Sinful Colors Nirvana

Okay, I've got a huge backlog of untrieds that I'm slowly working my way through. I bought Nirvana during one of the half off sales at Walgreen's, and hadn't actually tried it! It reminds me a lot of OPI You Don't Know Jacques, although I no longer have that to compare.

The one thing I remember for sure is that YDKJ is a straight up creme, and Nirvana is not - it's more of a jelly creme, closer to the jelly side than the creme. I needed three coats for opacity, but I absolutely loved applying it, jellies seem to be a bit easier to work with, less lumpy/bumpy/prone for mess than cremes, so I love a good jelly creme. This is my kind of neutral, a gorgeous mushroom shade! 

I actually had it in mind to layer this with another Sinful Colors, Smoking Hot, but I somehow managed to put a huge chunk into my pinkie finger while I was waiting for it to dry. I'll try that out another time and show you, because Smoking Hot is pretty awesome!

China Glaze Phat Santa and Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat

Just a quickie layering post today! China Glaze Phat Santa is probably my favorite holiday red, it's a bit dark and blue toned, so I think it's really a sexy red and makes a great base for layering or glitter gradients. I'd call it a jelly creme, it's very pigmented but it's super shiny and squishy, too.
I just popped last year's Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat on top of this, and it's so pretty and festive looking! It's a sheer, milky base with multicolored, fine pastel sparkles.

Last shot in direct sunlight so you can see the bling - wow that's an awkward pose. Oh well *sigh* I only took two more in direct sunlight, and they were not as clear as this one, so this is what we have. The Finger Paints reminds me a bit of a smaller glitter Snow Globe, yes/no??

Layering: China Glaze Velvet Bow and Barielle Elle's Spell

I really picked up quite a lot of polishes from this year's China Glaze holiday collection, so I'm working my way through them. I actually almost skipped Velvet Bow, thinking I really didn't need another red - but I kept looking at swatches of it and ended up going back for it! I love it, I think it's perfectly named as it's the very picture of a velvet red, nice and deep and rich. This is what I'd call a jelly creme - it's glossy and a bit squishy like a jelly, but has the opacity of a creme, so I only needed two coats.
I have yet to layer Barielle Elle's Spell over a purple, which looks fantastic, but I thought I'd try it over the vampy Velvet Bow and this is definitely a winning combination. I actually quite like Elle's Spell on its own - this actually came out in last year's holiday collection, and it's a sheer jelly red packed with flakies. I think I wore it with three coats on its own, but it's so pretty layered. I used one coat here.

Velvet Bow is pretty on its own, but it really makes a perfect layering polish, no? It would look really festive with a gold gradient, also.

CQ Corduroy

Here is the other CQ I mentioned I picked up recently, CQ Corduroy. It's in the same color family as Slate, a teal green that is mostly green, but much lighter and very dusty. It's not as light as Finger Paints Vintage Velvet, and it's a bit more dusty. It's a squishy jelly creme with great coverage, two coats here.

I have been consistently impressed with this brand - I'm not a big fan of the bottle shape but the shades I have are all really cool!

Color Club Red-ical Gypsy

You know what? I didn't have a single berry red in my collection until I got Color Club Red-ical Gypsy. I actually love berry shades - I don't really like reds, because I don't think they look very flattering on me, generally speaking, but berries seem to go well against my skin tone.
This is a nice one - it's a jelly creme, with great opacity. I used two coats, but it maintains the high gloss and squishy feel of a jelly. It's not unique, I'm sure - but Color Club does great with these kinds of staple shades, and this is no exception. The application was so nice, also.

Just such a pretty shade. This is of course from the fall Back to Boho collection.

CQ Slate

I recently picked up a few more CQ polishes that I'd been eyeing, and I am not disappointed! I've found these at Rite Aid, but I've been told some people have seen them at CVS, so it's worth a check. They're cheap, if I remember they're only $2.99. Slate is a deep teal green - it is mostly green, but definitely has a blue cast. It reminds me of a chalkboard, so the name makes sense. It's a jelly creme. Can I just tell you how much I love and adore this? I don't have anything like it in my collection. I wore this without swatching it last week, for about four days. I had no chips or tipwear - it lasted extraordinarily well! I think it would make a great layering base, but I haven't experimented with that yet.
Pigmentation was nice too, this is two coats. It's squishy and glossy on its own - but you might want to double up on your base coat, I neglected that and ended up with hulk fingers the first time around.

Mmmm. Isn't that great? I have Corduroy to show you this week too, which is in the same color family but lighter.

Retro Polka Dots

One of my very best friends, Tuli, recently sent me a care package. Seriously, I now have my holy grail hand lotion - I'm so sad, because it's Israeli! She sent me all kinds of goodies, amazing food, and some really pretty polish. Two of the bottles are a brand called Apple, Tuli tells me that they had a great line of nail care products and now they are making polish. The two she sent me were Jungle Green and Blue Sky. I was looking at them side by side and I thought how cute they would be paired together in a polka dot scheme - and I was right. This has a retro color feel to me, and I loved it. I used Blue Sky on all my nails but the ring finger, with coordinating Jungle Green dots. On the ring I reversed it. I want to mention that these polishes have a really nice brush! It's probably the perfect size, not as wide as the Pro Wide by OPI, just a little smaller. Blue Sky turned out to be a perfect jelly creme, and Jungle Green was straight creme. I used three coats for Blue Sky and two coats for Jungle Green.
Ugh. I don't even know why my fingers are such a weird tone in these photos - I know I'm yellow toned, but this was just strange. Oh well, the polish colors are accurate! You'll probably note that I didn't wait long enough for my polka dots to dry before I applied top coat, there's a bit of drag.

Aren't these cute together? I loved it. I'm not the world's best at polka dots, but I keep trying them, because they're so much fun.

Sinful Colors Slate

This is the second of two recent releases from Sinful Colors, Slate. This is a soft grey jelly-creme that goes on alarmingly thin in the first coat, but builds up nicely after three coats. It's so pretty - it has that same shimmer that is in Winterberry, looks silvery in low light and then when you get in bright sunlight, it sparkles blue and pink. Very cool!

My pinkie is almost healed. I'm glad for that, but my nails are growing out slow this time!
Anyway, I absolutely love shades of grey, so I have a hard time resisting them. This one is a bit different because of that shimmer than others I have in my collection. Do you know, my first lemming as a polish blogger (seems like forever ago that I started doing this!) was China Glaze Recycle? True facts!

Team Pink Eye Project for BCA

As I'm sure most of you are aware, October is, (among other things), Breast Cancer Awareness month. I was invited to join up with the Team Pink Eye Project and participate in spreading the word!
Team Pink Eye Project is raising money for Susan G Komen throughout October with makeup looks (or, in my case, nail polish swatches!) and giveaways. You can check out the TPEP blog out for links to all of the looks and giveaways that are posted every week this month! How can you participate in the giveaways? It's simple, it only requires a small donation of $5 to the Susan G Komen fund for that week, and you are eligible to enter any of the giveaways posted for that week. Isn't that great?
So, onto my swatch for this special Friday. I actually decided to use layering with this mani, which, all credit should go to the ladies at Mad Manis, since I saw it there first! See, I actually tried wearing this on its own, and unless someone really insists, I won't be showing it off - it just looks horrid on me. I love the color, but I think it just doesn't suit my skintone at all - alone, that is! What in the world am I talking about? I haven't even told you yet, jeez so scattered. Okay, I'm talking about the very popular Revlon Starry Pink, one of a trio of glitters that recently showed up in drugstores and Target! When I saw that it could be layered, I was very relieved.
I started out with two coats of Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl for my base. It's a jelly-creme light, Barbie pink. Very pretty on its own, it makes a perfect base for the milky Starry Pink. Starry Pink is such a pale, pale shade of pink, and the base jelly is very greyed out. It has two sizes of silver glitter. It actually has pretty good coverage on its own, with three coats, but as I've mentioned, it just doesn't suit my skintone, so putting it lightly over Beautiful Girl worked perfectly!

Yes, much better layered for me! Sexy, sexy glitter.
Be sure to check out Team Pink Eye Project to see all of this week's lovely posts and giveaways, and to find out more.

Focus On Blue: Essie Smooth Sailing

Okay, I'm sure everyone has seen this beauty seven ways from Sunday. Back up, I have to ask an irrelevant question - just where did that expression come from? I'm dying to know! Anyway, back on topic. Essie Smooth Sailing is a must have nail polish, in my opinion. If you remotely like blue you need this polish. Smooth Sailing is a medium, dusty blue with pink and blue shimmer. In low light, the shimmer looks purely silver, but out in the sunlight, it's stunning! This goes on like butter, the formula for this is absolutely divine. Two coats here - this is the jelly creme formula I've been seeing a lot from Essie and loving.

Hopefully you can see the blue and pink sparkle a bit in that macro. Hello, gorgeous!

Focus On Blue: Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings The Blues

I guess I could have chosen to show you Across the Universe for Focus On Blue, and it is indeed an awesome polish. But I absolutely ADORE this deep navy glitter from the All That Jazz trio, and I think it deserves a spotlight.
Lady Sings The Blues is a jelly creme. It's very pigmented, but it's just jelly enough to allow all that luscious glitter to float to the surface. I have a macro to show you with this one that came out well! I used two coats here.

What do you think, stunning?
I'm having a heck of a time getting my camera to pick up on my bright blues and showcase their shade correctly. It's almost as bad as purples, and I am about ready to throw my camera out the window!

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me by the PR firm in return for an honest review when I had my previous blog, Magic Maid. 

Focus On Blue: Nina Ultra Pro Sailor

Let's kick of Focus On Blue week with a little featured brand, Nina Ultra Pro. I find these at Sally's Beauty Supply - I've never seen them anywhere else. Sailor is a gorgeous deep royal blue. It's a jelly creme, at first I thought it was going to be very jelly but I got it opaque in two coats. It's squishy and shiny even without top coat and application was divine - the perfect in between thin and medium formula. I really need to pick up some more of this brand, I do love it.

Yum. I just love blue, and to me, this kind of shade is just classy looking. I know not everyone will wear blue nails, but it's my second favorite shade of nail polish! I'm glad there are so many options for blue lovers like me. I actually have ten polishes to show off for Focus On Blue, I just couldn't narrow it down to seven - hopefully no one has an objection?

Sinful Colors Envy and China Glaze Cracked Medallion

Oh my GOSH. How much do I love Envy? SO much that I'm going to get a backup of it. Fingers crossed this hasn't sold out at my Walgreen's. Envy is from the Beverly Hills display, and it's a lighter green than Last Chance, which I think was introduced to the Sinful Colors core line this spring. It's got the jelly creme formula, and it's a mid toned forest green. Two coats of perfection here.
I thought it might look good with China Glaze Cracked Medallion, which I'm calling a coppery gold crackle. I was right - what a great combo.

Ahhh, so much love. I've still got to find something I want to pair with Latticed Lilac. I think these new metallic crackles are so awesome! Okay, I'm sure you're all breathing a sigh of relief - that's all of the two SC collections, Adventure Island and Beverly Hills, that I've got to show you.

Sinful Colors Open Seas

Sinful Colors Open Seas, from the Adventure Island display, is supposed to be an exact dupe for OPI Mermaid's Tears. I don't have that to do a comparison, but I'll tell you what - Open Seas is awesome. Like all of the other polishes I've swatched from AI, it has a jelly creme formula. Completely opaque at two coats!
I'm repeating myself here a lot, but I'll say this phrase again, this is a murky, dusky shade of mint green - it has just the slightest hint of yellow to it.

Yummeh. I love it!

Sinful Colors Oh La La

This is going to be a super quickie post. Oh La La is from the new Sinful Colors display, Beverly Hills. I'd like to call this a coral, but I think it leans just a bit too orange for that - maybe it's best described as a mid toned peachy orange. That sounds indecisive, right? Regardless, it's a lovely color, and application was smooth - two coats, a jelly creme.

I didn't do any layering with this, but I think it would look good with a nice layer of flakies over it, don't you? This is a really pretty color that I'm sure would be a crowd pleaser - it's not a bright screaming orange.

Sinful Colors Beverly Hills and Pure Ice Busted

Today's Sinful Colors is another namesake of the new collection, Beverly Hills. This is a pastel purple with quite a bit of red in it - I don't have anything like this, and I have a lot of lilac and pastel purples!
Again we have what I'm coming to see as Sinful Colors' signature formula, the jelly creme. Squishy and shiny, but well pigmented. The Beverly Hills collection comes with these little rings around the neck of the bottle, with a little flower. Kind of cute, but nothing I'd wear.
Now, I wanted to do some layering with this, so I pulled out Pure Ice Busted, which is a great layering polish. I'd only ever worn Busted over a black, so I was curious how it would look over a lilac. It's awesome! This is a super sheer purple with metallic shimmer packed in the bottle. I tried so hard to capture the pink shimmer on the nails, but you may have to click to enlarge the photos to see it.

I'll have to try this over some other colors! It's awesome. Do you have Busted? What have you layered it over besides black?

Pink Wednesday: Sinful Colors Star Fish

I'm not usually overly fond of soft pinks. But this one is a bit different - Sinful Colors Star Fish is a dusty, murky pale pink. It's got a touch of purple in it, I think. Application was great, two coats of jelly creme goodness. This one is another from the Adventure Island collection.

I'm trying to make myself wear more pinks, so Pink Wednesdays are helping! Are you a part of Pink Wednesday?

Sinful Colors Adventure Island

This polish is the namesake of the collection. This is what I'd call a creme jelly. It has the squishiness of a jelly and the opacity of a creme. Adventure Island is green, but whoa does it have a high amount of yellow in it! I love it, but then I've always loved the uglyawesome colors, particularly unusual shades of green.
This was two coats, and for a creme, it applied very well.

It definitely dries just a tad darker than the bottle shade, so be aware of that. What a great murky, grungy green!

Pink Wednesday: Revlon Pink Lingerie and NYX Dreamy Glitter

So, I'm posting this a little late, but as the ever lovely Diana pointed out - "Sailors and rare seabirds will still be celebrating Pink Wednesday." Isn't she awesome?

Anyway, I'm back online, and I have a cute mani to show off - and I'm not one for cute, but I LOVED this so freaking much. Pink Lingerie is a well applied creme from the Top Speed line. Okay, let's veer slightly off topic for the moment. In doing my "Focus On" series, I had a couple of Revlons featured and we discussed a bit the hit or miss formula that Revlon can have. I've noticed the Top Speed polishes seem to have a MUCH better application than the regular line - anyone else had this experience?

Anyway, Pink Lingerie. This was almost a jelly, it was pretty squishy - but it had such great coverage, I'd call it more of a creme or a jelly creme. I then topped it with one of the NYX glitters I picked up called Dreamy Glitter - this has THREE different types of glitter in a slightly pink tinted jelly base. There's fine square glitter, hexagonal glitter, and stars. *swoon* The slightly pink base made the stars almost meld with Pink Lingerie, like they were sunk into the base polish in some lights. Really neat.

The last photo for a good bottle shot of the glitters. So much fun!

Revlon Top Speed Polished

There's a newish display of Revlon Top Speeds that caught my eye recently, I picked up two and want to go back for a couple more. For the record, I've had good luck with my Top Speeds drying pretty quickly.
I'd dithered on this one - soft peaches can be gummy and thick, in my experience. Can I just say here that I'm SO glad I got this? It's AWESOME. I'd been wanting a squishy soft peach for so long. I could have achieved opacity at three coats, but I wanted to leave it a little translucent at two coats because I wanted to see if it would be a good base for a funky french. I think that's a yes, here. And, I don't find it boring. I've been craving this kind of shade, so I'm happy to have found it - and more relieved that I didn't pass it up.
As I said, two coats - I'm pretty convinced three would have made this fully opaque.

It's so clean, soft, and squishy looking! Yeah. Obviously, pretty work appropriate, too.