Color Club Wild at Heart

I've had my eye on Wild at Heart for awhile now. It's purple and holographic. Enough said.

Two coats, Seche Vite on top.

Indoors:






Natural light:


Sunlight:





The formula was nice. This is a one coater, but I did two out of habit.

Wild at Heart is not as holographic as I was hoping, but it's so richly pigmented and gorgeous that I don't care. It comes alive in the sunlight but it shines and sparkles so much indoors that I can stare at it all day without the holo. Besides, it's Color Club. :-)

I can definitely say that this is my favorite purple holo EVER.

Happy painting!

Zoya Creamy

I'm ready for spring! It was 70 degrees and beautiful here over the weekend. Unfortunately, it's now 50 degrees, grey, and rainy. And dreary. What a way to start the week. Mondays are already bad enough.

Zoya Creamy is the exact opposite of dreary. It's a bright, sunny yellow creme.

Three coats, no topcoat.

Natural light:





Indoors:


I had issues with the formula, but I expected that with a color like this. It was thick, yet streaky. I made it work, but I think it looks rather lumpy. I'm sure I can master the application with a little practice, which I definitely plan to do because I love the color. This is actually my very first yellow polish, and I can't wait to wear it this spring/summer. It's bright enough that it catches your attention, but it's not neon or loud. In other words, it's very wearable.

Happy painting!

OPI Maine-iac Mauve

Maine-iac Mauve was released with the 1998 New England Colors collection. It has a fairly standard mauve base and lots of gorgeous gold shimmer. I think this polish is absolutely stunning. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem like OPI makes shades like this anymore. I wish they would, because when they get it right, they really get it right.

Four coats, no topcoat.

Sunlight:





Natural light:


The formula was standard OPI; I had no problems. The polish was opaque in three coats, but I added a fourth for reasons I'll explain below.

I love this color. Absolutely love. But I don't love it on me. I added a fourth coat because I think I was holding onto the vain hope that it would get darker or more intense. Clearly, that didn't happen. This shade is just too close to my skintone and it washes me out. I think it would look beautiful on darker or lighter skin, but I'm too middle of the road for it.

Sigh.

Happy painting!

Maybelline Timeless Rose

Timeless Rose is a fairly straightforward pale baby pink, but it has silver shimmer. It's really feminine and also very work appropriate. I pulled this out today because it was 70 degrees here. It felt like spring so I put a little bit of spring on my nails.

Three coats, no topcoat.

Sunlight:





Natural light:


Indoors:





The formula was just ok. I needed three coats for opacity and because it was streaky as all hell, but the good thing about light polishes like this is that they are pretty forgiving no matter how difficult the formula is. You can't tell how bad my application really was lol. Of course, that doesn't apply to light chalky polishes (lookin' at you, Hard Candy Sky).

Happy painting!

China Glaze Dusk-Repost

I'm reposting this because my initial set of pictures was pretty sucky (due to my old camera being sucky) and didn't fully capture the essence of this polish. I'm just anal like that, I guess. :-)

This polish is really old. I had to dig a little, but I finally found out it's from the China Glaze Platinum Series Collection, year unknown.

I think ChG Dusk is very close to Chanel Paradoxal, Revlon Perplex, and Barry M Dusky Mauve, but I would need to see them side-by-side to compare. Like the aforementioned shades, Dusk is a dusty purple with light purple shimmer.

Two coats, no topcoat.

Sunlight:






Natural light:


With flash


The formula was fine. It was a tad on the thick side, but a few drops of thinner and a few shakes solved that problem. This polish is not Big 3 free, but I would have known that even if I hadn't read the label. The smell was quite pungent.

None of that mattered, though. This polish was worth it, and then some.

Happy painting!

Color Club Love 'Em Leave' Em

Don't you just love satisfying lemmings? This has been one of mine for awhile now. Love Em and Leave Em is a warm light gold polish with a very subtle holographic effect. On me, it looks more nude than gold, and that is exactly why I like it.

Two coats, Revlon Colorstay Topcoat.

In sunlight





Natural light


Indoors


I had zero issues with the formula. Love Em and Leave Em dried almost to a matte finish, so a topcoat is needed for shine. Once again, Color Club has made me a happy girl.

Happy painting!

China Glaze Nightfall

Warning: lots of pictures, and gushing, in this post.

I picked up China Glaze Nightfall at a nail salon awhile back. I have no idea what collection it's from, but it's pretty old. It was almost completely dried out. I thinned it and swatched it, but I wasn't impressed at all. It looked near black and I was totally meh about it.

Well, I was going through my stash last night and decided to give it another chance. I thought maybe I had missed something. Boy, was I ever right. This polish is gorgeous. The base is eggplant, and it's packed with lots of purple and gold shimmer, with little bits of blue scattered sparsely throughout.

Two coats, Seche Vite on top.

Indoors, it's pretty and vampy, but nothing special.







In the sunlight, you can see her in her full glory




You can see the flashes of gold here


And she even has a smoky, dusky side




Formula wise, it was thick and gloopy, but that's due to age. Pigment-wise, it's a one coater. Love, love, LOVE this polish.

What polishes were you initially meh about, but fell in love with later on?

Happy painting!

China Glaze Cowgirl Up

This beauty was from the amazing Rodeo Diva collection. I'm sure you remember that one...I think every shade from that collection was a winner. Cowgirl Up isn't my favorite (Wagon Trail has that honor), but it's a close second. The base is royal purple, and it has purple shimmer. I've probably worn this shade 10 times, but I never noticed that it also has blue shimmer! (I know, duh lol). For some reason, my eyes just never caught it.

Two coats, Seche Vite on top.

Indoors, the blue isn't noticeable.



You can see it a bit here if you're looking for it (click to enlarge)




But in the sunlight....there it is!


The formula was near perfect...this was almost a one-coater. Every time I wear it, I get no chips, just regular tipwear.

Am I the only genius who's worn a polish a million times and never noticed something about it?

Happy painting!