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!

Glitterbomb

I was working in the lab, late one night...nah, just kidding. Getting into the spirit of the season early. I was up super late one night, browsing through my dashboard and I came across this awesomesauce post by Marisa. I thought, I don't have all of those but I have similar stuff, surely I can pull this off! Seven layers later, I had something different, but I still love it.
Okay, I used Taunting Teal by Sonia Kashuk as my base. I know I've got a deep navy somewhere but I couldn't think of one, so I picked this off of my desk and thought it might be similar enough to achieve the results.
My layering went like this: Sinful Colors Green Ocean, Island Girl Mahalo Dream, Nubar 2010, NYX Girls Aqua Glitter, Pure Ice Busted, and Sinful Colors All About You. Whew. The flakie/glitter iridescence going on here is amazing - it flashes so many colors and it just glows. Mermaid scales! You'd think seven layers would dry slowly, right? Nah, it went pretty quickly since I used thin layers. I was pretty shocked myself. I think the next time I try this I'll be more careful in my placement, and maybe go for more of a gradient effect.
On to the photos. I think this looks a lot better in person, in my opinion, but hopefully you'll get the idea!

Really, it doesn't feel as thick as it looks here, especially my pinkie finger. Also, this is surprisingly smooth - the mylar opalescent flakies in Mahalo Dream can be sticky, but smooth out well with one layer of top coat.
I wish I could capture how much more magical this looks. If you decide to try this, please let me know, I'd like to see!

Focus On Duochrome: Nubar Purple Beach

Nubar has a small pile of duochromes that are worthy of being featured here during Focus On Duochrome, but I had to pick just one, so Purple Beach it is! I sadly don't have Peacock Feathers. I would love to get my nails on that one - it's a stunner!
First of all, apologies for my ring finger. I bumped it going out the door trying to nab photos, and since this was the second round of photos I tried to get of Purple Beach, I decided to try to fix it with a little wet polish. You can see it didn't do a lot of good.
This beauty just didn't want to show up for me. The shimmer flashes purple, grey and green - I swear it! The photos look a bit better enlarged, if you want to have a click. Two coats on all except that *beeeeeep* ring finger.

Ahh. I have several more of these beauties to show off, but that's a great start, no? Please, Nubar, bring back Peacock Feathers. I need it.

Finger Paints Vintage Velvet

Slowly but surely making my way through these fall picks! But then again, I still haven't spotted any of the drugstore collections. I'll be in trouble when I do! So many I want.
Vintage Velvet, from the Finger Paints fall collection, is a soft, dusty teal/turquoise shade. I have a lot of darker teals, I think this is one of the lighter ones I own, and I like the dusty quality. This is another amazing one coater!
You know, I had a favorite combination of flakies I tried a while back - I put SH Hidden Treasure over OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui. I absolutely adored it.  Soooo, I got to thinking I should try out the combo with Vintage Velvet. This time I used Nubar 2010. I've been alternating my use of these two bottles, since they're so similar.
I think I like this at least as much as I liked it over Suzi Says Feng Shui! Flakies look fantastic over Vintage Velvet. And naturally, I mattified it - China Glaze Matte Magic.
Get ready to drool.

Isn't that cool? I love it so much. Seriously, what a great color on its own - but topped with flakies it's divine. I'm so happy with these Finger Paints, I need to go back and make sure I don't need any more of the fall collection - the application has been divine and I love the colors!

Focus On Glitter: Nubar Knight's Armor

So in February of 2010, Elaine of Lacquer Laine had a preview of the Nubar Fortress collection. I was chomping at the bit, because I fell instantly, head over heels in LOVE with Knight's Armor. Black jelly? Check. Square silver glitter? Check. Amazeballs? Double check!
This polish came to me in a swap with the ever amazing Jen of The PolishAholic (seriously, she's beyond awesome!) and survived the massive purge of 2010. Side note: Do your blog sales in small bundles. Not by the hundreds. It's nuts.
In these photos, it looks a little translucent on my pinkie finger - I really don't know why. I could not even tell that in "real" life, you can't even see that! Weird. I used two coats. *swoon* And yes, it wears like armor. How appropriate!

Yeah, that's made of win, right? I love that the silver glitter doesn't get lost in the black base!
Tell me, would you guys like to see my glitter removal method this week? I can do a brief post on it, if you're interested!

Awesome Giveaway!

There's a great giveaway going on over at Sonidlo - your choice of 8 bottles of Nubar! I've got so many I'm lemming right now, I'd be hard pressed to choose. What an awesome prize! I need more Nubar in my life.

Orly Royal Navy (3 Ways!)

I've been on a blue kick lately. I just LOVE a good blue polish, and Orly Royal Navy fits that bill. It came out last summer (right?) and I had to have it. Royal blue jelly shot through with metallic green shimmer? Yes please! I pull this out pretty often. If you've never seen a swatch of this before (although I find it hard to believe, at this late date) you can click on my picture to enlarge it, the shimmer shows up quite nicely. I'm pleased that the color showed up accurately in my photos - lately blues haven't been faring as nicely but purples have done well, which is usually not the case.

Well, after I did this mani, I decided to slap some amazing flakies on it - bring in the second half! I used Nubar 2010 - I actually have both that AND Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. They're close enough to be dupes for me, but I'm sure glad to have an extra bottle of flaky goodness. It looks amazing over Royal Navy.

What's better than flakies and royal blue jelly? MATTE flakies and royal blue jelly. I topped it all off with China Glaze Matte Magic.

Obviously, all photos in order of my descriptions.

Holy. That last photo just makes me want to do it all over again! Yup, I love this.

Weekends are just a nightmare for me lately, so I hadn't been able to post anything for a few days. In case anyone (hi, new followers!) were curious where I'd been for the last few days.

I did, however, see some really neat stuff. I saw a girl walking into a bar wearing an all black and white outfit, with white tights - and day glow yellow stripper heels. I LOVED it. Then I saw a guy in a Rite Aid parking lot carrying around a big, old school boom box. He was blasting P!nk's "Pretty". Yep. I was transported back in time!

Anyway, it's my day off, so I'm going to try to schedule some posts for the rest of the week. Hope everyone has a great night!