Showing posts with label Glitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glitter. Show all posts

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac

Happy New Year's Eve, Dear Reader!

I really wanted to use another of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears today even though it was just a creme (last year's NYE mani was so blingy I broke off a nail removing it!), so I decided to just go with it and add a little glitter.

It turned out that Lacey Lilac, the lavender creme from the Xtreme Wear display I recall nothing about, is a fantastic layering polish.  It's super pigmented, so it only took one coat to be completely even and opaque.  For a pastel, that's a big deal.  If I were to wear Lacey Lilac alone, I'd do two coats so it would be nice and shiny, but as a base for some glitter, one coats was plenty.  I added one coat of FingerPaints Floatin' on a Cloud to it, topped it off with top coat, and now I have a glitterific pastel manicure.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac and FingerPaints Glitter
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac with FingerPaints Glitter, One Coat Each
I hope you have a safe and happy New Year's Eve, Dear Reader, and until 2011, love and nail polish to you!  


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Vampy Varnish BB Couture Collection: Part II

Above & Below: Redwood Forest, shown in 2 coats. This is a vibrant, deep Kelly green shade with a jelly-type base and aqua glitter. Pardon the mess on my cuticles! This was my last swatch and I was getting tired!
Below: Vampy Varnish, the collection's namesake polish, is actually a very complicated color to explain. It seems to have a charcoal base, but there is definitely green in there as well, although it is difficult to capture with a photo. The glitter is actually Emerald green and quite obvious in real life. When I applied this shade, my first thought was 'this is China Glaze Emerald Sparkle's deep, brooding older brother'. Simply beautiful.
Below: Kelly's Green, shown in 2 coats. Now this is what I call a unique shade, and I adore it. I showed my husband this collection and he chose this one immediately as his favorite. Not that he'd ever wear nail polish, but he does like the color. I would describe this as a pastel olive, if there is such a thing. It has tiny silver, gold, green and black glitter...those are the colors I see anyway. Click here to read Kelly's more detailed color descriptions.
The last 3 shades in this collection are just as beautiful as the first 3 I showed earlier today. I'd have a difficult time choosing my personal favorite, because I honestly love all of them. These shades are all unique to my collection and the finishes, although all glitters, seem to have quite a bit of variance as well. I wish the sun were out, because I just know they'd impress me even more...especially Napa Valley Red and Vampy Varnish. All 6 of these polishes covered perfectly with 2 coats, although I was able to get away with just 1 coat of Union Square in the post below. Scroll down if you missed the first 3 shades in this collection developed by Kelly, of Vampy Varnish fame. These are available at Overall Beauty for $9.00 each.


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Vampy Varnish BB Couture Collection: Part I

Above: Napa Valley red, shown in 2 coats. This is a deep violet red or deep burgundy red-toned jelly base with coordinated glitter. No matter how many photos I took, they simply do not do this shade justice. Kim at Overall Beauty believes this is the best-selling one, and I can certainly understand that.
Above & Below: Union Square, shown in just 1 coat! Unbelieveable coverage on this metallic bronze shimmer with what appears to be tiny silvery pink glitter. Below, with a matte top coat.
Below: Mendocino Midnight has a special place in my heart, because I have always been partial to tealish green shades. I used 2 coats on this shade. It looks like a deep evergreen with hints of teal on the nail, and the small glitter reflects an emerald green sparkle in less direct lighting.
As many of you know, the lovely Kelly from Vampy Varnish recently had the opportunity to work with BB Couture in developing her own polish collection. You can read about her experience and see her swatches here. BB Couture polishes have always impressed me with their formula, their color selections, and their range of finishes. Combine that with Kelly's eye for color and style, and I knew these would not disappoint. I purchased mine from Kim at Overall Beauty last week. I happened to be on Twitter when Kim announced one of her fabulous sales...buy one get one free, limit 3 free. I jumped on that opportunity immediately, because it was only available for one day, and ordered the entire collection. This is the perfect trifecta of nail polish...the quality of BB Couture, the unique and beautiful polishes that Kelly designed, and the customer service of Overall Beauty! Congratulations to Kelly for doing such a wonderful job turning the colors in her imagination into such beautiful polishes!


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Last of the Color Club Japanese Glitters: Fresh Mint

Above & Below: Fresh Mint shown with 3 coats. The above photo is using an Ott light, and the photo below is with a flash.
Below: More of the prettiness that is Fresh Mint!
Below: I used Fresh Mint as a top coat over a mint shimmer, Nicole's Hint of Mint.
Below: I then added not 1, but 2 coats of Essie's Matte About You and the glitter is still gorgeous.
This concludes the swatches of the 8 Color Club Japanese Exclusive Glitters that I recently got from Victoria Nail Supply. If you're interested in the other 7 shades, you'll find a number of posts below about them. Fresh Mint is a medium toned mint green and in my eyes, it's beautiful. I have a weakness for green shades to begin with, so I knew I would love this one. It looked to be slightly turquoise in the bottle, but on the nail it's a mint green. These all seem to have the same multi-colored glitter in them, but depending on the contrast between the polish color and the glitter, it looks a bit differently color-wise, in each one. I used 3 coats on this one, and it definitely has enough color to look nice just like that. I've shown you a number of darker polishes with these glitters as a top coat, so for this one, I wanted to use it with a similarly colored base coat. I chose Nicole's new Hint of Mint, and then I also added a matte top coat. Mint green. Glitter. What's not to love?

If you're thinking about getting any of these, let me tell you my thoughts now that I have actually had a chance to use all of them. If you want them all, then get them all. See how easy that was! Seriously though, if I were to order them knowing what I know now, I'd probably skip some of the 4 pink/peach toned ones. They all work/look about the same when using them as a top coat because the base color is so sheer, that none of them really alter whatever color you use them over. As a stand-alone polish, Twinkle Peach is not a color I would wear alone. It has very little pigment even after 3 coats. I would have to say the same about Calendula for Joy. I Love You is lovely on it's own, as is Sparkling Cassis. Of those 4, if you're looking for something that works well on it's own and as a top coat, I would suggest either of those two. Here's where I'm not helping your wallet much...the other 4 are must-haves for me. You've got a sparkling white (Bishop Weed) that is unique on it's own and works as a top coat, and I personally don't have too many white shades that have this much personality in my collection. I also don't have an orange-yellow shade that's anything at all like Sparkling Orange. Blue Hawaii and Fresh Mint were the first two I wanted when I saw these, and I know that a lot of you, like myself, are attracted to blues and greens. The first offering of these polishes a few months back were all peachy-pink colors, so I can honestly say that I didn't need all 4 of the similar ones offered in this collection. The other 4 are totally different shade-wise from any of the other Color Club Japanese Glitters I already had. They're also different and unique from any shade I have in other brands as well, so I'm extremely happy with them.


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Color Club Japanese Exclusive: Blue Hawaii

Above & Below: Blue Hawaii, shown with 2 coats. This shade is less jelly-like than the others. As you can see, it seems to have a somewhat metallic base color.
Below: I used 1 coat of China Glaze Cloud Nine over Blue Hawaii for this look.
Blue Hawaii is quite different from the other shades I've posted about when it comes to the formula. I only used 2 coats and the coverage was decent. This one, as compared to the others, has a more foil or metallic base color, and the texture was less jelly-like. I did add several drops of thinner before I applied the second coat, because it seemed quite thick. This is what I would consider a medium Ice Blue shade. Rather than layer it over another shade, I layered one coat of China Glaze Cloud Nine over Blue Hawaii. The result was that of a speckled Robin's egg. This may work well as a top coat over another shade, however, with the rich, foil-like base, I'm not sure how much the base color of another polish would show through it.

Coming up...I saved the best (in my opinion!) for last...Fresh Mint. I'll also do a little wrap-up on my thoughts of all 8 of these, with regard to which ones are must-haves, and why.


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Color Club Japanese Exclusive Glitter: Dazzling Orange

Above & Below: Dazzling Orange shown with just 2 coats. This is much more pigmented than I imagined it would be.
Well, this one surprised me...in a good way! I fully expected not to like Dazzling Orange, thinking it would be extremely sheer, and being yellow...that just didn't sound like a good start. It's a cross between yellow and orange, reminding me of the color of fresh-squeezed orange juice. I only had to use 2 coats to get the look you see in the photos, whereas the others have generally taken 3 coats. I would imagine this would look even better if it were summer and I had a tan. I then put a coat of Black Radiance Risque over it, which is a brown shimmer. The glitter didn't show through at all on this one, unlike the others I've posted down below. Once I put a coat of Dazzling Orange over the top of Risque, I suddenly had the urge to make a pan of brownies topped with Rainbow Sprinkles!


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Color Club Japanese Exclusive Glitter: Bishop Weed

Above & Below: Bishop Weed shown with 3 coats. The glitter, although multi-colored in brighter lighting, gives way to a more silver tone in darker lighting.
Below: One quick coat of Sally Hansen's Opulent Cloud over Bishop Weed gives you this look.
Below: This is a coat of Bishop Weed over Opulent Cloud. I love the way this turned out.
I think this one is actually called Bishop's Weed, but my label is singular, reading Bishop Weed. A minor technicality, because I'd love this one no matter what it's called! By itself, using 3 coats, it's a sheer muted white with multi-colored glitter. It builds enough color that I personally like the way this one looks, even though it's not opaque. It reminds me of Misa's Confection Section, only with more of a white background. This is such a simple, clean look, but the contrast of the glitter against the pale white looks like colored sugar on a new snowfall. Not something you often see of course, but that's what comes to mind. This shade, like many of the glitters, works nicely as an under coat and as a top coat, lending itself to many different transformations.


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Color Club Japanese Exclusive Glitter: Sparkling Cassis

Above: Sparkling Cassis shown with 3 coats. This is a medium Carnation pink tone.
Below: I applied 1 coat of Nicole's Deeply In Love over Sparkling Cassis, and although I was unable to capture the look well, it gives this red creme a glass-flecked appearance.

Below: 2 coats of Sparkling Cassis over Nicole's Deeply In Love adds a colorful burst of color.
Here's another one of the new Color Club Japanese Exclusive Glitters available at Victoria Nail Supply, Sparkling Cassis. This is the last of the pink/peach toned ones (there are 4 of these and the other 3 were posted yesterday). I used 3 coats on this shade, and it is more pigmented than Twinkle Peach and Calendula for Joy. I would rank this shade and I Love You as by far the most pigmented of these 4. It's a pink-toned color with a hint of peach, and the customary micro-fine multi-colored glitter that all of these seem to have. At the risk of repeating myself, I think that the less pigmented ones work better as base or top coats, although both Sparkling Cassis and I Love You look fine on their own as well.
Application Tip: When using jelly-like textured glitters, I use Orly Nail Armor as a base coat. The silk fibers in this base coat give the polish something to adhere to, so the glitter is more evenly distributed.


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Color Club Japanese Glitter: Calendula for Joy

Above & Below: Calendula for Joy shown using 3 coats. Above picture is with no flash under an Ott light, below photo is with a flash.
Below: 2 coats of Calendula for Joy used as a top coat over Orly Wild Wisteria.
Below: As long as we're experimenting, here is the look after a matte top coat.
This evening I have for you the third of eight Color Club Exclusive Japanese Glitters that are new to Victoria Nail Supply. Calendula for Joy is most similar to Twinkle Peach, although it's actually got more of a peach tone than Twinkle Peach! Names can be deceiving though. You can see Twinkle Peach along with I Love You in the post below this one. Calendula for Joy is quite sheer, much like Twinkle Peach. I used 3 coats, but it's quite obvious in the photos that many more would be needed for an opaque look. As I mentioned earlier, some of these are better suited used as a top coat over another polish, or as a base coat with another shade over them. I'll be working on swatches of the remaining 5 shades for tomorrow's posts, as well as showing some of them as both base and top coats.


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New Color Club Exclusive Japanese Glitters

Above & Below: Bottle pictures of the newest 8 Color Club Exclusive Japanese Glitters. Above are what I color the 'colored' ones, and below, the 'similar colored' ones! Top L-R: Bishop's Weed, Blue Hawaii, Dazzling Orange, Fresh Mint. Below L-R: Calendula for Joy, I Love You, Twinkle Peach, Sparkling Cassis.
Below: I Love You, shown in 2 coats. This is much more pigmented than Twinkle Peach, shown below. This is technically called Rose, I Love You, but the label reads I Love You. It applies true to the bottle color, which is a bright rose pink with tiny multi-colored glitter.
Below: I Love You with a matte top coat.
Below: Twinkle Peach, shown using 3 coats. Clearly, 5-6 coats would be needed to bring the color up to the bottle shade. This is a very pale shade of peach with the same multi-colored glitter. However, the glitter is not as bold in color, due to a lower contrast against the lighter base shade.
Below: One coat of Kleancolor's Neon Sapphire over Twinkle Peach. I like to use these glitters as bottom coats or top coats with other polish shades.
Today I received the newest 8 Color Club Exclusive Japanese Glitters that Victoria Nail Supply recently added to their stock. I swatched 2 of the shades so far, and will be working on the other 6 today and tomorrow. I used three coats on Twinkle Peach, and as you can see, it needs several more than that! I Love You applied better, as I used 2 coats. I see in the photos that perhaps 3 would have looked nicer. I Love You is much more pigmented than Twinkle Peach. For those of you who have some of the glitters from Color Club, you know that the formula is somewhat jelly-like. It takes a little trial and error to apply them evenly and at the right thickness. What I like the most about these glitters is that they work well as a base color with another coat of polish over them as shown above with the blue Kleancolor (Neon Sapphire), and they work even better as a top coat over a darker polish shade. I prefer using them in this fashion, rather than by themselves. I'll do a few swatches using them under and over other polishes, coming up.


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