Goodbye, Summer

The nights are getting nippy, the fragrance of wood smoke is in the air, and Halloween will be here in a couple of weeks.  There’s no denying that fall is here and summer is over.  Still, I wanted to do a last hurrah with some summery nail polish spam.

Nicole by OPI OMB! (Justin Bieber collection)

 

LA Colors Raspberry

Some Sinful Colors pink underneath OPI I Lilly Love You

Wet N Wild Waves of Enchantment

 

LA Colors Shock

China Glaze Solar Power

 

LA Colors Lime

Wet N Wild Ocean Grotto

MAK3 Color aka dollar store Kleancolor reject – forget the name of this green.

 

Hard Candy Frenzy

Sinful Colors Rise N Shine

 

Wet N Wild Blue Wants to be a Millionaire

 

Brash Electric Sky

 

Butter London No More Waity Kaity

Wet N Wild Sea of Dreams

 

MAK3 Color aka dollar store Kleancolor reject – think this one is called Neon Purple.

Wet N Wild Sea Witch

 

 

~ Allison ~

ORLY Velvet Rope + A Green Franken

I discovered that Bed, Bath and Beyond has a big cosmetics section!  Wooo!  I restrained myself and only bought one polish, Orly Velvet Rope. It’s a medium purple shimmer with flecks of silver glitter, giving it a nice sparkle without the all-out glamour of a full glitter polish. To me it looks very regal.

Application was smooth and mess-free.  This is two coats.

And, here is a franken I made that turned out better than I expected.  It’s a combination of Sinful Colors San Francisco (which I reviewed last post), American Apparel Hunter (reviewed here), and Fantasy Makers glitter confetti, a fine holographic glitter.  I named her Emerald Slippers, because the color reminded me of Oz, and this is the color Dorothy’s slippers would be if they were green!  This is two coats.  The glitter made for a slightly gritty surface but one coat of Seche Vite fixed that.

 

~ Allison ~

Holo-Fest! Part I

We have been hit with so much rain in New York for the past couple of weeks.  So, when the sun emerged yesterday with a forecast of rays all day, I snatched up my camera and polishes and did some swatching for you.  Viola – here are the holographic nail polishes I have in my collection.

I’ll kick off this post with the Milani 3D Holographic Collection.  It has been available for awhile, but for some reason I couldn’t find these locally til a couple of months ago.  Anyway, I’m so glad I scooped up all 6 because they are gorgeous!  Unlike some holos, these went on like a dream, with no dragging or splotchiness.  I didn’t use any special basecoat – just my usual Essie Millionails.  These dry very shiny, as well – you don’t need a topcoat to get that glossy look.  On to the swatches!

HD is a bright, clear silver.

3D is a warm golden holo.

Hi-Tech is a crazy gorgeous yellow-green.  I love how there are both color particles in this one in addition to the holographic.  Since it’s such a chameleon I had a hard time capturing the color with my camera.

 

Cyberspace is a blue holo that looks baby blue or blue gray, depending on the light. This one is extra spectacular in the sun!

Digital is a cool-toned medium pink.

Hi-Res is a lilac purple with tons of holo goodness.  It’s such a stunner that I thought it deserved an extra photo.

What a rainbow!

All of these are two coats except for HD (the silver), which was not as opaque as the others, for some reason.  I’m really glad Milani dipped their toes into the holographic nail polish stream (ooh, that sounds refreshing, can I go?).  These manage to be chock-full of chunky holo particles while giving off a linear shine and drying smooth and glossy on the nail.  They also look fantastic both in low/indoor light and bright sunlight.  My absolute faves are Hi-Res (purple), Cyberspace (blue), and Hi-Tech (green).  Get your paws on these polishes for $5.99 apiece at CVS.

How do you think these compare to some of the other holographic nail polishes – OPI DS, Color Club, etc?

Watch for Part II of Holo-Fest, coming soon!

 

~ Allison ~

 

Prevail Concrete Jungle Holographic

When I first spotted this polish in the dimly-lit Prevail section of Duane Reade, I thought I saw a peek of holo in the bottle.  Outside in the sunlight it was clear that my premonition was correct!  I was excited because I’ve never found a holographic nail polish in a drug store before.  Say hello to Concrete Jungle.

Under low light and indoors this polish looks like a dusty lavender/pink.  (That helped make it a bit more office-friendly for me.)  Although the formula was thin, it was super-smooth and easy to apply without being runny.  Here I used 3 coats.

All it needs is a bit of light for the linear holo to really pop!  I believe this is called a linear holographic due to the bands of refraction.

I kept this on for several days and couldn’t stop admiring my nails!  It was so chameleon-light in different types of light.  My only qualm is that it chipped on the first day, even with a top coat.  I wonder if layering it on top of another color would help it wear longer?

~ Allison ~