Teal Hydrangea is a gorgeous turquoise/teal creme polish. I used two coats plus top coat; the formula was great.
Here’s a comparison with a couple of other turquoises: left to right/top to bottom are BDL Teal Hydrangea, China Glaze Aquadelic (2 coats plus top coat), China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle (3coats plus top coat).
I really love China Glaze At Vase Value. Four thin coats (plus topcoat) to even out the streaks is what’s shown here, which sounds like a lot, but it dries extremely fast. You can easily go digging through your purse five minutes later and not smudge the polish at all. These photos are all with flash since they were taken at night.
Since At Vase Value makes me think of another favourite bright pastel turquoise of mine, Color Club Blue-Ming, I did a little comparison. Blue-Ming is on the left (index nail) three coats plus topcoat, At Vase Value on the other three nails. As you can see, Blue-Ming is a little darker and greener. I love them both!
Today I’m wearing Glitter Gal Suede, a great creme-based taupe brown holo.
Two easy coats plus top coat shown here, with flash.
Under Ott Lite:
This is actually the second day I’m wearing this mani, and I got a couple of chipped nails on my right hand while doing some chores last night, so I decided to repaint those nails with a matching creme polish, Finger Paints Haute Taupe (2 coats although it’s almost a one-coater), and added stamping using Color Club Sugar Rays and an image from Messy Mansion MM13. With flash:
Sugar Rays is a pale silvery taupe shimmer with pink-gold duochrome that works quite well for stamping! Under Ott Lite:
Edited to add: I was thinking that Haute Taupe reminded me a lot of something else I wore recently, Milani Teddy-Bare, so I did this quick comparison. Milani Teddy-Bare is on my index, FingerPaints Haute Taupe on my middle finger (Glitter Gal Suede on my ring and pinky, of course). Both were two coats – when I wore the Milani as a mani, I needed three coats and found the formula thin, but it must have had something to do with the weather or something, because that wasn’t the case when I did the comparison! Anyway, as you can see they are similar but Haute Taupe is significantly warmer toned.
I’ve been tempted by these Nicole by OPI “Roughles” textured polishes that came out this spring, but didn’t want to spend full price on them (10.99 each here in Canada!). Since they seem to be starting to disappear from some of the drugstores without being put on clearance I decided to try my hand at frankening something similar.
Here are the ingredients I used to try to dupe the yellow one, Sand in My Shoe: mostly Color Club Coastline (white texture) with Jordana Yellow Madness (yellow texture) added, along with one drop of the green China Glaze In The Rough and three drops of the orange Toe-tally Textured, and one small scoop of tiny coral-pink matte glitter.
I think maybe it could use a touch more of the matte coral-pink glitter, but overall I’m pretty happy with it! 😀
I have a few random phone pics of relatively-recent manis to share today!
Quo by Orly Infinity and Beyond (same as Orly Milky Way), layered over Cosmetic Arts Sky High (which I think is the same as Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau). Accent nail is just the Cosmetic Arts by itself.
Kleancolor Concrete, a one-coater, with Kleancolor Yogurt Raisins on the accent nail.
Maya Cosmetics Big Chief, two coats. The glitter was a little sparse but other than that it had a great formula.
And finally, Misa High Brow, a gorgeous vampy purple shimmer with a satin-matte finish. On my rarely-seen right hand:
On my usual hand, with topcoat:
I should have posted this ages ago, but then I lost the photos of the nail wheel comparisons… or maybe I forgot to take the photos, I don’t know! So I took new ones recently, but they aren’t exactly colour-accurate… Ah well, I’m posting them anyway! 😀
Here is Zoya Zuza, a beautiful shimmery turquoise. Two coats, and the formula was a little thick, according to my notes. I love Zuza.
Zoya Wednesday, a slightly dusty turquoise/minty/tiffany blue creme. Two coats, three on my ridgey ring finger. The formula on this one was a little thin.
And here are the comparisons! The photos are not colour accurate; they photographed a bit too green and dark, which you can see by comparing Wednesday (3:00 position on the left wheel) to the swatch photos above. So keeping that in mind, the pic can give an idea of how similar they are to other polishes in the same colour family. Zuza is directly next to Wednesday on the other wheel, at the 9:00 position on that wheel. Should have numbered the polishes on the wheels, sorry about that…
(Not colour accurate, leans slightly too green.) Left wheel, clockwise from 3:00 position: Zoya Wednesday, Color Club New Bohemian, Orly Gumdrop, Nubar Mod Agua, Cult Nails Manipulative, Kleancolor Pastel Teal, Soulstice Kona, Sephora by OPI Natural Environ-mint, NYX Girls Pistachio, Essence You Belong To Me, China Glaze Aquadelic, Color Club Blue-Ming, NYX Salon Formula Surf, Barry M Mint Green, Orly Ancient Jade, Fingerpaints Choco Mint, NCLA Santa Monica Shore Thing, Fingerpaints Tiffany Impostor.
Right wheel, clockwise from 9:00: Zoya Zuza, Nicole by OPI Diva Into the Pool, Manglaze ILF, Milani Golden Sea, LA Girl Delirious, China Glaze Custom Kicks, Kleancolor Teal Envy, Kleancolor Mystic Grass, Sparitual Rhythm of Life, Butter London Thames, Gosh Ocean, LA Girl Obsess, Kleancolor Teal Marble, Kleancolor Metallic Aqua, Fingerpaints Winter Sky, NYX Juliette, LA Girl Chromium Green, Kleancolor Metallic Jungle.
I’ve got something a little different on the blog today! I was contacted not long ago by Vegan Cuts, a vegan business that has an online marketplace and two different kinds of monthly subscription boxes, and asked if I’d like to review one of the monthly beauty boxes. (The other subscription box is a vegan snack box! cool!)
Here’s how they describe the beauty box: “The easiest way to discover cruelty-free brands without committing to full-size products or prices. Each month you’ll receive a delivery of 4-7 new products to try, ranging from unique cosmetics to luxurious skincare.”
I received the December box to review, and here it is!
I had a little helper when I was trying to take items out of the box and photograph them. Fred Hampton!
Fred says that his personal favourite items from the box are the little crinkly packing paper strips, and the tube of lip balm! 😉
Anyway, let’s see everything that was in the box, shall we? 😀
Nail polish! A set of four minis from the Color Club Harlem Lights collection. I’ll be giving these babies their own swatch post in the near future!
Next, a sample of Soapbox black soap – I haven’t tried this yet, but I love black soap! – a Ferro eyeshadow sample, and two LA Fresh oil-free face cleansing cloths. I tried one of the cleansing cloths – it was really nice, does a great job removing makeup, and leaves your face feeling refreshed, no rinsing needed.
Here we have a cute little pleather coin purse by Lavishy, a tube of Spearmint Jersey Shore Sun lip balm, and two Everyday Minerals makeup samples. I’ve been using the lip balm and I love it! Nice and minty and very moisturizing and conditioning. My lips have been pretty chapped with the extreme cold weather lately – the spearmint oil in this lip balm feels all tingly (in a good way!) and it does a great job getting rid of peeling, flaking skin.
Here’s a better look at the Lavishy coin purse. Really nice textured-look pleather!
Here are the Everyday Minerals samples – All Smiles blush and Finishing Dust finishing powder. The little sample packets are recloseable at the top.
I actually already own a larger size of this blush, so I thought I’d show a photo of what it looks like! I used to have a container of Finishing Dust too, but I must have used it up because I couldn’t find it!
Here is the Ferro eyeshadow sample, and below is the label on the back.
Swatches, left to right: All Smiles Blush, Finishing Dust, and Hollywood Blvd. eyeshadow. In sunlight:
With flash:
The Vegan Cuts website states that when they send makeup in the beauty box, it won’t be anything that is specific to only a narrow range of skin tones, and I think they’ve succeeded with that here! All Smiles is a coral-pink shade of blush that should look good on just about anyone. If I recall correctly, I think it’s Everyday Minerals’ most popular shade of blush. Finishing Dust, which as I’ve mentioned, I’ve used before, is a very translucent powder for setting your makeup and absorbing moisture, and doesn’t add any colour itself when applied as a finishing powder. Hollywood Blvd. eyeshadow looks like a great neutral brown tone that has some pink and green sparkle to it.
In the box, there was also a card with more information on each of the items and about Vegan Cuts.
So there you have it! A subscription box service without any animal use, such a great initiative! The variety of items in the December box was great, and the items I’ve tried so far are awesome. According to the website, the January boxes ship out on January 20th, so there’s still time to sign up for them. Subscribing costs 19.95$USD per month, with varying rates for shipping depending on where you are (free shipping to the US, 8$ to Canada, and 15$ to other countries). For more info you can refer to their website here: http://vegancuts.com/beautybox
Disclosure: the products in this post (except the one noted) were provided by Vegan Cuts for my honest review.
Here’s another polish from last fall – Color Club Port-folio from the In True Fashion collection. This is a great purple with duochrome green/pink shimmer. First photo is under a halogen lamp.
Shown are two coats (three on a couple of nails where I had bald spots). Next three photos in overcast natural light:
The formula on this one is good, but a little care does need to be taken to get the brush strokes straight (they’re much less noticeable after it dries, though). The last two photos are under the Ott Light, and the first one really shows the fuchsia-pink shift of the duochrome.
I was afraid I might not like this one on me, since I don’t really care for dark purple/green duochromes on myself (I like them on others though), but I *love* this medium purple one!
China Glaze Neon & On & On and Shell-o are from their recent Sunsational collection of neons. Since they’re both in the pink-coral family, I thought I’d post them together along with nail wheel swatches of all the neon pinks I own!
Shell-o is a neon coral pink jelly. I used three coats over ridge filler for the swatches. I didn’t have problems with application for this one.
It dries somewhere between glossy and matte, and these photos do not include top coat.
In the shade:
Neon & On & On is a warm/coral leaning pastel neon pink creme. I used three coats over ridge filler, plus top coat.
The formula on this one was difficult to work with. It helps to not go over the same spot twice while applying each coat.
It dries very quickly, so that’s a plus. The polish dries matte, and a little lumpy before topcoat due to the thick and quick-drying formula. But top coat really helps to even it out. Next time I think I’ll try adding thinner to this one.
In the shade:
ANd now for the great neon pink comparison! I’m including two photos in slightly different lighting (apologies that the orientation of the wheel isn’t quite the same in both photos).
1) Kleancolor Barbie Pink, 2) China Glaze Surfin’ for Boys, 3) China Glaze Flirty Tankini, 4) China Glaze Shell-o, 5) China Glaze Pink Plumeria, 6) China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, 7) China Glaze Neon & On & On, 8) Milani Pink Hottie, 9) Color Club Electro candy, 10) Zoya Kiki, 11) Color Club Poptastic, 12) Kleancolor Neon Pink, 13) Misa Girls’ Night Out, 14) Kleancolor Pink Lady, 15) Zoya Renée, 16) Orly Passion Fruit, 17) China Glaze Rose Among Thorns, 18) Misa Bikini With a Martini
1) Kleancolor Barbie Pink, 2) China Glaze Surfin’ for Boys, 3) China Glaze Flirty Tankini, 4) China Glaze Shell-o, 5) China Glaze Pink Plumeria, 6) China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, 7) China Glaze Neon & On & On, 8) Milani Pink Hottie, 9) Color Club Electro candy, 10) Zoya Kiki, 11) Color Club Poptastic, 12) Kleancolor Neon Pink, 13) Misa Girls’ Night Out, 14) Kleancolor Pink Lady, 15) Zoya Renée, 16) Orly Passion Fruit, 17) China Glaze Rose Among Thorns, 18) Misa Bikini With a Martini
I still have some really old photos from when I started blogging, so I thought I would post them in a few installments!
This first one is a fall mani that I really loved! Thumb to pinkie: Finger Paints Sketchy Character, a mustard yellow frankenpolish, Kleancolor Fashionista, China Glaze Brownstone, Joe Fresh Pumpkin. The glitter gradient over everything was done with Nubar Lime Green Glitter and Orange Glitter.
Next, Orly Wild Wisteria with China Glaze Brownstone accent:
I’ll finish up this first vault post with swatches of the creme half of the Color Club Back to Boho collection, along with a couple of layering combos using them.
Shabby Drab:
With Color Club Jingle Jangle overtop:
Color Club Earthy Angel:
Color Club New Bohemian:
Color Club Nomadic in Nude:
Color Club Rad Nomad:
Color Club Red-ical Gypsy – gotta say, the stereotypical gypsy-themed polish names just make me think of cultural appropriation… This is a nice red though, and look! An appearance from my little Thor!
With an accent of Cult Nails Hypnotize Me and Nubar V matte top coat:
Vegan Claws 
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