Orly Naughty and Nice collection: Miss Conduct

Miss Conduct is part of Orly's 2012 Holiday collection, Naughty and Nice.  It's a beautiful dark pink scattered holo.  It's opaque in two coats on its own, and fires beautifully in the sun.  The polish is easy to work with, no pooling or dragging and not too thick or too thin.  Unfortunately, it's incredibly prone to tipwear and chipping.  The swatches are two coats, taken about 16 hours after the manicure, and you can see both tipwear and chipping on my non-dominant hand.

In the sun:

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Miss Conduct is a lovely special occasion color, but it sure doesn't last. :(

Orly Naughty and Nice collection: Halo

Halo is part of Orly's 2012 Holiday collection, Naughty and Nice.  It's a very pretty cool gold and silver  glitter in a clear base.  It's not quite opaque in three coats on its own, but probably would be in four.  It's also lovely as a topper.  All swatches are, from left to right, one coat, two coats, three coats alone, one coat over black and one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Removal of this lovely polish is typical for glitters--it takes a while and even with the foil method, the glitter gets everywhere.  Still, if you're looking for a cooler gold, this one is worth purchasing.  The Naughty and Nice collection is available now at www.transdesign.com and should be in brick and mortar stores before too long.

THE 'WEENIES ARE HERE!

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Halloween scents, that is!  Details after the jump...

Orly Naughty and Nice collection: Devil May Care

Devil May Care is part of Orly's 2012 Holiday collection, Naughty and Nice.  It's a very sparkly red and silver glitter in a just-barely red-tinted base.  It's not quite opaque in three coats on its own, but probably would be in four (and the removal would be a nightmare, lol).  It's also quite attractive and versatile as a topper.  The formula was pretty good, not too thick and the glitter pieces were fairly evenly distributed. All swatches are, from left to right, one coat, two coats, three coats alone, one coat over black and one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun (and my apologies for the weird angle):

I like the addition of the silver glitter, because it keeps this from being another red-jelly-with-red-glitter polish.  In addition to black and white, I think this would look great over silver (although it would probably also look like OSU fervor).

Orly Naughty and Nice collection: Angel Eyes

The Naughty and Nice collection is Orly's 2012 holiday collection, which is available from TransDesign now.    Angel Eyes is a lovely clear jelly base with a ton of blue micro-glitter and some holo glitter.  All swatches are, from left to right, one, two and three coats alone, followed by one coat over black and one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

The formula on this was nice, thicker but not gloppy, thin enough to be used as a layering polish but thin enough to do three coats for flashy opacity.  Worn alone, it's slightly textured, but not so much as to need multiple coats of top coat.

Orly Pretty in Pink collection: Embrace and You are Not Alone

Pretty in Pink is Orly's 2012 breast cancer awareness collection, which is available from TransDesign now.    Embrace and You are Not Alone are clear polishes with nearly identical salmon-pink glitter.  All swatches are, from left to right, one, two and three coats alone, followed by one coat over black and one coat over white.

Embrace has less glitter than You are Not Alone, which makes it look slightly more delicate.

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You are not Alone has more glitter and looks a little flashier.

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Indoors without flash:

Neither polish could be opaque alone, both look decent layered, and they are so similar that it's pointless to own both unless you are a die-hard collector.  I'm disappointed in Orly for putting out two such similar polishes AND for adding Made-in-China charms to American-made polish bottles.  I'm thinking this wasn't the best use of my discretionary funds. :(

Sation Video Game Vixen

My final Sation glitter topper is Video Game Vixen, and she's unique and pretty!  VGV is silver and black glitter in a clear base, which combines on the nail to look like marcasites.  All swatches are, from left to right, one, two and three coats alone, followed by one coat over black and one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Of the swatches, I like this best over white, but I'm also going to wear it over lilac and pink!

Sation Most Hue-Nique

Hue-Nique is a barely blue-tinted jelly with lots of glitter--blue bar glitter, iridescent micro-glitter and purple and blue hex glitter.  The glitter spread fairly evenly without being pushed around, which is always a plus.  All swatches are, from left to right, one, two and three coats alone, followed by one coat over black and one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

 Most Hue-Nique is a very pretty mix of glitters and a lovely layering polish.

Sation Class Clown

I think that more than a few people have Cris at Let Them Have Polish to blame for Sation lemmings. ;)  As you saw in yesterday's haul post, I caved and got three lovely Sation glitter toppers!  The first of these is Class Clown, a barely-tinted lime green jelly with green a yellow microglitter and deep pink and blue hex glitter which flash silver.  I'm not ordinarily a yellow-toned green person, but look how adorable this is over white!  It's like a lime snocone!  All swatches are, from left to right, one, two and three coats alone, followed by one coat over black and one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

I'm pretty sure it would take a lot of coats to get this opaque, but it's so cute as a topcoat over white I don't care!

Night Circus nail art

A while back, I read and reviewed an amazing book called The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.  Recently, I joined a Goodreads group for lovers of Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs perfumes, and we're reading The Night Circus as a group.  So I decided to brush up my sadly neglected stamping skills and do some Night Circus nail are in black and white stripes.  I used China Glaze White on White and Rimmel Black Satin for my bases and stamped with Fauxnad plate M65 and added some little red nail decals I had hanging around.  I apologize in advance to Ms. Morgenstern.

Haul post!

From Sephora, Illamasqua Faithful, Illamasqua Viridian, Sephora Vivid Metallic:

From Ulta, Essence Colour & Go Walk on the Wild Side, Ulta Lone Fern, Ulta My Two Cents, Ulta Blues Cruise and Ulta Ultraviolet  Femme:

From Transdesign, Orly Angel Eyes, Orly Spazmatic, Orly Halo, Orly You Are Not Alone, Orly Embrace, Orly MissConduct and Orly Devil May Care:

From Sally Beauty, Finger Paints Fall of Surprise and from TransDesign, Sation Video Game Vixen, Sation Class Clown, Sation Most Hue-Nique and Amour Blue Night:

Swatches coming over the next couple of weeks!

nails inc. sprinkles collection: pudding lane

Like sweets way, pudding lane is a new polish from nails inc.  It's a gorgeous turquoise crème base with small purple and gold glitter.  As far as I know, the only official US stockist for nails inc. is Sephora.  All swatches are two coats of polish, two coats of Gelous and one coat of Nubar Diamont.  Even with the three coats of clear on top, my nails still felt a bit textured!

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

pudding lane is just beautiful--the color combination of purple, gold and turquoise is both lovely and uncommon, and I don't mind that it's a topcoat-eater.  The only problem I had with removal is that even with the foil method, the glitter is fine enough to get everywhere!  Still, I highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a bright and beautiful blue polish with a bang.

nails inc. Sprinkles collection: Sweets Way

sweets way is one of four polishes in the nails inc. sprinkles collection, and the first of the two that I bought from Sephora.  It's a milky, pale blue base with very small salmon-pink and blue glitter.  It's in the same family as Revlon Whimsical and Deborah Lippman Glitter in the Air, but doesn't have the larger hex glitter.  It's a very delicate, pretty, feminine polish, and I am really glad I splurged on this one!  All swatches are three coats.

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Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Sweets Way is very shiny on its own, but it's also very gritty, so I would recommend a thick coat or multiple coats of top coat.  I'm not sure if these are limited edition or not, but just in case, if you want it, get it quickly!  To the best of my knowledge, the only US outlet for these is Sephora, although you can find them on Ebay for a much higher price.

FingerPaints Autumn 2012: Gourd or Bad?

First of all, this is a ridiculous name.  I get that it's supposed to be a funny pun, but since the polish isn't green, yellow, orange or any combination thereof, it's not gourdlike enough to justify the pun.  Fall-fetti would have been a much better name, since this is a multicolored bar glitter suspended in a clear polish.  Name aside, I don't know that I've seen another multicolored bar glitter, and it distributed fairly evenly without any pushing around.  If you wanted an even more even distribution, you could certainly get it in one coat.  Since I feel as though this is meant to be a layering top coat, I swatched one coat over white.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

FingerPaints are exclusive to Sally Beauty Supply, and Gourd or Bad? is part of their limited edition fall 2012 collection and available there now.

FingerPaints Autumn 2012: Plum Startled

I wanted so much to love this polish--it's a beautiful red-toned grape purple with red and blue shimmer.  It was easy to apply, not too thick and not too thin, and the color fired beautifully in the sunshine.  Sadly, the tipwear and chipping started after only three days, which means I probably won't wear this on my fingers again.  All swatches are three coats.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

FingerPaints nail polish is exclusive to Sally Beauty, and Plum Startled is part of their limited edition fall 2012 collection and available there now.

China Glaze Bohemian Collection: Want My Bawdy

 Want My Bawdy is the last polish in the Bohemian Collection, and although there are tiny hints of a purple duochrome in the bottle, on the nail it's simply a royal blue foil.  I still adore it, because I have a weakness for  blues, but if I were looking for a duochrome, I wouldn't rush out to get this one.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Not much shift to be seen, but still a lovely royal blue, and one I'm happy to have.  The formula is typical China Glaze, which is to say very easy to use, smooth and slightly thin but not particularly prone to pooling. The Bohemian collection is still available at a few etailers.

China Glaze Bohemian Collection: Unpredictable

Unpredictable is Rare and Radiant's darker sister.  It's a beautiful forest green to gold duochrome with tiny hints of blue in some lights. As with the other polishes, all swatches are, from left to right, one coat, two coats, three coats and one coat over a black créme.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Although I usually prefer blue-based greens, Unpredictable is pretty enough for me to forgive the fact that it doesn't flatter my skin tone the way blue-greens do.  It applies smoothly, but people with ridged nails should probably use two coats of base. The Bohemian collection is available now at etailers and brick and mortar stores, although it is sold out both on transdesign.com and at my local Sally Beauty. 

China Glaze Bohemian Collection: Swanky Silk

The next polish from the Bohemian Collection is a lovely rose-gold to gold duochrome called Swanky Silk.  All swatches are, from left to right, one coat, two coats, three coats and one coat over a black créme.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

I was surprised to find this was my favorite polish from this collection!  It's much softer and subtler than the polishes I tend to go for, but the rose gold color is gorgeous.  It applies quite smoothly, although I did double up on basecoat to avoid showing off my ridges.  The Bohemian collection is available now at etailers and brick and mortar stores, although it is sold out both on transdesign.com and at my local Sally Beauty.