China Glaze When Stars Collide

China Glaze When Stars Collide is from the widely anticipated Hologlam collection which was released this past spring. Unfortunately, they're not as great as most of us had hoped, but they did manage to put out some pretty unique colors! I originally wanted Galactic Grey, Strap On Your Moonboots, and When Stars Collide, but when I realized my beloved nail supply wasn't going to be getting them in (and therefore I'd have to pay full price), I decided I'd only get this one.

Like most linear holos, it is pretty boring in the shade, and looks like your standard plum metallic. In the sun though, it's quite pretty!

It's certainly not as rainbow as the Color Clubs, for example, but the rainbow is smooth and the color is unique.

I can't say I'm too pleased with the formula though. I used 3 coats, and it had a tendency to get lumpy if you go over the same spot more than once. You can see the results of this on my ring fingernail...but this is easier to work with than the OMGs, for sure.

When Stars Collide looks pretty similar to Dance Legend Optical Illusion and Layla Misty Blush, but When Stars Collide is definitely the weakest of the three. Optical Illusion looks a bit warmer, and Misty Blush looks a bit cooler, but all three look quite nice.

Have you tried When Stars Collide, or any of the other Hologlams? What did you think?

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

Contrary Polish Desert Fruit + Comparison

Today I've got for you the last of my Contrary Polish stash. Desert Fruit is one that I have worn several times, but just couldn't get decent photographs of until recently. It's a purple, so no surprise there...I'm very surprised to see myself getting excited about a purple, though. That hasn't happened in a while!

Desert Fruit was a stand-alone release from Fall 2012, and not part of any collection. It's a dusty, warm purple with fiery red shimmer, and like my other Contrary Polishes, dries a little satin-y so top coat would be a good idea.

I have to say, Desert Fruit has the best formula out of the Contraries I own. It was solid in 2 coats. And look at that shimmer- it's even clearly visible in the shade! Let's take a look at it in the sun:

That red shimmer is really cool!

Desert Fruit reminds me of Dior Shadow and OPI Peel Me a Gobi Grape, though Shadow looks like it has slightly less shimmer, and Peel Me a Gobi Grape has roughly the same amount of shimmer but it looks a bit more coppery than red. They're all very pretty in their own right, but I don't think either the Dior or the OPI are available anymore, whereas Desert Fruit is probably in stock at Llarowe right now.

I also thought of L.A. Girl Intoxicate, which I have compared to Desert Fruit here.

Now, they are quite similar, especially in the shade, but there are a few subtle differences. Intoxicate is darker, and while it didn't really translate well in pictures, it also has a yellow-gold shimmer. Intoxicate's purple base is also a more saturated purple, whereas Desert Fruit is kind of dusty. They're both nice colors, but Desert Fruit has a much better formula. Intoxicate needed 3 coats, and I noticed that the drying time was quite slow.

Have you tried Desert Fruit? Thoughts?

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

HARE Cast in Bronze

HARE Cast in Bronze is from the Fall 2012 Finders Keepers collection. It's a unique combination of copper glitters in a warm, dusty lilac base. Unexpected, but so pretty!

Unfortunately, I don't have any base colors that would go with this. And if you are like me, ie. thoroughly unfamiliar with the indie glitter formula, you will have a hard time with application. This is my second attempt with Cast in Bronze, and it is MUCH better than the first one, let me tell you. Let each coat dry completely, and there might be a few times when you have to scrape the glitter off the brush and just use the base to fill in some patchy areas. This might also be because of the fact that I apply thin coats, though. And I should be clear, I think this color is entirely worth the effort!

This picture, taken in direct sunlight, is a more accurate representation of the base color. I know I said I've cooled off purples, but turns out I still like the cool, unique ones. I just find the majority of purples boring, I guess. I really dig HARE's unexpected color combinations. They seem so odd when you think about it, but work so nicely on the nail!

Have you tried Cast in Bronze? Thoughts? Application tips, perhaps?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week! To my fellow Americans, have a great 4th of July weekend! I am SO looking forward to this four-day weekend. 

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 Maia

Crowstoes Maia is a warm purple-gold duochrome that shows a hint of green at times. This is one that can be worn alone in 2-3 coats depending on your application.

It's not the most exciting color, but it sure is pretty! I do want to point out that those bubble-looking bits in the polish are NOT bubbles, but larger shimmer flecks. I dig the mix of fine shimmer with bigger flecks. 

You can see a tiny bit of the shift peeking out here.

And here it is!

And here's the green:

Is this cool or what? 

When I put this on, I immediately thought of two polishes: Zoya Valerie and Sephora Pantone Violet Quartz. Fortunately, I actually have those! So you will see those soon in my comparison post.

Have you tried Maia? Thoughts?

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

Crowstoes Taygete

Taygete is a purple-pink-gold duochrome. I swatched it on its own, and over black. Alone, Taygete needed four coats for opacity.

It's a cool-toned purple, as you can see, which leads me to my next point: I'm not crazy about this one.

I tried capturing the color shift, with little success:

It is there, I promise :| There is a definite pink shift, and at the edges it turns gold-ish. And here it is over black. Again, the shimmer is dense despite the lack of opacity, so I only needed one coat over black, which was nice.

I will say that it is a nice enough purple shimmer...not exciting, but ok.

Also, I was surprised to find that the duochrome is harder to coax out over black. Usually, it's the opposite.

Overall, I have to admit, I'm pretty meh about this one, but if you like purples, this would be great for you.

As for similar polishes, I'm going back to Indigo Bananas. Wednesday and Eris in particular, but the differences are the same as they were before- one has larger flecks of shimmer, and the other one has holographic glitter. I think they're also a bit warmer, in general.

Have you tried Taygete? How did you feel about it?

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

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!

Zoya Valerie

Zoya Valerie was from the Fire and Ice collection released in Winter 2010/2011. It's a warm, dark purple foil. I've had this color for about 2 years, and I remember it being one of my favorites, especially for pedicures. Then again, I was also a huge purple fiend, and I seem to have cooled off of purples quite a bit. It's not an ugly color or anything, it's just not really my kind of color anymore, I guess. I will say though, that it is very opaque, which is definitely a good thing. 2 coats, plus top coat.

And in the sun:

The formula is weird though. Like I said, very opaque, but I noticed that if I don't let the first coat dry completely before starting the second, it got sort of lumpy. It also dries a bit more slowly than most other polishes I've tried, but not by a whole lot. And oddly enough, it seems to have a bit of an appetite for top coat? I mean, nothing like a glitter of course, but I initially used one coat and noticed that it sort of sunk in, so I added a second and it was perfect. Wasn't expecting that though. At least it's got interesting shimmer- in the shade, it's ever so slightly duochrome.

Like I said, very slight. But it's enough to add interest to the color.

I believe there are a few dupes, or at least colors that are very close to Valerie. Zoya Jem, for one thing. Why did Zoya release 2 colors that are so close? There are some subtle differences, but they're pretty much imperceptible to me, and I imagine they would look the same at arm's length. There's also Color Club Winter Affair, which is warmer, but still quite close.

Have you tried Zoya Valerie? What do you think?

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

Contrary Polish Purple Smoke + Comparison

Happy Friday!! I am especially stoked today. I just finished my last final (Spanish), and I feel great about it. Today I've got for you a Contrary Polish that isn't necessarily as exciting as the others I've posted so far, but is still quite awesome.

Contrary Polish Purple Smoke is one of the original six colors. When I first saw it, I thought, eh, it's close enough to Paradoxal, Perplex, etc. and if you're not a fan of those greyish/taupe-y/purple colors, it probably is! However, I love them, and am quite pleased with Purple Smoke. It's opaque in 3 thin coats. In the shade:

Like the other Contraries, Purple Smoke is a subtle shimmer, but not at all hidden. Purple Smoke dries pretty matte, so you'll definitely need top coat. In the sun:

The shimmer in Purple Smoke isn't nearly as contrasting as some of the other colors, but I think it's lovely nonetheless. I've also compared it to Revlon Perplex and Barry M Dusky Mauve (an exact dupe for Chanel Paradoxal). I know, Perplex and Dusky Mauve are pretty close, but I chose to compare it with both because to me, Perplex is definitely more purple, and Dusky Mauve is more brown.

So, first up, Purple Smoke vs. Perplex. 2 coats of Perplex on the index and ring fingernails, with top coat.

As you can see, Perplex is darker, warmer, and more purple.

And Purple Smoke vs. Dusky Mauve. 2 coats of Dusky Mauve on the index and ring fingernails, plus top coat.

Like Perplex, Dusky Mauve is warmer and more purple than Purple Smoke, but Dusky Mauve is also a lot more taupe or brown-leaning. Purple Smoke looks blueish in comparison.

All three of these polishes have great formulas, so I'd recommend any of them. Out of these, Perplex will definitely be the easiest to obtain. It has been renamed Naughty, and is now core. Full-sized Contrary Polishes are available on Llarowe, Femme Fatale, and Shoppe Eclectico, but on Fridays, you can also buy minis straight from the Contrary Polish blog. For those of you in the US, Dusky Mauve will be the most troublesome to obtain- I bought mine on Ebay. Harlow and Co. sold Barry M at one point, but I don't see them on the site anymore. You can order directly from Barry M, but I know of someone who had quite a bit of trouble with them, and wouldn't recommend it.

Have you tried any of these? What did you think? Are you as much of a sucker for greyish purples as I seem to be?

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

Contrary Polish Inky Fingers

Today I have a Contrary Polish to show you! Yay. I have 5 Contrary Polishes, actually, so you'll be seeing four of those over the next month. Aside from Inky Fingers, I have Firebrand, Anna Maria, Purple Smoke, and Desert Fruit (which is the one I've not yet photographed). Inky Fingers is a really cool dark blurple with subtle, greenish blue shimmer. It's solid in 2 coats, and I should also note that the shimmer is more apparent in person. It's also more purple than it appears. It's kind of like a smoky, cooler-toned version of Zoya Pinta, with shimmer.

It dries a little satiny, so you will definitely need top coat. The formula is good, no complaints there.

Such an awesome color. I should note that the brush is a bit different- it's kinda wide and flat, not nearly as big as the OPI Pro-Wide, but definitely bigger than say, a China Glaze or Essie brush. I'll show you how it compares in one of my next Contrary Polish posts. I quite like it, personally, and if you're a murky shimmer fan you definitely need to check these out.

Do you own any Contrary Polishes? What do you think?

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

Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals

Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals was released with the Ice Baby collection in late 2011. There was a ton of hype around this collection, and I remember going insane trying to find it. I finally found the three I wanted at a Walgreens near my uni. Aside from Back Alley Deals, I picked up Cost is No Issue and It's All in the Cut, the aqua and lavender glitters. I've worn these glitters several times in the year that's elapsed since I acquired them, but I've had a hell of a time getting decent photos of them. Here's 2 coats of Back Alley Deals over 2 coats of China Glaze VIII. I used a coat of Gelous, but as you can see it's sunk in a little bit, so it could have used a second coat.

I should also note that accurately photographing purples....oy. You know how it is. Back Alley Deals is warmer in person. This is closer, but not quite there:

Anyway, Back Alley Deals is awesome. Standard formula for a full-coverage glitter, and I didn't have trouble with application.

I love the little glints of fuchsia here and there.

The Ice Baby collection is long gone, but there is a dupe: Nails Inc. Bloomsbury Square, which is available at Sephora.

Thoughts? Have you tried Back Alley Deals or Bloomsbury Square? What'd you think?

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