Deck the Nails, Part 2: Essie Leading Lady

We're filming a follow-up to The Night Shift over the holidays, which means I get to reprise my role as Claire, and I am beyond excited! In addition to being a really fun, strong character, she's also rocks a kooky, kitschy, neo-pinup style, and I'm  more than ready to start pulling out the red lipstick and nail polish. Because the film is set at Christmas, and because the nail polish we used for the original doesn't exist anymore, the director wants Claire's nails to be a festive, glittery, ruby red, so I'm on a mission from gahd to find it.

Photo Credit: Essie.com

This isn't it.

Well, it might have to be, but only because I'm running short on time. I'm sorry, but I really, really hate this nail polish. It's pretty, but it's a royal pain. Allow me to explain:

The first coat that I put on was a streaky, jelly-like, non-glittery mess. Seriously, only maybe one to two pieces of glitter made it onto each nail, and it looked like I'd dipped my hands into cherry Kool-Aid. It was bad.

To make the glitter show up, I had to kind of pile on the second coat. It was goopy, gritty, and just not fun to deal with. It did dry quickly, though, so that's a plus. To make matters worse, after less than 16 hours--eight of which I spent asleep--the polish had already begun to chip. Granted, I hadn't used a topcoat, but that's because I wanted to see how it did on its own. Not too well, apparently.

It's not all bad. I mean, I do adore the color. It's a deep berry red, and the glitter reminds me of Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. It is sparkly and merry, and all of those happy adjectives that describe the holidays, and the name, "Leading Lady", is so on-the-nose for what I need it for that I actually squealed in the store. Plus, the price isn't terrible. It was less than $8 at Target. I can't see myself using this for anything other than filming, but if you're looking for a red glitter, and are willing to put in some serious work, you might be happy with the results.

Me? I'm gonna put my sunglasses on, hop back in the BluesMobile, and keep on the mission.