Essie - Pretty Edgy, Kleancolor - Green With Envy, Color Club - Object of Envy

Slackity, slack slack.  Actually I've been doing a LOT of knitting, and frequent polish changes and knitting don't really get along.

Anyway, here is my St Patrick's Day nails.  I think the Color Club is "tried" - everything else is untried, and yes, I've had Pretty Edgy since I did that comparison WAY back at the beginning of this blog and it was STILL sitting in my untried drawer.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Essie Pretty Edgy (3 coats)

Color:  Kleancolor Green With Envy (1.5 coats)

Color:  Color Club Object of Envy (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat (1 coat)

Yes, that's a lot of coats, but I don't mind because this came out way better than I hoped it would.  Pretty Edgy applied flawlessly.  It was a tiny bit dustier than I expected, actually - I don't know if I'm just remembering it wrong, or it's changed slightly as it's been sitting untouched.  Anyway, I knew I was glittering it up, so no big deal.  Pretty Edgy was almost totally opaque in three coats.

Green With Envy has a very slightly green tinted base, or maybe the glitter is leaching out into the base a little.  Whatever the cause, the end result was that it added just the perfect amount of yellow to Pretty Edge, making it the perfect St Patrick's Day green.  It's a fairly chunky glitter - medium hex pieces, and a few tiny glitters, and of course I had trouble getting even distribution.  So when I finished applying I wasn't totally happy with it, so I pulled out...

Object of Envy.  I've worn this before and I think I felt like three coats would be reasonably opaque on its own.  Anyway, I applied one coat over everything and it's PERFECT.  The only thing I would do differently next year (and oh yeah, I'm definitely wearing this again) is apply Object of Envy before Green With Envy, so that the bigger glitter shines more.

Sally Hansen - Jade Jump and Kleancolor - Holo Green

Why do I keep buying these minty greens even they look terrible on my skin regardless of the time of the year?

Jade Jump is a minty slightly dusty green.  Holo Green is a diffused holo pale green.  It's a little more "green" than Jade Jump, but when I swatched this on its own you can't really tell, so I opted to layer it.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (1 coat)
Color:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Jade Jump (2 coats)
Color:  Kleancolor Holo Green (2 coats)

The first photo is the most color-accurate.  O Hai, Lobster Hands!  Ugh.

I have a love-hate relationship with the InstaDri polishes.  The brush is hard to control on my pinky fingers so I usually end up with too big a gap at my cuticle, or I slop it everywhere.  Other than that, I think I've gotten the hang of this brush, though I still usually need two coats for complete coverage.

Unlike the Chunky Holo polishes, I didn't need to thin Holo Green at all.  It actually didn't even smell as much as the Chunky Holos I've worn do.  I will definitely want to try this over something else, because it's lovely and the holo is amazing, even though I couldn't really capture it on camera.

Notice I didn't list my topcoat - it's because I got disgusted and took it off before I got to topcoat.  I really should stop buying minty greens.

Color Club - Where's the Soiree? and Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Black

Where's The Soiree? is a pretty standard black.  It's very pigmented (I only needed two coats, and maybe I could have gotten away with one).  It also dries to a satin finish.  I didn't bother taking photos of this alone. Chunky Holo Black is not like the other Kleancolor Chunky Holos.  Chunky Holo Black has different-sized glitters in it.  There's your standard small glitter, then a slightly larger glitter, then a small hex glitter, then larger hex glitter.  In the bottle it shows all the colors of the rainbow.

I could not get that blue tone to show up on my nails at all.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)
Color:  Color Club Where's the Soiree? (2 coats)
Color:  Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black (3-ish coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Where's the Soiree? has a pretty good application.  Totally opaque in 1 coat except the places I messed up so I went with two.  Cleanup was not fun.  This is a very pigmented polish so it's best to be careful or plan to spend lots of time on cleanup.

As with the last Chunky Holo I wore, I thinned this before I even tried it.  As a result I don't feel like my nails are super thick and I don't have any shrinkage even though I'm writing this post the next day.  I did two regular coats and then dabbed on some of the larger glitter wherever I felt like I was missing it or had patchy coverage.  The base of this polish is a weird grayish/brown sheer jelly.  I might try this next time over a different color, like a dark blue, but I'm not sure what the base jelly will do to it.

I spent all night staring at my nails.  This is a stunning combination.  If you see Chunky Holo Black, you need to pick it up - you won't regret it.

Color Club - Wicked Sweet and Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Teal

I love Color Club neons.  They are almost always a joy to apply (I'm looking at you, Starry Temptress).  The Wicked Sweet collection has a twist, though - they are scented.

Wicked Sweet is the blue neon from this collection.  It has a little bit of shimmer and looks a lot like China Glaze "Towel Boy Toy", except I think this is not as bright a blue.  Wicked Sweet is a little bit brush-stroke-y, too.  I meant to take photos of this on its own but I was on a conference call while I was painting my nails and couldn't leave it forgot.

Chunky Holo Teal is a teal jelly loaded with glitter that isn't exactly holo, but it definitely has a multichrome effect that is similar.

Basecoat:  China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
Color:  Color Club Wicked Sweet (3 coats)
Color:  Kleancolor Chunky Holo Teal (3 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Wicked Sweet's application was really good.  I might recommend using a not-sticky base coat because I had a little bit of drag, but it really wasn't too bad.  I had a bit of VNL after three coats so if I was going to wear this alone I might use four coats. It also shows brush strokes, but just a tiny bit.

I thinned the crap out of Chunky Holo Teal before I even tried it.  So, the application was a lot better than the previous Chunky Holos I've tried, but because I thinned it the glitter was a little sparser and I needed three coats to get the coverage I wanted.  It's all good, though, because it's gorgeous, and it's not so thick it will peel off in full-nail sheets.

As to Wicked Sweet?  After three coats of Chunky Holo Teal, and one coat of topcoat... I can definitely still smell it.  I don't know what Wicked Sweet is *supposed* to smell like, but I think it smells like...

....blue SweetTarts.

Color Club - red and Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Poppy

I've heard a lot about Kleancolor polishes (mostly that they stink), but I've never actually seen one in person - I guess they just aren't carried around here, or I just haven't found them.  Regardless, when I saw the chunky holos on the MUA nail board, I had to have them, so I hauled.

I've worn three other chunky holos and they all were not opaque, so I knew I needed underwear.  I had this Color Club in my untrieds, and it matched closely enough, so I pulled it out.

Oof, didn't realize that picture was fuzzy - I'm a little out of practice with the camera.  Obviously, this one came from a set (smooth bottle cap), and yay, Color Club sets - no names on the bottles or on the box, so I couldn't even begin to guess at this color this is.

Guys.  This is ONE COAT, y'all.  See that coverage?  I'm a habitual three-coater, but even I could make this work with two coats.  I stopped at one because my other KC Chunky Holos were thick and added just enough color that I figured I could make it work.

Here is Chunky Holo Poppy on its own.  This is a red jelly base with multichrome glitter pieces.  Despite the name, it's not holographic, but I can see why they would call it that.  In the bottle I can easily see red, orange, yellow, and green flashes in the glitter, but it's not as obvious in the bottle photo.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (2 coats)
Color:  Color Club "red" - 1 coat
Color:  Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Out the Door (1 coat)

Pretty!  Now let's talk application.  The Color Club applied like a dream, and didn't even suck to clean up.  The Chunky Holo was thick and gloopy, but if you've used any of the others, it seems to be the same consistency for all of them.  I know the three others I've tried have been exactly the same.  On the plus side, it's thick enough that I didn't really have any problems controlling this, and I didn't even need to do any cleanup.

The smell is a little weird.  I didn't think it was all that horrible, but it's definitely packed with chemicals.  If you're easily lightheaded, or pregnant, I'd check the label carefully and use this in a well ventilated area.

In hindsight, I might use a second coat of the base red color if I wear this again, but I still like this.