China Glaze, 5 Golden Rings

Fun fact:  the only China Glaze 'I Love You Snow Much' polish that I never bought is...

Ruby Pumps.


(Gasp!)

I gave Tinsel to a suitemate for Christmas, bought Emerald Sparkle at a sale, and swapped for this while I was going through (er, still am going through) a gold glitter phase.

I LOVE Gold glitter, and I think 5 Golden Rings is actually very lovely for this.  It is three smooth-drying coats. You can see  VNL in these pictures but they're not as prevalent in real life. It is a very soft warm gold, and comes off as classy. It'd be something I would wear to an office holiday party. The first layer also goes on very sparse, so I think it'd also make a good layering color if you so wished. Very versatile polish color. Like it a lot. :)

Speaking of China Glaze glitters...


I don't own any of them from the specialty collection yet. (Gasp!) I'd really like to get three of them, as a graduation gift to meself. :) I've bought Atlantis for my bestie (hiiiii Mika) and we both liked it; I bought Ginger for a christmas polish blogger swap and it was absolutely lovely on the bottle; I'm interested in Stellar a little bit, and Dynasty, and Carnival Lights.


*shrug* it's either the specialty glitters, or BB Couture, or something else... but have any of you tried the specialty glitters? What did you think? Do you have any suggestions? :D

Color Club, Uptown Girl

Just a quick swatch for you all today:  this is the dusty mauve Uptown Girl from Color Club's Rebel Debutante collection.  This is a smooth, two-coater creme that dries with a slightly jelly-like finish. Wouldn't call it a jelly, but there's something wonderfully soft about it. It applied wonderfully, as per usual.

I really like Color Club! Why don't I have more of these, again?

China Glaze, Emerald Sparkle

Say hello to one of the nail polishes that started it all.

Admittedly, I think it was RBL Recycle that really started the madness (you can tell, since I think I have about three posts of it on this here blog), but Emerald Sparkle is noteworthy for being the one that made me sit there and think, "Hmm, it just might be a good idea for me to own every single green polish that ever existed, probably."  This was exacerbated by the fact that dark green is my favorite color and that a lot of prominent nail bloggers like green polish as much as I do.

Still, I wasn't a glitter person and I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to pull the haul for this one, and I dilly-dallied around it for a while.   But when I was dragging my brother around Sally's for a tub of Mango Mend on my birthday, I found this little pretty. On sale.

For 99 cents.

Uh, yes, I bought it.

I think I might legitimately say that Emerald Sparkle is my first lemming and for that reason is one of my favorite polishes that I own--not to mention that it's dark and sparkly and deep and wonderful in every possible way. (I didn't think this when I first put it on.  It was on a cloudy day and I thought, 'ew'. This is a more recent picture and I love it--this is two coats, and, as you can see, has slight VNL. The nail line is not actually visible in real life, but I recommend three thin coats of Emerald Sparkle anyway.

One last sentimental picture before I go back to studying for finals:
 

Awww yeah.

A Comprehensive Illusion D'or Swatch Post, Pt. 2

The madness continues.

Illudo over Essie Ballet Slippers.

Over ChG Emerald Sparkle.  My second-favorite combination!

Excuse the frazzle.  Over Color Club Uptown Girl.

Aaand my current NOTD:  Illudo over Sally Hansen's Green with Envy.

Final notes: Illusion D'or is pretty over cremes, but I like it over particle-d polish:  Emerald Sparkle, Groupie, Vampy Varnish.  It lends a foil-like texture to the layer under it, which I like.  It tends to be somewhat lackluster (as one coat) over cremes. Also, the color has a tendency to lighten and warm up with a coat of Illudo.

I know, I know, I know that I haven't covered well-roundedly a bunch of colors. What about metallics? Duochromes? Blues? straight-up glitter? But do not tempt me.  I had to put this polish away so I could stop compulsively layering it over everything I wore.  Given time and self-control, more swatches may come up!

A Comprehensive Illusion D'or Swatch Post, Pt. 1

Are you ready for this giant pile of crazy? Cause here it comes...

I'm not going to spend a lot of space and time writing things.  There will be eight swatches in total, some of which have more pictures than others. I'll make a note of the polish I put Illusion D'or over. There is one coat of Illusion D'or over each nail polish.

I decided to stop at eight swatches because I was afraid of how much Illusion D'or I was using. <<. Heh.

Anyway.

(As always, click the image for a larger (read:  more detailed) pic.)

Over LA Girls Rockstar: Groupie; quite possibly my favorite.

Over ChG For Audrey.  Not my fave.

Over OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It.

Over BB Couture Vampy Varnish.I really enjoyed this one as well. It reminded me of $OPI 212. Take a look at the green glints that come out from the black base.

Okay! Phew, that was part 1. Part 2 tomorrow, folks. :) 

Milani, Tropical Fiesta and Glittur!

Maan, this picture quality isn't even close.  Tropical Fiesta is a hot, hot, hot pink that borders on neon--this just looks like it might be a deep salmon color. Picture-fail. Sorry about that, you guys.

Anyway, yes:  Tropical Fiesta is a hot pink, bright enough to sear your eyelids (if you can believe it). Perfect application, and applied in two smooth coats. No complaints here.

(Ugh; still demure.)

One of the things I like the most about this polish is the fact that it's so in-your-face.  It would make a great classic pedicure color during the summer, and a sour counterpoint to all the darks worn in winter. And seriously, the longer I look at these pictures the more they bug me. Why is the bright not coming out? Why?

After a while, though, I got bored and threw on pa a45, a sheer pink with gold square glitter (small and large) and tiny pink square pieces of glitter.  I used three coats in order to get the slight gradient effect that I have on my nails there.  The effect was more apparent in real life. :)The extra coats dried quickly and didn't really get in the way at all; glitter has a funny tendency to do that.  It dries smooth to the touch. pa a45 can actually do a glitter gradient notd on its own, with a little patience and a lot of coats, but I'd done that during that weird dark time when I couldn't find my camera. I should try it again, just to prove it to ya. :P

All in all, a fun notd! And, again, it's sparkly-pink. I need an imagination. D:

LA Girls Rockstar, Addict and a comparison

This is the last of my LA Girls Rockstar collection, and she is absolutely, absolutely lovely.  Addict is a warm, deep red that leans a little towards a brick color, a jelly, and it is interspersed with tiny little gold flakies. This is three coats.

Let me give you a side picture--click on it to see that awesome depth:

So autumnal.

But the polish sounds familiar, right?  I figured it'd be some sort of dupe to ChG Stroll, so I dug it out for comparison. And here it is:

From left to right: Stroll, Addict, Stroll, Addict.

Uuum, not even close, actually. Definitely related, and I don't think anybody who isn't a nail polish addict needs more than one, but there's a huge difference in color and flake. Stroll is far deeper at three coats and the flakes are heavier, sinking into the polish and giving it a pink, rather than gold, feel. Addict remains a lighter red and the flakes are both larger and lighter, thereby allowing the gold to peek through. I love both of them, and I'm not sure which I love more, so I will be keeping both. :)

And yes, I will be swatching Stroll sometime in the future! Keep your eyes open.