of Nail Junkie? What's your take on glitter polishes? Do you find them pretty enough to justify the extra effort? Comments make polish last for a week with no tip wear or chips (oh, if only)!
