Comparison: OPI DS Extravagance vs. Ulta Material Girl

Today I have two burgundy polishes with rainbow holographic glitter. They look very close in the bottle and close on the nail, but there are a couple of differences.




This is two coats of Extravagance on the pointer and ring fingers, and two coats of Material Girl on the middle and pinky fingers. No topcoat on either:



Extravagance is a little more rich and vivid.



Also notice how glossy Extravagance is compared to Material Girl, which is dull and gritty to the touch. The scattered holo is pretty much the same, but Material Girl doesn't have that faint orange flash to it like Extravagance does(my camera never picks up the orange, but it's definitely there).





Formula wise, Extravagance is superior. Both go on smoothly, but Extravagance dries to a gloss. Material Girl definitely needs a topcoat for shine and a smooth finish.

If I had to pick one, it would be Extravagance, but Material Girl is a fine substitute. They aren't dupes, but they're close enough that you don't need both.

ETA: Material Girl removes like a glitter polish. In other words, you might want to use the foil method. Extravagance removes like any other non-glitter polish.

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: 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!

OPI: DS Extravagance

Imagine my surprise when I walked into Ulta during my trip a few weeks back and saw this and several other DS polishes on the shelf. I was really close to buying them all, but at $12.50 a pop, I showed remarkable restraint and only bought one. This has been a lemming of mine for a long time, so I couldn't be happier. Still, I think about the others and wonder what might have been...

Oh well. Love the one you're with, right? :-) You've all seen this before. Unfortunately, I failed to capture the awesomeness of the holo, but trust me, it's amazing in real life. Two coats, no topcoat.





The formula was classic OPI; I had no problems whatsoever. I was so excited about this one that I got back to my hotel room, slapped two coats on top of whatever I was wearing, and proceeded to wear it for the next three days. I couldn't stop staring at my hands.

So, lemming satisfied. It feels pretty darn good.

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!

China Glaze Tronica Collection: Laser Lime

Ok, I confess. I like scattered holo more than linear holo. I know that's not a popular opinion, but it is what it is.

With that out of the way, let me introduce you to my new love: Laser Lime, from the ChG Tronica Collection. I believe this is a limited edition Sally's exclusive, so get them now while you can so that you won't have to pay eBay prices for them one day.

Laser Lime is lime green with subtle rainbow holo. This is two coats with Revlon Colorstay topcoat:

Sunlight:






Shade:



I really hate that I bought this, because now I want them all. I went to Sally's to buy one just to try it out, fully expecting to be disappointed, but I fell in love.

Formula wise, it was a little sticky and goopy, but it wasn't thick and it still applied well. Weird. Like most holos, this dried super quick to a satiny finish, so topcoat is a must if you want shine.

What's a girl to do? I'm running out of storage, plus I'm really cheap and hate to buy things for full price. I could do without the purple and the teal since I have those colors from other collections, but the others are calling me. Decisions, decisions...

What do you think of the Tronica collection so far?

Happy painting!

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!

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!