Showing posts with label Matte or Matte Top Coat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matte or Matte Top Coat. Show all posts

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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Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers

I think this may just be my manicure for Christmas Eve! Ruby Red Slippers is nothing short of stunning. It has a blackened base that upon the first coat, is a watery charcoal color with sparse coverage. The second coat builds the base and the glitter to near perfection, although I think I may opt for 3 thin coats when I do this again tomorrow. What you end up with is an abundance of sparkling rubies awash in a sea of black glossiness. Top it off with a matte top coat and you get another look altogether. Simply put, I love this one.


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Essie Sassy Satchel & Essie Carnival

Above & Below: Essie's Sassy Satchel shown in various lighting. This is a deep rich burgundy shade with the slightest touch of fine gold shimmer.
Below: Shown topped with one coat of Essie's Carnival, it adds a rainbow of sparkle.
Below: A coat of Essie's Matte About You defines the glitter shape, but tones down the sparkle considerably. It also brings out the brown undertones in Sassy Satchel.
Today I have some of my finer quality polishes...you know I love some of the drugstore shades I've been showing the last few days, but it's always a pleasure when I use Essie. I've always been very impressed with the application and the quality of the finish I get from this brand. I used 2 coats of Sassy Satchel and the coverage was even and the formula flowed perfectly. I picked this up at TJ Maxx a few months back, and I'm glad I did. Sassy Satchel is in the burgundy family, but it has the slightest hint of a deep brick red with brown undertones. The brown undertones are more evident with a coat of Essie's Matte About You.

Carnival is a perfect topping for a darker base, because it's a clear polish packed full of small, holographic glitter. I used one coat as a topping, and the way that the glitter pieces play with the light is truly mesmerizing. I don't think it would look nearly as nice using it alone, but I could be wrong. Have you ever used Carnival alone? What did you think?


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Petites Midnight Frost-$1.79 Buys A Nice Polish!

Above & Below: Petites brand in Midnight Frost. I used 2 coats, and it dried quickly.
Below: With one coat of Essie's Matte About You.
Above & Below: A comparison to Orly's Iron Butterfly shows that they are similar, but the Petites has much less glitter and the glitter itself is larger in the Petites.
Today I have another bargain drugstore nail polish for you, this one is Petites brand in Midnight Frost. Petites are manufactured right here in my home state by Scherer, Inc. They also manufacture the Chameleon and CQ brands, often found along side the Petites. I picked mine up at Rite-Aid, and I believe they can also be found at many Walmart stores as well. Midnight Frost is a black creme base, filled with tiny silver glitter. I used 2 coats and it covered quite well. I kept picturing Orly's new matte polish in Iron Butterfly as I applied this, wondering how close this would look to the Orly if I applied a matte top coat. As you can see, it is somewhat similar. For $1.79, I think it was money well spent, because this is a very pretty black glitter polish.


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Man Week Continues~BB Couture Hammer Drill & Stud Finder

Above & Below: BB Couture's Hammer Drill shown using 2 coats. Above photo is with a flash, below photo is no flash. Both pictures were taken outside under snowy skies.
Below: Finish detail.
Below: BB Couture's Stud Finder shown using 2 coats. This picture was taken with a flash, while the photo below is shown with no flash.

Below: Stud Finder with one coat of Essie's Matte About You.
Below: Finish detail.
Here are 2 more shades from BB Couture's latest collection of polishes for men, Hammer Drill and Stud Finder. I kept hearing Hammer Time Can't Touch This in my head as I was swatching Hammer Drill, so now that I've gone and gotten it stuck in your head, let's talk about this color! Hammer (Time) Drill is a shade that falls into the burgundy/maroon/wine family, although there's something about it that makes it difficult to fit into any of those families. I really like this shade, but again, I'm having a hard time defining the color. I'd call it a muted or dusty burgundy shimmer with the slightest hint of a brown undertone in darker lighting. The shimmer is mainly gold, but again, it too is somewhat muted, making it difficult to define.

Stud Finder is also a unique and very pretty color, and again, to define what the shade actually would be called, is causing me a slight problem. As I was applying it, I thought it almost looked as if gold, silver and bronze had been mixed together, because I saw traces of all three of those colors. This too is a shimmer, and I can see both a bronzed gold and a silver tone within the shimmer pieces, although the silver is much more evident. Once applied, I'd have to say that the best description is a deeper taupe shade. I wondered what it would look like with a matte finish, because it reminded me of OPI's You Don't Know Jacques from their matte collection. One coat of Essie's Matte About You convinced me that indeed, it is very similar. The matte coat darkened the shade slightly and refined the shimmer.

I'll finish up with the newest BB Couture men's polishes tomorrow, and then move onto their earlier collection of polish for men. Overall Beauty is still offering their free shipping offer, valid through 12/11 . Make sure and check out their newest polishes called The Disco Collection. Oh great, now I'll have Dancing Queen stuck in my head!


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NOTD: Tip Toe (Old Navy) Gold Rush

Above & Below: Shown outdoors in full sun with no flash. Depending on the angle, it looks brown, gold, or an olive gold.
Below: Shown outdoors with no flash in partial shade.
Below: Again, in full sun. You can see that the shimmer/glitter has some purple, red and gold tones in it.
Below: I added a coat of Essie's Matte About You for a deeper antique gold with black finish.


Below: A close-up of the bottle shows that there is some purple in the formula around the sides.
Below: Glitter detail close-up.
Yesterday I showed you bottle pictures of the Tip Toe brand polishes I picked up at Old Navy, and today I have Gold Rush, which was my favorite in the bottle form. I'm not disappointed now that I have it on, and it makes me excited to try out the others. I used 2 coats and touched up a few bald patches after the first coat. It dried quickly and I was happy and surprised to see how well it covered the nail. This is an interesting shade...it looks like an olive gold shade in the bottle, and you can actually see some purple around the edges of the bottle. During application , I noticed that it has a charcoal base, and I also noticed that it not only has very small gold glitter, but also additional glitter shades. I applied Essie's Matte About You, which gives it a deep burnished gold look with a black base. These retail for $3.50 and can be found in a canister at the check-out lane in Old Navy.


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Orly Metal Chic Metallic Matte: Glam Rock


Above & Below: Glam Rock shown outdoors, no flash in 2 coats. This actually has a copper base with darker coppery red and golden metal flakes.
Below: A clear top coat amplifies the metal flake for added depth.


Below: Close-up of Glam Rock's finish, matte on the left, with a top coat on the right.
Below: Close-up of all 3 shades in their matte state. L-R: Iron Butterfly, Glam Rock, Solid Gold.
Glam Rock, from Orly's Metal Chic collection, is my favorite of the 3. That's not to say I don't like the other 2, because I love them all. Copper is often the less popular alloy when discussing elements, so maybe it's because I always like to route for the underdog. Or maybe it's just a personal preference when it comes to these 3, I don't know. I posted the others just below this one, so check them out and let me know what your favorite one is. Glam Rock is a medium shade of copper that like the other 2, applied nicely in 2 coats. I'm really impressed with these overall, and what I like the most about them, other than the fact that they're metal element shades, is the metal flake detail. They show a definite separation of the darker and lighter shades in each one, giving them an interesting and somewhat dimensional look. With a top coat applied to Glam Rock, the detail seems even more precise, rendering an almost holographic appearance. Orly did an outstanding job with this small, yet versatile collection. Which one do you like the most?

*Products furnished by LaForce-Stevens, for Orly Beauty.


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Orly Metal Chic Metallic Matte: Iron Butterfly

Above & Below: Iron Butterfly shown outdoors with no flash. I used 2 coats and the application was easy and quick to dry.

Below: One coat of a clear top coat enhances the already evident metal flake. The finish has such dimension, whether it's clear-coated or matte.

Below: A close-up of the finish. On the left is matte, while the right shows Iron Butterfly with one coat of clear.
Here is the second shade I swatched from Orly's Metal Chic collection, Iron Butterfly. You can see Solid Gold in the post below this one. On the press release I received, it says that this collection is "for the rocker chick in all of us." In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, honey, don't you know that I love you? Oops, where was I? For those of you too young to remember, check out Iron Butterfly's epic 60's rock tune...this song totally makes no sense, but it's a classic! Iron Butterfly (the polish!) is a deep, dark charcoal shade that totally rocks my world. All 3 of these shades are just what I'd hoped they would be. So far so good on the application and drying time, using 2 coats. Again, the detail of the metal flake in these polishes, plus the fact that they are the basic metal shades, make them extremely appealing to me...and to the rocker chick inside of me. Iron butterfly reminds me of asphalt with silver slivers mixed in. Apply a clear top coat and you end up with a shimmery dark charcoal with a sprinkling of silver. What's not to love? Rock on.

*Products furnished by LaForce-Stevens, for Orly Beauty.

I'm so happy with all of these, but my favorite is probably the copper one, Glam Rock. I'll have that for you in just a while, and I want to remind everyone about the post I did this morning reviewing Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion. You'll find it if you scroll down a bit, and it includes a giveaway for a set of 2 full-sized bottles, one regular and one with SPF 15.


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