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

Posts tagged ‘brick’

Zoya Natalie and comparisons

Someone on Makeup Alley’s nail board was asking about dupes for Zoya Natalie so I did some comparisons. First, here’s Natalie.

Sun:

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Ott lite:

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Natural shade:

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Here are the bottles I compared:

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OPI Ginger Bells, Zoya Natalie, Kleancolor Brown, SpaRitual Clay.

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SpaRitual Quartz, Zoya Natalie, Joe Fresh Terracotta, OPI Schnapps Out of It.

First set under Ott lite:

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First set with flash:

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Second set under Ott lite:aviary-image-1521994660619.jpeg

Second set with flash:aviary-image-1521995671157.jpeg

No exact dupes but some similarities here!

Polished by KPT Mars Escapade

I did this swatch a couple of months ago when it was really hot out! I should probably just re-do the swatching now that it’s not a zillion degrees out, but oh well, I thought I’d post these anyway! Anyway, this is a thermal by Polished by KPT called Mars Escapade. Here it is in its fully hot state:

polishedbykpt_marsescapade

And here was my pathetic attempt at getting it in its cold state… cold tap water was just not cutting it.

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So then a I grabbed an ice cube and took some more pics trying to show the “cold” colour!

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Basically this was a lesson not to bother wearing thermals in the summer here, haha! I should try this one again now that it’s getting cold out. This was three coats plus top coat by the way, and the formula was excellent and very easy to apply!

Maya Cosmetics Hex and Pretty Serious Martian Sea

I have some swatches and manis from last year that I still haven’t posted; here is one of them! Shown under Ott Lite:

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The olive green is Hex from the now-defunct Maya Cosmetics, and the orangey-brown brick colour is Pretty Serious Martian Sea. Two coats each. Sunlight:

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Shade:

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They both have great colour-shifting shimmer, especially Martian Sea which shifts from gold through to blue at an extreme angle. Ott lite:

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Sunlight:

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I thought these two went together really well!

Essence Gorgeous Bling Bling and Grey-t To Be Here

Essence Gorgeous Bling Bling, two coats. Burnt orange-brown creme with gold flakes. Back when my nails were long…

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Grey-t To Be Here, three coats. Light grey creme with pink shimmer flecks.

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Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams

Breaking the silence with a texture polish! This is Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams (what’s with all the stupid “man of my dreams” names? They already had “snow-man of my dreams” in one of the winter collections, sheesh! heheh). Anyway, this is a great polish!

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams

It’s a sparkly multicoloured texture, with predominantly brick red and burgundy tones and little sparks that appear orange and blue in the light. Very complex and deep polish!

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams

Shown are two coats; it has a great formula. As usual any of the photos can be clicked on to see the full size versions that show the sparkly detail of the texture!

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams

Here it is with topcoat. I added a third coat before the topcoat because I had a bit of tip wear from already having the polish on for a while.

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams

I did an accent thumb nail in Nicole by OPI Just Busta Mauve since they seem like such complementary polishes!

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve

With topcoat over Cinna-man:

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve with OPI I Juggle Men

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve with OPI I Juggle Men

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve with OPI I Juggle Men

Busta Mauve is kind of like the foily fleck version of Cinna-man, but it does have a lot more blue and purple in it. That, and the fact that the texture “ate” my first coat of topcoat pretty well, inspired me to add OPI I Juggle Men overtop.

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve with OPI I Juggle Men

Love this combo!!

Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of My Dreams and Just Busta Mauve with OPI I Juggle Men

Ruby White Tips Batworld Collection – Ethereal and Poppy

Hi all, I have two more polishes from the Ruby White Tips Batworld collection to show you today! The first two polishes, Boo2 and Peekaboo, were shown in my last post here. As mentioned there, half the proceeds of this collection go to the Batworld sanctuary to help them rescue, rehabilitate and care for orphaned and injured bats.

The first polish I’m showing you today, Ethereal, is probably my very favourite from the collection so far. When I was preparing this post I went to the Batworld.org website to get photos of the rescued bats who inspired these polishes, and I was very sad to learn that Ethereal, the little albino bat, just recently passed away suddenly. You can read her story here. Rest in peace, little one. 😦

Rest in peace, Ethereal. Photo credit: Batworld.org

Rest in peace, Ethereal. Photo credit: Batworld.org

Here is a bottle picture of the lovely polish named for Ethereal. I love the matte peach glitters in this one, they make it so very unique.

Ruby White Tips Ethereal

The swatches of Ethereal show three coats of polish. Two would probably be okay for those who don’t have yellowy-stained nails like I do. It would also make a great layering polish over many other shades!

Ruby White Tips Ethereal

The formula was thick but not too thick, with a good amount of glitter (I didn’t have to do any dabbing or placing of glitter when applying it). There’s a lot going on in this polish, with its white shimmery base, peach matte hex glitter, satiny white hex glitter, square iridescent glitter that reflects pink and green, sparse scattered micro holo particles and pink/purple shimmer flecks, and small iridescent flakie shards that reflect blue and purple… and maybe some other things I’m not catching? 🙂 Despite all that, it’s in no way “too busy”, it all works perfectly together! Did I mention this one is my favourite? 😉

Ruby White Tips Ethereal

A slight texture can be felt from all the flakes and glitter, but a good topcoat takes care of that.

Ruby White Tips Ethereal

Ethereal in the shade:

Ruby White Tips Ethereal

I had an email conversation with Laura, the creator of Ruby White Tips, and she mentioned plans to create a new shade “in memory of” Ethereal and possibly retiring this one, so if you like it like I do, I’d suggest picking it up sooner rather than later.

The second polish I have to show today was inspired by Poppy, an “Indian flying fox”, one of the largest species of bat, who was “retired” from a zoo. Glad she is now in a non-exploitative sanctuary!

Photo credit: Batworld.org

Photo credit: Batworld.org

This is two coats of Poppy the polish (three on my pinky, just because of a smudge). The application of this polish was smooth and easy.

Ruby White Tips Poppy

The shade of the polish fits its name, being a red shimmer that has a brick undertone and pink shimmer. There is holo microglitter throughout the polish.

Ruby White Tips Poppy

The microglitter leaves a bit of texture on the nail, so a coat or two of a good topcoat is recommended. I know I took some photos pre-topcoat and some after adding a layer of topcoat, but I can’t remember now which each of these particular photos were, sorry about that!

Ruby White Tips Poppy

A nice, pretty shade to go with a very pretty bat! 😀

Ruby White Tips Poppy

As I mentioned, I was talking to the creator of Ruby White Tips, and shared with her the link to my first Batworld swatch post. She was kind enough to offer a coupon code for my readers for 15% off purchases at her Etsy store! (Discount not valid on Mystery Bags.) The code is VEGANCLAWS. Thanks, Laura, and glad you like the swatches! 😀

Soulstice Prague and Kauai

Two more shades in my project to photograph all my Soulstice polishes! Which is finished by the way, but most of them still need editing and uploading.

Soulstice Prague

This is Prague, a very fall-appropriate dusty brick/burnt orange creme-based shade with mauve undertones and fine silver shimmer that falls somewhere between pearl and frost.

Soulstice Prague

I used two coats here, and the formula was thin but smooth.

Soulstice Prague

I love this colour! Here it is in the shade:

Soulstice Prague

Next is Kauai, a pinkish strawberry shade with silvery microglitter-type shimmer that even looks good at one coat:

Soulstice Kauai - one coat

Here it is at two coats in the following picture, looking like a delicious strawberry!

Soulstice Kauai

The formula on Kauai was a little thicker than Prague’s, and was excellent. I swatched it without basecoat and I’d say this one is a potential stainer, so be sure to use a good basecoat!

Soulstice Kauai

In the shade:

Soulstice Kauai

More Soulstice swatches to come soon!

Zoya Natalie, SpaRitual Savoir Faire, & what not to do with drying drops…

Today I’ve got a couple of polishes I’d like to share, and a nail art combo using both that got ruined because I was forgetful! More on that later!

First is Zoya Natalie, an orangey brown shade with a bit of a dusty mauve undertone. I really like this! Two coats, great formula.

Natural light:
Zoya Natalie

Zoya Natalie

Artificial light:
Zoya Natalie, artificial light

Next up, SpaRitual Savoir Faire – an old-fashioned looking dusty pink-mauve that I wouldn’t have given a second look not long ago! As it is, I only got it because it was part of a good deal on a set of five SpaRituals, but now that I’ve tried it I kind of like it. I guess I’m branching out into shades I didn’t like before! I like that it’s a relatively light, conservative pink that I actually don’t hate on my skin tone! This is two coats; formula was also great.

Natural light:
Sparitual Savoir Faire

Artificial light:
Sparitual Savoir Faire, artificial light

Now here is the mani I did using both of those polishes plus Zoya Flowie, which is similar to Natalie but much lighter and less orange. I had on Savoir Faire, and then used French tip guide stickers midway up each nail and painted Natalie above the stickers, Flowie below on the tips. I like the combination of all these dusty rosy-undertoned shades.

The unfortunate part happened after I used Zoya’s drying drops to dry the polish before peeling off the stickers. I waited a few minutes, intending to wash off the residue from the drying drops before applying top coat, but I got distracted by something else and by the time I finished waiting I had forgotten all about rinsing first! So I put on the top coat which turned all cloudy around the edges because it was being applied overtop of drying drops! Oooops, haha! Hence the “what not to do” part of the post title. It’s more visible on the large version of the photos so you may want to click on them if you want to see the icky cloudy ring-around-the-polish. So there is my manicure advice for today; don’t do what I did! 😀
Zoya Natalie, Sparitual Savoir Faire, Zoya Flowie

Zoya Natalie, Sparitual Savoir Faire, Zoya Flowie

OPI DS Tapestry

A quick post today to show you OPI DS Tapestry, #29 in their designer series line (one of the later ones, so I think it’s still relatively easy to find compared to the original DS releases!). It’s a very nice scattered holo in a rusty medium red with orange and rosy brown undertones – I’d call it a true brick colour. Apparently OPI calls it a “dazzling deep rose”; I have to disagree. Anyway, this is two coats, and the formula is wonderful as is usual for DS holos.

Sunlight:
OPI DS Tapestry

Shade:
OPI DS Tapestry

Indoors (under halogen light):
OPI DS Tapestry, artificial light

And sunlight again:
OPI DS Tapestry