Rimmel: Violet Metal and Marine Blue

CVS has a ton of their makeup on clearance. Check out Nouveau Cheap for a list of products. I printed the list and headed to CVS a couple of days ago to get a few things, including four new Rimmel polishes, which were 75% off. I have two to show you today.

Violet Metal is a violet polish with gorgeous blue shimmer. This one kind of snuck up on me. It looked pretty in the bottle, but it's absolutely stunning on the nail. This is three coats, no topcoat:



Closer:


Bottle:


The formula on this one was ok. It was a little patchy, which is why I did three coats, but I probably could have gotten away with two if I'd applied more carefully. This is completely unique to my stash and I'm so glad I picked it up. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Next is Marine Blue. This one is just ok looking. I feel like I've seen this shade a million times. It has a turquoise base with light blue shimmer. Two coats, no topcoat:





The formula on this one was better than Violet Metal, but as I said, it's not at all unique. Still a good buy for the money if you don't have anything like this.

I'll have the other two shades tomorrow.

Happy painting!

Holo-y goodness

Today I have China Glaze LOL and DV8 from the OMG Collection. I was just starting my nail polish obsession when these came out so I didn't know how wonderful these polishes really were. I only ordered these two shades from the collection, and now I'm wishing I had gotten all of them. Thankfully, I've seen them at dusties in my neighborhood, so I should be able to get them all at some point.

LOL is purple with rainbow linear holo. DV8 is teal with rainbow linear holo. Both are two coats, no topcoat:

LOL (my favorite from the collection)







DV8






The formula on both was buttery smooth. I've heard that topcoat kills the holo, but I can't say for sure because I haven't done a comparison. These don't need a topcoat because they are awesome without shine.

Do you own the OMG collection? What are your favorites?

Happy painting!

Kleancolor Crack: Blue Crackle

Kleancolor Crack is a new line of crackle polishes. There are six shades in the line, and today I have Blue Crackle to show you. It's a pretty straightforward navy blue creme. One thick coat of blue crackle over NYX Girls Pop Culture (pics of that tomorrow), no topcoat.





The formula was oddly perfect. The consistency and pigmentation were amazing, and if this were a regular creme polish, it would be a buttery one coater. As you can see, it dries to a glossy finish.

It takes awhile for it to crack. I applied it and just kind of sat staring at it, thinking it was a dud. Then it began to slowly crack before my eyes. I was mesmerized. I started blowing on my nails to get it to crack faster, but it just kept doing its thing.

The smell was weird. Kleancolors generally smell like pure evil, but Crack is almost odorless. The faint smell it did have reminded me of wall paint. Very cool.

Something weird happened, though. I still had OPI DS Glamour on my left hand, and I decided to see how Blue Crackle looked over it. It dried, then flaked right off. If you look at the instructions on Kleancolor's site, it suggests applying Crack over cremes, metallics, and shimmers, but it said nothing about holos. Perhaps the two formulas are incompatible. It's also possible that the age of my Glamour mani was a factor. I'll have to give it another try.

Final Verdict: Love. I'm probably going to go back and get the entire collection. OPI Shatter and China Glaze Crackle are cool, but I find the crackle pattern on Kleancolor to be superior, and the ease of application, finish, and price are an added bonus.

These will be available on Kleancolor's webstire for $3.99 (not sure of the official release date). You may be able to find them now in your local beauty supply store for $.99-$1.49.

Happy painting!

China Glaze: Midnight Mission

This shade is from the Vintage Vixen collection. I would describe Midnight Mission as navy blue with fine silver shimmer and microglitter. The shimmer is complex and it give it a nice depth and finish. Sometimes it looks foil-y, and other times it just looks very sparkly.

This is two coats, no topcoat:





The formula was a little on the thick side, but it was workable and nicely pigmented.

I didn't care for most of the Vintage Vixen collection, but this one caught my eye from the start and I'm so glad I got it. I have a way too many blues, but Midnight Mission is one of the prettiest and most unique in my stash.

Happy painting!

Grudge Match: Sinful vs. China Glaze

Today I have Sinful Colors Rise and Shine, as well as a comparison between Rise and Shine and China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise.

Rise and Shine has a blue-leaning green base with fine tonal shimmer. It's absolutely gorgeous. I wore this for five days and got tons of compliments, including one from my son's classmate who ran up to me and said, "Jaylen's Mommy! I love your fingernails!" That made my day :).

Two coats, Revlon Colorstay topcoat:







The formula was pretty darn good for a Sinful. It went on nicely and was opaque in two coats. It also wore well, with only minor tipwear after five days. The only setback is that it dries matte, so topcoat is definitely needed.

I decided to compare this to Turned Up Turquoise, a shade that was previously in my top ten polishes. I say previously because Rise and Shine has now taken its spot.





Two coats of TUT on index and ring, two coats of RAS with topcoat on middle and pinky:





RAS on top finger, TUT on bottom:




As you can see, these aren't dupes at all. The base colors are similar, but TUT leans a little more blue and has lighter, frostier, more prominent shimmer. I prefer the shimmer in RAS, which is why it has replaced TAT on my list.

RAS actually wins the formula battle as well. TUT is a little less opaque, and if you look closely, you can see a little bit of VNL under TUT. TUT dries to a satin finish, so topcoat is needed for shine on that one as well.

I apologize for the quality of these photos. I got these to about 90% color accuracy, but both of these shades were simply impossible to photograph correctly.

Anyway, I'd love to know what you guys think. Which do you prefer?

Happy painting!

Wet 'N Wild Sweet Spot Collection: NERDS Need Love Too

Why yes, they do. Am I the only one who loves nerds? I've never really been into the bad boy type. No, give me the guy with the good grades or the guy with a passion for a particular subject. My husband is a nerd when it comes to his profession, and I love that about him. The best part? He still has some swagger. Best of both worlds. :)

Anyway, those aren't the kind of nerds we're talking about here. This shade is from the Sweet Spot collection (I reviewed another shade from the collection here). Now I'm kinda wishing I had purchased the whole collection when I saw it, because I'm really loving this shade.

NERDS Need Love Too is best described as a dusty cornflower blue with subtle light blue shimmer (I suck at descriptions). My pictures don't do it justice because it's dustier in real life. This is two coats, Revlon Colorstay on top:






You can see the shimmer in the upper right side of the bottle:



I was quite surprised by the formula. It was pretty nice. It went on smoothly and was opaque in two coats. The shade isn't super unique, but it's very pretty and the price is definitely right.

Don't forget, April is Autism Awareness Month!

Happy painting!

Color Club Starry Temptress: Swatches and Review

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a glitter kind of girl. I only have three glitter topcoats, and I've only used one of them twice. With that said, I love the Starry Temptress collection. I think it's the combination of neon and glitter, and the warm spring weather that are making me feel this way. I have a feeling people are either going to love or hate this collection. I don't foresee there being a middle ground on this one.

Ok, on to the swatches. All swatches have two coats, Revlon Colorstay topcoat on top with shade pics first, then sunlight.

First up is Space Case. This is a bubblegum pink with holographic glitter. Sadly, the holo doesn't really show up on the nail, so it mostly looks like silver glitter. That suits me just fine, and this one is actually my favorite of the collection. The formula was ok on this one; the consistency was good. Space Case is the only one that didn't dry matte. It may be because this is the only one that isn't a true neon.




Next is Ultra-Astral, a hot pink neon with holo glitter. As with Space Case, the holo doesn't really translate. The formula on this one was a tad bit thick.




Next is Wink, Wink, Twinkle. This is a mid-toned neon purple with holo glitter. To save myself some time, I'll just say that the holo in each of these is lazy and likes to lie around in the bottle rather than coming out to play. This one gave me the most trouble when it came to accurately capturing the color. Just know that it's much more vivid in real life. Also of note: the formula on this one was the best for me. It was the thinnest of the six.




Next is You've Got Soul-ar. Neon orange with holo glitter.




Glitter Envy. Neon green with holo glitter. Here is where things start to go south. I'm not sure why, but the glitter in this and Otherworldly looks white, rather than silver. The formula on this one was thick.





Finally, Otherworldly. Neon blue with holo glitter. Formula was a tad thick.




Removal was typical for glitters. A pain in the butt. Please excuse the wayward glitter specs in my swatches, but those things hung on for dear life.

I didn't use the glitter topcoat because I'm not ready for all that just yet lol. Each of these dries to a bumpy finish, but a good clear topcoat smooths them out just fine.

Verdict: I've been under a lot of stress lately, and swatching these made me happy. I love all but the last two, but I still love the collection as a whole and I appreciate that Color Club takes the risks that it does.

You know what else I love? That I can buy an entire collection for $8 at Ross. :)

So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Not sure yet?

Happy painting!

Blue for Autism Awareness: Color Club Otherworldly

April is Autism Awareness Month. Several nail bloggers are wearing blue polish this month in support of the cause. When I heard, I was more than happy to jump onboard. My six year old daughter has Asperger's, and my hope is that more people become knowledgeable about autism and all of the spectrum disorders. The more we know, the sooner we can find out what's causing it.

Ok, on to the polish. I saw swatches of the Color Club Starry Temptress collection at Lovin Nails (great blog, btw. You should check it out!) and ran right over to Ross to pick it up. It is, in a word, amazing. I'll have swatches and reviews tomorrow, but for now, I figured Otherworldly was appropriate for this post. Two coats, Revlon Colorstay topcoat on top:



Happy painting!

Essence: Choose Me!

Hey Essence, you don't have to ask me twice. I saw this beauty on the shelf at Ulta and put in right in my basket. Choose Me! is a turquoise shimmery, foil-finished beauty that flashes green and has flecks of silver shimmer. From what I've seen on other blogs, it's a dupe for Zoya Charla, but I don't have that one to compare.

This is two coats, no topcoat:





As you can see, I definitely could have used a third coat, but I didn't mind the VNL here for some reason. The formula was great, especially for a $.99 cent polish. I've been wearing it for three days with no topcoat, and it looks as good as the day I put it on.

Essence, I choose you.

Happy painting!

Essence: Underwater...Repost

ETA: Two of my awesome readers brought it to my attention that Underwater looks grey in my pics. I wanted to repost with some indoor pics of this, because I think the sun may have washed out the blue in my sunlight pics. I didn't realize the difference was so pronounced. Here are a couple of indoor pics. Two coats, Revlon topcoat:






Original post:

Today I have Essence Underwater, not to be confused with...Essence Underwater. Nihrida discussed the difference in the two polishes here. Apparently I have the second version.

At any rate, Underwater is simply stunning. It's a dusty blue cream with subtle shimmer. The thing about the shimmer is that when you do see it, it looks like it's glowing from deep below the layers of polish, which is exactly how light looks under water. It's pretty damn cool. It didn't even need the shimmer to be beautiful though, because the base is dusty and sexy. Can you tell I love this polish? I don't have anything else like it.

The best part to me is that it only cost $.99 at Ulta. I got this and several others when I was in Cincinatti. You have to love cheap polishes that deliver like this. Two coats, Revlon topcoat.




I didn't capture the shimmer very well, but you can see it a little here:



Application on this was just fine. It's very nicely pigmented and probably could have been a one-coater if I had better skills.


And just because, this is my daughter's NOTD. One coat of China Glaze Classic Camel with two coats of Fairy Dust on top.



Happy painting!

Finger Paints: Bada Bing Bada Blue

Hello there! I'm still alive. :-)

I've been in Cincinnati at an academic conference and I was unable to post because the internet at my hotel was pretty janky. The good news is that I hauled while I was there (hello OPI DS Extravagance!), and I came home to see that China Glaze sent me some Crackles, which I'll be posting about soon.

These next several weeks will be pretty busy for me with grad school applications, research papers, the GRE, and preparing for finals, but I'm going to try to post as much as I can.

In the meantime, here is Finger Paints Bada Bing Bada Blue, a lovely frosty blue shimmer. Two coats, no topcoat:





Happy painting!

Franken: Teal We Meet Again

I just kind of threw this together last night because I was feeling frustrated. Have you ever looked at your stash and thought, "I don't want to wear any of these"? Well, that was me last night. So I pulled out a half empty bottle of Color Club Naughtycal Navy and started adding stuff to it. I added ChG fairy Dust, Maybelline Going Green, Wet 'N Wild Hallucinate, and Misa Indescribable, and this is what I got. Two coats, Seche Vite on top:



Sunlight:





It's a beautiful sunny day here so I plan to clean my house. Woo hoo! Well, at least my nails will be pretty while I do it. :-)

Happy painting!