Turning Spring into Autumn

It's starting to turn, later, drier, and more colorful. The leaves I mean. They are tired from the summer and want to sleep. As they do in Bambi, the book by Felix Salten, they do their duty and crackle and warn animals of hunters approaching. Stay safe animals, it's hunting season.


Here is a sweet pink coral called Bump Up the Pumps by Essie

Though it did need the three coats, I really love this soft rosy coral shade. The formula worked well, despite my application issues.

I topped it with a gorgeous glass fleck polish, Milani Gold Rush.

Love how it transformed.

The red/orange jelly of Gold Rush just turned it all juicy and delightful.

I have enough gold flash to make it pop.

Now that I'm looking at it, the only thing that would make it better would be a coat of flakies or some holo! I love when layering improves a polish.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Milani 3D Holographic

I think these came out in late 2009 or early 2010.

There are six polishes in this sweet little scattered holographic collection. A few months ago I did swatch one of them and though, DANG! I need to do the rest!!



Here we go! (No top coats, btw!)


Milani 3D 510

Two coats of Solid Gold Dancer loveliness.

A combination of lamp and flash brings out the sparkle and some scant holographic.

If you love gold, and I confess I do, this one is a treat.



Milani Cyberspace 512

Beautiful watery aqua blue. Love the coverage but was three coats this time. No worries. The payoff is beautiful.

Perhaps my favorite!



Milani Hi-Res 514

Plum purple that pulls warmer on my nails.

Three necessary coats, but the job was done. Nice!



Milani HD 513

Three coats and just divine. This is under lamp and flash, but at an angle to really pick up the holo.

I love this one so much.

Unlike the rest, this seems to have large holo and some smaller holo, so it has a little bit more of a flash.



Milani Hi-Tech 511

This delightful peridot is a three coater and shot with a flash, strong flash.

I love it and it was such a nice one to wear.



Milani Digital 513

Three coats, but really a bit more sheer than I'd have liked.

This pink coral warmed up on my fingers, but didn't disappoint in the soft scattered flash department.


I tried it as a topper over Sally Hansen Sultry Fuchsia

Sultry Fuchsia is a bit deeper and ranges more into the berry shade, but you can see the base in the Milani is sheer and virtually vanishes and the holo particles just scatter around and behave like a holo topper.


There you have it, a set of very well considered holos.

These are available on eBay and Big South American River, and fairly affordable.

They were the beginnings of holo after a hiatus and so everyone was excited.

For my part I'd say I love some more than others, but they all do a nice job for scatters.



Wanted to add a side note: during the summer my nails grew very long and I was so happy that a lot of the damage from Polygel had grown out.

Sadly I had a big break, and discovered that at their longest (back in the CbL Marilyn post) they were too weak to support the length and were subject to flipping backwards (the nails-on-a-chalkboard feeling for me).

I then discovered a smile crack that ran through the lower 1/3rd of my middle finger, so I knew I bent something forward, but I also didn't realize I'd cracked the nail in the bed so far down. Yikes.

Where am I going? Well, last night I reapplied the Polygel. Muscle memory kicked in and it wasn't super hard to apply, even with my non-dominant hand.

The support is just something I will use for a while and it does make things more 'firm' in my nail, so it's less mobile.

Next steps of course: work on filing, work on less thickness, and work on maintaining a length that feels good.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Red Glitter Times Five

I just wanted to sit down with some bright red glitters and swatch it all out.

No comparisons, no top coats, and three coats.

Just throwing down a few that are all very similar: small glitter size, bright red, and, well, smashing!


Let's roll!


Maybelline Red Comet

A very juicy red glitter in a red jelly base. Stinky, pre-3-free, but a delightful color of red. It did require some thinning and cleanup, which is evident. The jelly base covers well, but there is scant "visible nail line", but not "hey let's guess if you have polish on your nails!"

A little texture, but nothing that won't be taken care of with a top coat.

I love this one, apparently grabbed two while hitting the Dollar Tree over that dulcet period of now-vintage polish purging by retailers.

Rich and intense, this old Express Finish is a "find it online" kind of polish these days.




Milani Ruby Jewels

Silver glitter in a ruby red jelly base. Some texture, but again, doable with a couple top coats.

I had to do some cleanup, but it wasn't much.

Pretty and shiny, but now discontinued, but still poking around online, though not super cheap. Worth the price? Well, maybe not.





Zoya Delilah

A deep, neutral red, though Zoya calls it a cherry base, with a red fine glitter.

Very loose formula and my cleanup wasn't up to the task.

Gorgeous and shiny, it has a pretty smooth formula.

Still available on the Zoya site.




Color Club Art of Seduction

This is a red glitter in a clear base.  I've sponged it on and though I used some liquid latex body paint to cover my fingers, cleanup did provide a little bit of glitter going all over. Hard to say if it's three coats, but it might be more just due to sponging.

This is a pretty red in the same vein of a cherry type of red.

Sponging it meant that it was more textured and looks more like a texture polish.

No longer available on Color Club's site, the polish might be found online, but I've had little luck finding it as I write this.





China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Here's a classic. Red glitter in a deep red jelly. I confess I should have cleaned up, but it wasn't such a big deal to me at the time, for some reason!

Been around for a long time and from an old reboot of the China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahs that came out in around 2008.

Looks like it's still around at the China Glaze website. Nice! I think it's a really gorgeous polish: not too much texture, lots of shine, and a good amount of glitter!



I believe that my favorite is Ruby Pumps followed by Red Comet. There is a red on red thing going on that is very nice.


There you go, five red polishes that will smarten up the nautical brights this summer.


Thanks for reading my little nail journal!

Two Reds Poured Out of One Bottle?

As you may have come to realize that I like to play amateur sleuth when it comes to who's making what.

So far with nothing to confirm except some dupes, and plain ordinary logic, it's really just a game.

Here's a dupe that kind of makes me laugh because if you can tell the difference, good luck!

China Glaze Lubu Heels and Milani Garnet Gems:

Left to right:

China Glaze Lubu Heels

Milani Garnet Gems

China Glaze Lubu Heels

Milani Garnet Gems

Top photo lamp.

Bottom photo flash.

China Glaze was a bit more loose, but I had to do cleanup on both.

Lubu Heels is an oldie, an homage to the red painted stillettos of 90's lore. 

Here's another photo:

For me, the pair are identical. If you can find a difference, yay!

I know, though, the Milani is discontinued, but might be available online if you poke around. 

Lubu Heels might be on some various salon sites as well as normal etail venues, but appears to only be in their gel formula on the China Glaze site.

This is a creme and glitter combo, or crelly and glitter combo so the result is subtle. I like that subtly, but the payoff isn't high in normal indoor lighting. 

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Milani Scattered Holo

When Milani threw out their small 6-piece collection it was fairly low key news. This was before the indies hit the ground running and killed it with a ton of linear holos, also prior to the Color Club holos which were fairly epic.

I know that there is also the fact that it wasn't super traditional holo, but a very subtle scattered type of holographic.

I have them and I love how they look, but they do need sunshine to really get them to sing.

Here's my last entry for Greens for March, Milani High Tech:

I love the peridot jeweltone and it's gorgeous.

Three coats, no top coat and a combination of flash and lamp bring out the scattered holo beauty.

It's a challenge to wear this holo in anything other than good lighting, but it yields a gorgeous result.

Still available on eBay, which is a nice thing. 

Thanks so much for reading my little nail polish journal!

2017 Favorites

Kind of a mish mash year with a ton of old photos discovered.

There were, however, a few standouts that strum the heart strings.


Milani Showy Sea Green

This baby really just got me, but good. Love it a lot.



Dance Legend Chimera

Shimmery metallic blurple that just stole my heart. And kept it locked up!



Layla Flash Black

This black holo made the venerable OPI MPJ step aside: the complexity and depth of this one. Wow! It's a beauty!



Zoya Serenity

Pantone says purple for 2018, who am I to argue? I've been saying "purple" since 2010!
You go Purple!



Bees Knees House on Haunted Chill

While toppers are always a good thing, this one takes it to the next level for sheer glass fleck multichromicity.



El Corazon Kaleidoscope Leo

This baby is absolutely a stunner and I have a hard crush on it.
Darling!!




A short list, but all are so nice!

Thanks for reading my little nail journal.

Happy New Year!!!

From the Lost Files

I had done a few swatches back in March 2017 and in an organizational fury, I put them in a folder, which I promptly ignored in plain sight.

Here are these timely summery mints.

BB Couture Kyona Beach

BB Couture came out with a few charity exclusives after the Haitian hurricane disaster in 2010.

A lovely crushed turquoise, I think this brand is wholly underappreciated.

Excellent formula, wear, and decent dry time. Love it.

They have an excellent selection and they keep a wide array of stock, so you're not driven by "limited edition-itis".

Recommend you check out their site. 

Milani Mint Crush

This turned me into lobster hands and I really had to tweak this photo. 

Two coats, but not a fun polish to work with. Thick, goopy, unwieldy.

It might have been improved with thinning.

Recommend, not any more.

Here's it doing the cat's nine lives as a stamping polish:

Saved! Over a taupe whose name I forgot to write down it does an excellent job.

Talk about slacker, I forgot the plate info, too.

*hangs head in shame*

Meanwhile, buzz on over to BB Couture: their stuff is always very well done.

(not affiliated, I buy my own polish) :D

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Special Sauce, Please!

Emily de Molly has this amazing mylar flake and holo combo called Special Sauce.

Wow. It is indeed!

Here it is over a new favorite of the old variety, Milani Showy Sea-Green:

This is taken with my iPhone and with a flash/lamp combo. I love this quite a lot and will be bringing it out some more in the future over other base coats.

A flashy green/pink/purple mylar flakie that is in a holo base. It's a stunner.

Here is Milani Showy Sea-Green alone:

I love this so hard. It's such a great vintage green. Like a 1930's kitchen tile.

Stunningly hard to not love this one. It's what the RBL Fire Queen should have been.

Meanwhile, without gushing too much. The formula killed.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Emily de Molly Plate 06

Here's a quick bit of stamping that worked out much better than I expected!

Emily de Molly plate 06 (round plate) using Milani Orange Graph (evaporated) over SinfulColors Peppered Amazon

I didn't really didn't think the orange would hold up against a really challenging base with so much oomph.

Evaporation helped a lot, so the orange didn't dilute badly into just a muddy mess.

I've blogged Peppered Amazon here before, but wanted to share that the plates are so well made and a joy to use.

I am not sure what the status of availability is on Peppered Amazon, I know SC brings out colors then tucks them away, then brings them out again, so it's hard to say.

I love this one, so bright with that silvery shimmer in the creme base.

Edited to add: Sinful Colors Peppered Amazon was a massive stainer!!! I used two coats of a treatment and a base coat and it still stained the heck out of my nails. Yoiks!!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

The Blogging Year Recap

2016 is over. Wow. When I flip back through pages of blog posts, it feels like so little time has gone by. In fact, 2009 feels a lot like yesterday. (Well things were full of change and hope back then).

I'm still enjoying blogging, and that's key. I hope you are enjoying the polishes with me.

There are many changes in blogging and I don't think social media blogging has eradicated bloggers like me, yet. Yet. The challenges for me is time and accessibility. Instagram is very phone-centric, so I hope the new Sony A6000 will be up for that challenge.

I'm off the SinfulColors mailing list, much to my relief, and I don't have anyone offering me polish. Yay! So while I am not super timely with new things, my reviews will be my own. It's hard to be objective when you have free stuff arriving in the mail, despite disclosures and disclaimers.

This year I plan on trotting out a heck of a lot more indies and more stamping. I have to say I love both and with a better camera it's only my skillset that won't do right by it.

Finally, here are a few of my faves from 2016, enjoy!



FUN Lacquer Anna

OPI Into the Night and RBL Pardonne Moi stamped with white pearl (if I recall!) and topped with Orly Precious Metal

Maybelline Sand Storm stamped with Sally Hansen Frost Freeze

Guppy 77 over Sally Hansen Gray by Gray

Borghese Capriccio Blue stamped with Revlon Captivate

Sally Hansen Model Behavior

Illamasqua Muse

OPI Ro-Man-ce On The Moon accented with Milani Silver Dazzle

China Glaze All Wrapped Up

Petites Banish

Essence Back to Paradise

Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility franken

Nicole by OPI Sing You Like a Bee topped with Hidden Treasure all over Color Club Coastal Creme

American Apparel Tshirt

Dior Equis

Layering: Revlon Snow Bunny franken, SinfulColors Pinky Glitter, and Cover Girl City Lights

Morgan Taylor Making Waves

Dear Readers, thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Happy 2017!! (fingers crossed!!)

Six Bold Blues

It's pretty hard to say no to a bright, bold blue.

I've peered into my blue drawer(s) and really knew that I needed to try all the ones that were very bold and very bright blue.

Winners abound, but there are variations on taste, and I won't call any losers. 

Morgan Taylor Making Waves

This is two coats, no top coat. My favorite of the bunch. It's dense and covers so well, but best of all the first coat behaves like a ridge filler and the second coat is just perfection. I didn't have to do any clean up. I need more of this brand, indeed. 

Available online, with a nice brand website that has pretty swatches. Also at J.C. Penny's.

Frankly I like their formula much more than OPI's.

I buy mine through Nailtechsupply: prices are great, service is great. 

Sally Hansen Insta Dri In Prompt Blue

Next favorite is Sally Hansen In Prompt Blue (I don't get this name concept at all. The word is "impromptu")

Three coats, and a little bit of a fight with the Insta Dri brush, which is a bummer. This has a touch more red in it, but not enough to call it purple, but good enough if you like that blurple leaning blue. 

Bold and beautiful, a very good drug store polish. 

Still pretty easy to find online, plus it's still on the Sally Hansen site, so it's still in their stable of polishes. I picked mine up at Walgreens. 

SinfulColors Endless Blue and SinfulShine Most Sinful

Left to right:

SinfulColors Endless Blue

SinfulShine Most Sinful

SinfulColors Endless Blue

SinfulShine Most Sinful

Both are three coats both are still on their website, so both are still available.

I can't really tell the difference in the formulas. I think that there is supposed to be a difference, but I don't see it. 

Endless blue is a decent stamping polish. Most Sinful is a definite three coater. 

I think this is a good pair of polishes: not stingy with color and stands up next to more expensive polishes.

I picked up both at Walgreens. Now that Walgreens and Rite Aid are merging, we'll see what happens. My local Rite Aid does a great job with the nail polish, Walgreens less so.

KBShimmer Low and Be Bold

This is one that came in a special set either last year or the year before through an online sales etailer, but I can't recall any of it. Some help, right? Well, the good news is that KBShimmer has this one still available. Nice!

It's a bit different from the previous three: it's a jelly. So it's a bit deeper. I think it's a beautiful formula and if I wanted to I could put it over a white, pastel blue, or lavender to affect some cool changes to it.

If you missed Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012, or International Klein Blue, you will probably be sated with this polish.

Recommend!

Milani Blue Zoom

This is one I found at the Dollar Tree, as it is in an older, now discontinued, line of bottles.

Milani doesn't carry an equivalent of this color. No worries, as you can see there are ample options.

Plus this one is available on eBay, too. 

This is, like KBShimmer, a jelly, so it needed three coats and it was a little more sheer. 

I like it though, but like other jellies it goes a little darker. 

If you find it in a Dollar Tree, it's a worthy contender. Why you may ask? Like the KBShimmer polish it can be layered over glitter and glass fleck shimmer to yield impressive glowing beauty. Plus online it's about 1/10th to 1/3rd the price of KBShimmer (and good luck with the RBL IKB 2012) so you can have a lot of fun with it!

Hope you enjoyed! I don't have any of these that I don't really like. I think it's a matter of budget, access or taste. 

Thanks for reading my little journal!