Mining the Past: Color Club Love 'Em Leave 'Em

When I first got into nail polish I had a terrible habit of buying Color Club collections because they were so inexpensive.

I think part of it was fandom for several great bloggers and also Ross had them for super cheap.

The bloggers have moved on, Ross seems to have as well (heck even Color Club!)

Yet I still have drawers of untrieds.

Here is one from a 2009 or 2010 Color Club Wild at Heart collection called Love 'Em Leave 'Em:

I topped it with a virtually invisible Revlon Glimmer Gloss Banana Blaze.

I couldn't catch any glass fleck pops, nor did I really get a handle on the very subtle holo flame.

I call this scattered, but it does produce a faint warm red/orange flame that is a delight.

I think in order to emulate the current indie trend of multiple layers of depth, I'd have to layer it (It's two coats, pretty dense, so not really a good direction) or add a lot more Glimmer Gloss.

Many people call this a nude, it definitely is a golden nude. I will be moving this over to my stamping polishes because it covers very well.

Polygel Notes

I'm adding this section to just pass along things I learn.

A few things in this post.

Thickness

I notice that thickness is an issue. Since this photo, I've been filing with a coarse file (not labeled, but pretty coarse, 150? Who knows I know only from sanding my deck!) It removes a lot of bulk and helps them be less "bubble" shaped.

Lifting

In the past I didn't have much lifting, but now that I am polishing my nails more, I do get it between fills. Historically I found that it never produced a problem, but about two weeks ago, I had a lot, so I soaked and removed Polygel from 5 nails (different hands) and reapplied it. It took forever. For. EVAH! I mean after 3-4 solid hours, I had to slap on a nude and just deal with reapplication the following day. I so wanted an electric drill!

Reapplied and though I have a touch of lifting, I am not seeing as much. I will play around with some super glue, though, or something that can just prevent moisture from getting under the nail.

That brings me to...

Brown Spots

Prior to Thanksgiving, I had found that the natural nail under the Polygel that was on my pinky had somehow came undone. It was firm against the nail because it was past my nail bed, so in the 1/3 inch that extended past my bed - free edge -  the nail could be pulled away and would snap back.

I thought nothing of this, but a few days later the nail was in need of replacement, and somehow was tender. I removed the Polygel and found these light brown spots that caused divits in the nail bed. I discovered it was a bacteria making a home. Yikes.

Cleaned it up, filed it down, and haven't had a problem since. This is why if I have lifting, I file/soak it off. No easy access parties for the bacteria!

That's all for now, I like the more flat profile, I think it looks better than the old ones (above), but it's still a learning curve for shaping and filing. 

Thanks for reading my nail polish journal!

Richness in Humble Places

I notice now that the indie world, which I seem to be turning my head toward a lot these days, emulates things that I've made in the past by layering.

I will be trying to do more of that these days since I am maxing out on polish.

Here is a pair of old and probably so obscure I couldn't begin to tell you where to find them!

Super Professional 128 topped with a Borghese No Name mini glitter

I love the holiday feel, and I am feeling it hard this year. Major progressive changes have given me hope, and I know that there is very much more that will happen.

In the mean time, the Super Professional is probably rotting in land fills across the globe and nothing emerged after several searches. I gave away one bottle, a secret regret!

The Borghese is from the mini set I got about 6 years ago (wow!), check it out here.

I have all of these little gems, except one, and I love these a lot.
While there is a lot of Borghese on Ebay and the like, there isn't a glitter like this. Ironically two of the other minis have a not-so-mini, so why wasn't there a big ol' bottle of this jewel tone blue, fuchsia, and gold delight? Who knows.

I don't have anything similar, which is a real bummer, this is gorgeous!!


Ok, enough gushing. 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!

Mid Mod Metallic

Zoya Cindy over Super 138

Like a set of glass vases with opalescent accents. Like gold jewelry with opals. Reminds me of the late 50's and early  60's aesthetic.

Super 138 from Super Professional Brand is our base here. It's a gorgeous 14kt gold shade that seems to have vanished off of eBay. Much stinkage when you apply it, but it's a gold for the ages.

Zoya Cindy. Tricky would be an understatement. To say the least. I've worn it about 4-5 times and it was a bear to get to dry.
I finally had to use thin coats of everything, let it dry between each coat and then use a quick dry top coat to finish. Truly it had to do its own thing to dry. Worst was that even over Zoya it seemed to re-wet already dry layers of polish below. Things then melted off like a chocolate shell on a cherry liqueur.

While I love the pastel opalescent glitter, it's hard to truly love this polish. Too high maintenance.

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Cuccio Glitters

Cuccio is a brand I see a lot in the Nails Mag that somehow I was subscribed to last year. It's a brand whose web presence isn't out there inasmuch as it seems to target its marketing toward the salon crowd rather than the general public.

It's at a great price point, but not a cheap polish. I get mine at Nail Supplies.

I have to poke around for swatches, but they have a ton of colors and I can see how they are meeting the needs of salons whose clientele aren't into a specific color by a certain brand. 

Cuccio touts itself as selling to professionals only and is toluene and dibutyl phthalate free, although it looks like they are formaldehyde free as well. Here's a link to a random polish MSDS.

I did two coats of Cuccio over white and black.

No top coats.

Here is Cuccio Illumination over white (Cover Girl white)

This is a similar concept to the Maybelline Brocades I blogged awhile ago. Except the execution is interesting. Meaning  not quite a wall to wall dense coverage, but a sheer glass fleck that fills in the gap around the polish.

First off, my camera (Panasonic Lumix SMC-ZS15) is starting to croak. It's having a tough time focussing.  Le drag.

Back to the polish. This is a lovely royal blue packed with a blue/pink shifting glass fleck shimmer. 

To be honest my photos were terrible. The base looks yellow and over white the photo does no justice to this poor polish. It's like a disease on my nails. 

Having said that, over black, this polish becomes a real winner:

Suddenly all that sheer glass fleck blue/pink background turns into a rich shifting-to-pink cobalt and it's just luxe as all heck. 

This really floored me. Missed out on OPI Swimsuit Nailed It! and all the other similar polishes? This does double duty as a glitter topper and a rich glass fleck monster. Kind of amazed me.

I also tried out  Cuccio Chemical Attraction, a similar animal.

Here it is over white:

Here is a really amazing color. It's a gold and pink glitter packed with gold glass fleck. Wow. Better still over white it really just looks like a soft rose gold. Gorgeous.

Here it is over black:

Ironically over black I like it a lot less. Suddenly it's a random pink glitter buried in a gold shimmer glass fleck that just dominates the field and you don't get a pretty composition.

Ironic that these polishes did a flip flop over a white and black base. 

I like them both. 

Cuckoo runs, at this writing, $2.95 a bottle and since they have a lot of colors, it's like going back to the early 00's to buy polish since it's so affordable. 

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Revlon Metallics

Four Revlon Brilliant Strength metallics up for you today.

I have to admit, I have been pretty excited about this post. It's taken a while to get everything organized, but it's here.

I'd found a few more of the Revlon Brilliant Strength polishes at the Ol' Dollar Tree and wanted to flex their muscles as stamping polishes as I gathered them in. Mostly a win with one that isn't quite up to the task, no matter.

I will also show photos of the stamping plates, since I think it will help you see the plates a bit better.

The plates are all from Bundle Monster's Spring Buffet collection and I have to admit it's a collection that keeps on turning it out.

Revlon Magnetize

A beautiful burnished platine that stands out more as a stamping polish than a chrome, however it is a very unique chrome shade.
I recently found a back up at the Dollar Tree and was glad to find it: excellent stamping polish.

Three coats on the accent nail, though two would do. These are at the Dollar Tree, and I don't see anything in Revlon's current line up to match up with this color.

I used Bundle Monster BM-722, with a very sweet design.

Revlon Captivate

A molten harvest orange that stamps a GORGEOUS bright copper metallic shade. This is my holy grail copper stamping polish. Heavenly!

Again, found at Dollar Tree and easily found online. LOVE.

If you stamp, if you want a true copper, then you need this puppy. It looks good as a chrome/metallic shimmer, but as a stamping polish, it is very unique.

Used BM-723. I think it managed the thick pattern very well.

Revlon Enrapture

I chose a favorite of mine, L'Oreal Future Rose as my base for stamping and it came out very close, so it was hard to get a good look at the stamping.

This polish, to me, does double duty. I find this shade of muted, dusty rose chrome/metallic shimmer quite beautiful. Neutral, yet on point with the spate of "nudes" that are popping up in cosmetics these days. Yet as a stamping polish, it does make its presence known, despite my monochromatic choice.

BM-702 has a more delicate pattern, but it all came through rather well. In case you are wondering, I did the vines on the right side.

Revlon Hypnotize

This is a fairly generic gold shimmer that doesn't translate as a stamping polish. I am trying to let it evaporate a little bit and will update if I find that it does work out. Right now, just not enough coverage to get enthusiastic about it.

BM-703 is a charming little plate and I used the curly-cues in the upper left corner. 

Finally I goofed around with a process that I saw on Youtube, where you put colors on a matte or a plate and mush them up with your stamper. Interesting!
I used everything except Enrapture over Magnetize...

Although I am not sure if it's 100% success without a topcoat, I feel like it's a fun alternative to water marbling, this was easy: slap on some liquid latex over my fingers and splodge away. Plus I don't waste sponges: the stamper cleans up with the the adhesive lint roller. Win!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Richelle, What a Honey

Richelle by Zoya is described as a metallic bronze that "screams luxury" by the folks who write copy at the Zoya website.

When I scream "luxury" no one comes. Ah well.

Here's Zoya Richelle, blogged before, but in need of a rethink since the last time was a quick multi-swatch:

Honey shade of bronze that looks a little bit like a foil, but doesn't have that kind of play. Just a metallic.

Unfortunately this formula was a bit troublesome for me. I found that it was hard to get it to dry, and even after it was supposed to be dry, it dented very easily.
I had to re-apply it.

This is three coats.

First coat is not super dense and looks like it's a bit grainy, so I am not sure it it's dense enough for stamping and water marbling.

Pretty, quite pretty, but not as luxurious or as complex as I'd have hoped.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

CND CND CND Why?

I love Creative Nail Design's nail polishes.

A quick browse through their website tells me they aren't even listing nail polish, just shellac (14 day wear) and Vinylux (week long wear). Zero nail polish discussed. Why? You were so good at it!

I commend them for seriously creating top coats or Effects polishes. I guess people just didn't enjoy it enough to buy it.

To be honest I see maaaaaany polishes that could be achieved with a layering technique versus buying one bottle. OTOH, not a lot of people like multiple bottles of polish, hence the demise of the Color and Effects, by my deduction through its absence on their site.

The three categories CND offered was kind of genius: sparkle (glass fleck), shimmer (fine shimmer) and pearl (fine iridescent/pearlescent shimmers). Pretty fabulous and rather useful. Rather!

Back in 2010 they came out with there teal set of Color and Effects called Night Factory, featuring Urban Oasis and Teal Sparkle. It's a constant reminder that I should just buy what I love and not skip it and wait until later. I still rue missing that one.

In fall 2011 I purchased their The Look trio, Midnight Sapphire (navy creme) and Dark Amethyst (deep wine) which came with a topper called 24K Sparkle.

Generic base colors - inasmuch if you have them, you don't need them, but if you don't have them, these are good to have - and a topper that was pretty unique.

Then Essie came out with holiday crazy awesome Luxeffects and As Gold as it Gets was declared a dupe. I picked up all the holiday colors, then just let my CND set languish.

So, thinking As Gold as it Gets was a dupe of 24K Sparkle, I thought, I better examine what I've got!

Let's start with the macro:

Left: Midnight Sapphire, three coats each topper.  Right: Dark Amethyst, one coat each topper.

I did each polish side by side on the same nail.

In every photo on the left side of the nail is CND 24K Sparkle on the right side of the nail is Essie As Gold As It Gets.

They are similar. They do have a similar golden shade, CND appears to impart more of that flakey iridescence. CND's offering is more solid, Essie's more translucent.

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Here is a one coat of each topper over Dark Amethyst. Again: Left CND, right Essie.

When adding a golden topper, it warms up the Dark Amethyst considerably. It's labeled "warm" on the bottom of the bottle, but definitely in the purple family of vampies rather than the red/brown.

It's deep, but not a near black, which makes it a nice shade on its own.

Essie's big different, is that it has a ton of fine pieces in the mix, whereas CND has fewer, larger pieces.

Here are three coats each over Midnight Sapphire:

On each nail:

Left: CND

Right: Essie.

Essie becomes very dense, and, though CND definitely builds, you can still see the more mosaic effect that these flakes impart.

Midnight Sapphire is a pretty normal navy, not so terribly blackened, but definitely navy. Nothing to suggest a purple, blurple, or grape at all. Just blue. ;D

My personal preference?

Well, I've got the CND filed under "flake" and the Essie filed under "fleck top coat". Although the Essie particles are less uniform than a glass fleck, it's really not vibing a true flakie in my estimation.

They are similar, though, but not entirely dupes.

Here are the bottle shots:

Right now the CND is on Amazon, alone not in a set. A bit expensive at $11.99 plus shipping. Essie As Gold as it Gets is being rereleased with the Luxeffects again pretty soon, so if you missed it, it'll be around. Retail runs $8, but it can be found on etailer sites for less, plus their's Amazon and eBay.

I will say that gold flakies are hard to find, so of you find the CND at a nice price point for your wallet it would be something unique. 

24K Sparkle straddles flake and gold leaf territory and fills that niche nicely.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Get Your Diva On!

I was so excited to find this batch at the Dollar Tree. Full of color-melted glitter, multiple finishes, evaporated bottles, and that toluene whiff I got whenever I opened the little shoebox I stored them in until I could swatch them. I've had them for months and finally got around to doing it.

One proviso: I didn't dilute with polish restorer, so there is some bubbling, but I was so excited by the finish, I figured, what the heck, let it shine in its 1990's (?) glory.

A little overview: There are three finishes in this group. Two shimmery perles, two glittery shimmers and a combo.

Here's a group shot:

This was taken under a daylight-corrected lamp. The bulb is fluorescent, corrected for the bluer daylight, but still subdued, and a touch of green.


Here they are in the sunshine!

This can be enlarged, too!

Now I'd like to show a few more "lamp" shots and describe the polish a bit.


Diva Fever
Isn't this a great name? I think the best of the lot! It's a red shimmer with some larger than normal shimmer particles. Almost a glitter, but not quite. Hard to describe. I'd definitely call this a shimmer, but the color has pieces that remind me of a glitter.
It's a rich, deep, changing red that looks bright in some light and almost crimson in other light.
This is three coats, and it dried remarkably well. I did get some bubbling.

Diva Blues
A navy blue that trends toward a marine blue. Rich, with lots of depth, verging on teal, but really a warm navy. This is a shimmery perle.
Three coats, fairly okay to dry, normal, not too slow. Bubbles showed their ugly heads!

Diva Groove
This might be a case of melted glitter or it might be a case of purple with a purple base. Either way it's very pretty and very easy to use. It is three coats and dried very well! I suspect that it is the case with all glitters.
Its a raspberry pinkish purple. 
No bubbles!

Diva Gold
I almost feel the beat with this one! More glitter, more possible melted color or a mix of gold and silver glitter. It is also three coats and dried only as a glitter can do!
The color is a mix of silver and gold. A cool gold, very flattering on most skin tones, not too orange-y.
A few bubbles, but a fresh feeling gold, so no matter.

Diva Rock
Warm mahogany brown. See the flecks of lighter brown? Nice!
Yes, bubbling. Fairly okay in dry time. Three coats, as are all of them.

Good coverage, and nice warm autumn colors. This collection is smelling like the ancestor of the upcoming China Glaze "Vintage Vixen" collection. So if you see these hanging out at your Dollar Tree, grab them!

Thanks for reading my polish journal!

Sally Hansen Shimmer Frost Glitters Pt I of II

I found these at the Dollar Tree, and they are a strange combination of sheer frost, or shimmer, with silver glitter.
I mean: who the heck came up with this crazy combo? Hey! Let's take sheers and add shimmer (OK!) and call it a frost! Wait! Let's add GLITTER!!

These are so sheer! I had to use at least 4 coats, often 5, and still could see my nail through them. Worse, my nails are stained, so it just compounds on itself: sheer, shimmer, glitter, stained nails...argh!

I guess that these fall into the category of top coat. Or "affects" kind of coat.

Overall it's a bit slow to dry, and I did kind of rush between coats, although they were dry to the touch, still I got a lot of drag, or bald spots, when I added a new coat.

So, here we go! These photos were taken outside in late afternoon light.


Hi Society Frost
Mauve-ish Pink. So sheer! A little bit of iridescence. This might have been only three coats, when I was optimistic about coverage of these.

Blue Chip Frost
Pretty aquamarine blue. Five coats here and did this horrible balding in middle.
Pretty good coverage, save the balding (I guess that cancels out the good coverage!). I used Borghese Magnetico, which as been a very good soldier of a base coat, I hate to blame the base coat, but it could be a factor. I somehow doubt it!

Fil-a-Greed Frost
Gold shimmer. Decent coverage with 5 coats, less balding. I feel that this one really works. Huzzah!

Quicksilver Frost
Silvery gray shimmer. Coverage wasn't bad, I dinged my finger so there is a smudge.
Not bad. I also think this one works, too. Also, a bit of the same iridescence we saw with the mauve above.

I'm still not so sure about the glitter and the sheer shimmer combined. I wish I could filter out the glitter. Later I'll try them as a top coat. And I've still got to do part two of this little batch.


Thanks for reading!

More Layering!

Layering: a treat!
Especially those elusive sheers polishes that start out in the bottle "WOW!" and get on our nail and sputter out.
Creative Nail Design has a whole line dedicated to putting the wow factor back into sheers, they have heavily colored polishes as a base and then some sheers that are varying finishes: pearl, shimmer, etc which you put on as a top layer. Good idea!

Since I have umpteen polishes, and about 1/umpteenth of those are sheers, I better get busy!

I used WetnWild Black Cream, two coats that dried very quickly, and 1 coat of Elle Elle #434. Of course standard top coat: Vinyl Shine DT Score. The base coat was only Borghese Magnetico. I think I went ape and bought 8 bottles at Ross. yoiks.

 

See how pretty that polish is? Put in on alone and it's just sad. Add the black and Ziiiing!

 

 

Neat-o!

Thanks for reading!