China Glaze - VIII

VIII is a deep, dusty purple.  It's very similar to "Crimson" from this year's Halloween collection, but it is a touch lighter.

Basecoat:  China Glaze Ridge Filler (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze VIII (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

I've had this bottle for a while, so there's been some settling at the bottom (visible in the bottom photo).  It doesn't affect the color of the polish.  This was a little bit runny and wanted to pool in my cuticles, and once it gets there, good luck getting it out cleanly.  This polish is *just* light enough to not be one of those "looks black all the time indoors" polishes.

Nubar - Gem

Nubar Gem is kind of an odd duck.  It's a holo glitter like Prize, but the base color... I think I would have to describe it as frosty greige.  It's not quite purple, and not quite beige.  I say a lot that I have a hard time capturing certain polishes on camera, but that was nothing compared to the problems I had with this one.

Basecoat:  Nubar Foundation (1 coat)

Color:  Nubar Gem (3.5 coats)

Topcoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Nubar Diamont (1 coat)

The third photo is probably the most accurate color for the base of Gem, but only the bottle part, not really the polish on my nails.

Application was okay for this - very similar to Prize.  Because it's less vivid of a base color, I felt like it was easier to control and clean up - that, or it was just less noticeable.

I did do the Gelous thing before using Diamont.  This polish looks MUCH grittier in photos, but it is totally smooth in real life.  The holo is much stronger, too, but it's overcast today and I had a hard time getting decent light.  Even the last photo, under desk light, doesn't show it as much.

Still, this is a really nice polish, and I'm still intrigued by the base color - would I wear this without the glitter?  Who knows?  It seems like it might be brush-stroke-y without the glitter, but I can't really tell.

SpaRitual - Sacred Ground

I only know of one brick and mortar store within two hours of me that carries SpaRitual, and I haven't been there in months.  I got this as an add-on to my Amazon order - the only other thing I ordered was a case of grape bubble gum (shut up, I am too an adult).

Basecoat:  Fiberglass Network (1 coat)

Color:  SpaRitual Sacred Ground (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

I have trouble figuring out the base color in Sacred Ground, but I'm going to call it a smoky gray.  It's full of mostly gold glitter with some purple glitter in there, too.

This was a little bit cuticle-runny but not too bad - I only gripe about it because it's a pretty dark color and so it's really obvious when I don't get it all cleaned up.

I like this a lot as a fill-in between the bright summer polishes and the more subdued winter colors.

Clarins - 230

Awwwww yeah.  The red shimmer in Baptiste reminded me of 230, so I just had to pull it out and put it on top of Baptiste.

Click to embiggen - they're worth it, especially the first photo.  This is two coats (probably could have stopped at one but I couldn't resist) followed by a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat.

My favorite color from 230 is the strong green flash - I thought I hadn't managed to capture it at all, since it's usually only visible at certain angles that aren't good for photos, but nope, there it is in the first photo, especially on my index finger.

This polish is probably going on hiatus for a long while - I've only worn it twice and I have a noticeable dent in my bottle's fullness, boo.

Illamasqua - Baptiste

Illamasqua Baptiste is a purple with shimmer that leans red.  It's the first Illamasqua I've tried, though I also own Rampage (dark green jelly).  These have both been sitting in my untrieds for a while.

Basecoat:  Fiberglass Network (1 coat)

Color:  Illamasqua Baptiste (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

How gorgeous is this?   Baptiste applied near-flawlessly.  The only thing I didn't like was the stupid huge square bottle cap - I would have liked it to come off and leave a functional top, like Chanels and Butter Londons do.

Anyway I tried hard not to get this in my cuticles - as you can see I did anyway.  It wasn't too bad to clean up, though obviously once it gets all in your cuticles good luck cleaning it up.

I really like the red shimmer in this polish, and I also love that even though it's a really dark purple it never looks black like other polishes (Hello NARS Midnight Express!).

World Series nails

I said on Twitter earlier today that I wish I was a bandwagon Rangers fan like so many others in Dallas.  If I was a bandwagoner, I wouldn't be so worried about dying of a massive aneurysm by the end of this World Series.

Anyway, the Series comes back to Arlington starting tomorrow for three games, and as a season ticket holder (we paid for our post-season tickets way back in August - if they hadn't gone on to the playoffs it would just be credited to our season ticket account) - I'm going to all three games.

You've seen these polishes before - Nubar Fire and Night Sparkle.  I used Gelous as a base coat, and three coats of each polish.  I also used two coats of Gelous on top, and instead of Seche I used Nubar Diamont.  I still think I might end up having to add another coat of Diamont tomorrow, but it's okay.

I used nail art stars that I got from Nailsupplies.us.  I stuck these on after the first layer of Gelous, so there's another layer of Gelous and a fat layer of Diamont on top of them - that ought to keep them stuck on.

Chanel - Graphite

Here's one you've seen a million times, and here's a million more photos of it, too.

Basecoat:  Fiberglass Network (1 coat)

Color:  Chanel Graphite (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (1 coat)

Like Peridot, Graphite damn near applied itself.  Cleanup was minimal and easy, went exactly where I wanted it to go.

In the bottle it looks a little like another silver metallic, but it's not, at all.  There's a lot of dark gray/black mixed in, and some gold.  I swear there is some duochrome in here, too, because at certain angles I catch a lot of green tones and at others it's straight silver.

Sally Hansen - Girl Flower

Girl Flower is the flowered Salon Strips from the original set that launched.

I did use a base (Gelous) and top coat (SH Insta-Dri) with these.  I've worn this design before, but the first set of strips I got had a really indistinct and washed out outline - almost like the flower outlines were dotted instead of solid.  Anyway, these were much better and they applied just as easily as the previous strips I've tried.

Orly - Rock-It

Rock-It is a winey, beryy-y flecked finish with tons of sparkle and a bit of duochrome.  In some lights it leans very magenta/berry/pink, and in others it's a wine red.

Basecoat:  Fiberglass Network (1 coat)

Color:  Orly Rock-It (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

You can sort of see the color differences in the last two photos.  I found that under desk lighting it leans pink, and everywhere else, red.

This applied really well.  I applied it at night, so I might have gotten away with two coats, but it's the usual - different lighting than usual, better to play it safe.

Pop Beauty - Foggy

Pop Beauty Foggy is a shimmery gray.  It is warmer and deeper than Butter London Lady Muck.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  Pop Beauty Foggy (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

So, clearly, these photos were taken under a desk lamp.  They're also taken about three hours after I finished applying.  See that tip shrink?  Ugh.  I will need to go back and check but I could swear I've worn a Pop polish with Seche and it was fine.  I took this off right after I took the photos.

Anyway, aside from that, this is a lovely color.  The application was really good - much better than the cremes I've worn previously.  Cleanup was super easy, too.  This might be one of those "better in winter" colors - it didn't look great with my skintone this time of year, too.

I'll definitely be trying this again with a different topcoat.

Nubar - Prize

Nubar Prize is a medium pink jelly packed full of holographic glitter.  I'll warn you right now that these photos don't do it justice 

- it's overcast today so I had to resort to desk lamp (again).

Basecoat:  Nubar Foundation base coat (1 coat)
Color:  Nubar Prize (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Gelous (1 coat)
Topcoat:  Seche Vite (2 coats, one applied the morning after)

Prize is not nearly as bumpy and gritty as the Sparkle glitters are, but I still needed to use Gelous and multiple layers of Seche.  I have some tipwear that I think is a combo of tip wear and shrink - I've been doing things around the house this morning and my nails are a little longer than I usually keep them right now, so I think it's mostly wear.

I had issues with the brush in Prize.  I don't remember the brushes in the Sparkle polishes being as wide as this one is.  So - yep - I got it everywhere even though I was trying to be neat.  Cleanup went surprisingly well, though - the base color cleaned up super fast and it wasn't even a pain getting the glitter off my skin, either.

Some of these photos show a little bit of VNL - it is visible in real life, but you have to look *really* closely to see it.

Maybelline - Cool Couture

Cool Couture is a medium grey polish with awesome teal shimmer in it.  It's a limited edition and frankly I thought I'd never get my hands on it (I've never even seen the Wet N Wild Halloween display, much less the polishes in it).  However, I was at a random Albertson's the other night and came across not only Cool Couture, but Purple Trend (from the same collection), Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice, *and* the Halloween SH polish strips!  I'll definitely have to keep this place in mind when I'm looking for something.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  Maybelline Cool Couture (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Click to embiggen and be amazed by the teal shimmer!  So pretty!  I swear I can occasionally catch a purple shimmer, too, like it's a duochrome, but..... I applied this literally, the last thing I did before I went to bed, so I was using a different light than normal, and I was NEVER able to catch that purple again.

That said - I applied this last thing before I went to bed, so I might have actually been able to stop at two coats, but again - different lighting, so I went with three.  I'm frankly shocked I had no major issues, either, just some minor tipwear because I took photos the afternoon after.

The three last photos look different because I had to use my desk light - it's been one of those annoying days where it's mostly cloudy but occasionally the sun shines brilliantly and disappears just as I get to the window with my camera.

You need this polish.  Grab it if you see it.

Color Club - Perfect Mol-Ten

Yep, another one from the "Foiled" collection.  Perfect Mol-Ten is a minty green.  It pulled a little bit dustier on me than I expected it to.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  Color Club Perfect Mol-Ten (2 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Ugh, awful cleanup.  Anyway, this applied much better than I expected from a foil.  Totally opaque in two coats.  And it dried super-fast.  I'm actually looking forward to wearing the rest of this collection.  I might have to buy a backup set to use for stamping.

Color Club - Lumin-icecent and OPI - Simmer & Shimmer

I picked up the Foiled collection at my Ross a week or so ago, but I didn't really want to wear them alone - foils are pretty unforgiving to ridges and imperfections.  I looked through my untried glitters and pulled out Simmer and Shimmer.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  Color Club Lumin-icecent (2 coats)

Color:  OPI Simmer & Shimmer (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (1 coat)

Lumin-icecent (forget it, I'm not typing that stupid name anymore) is an icy blue metallic.  It's so icy it almost looks gunmetal in indoor light.  Anyway, it was awesomely opaque and I didn't really have any problems with application - it didn't streak or drag.  I don't usually like foils but I might end up wearing these alone, though I bought them with the intention to use them as stamping polishes.  It was your typical foil cleanup, though - tons of sparkle where it's not wanted.

Simmer and Shimmer is a multicolored glitter that is mostly pale blue.  It also has some silver and magenta glitters in it.   All the OPI glitters apply about the same, so I'm not going to really talk about that other than to say again that I really hate the ProWide brush and I got glitter everywhere on my smaller nails.

These glitters more or less killed my lemmings for the Muppets collection - I swear I still have at least three more of the Burlesque glitters sitting in my untried drawers.  I figured if I hadn't worn these I probably was going to take just as long if not longer to wear those, too.