China Glaze: Sundiver

Today I have China Glaze Sunfire. I have no idea what collection this one was released in. Sunfire is canary yellow with tonal shimmer AND silver glitter. This is two coats, Revlon Colorstay topcoat on top:



As you can see, the silver glitter doesn't show up on the nail, and my camera didn't really pick up the tonal shimmer. What little silver you can see actually just looks grey, but I love it anyway! I love weird, dirty looking polishes and this one fits the bill:



I had to thin this quite a bit, but once thinned and shaken, it applied well, especially for a yellow.

I think this polish is pretty cool. I don't have anything like it and I've never seen anything like it. I do wish the silver glitter actually sparkled on the nail, but oh well.

Happy painting!

Wet N' Wild Bloom Collection: Garden Hose...and layering

Garden Hose is from the new Bloom Collection that's been popping up in drugstores lately. The collection consists of several pretty pastel cremes, but this one jumped out at me as being a must-have. I've been loving the swatches I've seen of OPI Mermaid's Tears from the new Pirates of the Carribean collection, and I think this may be close. I don't think they're dupes, but I'm on a low-buy so Garden Hose will have to do!

This beauty is a seafoam green creme. This is three coats with Revlon Colorstay on top:





The formula wasn't too bad. I had some issues with patchiness so I needed three coats, but I'm sure someone could get away with two coats. The consistency is quite good but the brush is NOT. My brush had a few wayward bristles, and of course, the short thickness is cumbersome.

After I swatched, I decided to layer, which is something I rarely do. I've gotten really into NYX Girls polishes, and I've noticed they have some amazing glitters. I bought a few and decided to try some combos. Here is two coats of NYX Girls Maven over Garden Hose:



Maven has a teal tinted jelly base with teal, silver, and iridescent glitter particles:



Now THIS looks like mermaid tears! :)

Happy painting!

Kleancolor: Holo Orange

Today I have Kleancolor Holo Orange. I went to a couple of beauty supply stores looking for the new glitters, but nobody had them so I "settled" for some holos. I did a small haul today and also got my Melmer (pics tomorrow). Holo orange has a tangerine tinted clear base with lots of orange and holo glitter. Three coats, no topcoat:





Formula-wise, this was pretty thick and gloopy, but I didn't mind. I think this polish would look better layered over an orange creme, so I'll be giving that a try soon.

Happy painting!

Kleancolor: Holo Chrome

More name weirdness. Holo Chrome isn't chrome at all; the base is purple . But that's neither here nor there. Holo Chrome is hotness. It's loaded with rainbow holo glitter, and who doesn't love that?

Two coats, no topcoat:



Closeup:


Sunlight:



The formula was fine...went on smoothly, dried quickly. Surprisingly, the glitter isn't gritty or bumpy, so unless you need shine, a topcoat isn't needed. One caveat: everything you've heard is true. Kleancolors smell terrible. Even after they're dry, they smell terrible. But you know what they say...polish whores can't be choosers. Or something.

Has anyone gotten their hands on the new Kleancolors yet? My Lucid Bubble has some swatches up. I plan to order soon.

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: 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!

Black Beauties

Today I have two black-based polishes: Wet 'N Wild Blackmail and NYX Girls Robotic. Both of these polishes have a black base with beautiful shimmer/glitter.

First up is Blackmail. The base contains blue and bronze glitter, and possibly pink and a few other colors that only flash occasionally. Nail pics are two coats, no topcoat.








Next up is NYX Girls Robotic. This one contains turquoise shimmer. It actually flashes green in the bottle, but it doesn't translate to the nail. I was really surprised by the depth of this polish. Nail pics are three coats, no topcoat.









This one reminds me of Cult Nails Living Water, only not as pretty.

Formula-wise, Blackmail really surprised me. It went on smoothly and was opaque in two coats. The only problem I had was with the brush. This was my first experience with the short bottles and the short, stubby brush. I'm sorry, but some things in life just should not be short and stubby. *Ahem* The other drawback is that this polish dries to a bumpy finish, so topcoat is a must.

Robotic wasn't as easy to work with. It was watery and needed three coats for opacity. One positive is that it dries to a very glossy finish.

Overall, I love them both and I especially love the prices.

Happy painting!

Milani: Totally Cool

Milani Totally Cool is...there are no words. It's a purple jelly with purple, pink, blue, and gold duochrome-y shimmer. I can't even describe how gorgeous it is, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Three coats, no topcoat.





I had no issues with the formula. I had to build it up with it being a jelly, but it was worth it. Totally Cool is part of the core Milani line and can be purchased on their website, but I've never seen it at any of the drugstores I've been to (and I've been to a LOT). I actually happened upon this one at the new beauty supply place I mentioned before. Sadly, I won't be going back there again, but that's a blog post for another day.

For now, I will just stare at my nails and marvel. Shall I dub this polish "firefly pee"? ;-)

By the way, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Happy painting!

NYX Girls Deep Space

This polish is crazy. I picked this up the other day at a beauty supply. This brand sells for $.99. Deep Space is a dark brown jelly packed with brown, blue, and gold flaky glitter. It doesn't look like much indoors, but in direct light, it's amazing. This is three coats, no topcoat.









The formula was ok to work with; it's pretty sheer and the three coats were definitely necessary. Overall, I'm impressed, especially for a buck. This is my first time using this brand and I like.

Happy painting!

ETA: Someone tried to comment on this post when I was uploading a comment widget. Sorry about that! I didn't get to read what you wrote. :-(

Everything should be straightened out now!

Goldie...Unnamed pink

I was perusing the cosmetics aisle at TJ Maxx when I spotted a boxed set of polishes with a $7.99 sticker on them. It was the last one so I grabbed it; you can't beat 8 polishes for $8. I got them home and tore into them and it turns out they are made my Goldie. I looked it up, and apparently the brand was released by Bath and Body Works at one time. They sold for $9 a bottle. They are now discontinued, but apparently the sets are popping up at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

First of all, the bottles are adorable. Check it out:



Even my husband, who is so over my nail polish obsession, saw them and said "Wow, these are so cute!"

Don't tell him I told you that.

I swatched half of them, but I'm saving the rest for a giveaway. The formula was great on all of them, and the colors are pretty, though not very unique.

First up is a brown based pale pink creme, which just looks nude on me. The bottles are all label-less, so I have no idea what the name is. I'll just call it "Buff". This is three coats, no topcoat.




Very work appropriate. Pretty, but bland, which just isn't my style. I decided to add China Glaze Fairy Dust on top to give it some kick.






As I said before, the formula was good; no problems whatsoever with application. I'm currently wearing a bright pink from the set, which I'll photograph today if the sun ever peeks out.

Happy painting!