Pop beauty - Violetta

Violetta is a screaming neon purple jelly.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)

Color:  Pop Beauty Violetta (3 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

This was a difficult polish to capture accurately.  I don't usually like to use flash for my photos but the one I accidentally used flash for actually came out pretty well - if you click to embiggen you'll see the VNL present.

I have a few other Pop polishes - I recently wore Turquoise but I didn't post about it because I wore it on my toes.  I have two others that aren't creme/jellys so I don't know that the application will be identical for all of them.

That said:

Application was AWESOME.  Amazing.  Violetta, like Turquoise, is thick but not goopy - almost gel-like.  Super easy to control, went exactly where I wanted, self-leveled, everything.  The only thing I'm not crazy about is the VNL.  If you like the jelly look you can easily get away with two coats - I did three before the VNL was somewhere I felt like I could live with.    The color is lighter and a little less intense than Sinful "Dream On", but they're close-ish.

Violetta dries to a satin finish like most neons.  It did stain my skin where I wasn't super careful, but it wasn't too bad at all.

I'll definitely be buying more Pop polishes if they all apply like this one.  I have one shimmer I'll post when it gets cooler.

Zoya - Kimmy

Kimmy is a reddish-orange glass fleck that is packed with gold shimmer.

Basecoat:  Zoya Get Even (1 coat)

Color:  Zoya Kimmy (4 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

This polish is slightly more yellow toned than I was able to capture with my camera.  Kimmy has the same near flawless application as the other Zoya glass flecks.  I'm not sure I love this color on me - it may be one to file away in the "try it in winter" pile.

Cleanup was about like it is for all these awesome Zoya sparkles - glittah everywhere!    I have a little bit of VNL that for some reason is more visible in real life than it is in the photos - usually that works the other way around.

Nubar - Violet Sparkle

Violet Sparkle is a vivid purple glitter.

Basecoat:  Nubar Foundation (1 coat)
Color:  Nubar Violet Sparkle (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Gelous (2 coats)
Topcoat:  Nubar Diamont (2 coats)

Yes, that's four coats of topcoat.

For a polish this packed with glitter it wasn't that hard to apply.  It was pretty opaque in three coats.  I have some spots where I can see bare nail (if you look closely at the free edges of my ring finger and pinky, there's bare spots there), but I'm probably the only one who notices.  Even though my camera seems to have problems with purples, these photos are not too far off - in real life it is a tiny bit redder.

So, four coats of topcoat.  This is a topcoat-eater at its worst.  I used one coat of Gelous and one of Diamont on my nail wheel swatch and it seemed to do absolutely nothing.  The night I put this on I used two coats of Gelous and one of Diamont and that seemed to do the trick.  However, the next morning I definitely needed another coat of Diamont.  I have no shrink at all, which surprises me.  I do expect that when this chips it's going to chip in a big way.

You can forget cleanup with this one, too - Violet Sparkle laughs at your acetone.  My gap is not as nice as I like it to be, and I ended up picking tons of glitter off my skin.

In the sun, though, this is SOOOO worth it.  This is awesome, and I can't wait to wear the rest of these.

Orly - Flirty

I actually saw this collection for the first time when I was out at Sally's and picked up this color and Fresh.  I'm a little surprised that I didn't see anything on the blogs about it.  Anyway, this is a four piece collection - my Sally only had Flirty, Fresh, and a blue color I didn't care for - so I don't know what the other one was.  Flirty is a medium pink with tons of icy shimmer that reminds me of Essie Sew Psyched.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)
Color:  Orly Flirty (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Out the Door (1 coat)

This polish was a tiny bit thick, but it wasn't too bad.  I didn't have any problems with bald spots or uneven application, and it didn't feel goopy at all.  I took these photos after cleanup but before I scrubbed my hands and applied cuticle oil - so if you look closely you can see that the shimmer particles don't really clean up nicely.  I think this is kind of a "mom" color, but the shimmer rescues it from being an outright "mom" polish. 

China Glaze - Reggae to Riches

Reggae to Riches has been in my untrieds for quite a while.  Someone on the Nail Board posted a swatch of an old, old L'Oreal - Sea Violette - that I used to have back in the day.  Reggae to Riches isn't a dupe, but the really strong blue flash reminded me of Sea Violette, so I pulled it out of the stash.  Reggae to Riches is a purple jelly with a very strong blue flash and shimmer.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)
Color:  China Glaze Reggae to Riches (4 coats)
Topcoat:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (1 coat)

This polish was thin, runny, and sheer.  It ran *everywhere* - it's been a while since I made that much of a mess painting my nails!  However, cleanup was really easy, so it wasn't that big of a deal.  I did need four coats to cover up streakiness, but again - this is a thin polish, so it wasn't too bad.  It's not totally opaque, either, but you have to look pretty close to see VNL at four coats.  I had a hard time capturing the blue flashes.  I was actually disappointed when I finished applying this polish, because I was just not seeing the blue flashes visible in the bottle.  It wasn't until I was outside at night under very strong lights that the blue really came to life.

I did have some bubbles, but I also applied this very late in the day, when I had to be somewhere right after work, so I'm faulting my application there, and not the polish.

Chanel - Peridot

Here's one we've all seen a bajillion times - Chanel Peridot.  This is a gold/green duochrome metallic.  I was on the fence for a long time regarding Peridot - I couldn't decide if I wanted it or not.  Some photos were fabulous and others were just "meh".  My husband, the enabler, said "just buy it anyway, if you hate it, ebay it".

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)
Color:  Chanel Peridot (2 coats!)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Gorgeous, right?  Still, this polish seems to be - on me, anyway - mostly gold.  The green is not nearly as prominent as it is in the photos, mostly because I don't walk around with my hand in front of my face so I can see it. 

This polish nearly applied itself - it was that nice.  Went exactly where I wanted it, minimal cleanup, opaque and smooth in TWO coats!  It is a tiny bit brush-stroke-y, but I think a lot of polishes this metallic will have that.

OPI - DS Exclusive

Here's another old favorite I pulled out of my stash.  Sometimes when I'm looking through my untrieds, a lyric from Faith No More's "Falling to Pieces" pops up in my head - "Indecision clouds my vision".  Actually, this happens every single time I can't decide immediately, but whatever.  At any rate, you know how it goes - running out of time, so you pick a holo or an opaque neon or a matte.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)
Color:  OPI DS Exclusive (3 coats)

No topcoat.  The above photo is in indirect sunlight, as are most of my photos.  I had to bring this one into more direct light.  Please to ignore the cat head in the background.

Application was really nice for this.  I had no dragging issues or any of that kaka.  This polish is pretty runny, though, and it pooled in, oh, all my cuticles.  It doesn't clean up as nicely as DS Glamour, so if you click to embiggen the photos and look closely, you can see glitter particles on my skin still.  Fabulous!