Comparison Thursday: Purple Holos

Today's Comparison Thursday may look like one I've done before, but it's not...  If you're interested in checking out my comparison of lavender/lilac/light purple holos, you can do so here.  Tonight's purples, however, are more pigmented and true purples than the pale almost silver holos I compared before.  So, let's get to it!

Dollish Polish Waiting for my Mr. Big, Color Club Wild at Heart, China Glaze LOL, Color Club Eternal Beauty, Layla Ultra Violet, and Kelara I Love Lamp.

All six polishes are very pretty in their own right, but I wouldn't say that there are any exact duplicates in the bunch.  Eternal Beauty and Ultra Violet are close, but not exact duplicates.

Waiting for my Mr. Big

I don't really know why I added this one to the comparison.  It's pretty clear in the bottle that it's not a dupe of any of the rest of them.  It's much more pink than blue on the scale of purple compared to the rest.  And while it's pretty and unique, it also isn't super holoy.  The rainbow effect just doesn't live up to the standards of the rest.  Mr. Big has been discontinued, but you can find other Dollish Polishes on her site here, as well as multiple etailers.

Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart is definitely the deepest purple holo I own.  It's absolutely gorgeous with such deep pigmentation that it only requires a couple of coats for full opacity.  Application was alright with a slight bit of dragging and balding.  I didn't use my Nfu Oh Aqua Base because I wanted to see how these would all work over regular base coats.  The rainbow takes on a more red, pink, and purple vibe while not showcasing the other colors as much.  It's also a bit more scattered than the other holos in this comparison.  I found my Wild at Heart at a Salon, but I've also seen it at the Bed Bath and Beyond near me.

LOL

Ahhh, the much coveted LOL...  Application for LOL, as with all of the OMGs I own, was atrocious.  Second in horribleness only to Ultra Violet, which we'll get to in a moment.  You have to work hella fast and you can't go over spots you've already painted, otherwise you'll drag and bald in a big way.  The holo for LOL is probably the most linear of the bunch as China Glaze used a smaller holo particle than is used in any of the other purples I'm comparing tonight.  However, it definitely isn't the most in your face.  It's very pretty and the depth is nice, but it's not really my favorite.  If you're a collector, by all means, see if you can dusty yourself a bottle.  However, I don't think that they're worth the price tag some people have placed on them in sales groups and blog sales.

Eternal Beauty

So now we've finally come to my favorite.  The Color Club Halo Hues collection has got to be my absolute favorite collection ever made.  Ever.  And that's saying something!  The holo is the most in your face of the six polishes, and it's also quite linear.  The best part?  Application was amazing.  Not only did it go on smoothly despite the lack of an aqua base, but it also was easy to manage while I was applying.  It didn't drag, clump, or bald, which is a huge improvement over their old formula.  I purchased my bottle on Amazon, but some people are finding them in stores and even in the clearance bins of stores.  I've never seen one in the wild near me, so that's why I went the online route.

Ultra Violet

Hands down the worst polish of the bunch.  The holo is beautiful and almost as vibrant as Eternal Beauty, but the application was a nightmare.  Again, I didn't use an aqua base, so it's probably my fault, but this polish definitely isn't made for someone who is just starting out in the polish world.  It balds as easily as George Costanza loses his toupee after pissing off Elaine!

(Source)

But really, it's a massive pain in the butt to work with.  As you can see, the color is almost the same shade as Eternal Beauty, but it's just a hair lighter.  They both have majorly intense holo pigmentation, but I can't help but come back to the application issues.  If I had to choose between the two, hands down the choice is Eternal Beauty.  I purchased this bottle from a friend at the request of a reader to compare it to Eternal Beauty, but you can purchase Layla holos at Ulta.

I Love Lamp

The last holo in this sextuplet of purple holos is Kelara's I Love Lamp.  It's on the lighter side, but still much darker than the pale purples I compared before.  It has a purple shimmer to it on top of the holo, which made it more difficult to capture the rainbow in my photos.  The rainbow is bright, but not nearly as bright as UV or Eternal Beauty.  Its application is also quite nice without any dragging, streaking, clumping, or balding.  You can purchase Kelara Lacquers at their online store.

My final verdict?  For the darks, I think I like LOL better than Wild at Heart, but it's not worth the cost.  For the lights, Eternal Beauty wins hands down.  I need to get a couple of backup bottles of that guy, stat!

So, what do you think?  Do you own any of these purple holos?  Which is your favorite and which could you do without?

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

Comparison Thursday: Galaxy Nails in a Bottle

Today's Comparison Thursday is a special one.  It's one of my new absolute favorite polishes plus a polish that is so highly sought after that it's kinda crazy.  I bring to you Comparison Thursday: Galaxy Nails in a Bottle Edition - Picture Polish Cosmos and Essie Starry Starry Night.

Both polishes are a dark deep blue with flecks of glitter that remind you of a night sky.  Essie's Starry Starry Night is a deep navy blue jelly with silver micro glitters.  Picture Polish Cosmos is a deep royal blue jelly with irregular holographic glitters.  Both have such a gorgeous depth, but they aren't actual duplicates.

Here they are together.

The bottle shots will show you a little how they look.

Here they are side by side.

Here they are blurry.  In this shot, you can clearly see that Cosmos has holo glitters whereas SSN has silver.  

Cosmos

Cosmos is a deep royal blue jelly with irregular holographic particles, and is lighter than Starry Starry Night.  The application was amazing, and the color was so ridiculously pigmented.  There wasn't any pooling, the polish flowed smoothly, and it really only needed one coat for opacity.  On my thumb in the photo above, I only have one coat of Cosmos.  The rest of these shots have two coats of Cosmos.  I couldn't accurately capture the sparkle and depth, but it really is something special.  The light catches it at different angles, which produces varying effects.  This has definitely jumped into my favorites list.  The wear is a little lackluster, but I attribute that to wearing Rejuvacote and Seche Vite instead of my normal super-stay combo of Bonder and OPI black label topcoat.  I'll have a proper review of this up next week.  The dry time was quite surprising.  The layers are pretty thin, so it only took a few minutes to dry without a quick dry topcoat.

Starry Starry Night

As you can see from the photos above, Starry Starry Night is significantly darker than Cosmos.  Further, the glitter in SSN are small silver hexes.  This polish is so old that it doesn't even say Essie on the bottle other than on the bottom label.  The smell was a little gross, but I'm not sure if it's the polish or something the salon I bought it from may have added to it.  I found this little gem at a salon nearby and immediately snapped it up despite the fact that it had maybe less than 1/8 left.  I added a bit of thinner, and it was good as new!  I could have probably added a little more thinner, though, as these two coats were the slightest bit goopy.  It also took a little while to dry.  The effect is quite pretty, but I think I like Cosmos better.  The silver isn't overpowering, so there's a nice balance between jelly and glitter.  I haven't worn this on its own yet, but I plan to soon.  I'll have a full review up at that time.

So, there they are!  Starry Starry Night is a deep navy blue with silver glitter, and Cosmos is a deep royal blue with holographic glitters.  While they are different, I think that Cosmos would easily kill any SSN lemming that you may have.  The formula was much easier to work with than SSN, and the color is just so rich.  You can purchase Picture Polish, an Australian brand, at Llarowe, Overall Beauty, and Harlow & Co. If you're looking for SSN, you'll need to scour your local salons to see if someone has a bottle they don't want anymore.

Which is your favorite?  Does Cosmos kill your SSN lemming?

China Glaze QT

I have another China Glaze OMG polish for you tonight - China Glaze QT.  QT has been discontinued for a while, but I managed to snag one at a salon a few months ago.  It's probably my second favorite of the OMG polishes, and only second to LOL by a hair.

Color: Hot pink

Finish: Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush: China Glaze brush – lid is a little hard to hold if you have problems grasping things.  The length and width of the brush are average with average application.

Opacity: High – opaque at two coats!

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush.

Overall Ease of Application: Hard – pools at the cuticles.  Drags, clumps, streaks, and can bald in spots.  Requires quick work to get a smooth result.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Like the other OMG polishes, QT was a bitch to apply.  Although, I seriously think it's worth the hassle.  I'm hoping that the new holo collection from China Glaze that will be out in a month or so has a better formula.  Anyway, QT lasted a long time on my nails for me at about 4 days.  I used QT with Nfu Oh Aqua Base and Seche Vite topcoat.  Also, note that the Seche Vite didn't dull the holo at all.  If you can find QT at a salon near you, grab it as quickly as you can.  There's a lot of hype for this collection, which may be a little overblown, but I believe that QT is deserving of the high praise.  While the application leaves much to be desired, the overall effect is stunning.  I've heard that the OMG polishes stamp really well, so I'm definitely planning to try it out soon.  I'll keep you guys posted on how that works out.

Keep your eyes peeled in a few weeks for the new China Glaze Hologlam collection!  Check out a sneak peek here. That navy is calling to me.

Also, don't forget about the Untried Parade giveaway going on at my Facebook page.  Post your untrieds and you could win a handmade polish by yours truly!  Get those pictures posted!!

What is your favorite holo in your stash?

China Glaze 2NITE

Who watched the NCAA National Championship last night?  I watched the first half then passed out on the couch, lol.  Oh well, I tried!  I didn't really have a dawg in that fight (see what I did there?), but I was a bit bummed that it was such a blow out.  I'm going to come right out and say it - I think the real national championship was played in Atlanta last December.  Just sayin'.

Aaaaaaanyway!  Tonight, let's take a look at China Glaze 2NITE.  I found this at a salon a few months ago, and they laughed at me when they sold it to me for $3 because it was used.  I laughed at them the whole way to the car while clutching my precious.  

Color: Dusty blue

Finish: Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush: China Glaze brush – lid is a little hard to hold if you have problems grasping things.  The length and width of the brush are average with average application.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush.

See that blemish on my middle finger?  Yeah, terrible application.

Overall Ease of Application: Hard – drags, clumps, streaks, and balds in spots.  Requires quick work to get a smooth result.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Wow.  While this polish is absolutely gorgeous, it is a MASSIVE pain in the tukus to apply.  You have to have on an aqua base or you need to buff your nail to a shine in order for this polish to apply well.  I've seen some people who can wear Orly Bonder as a basecoat who are still able to get an even application, but I haven't found that to be the case for me.  You have to work extremely fast or it will wrinkle, bald, and clump.  Plus, the wear time wasn't great and chipped within a day.  While this is a seriously gorgeous polish, the formula kind of kills it for me.  I definitely need to test it out with different base and top coats to see if I can get better wear out of it.  To be honest, I think that there are better holos coming out of the indie community that are just as gorgeous with much better application.

This little baby was discontinued a while ago and is an uber hard to find polish.  It was the first OMG polish I found in the wild.  While I was always into nail polish, I didn't really buy a lot of polish before this past year.  Plus, I usually stuck with just OPIs, so I probably wouldn't have gotten a China Glaze anyway.  Now, however, I love me some China Glaze.  I also love me some holos.  I'm obsessed, actually.  I can't wait until the new China Glaze holos come out this year!!!  I'm going to put those on the calender to purchase the whole set!  Although, I'm really hoping they fix the formula issues.

Are you planning to buy any of the new China Glaze holos?

Fantasy Fire!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrate it, otherwise, I hope you all had a great Thursday!  It appears that this week is a multichrome week!!  With the exception of my Thanksgiving mani, at least.  Let's take a look at Max Factor Fantasy Fire, shall we?!  I received this in a swap, but it is unfortunately only available in Europe.  Another sad thing about it, it comes in a tiny bottle.  Only 9 mls versus a normal sized bottle of 15 ml.  Conservation is key here, people.

Fantasy Fire is a purple based polish that shifts between purple, gold, red, and green.  It was really uneven on application, so it needs three coats.  I only used two, and there are visible bald spots in places on my nail, which isn't really noticeable in the pictures.  This is one of those few color shifting polishes that is just as beautiful on the nail as in the bottle.  It is a near duplicate of Clarins 230 (Unicorn Pee) and Urban Decay Toxin.  Those are super hard to finds, so I don't have any to do a dupe comparison.  I can't justify spending that much on one bottle, no matter how much I want it!  So, without further ado, here is my Max Factor Fantasy Fire!

Check it out in the bottle - gorgeous color shift!

Here are a few shots at different angles to show the shift on my nails.  This is two coats over a SOG I frankened a few weeks ago (pics of that will come later).

Man, I miss my longer nails.  They are super nubs right now due to massive damage I inflicted on them from peeling polish and peeling SOGs.  Even the Rejuvacote hasn't kept them from tearing on the sides just at the free edge.  It's been very sad around here because of that.  I mean, they're so short that there isn't a free edge to be found right now.  The Rejuvacote was working wonders on the length, but I still have too much damage to keep them long for a decent amount of time.  I'm just going to have to wait until all of the damage grows out.  Le sigh.

Anyway, back to Fantasty Fire.  Here's a closeup shot to see the color a little better:

Lastly, here's a blury pic from my iphone to show what it looks like in the sun:

Do you have any of the mythical Unicorn Pee polishes (Clarins 230, Urban Decay Toxin, Girly Bits Shift Happens, Max Factor Fantasy Fire, or Nfu Oh 51)?

Black Tie Optional

Tonight's post will be short.  I hate doing short posts, but I feel bad skipping a post, too.  I guess a short post is the lesser of two evils?  As I mentioned before, I'm not painting my nails as often as normal right now because I'm testing out a new treatment, which requires you to leave the treatment on for 7 days with a fresh coat every day.  I was able to keep the same color of polish on for 4 days before they started chipping and flaking off in sheets.  I think that the additional coats are making it so thick that it's chipping and flaking pretty easily.  I am skeptical that you need to apply a fresh coat every day, but I'm going to follow the instructions to the letter for now to see how it works.  So far, it seems to be working pretty well.  I can tell a noticeable difference in length and strength, which is saying something because my nails grow at a snail's pace.  I'm going to track my progress every week for the next four weeks, and I'll do one big post with the outcome and my review sometime in December.  I didn't want to wear paint this week, but I have had so much to do and hate having nekkid nails.  I've already done my Thanksgiving mani, which I'll show you guys on Thursday!

Anyway, tonight I have OPI Black Tie Optional for your viewing pleasure.  I found BTO during a dusty hunt, and I snapped it up immediately.  Unfortunately, this guy has been long discontinued.  BTO is a vampy purple multichrome polish that flashes gold and green depending on the light.  It applies really well like most OPI black labels, but it also smelled pretty bad.  The multichrome shows up as well on the nail as it does in the bottle, which, I feel, is atypical for most multichromes.  I tend to feel let down after realizing the bottle is so much prettier than my manicure.  BTO did not disappoint!  This is three coats.

Like I said before, Black Tie Optional is a discontinued shade, so you'll only be able to find it where really old polishes are sold (like at salons).  I love it and think it's well worth the hunt if you decide you want to dusty for it.

Do you have any duochromes or multichromes that show up just as well on the nail as in the bottle?

Comparison Thursday: Light Purples

Today's Comparison Thursday will be quick and dirty.  Since we're looking at cremes, there aren't any macro shots.  Hopefully, though, you can see how these four polishes compare to one another.  Let's take a look at Revlon Charming, OPI Rumples Wiggin', OPI Done out in Deco, and Essie She's Picture Perfect.

Three of the four are straight up cremes: Charming, RW, and DoiD.  SPP is a shimmer.  This is three coats for the cremes and 2 coats for the shimmer.

I made this guy giant so you can see the details a little better since I don't have any macro shots tonight.

Charming is the cheapest alternative to the four light purples.  It's a Revlon, so it does have a bit of an application problem generally.  You know, it's sheer in some spots but clumps in others.  Luckily, it didn't give me any problems with this swatch, so it looks pretty good.  It's just a hair darker than RW and a bit lighter than DoiD.  It's a pretty good substitute for the other three polishes as it's close in color, not discontinued, and not ridiculously expensive.  Charming is available where Revlons are sold.

Rumples Wiggin' has a pink tint making it lighter than the others that all lean a little blue.  It has the best application of them all.  Unfortunately, it's discontinued, but you can still find it at salons both used and new.  If you decide to get a used bottle, make sure it hasn't been sitting near the window as the color can quickly grey out.  I've seen some RWs that look blue because they've faded so much.

Done out in Deco is a dusty lavender that spreads evenly and smoothly.  Unfortunately, it is also discontinued and goes for quite a bit of money on ebay.  However, again, you can find this guy at salons if you look hard enough!

Finally, there's Essie She's Picture Perfect.  SPP is a light purple with a pink shimmer that makes this polish glow.  Unfortunately, it applied the worst out of the four tonight.  Usually, I have the most problems with the Revlon, but for some reason the Essie was being a major pain today.  You can even see the clumpiness on the right side wall. 

Since these are cremes, there's not a whole lot to say.  The OPIs applied the best out of all of them.  If you can't find RW or DoiD, I think that Revlon Charming would be a pretty good substitute.  What do you think?

Which is your favorite?

Rude.

As I was in the break room washing my cherries, without a word, a dude just sneaks up behind me to wash his pear - despite the fact that I was still working on cleaning my cherries.  Like, his arm just came up out of nowhere around me to use the sink.  It was the most bizarre thing ever.  Then, the dude proceeds to walk to the trashcan in the corner to eat his pear.  I had to scoot around him to get a plate, fork, and knife for my cherries (I don't like to crunch into the pits - I'd rather just cut them out beforehand), and he just says "I have to eat this pear over the trashcan.  It's so messy!"

(Source)

If your pear is so messy that you have to eat it over a trashcan, it's probably rotten.  I mean, seriously.  Rude.  And weird.


Anyway, enough about my encounters with the strange, let's get down to business!  Today is untried mani #10, which also happens to be a major fail.

I have a love hate relationship with oranges and corals.  Sometimes, if the color is just right, I can pull them off.  However, more often than not, I simply just can't do coral, salmon, or orange.  I guess I'm kind of glad I went to a college with red and black as their primary colors!  Anyway, back on to nail polish.  Today, I tried out OPI Equadorable Coral, Girly Bits Jelly Shoes, and Pretty and Polished Beach Bunny.

Do you see the gorgeous gold/yellow flashes in Equadorable Coral?  What about the pretty blue in Jelly Shoes?

Equadorable Coral is an older OPI from the Spring 2002 South American collection.  It has a black label, which means it was made before OPI certified that their polishes were big three free.  It's also considered very hard to find since it's no longer in production.  I happened upon this gorgeous little guy on a recent dusty hunt, and I snapped him right up.  Like many of the black label OPIs, Equadorable Coral applied like a dream.  It was opaque in almost 1 coat, but I applied 2 to be safe.  Jelly Shoes by Girly Bits is part of her summer Slapdash collection and can be purchased from her store on Big Cartel.  It's a jelly that required 3 coats to be opaque.  It looks so squishy and delicious, doesn't it?!  Like all of Pam's Girly Bits, Jelly Shoes applied very easily.  The flashes of blue seriously make this polish.  She currently has Jelly Shoes in stock, and I would highly recommend you purchasing the entire collection.  

See the coral doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look great.  Not like Jelly Shoes, which will get its own post soon.  Omg, Jelly Shoes is HOT!

Then, here comes the real and massive fail, I added Pretty and Polished Beach Bunny on top.  I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't get into this polish at all.  The hubby said it looked gross and that I needed to get rid of it.  Charming, isn't he?  

Hot mess.

I'm not really sure what it is that rubs me the wrong way.  I guess the larger pink and fuchsia hexes just seemed really out of place.  Especially the darker pink on my thumb.  Plus, the matte white hexes just seemed to go on very thick and clumpy.  I'm sure some thinner would've evened them out a little bit, but I don't really want to take the time out to add any and try again.  From the little time I wore this polish, I just couldn't get into it at all.  Even the pretty pink flashes from Jelly Shoes couldn't save this manicure.

The hot pink tries to pull this mani out of disaster, but falls short.

Needless to say, I plan to sell both Beach Bunny and Equadorable Coral, and they should be listed on my sale page by Sunday.  Well, we've kind of had a ton of flops on the blog lately!  Sorry about that!  The next post will be positive.  Promise!  Although, we are at 21 followers!!!!! 4 more and I can open up the Color Club giveaway!!!

Anyway, I have tons to do this weekend.  After being sick and home from work all week, I have to try and make up those hours this weekend.  Plus, my parents are in town, so I plan to hang out with my family this weekend.  Lots of things to do!  Hope you all have a fantastic and safe weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend?  Do you have nail polish colors that look bad on you without fail?