Chirality Nail Polish in Cu2+ (Blackened Teal Holo!)

Whew, where did the time go? It's been awhile since I posted. I don't understand myself. I take the time to swatch things and take pictures, but just leave them sitting there on my camera memory card collecting (figurative) dust. So, if you missed me- I'm sorry! And if you didn't even notice I was gone, well, I didn't either. Time flies!

I've been collecting polish lately like a crazy person. I bought a second Helmer to store my polishes and apparently that gave me the go-ahead to go on a polish spending spree. I've been trying to pick up more indie polishes lately too. This polish is from one of my first indie orders.

The polish I'm showing you today is a blackened teal holo. It's a GORGEOUS color and one of the most unique holos I've ever seen. The holo effect isn't the most pronounced, but it still visibly, crashing your car because you're starting at your nails, there. Chirality Nail Polish makes some great holos at an even better price. Full size bottles are only $7. I plan on picking up some more, including their newer glitter shades, when I get a chance.

I believe I used two coats with a base and top coat.

Chirality Nail Polish in Cu2+

Chirality Nail Polish in Cu2+

Chirality Nail Polish in Cu2+

Chirality Nail Polish in Cu2+

Chirality Nail Polish in Cu2+

Chirality polishes can be purchased here. Also check their Facebook page for specials, swatches of other colors, and news on upcoming releases.

Nubar Reclaim Swatches (Green Holo!)

Nubar Reclaim may look a little familiar to you if you read my last post. It was the polish I was wearing in the picture holding the palette. Now this is a polish I've wanted for years. 3 years, 5 months, and 4 days to be exact. Which is the date I read about the Going Green collection from Nubar at Scrangie's blog. And was this polish ever worth the wait! It's green and it's holo; what more is there to say? My only regret is that I waited this long!

This was 2 coats with base and top coat.

Nubar Reclaim

This polish doesn't have the most intense holo effect, but it is visible. Typically holos ship easily on me, but this wore really well. I'm in love with formula on the 3 Nubar polishes that I've worn.

Nubar Reclaim

Nubar Reclaim

Nubar Reclaim

I love this polish and i think it's one every polish fanatic needs in their collection. Even in the 3 and a half years this polish has been out, it still seems pretty unique. I'm not sure I've seen another holographic green polish exactly like this. I bought this polish on Amazon for $5.49 with free shipping. Not bad considering Nubar polishes retail for $8 on their website and you still have to pay shipping.

A England Ascalon- Holographic With A Purple Flash

I completely forgot I owned A England's Ascalon until I was going through my swatch folder. Yes, I managed to buy a polish, open the package, wear it, take pictures, upload the pictures to my computer AND... completely forget I owned the polish. Do you think this means my polish obsession has gotten out of hand? If the answer is yes, please don't tell me because I'm already too far gone. The obsession has taken root and it's too late for me. SAVE YOURSELVES! Anyway, I can just use the excuse that I DO have a makeup blog and I NEED things so I can post about them right? Waaaay too much money has been spent on the justification that it's "For The Blog".

So, is this polish a must own? I must answer with an unequivocal, "Duh!" For one, it's holographic. Two, it has a duochrome-y purple flash. It's beautiful, it's amazing, it's the best thing to ever happen to you! Superlative, hyperbole, exclamation point! Okay, maybe it's won't change your life, but it definitely is one of those polishes that will make you crash your car because you are too busy admiring your fingers to pay attention to the road.

The formula is great and applied easily in two effortless coats.

A England Ascalon

A England Ascalon

A England Ascalon

A England Ascalon

What do you think? I think it's way prettier in person than it is in pictures, but that's usually the case isn't it? I need to wear it again but I forget I own it for the second time.

Oh, I bought this from Llarowe but it looks like they are our of stock of this color for now. It is also available from Ninja Polish.

Holographic Royal Blue- SpectraFlair Franken

I love creating nail polish frankens. It really satisfies my need for a creative outlet that doesn't take a period of days to complete. I get bored with hobbies quickly, so I need something I can do fast and this certainly does it for me. Especially when making nail polishes as awesome as holos!

This was 2 coats with base and top coats.

This is my least holographic franken, but the effect is still there. Plus I absolutely love the color.

To make this I used 1/2 Revlon Royal, 1/4 Wet n Wild Blue Moon, 1/4 TKB Glamour Base (for glittery frankens), and a few tiny scoops of SpectraFlair.

The color in the shade isn't nearly as cool because you need light to see the holo effect, but I still like it.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Holographic Raspberry Sorbet- SpectraFlair Franken

This one was not supposed to be pink. It was supposed to be red. But it seems pretty impossible to get a true red holo using SpectraFlair as it turns all reds into pinks. I even used orange-based reds and it STILL turned pink.

This was 1 coat (!!!) with base and top coats.

I don't remember the polishes I used to make this, besides that they were all red. Oh, and as usual a few tiny scoops of SpectraFlair and some glitter suspension nail polish base.

See other SpectraFlair frankens I have posted about here.


Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

More Holographic Goodness!

I just saw the worst movie ever yesterday- Something Borrowed. Is there something fundamentally wrong with my femininity that I absolutely detest romantic comedies? This one was heavy of the eye-roll inducing romance with a dearth of the actually comedy. Thank you Jim from The Office for making it somewhat bearable. If it isn't raunchy or gory I probably don't want to see it. I would much rather watch The Hangover than The Notebook. Oh, and give me a zombie dismemberment scene any day over a "guy confesses his undying devotion to some whiny chick".  Haha, that stupid movie put me in a bad mood.

I'm currently wearing my glitter puke franken that I showed you yesterday, but I didn't have time to take pictures of it, so I'll show you an equally as awesome franken.

This is one coat over two coats of a black creme.

To make this I used 1/3 a clear glitter suspension base from TKB Trading, 2/3 Pure Ice Heart Breaker (here is a swatch of Heart Breaker over a black base coat) and a few tiny scoops of SpectraFlair holo pigment.

Using Heart Breaker instead of just clear polish as a base makes the inside edges of the holo-ness appear blue, which is why it appear blue-toned in the bottle instead of just silvery. And I couldn't catch it with my camera but in some lighting you can still see the blue/green shift from Heart Breaker.

And there ya have it. Hopefully I don't screw up my glitter puke mani so I can take pictures of it later.


Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Holographic Green Franken Polish- "Bog Moss"

So the oh-so-amazing and beautiful Robyn of Stay Beautiful inspired me to create some frankens. I'm not the best at it, but I do it anyway because it's fun. I recently bought some holographic car paint pigment stuff called SpectraFlair that people use to make awesome nail polishes. This stuff is crazy expensive, like $18 a gram, but it is so worth it. you hardly need any to make a super holo polish. If you want to buy any (she also sells some really cool color morphing powders I should be getting soon. Just check around on her blog!) I suggest you do so from here- http://morenailpolish.blogspot.com/p/get-powders.html.

I can remember my exact recipe for making this franken. Of course I used the holo powder. I also used the glitter suspension base from TKB Trading (here) and mixed in some random polish colors. I originally started out making an orange but it looked nasty, so I somehow turned it into a green. I think the orange gave it a murky base color. I named it Bog Moss because that is what the color reminded me of. If bog moss was covered in holographic glitter, of course.

This was 2 coats with base and top coat.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Holo Makes Everything Better!

Sorry guys, I don't have much of a post for you today AGAIN. I'm really good at being a bad blogger, haha. But I just wanted to show you how a fail mani can turn into something awesome.

Two night ago I had the awesome idea to paint my nails 15 minutes before going to bed. And I decided to use a polish I've never tried from a brand I've never used.  So of course something was going to go wrong. The polish turned out to be really sheer (it's a light pink with a darker pink shimmer flash), and while pretty, after 3 coats I had bubbling on some nails. I was frustrated by this point and it was too late to start over and there is no way I was going to go out in public without nail polish on (my naked nails are guh-ross).  I was going to put glitter on top but I decided to go for a sheer silver holo that I picked up at Dollar Tree a year ago or so and have never worn. And it turned out amazing!  The holo completely hid the bubbles but still allowed the pink flash from the polish underneath to show through.  I'm in love with combo and can't wait to try layering the holo over other polishes.

This is Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Diamond over Pixi #8.

It doesn't look so great in the shade but it still looks a million times better than it did without the holo on top!

Another picture for good measure!


Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Three Milani Holo Nail Polishes

I think Milani has the only holographic polishes that are available at the drugstore.  Sure there are a few others with holo glitter, but that doesn't count.  While these may not have the strongest holo effect, they are still holo, and of course that means that I had to have them.  I have three right now, but plan on picking up the rest when I get the chance.
Sorry for not much chatter today, I have an exam on Friday that I need to study for!

These are all swatched with no base or tops coats.  This was 2 coats of each color.

Milani Cyberspace in the sun

Milani Cyberspace in the shade

Milani 3D in the sun

This one probably had the least holo effect.  It still was more than this picture shows.

Milani 3D in the shade

Milani Hi-Tech in the sun

Milani Hi-Tech in the shade

Available:

• These retail for $4.99 and are available in drugstores where Milani is sold or on Milani's website.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Week 3: Shopping my Stash for Untried Polish- Color Club Fashion Addict

So here I am on Week 3 to wear all of my untried polishes.  Considering that about a fourth of my over 400 polish collection is untried, this is going to while.  And this week's is my favorite so far (in case you missed them, here is week 1 and here is week 2)! 

I can't believe that I hadn't worn this polish yet- it's a holo!  Like most of my untrieds i have had it over a year and it has been sitting in my Helmer neglected.  When I'm feeling like wearing a purple holo, I go straight to this one's darker cousin, Wild At Heart.  Like most holo polishes, Fashion Addict looks a bit dull in the shade but bring in the light and the holo really pops.  One this I really like about this one is the formula.  Usually holos are thick, goopy, don't level out on the nail, and are prone to bald spots.  I didn't have any of those problems with this one

Fashion Addict is a light lilac purple holographic and was part of Color Club's Spring 2009 collection Catwalk Queen.  It seems to bit difficult to find online, but if you can track it down it's definitely worth it.

This is 2 coats with base and top coat.

Color Club Fashion Addict in full sun

Color Club Fashion Addict in the shade

Available:

• I managed to find Fashion Addict for $3 at Head2ToeBeauty, 8ty8Beauty, and Victoria Nail Supply (all well known nail polish retailers)

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Holographic Plum Frankenpolish

I'm not very good at frankening polishes. I can combine the most beautiful and nuanced colors and it will come out looking one-note and blah. If I ever took color theory I would probably fail miserably.I suppose I understand the basic concepts, but being able to successfully put them into practice eludes me.

Of course, none of this prevents me from attempting to franken quite often.

Which leads to this polish. This wasn't the result of careful planning and thought, but of a broken nail polish bottle emergency where I was determined not to let a beautiful polish go to waste.  I dropped one of the polishes from this post. Luckily it wasn't my favorite one or I would have gotten in my car right then and drove to Ulta for a replacement.

It's hard to mix non-holos with holos and still keep the holographic effect.  This is a mix of LA Splash Tidal Wave and Sally Hansen Magical Nail Makeup in Copper Cauldron.  Copper Cauldron is a long discontinued holo that I bought on eBay.  I haven't taken a picture of this one by itself yet, but you can see swatches from the all-mighty Google.  I think the polish turned out okay, but I'm never done.  I'm already thinking of things I can add to improve it.  Also, I couldn't think of a name.  I'm terrible at naming so I just call this Plum Holographic.  I'm going pretend I don't fail at naming and just call myself practical for picking something descriptive.

Bottle picture in the sun

Taken in full sun

You can sort of see the holo on the nail.  It really is more evident in real life.  This was 2 coats and it applied like a dream.


Thank you for reading and have a nice day/night/whatever!

China Glaze DV8

This post is going to be short but sweet.  That's okay... most people just look at the pictures anyway!

DV8 is part of China Glaze's limited edition OMG! collection.  You used to be able to find these still at online retailers but I haven't seen any for sale in months.  Your best bet is to swap for it or pay the ridiculous eBay prices.  I only have this one and L8R G8R  I just wish I had bought the whole collection when I had the chance!

You know some nail polish you wear just because how easy it is to apply?  Well, this definitely isn’t one of those.  Quite the opposite really. Terrible cuticle drag and bald spots and shows imperfections on nail and from application easily.  The good news is that it dries pretty quickly, but you need to let it dry pretty well between coats so you don’t get bald spots.  This won’t stop me from using the polish because it’s so damn pretty, but it is a hassle that I’ll save for when I feel like messing with it.  Polish was pretty thick, and I had to use lots of thinner to get it to a workable consistency. It felt like I put half the bottle before it made any difference!


This is 2 coats (maybe could have used 3).


DV8 is a medium teal-ish blue holographic.

DV8 in full sun

Available:

• Probably just eBay these days.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Zoya Ki over Color Club Revvolution

Zoya Ki is a beautiful polish on its own, but its a little sheer.  I am obsessed with layering polishes so I decided to layer a duochrome (Zoya Ki) over a holographic (Color Club Revvolution).  As you will see, the holo doesn't show up really under Ki but it gives it some depth and sparkle that wouldn't be there layered over a black creme.

Zoya Ki is a purple and green duochrome shimmer and Color Club Revvolution is a soft black, dark charcoal holographic.  Both polishes are a must own in my opinion!

I'll show the polish under several different lighting conditions so you can see the elusive beauty of Ki.  This is 1 coat of Ki over 2 coats of Revvolution.

Full sun

Shade

This one shows off the purple and green duochrome really well.

Under a light bulb

Flash

Available:

• Zoya retails for $8.00 and is available on zoya.com
• Color Club retails for around $3.00 at retailers such as
• Victoria Nail Supply
• Trans Design

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

China Glaze Rated Holographic

I've been *meaning* to start a blog for awhile now.  but I know it's a HUGE undertaking that takes lots of time and effort.  I've always known I wanted to do it for the right reasons, but I wasn't sure if I had the dedication.  Well, I recently acquired tons of free time, so the perfect time to start a blog was born.

These swatches are probably about a year and a half old.  I told you that I've been thinking about this for a long time.

With the disappointing release of Tronica, China Glaze fans are really starting to appreciate how awesome the Kaleidoscope and OMG! collections really were.

Rated Holographic is from the Kaleidoscope collection.  While these polishes aren't nearly as prized as the ones from OMG!, I really enjoy them.  Versus the linear holo particles from OMG! these have a more scattered holo effect.  Rated holographic is a mauve peachy-pink.  It is a nice juxtaposition of a work-appropriate color with the bling-tastic nature of a holographic.

This is 3 coats.

Rated Holographic in weak natural light

 Rated Holographic in strong sun

Thank you for reading and have a nice day/night/whatever!