Color Club Love 'em/Leave 'em

Look at this mother- a nude holo!  Don't see that everyday, do ya?  Color Club makes great holographic polishes, they should make more of them!  The formula was excellent, went on like buttah.  2 coats pictured here, no topcoat.

Look at the rainbow in that bottle!  OMG!

Not the best pic here- I only had a small patch of sunlight in my garage to work with!

Indoors, in light box- still a nice shimmery nude!

I found this for $3.99 at Christmas Tree Shops- random, huh?

Sinful Colors Mint Apple

This is a lovely dusty mint green shimmer from Sinful Colors.  Opaque at 2 thick coats, would have been better with 3 thinner coats but I was short on time.  Good formula, minimal cleanup needed.  Fine silver shimmer throughout that shows up well on the nail.  Pics are with Seche Vite topcoat.  Really like this one, would be great on lots of skin tones.

Kleancolor Blue Satin with Ruby Kisses Crazy Night Out

Another Kleancolor polish for you today.  This looked amazing in the bottle!  Drool-worthy, really.  But alas, the magic did not transfer to the nail.  Dark blue polish with silvery-grey glass fleck and iridescent hex and bar glitter.  I definitely have a huge weakness for bar glitter.  But the glitter was sparse and sank under the layer of polish.  *SIGH*  A little disappointed here.  Maybe I'll try it again and see if I can "place" some of the glitter on the top of the polish.

Look at that bottle!!

Just "meh" on the nail for me.

Looks better in this macro shot

Then I added this Ruby Kisses polish Crazy Night Out over it and WOW!  This is such a great glitter- tiny fuchsia glitter along with medium silver holographic hex glitter and larger fuchsia hex glitter. 

So PRETTAH!!!

Kleancolor Holo Chrome

You know the only thing I love better than Holos?  Cheap Holo's.  ($2.99)  I have never been able to find Kleancolor polishes locally until this week.  Then I found a display of them at 2 stores in one day- Score!  They did not have any of the chunky holo glitters that I am lusting after, but I did find 4 that I had to have.  Purple + Holo= I'm always in!  So this one obviously came home with me.  Sheer jelly base, scattered holo effect.  I had heard about how stinky Kleancolor polishes are- they are certainly strong smelling, nothing I can't handle though.  There is a faint artificial grape smell to this one.  Honestly, Seche Vite topcoat smells worse.

This was ridiculously hard to photograph and I had no sunlight so this is indoor artificial light.  3 coats.  The holo showed up well indoors.

In my lightbox- very nice polish even without the holo effect showing up! 

As you can see here there are blue glitter flecks that give the polish visual interest even when the polish is in non-holo mode.  

Nicole by OPI A Million Sparkles

I have been hunting this polish down for weeks now!  It finally showed up at my local Target and I was thrilled!  This is one of the most unique glitters I have ever seen.  Small blue bar and hex glitter, larger gold hex and salmon colored bar glitter.  Good formula- could probably be opaque in 3 coats but I chose to layer  it over Orly Sweet Peacock- a vibrant blue foil.

Something about a foil with glitter over it just knocks my socks off!

Sweet Peacock on it's own- 2 coats.  I adore this blue foil!  Great formula, dries fast, flattering color- what's not to love?

OPI Manicurist of Seville and Black Cherry Chutney

I found this duo of OPI polishes in Marshall's for $7.99!  The colors are not the most unique and not the kind of thing that usually excites me, but it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up!  

Manicurist of Seville is a berry creme- really great formula on this one.  Thin but opaque, really almost painted itself on.  From the Fall 2009 Collecion de Espana.  More vivid and purple than pictured here.  2 coats.

Black Cherry Chutney is a vampy burgundy/plum with subtle red shimmer.  From the Spring 2008 India Collection.  It's quite dark, looks almost black in some lights.  This had a great formula too, 2 easy coats here.

I have no idea why these 2 random older polishes were grouped together and sold as a set, but I ain't mad at it!

Butter London Wallis

Wallis is an incredibly unique golden-green metallic.  I have just recently started to love green polishes so this was a must have for me.  The formula was perfect- smooth and opaque in 2 coats.  Has a beautiful old tarnished metal look.  What else is there to say?  Love.

Layering with Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

This beautiful creature was one of my best layering experiments ever!  I don't know about you guys, but I am still so in love with flakies!   I hope they stay popular for a while longer!  This was definitely more green than the pictures show.  This was an unbelievable 11 coats of polish on my nails!  I'm not even kidding.  Base coat, 3 coats of Unknown Color Club green creme, 2 coats of Sinful Colors Nail Junkie glitter,1 coat Gelous and Seche Vite topcoat.  Wore those eight coats for a day and then added 2 coats of Finger Paints Flecked and more topcoat.  That's a lot of layers!

Layering flakies over glitter gives this amazing fish scale effect!

This Color Club came in a TJ Maxx kit that was labeled incorrectly but I think it may be Edie.  It was so much greener than this picture shows.  Looks more turquoise here, either way- lovely color.  3 coats.

Look at that bottle of Color Club Nail Junkie!  This glitter has a teal jelly base with aqua, royal blue, green and gold glitter.  AMAZING!  You need this if you like glitter at all.  Could probably be built up to opacity in 3-4 coats, I chose to layer it here.  I like it so much I have a backup bottle.

Still nice before the flakies

Macro with the flakies added.  Reminds me of the ocean pictures you see around some tropical place like Tahiti.  

St. Patrick's Day Glitter Gradient

What a great excuse to wear green this week!  I love me some St Pattie's Day!  An Irish holiday centered about drinking- Yesss!  I'm too old for all that mess now, but back in the day I was all about it.  Now I'll just paint my nails green to celebrate.  This mani uses 2 Bonita polishes.  They don't have names- these came in sets of 6 that I found in TJ Maxx for like $5.99.

Here's the final product.  I thought I was done at the pics below, but it needed a little something extra.  I wanted a gold rhinestone to put on the ring finger but I don't have any so I used a chunky gold glitter polish on the outer corner to accent.  Loved this!

The base was 3 coats of Unnamed Bonita Green Shimmer.  2 coats would have been fine, I just used 3 to even things out for pictures.  This was a really great polish- went on smoothly and the color is gorgeous.  Sometimes these cheap polishes can surprise you with their quality!

Then I sponged on Sinful Colors Call You Later in a gradient starting at the tips.  This is a great layering polish.  Green round and larger hex glitter with small gold glitter.  I realized when I looked at the macro that the gold glitter is square!  Yea for square glitter!

It was a little gritty so I did a coat of Gelous and then a coat of Seche Vite- smooth as glass now.

Don't forget to wear your green!

Nicole by OPI OMB

I don't love red polishes, but this shimmer just has that "something special".  Cherry red shimmer bomb with a little gold shimmer running throughout.  The brush however-  probably one of the worst I've EVER encountered.  Huge, flat, stiff, spiky mop.  It would have been easier to paint your nails with a spatula, I think.  But I will put up with it for the color- maybe I will decant it in another bottle.

Please ignore the black streak on the middle finger- my cleanup brush bled black paint onto the red.  And the clumpy thing on the index finger.  2 coats, no topcoat here.

After a day I needed to spice it up so I added 2 coats of Finger Paints Flashy

Pardon the tip wear- aren't these color flashes amazing?!?  Gold, yellow, green...amazing!   I couldn't stop staring at my nails!  I loved it so much I wore it for 3 more days.

Love. Flakies.

Nicole by OPI Sounds Grape to Me

This is a nice burgundy/purple color with duochrome gold/pink glass fleck shimmer.  The color shift is subtle in real life- looks more dramatic in this photo.  The brush on this Nicole polish was nice- a normal thin brush unlike some of the ragged oversize mop brushes a lot of these polishes have.  Formula was nice, good opacity and flowed smoothly.  And the price was right too- $3.49 a bottle!  I have trouble paying $7 for some Nicole polishes, but give me 50% off and I'm all over it!  I've had my eye on this one since the fall, glad it went on sale so I would finally buy it.

2 coats, no topcoat

Nicole by OPI Fabulous is My Middle Name

This Nicole glitter is Part of a Spring 2012 collection that is a Wal-Mart Exclusive.  This glitter is unbelievable!  There is so much going on here- I see tiny gold and silver square glitter along with  red, gold, violet and blue bar glitter.  Bar and square glitter in the same polish?!?  Whaaaaaat?  Well done Nicole by OPI, well done.

Unfortunately my bottle looks like it was desecrated by some little a-hole who painted all their nails (and some of their friend's nails too) since a small amount of the polish is gone and its all dried and crusted around the rim.  I didn't notice this during my fit of pure joy in the store.  So I paid $7 for a used bottle of polish but I don't care, it's that good people.

I coat layered over 2 coats Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Navy Baby.  Please click to enlarge so you can experience the joy!

Navy Baby is a navy jelly with hidden shimmer- look at the bottle to see it!  Really nice!

1 coat over 2 coats Revlon Violet

Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl

This is a sheer purple jelly with pink/gold duochrome glass fleck shimmer (bordering on flakies).  Amazing!  I think I stopped at 3 coats, still slight VNL so if this bothers you be prepared to do more coats.  This sat in my untrieds for a while for some crazy reason.  I was at Ulta this weekend and saw Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Purple Pizzazz marked down to $1.29 so of course I had to get it.  When I got it home it looked really familiar to me- sure enough, pretty much a dead on dupe for Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl.  They may look slightly different in the bottle but on the nail there is really no difference.

Now this pic is Daddy's Girl on index and ring finger.  Purple Pizzazz on middle and pinky finger.  Purple Pizzazz is a slightly more blue based purple and Daddy's Girl is a slightly more red based(plum) purple.  

Could someone tell if you painted them on different fingers in the same mani?  No.  Do you need them both?  Probably not.  Am I glad I have them both?  Yes!  Both are inexpensive and I can never have enough purple  jellies with shimmer!

Butter London No More Waity, Katie

This is the first Butter London polish I've tried.  I got a cute little set with the polish and a mini bottle of their polish remover for $15 at Ulta.  The polish alone retails for $14 so the kit was hard to resist.  No More Waity, Katie is a limited edition color created in honor of the Royal Wedding.  This is a greige jelly base with lavender glitter.  It was quite sheer and streaky and definitely needed 3 coats.  It is very unique color that I really enjoyed, but the formula was such a bummer.  Wear was pretty bad too- usually glitter polishes stay on forever but I had serious chips on my right hand after 24 hours.  Boooo!

I got interesting comments from this one too.  I'm a nurse so the colors I wear definitely push the boundaries of "work appropriate".  Thankfully I work at a doctor's office so they are a little more relaxed about my crazy color choices.  (Crazy in my office is anything not pink or red)  It got rave reviews from a 90 year old female patient, but a 92 year old male patient said "you've got dirt on your finger nails".  Not sure if that was his way of telling me he did not approve of the color or if he actually thought I had dirt on my fingernails.  Either way, it was hilarious and I had to choke back the laughter until I was out of the room.  Who cares about looking "professional"?  Life is too short to wear boring nail polish- I'm still somewhat young so I'm gonna rock crazy nails as long as I can.  And if someone thinks differently about you because of your choice in nail color, they're an idiot anyways.

China Glaze Colors from the Capitol Hunger Games Nail Polish Collection part 2

Tonight I have for you China Glaze's Fast Track, Foie Gras, and Smoke and Ashes from the Capitol Colors Collection.  All of these swatches are without topcoat.

Fast Track is a sheer beige with tons of gold shimmer.  Great formula.  Incredible shimmery mannequin hands!  3 coats below.

 Foie Gras is a Grey/Purple Creme.  Good opacity, a litte streaky on the first coat.  This is very similar to OPI's You Don't Know Jacques but it has more purple tone to it.  I actually prefer this color over the OPI.  Dries darker than the bottle and super shiny.  Not the most unique but very nice.  2 coats below.

 Smoke and Ashes is a blackened blue base with beautiful blue green duochrome shimmer.  Unfortunately the duochrome doesn't translate quite as much on the nail.  Still incredible- completely opaque at 1 coat, 2 pictured below.  Beautiful alternative to basic black polish.

China Glaze Capitol Colors- The Hunger Games Nail Polish Collection

I have been anxiously awaiting this collection like so many of you.  Stopped by Sally Beauty this weekend and they had them- score!   Still in boxes in the back so I got first pick- nice new bottles that haven't been opened and sampled yet.   The ones I bought are Dress Me Up, Fast Track, Agro, Riveting, Foie Gras, Smoke and Ashes and Luxe and Lush.  I loved Harvest Moon in the bottle but think the copper color will look terrible on me.  Initially I thought I did not want Stone Cold because it's a Matte color- but it's really nice and I could always put topcoat on it...hmmmm...   So I could end up with more colors possibly.  Splitting this up into 2 posts, yes- cheating, I know, but it's so much freakin work to swatch this many colors!  I'll post the others tomorrow.  All of these swatches are without topcoat.

Dress Me up is a dusty rose/brown creme.  I do not generally like pinks, but this one really drew me in.  It's very classy and grown-up while still being modern.  Nearly opaque in one coat, 2 pictured here for good measure.  Went on like a dream, practically painted itself on.  Dries darker on nail than in the bottle.  Did not  photograph true to color in my light box(see above bottle shot) so this pic is indirect light outdoors.  

 With 1 coat of Luxe and Lush on top.  Pics don't do this justice- very pretty combo in person.

Agro is a metallic olive green- slightly brushstrokey, but not too bad.  Super pigmented- could have done one coat, this is 2 for good measure.  Would probably be good for stamping as well.  Love.  

With one coat of Luxe and Lush on top.  Gorgeous.

Riveting is like blazing fire on your nails.  Bright orange Jelly with gold shimmer.  Great formula on this as well.  Still a little VNL at 2 coats so this is 3 pictured below.  Excellent summer color.

1 coat of Luxe and Lush on center nails.  Luxe and Lush is a flakie topcoat that flashes mostly warm golds and yellow.  It does take on tones of the base color below it.  These are large irregular mylar type flakies and are quite rough unless topped with topcoat.  Formula is thick as expected with this type of polish.  Nice versatile polish I can see myself using alot.  It was lovely over a teal polish I tried also- will post that later in the week.  

After purchasing these, I held all bottles in my lap while riding around in the car with my husband.  I kept showing them to him like an idiot.  Yeah baby, nail polish- that's nice.  Fortunately he does not think I'm crazy (I hope)

More to follow tomorrow!