Focus On Holographic: Gosh Holographic

Ahhh the pinnacle of my holographic week, the much loved Gosh Holographic. This was actually sent to me from Maria of rijah.dk quite a while back - and boy am I glad I kept my hands on this bad boy. I cannot believe the Bay of Evil folks are selling this for around $50 a pop! *gulps*
Man, this is such a stunner though. It is easily the most holographic polish I own, and if you wear this, they should give out warning labels - you have to make sure when you're driving to watch the road and not stare at your pretty nails!
This is a bit fussy, but not as bad as the Nfu Oh holos are. I had some balding, but I did a bit of the "glooping" trick I mentioned in my post about Nfu Oh 065 and it smoothed all my bald spots out and settled down nicely. This had thickened since I first tried it out a couple of years ago, so I added a bit of thinner the day before I swatched it. I used three coats for coverage.

LOOK at that! Guh. If it's amazing in my photos, it's easily ten times as amazing in person. Did you manage to nab this before it was discontinued or are you still on the hunt for it?
I was going to put up voting for next month's Focus On topic, but you know what? It's a new year, so I think I will do a "best of" in the opinion of me, of course for 2011. I think this will actually be the first time I do one of these posts! I sure hope you guys enjoyed my Focus On Holographic series.
Next up will be some birthday week manis!

Focus On Holographic: Milani Hi-Res

Only two days left of Focus On Holographic! It's been a good week but there were a lot more polishes I could feature. So, Milani Hi-Res is a polish you should be able to find in almost any drugstore these days - it's a beautiful lilac purple scattered holographic. This is a pretty strong holo; I think it's more strong than the DS I featured, Reflection! Application was great, it needed three coats since it's a bit jelly, but no balding at all and I really like the Milani brushes.

I know that first picture is a bit out of focus but I think it shows the holo a bit better than the other two photos do - they're not bad, but that first photo is more of the rainbow! I actually really like this line of holos, I also have the silver but my favorite is the green. I like that this purple is not as icy and pale as some holo purples are.

Focus On Holographic: Nfu Oh 065

Oh man. This is probably the second strongest linear holographic polish in my collection. I'd heard that these babies were amazing, but I'd never tried out one of the Nfu Oh holos before - I am not disappoint, son.
Haha, I'm such a weirdo. Anyway, everything you've ever heard about Nfu Oh holos and application issues is true. I had massive balding with this. I fought and struggled with it like nobody's business! I don't have the much touted aqua base coat - why yes, I refuse to drop that much on a base coat that I'd only need with these and my precious Gosh! - so I just used my regular base coat. I remembered a trick my friend Sara, from Daily Polish, told me though. She said if you just kind of glob it on, it will help cover the bald patches and it will eventually settle into a smooth finish on its own. Umm, I don't know about you fanatics, but that seems to go against everything I do when polishing my nails - but guess what, it works! I tried to be super careful on my first two coats, but no luck. I went slow. I had plenty of polish on my brush. Not. Working. So on my last coat, I globbed it on, and success! I only had a few tiny patches that weren't kosher.
Okay, so other than having to really baby this bad boy, it's STUNNING. Seriously. If your formula is a bit thick, try adding some thinner - mine was almost too thick to use. This is a perfect baby blue and when you get it into the sun, it explodes into amazing. Let's look at the end result.

Well, I'd say the struggle was worth it. What do you think? Remember, this is even more amazing in person!

Focus On Holographic: OPI DS Reflection

OPI DS Reflection is a scattered holo. This is two coats of perfection! Reflection is a coral, but more strongly pink than peach, and it has a gold flash in addition to the holo. So, would this be a duochrome holo? I guess so! I think this is probably the least holographic of the seven shades I picked out to show for Focus On Holographic week, but that's okay with me. This was a well applying shade, I had no coverage problems and I really could have gone with one coat on this if I had been more careful. I just had a few spots to cover in my second coat.

You'll probably need to click to enlarge this if you want to check out the rainbow of sparkles. See the gold flash in the bottle on that second shot? Wow!

Focus On Holographic: Nubar Reclaim

Oh, Nubar. How much do I love you? Not only did you come out with an entire collection of green polish - Going Green, from 2009 - but you had both a linear holo and a multichrome in this very same collection. You sure do know how to make a girl swoon.
So, Nubar Reclaim is a bright, grass green linear holo. No, it's not a pale green, and sadly it's not a deeper forest green - but I'm not complaining, this is awesomesauce. It's not as strong of a holo as say, China Glaze OMG or a Nfu Oh, but it is a strong, linear holo. The application is flawless, you guys. I only needed two coats for opacity and it's not fussy at all, no balding or anything. Best news of all? This is still readily available!

Why is it so difficult for me to show you the true rainbow beauty of this? Well, I hope you get the idea. Obviously, this is stronger than my photos are showing. Do you have this? Are you lusting after it now? If so, run don't walk and nab this pretty!

Focus On Holographic: China Glaze Let's Do It In 3-D

You nail fanatics are already aware of this, I'm sure, but let's start at the beginning properly. China Glaze, once upon a time, came out with two drool-worthy holographic nail polish collections - the OMG collection, which were linear holo nail polishes, and the Kaleidoscope nail polish collection, which were scattered holos. These are now discontinued and have been popping up on Ebay and blog sales for higher prices. I only have a scant few of these precious polishes.
Let's Do It In 3-D was from the scattered holo collection, Kaleidoscope. This is one of the strongest scattered holos I have, too. It's a stunner! It's a dark charcoal grey base with shimmery holo particles. Because the base is almost jelly, I used three coats here.

In lower light, the charcoal base is more clear - but I had to show this off in super bright light to give you an approximation of the rainbow this has. It's much, much blingier in person, let me assure you. For some reason, the face print on this bottle is just peeling off. Sad. Both the OMG and the Kaleidoscopes are well worth hunting down, if you can nab them at the higher prices please do it. I wish I had nabbed them all before they became as rare as they are now.

Focus On Holographic: Glitter Gal Red 3D

Okay, everyone stoked? I think this is one of my most requested Focus On weeks, and what more perfect month than December to do a Focus On Holo, right? The blingier the better for this month.
Up first is a lovely holographic nail polish from the Glitter Gal family, Red 3D. Kim of Overall Beauty popped this one in my latest package to see what I would think of it - and big surprise, I adore it! I'm sure you guys all know who Kim is, she sells BB Couture nail polish on Overall Beauty - well now, she's not only selling that, but Glitter Gal, Cult Nails, and Ozotic Pro! To top it off, she ships internationally.
Anyway, on to my review of this polish. Red 3D is a linear holographic, and it looks like a rainbow on my nails! It was hard to capture all the colors flashing in the rainbow, but I did give it a good try. I had some nice sun for holo week, so I did my best here. Red 3D is like a raspberry toned red, so it's a tiny bit pink. You rarely see a strong red holo, so this was a nice surprise! I ended up using three coats here for coverage, but had absolutely NO trouble with formula. There was no balding or pulling at all - one of the best holo formulas I've ever used. Later on in the week I'll be showing you both a Nfu Oh holo and the spectacular Gosh Holographic, and both of those have a formula that requires a lot of babying - Glitter Gal does NOT! You don't need any special basecoat, or anything with these. Enough yapping, let's look at the pretty pictures.

Wow, is that hot or what? I encourage you to click to enlarge and get a better look at that rainbow. *hands around drool towels* What a good start to the Focus On Holo series, eh?

Disclaimer: Product(s) in this post were sent to me in return for an honest review.

Focus On Purple: Zoya Jem

Okay, another Focus On series is coming to an end today!
I have to warn you, I am not proud of these photos. They just do not do this polish justice.
Zoya Jem is the star, in my opinion, of the Smoke and Mirrors collection. This is a polish that I think would appeal to almost everyone - and it would probably suit almost every skintone. It's a chameleon, you see. Sometimes it looks straight up purple, sometimes the gold becomes strong, and other times it's a wine-red purple. I did my best to capture these shifts but the best shot I got was the first photo of this set. I have included a full sunshine shot in this as well, so you can see how the color seems to change in an instant.
So, this is a very reddish purple shimmer polish, that is has a gold duochrome. You can see this easily in the bottle, and you can indeed see it on the nail, but it was very hard for me to capture this. It applies easily, just two coats for full coverage and the formula is easy to work with.

What a beauty Jem is, I just love this. Do you have and love this?
As I mentioned before, I won't be putting a poll up for December's Focus On as I have decided to feature holographic polishes for the holidays! I hope you all will enjoy those, I have a lot of pretties to share for that week.

Focus On Purple: Milani Purple Gleam

Milani Purple Gleam is part of the One Coat Glitter collection, and should still readily be available in drugstores. (YAY!) I bought all of these when they first came out, and I don't think I've ever done a proper individual review on them. It's a good time to start! So, my bottle of Purple Gleam is very, very thick. I don't remember it being that thick when I first used it, so it must have gotten gloopy over time. I have added about 15 drops of thinner to use this and it's nice now, so it can be thinned with success, if you run into this. I've never been able to get away with the touted one coat - but this covers perfectly in two coats.
These polishes are top coat eaters. You will need at least two, if not more, layers of top coat - but I have had some success with the Gelous method of layering a coat of Gelous base coat and then a layer of top coat.
For this set of swatches, I left my pinkie without a top coat, so you can see what it looks like without top coat. As you can see, this polish really comes to life and gleams with top coat. Last shot is taken in full sunlight to show the sparkle!
These polishes are really, really amazing. For all the trouble with the top coat eating, they are definitely worth it - and I have to tell you that no pictures I've ever seen of these do them proper justice, they are easily more stunning and full of depth in person!

Do you have any of the One Coat Glitters? Which one is your favorite?

Focus On Purple: Pure Ice Purple Reign

I don't know if this polish is hard to find (HTF) but I can't find it at any of my Walmarts. Pure Ice is a brand that's been exclusive to Walmart for quite a while, but some folks have been spotting it in drugstores as well. Not here, sadly. Purple Reign was sent to me by one of my very best friends, Robyn. Y'all might know her on your blogs or twitter as MsMidnightBlue. She's a sweetheart!
Purple Reign is a mid toned, reddish purple creme that has an amazing gold shimmer. This is one stunning polish! Although the base IS a creme, it's thin enough that the gold shimmer shows up very well on your nail. I used only two coats for this swatch.

THIS IS SO GORGEOUS. Ugh. I love it so, so much - and not just because my bestie sent it to me. What are your favorite Pure Ice polishes? They make great layering polishes, too.

Focus On Purple: Orly Royal Velvet

Orly Royal Velvet is another lurker in my untrieds. I had posted most everything I had picked up from Orly's spring release, but never got around to posting Royal Velvet. Really, does it no good to be hiding away when it's as gorgeous as this.
Royal Velvet is a deep plummy purple with a strong blue shimmer. The shimmer just floats in the polish, which made capturing the base of this pretty tricky! Hence the strange angles of these photos - you can see the blue at the tip in the weird angle photos, and the purple at the base of my nails. It covered perfectly, another two coater.
The first photo is front on, in direct sunlight. You can kind of see the base, with the blue shimmer just floating on it, making it almost look blue from this angle.

The last three at odder angles, to show the purple base. I adore this, and got a lot of compliments wearing it.

Focus On Purple: China Glaze Stella

Hey, it's 11/11/11! Haha, I'm sure that's been noted long before my evening post, but anyway.
So, China Glaze Stella came out with the Retro Diva collection the fall I started blogging about nail polish. I bought it, and it sat in a drawer unused - which, because of the massive amount of untrieds I had, happened to a lot of polish. I kind of like doing these Focus On weeks, because it helps me get through untrieds, as well as showing off neglected and gorgeous polishes!
Stella is a stunner, and shouldn't have ever been neglected. Seriously, this is one gorgeous, gorgeous polish. It's a violet purple shimmer, in other words, very red toned. It's the perfect sister to Let's Groove, they have the same shimmer but Let's Groove is more of a true purple.
This applied beautifully, and I only needed two coats for opacity.

I know the macro's blurry, but I really wanted to show you guys the twinkling shimmer in the sunlight. Isn't it gorgeous?

Focus On Purple: Sally Hansen Mystic Lilac

Today's beautiful purple comes to me via my girlfriend Cindy of Nail'd And Polish'd. She knew I'd been lemming it, so she sent it along to me! Sally Hansen put out a couple of AMAZING purples in their Xtreme Wear line last year, one of them being Mystic Lilac. I ended up selling mine, and hugely regretted it because I couldn't find it to repurchase it! I tried frankening it, but Into the Mystic is just not the same as Mystic Lilac. It's pretty, but not what I was wanting. I have put a bottle side by side into my photos so you can see what a difference there was in my franken and the original.
So, Mystic Lilac is pretty much the perfect name for this murky lilac shade. It's a very greyed out jelly with aqua shimmer. It's stunning! It is a jelly, so it's thin and you might have VNL if you leave it alone at two coats - I used three for these swatches. I have always loved the Xtreme Wear bottles and brushes, they're easy to use and hold.

I'm pleased at how well you can see the shimmer in these shots. Purples can be notoriously hard to photograph and I was worried I wouldn't capture it - if you like, you can click to enlarge to see it better, but the macro tells the story, I think, as well. Isn't this lovely?

Focus On Purple: Mattese Elite Explosive Sensation

We're officially starting the Focus On Purple series!
Confession: I used to be obsessed with purples, and at one point had two Melmer drawers full of nothing but purple polish. I got burnt out. I didn't buy a purple polish for a long, long time.
Well, I'm over it now and back to lusting after purples!
Kitty, of Kittypolishnbags, sent this in a care package to me recently and I've been hoarding it for Focus On Purple. I'd never heard of Mattese Elite, but if they make polishes like this I'll be lusting after them hard-core! The bottle reminds me of Milani's bottle. The lid is a bit different, not as narrow and tapered, but the brushes are essentially the same.
Okay, so I'm going to rave over this polish. Explosive Sensation (yeah, what's UP with that name anyway?) is amazeballs. Seriously, if you have access to this brand, you should nab this if you don't have it. It's a deep plum creme shot through with turquoise shimmer. So completely gorgeous! I used two coats here, good opacity also.

LOOK at that bottle shot! *swoon* That's awesome!

Focus On Black: Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers

When I got this, there weren't dupes for this sexy beast. NYX hadn't come out with Dorothy and for sure, those On The Prowl polishes weren't out yet. I STILL haven't seen them here! I kept staring and drooling over swatches. Go figure I'd love this - I mentioned that I love the combination of red and black!
Obviously, this is a black jelly base, with red larger hex glitter and smaller red square glitter. I used three coats in this swatch set to achieve this level of opacity.

Ruby Red Slippers absolutely sparks fire in the sunlight - it's a stunner!
I am done inundating you with black-based polishes for this month's Focus On. I'll be posting up a poll for the next one in the next day or two! I hope you enjoyed this - now it's time to move on to Halloween polishes. YUS.

Focus On Black: Color Club With Abandon

You may remember that I compared this lovely fall polish to China Glaze's Midtown Magic. It is a tad different, and so therefore in my mind I can justify owning both. Now I'm going to feature it full on its own!
With Abandon is a black based jelly (blah blah blah) that has gold and brownish-red micro flakies that almost spark pink in the sunlight. Awesome! The third shot is in direct sunlight, and check out that macro!

This just screams fall to me - of course, it came out in a fall collection, so I guess that's what Color Club was going for eh? Haha.