A vegan nail polish blog. A celebration of colour and light, as well as of justice for nonhuman animals.

Archive for November, 2011

Wet n Wild On the Prowl (partial) collection

Wet n Wild Cougar Attack

On Halloween I posted Wet n Wild’s Cougar Attack (an awesome brown jelly with orangey-copper glitter, shown again above) from their limited edition and annoyingly hard to find On the Prowl Halloween collection; here are the other polishes I got from the same collection.

Buy Me a Drink
Wet n Wild Buy Me a Drink
Wet n Wild Buy Me a Drink
A gorgeous glowy shimmery plum burgundy. This is my favourite from the collection after Cougar Attack. Shown is three coats, no top coat (none of these photos have top coat).

Ready to Pounce
Wet n Wild Ready to Pounce
Wet n Wild Ready to Pounce
Wet n Wild Ready to Pounce
This is a blue-based purple with red-purple shimmer. It’s also nice and glowy, though less so than Buy Me a Drink. This was two coats, but it could have used three because of the crappy brush (more about that later). The colour is off in the last photo, but it shows off the shimmer really well if you click on it for the larger version.

Jungle Fever
Wet n Wild Jungle Fever
A light grass green shimmer with metallic shimmer particles. This was three coats.

Tangled in My Web
Wet n Wild Jungle Fever and Tangled in My Web
Medium-sized, opaque black hex glitter in a clear base. This is one thick coat over Jungle Fever, sort of dabbed on more than just brushed on, which is how I usually apply polishes like this. I really like this one too.

I decided to turn the Jungle Fever – Tangled in My Web layering into a jelly sandwich by adding a coat of Barry M Lime overtop. Here it is in natural light and then under a lamp.
Wet n Wild Jungle Fever and Tangled in My Web, with Barry M Lime
Wet n Wild Jungle Fever and Tangled in My Web, with Barry M Lime

I did have application problems with the shimmers from this collection. I don’t know if I was just unlucky, but the brushes were awful. Uneven bristles that leave big drag marks all down the nail. The formula of the polish is thick and not very self-leveling too, which certainly doesn’t help with the drag marks! Cougar Attack had a better brush than the shimmers, or perhaps I just didn’t notice anything since it’s a glitter polish so I expected it to end up a bit bumpy. I didn’t notice any issues with the brush on Tangled in My Web, but then since it’s a clear layering glitter, again, it’s quite possible that I just didn’t notice since it applies so much differently.

Anyway, this collection has some great shades, brush problem notwithstanding! My favourites are Cougar Attack, Buy Me a Drink, and Tangled in My Web. The other two shades in the collection that I didn’t end up getting are Behind Closed Doors (I have NYX Girls Dorothy which from what I can tell online is a dupe with a much better formula) and Correction Tape, a multi-coloured layering hex glitter.

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Barry M, Wet n Wild

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NYX Jungle

This lovely polish is NYX Jungle! Turquoise blue with golden-green shimmer. This is 3 coats, so if you can’t stand visible nail lines then this polish may not be for you. Personally, I love it and don’t mind that it’s fairly sheer. It would also be good for layering over an opaque creme. The formula was great, no issues with application. If you’re in Canada you can still order this polish from nyxcosmetics.ca; not sure where else it’s available as the other websites where I buy NYX don’t have it anymore… Definitely worth hunting down though!
NYX Jungle

NYX Jungle

NYX Jungle
Oh, and these photos are without topcoat.

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NYX

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Zoya Codie

This is Zoya’s Codie from the recent fall Smoke collection. It’s a dark brown creme with a distinctly green undertone. I love the colour, but didn’t love the application quite so much!

I found that the formula was kind of thick, and had a bit of that thick-yet-runny thing going on. Shown in the photos are 3 coats, no base coat or top coat. It was streaky at one coat and there were still a few bald spots at two coats. I also got some bubbling. The bald spots and bubbles were probably due to not waiting long enough between coats. I need to remember to be more patient with Zoya cremes and let them dry for a few minutes between coats!

In sun:
Zoya Codie
In overcast natural light:
Zoya Codie

I do really love this shade though. I’ll definitely try it again with a bit more patience, I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end!

Category:

Zoya

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China Glaze Midtown Magic

I think this is one of my new favourite polishes. This one is from China Glaze's recent fall collection, Metro. It looks almost black, but it's actually a dark vampy plum. Before putting it on, I thought it really was going to be black – I must have previously read in blog reviews that it wasn't, but had forgotten by the time I got around to trying it! It has golden shimmer that looks like a combination of gold and red sparkles as it shines through the plum base. A really gorgeous combination.

This is two coats with Poshe topcoat; the first coat was a bit streaky but a second, thicker coat evened it out.
China Glaze Midtown Magic

China Glaze Midtown Magic

China Glaze Midtown Magic

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China Glaze

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LA Girl Electric Guitar & Leopard Nails

I recently picked up a few polishes from the LA Girl Rock Star collection; Electric Guitar is the first one I’ve tried. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I do – not that I didn’t think I would like it, but I wasn’t really expecting to be wowed by it like I am. These photos show three coats in direct sunlight. The formula was great and easy to apply, and dries fairly quickly.
LA Girl Rock Star Electric Guitar
It’s a warm golden orangey foil with holographic micro glitter and larger hex iridescent glitter. I really like it on my skin tone; it seems fairly subtle until you see it up close. This slightly blurred shot shows off the iridescent glitter a bit better if you click on the larger version, but still doesn’t really do it justice.
LA Girl Rock Star Electric Guitar

Tonight I did my FW’s nails (long story but she and I call each other “FW”), and she wanted leopard nails. I practised first on top of my Electric Guitar mani and I think it turned out quite well! The spots were made freehand using Zoya Penny and Zoya Raven. The following photos are all taken under the Ott light and look quite a bit cooler toned than in real life.
LA Girl Rock Star Electric Guitar & Leopard Nails

LA Girl Rock Star Electric Guitar & Leopard Nails

She chose Milani French Toast as the base for her leopard nails. Here are the two leopards! (I don’t know why my fingers are always so much redder than my actual skin tone, but this photo really makes it apparent, yikes.)
Leopard Nails
Detail of my FW’s leopard nails:
Milani French Toast & Leopard Nails
This first foray into leopard print nails was a lot of fun!

Category:

LA Girl, Milani, Zoya

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Cult Nails Fall 2011

Since Cult Nails’ winter collection is already up for pre-sale on their website (until November 11th), I realized that it’s well past time for me to post my swatches of their fall collection!

Cult Nails Fall 2011 collection

I originally bought these polishes in the last pre-sale and received and swatched them in August, but wasn’t happy with some of the photos (hmmm, seems like I’ve said that before…) so I recently redid the swatches for Awakening and Enigmatic. So if my nails and the conditions of the photos look different, it’s because they are!

Awakening

This is a muted teal creme; I love this kind of colour. The formula is thin and it’s sheer and a little streaky on the first coat, but with three coats as shown here, it evens out to a smooth creme finish.

Cult Nails Awakening
Cult Nails Awakening

Enigmatic

This is a vampy raisin coloured polish; it has a sheer brownish base with plum coloured shimmer that has flashes of reddish and bluish shimmer particles when the light hits it. An interesting complex colour, but like Awakwning, the formula is very thin and sheer, and it was streaky at one and two coats. This is three coats in the photos, and to be honest I think it might have benefited from a fourth.
Cult Nails Enigmatic
Cult Nails Enigmatic
Cult Nails Enigmatic

In a Trance

This is an army green with gold shimmer. I love this!! This one had a great formula, the best of the collection. It was smooth, self-leveling, and easy to apply. This is three coats.
Cult Nails In a Trance
I also wanted to see how this compared to OPI At Your Quebec and Call and a few other olive green polishes I have. From the bottle comparison it was clear that they aren’t dupes, but they are similar.
Cult Nails In a Trance comparison with OPI At Your Quebec and Call

Here is the comparison photo, from thumb to pinkie: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Swamp Thing ( a creme, but I wanted to see how the base colour compared), Zoya Yara, In a Trance, OPI At Your Quebec and Call, and China Glaze Cat’s Eye. All are three coats, all have good application. As usual, you can click on the photo (and any of the other photos) to see more detail.
Cult Nails In a Trance comparison
The base colour of Swamp Thing is indeed close to In a Trance’s base colour, although Swamp Thing is a bit darker. Zoya Yara has more of a blue-grey tone to it so it’s not close at all. At Your Quebec and Call is the closest to In a Trance, but the OPI is slightly more sheer, has a denser shimmer/slight frostiness. The reflection from the denser shimmer makes it look a tad lighter overall. China Glaze Cat’s Eye is lighter and more yellow than In a Trance, and is frostier than the OPI.

Hypnotize Me

This is a pretty unique polish! Sheer aqua blue-green with duochrome aqua/violet glitter (although these photos didn’t capture the violet, it’s quite obvious on the nail when seen at an angle). It’s got a jelly finish, but it dries fairly matte. For the photos I used Nubar Diamont as top coat, but it also makes a great accent nail as-is for any satiny-matte polish. Without topcoat, when dry, it’s not completely smooth but it’s not bumpy either; more like a very fine sandpaper. With topcoat it becomes smooth. The polish has a kind of weird goopy texture, but the application isn’t problematic at all. It’s meant to be a layering polish but I like it by itself too. This is three coats in the pictures.
Cult Nails Hypnotize Me
Cult Nails Hypnotize Me
And here it is layered (one coat) over the other polishes in the collection: from top, In a Trance, Enigmatic, Awakening. It looks great over all three of them!
Cult Nails Hypnotize Me, layered

Overall this is a great collection; I really love the colour choices! I’m looking forward to their winter collection…

Category:

Cult Nails

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Kleancolor Mud Pie Sparkle

This is a unique and kind of weird polish, so needless to say I like it a lot! It’s a muddy cool brown with silver shimmer particles and sparse opaque black hex glitter. Formula is good; this was two coats and easy to apply. Be prepared for silver shimmer particles that get everywhere during removal though! These pictures are lit by overcast natural light plus my Ott light.

Kleancolor Mud Pie Sparkle

Kleancolor Mud Pie Sparkle

Kleancolor Mud Pie Sparkle

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Kleancolor

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