Thanksgiving Mani

Today I have a very belated thanks giving mani. Nothing over the top, just a nice neutral fall shade, OPI's My Private Jet. I actually own two of the multiple versions out there, far I have counted at least 4 variations on this shade. The shade I am wearing today is a grey/brown with a scattered holo shimmer and a light blue/purple duochrome.

direct sunlight, outdoors

I wish I could capture the colour/finish more acutely, it is so much preittier in person. Photos do not do this polish justice. 

direct sunlight, outdoors

indirect lighting outdoors

This is so pretty even though it is not the super duper amazing one everyone always lusts over. Application was perfect, two thin coats were required for full opacity. I added a top coat, but wonder if it dulled the holo effect at all. Either way I love it, such a great neutral shade.

camera flash

camera flash

I am planning an upcoming post comparing the two versions I own, they are actually quite different, a lot more than I thought! Do you own My Private Jet? Do you know how many variations there are?

BREAKING HOLO POLISH NEWS!

Holo polishes now available at BornPrettyStore.com!

Have a look at them here! All polishes are 50% off of actual retail price to promote the new collection. I am loving the purple and teal :) Head over to the Born Pretty Store site to learn how you can get one of these new holos for free!

When Stars Collide

Another holo today from China Glaze's Hologlam collection. I want to wear each and everyone of these right away, however these colours still don't seem spring or summer-like to me. They should totally come out with neon holos, those would be awesome! I chose to wear When Worlds Collide since it is so rich and pigmented, because of this I knew immediately I would love it!

I applied my Nfu-Oh aqua base which made application a breeze. The formula was a little thick but I can't recall if I added any thinner to the bottle for my first application. I only needed two coats and added a base coat for longer wear. I was disappointed with wear for only one day, I already started noticing tip wear and slight chipping at the tips! I couldn't believe it, even with a top coat.

I ended up adding a third coat ON TOP of the top coat layer and then added another layer of top coat in hopes it would make the mani last longer, but I think it may have been too late. I camouflaged the tip wear and chips pretty well but have a feeling it won't hold up for too much longer. All indoor photos with lamp light were right after first application of polish and all out door photos were right after the touch up layer of polish and top coat.

I love how you can still wear a top coat with these holos and it won't effect the holo. For reference, I used Seche Vite. The holo on this polish it probably one of the strongest in the collection and I love it. The shade of polish it's self is such a deep beautiful amethyst. In very low light it appears so have somewhat of a pinky pearly shine. The holo is visible best in direct sunlight but can also be seen indoors with various types of lighting.

Galactic Grey - Photo Heavy!

My first Hologlam mani! I was so excited when I first picked them up I just new my next mani would have to be one of them. It was a tough decision to choose but I ended up going with Galactic Grey. The weather has been up and down here and right now it is FREEZING! So I figured I should use the most unspring-like colour. The sun is shining most days so I can still see the holo awesomeness!

In my previous Hologlam haul post I mentioned that the formula had improved, however I was referring to application on my swatching wheel. Although thicker, I still experienced typical holo application when applying to my natural nails. After two nails I couldn't take it anymore!! I applied Nfu-Oh Aqua base and application was a breeze! Since the formula was thick and pigmented I could have gotten away with just one coat, however, seeing as how I wasn't adding a top coat I applied a second coat for protection and to smooth out any imperfections. I would highly suggest purchasing a Holo base like Nfu-oh's Aqua base, I know there are other options out there but don't know them off the top of my head. Not only does it help with overall application but it also acts as a ridge filler which I also highly recommend if you don't have a holo base coat.

Photos below are all taken in natural sunlight

I just love this polish! The colour is an interesting choice for spring/summer buy I can appreciate it, it reminds me of OPI's My Private Jet. It is grey for sure but has brown undertones which doesn't make it so stark, very unique in my collection which is awesome cause. Had originally thought it would have been closer to Layla Flash Black which I already own. The photos you see are exactly what was captured, the only editing I did was to add my watermark and crop to size. The holo was hard to capture from my desk lamp alone but my camera flash helped with that! In low light the holo effect is weak, but even in the worst lighting I can see a slight flash, like a subtle oil slick on my nails. I actually prefer this type of prismatic effect to the Color Club Holo Hues.

Next time I grab this polish I will likely thin out the bottle, the longer you let it stand while applying to the nails the thicker it seems to get which can make for an uneven finish. Luckily, the finished look was perfect :)

Aurora Borealis

Today I have another Zoya polish on my nails, it is from on of my latest hauls which I will post about soon. When I first saw the swatches for Zoya's winter collection, which this polish was apart of, I really liked Aurora but didn't really know what to expect. When I saw swatches in person at a local Trade Secrets I was wowed. Lots of glittery photos ahead!

 

 

Aurora is a deep plum jelly that I find is way more pigmented and saturated with colour than the designer jellies they released late last year. It also is heavily sprinkled with flecks of holographic shimmer? Glitter? I don't know sat to call it but it sure is pretty.

I used two layers in the photos below. Since the base is a jelly, the glitter adds depth beneath each layer that my boyfriend even commented on! He also loved it by the way. In indoor, direct lighting and sunlight the glitter sparkles strongly and gives off a somewhat scattered linear holo effect. It is so beautiful!! In indirect lighting and overcast settings the glitter appears to be silver yet it still seems to glow, in this lighting you can also see the true shape of the holographic particles. The layers also make it appear as though they are frozen within the polish, super cool!

I wish Zoya had a whole collection with this finish, three colours are not enough!! I would LOVE to see a blue and green version :) So many possibilities!

Collective Hauling

Today I have a bunch of polishes I picked up over the last month, not a huge haul but some goodies!

First I will start off with some polishes I ordered in late December but received in January, these are from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil collection. I picked up Surreal Appeal and Get Carried Away. I had a previous opportunity to pick these up when the collection was first released but they didn't appeal to me at the time.

Surreal Appeal is a coral pink creme. From the swatches I had seen both online and in-store it pulled way more coral/orange, I had even heard it was the non-neon sister to Flip Flop Fantasy which is my all-time favorite! To me it just looks pink though :( it's not all that accurate in my photos either unfortunately.

Get Carried Away is a black, silver and red glitter set in a dark jelly base. The glitter in this one ranges from hex, bar and mircro! Very interesting and complex combo. I'd love to layer this over a black jelly, anyone know of any that is readily available?

Next are some polishes I picked up at Sally's, Ho-Ho-Holly and The Gift Of Sparkle. These polishes are both scented and apart of Color Club's holiday collection. I was so confused when I tried to look up swatches of these, long story short Colour Club released some different shades in their regular release (which are not scented) which have the same names as the collection they released at Sally's. I wish Sally's carried Color Club all year round!

Ho-Ho-Holly is a pretty green foily duochrome which I almost picked up previously but I'm glad I waited, both of these cost me $1 each! The scent of this polish is pine.

The Gift of Sparkle is a blue foil, I figured it would work well for stamping although I haven't tested it out yet. The scent of this one I can't really nail down, probably because I swatched both polishes right beside each other. However, from what I can smell I didn't really like it, kind of sweet and weird.

My final polish purchase is something I was excited to find but did let me down, Gosh Holographic Hero. It is not as holographic as the original, and apparently it is only good for one night? It has a label on the bottle that mentions this, weird. I heard others mention that Gosh used the same formula for Holographic Hero as they I'd for the original Holographic polish. I'm hoping that it will get better with age or something lol I didn't even really need this polish, I have Layla's Murcury Twilight, I guess it's the thrill of owning it, and it was the last bottle in the display!!

 

Did anyone out there get a good bottle or hear any info on Holographic Hero? I think Gosh should do a recall and bring the original formula back :) Swatches to follow in an upcoming post

Haulin'

I haven't been picking up polish lately.This is a really good thing seeing as I am trying to cut down, I am running out of space :( I Stumbled in to Sally's twice this past week and picked up some new polish, most on sale :)

First I'll start off with my first trip to the Sally's by my house I picked up from left to right, China Glaze I Herd That, Orly Mysterious Curse and After Party.

I actually was hoping to find China Glaze I'm Not Lion, but I actually ended up liking I Herd That better! It looks to have copper/orange and pale yellow glitter sprinkled with some holo glitter, that it was makes it really special. The swatches I saw from the Safari collection didn't really wow me overall but in person they look a lot more interesting. I may pick up a few more...

On to the Orlys, first one is from the Dark Shadows collection. I love Tim Burton and was excited there was an accompanying polish collection to the movie, but was mostly disappointed in the colours. Mysterious Curse however has this purple shimmer that literally glows. It is pretty cool, more of a fall shade for sure. I feel like all three of these polishes would be good around Halloween :)

The next Orly is After Party. This is apart of Orly's latest summer collection, and I like the idea of it, I think

of After Party at a cottage on the beach with a fire and fireflies... sigh... I need a vacation! This is a very interesting colour, black base with mostly blue/teal, and magenta glitter sprinkled in. It appears to dry a little gritty on it's own, but I'm sure a good top coat will fix that up.

Below are some swatches in the sun...

and in the shade.

Moving on now to the second part of my haul, I was in the States over the weekend and was hoping to find the Bohemian collection at the Sally's I frequent there. They usually put their collections out the last week of the month. Lucky me it was out... but totally picked over :( oh well, I got one of the three that I really wanted so not too bad. With my Sallys card this was over $6 with taxes! wtf China Glaze!?

 I picked out Deviantly Daring which is a deep teal blue with a slight green/turquise shift. Not as muticolour changing as I would have hoped but it has this chromey, almost mirror like finish without a top coat that is amazing! And compared to my other Sally Hansen prisms the formula is perfect, not so thin. I really love this one and am glad I found it :)

I also ended up picking up an unexpected polish at Ulta's...

Layla Mercury Twilight!! I had gone looking for the Layla holos the last time I was in the States two months ago and they had no clue what I was talking about! lol It was unexpected to find them this time around, I was actually hoping to find the Ulta exclusive OPI polishes. I tried to resist paying $15.50 for a teeny, tiny polish... but I had a $3.50 off coupon ;) Still a lot more that I would have liked to spend, but when am I ever going to find another one like this?  I have like three other silver holo polishes... but this one does appear to be the best. I may actually be selling some of my other ones to make up for the cost of this one. You can expect a comparison with this polish very soon ;)

I am excited for the release of China Glazes new holos and hope to get my hands on them, I wonder what the price point for those will be, anyone know?

Holo-Houndstooth + A Contest!

Hello out there! Today I have a mani refresh with my Layla Flash Black. I love this polish so much I have been wearing it for over a week now! The wear has been great, just some rip wear here and there.

Before stamping I cleaned up the wear my applying the tiniest bit of polish to the tips and stamped over it using Bundle Monster plate BM-19 and Wet n' Wild Ebony Hates Chris. Lots of photos to follow..

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camera flash

So not to dull the holo polish below I did not apply a top coat over this, I didn't want to dull the holo effect. I find that if you seal the stamp by brushing some cuticle oil on top it can actually last pretty long on it's own before getting any type of wear. Due to the length of my nails and small size of the original Bundle Monster nail art plates I had to double stamp most of my nails, but didn't have any problems lining up the pattern.

lamp light

lamp light

I love this so much :) .... So soooooo much that I entreated it in to Bundle Monsters latest art contest! I'd love to have your support by voting for my design if you like it. I'm pretty sure like last year you can vote for multiple entries once per day. Voting starts today HERE and goes until May 13th.

natural lighting - outside

natural lighting - outside overcast

The winners will receive the newest batch of plates from Bundle Monster! So exciting! Good luck to all who entered and thanks if you voted for me :)

Hauling... Again. This edition, Hard to Find OPI Black Labels

Alrighty, I am faaar behind in posting my hauls. I hauled a lot right around October but didn't want to post in the middle of my Halloween themed month. From there they just got pushed way too far back, this was one of those posts. In the mean time I have a pretty amazing haul for you. Imagine my surprise when I came across some beautiful, black label hard to find, HOLO OPI's!

I had never been to this salon before but something told me to take a look at the racks upon racks they have of OPIs. To my surprise I found many hard to find black labeled discontinued polishes. I should have gone digging for more! After I got home I realized some other ones I should have looked for. Unfortunately I was in the U.S when I found this place, so I will have to wait a while to go there again :(

On to my finds! I'll start off with the "regular" polishes first I picked up; Skull and Glossbones, Sparow Me The Drama and Teenage Dream. I know, nothing new, but still pretty right?

Next I got Midnight Blue Glitter and My Private Jet. Now I actually went searching for the holo one, this was the only one I could find that looked different from the others on the rack It's slightly better than the one I already own, I will do a comparison soon. This photo of Midnight Blue Glitter does not do it justice. I would describe it as a deep charcoal with a slight blue/purple duochrome, and that's just the base colour! It is also packed with small flecks of black and silver along with what appears at first glance to be blue hex glitter, this has a multichrome effect that shifts from blue to purple and green! This was very unexpected. At first glance it just looked like a charcoal glitter to me with blue hex glitter added.

Next, my DS pretties! I almost got none of these, I'm so glad I did! You already saw the gorgeous DS Fantasy, also pictured is DS Diamond and DS Ruby. I'm not feeling DS Ruby, go figure, it has the strongest linear holo out of the three. DS Diamond is very pretty, reminds me of Color Clubs Fashion Addict. I may be looking to sell or swap DS Ruby, let me know if your interested.

Here are some closeups:

Next I got me some super holo! Standing Room Only (Silver), I picked up the last two they had and at the time I thought I was crazy for doing so, but now, omg, I wish they had more! I have been layering this over anything, it is so awesome. This is exactly what it looks like, a silver linear holographic/prismatic rainbow of colours. It's thin enough for layering over any polish to make it look holographic, yet perfectly buildable on it's own. These pictures don't do it justice, the holo is so awesome in person.

More holos? Sure! I also found these beautiful hard to finds, Blue Moon Lagoon and What's Dune? At this point in my shopping trip I was freaking out a little, holo overload! Blue Moon Lagoon is a gorgeous baby blue with slight teal undertones. It is also another linear holo. What's Dune? has a pearly white base with a mother of pearl multichrome to it (blue, green, purple) plus a subtle linerar holo effect.

Although my camera didn't capture these as well as they look in person, I have still included some close ups of each below.

 That concludes my first ever "dusty" score. While I was in the U.S I also found some discounted polishes at Big Lots for 50 cents. A bronze foil and an iridescent glitter in a clear base.

And one last purchase I made at my local Sally's, Orly's Rock Solid ( in the reduced section!) and Androgyny.

Some close ups:

And that concludes my hauling as of late! I appreciate if you got this far down and read everything! Hope you enjoyed it! I promise to have regular polish posts coming up. Hopefully not too many haul posts for a while... until my next trip to the States in February ;)