Glitter Sponge Learning Curve

I wanted to try sponging a glitter again and sharing the highs, lows, ups, downs, etc.

Sephora by OPI G-listen To Your Heart

Sponged on over black with a triangle cosmetic sponge found at Dollar Tree.

First off: what a delightful shade of purple! I love how fresh and bright.

So, what I learned this round:

• Protect your fingers - I use latex body paint that I use for stamping, it makes a huge difference. Cleanup was still a chore, but it sure went much better than the last time (A lot of that glitter on my fingers is from the swatches I did the previous glitter post)
• Let the sponge do it's job - the sponge needs to pick up that extra base so you can add the glitter without building a big soupy mess. Have a tissue handy to squeeze out the nail base between applications of glitter. If your sponge is too saturated, it won't be useful any longer.
• You don't need a base color - I put down black, but really I didn't need it. It doesn't show up, that's just the black reflection of the light not hitting that glitter.
• Let coats dry - I jumped the gun on this one. The sponging part went very well, but I tended to not do a lot of waiting and I think it would have helped.
• Thinner topcoat - this went a little overboard. I should have used a thinner coats so I would be able to really make it work. 

So I am getting closer to making it work better. I don't know that it was a viable manicure because it did get soupy and it did get a thick dose of topcoat. Neither of which are the best to help it dry down through the layers.

Sephora by OPI G-listen To Your Heart has gone the way of the Dodo. I would check eBay or Amazon. I found mine at Big Lots! for $1.99 and I am glad I grabbed it! In its heyday Sephora by OPI was about $12 a bottle. It was prohibitive while I could snap up Color Club in 7-packs and OPI for $4.50.
Then it was starting to discontinue, so it went down to $4-5 a bottle through Sephora and then it was just gone. OPI got out of the relabeling business with Sephora (who knows who they work with now, super secret spy stuff I guess!).  Sephora has their X brand, but it's truly not affordable for so little information one has about it, and they transition collections with the season (and these days with fast fashion, there are virtually dozens and dozens of seasons) so I don't really keep track of it.

I haven't been in a Ross for over 4-5 months and I used to see the joblotted stuff there.

Now you know! ;D

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

The Gap Closeth

Sorry for the massive gap in posting. I'm back, more or less.

Thought I'd do a bit of an earthy bend on glitter: Zoya Bar

To be honest - even with three coats - it looks like glitter soaked in gravy on my skin tone.

This is a three coat application of Zoya's Pixie Dust texture glitter. I love texture glitter over texture with the glass balls mixed in, I prefer the "dry" look to the shiny, bubbly look.

I purchased this a while ago through Zoya. They have upped the ante on sales and often you can catch them at $3.75 a bottle. If you like shimmers and texture glitter, few can match their range.


I did want to try it over some other shades, though, to give it a fair shake before I let it go.

Here it is over Sally Hansen Taupe Metal

I blogged Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff Taupe Metal here and I really do like it still. It's a pretty bronze that supports the warm base of Bar and still lets the glitter shine without being too silvery.

Interesting.


Here is Sephora by OPI Thyme for a Mani

Three coats of a soft grayed out taupe shade. I detect no green, at least that's what the name implies, but who cares, dang, this is a polish for the gawds: tight formula, great application, beautiful neutral shade.

I picked up my bottle at Big Lots! when they had a ton of SOPI in their bins. I think you can find this online still. If not you can probably find a near dupe in OPI's lineup. Though I have to admit I don't know what to suggest.

Here it is with Bar over it:

You can certainly see the golden undertones of Bar here.

I would say if you love warm toned nail polish, you should consider this one, it's a pretty play on cool silver glitter and a warm golden beige base.

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Red Glass Fleck Swatch Fest

That trove of 2014 photos yielded a ton of colors I was sure I'd swatched. Finding these photos has been fun.

Here are a pack of jelly based glass fleck reds to share.

Enjoy!




OPI Wing It!

From OPI's Summer Flutter collection of around 2010, it is a beautiful bright cherry red packed with red, amber and purple glass fleck. It shifts from pinkish red, to orange red, depending on the light.

I found mine originally when it came out through an online etailer. The good news is that it's still floating around online, though not on OPI's site itself.

The mix of colors is splendid.

It's a three coater, with vaguely visible nail line, but truly a beautiful creation by OPI.



China Glaze Cherry Pie

From China Glaze's 2009 Summer Days collection, this is a beautiful red on red glass fleck in jelly base.
More of a sheer polish, though I have three coats, it's bright and fresh like a perfect summer day.
Still available online, but at a fairly HTF price point.

I won't lie, I miss that China Glaze used to put together whole collections of one type of finish. This was part of one such collection.






Borghese Colosseo Crimson

Now pretty much defunct in the nail polish realm, Borghese three out some unique shades.
This is a fairly generic red jelly packed to the rafters with gold glass fleck.

Three coats and scant visible nail line.

The red is bright, and it covers the glass fleck very well. Quite affordable on eBay at this writing.






Sephora Go With The Flow-er

Bright red with a generous, but scattered array of glass fleck in purple, amber and red. Lovely and almost full coverage at three coats.

I like the substantial SOPI bottles, but they don't grab my attention for some reason when I am reaching for a polish.

I found mine at the Big Lots! near me, since Sephora by OPI was phased out a few years ago and replaced by Formula X. Unable to find it online, it might show up, though I would opt for Wing It! should you be wanting this kind of polish since they have a lot of the same backbone with the amber, purple, and red glass fleck.




Nicole By OPI Fuchsia Wife

Not dissimilar to OPI Wing It!, but much more sheer and really more of a topper than anything else. Although not to discount it's capabilities as a topper. It can rock on its own dime admirably. Personally I like it a lot. I toss it over red and purple as well as any think vampy.

Not impossible to find, either. I will say this whole collection did have a lot of cool stuff that really never surprises me from Nicole by OPI. People hate on the bottles, but they do a nice job of keeping their head above water in a competitive drug store environment. I've got a lot of NOPIs and I have very few that give me a problem.




Milani Just Peachy

Perhaps the most obscure of the bunch, but still online for the having.

Found at the Dollar Tree, this one is loaded with silvery color changing glass fleck in a warm red base. In no way to I consider this "peach" at all, but really just a bright red.

The jelly red is strong and just zings. I think it, here at three coats, can stand alone and work as a topper.

This is part of the discontinued Milani as they've changed their bottles and tightened up their look into a much more modern and visually arresting one than they had in the past. I will say I've seen people comment on the look of the bottles, but I've never been too bugged by the look of a bottle if the polish inside works for me.


All right, there you have it. A bunch of zingy reds. I had tried to do a comparison, but my camera settings make my hands look red and even with access to real Photoshop, there was just no fixing any of the comparisons.

In a nutshell I'd say if you are like glass fleck, grab Wing It! if you like cool toned and Cherry Pie if you are warm toned, or the Milani (eBay for a song, btw).

Thank you for reading my little nail polish museum!

Sephora By OPI I Don't Bite

Sephora used to have a great line with their own name but clearly "made by" OPI. Now they have Formula X, which I hear is pretty nice, too, and I have one or two that haven't been blogged as of yet.
It's mystery as to who makes Sephora's Formula X these days, but someone posted a dupe that was in the Essie stable, although that is nothing to totally rest your case on.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the job-lotted leavings of old Sephora by OPI. From their Super Sale at the end, to Big Lots, Ross, and TJ Maxx findings.

Back to my Big Lots! find of Sephora I Don't Bite.

Three coats, no top coat.

Icy shimmering glass fleck. It's beautiful foil finish is peppered with bright shimmer sparkles that keep it from being a  flat metallic.

I adore this one and am glad I found it!

Big Lots! doesn't have many Sephora by OPI polishes any more, but these are online on Amazon and eBay and other oddball places. I know that I personally like the heft of the bottle - quite well anealed - and the shape.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

OPI Had It's Hand In This

So, you can tell I've been hitting the green drawer. I sort my stash by color, which means a good daytime color corrected lamp and some swatching.

Here is OPI Jade is the New Black compared to Sephora by OPI's I Come In Peas.

I thought they were dupes...

Seriously, I had them next to each other as interchangeable.


Moving right along...

Left to right:
OPI JITNB
SOPI ICIP
OPI JITNB
SOPI ICIP

As you can see, or at least I hope you can see on your monitor, JITNB is much cooler, ICIP has a strong enough yellow undertone.

There you go. Dupes no more.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!