Color Club Halo Hues - Part 1

I was in the middle of a polish no-buy when Color Club released this collection. I remember drooling over photos some bloggers had taken at CosmoProf, but was thinking that I could show restraint. Holos are famous for having streaky formulas and being very finicky with base coats and top coats. Was the pretty worth all that trouble?

Then reviews started popping up. The formula isn't finicky? It plays well with regular base coats? Top coats don't dull the holo effect? The collection is selling out at lightning speed? Well shoot. Come here, credit card!

I bought the whole collection and it's taken awhile to get photos up. They're so pretty I just can't stand to swatch them and take them right off. So, all of these photos are 1-2 days into the mani.

All are with standard base coat (Zoya Anchor, if memory serves) and Poshe top coat. I can confirm that there is no difference in the holo effect after a quick dry top coat. All have excellent wear time as well, with all getting 4-5 days wear before any noticeable chipping or tip wear. The formula made them a breeze to apply!

2 coats Cherubic in full sun

2 coats Harp On It in direct, indoor lighting

2 coats Harp On It in direct sunlight

2 coats Angel Kiss in direct, indoor lighting

I am happy I bought all six colors because I only had a couple linear holos in my stash. There aren't any ground breaking colors here, but I think the application and wear time certainly are.

What do you think? Did you pick up any of the Halo Hues collection?

SpaRitual Conduit and Rusted Lux - Swatches and Review

I spied the SpaRitual gold-infused polishes at Sephora when I went to Chicago to visit Bestie last year, but didn't want them for $12.50 a piece. However, when a friend on Twitter tweeted that she found them in a store for MUCH cheaper, I jumped on it!

Conduit is a warm, bronze-gold polish that has a beautiful foil finish. It was rather thin and watery, and these swatches are three coats with some visible nail line. I allowed a couple of minutes between each coat, but I think this one may have benefited from layering or a fourth coat.

I was very excited about Rusted Lux. SO excited about Rusted Lux. And so disappointed when I actually wore it. These photos are three coats with a good 2-3 minutes between each, and check out that bald spot on that first finger!

This photo shows the lovely rose-red base with that intense gold glass-fleck shimmer. So stunning in the bottle, but really a poor payoff on the nail. I may try it layered over a color like Zoya Kimber and see how that looks.

Isn't it pretty? *sigh*

My picks from the OPI James Bond collection - Live and Let Die and GoldenEye

OPI's Holiday collection this year is in celebration of fifty years of Bond... James Bond. (Sorry! I couldn't help myself!) It was full of great colors, but my Helmer is getting full, so I tried to show restraint. I grabbed GoldenEye because I have nothing like it in my stash, and after seeing swatch photos pop up on the internet, I knew Live and Let Die had to be mine.

Application with both was just lovely. I love OPI's brush and the formula wasn't to runny or too thick. Neither of these swatches involved any clean up.

Live and Let Die is a dark, muted green with prominent green and gold flecks. We have had very little sun here, so I wasn't able to get an outdoor shot to show off that shimmer. I may have to add one later. The above photo is two coats, no top coat. Beautiful.

This is three coats of GoldenEye, a warm-toned gold foil. So stunning! I think this would be great for a holiday party. I do believe I read that this polish is featured in the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, which is in theaters now. I don't know if I can tear my eyes away from Daniel Craig long enough to notice. :)

On a non-polish note, I hope all of you people who Black Friday-ed it up made it out with what you wanted and were unscathed. I went out for the past two years, and I just didn't have it in me to do it again. I also hope that your Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) was full of family, good food, and enjoyment.

Enchanted Polish Austin Powers

I've had this one in my stash for awhile now after snatching it up in a blog sale. I've recently read that it's being re-released, so I thought I'd dust off my photos and post this thing. 

Austin Powers is a densely packed gold glitter polish with a linear holographic component and copper/bronze hexes. It is very versatile polish, looking great over both light and dark colors, as well as on its own. I originally swatched it over Zoya Dove, so that's what is shown in these first couple of pictures. Please, enbiggen these photos.

One coat of Austin Powers over Zoya Dove

I was inspired by Jeanette's post, so later threw it on over a mystery dark mani. :) I did paint just two coats of Austin Powers on the index finger.

Two coats of Austin Powers on index nail, one coat over a dark creme on other nails

Blurred to show the linear holo, rainbow glitter beauty

The nail polish world was saddened by the news that Austin Powers was being retired. This is why I may have been fist pumping and emailing in Walmart when I happened to see a posting on Instagram that this beauty was being sold (unused!!) in a blog sale. Groceries? What?

As I said at the beginning of the post, it's being re-released with Ballerina Slippers and will be able to be found at the following sites: shop.llarowe.com, pshiiit-boutique.com, harlowandco.org, and meimeisignatures.com. Keep an eye out!

Maisie Shine Orion's Belt - Swatches and Review

I saw this polish one day while surfing around Etsy and I just had to have it. The name is what drew me in, as Orion is my favorite constellation. Silly? I don't think so. 

Lindsey describes Orion's Belt as follows: "A dark navy and green shimmery base that shifts in the sun. This galactic nail polish is littered with gold glitters that emulate a perfect night sky." It is definitely easy to pick out the navy base and the green shimmer is pretty prominent. It is also packed with small gold shimmers, small gold squares, small gold hexes, and larger gold hexes. Super beautiful in the bottle and on the nail.

Application... Wow. Application wasn't great at all. This polish is very, very thick. It could definitely do with some thinner. It seemed a little off though. I poured some out onto a sheet of waxed paper and found several chunks of navy blue mica that wasn't completely mixed in. The good news is that I didn't have to fish out glitters or place them at all.

I think I'm going to dump out the whole bottle, thin it down and mix it a little more, and see where that gets me. I do think it is a beautiful color. Two coats of polish, one coat of Gelous, and a coat of Seche Vite gave a beautiful, smooth finish.

Orion's Belt and several other beautiful polishes are available at Lindsey's Etsy store, Maisie Shine. She sells full sized, 15 mL polishes for $9.00 each.

Zoya Storm - Swatches and Review, and a Rejuvacote update

Zoya's Ornate collection is full of some stunning polishes, but Storm and Aurora are the only ones I felt the NEED to have. I had decided to hold off on ordering them right away in hopes that there would be one of Zoya's fabulous promos soon. I checked Twitter right before bed the night Sandy hit the East Coast and saw Zoya posted a promo. Storm for free with any non-spoon purchase. 

Please forgive the tip wear and growth. I took these photos after five days. Five!! We've had several cloudy days so I was holding out for the sun. I got a bit in the middle of errands, so I whipped out my phone and snapped some pics.

Storm is an opaque black creme that is packed with an irregularly shaped silver/holographic glitter. The formula is the standard wonderful one that we always get from Zoya and was perfect in two coats.

 
I used one coat of Duri Rejuvacote, one coat of CND Stickey, two coats of Storm, and one coat of Essie Good to Go quick dry top coat and got fabulous wear. Again, these photos are after five days. Keep in mind that I wash my hands at least twenty times a day at work. Rejuvacote is working wonderfully. My nails aren't as peel-y, and they're growing so fast! I just had to find a good combo that worked well with it and me.

Blurred to better show the holo sparkle

Paint Box Polish Winter Collection is live! *Pic Heavy!*

I scrapped so many colors coming up with this collection. Bleeding glitters, sinking glitters, too thick, too thin, etc. In the end, I'm super happy with the five that made the cut. I hope you love them, and if you'd like to buy any, there's a link to my Etsy shop in the left column over there!

Solstice is an opaque purple duochrome polish that shifts to bright blue and features violet flakies. This polish is unique in my Winter Collection as it is the only polish that is completely opaque on its own and the only duochrome.

Northern Lights is a stunning blue jelly polish packed with blue flakies and golden shimmer. Can be worn alone as a jelly, but also able to be layered over a darker shade to make the shimmer really pop!

This shot shows the golden shimmer. Northern Lights is layered over Zoya Natty here.

Ice Cap is a squishy, white, jelly polish packed with multi-colored flakies, gold shimmer, and silver shimmer. A fabulous polish both on its own and layered over other polishes! 

Index and middle fingers show Ice Cap layered over China Glaze White on White.

Son of a Nutcracker is a fun, green jelly polish packed with green flakies and a hint of red ones. The Fraternal twin to Santa's Britches, it looks great both alone and layered over other polishes.

Index and middle fingers show Son of a Nutcracker over OPI Jade is the New Black.

Santa's Britches is a fun, red jelly polish packed with silver, gold, and green shimmer. The Fraternal twin to Son of a Nutcracker, it looks great both alone and layered over other polishes.

Index and middle fingers show Santa's Britches over Zoya Sooki.

L-R: Son of a Nutcracker over OPI Jade is the New Black, Santa's Britches over Zoya Sooki, Northern Lights over Zoya Natty, Ice Cap over China Glaze White on White, and Solstice on its own.

butter LONDON Dodgy Barnett and Shag - Swatches and Review

It seems that butter LONDON had released a store-exclusive polish every other week shortly after their regular Autumn/Winter collection was released. Several seemed lovely, but I've been trying to reign in my polish spending lately and if there are two things I have trouble backing away from, it's holos and browns. So, to my home came Dodgy Barnett and Shag.

Dodgy Barnett is a very fine silver glitter with scattered holo particles. It's rather thin, but builds up easily. I have two coats on my ring finger and three on the others. Dodgy Barnett is a beautiful, clean-feeling polish. I wish the holo were a bit more pronounced, but I'm still pretty happy with it.

The other polish I ordered from this collection is Shag. Shag is a warm-toned, brown shimmer polish. I was so excited for this one because I love browns, but I was very underwhelmed by this polish on my nails. I don't know if it's because of my skin tone or what, but just don't like the look of it. I'll probably give it another go before I completely give up.

What do you think of butter LONDON's new offerings? Any you just couldn't say no to?

China Glaze Holiday Joy 2012 - Select swatches and review

I visited my local Sally Beauty Supply this week and had the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection shoved in my face. :) (Hi Christy!) Seriously, she knows how much I love polish and gets just as excited about new collections as I do. I'll bet she's pretty amused watching me paw through boxes deciding what I "need." 

I only grabbed three from this collection of twelve polishes. As is typical of a holiday collection, there are reds, greens, silvers, golds, cremes, and glitters. Winter Holly, Glitter All The Way, and Pure Joy jumped out at me as polishes that are unique in my collection. I did something different on each nail, so I think I'll discuss that in captions under each photo. 

L-R: 2 coats Winter Holly, 3 coats WH, 3 coats WH over butter LONDON British Racing Green,  2 coats WH over bL BRG

L-R: 2 coats Glitter all the Way over Zoya Monica, 3 coats GatW over Monica, 3 coats GatW, 2 coats GatW

Same as above photo

Index - Pinky: 2 coats Pure Joy over red creme, 3 coats PJ over red, 3 coats PJ, 2 coats PJ

Same as above photo

 All polishes had excellent application for your typical glitter bomb in a clear base. I will definitely be using Elmer's Glue as a base coat when I use these for a regular mani. I also prefer the look of these with a solid color as "underwear."

China Glaze Jungle Queen - On Safari Collection, Fall 2012

Jungle Queen is from China Glaze's Fall collection, called On Safari. This polish was hyped up all over the blogosphere as a dupe/close-enough for Chanel Paradoxal (and the HTF Revlon Perplex). Jessica of The Polish Insomniac does a great comparison here. I'll direct you to her post as I do not own Paradoxal - and am fine with that.

This is a pretty color that changes depending on the lighting conditions. It sometimes looks grey, sometimes purple, sometimes an odd, dark purple-brown. It has an awesome pink shimmer that is pretty evident in real life, but hid from my camera until I gave up!

Formula-wise, this bottle was awful! I've yet to encounter one of those thick-and-runny-at-the-same-time polishes, but this one brought it in spades. Really yucky. Hopefully it was just my bottle and I'm not sweating it because I picked it up during Sally Beauty's 50% off clearance sales and it cost less than Wet n' Wild.

Zoya Myrta Swatches - Summer 2012 Surf Collection

Myrta is a bright orange glass-fleck polish loaded with irregular silver shimmer that is part of Zoya's Surf collection from this summer. I picked it up during one of their fabulous promos. Seriously, you've got to be a fan of Zoya for their promos if not for their awesome polish. 

These photos are with two coats of Myrta swatched quickly without base or top coats. This polish has tons of shimmer that catches the eye and looks great! I'm rather sad I didn't get this earlier in the summer.

Zoya Natty Swatches - Designer Collection - Fall 2012

Natty is the third polish I grabbed from Zoya's Designer collection. It is a beautiful dusty grey-blue creme and was complete perfection in two coats. One thick coat would do it if you're careful, but I prefer to be less careful and use two coats. So wasteful... :)

I really don't know what to say about the formula that hasn't been said. Zoya's formula is one of my favorites, and their brush is fantastic. Full, flexible, and on a compact stem that's easy to control. 

Review! Zoya Gilty over Nails Inc Chelsea

I declined to get Gilty for myself, but picked up the trio (Gilty, Purity, and Raven) for bestie for her birthday. Basically, she totally deserves it but wouldn't get it for herself. :) So I posted a pic on my Facebook when it came in, and she was all, "Swatch it for the blog!" And I was all, "Okay!" So, here it is...

Of the 18K topcoats I've seen, Gilty is my favorite. Several have teeny, tiny flakes (I'm looking at you, $OPI!) but these were a nice size. Noticeable, but not gaudy. Says the girl with gold nail polish.

The texture of this polish is odd. It's rather gel-like. I decided not to brush it on like normal polish after the first nail. I found that it worked best to dab on. The flakes stayed nice and flat, but the base was thick enough that the texture showed very nicely. All in all, it allows a great effect and will be a fabulous addition to our holiday wardrobe!

I'd like to end with a super belated birthday to the best bestie ever. We've been attached-at-the-hip for the past twenty-one years (OMG!) and it seems like both 2 months and forever I the same time. I <3 her hard core.

Zoya Monica Designer Collection - Swatches and Review

I have a ton of purple polishes, but purple is my color. Can a girl have too much of her color? Nope. I debated picking up Monica because it seemed similar to Mira. When I have them side-by-side, I see that Monica is much deeper and bluer. I haven't actually blogged Mira, so I'll put that and a comparison on my to-do list.

Above are two coats of Monica swatched without top coat. It is a very opaque, deep plum creme. A very rich tone that is perfect for fall. It wears wonderfully as I wore it as a full mani this weekend and still hasn't chipped despite handwashings at work on Friday, and cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. yesterday and today.

I'm really glad I picked this one up! Have you gotten any from Zoya's Fall collections?

Vivid Lacquer The Harlequin's Adoration and Your Princess is in Another Castle Swatches

Have you had the opportunity to look through Vivid Lacquer's Etsy store? Anni has a great selection of awesome glitter polishes, and she designs nail stamping plates. Her first two plates are out of stock right now, but hopefully she gets more stock soon, because they are fabulous. I'm still practicing my stamping skills, but plan a post with the designs soon.

First up to The Harlequin's Adoration. Anni's description is as follows:

"This polish is a dazzling red and bronze flecked polish, rounded out by black and white diamond, red heart, and fine black and white glitter."

The polish is a little thick, but that's necessary to suspend all that lovely glitter. The photo below shows Harlequin over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (index and middle finger) and OPI Steady As She Rose (ring and pinky). This is one coat dabbed on. I didn't have to fish out the larger glitters, and check out the bronze flash! Such a fun polish.

Your Princess is in Another Castle... 

"Jelly nail polish featuring a pink, jelly base loaded with holographic glitter, multiple sizes and colors of pink glitter, and black glitter."

YPIIAC is so packed with glitter, and is fairly smooth. These swatches show one coat applied over (ring - pinky) OPI MBSW, Sally Hansen Black Out, OPI SASR, and OPI MBSW. No difficulties with application with this polish. I'm excited to try the Elmer's-Glue-As-Peel-Off-Basecoat thing with this one on its own.

Also, how stinking cute are Anni's bottle labels?? Have you tried Vivid Lacquer's polishes or stamping plates? I definitely recommend them. Anni and her products are a joy to deal with.

Holy Duochrome! Swatches & Review: Limited Edition Sally Hansen lustre shine Lava *Pic Heavy*

Swatches! Ahh! This is a pic heavy post, and it's well deserved. Promo pics of Sally Hansen's lustre shine collection have been all over the place, but I was rather stunned when I saw what was left of a picked-over display at Meijer today. There were only four colors left, and only one bottle of Lava. I didn't really pay attention to the others (the ever-present Chanel Peridot dupe, the Deborah Lippmann Sugar Daddy dupe, and a teal/blue that wasn't very duochrome-y) and the next thing I knew, Lava was in my hand!

All shots are three thin coats over a coat of Elmer's Glue (I'm experimenting) and under one coat of Poshe Super-fast Drying Topcoat. The first coat had me a little worried as it looked very thin and patchy, but the second coat had near-complete coverage. The final coat added a nice depth to the color. My brush was a little wonky, but workable. The long, thin cap was very comfortable to hold.

Here you can see the pink near the tips, and yellow/gold over the bed of the nail. The photo is a little blurry, so please excuse that.

This photo has a very nice representation of both colors across the nail.

Okay, these are just because it's so freaking pretty!

Go. Buy. Now.

(I've also built a light box in an effort to bring you better pictures. I think it makes an improvement!)