Color Club Wild & Willing

So, I've noticed that my experiences with polish tend to be pretty good, and as a result, I post mostly positive reviews here. Once in a while, however, I'll come across a polish that really. Freaking. Sucks. And it's a shame because fairly often, it happens to be an absolutely lovely color. Remember how I felt about Essie Penny Talk? Beautiful color, horrible formula. Yeah, that applies here too. Allow me to introduce to you, Color Club Wild & Willing, AKA the biggest pain in the rear I've used in a while. It was released in Fall 2009 with the Wild at Heart Collection. 5 coats, in direct sunlight:

5 coats, visible nail line, and bubbles. How nice. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

That color shift though! Sigh. Why do I love copper so much? And the color shift is so strong. That pinkish copper in the middle is the color you see most often, but it also shifts to pink, gold, and a greenish gold.

Next time I will definitely be layering this. Maybe I'll use a nude base, or Revlon Copper Penny. I've also had OPI Tease-y Does It suggested as a base color, so I might also try that? If I ever get around to it.

As terrible as the formula is, I love the color enough that I'll keep it. Have you ever tried Wild & Willing? Was it as bad as my experience? Any other recommendations for base colors?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Orly Halley's Comet

Orly Halley's Comet was released in Fall 2010 with the Cosmic FX collection. I've already shown you Galaxy Girl and Lunar Eclipse, and this is the last one I picked up. Like Galaxy Girl and Lunar Eclipse, I am smitten with this color, even if it is not the most unique. Here it is in the shade. 3 coats, plus top coat.

Yeah, 3 coats means it's pretty sheer, but because of the sheer base, you can see the shimmer very clearly. In indirect light:

Because the base is blue, the shimmer looks mostly greenish, but it is actually gold most of the time. I think it counts as a glass-fleck, but because the shimmer is so dense, it has foil-y qualities to it as well. In the sun:

This is one of my all-time favorite colors for pedicures. I love blues and teals on toes, especially in the summer, but it's a great pick-me-up in the middle of a particularly dreary winter.

As much as I love this color, I will freely admit that it is not unique. There are many versions available, including Zoya Charla (which I believe was the original), OPI Catch Me In Your Net (discontinued), Essence Choose Me!, and probably a few others that I can't think of right now.

How do you feel about these types of finishes and colors? Do you have a preference for color families when doing pedicures versus manicures?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Essie Penny Talk

Essie Penny Talk was released with the Mirror Metallics collection earlier this year. Aside from Penny Talk, the collection consisted of silver, gold, blue, and lilac chromes. They're supposed to impart a mirror-like finish, hence the name of the collection, but they were mostly unsuccessful, I think. They are fairly reflective, but based on swatches that I've seen, the Layla Mirror Chromes did a better job. Of course, I've not actually seen the Laylas in person, so I could very well be wrong!

Anyway, on to the Essie. 2 coats on most of the nails, but my ring fingernail wound up needing 4, and I'll tell you why in a moment.

It's a bit frosty, but VERY opaque. It barely needs a second coat for opacity, and it dries very quickly. Unfortunately, those qualities also mean that Penny Talk is extremely streaky.

First of all, the fact that it's frosty means that you've got to be careful with application to manage the brushstrokes, but the combination of that much pigment and that quick of a drying time....basically, if you try to be careful with application you'll wind up with a ton of bald patches.

And second, if you try to go back over the patches to fill them in, you'll have a raised spot that just does not want to even out. It took me a great deal of effort, but I got it looking half-decent. Here it is in indirect light. Pretty cool effect! It actually looks somewhat smooth here.

Oh, and did I mention that chromes/metallics highlight pretty much every flaw in your nails?? Ridges, bumps, any sort of inconsistency in the surface will be highlighted and emphasized. In order to counteract this, I started with 2 coats of OPI Ridge Filler and let it dry overnight. I still had a few bumps, so I buffed the surface the next morning, since I didn't want to directly buff & weaken my nail plates. And yet, we've still got this:

See that lumpiness at the top edges? See the brushstrokes? Bleh.

Given all that, somehow, I still really like this polish. Not only that, but I now want the gold one from this collection, Good as Gold. What. To be fair, Layla doesn't make copper or gold chromes, but I'll probably go there for the silver/gunmetals I've been craving.

The formula is among of the worst I've ever used, but the color...I really do have a weakness for nice metallics. And while it looks pretty freaking terrible up close and in macro mode, at an arm's length, it looks really cool. Maybe I should finally invest in an Aqua Base, to help the application. I've got a few of the China Glaze OMGs, and I know it would help with those too.

How do you feel about chromes and metallics? I know the frostiness is a big turn-off for lots of people, and the tricky application must not help. Have you picked up any of the Essie Mirror Metallics or Layla Mirror Chromes?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

L.A. Girls Intoxicate (AKA Love & Beauty Purple)

I'm not sure if L.A. Girls puts out any collections per se, but I do know that Intoxicate is part of their Color Addict line. Intoxicate is a dark, warm purple with gold & copper shimmer. 2 coats, with top coat.

Let's pretend I didn't put a slight dent in my ring fingernail, ok?

Anyway, I was quite pleased with the opacity of this polish. Absolutely no streaks or thin patches after 2 coats, and the formula/application were good. My only complaint is with drying time. Intoxicate did dry pretty slowly, and I don't usually notice differences in drying time unless they're significant.

But as I told you when I showed you Milani Dot Com, I can forgive a few flaws for a lovely purple shimmer. And since it's just 2 coats, it's not too bad. I prefer this to the super sheer 4-coaters that I posted a while back.

I was a little concerned that the opacity of the base color would swallow up the shimmer, but I am pleased to report that the shimmer is nice and visible. Not over the top or particularly flashy, but it is visible.

Since Intoxicate is admittedly a pretty simple color, I was surprised to find that I couldn't think of any dupes off the top of my head. Hurray for unique purples!

I have 2 other Love & Beauty/L.A. Girl polishes, and while they are pretty I noticed that they, too, suffer from a long dry time. Have you tried any of them? Thoughts? Feelings?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Devil's Blood, or Tiger's Candy? A Red Jelly Sandwich

Good morning! Today's manicure is one that I came up with while swatching endless layering combinations of jellies and glitters on my nail wheels. I initially thought that Revlon Devil's Candy would be way too opaque for a jelly sandwich, since it is solid in 2 coats, but turns out it does work alright if you use a thin coat! This is 2 coats of Devil's Candy and 1 coat of Icing Tiger's Blood, topped off with a final coat of Devil's Candy. I did use top coat in these photos.

It doesn't have as much depth as a regular jelly sandwich, but it does vaguely remind me of what I was hoping RBL Poppy would be. I saw the bottle shots and was ooooohing and aaaahing over the shimmer flecks, but it doesn't often translate onto the nail that way...Poppy is no exception.

Here you can see the glitter a bit better. It's definitely different from what I'm used to, but I don't think it was an entirely unsuccessful experiment. Just more bold than I'm used to, haha.

Thoughts? Have you ever tried a jelly sandwich?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Franken Friday #7: Death Mountain

Hey! Today I've got for you a franken that's not terribly unique, but one that I'm reasonably fond of all the same. You've probably heard of NerdLacquer, and for a while I lusted after her nail polish Warrior Ethos, but obviously, I'm not going to get ahold of that anytime soon unless I pay out the behind on Ebay or swap something else that's HTF.

I enjoy frankening, so I figured I'd go ahead and make my own version. I've also been plotting a series of frankens inspired by my favorite Zelda games, and this coincided with my idea for a Death Mountain nail polish. Death Mountain is a volcano just past Kakariko Village, so I went with a red.

This is 3 coats of my franken, with top coat, in the shade.

In the sunlight:

As you can see, I took a great deal of liberty with the colors, but I did say "inspired" right? Basically, it's a neutral-warm red jelly with a bunch of different hex glitters. Mostly red and gold, but with a fair bit of fine black glitter, and glints of copper here and there. I think that since Death Mountain is a volcano, my franken needs a bit of orange to warm it up and make it more fiery.

There are also a few holo hexes here and there, but I think adding those was a mistake. It seems like a bit much, and I don't really feel like it goes with the rest of the colors in the polish.

Thoughts? If you've got any constructive criticism, I'd love to hear it! Don't be shy. :) Oh, and any other Zelda fans around here??

Thanks for looking and commenting, and happy Friday!! Enjoy your weekend!

Revlon Copper Penny

Revlon Copper Penny was released in Winter 2010 as part of the Heavenly Metal collection. There were 3 nail polishes in that collection, Copper Penny, Gold Coin, and Silver Dollar. I've already got a light, cool-toned gold foil, as well as a silver foil, so I passed on the other two. I'm quite glad that I chose to get this one though, because it's opaque in one coat. Yeah, one. In the shade:

Yeah, you can see a bit of the nail line on my ring fingernail, but really, it's negligible. In direct sun:

So cool! And the bits of shimmer are different colors. Of course, the main color is copper, but there are bits of silver and gold in there too. Really complex.

There are a lot of copper foils out there, but I can't think of any that are quite like this one.

I actually consider metallics to be my kind of neutral, so I'm always a bit surprised when I hear people say that metallics are super flashy or far too bold/daring a choice for them. I guess it's because in my experience, in South Asia and amongst Desi people here in the U.S., the most popular nail colors are gold, silver, and copper/bronze/rose gold. Aside from the typical pinks, reds, and browns of course!

Thoughts? Feelings? Is copper actually a low-key color choice for you, or am I just weird?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

OPI Tease-y Does It

OPI Tease-y Does It was released with the Burlesque collection in Winter 2010. From this collection, I've also got The Show Must Go On, which I showed you back in April. I was quite pleased with that one, but this one is even better!! Definitely in my top 20.

Tease-y Does It consists of magenta-coppery shifting flecks of shimmer in a dusty plum base. It's completely opaque in 2 coats, and the application is excellent.

I had a hard time capturing the amber/coppery shift of the shimmer, but you can see a little bit of it on my index finger nail in the photo above.

Such a cool color. It's vampy and kind of "safe" but so interesting!

I expected it to be completely unique, but as it turns out, there is indeed a near-dupe: Nubar Raspberry Truffle. Based on swatches that I've seen, I don't think the shimmer flecks in Raspberry Truffle shift from that reddish pink at all, but they're certainly close enough that you probably don't need both.

How do you feel about colors like these? And what about that OPI Pro-Wide brush (that I finally seem to be getting the hang of)?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!