Four Purples You Need To Know About

Here's a swatchfest of purples that I've worn, but haven't posted before. They are in much need of an outing.

Enjoy!

Kiko 278

Three coats. Simply gorgeous!!!
I think I picked this up through a blog sale. These days it's a blur: eBay, blog sales, facebook, etc.
It doesn't appear to be on the Kiko site any longer.

Meanwhile, this is a great formula and a lovely glassy finish (no top coat!) This is a stellar polish.
Despite my attempt to splash it around my nail, it seems to defy my best efforts and I only jammed up one nail. Win!

If you find it, grab it!




Brucci Grape Galaxy

A deep vamp loaded with silver glass fleck it is a classic three coater and a decent formula.

I don't really see much Brucci except randomly online. Their website is a bit of a conundrum with a South African Rand system after the home page professes "Made in the US". Maybe it just means they can't quite make it in the US, so they sell abroad.

Meanwhile a pretty polish, though very dark. The glass fleck brings it out of just being this side of a black polish.

I feel like Brucci might be more available on the east coast of the US. Out here in the west, it's just nowhere to be seen.
Except eBay, Amazon, etc.




Barielle Grape Escape

I purchased this awhile ago and saw that I didn't blog it, sheesh!

Three coats, gorgeous purple and such an amazing shade that I didn't quite capture (my photo is a bit blue).

I didn't do clean up, but you can see it help up against my fling-y approach to application of late!

Barielle is a brand that should have the kind of brand status OPI does: better formula, better overall. Yet, OPI has such a hold and releases relentlessly boring collections season after season.

Hey, I put my money where my mouth is: no one sends me any freebies, so OPI will hear me speak truth to power.

Barielle: buy it.




Gosh Wild Lilac

Truly a gem. I think I bought it through a blog sale, but I may have picked it up on eBay. Eep.

Meanwhile three coats, could have been two. Delightful! Not top coat, lots of gloss!

I seem to manage to splash over on one or two nails and just can't be bothered with clean up these days. The upside is that this formula holds together pretty well.

I wish Gosh was more accessible! I feel like Australian, Korean, and European brands outshine a lot of US ones.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Let's Ring The New Year in Right

One minute to midnight, one minute to go.

Thank you Irving Berlin, for capturing that hope and excitement.

I think a party polish has to both please, survive the night and surprise you a bit.

Gosh Holographic fits the bill.

It is a knockout.

Two coats over a matte base. I have Borghese Perfetto, a smudge corrector that is actually great over holos because it is very thin.

Let me explain with some ascii art.

Holo has all this light coming off of it.

\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\\  <- holo reflection
--------- <- nail

But a top coat will add more depth and mess with that light.

\\\\\\\\\\\ <- holo reflection
=|=|=|=|= <- top coat with light going through it.
---------- <- nail


Thick top coat will change the way the light refracts.

I know, I hate ascii art, too.

Shall we see some more pictures?

It was impossible not to take a good photo.

Even in lower light it has a luminous glow.

Happy 2016!

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

By Golly By Gosh - Toppers!

I found that some polishes that are great alone are great as toppers.

Here are a couple.

Let's start with a classic, one that made people drool back in 2010. Now, with indies, let's be honest, we've got some finishes that are mind BLOWING (browse FUN Lacquer, I'll post some soon, promise).

Meanwhile...

Gosh Gasoline

This is over white to really bring out that strong violet base. Packed with glass fleck it's pretty amazing.

Three coats and somewhat uneven, but over navy....

Over navy....wow. It's a bomb of dancing light. Two coats over navy blue.

Color Club Ulterior Motive

I've blogged this one before (here) and it's from the Alter Ego collection. Over white it's like the raspberry base just pops.

Three coats, and, like Gasoline, a tiny bit uneven.

Here it is over navy...

The win is evident.

Packed with glass fleck madness.

I didn't compare these, but you can see that they are definitely close family members over a black or navy base.

Love these both quite a bit.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!