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.

Rimmel Lava Red

This polish comes to me via the always amazing Rie of Nails and Noms. (Seriously, if you aren't following her, WHY?) Apparently Rimmel has decided to discontinue several polishes from their newest line of polishes, the Lasting Finish Pro line - for instance, I think Marine Blue was one that got the ax? Anyway, I nabbed a bunch of the ones I saw on clearance, but I'd never had Lava Red, and I couldn't find it in my area, so Rie picked up a bottle for me. We share a love of blackened, glowy reds.
Seriously, I'm not overly fond of red. I like it better than pink, but I have never been able to resist a good glowy vampy red. Lava Red certainly fits that bill, have a look at the photos. I'm swooning over it! SO sexy.
I wish they hadn't switched brushes when they made the new line, they remind me a bit of the SH Insta-Dri ones I despise, but they're a little easier to use. They are stumpy and oddly shaped, but I find them a bit easier to control. The pigmentation on this was great though - only two coats here.
I took this out in sunlight so you could see it in all its glory. However, please note the last shot, which is a bottle shot - you can see the blackened edges, and the glowy middle. It looks like this most of the time. In very low light it can look pretty darned dark.

Thank you Rie, for sharing the love! I do adore this, it's so perfect.
Edited to add: Thanks to reader Kim, she has said that Confetti Masquerade Ball is a dead on dupe! So if you can't find this, look for the Confetti.

China Glaze Crimson

I'm a little behind, you guys! I apologize - I've got to reply to all of your lovely comments over the past week, and I am squeaking this post in pretty late as well. I have polishes photographed, but not edited and I don't have any posts scheduled. I've been pretty sick with the flu over the last week, and am now on the road to recovery. The hubby managed to avoid it last week, but he's now coming down with it, if my deductions are right. So I'll be taking on his workload this week! I'll try to keep up though - but I just wanted to let you know what's been going on, since I've been backlogged about replying to comments and such, and if my posts aren't full on at the normal times. Thank you for your patience, and for always coming by!
Anyway, on to tonight's post - China Glaze Crimson. This is the twinner to yesterday's dark polish, Near Dark. Actually, it's deeper, to be honest! I'm still trying to figure out the name, because Crimson is actually a deep, vampy plum purple. I only used two coats for full coverage on this. Crimson is also part of this year's China Glaze Halloween offerings.
Okay, as with yesterday's post, I wanted to show you guys the base color, so I've taken a shot of my nails with just one coat on - yes, there's a boo-boo there. Oopsie. But you should be able to see the purple-red base pretty well at least.

Next shot in sunlight.

And, in low light. See, it's definitely darker than Near Dark, right?

SUPER shiny. I'm actually wearing this as a pedicure color because I have been craving a darker color on my toes lately, and I love this.

China Glaze Near Dark

This polish will not appeal to everyone. But those of you that love the dark, sexy polishes like I do? You'll LOVE this. Near Dark is one of this year's Halloween polishes from China Glaze, and it's a deep, dark murky swampy green. It's got a tinge of yellow to it, which is perfect for a Halloween shade, right? I only needed two coats for the level of opacity you'll see in my pictures. Super shiny and easy to control, too.
Okay, so I really wanted to show you what the base color of this looks like. The first picture is only one coat, so ignore the streaky and uneven look.

This photo is what it looks like in normal lighting.

This is in bright sunshine, you can really see the green here.

And because I can't ever resist a little layering, I decided to play up this sexy polish with a layer of Color Club Covered In Diamonds, which was recently gifted to me from Amanda of Nail Polish Enthusiast! Thanks girlie, I love it.

So, what's your stance on those deep dark sexy polishes? I've still got Crimson to show you from this collection, that will be tomorrow night's feature!