Happy Hands Am I Not Yours?

Happy Hands Am I Not Yours was released with the Faint of Heart collection for this past Valentine's Day. It's a dark, teal-green jelly packed with glitter. I actually took a bottle shot this time, just because I'm so smitten with the glitter mix.

How cool is that? It looks pretty awesome on the nail, too. And sorry about the state of my cuticles- I wore this manicure the week before my presentation, which was full of stress and unfortunately, cuticle-picking. So my skin is looking pretty rough, lol.

But the glitter!!

I've told you of my love for square glitter, so it shouldn't surprise you that my favorite part of this polish is the big teal squares.

So, I've layered 2 coats of Am I Not Yours over 2 coats of American Apparel Passport Blue. It was pretty thick, so I'd definitely recommend keeping thinner on hand, and being generous with it. I had no trouble getting a good amount of glitter on my nails, which was great. This manicure looked so cool in person.

Have you tried any Happy Hands polishes? Thoughts?

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

Butter London Victoriana

Butter London Victoriana was released in Fall 2010, along with Bumster, Marrow, and All Hail the Queen. Victoriana and All Hail the Queen have been getting a lot of love from polish addicts since their release, and while I had admired swatches, I didn't really get the hype. I still don't have any particular feelings about the latter, but the silvery shimmer of Victoriana sucked me in, and I finally caved.

I have to say, I am really impressed with the formula. Victoriana was almost perfect in one coat, but did need a second. I barely had to clean up this mani, and both the wear and drying time are great.

Actually, I bought this while I was still in a cast, and it was so easy to apply I wound up wearing this for quite a while. I can't remember whether or not I had used top coat when I took these photos, but I remember noting that Victoriana dried pretty glossy, which is nice. Here it is in the sun:

So pretty. You know by now that I love a dusty blue, and this is just great.

As far as I know, Victoriana is fairly unique. OPI I Have a Herring Problem and Zoya Skylar are similar, but the OPI and Zoya both have different colors of shimmer, and I think Victoriana's base has just a bit of teal in it that also distinguishes it from the others. Now that I think about it, I do own OPI I Have a Herring Problem, so I could have just compared the two myself. I'm lazy, but if you'd like me to do the comparison, let me know and I'll be happy to!

Have you tried Victoriana, or any of the other similar colors? Thoughts?

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

China Glaze 2NITE

Here's the last of my OMGs. 2NITE is a lovely periwinkle blue linear holo. It was almost my favorite, but DV8 barely beat it out!

No complaints about the formula. It was right in between DV8 and L8R G8R, a smooth 3-coater. In the sun:

The rainbow in 2NITE is stronger than in DV8.

Oh, and just for funsies, here's one of the first NOTD shots I ever took, of 2NITE. This is from April 2011:

I didn't know how to shape my nails, or clean up, and I used my craptastic Droid 2 camera for this instead of an actual camera. It's not exactly color-accurate, either. Sometimes when I get down on myself for not having nails and photos like Scrangie or The Polished Perfectionist, it's nice to go back and look at these and remember that I have actually improved in the last 2 or 3 years.

Have you tried 2NITE? Thoughts? Do you ever get weirdly self-hating for random reasons and think "oh my god look at your life, look at your choices, you are literally hating on your nails wth"?

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

China Glaze DV8

Good morning! Today I've got another OMG for you. I got into nail polish sometime in early 2010, and by that time, the OMGs were already long-gone and highly coveted, and for the most part I didn't care about them, but then I saw DV8 and it instantly became my biggest lemming. I pranced around dusty hunting for a little while in 2011, and acquired some delightful goodies, including this one! It's only half a bottle, but the bewildered salon lady only wanted $2 for it anyway, so I went for it. I'm going to need a backup, because this has to be one of my favorite holos. I have several favorite holos, but this is really great!

As usual, in the shade, not spectacular, but still a pretty blue! A lot of the OMGs look super dull in the shade, but not this one. Oh, and I should note that this had the opposite formula of L8R G8R. It was nearly solid in 1 coat, and it was a nice thickness.

♥♥♥

Layla Ocean Rush looks similar, but it doesn't have that teal lean of DV8. It's definitely more holo though. HITS Hera is another nice one, but the base looks jellyish, if that makes any sense? The finish is different, and it's more green-leaning.

Have you tried DV8? Thoughts?

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

Essie Where's My Chauffeur?

Essie Where's My Chauffeur was released with the Leading Lady collection this past holiday season. I also bought Leading Lady, which you will hopefully be seeing...sometime in the near future. Where's My Chauffeur is a bright aqua creme, not really what you'd expect for winter but very bright and cheery, especially with a summer tan.

Where's My Chauffeur has a pretty standard Essie creme formula, almost perfect in 2 coats but still requiring a third to even out some streaking.

The formula was thick, but manageable, and I didn't need to do much cleanup on this mani, which was nice.

I typically dislike these kinds of colors because they're so white-based, and I don't think they're flattering on my skintone at all. But this is so saturated and cheery, I can't help but love it! I really want to water marble with this one. Maybe with OPI Vampire is Buff, or something.

Where's My Chauffeur is very similar to China Glaze Aquadelic, from last spring's Electropop collection. It's also similar to China Glaze For Audrey, which is very very popular. Personally, I prefer the Essie, as it's a smidge darker, and definitely more saturated.

Have you tried Where's My Chauffeur, or any of the other similar aqua cremes? Thoughts?

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

NYC Tudor City Teal + Nails Inc. the Wyndham

NYC Tudor City Teal is a polish that didn't have a proper "release," as far as I know. But it started showing up on blogs and looked like a very cute color, so for 99 cents I thought, why not? I'll give it a try. Unfortunately, the formula is thin and watery.

I used 3 thick coats here and there's still a bit of VNL, but it sure is pretty.

And over that, I added 2 coats of Nails Inc. the Wyndham, a green-blue flakie.

I really like this combination! It kind of makes me want to go somewhere tropical, which is weird because I hate hot weather despite being from a tropical country. Bad South Asian. I do miss the fruit though!

Have you also succumbed to the 99-cent allure of Tudor City Teal? What did you think of the formula?

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

OPI Glacier Bay Blues

OPI Glacier Bay Blues was released in 2004 with the Canada collection. In the bottle, it's a beautiful blurple duochrome that shifts teal and green. On the nail.......

Boring, blurple-leaning blue shimmer. I mean, it's a nice enough color with lots of depth, it's just really not what I was hoping for. This isn't my thing at all.

I was able to coax out a bit of the duochrome...

Better. But it's not often that you'll see it like this. Oh, and did I mention that this is 6 coats? Yeah. It's that watery and sheer. At 3 coats, it was opaque down the middle, but it was still noticeably sheer on the sides. 

This is pretty similar to Nubar Peacock Feathers, so if you can get your hands on that I would defenitely advise choosing it over Glacier Bay Blues. Peacock Feathers looks to be a bit more purple. but more duochrome as well.

Have you tried Glacier Bay Blues? Were you as disappointed in it as I am?

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

Revlon Chic + Essie As Gold As It Gets

Today I've got for you a layering combo that is a little different, but I'm pretty pleased with how it looks. 2 coats of Revlon Chic, and 1 thin coat of Essie As Gold As It Gets. Chic has a perfect formula, nearly opaque in 1 coat, and very smooth.

I know people tend to layer As Gold As It Gets over darker colors so the gold stands out more, but I personally like it best over mid-toned colors, especially dusty ones like Chic.

No sunlight pics today, because the sun just washed out all the shimmer, so I figured they would be sort of pointless.

I need to dig through my stash for more murky cremes to layer this over. I've definitely got Revlon Guest List and SHCSM Greige Gardens in mind...maybe I'll also try it over a light grey...

What are your favorite bases for As Gold As It Gets?

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

Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine

Today I have another lovely Contrary Polish to show you. Ain't No Sunshine is from the Love Lyrics collection that was released for this past Valentine's Day. Ain't No Sunshine is perfect in 3 thin coats, and needs a layer of top coat to bring out the awesomeness.

The shimmer is so delicate and pretty. Like my other Contraries, it's subtle but not hidden.

Great formula, too. Very smooth, and the brush was great as usual.

It reminds me a lot of Illamasqua Raindrops, but I prefer this. Raindrops is supposedly quite sheer, and based on swatches the shimmer looks a bit too subtle for my liking. Ain't No Sunshine is darker and bluer, of course, but I think that helps ensure that the shimmer is visible. Needless to say, I am no longer interested in Raindrops. I also want to note that this wore very well on me- after 4 days I had the tiniest hints of tipwear, but that's it. Me encanta. These grey-blues get me, every time.

Have you tried any of the Love Lyrics collection? Thoughts?

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

Crowstoes Absolum- Your Potions Master

Crowstoes Absolum- Your Potions Master is another one of the first colors released.

DISCLOSURE: Absolum was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

It's a complex layering glitter with glints of blue, orange, and green. Predictably enough, I layered it over two blues, but damn if it doesn't look super cool! I only wish I had remembered to use a matte top coat. So first up, here it is over New York Summer Hot Sky Blue.

Like Bunny Slope, Absolum has a thiiiiick formula, but I thinned it to my liking, wiped off the brush really well before applying, and application was much easier.

Interestingly enough, there is some bar glitter in here, long black pieces, but I don't have a super strong aversion to them like I usually do. Still not crazy about the bars, but bar glitter is almost always a dealbreaker for me. Which brings me to my next base color, American Apparel Passport Blue!

I think this is my favorite base for Absolum. Not only do the brighter glitters pop, the black bar glitter disappears! I don't hate it in this application, but I'm certainly not fussed about it's disappearance, heh.

Okay, I know I've been talking about similar polishes for the Pleiades, but I tried going into Etsy to look at comparable glitters, and my head just about exploded. Plus, glitter formulas vary so widely from brand to brand and even within brands, and indie glitters even more so. My point being, I'd feel sort of weird bringing up other indie glitters when I'm completely unfamiliar with the brands, so I'm going to forego this particular part of my typical blog post for Absolum and the remaining two glitters.

DISCLOSURE: Absolum was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

Have you tried Absolum? Are you as nutty about bar glitter as I am?

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

Crowstoes Merope

Happy Wednesday! Today I have for you the last of the Pleiades. Merope is a strange and awesome color, sort of a bruised blue-burgundy with a pink shift. Does that make any sense? Who knows. I do know that it's super cool, and can be worn either alone or over black.

I wouldn't really recommend wearing it alone since it was a 4-coater for me, but if that doesn't bother you, it does look pretty nice!

Nice, strong duochrome. Me gusta.

And here it is over black. This is another good one to layer over black. 1 coat was perfect!

And the duochrome:

Interestingly enough, it was a little less duochrome over black, like Taygete. The black base makes the blue shimmer pop though, so it's not a huge issue to me.

That pink still does show up though!

Now, if you looked at this and thought of Orly Galaxy Girl, fantastic. That's exactly where my mind went too, and once again I actually have the polish to compare! I hope you're looking forward to my comparisons because I've got several.

Have you tried Merope? Thoughts?

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

Crowstoes Alcyone

DISCLOSURE: Alcyone was sent for my honest review by Crowstoes.

Alcyone, like Electra, is a blue-purple duochrome. I'll have a comparison post for you after I've posted the individual Pleiades. Alcyone is also really dense, and I was pleased to find that I only needed one coat over Zoya Pinta. I really like this combination, despite my waning interest in purple.

I had no issues with the formula.

I took a couple of shots trying to capture the duochrome, with mild to moderate success. Again, the shift is a lot stronger in person!

.........Well......I tried :| I hope you can sort of get a sense of what's going on with this polish, because it is complex and super cool!

So, as far as alternatives go, the closest I found were Digital Nails Shadow and Hermes. Shadow has larger particles of shimmer, and Hermes has holographic glitter. I was also thinking that Orly Lunar Eclipse might be close, but it really isn't. Lunar Eclipse has a bright cobalt base and the duochrome is nowhere near as noticeable.

DISCLOSURE: Alcyone was sent for my honest review by Crowstoes.

Have you tried Alcyone? Thoughts?

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

Crowstoes Electra

DISCLOSURE: Electra was sent for my honest review by Crowstoes.

Electra is the third of my favorites! It's a blue-purple duochrome, and very turquoise-leaning compared to Alcyone, which I'll show you on Wednesday. I have to apologize for these photos. My camera has a hard time with purples, so as you can imagine, photographing Electra was challenging at best.

I layered Electra over American Apparel Passport Blue. I was impressed by the density of the shimmer in this polish. While Orion needed 3 coats over black, Electra was solid in 1 coat layered over Passport Blue. Also, I had no trouble with the formula.

Ok, now here's my problem. There is a definite purple shift, and damn if I didn't try to capture it! But this is the best I could manage.

It's much stronger than this, I promise :|

Freaking purple, man.

Just a note, I did test Electra alone on a nail, but quickly discovered that it's rather sheer, so I didn't bother doing a full swatch.

I think Digital Nails Convergent and Indigo Bananas Maui are sort of similar, but they are much more teal/turquoise-leaning, and apparently have a scattered holo effect. Actually, I think they are more similar to each other than they are to Electra.

DISCLOSURE: Electra was sent for my honest review by Crowstoes.

Crowstoes are sold at Llarowe and Shoppe Eclecticco, and Aussie customers can buy them at Femme Fatale Cosmetics. I believe they are also sold on Overall Beauty, but interestingly enough, when I tried to access the page to link in this post, my antivirus marked it as unsafe.

Have you tried Electra? Thoughts?

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

HARE Star Tropics

Now here's a glitter that I am madly in love with. HARE Star Tropics is from Spring 2012, but was a very limited release due to some formula and glitter problems. I have experienced neither of those issues, but last I heard Nikole was reformulating, so hopefully it will be released with a future collection! It is absolutely gorgeous.

Star Tropics consists of 2 sizes of silver square glitter and small silver hex glitter in a blue jelly base. The base is very slightly blurple, but still distinctly blue. It sort of reminds me of Starry Starry Night, but on some hardcore steroids. With that in mind, I layered it over a dark blue. First, I tried it over Ruby Kisses Regaled Out Blue. 3 coats of the Ruby Kisses, 2 coats of Star Tropics, Gelous, and top coat.

I liked the combination, but felt like my base color didn't quite go. It doesn't have the slight indigo tinge to it, so the second time I decided to layer it over Revlon Urban, and that was perfect!

As you can see, I'm a bit rusty on my glitter application, lol. Fear of removal keeps me from wearing these crazy glitters, to be blunt! Since it's a super chunky glitter in a jelly base, it's not surprising that it's pretty thick, but application wasn't bad, and I had no trouble getting the giant squares onto my nails.

In case I haven't told you enough yet, I LOVE SQUARE GLITTER. Here's a closer look, from the first manicure I did:

The depth that the jelly base imparts is just awesome, even if it doesn't quite go.

As far as I know, there aren't any dupes of this out there. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have a glitter mix with these exact sizes and shapes, in a bunch of differently-colored bases. That would be AWESOME. If someone made a light grey creme/jelly (I still refuse to use the word "crelly") with matte, retina-searing hot pink glitter like this, I would be all over that. And aqua and yellow. Dark teal jelly and an antique-ish gold. I always have these ideas floating around in my head but I'm terrified of messing up and wasting money/supplies so I never actually get around to attempting any of them ._. Story of my life.

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