Color Club Orna-Minted

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I tried out Color Club Orna-minted, the silver glitter from their Scent-suous Holiday Collection, to add on to my Blue Year's Eve manicure.  I added one coat of Orna-minted, which I found to be similar to Sugar Plum Yum as far as application - it's thick, and the easiest way to use it was to get out a blob, put it in the middle of a nail, and smooth it over the nail.  I used a total of three coats of Sally Hansen Speed Shine over it to smooth it out.

Color Club Orna-minted Nail Polish, One Coat over Blue

I like Orna-minted and applying it gave me what seems like a good idea for a mani with it, but this isn't the best use of it.  I was going for a cold, icy manicure, but I think it looks more like I fell on some sparkly gravel with wet nails.

I was a little apprehensive about a mint scent, but it turns out that Orna-minted has the best possible variation of it.  It smells like peppermint tea with just a little bit of white sugar, and although definitely there, is not too strong.

I don't think I'd be so bold as to call this manicure a success, but I figured I'd post it anyhow because it gives you a good look at one coat of Orna-minted, and that might prompt some fun ideas for a better use of it for you, too.

That's it for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: Orna-minted was surprisingly not bad to remove.  Even with three coats of top coat, I had it removed with felt and acetone in ten minutes even.  The only part that took effort was the free edges (that's always true of glitter removal) , so getting this off of shorter nails should be even easier.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Orna-Minted

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I tried out Color Club Orna-minted, the silver glitter from their Scent-suous Holiday Collection, to add on to my Blue Year's Eve manicure.  I added one coat of Orna-minted, which I found to be similar to Sugar Plum Yum as far as application - it's thick, and the easiest way to use it was to get out a blob, put it in the middle of a nail, and smooth it over the nail.  I used a total of three coats of Sally Hansen Speed Shine over it to smooth it out.

Color Club Orna-minted Nail Polish, One Coat over Blue

I like Orna-minted and applying it gave me what seems like a good idea for a mani with it, but this isn't the best use of it.  I was going for a cold, icy manicure, but I think it looks more like I fell on some sparkly gravel with wet nails.

I was a little apprehensive about a mint scent, but it turns out that Orna-minted has the best possible variation of it.  It smells like peppermint tea with just a little bit of white sugar, and although definitely there, is not too strong.

I don't think I'd be so bold as to call this manicure a success, but I figured I'd post it anyhow because it gives you a good look at one coat of Orna-minted, and that might prompt some fun ideas for a better use of it for you, too.

That's it for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: Orna-minted was surprisingly not bad to remove.  Even with three coats of top coat, I had it removed with felt and acetone in ten minutes even.  The only part that took effort was the free edges (that's always true of glitter removal) , so getting this off of shorter nails should be even easier.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

FingerPaints Holiday 2011 Swatches

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

This afternoon I have swatches of the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Collection, their Holiday 2011 release.  The collection consists of six polishes, three glitters and three shimmers, and the pictures of all six are in sunlight and without top coat on the first five (the last one is the post-swatching manicure).  I'll start with the glitters...

Each of these is super fine glitter in a clear base, the powdery fine kind of glitter.  I used three coats in each of the swatches for complete coverage, and since they are swatches rather than dried manicures, I don't know how much top coat they require.  However, since the glitter is unusually fine, I doubt more than two could be necessary.  I'll tell you for sure when I wear one as a manicure.

Drummer Boy is a bright blue glitter, a really nice holiday shade of blue. Three coats gives the completely encrusted in glitter look.

FingerPaints Drummer Boy Nail Polish, Three Coats

Santa Kisses is the red of those metallic looking overly fragile glass ball tree ornaments, the good ones from long ago that would shatter into a zillion shards if someone looked in their general direction.  It screams Christmas to me.

FingerPaints Santa Kisses Nail Polish, Three Coats

The last is a tinsel-y silver, Frosty Night, and it could likely use a fourth coat to be totally opaque.

FingerPaints Frosty Night Nail Polish, Three Coats

Those are the three glitters.  For the three shimmers, I used only two coats each.  Yule Be Merry is a pinkish red with a really interesting glowy shimmer.  The color strikes me as a happy one that's still good for winter.

FingerPaints Yule Be Merry Nail Polish, Two Coats

Comet's Collar is the green, and it has my favorite name.  The shade of green is kind of a pale holly shade, but the really cool element of Comet's Collar is the shimmer - there are multicolored sparkle bits in it that just make it really fun to look at.

FingerPaints Comet's Collar Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last is Winter Sky, and it's the one I did a full manicure with.  It's a vivid deep sky blue with an almost-secret shimmer.  One coat of Winter Sky was totally opaque and even, I added a second because it's the one I'm wearing.

FingerPaints Winter Sky Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think FingerPaints holiday collections are the ones I most anticipate, and this one did not disappoint me at all.  Each of the shimmers is really well done, and the super fine glitter in the glitters makes them apply and build well.  I think Comet's Collar is my top pick of this collection simply because its shimmer is so outstanding, but I couldn't wait to wear Winter Sky either.

Those are my FingerPaints Merry & Bright swatches, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Edited to add a link to the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Promo Image & availability info and a removal note: When I took off Winter Sky, the skin on my hands stained teal (no nail staining, just the skin upon removal).  Tom's of Maine whitening toothpaste and an extra soft bristled toothbrush took all of it off easily.  I panicked at the sight of teal hands, you don't have to - just use toothpaste and it'll come right off.

Products were sent for independent review.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

FingerPaints Holiday 2011 Swatches

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

This afternoon I have swatches of the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Collection, their Holiday 2011 release.  The collection consists of six polishes, three glitters and three shimmers, and the pictures of all six are in sunlight and without top coat on the first five (the last one is the post-swatching manicure).  I'll start with the glitters...

Each of these is super fine glitter in a clear base, the powdery fine kind of glitter.  I used three coats in each of the swatches for complete coverage, and since they are swatches rather than dried manicures, I don't know how much top coat they require.  However, since the glitter is unusually fine, I doubt more than two could be necessary.  I'll tell you for sure when I wear one as a manicure.

Drummer Boy is a bright blue glitter, a really nice holiday shade of blue. Three coats gives the completely encrusted in glitter look.

FingerPaints Drummer Boy Nail Polish, Three Coats

Santa Kisses is the red of those metallic looking overly fragile glass ball tree ornaments, the good ones from long ago that would shatter into a zillion shards if someone looked in their general direction.  It screams Christmas to me.

FingerPaints Santa Kisses Nail Polish, Three Coats

The last is a tinsel-y silver, Frosty Night, and it could likely use a fourth coat to be totally opaque.

FingerPaints Frosty Night Nail Polish, Three Coats

Those are the three glitters.  For the three shimmers, I used only two coats each.  Yule Be Merry is a pinkish red with a really interesting glowy shimmer.  The color strikes me as a happy one that's still good for winter.

FingerPaints Yule Be Merry Nail Polish, Two Coats

Comet's Collar is the green, and it has my favorite name.  The shade of green is kind of a pale holly shade, but the really cool element of Comet's Collar is the shimmer - there are multicolored sparkle bits in it that just make it really fun to look at.

FingerPaints Comet's Collar Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last is Winter Sky, and it's the one I did a full manicure with.  It's a vivid deep sky blue with an almost-secret shimmer.  One coat of Winter Sky was totally opaque and even, I added a second because it's the one I'm wearing.

FingerPaints Winter Sky Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think FingerPaints holiday collections are the ones I most anticipate, and this one did not disappoint me at all.  Each of the shimmers is really well done, and the super fine glitter in the glitters makes them apply and build well.  I think Comet's Collar is my top pick of this collection simply because its shimmer is so outstanding, but I couldn't wait to wear Winter Sky either.

Those are my FingerPaints Merry & Bright swatches, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Edited to add a link to the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Promo Image & availability info and a removal note: When I took off Winter Sky, the skin on my hands stained teal (no nail staining, just the skin upon removal).  Tom's of Maine whitening toothpaste and an extra soft bristled toothbrush took all of it off easily.  I panicked at the sight of teal hands, you don't have to - just use toothpaste and it'll come right off.

Products were sent for independent review.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Glam Nails 93 Rainbow

Hallo ladies,



Well Monday has rolled around and the weekend is over :( I had a fun weekend, with my 7th year wedding Anniversary on Saturday and spending the day with are bestfriend's and there sweet babies on Sunday. Now we have one more week to enjoy off then it's back to work!!



Since the sun has been out I wanted to break out the holo's and I'm so glad I did, cause damn it's a beauty :D



I found this polish on the discount rack at Müllers. I've never heard of this brand but I'm so glad I did. For this mani I used 2 coats to get full coverage.















So what do you think about this polish?



Thanks for looking,

Kesha

Glitter Gal Silver

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I have another Glitter Gal holographic polish, Glitter Gal Silver, that was sent for review, and it's a happy surprise.  I put this one off because in the bottle the polish is underwhelming - I figured, "Huh, Glitter's Gal's OPI DS Coronation."  In the bottle that's accurate but on the nail it's completely inaccurate.

Like the OPI, Glitter Gal Silver dries super glassy smooth, but the quantity of little holo flakes is more like the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes.  From there, if you mix in the holographic effect of Chanel Holographic, where there are a million colors, then you have Glitter Gal Silver.  I used a Nutra Nail base coat, three coats of color, then a coat of Diamont to dry it.  I waited a few minutes and then took pictures in the sun.

Glitter Gal Silver Nail Polish, Three Coats

Glitter Gal Silver Nail Polish, Closer Look at Three Coats

See what I mean?  This is perfectly glassy smooth and looks like I have a boatload of holo glitter encrusting my nails.  I can't think of a down side to that.

I'm very impressed with all the Glitter Gal polishes I've tried, and Silver is no exception.  That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Glitter Gal Silver

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I have another Glitter Gal holographic polish, Glitter Gal Silver, that was sent for review, and it's a happy surprise.  I put this one off because in the bottle the polish is underwhelming - I figured, "Huh, Glitter's Gal's OPI DS Coronation."  In the bottle that's accurate but on the nail it's completely inaccurate.

Like the OPI, Glitter Gal Silver dries super glassy smooth, but the quantity of little holo flakes is more like the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes.  From there, if you mix in the holographic effect of Chanel Holographic, where there are a million colors, then you have Glitter Gal Silver.  I used a Nutra Nail base coat, three coats of color, then a coat of Diamont to dry it.  I waited a few minutes and then took pictures in the sun.

Glitter Gal Silver Nail Polish, Three Coats

Glitter Gal Silver Nail Polish, Closer Look at Three Coats

See what I mean?  This is perfectly glassy smooth and looks like I have a boatload of holo glitter encrusting my nails.  I can't think of a down side to that.

I'm very impressed with all the Glitter Gal polishes I've tried, and Silver is no exception.  That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Hello from Kitty

My beautiful Swedish Sister from another Mother Feline sent me a goody package....(I know you read her blog & if not you are missing out huge, see it here )(Silver Kitty & Kitty Princess)Feline feeds my poor little girl who could buy Hello Kitty goodies and so now as an Adult must have ALL Sanrio pretties!I went a little FUNky on this one because it was for my middle daughters birthday and well

OPI Serena Glam Slam England

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the OPI Serena Glam Slam England sets to show you, the purple one with Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape...Set...Match is a truly fantastic purple, about the same shade as Nubar Pasadena Purple, and the OPI has distinctly visible pink and blue shimmer bits.  It's very well pigmented, requiring only two coats and very easy to apply.  Here's Grape...Set...Match without top coat.

OPI Grape...Set...Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, which looks just like Disco Ball Sparkle, the UK exclusive from a couple of years ago, but the glitter seems to reflect more colors in Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Grape...Set...Match

This is my favorite of the Serena Glam Slam sets so far - the purple is gorgeous, and I think Servin' Up Sparkle is just more versatile than the shatters in the previous sets.

That's the news of the day, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Serena Glam Slam England

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the OPI Serena Glam Slam England sets to show you, the purple one with Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape...Set...Match is a truly fantastic purple, about the same shade as Nubar Pasadena Purple, and the OPI has distinctly visible pink and blue shimmer bits.  It's very well pigmented, requiring only two coats and very easy to apply.  Here's Grape...Set...Match without top coat.

OPI Grape...Set...Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, which looks just like Disco Ball Sparkle, the UK exclusive from a couple of years ago, but the glitter seems to reflect more colors in Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Grape...Set...Match

This is my favorite of the Serena Glam Slam sets so far - the purple is gorgeous, and I think Servin' Up Sparkle is just more versatile than the shatters in the previous sets.

That's the news of the day, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Metallic Crackle Glaze Skittles

I thought crackle skittles would be fun on my new mini nailsThe China Glaze Metallic Crackles are such fun colorsRight to left, top to bottom: Latticed Lilac, Haute Metal (My favorite), Cracked medallion, Platinum Pieces and Tarnished goldTarnished gold up closeI did this a little thicker to get wider cracksThese give a lighter application so you can do a subtle crackle finish or apply thicker

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!