Zoya - Veruschka

Here's another swatch from long ago.  Veruschka is a deep green polish with shimmer.  This is a matte velvet polish.

Three coats, no basecoat.  I used topcoat on my index and ring fingers, and wow, it is gorgeous with topcoat. 

I do not know why this is, but I feel like the matte velvet Zoyas always have amazing application, and the straight matte polishes are awful.  Is it just me?

Models Own - Purple Blue

Purple Blue is a sparkly duochrome. 

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Models Own Purple Blue (4 coats)

Topcoat:  Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat (1 coat)

This polish was a little bit thin and runny.  I had some bald-ish spots after three coats so I went for a fourth.  Other than that, though, application was pretty good and cleanup was surprsingly easy for this much sparkle.

Initially I was disappointed in the lack of duochrome.  Then I went into another room that had no lights on (to pet the cat) and whoa!  Transformed from "meh" to "LOVE" just like that!

Butter London - The Black Knight

The Black Knight is a black jelly base with tiny multicolored gliter (mostly magenta, blue, and either gold or silver).

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Butter London The Black Knight (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Excuse the rough-looking fingers and cuticles - I'm almost midway through knitting a large blanket from super chunky 100% wool.

Let me start with the good, no - the great.  The base is perfect.  It is opaque enough to cover, and sheer enough that you don't lose any of the glitter, even at three coats - the glitter is way obvious even in inside light.

Now for the not so good:  Application was AWFUL.  Easily one of the worst polishes I've ever worn.  I don't know if it's the consistency of the polish (thick and a bit gritty), or the long-bristled brush (that I normally adore), but I could not control this, at ALL.  I really had to glop it on to make sure I got coverage where I needed it.  Maybe it's the combination of the brush and the consistency.  I don't know.  Needless to say, this went everywhere, and while the base color cleaned up easily I am still picking glitter off (I'm writing this before I take photos). 

I actually looked through my stash and ruled out some Nubar glitters because I didn't want to deal with the layers of topcoat.  I figured Black Knight wouldn't have this issue, but surprise - it so did.  It was so gritty after just one coat that I knew I'd have to pull out the Gelous. 

I think I will try this again, but over black.  I'll try not to get my hopes up.

Color Club - Nomadic in Nude

Nomadic in Nude is a beigey-grey creme.

Again, I got this one a boxed set - I would not have purchased this color on my own.  Three coats, no top or base coat.   I don't totally hate this color on me, it's just not my thing.

Zoya - Dita

Dita is a bright berry pink creme.

Basecoat:  Zoya Ridge Filler (1 coat)

Color:  Zoya Dita (3 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

However, these photos are literally the only place where it doesn't read as red.  So disappointed.  I was hoping this would be my go-to pedi color, but once it's applied... I had to try to get it to show as pink, and the huge majority of the time it just read as red.  Too bad.

Application was good, no problems with cleanup.  Minimal stainy-ness on the cuticles, even though this is a pretty pigmented polish.  I do want to note that there is a bit of VNL, both in photos and in real life, which is a shame.  I actually think it's a little more evident in real life.

Color Club - Hot Like Lava

Yep, another "NO TIME!" foil.  This is the hot pink from the Foiled collection.  (I'm wearing the paler pink on my toes - weather suddenly got really warm - like sandals weather - and this is my first pedi of the season.  I don't recommend foils on your toes unless they are PERFECT, or you have an AWESOME ridge filler base coat.)

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II
Color:  Hot Like Lava (2 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

I wish this was a tiny bit brighter, but I'm totally pleased with this.  Please to ignore my awesome paper cut on my ring finger.  Ouch.

Application was awesome as usual, cleanup was minimal.

You know what I'd love to see?  A screaming neon foil.  That would be cool.

Models Own - Aqua Violet

I caved and ordered the entire Beetle Juice collection when it was on sale. This was my first experience with Models Own. It took over a month to arrive - it was so long that I scoured other nail blogs to see how long theirs had taken to arrive.  I got the impression that bigger blogs got faster shipping, which frankly turns me off of ordering from Models Own again. 

Anyway, Aqua Violet is pretty much just what it says - an aqua/violet duochrome.  It was pretty sheer on my nail wheel swatch, so I layered it over Wet N Wild Black Creme.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Wet N Wild Black Creme (1.5 coats)

Color:  Models Own Aqua Violet (2 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

I took a ton of photos trying to capture the purple here, but I couldn't do it.  I'll try again later in the day or I might try at night to see if that helps.

Anyway, the application was pretty good - it was a little bit soupy but not too bad at all.  I do have a little bit of bubbling that's not visible in the photos (and hardly visible in real life), but I'm not sure I blame the polish - I know I applied with too much polish on my brush a couple of times.  This polish is a little bit brush-stroke-y but not enough to really bother me.