Sinful Colors: Casablanca

This is another shade from Sinful's new Lonestar collection, which a reader kindly informed me of because I wasn't paying attention when I bought this. Here's a pic of the display from one of my favorite blogs, Steph's Closet.

Casablanca is silver and...wow. I generally stay away from metallics because brush strokes are right up there next to Donald Trump and stretch marks on the list of things I can't stand. I have no idea why I picked this up, other than seeing it in the bottle and thinking hmmm, something about this looks different. And it is. This is two coats, no topcoat:






This is a one-coater yall. One coat. And it was the smoothest coat I've applied in...well, since I can remember. Of course I did two because I'm anal and whatnot, but the second was definitely not needed. You can see slight brushstrokes in my pics, but trust me, they aren't prominent in real life.

I love this shade. Love. I honestly can't believe it. This is a winner.

How about you...do brushstrokes make you stabby? What's your favorite metallic polish?

Happy painting!

Part 2...Color Club Alter Ego Collection: Swatches and Review

Today I have part two of the Alter Ego Collection: Keep it Under Cover. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by these. The shades are vibrant and textured, and a couple of them are unique. This is obviously the portion of the collection that was designed for those who like to be bold and daring. Check it out:


Masquerading. Pale greyish-blue frost. This one is odd. First of all, I saw it in the bottle and totally expected it to be sheer. It just had that look to it. Yes, I prejudged. This is a one-coater yall. ONE COAT. Also odd is the texture. I don't think I've ever seen a finish like this. The formula was pretty thick, but not difficult to work with.




Secret Agent. Rich purple frost with purple shimmer. Two coats. I apologize for my fingers, but I couldn't get my camera to pick up the purple no matter how hard I tried. I had to adjust the color to make it color accurate , which resulted in Incredible Hulk fingers. I plan to re-swatch and get some sunlight pics tomorrow if it doesn't rain. This one may be similar to China Glaze Coconut Kiss, but with one difference; in indoor lighting, it looks a little dusky/smoky, which I like.




Alter Ego. Silver with gold (?) flecks and foil finish. Two coats. This one looks like your typical silver foil polish, but the goldish flecks make it unique for me.






Ulterior Motive. Vibrant fuchsia with blue shimmer and foil finish. Two coats. I absolutely love this one. It's just...so gorgeous. I also thought this one would be on the sheer side, but it wasn't. The blue shimmer is very visible on the nail. This one is unique for me as well.





Total Mystery. Royal blue with fuchsia shimmer. Two coats. I love this one too, but not as much as Ulterior Motive, the yin to its yang. Unfortunately, the pink shimmer refused to show up in my pictures, but it is visible in real life. May be somewhat similar to Orly Lunar Eclipse. By the way, this was the only one I used a topcoat on. It dried almost to a matte finish. I used the Color Club Vivid topcoat that came in the set.








Finally, the winner of the collection.

Alias. Purple shimmery foil duochrome that flashes green and gold. And I probably still didn't describe it right, but it's awesome. May be in the vicinity of Orly Out of This World.






Formula-wise, these were much better than those in the first part of the collection.

Final verdict: I think Color Club did a great job with this part of the collection. None of them were boring to me, and a couple were unique. I think they could have released this as a stand alone. I would have paid full price for Alias, Ulterior Motive, Total Mystery, and Alter Ego. I don't have anything like any of them in my stash.

What do you think?

Happy painting!

Finger Paints Winter Wishes

I'm a little late on this one, but here it is anyway. Finger Paints Winter Wishes was released with the 2010 Winter Dreams collection. This beauty is kind of hard to describe. The base is actually clear, I think, but it's so densely packed with glitter that you can't really tell. The glitter is silver, champagne, and gold. In my blurry pic, you can see some very sparse flecks of what looks like orange and green (enlarge to see the detail). This is two coats, with Revlon Colorstay Fast Dry topcoat on top.

Sunlight:






Formula-wise...there's not much to like. Winter Wishes is a thick, gloopy mess. Have you ever used glitter glue? Well, WW has the exact same consistency. It's a shame, because the polish itself is gorgeous. Another negative is that it didn't shine at all, even with a coat of topcoat. You probably need two or three coats just to get it shiny, because the first coat just sinks into the grit. Oh yeah, it's gritty too.

With that said, I love this shade lol. The pictures don't do it justice. I couldn't stop staring at my nails when I had it on, which is one of the hallmarks of a great polish, in my opinion. I was lucky enough to get this on clearance at Sally Beauty a few weeks ago, for just $1.99. Check your local Sally and see if you can get a deal; they also had the rest of the Winter Dream collection, some holiday China Glazes, and a few Christmas Orlys.

Happy painting!

Old NsOTD

I have tons of old NOTD pics, but some of them look like crap. I've since gotten a little better at taking pictures so the bulk of my postings will be new swatches. I did find some old ones that don't look too bad, and I'll share those now.

OPI Dating a Royal

This is royal blue creme goodness. Two coats, Seche Vite on top.




China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

This has a turquoise base with turquoise shimmer. Two coats, Seche Vite on top.




Essie Charmeuse

Baby pink base with very subtle pink shimmer. This one was a little streaky, but it evened out by the third coat. This is three coats, Seche Vite on top.


See the pretty shimmer?




NYC Molten Metal

This was one of the those polishes that had a ton of buzz surrounding it's release. I think I scoured every CVS and Walgreens within a 10 mile radius to find it.

It's hard to describe, but it appears to have a greyish/tan base with lots of silver glitter. It really does look like molten metal. This is three coats, Seche Vite on top.





Wet N' Wild Quartz of Course

This has a fuchsia base with gold shimmer. Very pretty and the formula was great. Not too shabby for a cheapie brand! Two coats, Seche Vite on top.


With flash:



OPI Designer Series Glamour

Blue base with lots and lots of rainbow holo glitter. It's beautiful. My pics don't do it justice. Two coats, Seche Vite on top.





Happy Painting!