China Glaze Passion for Petals and Mosaic Madness

   Hello everyone.  Happy Monday?  I think it's Monday anyway.  Work is seriously kicking my butt right now so I'm not entirely sure what day it is anymore.  But whatever the day is I have some polishes to show you.  These were both sent to me for review.

   Passion for Petals is a deep pink creme.  This is from the China Glaze Avant Garden collection for Spring '13.  Application was decent, but the formula was a bit runny so you'll want to do thinner coats.  I used 2 coats over Finger Paints base coat and no top coat.  This is a pretty color, but feels very safe to me.

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   Mosaic Madness is a sapphire and black glitter mix from the China Glaze Glitz collection for Spring '13.  The glitters are a mix of different sized hex glitters and short bar glitters.  I got the best application from a mix of dabbing and brushing the polish.  I started with a large dab of polish in the middle of my nail then brushed and pushed it where I wanted it.  The glitters do like to pull forward to your nail edge so be careful of corners hanging off your nails.  The following pictures are one coat of Mosaic Madness over Passion for Petals and no top coat.

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Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration.

Color Club Over the Moon

   I have another Color Club Halo Hue polish for you today.  

   Over the Moon is a medium-light blue linear holo.  Again the holo flame is very strong.  The formula was good, but the application was a bit streaky, especially the first coat.  I also had a small amount of cuticle drag with this one.  Everything evened out by the third coat, which is what you see in the pictures below.  I used Nail Tek Foundation II as my base coat and no top coat.  I would possibly recommend an aqua base for Over the Moon if you have one.  

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Kitchen Light

   This is a lovely shade of blue, though not the most unique for a holo.  I'm glad I picked it up at my beauty supply just for how holo the polish looks inside. 

OPI Get Your Number

     OPI recently released a new line of textured polishes called Liquid Sands.  The first 4 were released with the Mariah Carey collaboration earlier this year.  

   Get Your Number is a medium blue jelly base with small blue and holo glitters.  The Liquid Sand polishes are designed to dry with a gritty sand-like texture.  Like sand, Get Your Number has a matte finish, but with tiny sparkles that show up even without top coat.  You will need to give the polish some extra dry time for the matte effect to fully develop.  I didn't wait as long as I should have before taking these pictures, so the polish is not as matte as it could have been.  I used 2 coats over Finger Paints base coat.  Liquid Sand polishes are meant to be worn without top coat.

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   You can see that the texture and sparkle are both very obvious without top coat.  But, if you want extra sparkle or simply don't like the textured look, you can add top coat.  Because of the texture you will need LOTS of top coat for a completely smooth finish.  I used 2 coats of Gelous and 1 coat of Seche Vite for the following pictures and even then I slowly started noticing my nails getting gritty again over the next few days.  Not to the full texture if I didn't have any top coat on, but it was still noticeable.  

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   My camera didn't want to capture the full sparkle of Get Your Number with top coat.  I think you still get the idea though.  The jellyness of the base color is really brought out by top coat as well.  

   Get Your Number is lovely on its own, but stunning once you add top coat.  The whole reason I purchased Get Your Number was because of pictures I had seen of it with top coat.  I wore this as a full mani for several days and had very minimal tip wear or chipping.  I've heard that wear is the same even without top coat.  I will definitely try that out one day for myself.  

    What do all of you think of the new textured polish trend?  Which ones have you tried so far?  Which are you planning to?  Or does the idea of gritty nails make you want to pass?  Let me know in the comments.

New York Summer Hot Sky Blue

   I have another polish from New York Summer to show you lovelies today.

   Hot Sky Blue is a medium blue jelly.  There's just a hint of dustiness to the polish as well.  With a name like Hot Sky Blue, I would expect a lighter shade of blue than what this polish is.  Look at the difference between the bottle color and the sky you can see in the background of my photo. 
   The formula was ok, but application wasn't as smooth as Hot Sunrise Red.  I experienced some streaks with this one, especially with thinner coats of polish, and some cuticle drag.  The streaks evened out at 3 coats though, which is what you see in the following photos.  I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat.

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Butter London Victoriana vs Zoya Skylar

   After yesterday's post, some of you might be thinking that Victoriana looks a lot like Zoya Skylar from the True collection for Spring 2012.  When I first received Skylar I was really hoping it would kill my lemming for Victoriana.  Mostly because Butter London doesn't go on sale very often and I don't like paying $15 for one bottle of polish.  Here are the bottles side by side.

   You can see right away that these are not dupes.  The Zoya is bluer and has more grey in it.  Also, while both have silver shimmer, the Zoya also has pink shimmer.  Formula wise, I found Skylar to be a little thinner, but application was approximately the same for both polishes.  I used 2 coats for each polish over Finger Paints base coat and no top coat.  Skylar is on my ring and index fingers while Victoriana is on my pinky and middle fingers and thumb.

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   The similarities are much more obvious on the nail.  The general feel of the polishes is the same.  Both are dusty feeling with an obvious silver shimmer.  I like both polishes a lot.  I think they are different enough to own both, but I can see where they might be too similar for some.  If I had to pick only one of them, I would probably go with Victoriana just because of the way it leans teal.

Disclaimer: Some of the product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration.

Butter London Victoriana

   Hello again Monday.  I haven't really missed you.  I'm sorry if that makes you a little blue.  Speaking of blue, I have a lovely one from Butter London to show you lovelies today.

   Victoriana is a dusty blue with a silver shimmer.  There's just a hint of green in the polish so that it leans towards teal.  The formula is nice and application is generally good.  I did experience some cuticle drag, so I'd recommend waiting a few extra minutes between coats.  2 coats of polish gave me complete coverage.  I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat in these photos.

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   Victoriana came out for Fall 2010.  It's been a lemming of mine for a while and I finally picked it up at Ulta several months ago during a 1 day only B1G1 sale.  I am definitely glad I did.  What do you ladies think of this color?  How many of you already have it?  Let me know in the comments.

Zoya Lovely Part 1

I have the first half of the Zoya Lovely collection from Spring 2013.  The first half consists of 3 pastel creme polishes- Jacqueline, Neely, and Blu.  I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat for all of these photos.

Jacqueline

   Jacqueline is a nude creme with a slightly yellow base.  The consistency was a bit thick, which I kind of liked, but it made application less smooth.  The polish didn't self-level very quickly which led to the first coat streaky and patchy.  Because of this I needed 3 coats for full coverage.  I also hated this with my skin tone, though others said it looked ok.

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Neely

   Neely is a pale mint green creme.  It reminds me of the base of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  The formula was thinner than Jacqueline, more like what you normally expect from a Zoya polish.  Application was decent, less streaky on the first coat, but still a bit patchy.  I only needed 2 coats for full coverage.

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Blu

   Blu is a very pale blue creme.  I get a very icy feel from the polish.  Formula and application is the best of the 3 cremes of the collection.  There was no major streaking and only needed 2 coats for full coverage.  Blu is very bright for a pastel, possibly from the amount of white in the base.

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   My pick of the cremes is Blu with Neely a somewhat close second.  

Disclaimer:  The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration.

Candie's Aqua Denim

  It's Monday again.  While I'd normally be cranky about this, today I'm really excited.  Why?  Because I get to go see Pink in concert tonight!  I'm counting down the hours.
   Today I have one of the new Candie's polishes to show you.  I picked up two of them at Kohl's after they were released back in October.

   Aqua Denim is a bright medium blue crelly with just a hint of grey.  The formula and application were both nice.  Pigmentation was good, I only needed 2 coats for full coverage.  I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat for these swatches.  I did experience a bit of Smurf fingers, blue staining around my cuticles, while doing cleanup, so beware of that.  I did not keep this polish on long enough to tell if it would stain, but I could see the potential for it. 

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   I like the color of Aqua Denim quite a bit.  My only issue with the polish is the price.  The Candie's polishes retail for $8 a piece at Kohl's.  For me, that's a little high, especially for a new brand.  I would recommend waiting for a sale to pick up some of these. 

Zoya Diva Collection Part 2

   Today I have the second half of the Zoya Diva collection for Fall 2012 to show you.  I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat for all swatches.

Ray

   Ray is a deep forest green shimmer.  This is darker than a Christmas green.  I didn't have any issues with formula or application.  I did notice a bit of streaking if I used thin coats and there are a few more brush strokes than the other shimmers in this collection.  I used 2 coats for these photos.

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Fei Fei

   Fei Fei is a blue based grey toned micro glitter with gold and pink particles.  I want to call the base almost steel colored.  It's very hard to describe, at least for me.  I used 3 coats for these photos, but you could probably get away with 2 coats if you use thick, even coats.  I had no issues with formula or application.

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Daul

   Daul is a purple micro glitter with gold particles.  There's a lit from within quality from the gold.  My brush is a bit wonky, but aside from that I had no issues with formula or application.  I used 3 coats for these photos.

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   Fei Fei is by far my favorite of the entire Diva collection.  If you haven't picked it up yet you should.  My pictures really don't do the polish true justice. 

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration.