Essence Colour & Go Swatches

Recently, Essence discontinued and rereleased their Colour & Go line with a bunch of new colors. A while back, I tried one of the old ones, What Do U Think? and frankly, I thought it was pretty terrible. But for $1.99, I decided to try out 4 of the new ones. I picked up Date in the Moonlight, Grey-t to Be Here, Oh My Glitter!, and Walk on the Wild Side, which I will show you in that order. They are all shown at 3 coats, with top coat.

First up, Date in the Moonlight. It was close to opaque in 2 coats, but did need a third to be completely even. In the shade:

It's a gorgeous, smoky, inky blue with brighter blue flecks of shimmer. The flecks are subtle, but pretty. But I have to say, I do wish the shimmer was more prominent. For a 3-coater, I definitely think they could have balanced the base color and shimmer a bit better. Luckily, I also really like the base color, so it's not really a big deal. In the sun:

The formula left a bit to be desired, as it was thin and watery and liked to pool in my cuticles, but unlike most dark blues, it did not stain upon contact, so cleanup was not torturous.

Grey-t to Be Here is a light grey with red/pink flecks of shimmer. This was also watery, and definitely needed all 3 coats. In the shade:

Love that contrasting shimmer!! No complaints about it being overly subtle. And I love pale, cool greys on me, so this one is awesome. In the sun:

Oh My Glitter! is an absolute stunner. It's a little warmer in person than it photographs, but it's awesome either way. A vivid, light purple base that's packed with shimmer. In the shade:

Same formula as Grey-t to Be Here; thin, watery, definitely needs all 3 coats. The different colors of shimmer were hard to pick up, but you can see the pink, and maybe a tiny bit of the blue here:

Last up, Walk on the Wild Side. This one is my favorite. In the shade:

As you can see, Walk on the Wild Side is a dark, dusty green with brighter green flecks of shimmer. LOVE. The shimmer is only one color, and it's not nearly as complex as Oh My Glitter!, but as I've told you, I have a bit of a weakness for greens. The formula was mostly consistent with the others, but this one was a bit more opaque. Still a 3-coater, but almost perfect in 2.

With the new line came a $1 price increase, but they also increased the bottle size. I don't think $1.99 for a relatively large mini is that big of a deal, but I do have a problem with the brush. That's an Essie brush on the left, for comparison purposes. ESSENCE, Y U DO DIS? And the wide stem means that you have to really wipe it off well to avoid random globs of polish.

As far as dupes go....I think these colors are pretty unique! Well done, Essence. These are awesome, despite that ridiculous paddle brush, and the watery formulas.

Thoughts? Feelings? Have you picked up any of the new Colour & Go polishes?

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

Nicole by OPI Back to Reality...TV

Man, I didn't plan on buying any of the Kardashian colors (and I refuse to indulge their ridiculous need to replace all c's with k's), but it happened. I actually wanted Sinful Colors Zeus, from the Castaway collection they put out this Spring, but I never found it. Bummer, because Sinful Colors is 1) awesome, 2) cheap, and 3) not Kardashian. There were some pretty cool colors in it aside from Zeus too, like Olympia and Athens, but like I said, it never turned up at any of the drugstores I checked. Boo. So I wound up with this instead. It's...kind of a disappointment, honestly.

First of all, that bottle. It is so awkward to hold. Who designed these things?? Horrendous. This polish did come with the Pro-Wide brush, but I didn't find it to be a problem at all, surprisingly enough. I really like the color, and application was good. Aaaaand that's about where the good stuff ends.

One of my biggest gripes with this polish is the shimmer. It's really only visible in direct light. I have Pure Ice Busted, and I could add that in for more shimmer, but that brings me to my next gripe: it is so. freaking. SHEER. This is four coats. FOUR. For a fairly basic lavender shimmer. And if I were to add Busted for more shimmer, the base color would become even more sheer. All the reviews of Zeus that I read stated that it was opaque in 2 coats. Zeus is 1/4 the price, and twice as opaque. Not cool.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the color, but frankly, for $8, I expected better. I won't be buying any more Nicole by OPI polish, unless they put out something really special.

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

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Showgirl Chic and Big Money

Looks like we've had a ton of full-coverage glitters lately, like the Wet n Wild Ice Baby and China Glaze Eye Candy collections. Sally Hansen's take on the trend is the Gem Crush collection. Personally, I didn't find them to be particularly interesting, and many of them are dupes or near-dupes to glitters that already have been released by other brands. Showgirl Chic and Big Money, however, caught my eye.

Showgirl Chic consists of superfine square silver glitter and small blue hex glitter, and is very very similar to China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. However, the blue hexes in Lorelei's Tiara are more aqua, and Showgirl Chic has hexes that are closer to a true blue. I didn't realize how dense these glitters are, so I chose to layer 2 coats of Showgirl Chic over 2 coats of Orly Shine, a silver foil that I'll show you some other time.

I didn't use any top coat either. The texture and sparkle are really cool-looking without it, so I decided to go without for these photos.

So flashy. So obnoxious. So awesome.

And here is Big Money. Cool-toned superfine gold square glitter mixed with small lavender hexes. I chose to wear this one on its own. 2-3 coats for opacity, depending on how thickly you apply it.

Interestingly enough, Big Money really changes when you look at it in direct sunlight or shade. Direct sunlight turns the gold glitter into more of a beige or champagne color, and the lavender hexes look like a dusty light purple rather than lavender.

Shade, on the other hand, warms up the glitter quite a bit. The lavender hexes look lilac and are much lighter now.

And here's the obligatory closeup:

Good stuff. I don't plan on buying any of the other Gem Crush polishes, but I'm very happy with the two that I've got.

Thanks for looking!

Lavender Creme franken + Finger Paints Flashy

I've been hunting for my perfect lavender creme for almost a year now. Everything out there right now is too white, too chalky, too lilac, too bright, or too blue. Picky, I know, but there's a very particular color that I've been after! Planks a Lot was released with OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection earlier this spring, and lo and behold, the exact color that I wanted! But of course, I wound up with the brighter, warmer-toned version, and later found out there are two versions of this color. What the heck, OPI. I got tired of looking though, so I added a few drops of Essie Mesmerize and a few drops of this grey creme, and I'm very happy with the result!

And as you may have heard, Finger Paints is releasing a collection of flakies! The official release date is New Year's, but I got lucky and found a Sally's that already had Flashy.

Flashy is your standard red/gold/orange/green flakie, and is exactly like SHCSM Hidden Treasure, Nubar 2010, Nfu Oh 38, and Essie Shine of the Times. The only difference between these is the density. Shine of the Times is the most dense, and I think Flashy is the least dense.

Advance apologies for the random bits of water in these photos! It was raining a little when I went out to take them. What you see here is 3 coats of Flashy over 3 coats of lavender: 

I really like how coppery these flakies look over lavender! Here's a macro at an angle so you can see the color shift:

Thanks for looking!

OPI Planks a Lot + Last Friday Night

Today's mani is one that my friend has affectionately dubbed "unicorn puke." Sadly, it has nothing to do with Clarins 230, but it sure is sparkly!

Pastels like this usually aren't my cup of tea. The brighter pastels make me look weird, so I need them to be a bit greyish - like China Glaze Sea Spray - in order for them to work with my skintone. I've been wanting a lavender or lilac creme for a while, and settled for Planks a Lot. It's just OK. The formula is watery, so it definitely needs 3 coats. There are also two versions of this. I have the warmer one. The other version is dustier and cooler-toned. What the heck, OPI? Is it really that hard to keep colors consistent? Let's not even get started on the trainwreck that is OPI My Private Jet...

Anyway, the version of Planks a Lot I have is a bit too warm to flatter my skin, so I layered OPI Last Friday Night on top in the hopes that the blue jelly base would cool it down. It worked! Last Friday Night is awesome. This is 3 coats of Planks a Lot with 1 thick coat of Last Friday Night. I smoothed it out with a coat of Gelous before snapping this picture.

And here's a macro shot of my thumb so you can see the detail:

Look at all the differently-colored bits of glitter! Such fun.