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

Posts tagged ‘glass-fleck’

Il était un vernis – Paeonia and Ixia

Today I have two polishes from French indie brand Il était un vernis to show you! 

iletaitunvernis_paeonia5

Paeonia is a pretty light coral scattered holo with tons of pink and gold glass fleck shimmer. The photos show two coats, no topcoat, and all are in sunlight. 

iletaitunvernis_paeonia4

iletaitunvernis_paeonia3

iletaitunvernis_paeonia2

iletaitunvernis_paeonia

Ixia is a very bright blue scattered holo with blue glass fleck shimmer. Also shown in two coats, this one with topcoat. First photos in the sun:

iletaitunvernis_ixia3

iletaitunvernis_ixia2

iletaitunvernis_ixia

iletaitunvernis_ixia4

In shade:
iletaitunvernis_ixia_shade

Under Ott lite:
iletaitunvernis_ixia_ott

With flash:
iletaitunvernis_ixia_flash

I was super impressed with these polishes! The shipping is a little pricey for those of us who aren’t in Europe, unsurprisingly, so I made sure to buy enough polishes to make up for it. 😉 So, I have several more Il était un vernis shades to swatch and show you in the future! 😀

Black Dahlia Lacquer – Lime Green Daisies, Lilac Petals, and Bleeding Hearts

Today I’ve got three beautiful Black Dahlia Lacquer polishes to show you! The first one is Lime Green Daisies, which was from the New Year’s multichrome flake duo. It’s a metallic, yellow-toned pastel green with copper-pink/green multichrome flakes, strong gold shimmer, and turquoise glass flecks. I used two coats plus top coat for this swatch.

blackdahlialacquer_limegreendaisies5

blackdahlialacquer_limegreendaisies4

blackdahlialacquer_limegreendaisies3

blackdahlialacquer_limegreendaisies2

blackdahlialacquer_limegreendaisies

Under Ott Lite:

blackdahlialacquer_limegreendaisies_ott

Next is Lilac Petals; this was the exclusive extra polish I received in a ‘buy 4 petite-sized polishes get an exclusive petite polish free’ sale not long ago. It’s got a denim blue base with metallic red-maroon flakes and pink and blue glass flecks. The photos show two coats, no top coat. Love!

blackdahlialacquer_lilacpetals4

blackdahlialacquer_lilacpetals3

blackdahlialacquer_lilacpetals2

blackdahlialacquer_lilacpetals

In the shade:

blackdahlialacquer_lilacpetals_shade

And the third polish I have to show today is Bleeding Hearts. This is from the Valentine’s Day collection. It’s an almost-neon pinky purple with multichrome flakies and turquoise glass flecks. I used three coats, although two would probably be fine as well, and no topcoat in this swatch.

blackdahlialacquer_bleedinghearts5

blackdahlialacquer_bleedinghearts4

blackdahlialacquer_bleedinghearts3

blackdahlialacquer_bleedinghearts2

blackdahlialacquer_bleedinghearts

In the shade:

blackdahlialacquer_bleedinghearts_shade

All three of these are just gorgeous! Black Dahlia Lacquer really makes some great polish. 😀

Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not and comparisons

This beauty is Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not, released in February 2014 in an indie collaboration box (but I got it secondhand from someone’s blogsale). 

blackcatlacquer_helovesmenot

It’s a neon pinky-purple with these great blue flakes. The flakes are opaque and tend to sink to the bottom of the bottle, but turning it upside down for a minute or two before use solves that.

blackcatlacquer_helovesmenot2

Here you can see a bunch of the blue flakes up against the side of the bottle:

blackcatlacquer_helovesmenot4

I used three coats plus top coat and didn’t have any issues with application. 

blackcatlacquer_helovesmenot3

I love these blue flakies!

blackcatlacquer_helovesmenot5

In shade:

blackcatlacquer_helovesmenot_shade

I did a comparison with Fingerpaints Gorgeous Graffiti and Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout, similar neon purples that have blue flecks of different types. 

bcl_helovemenot_fp_gorgeousgraffiti_glam_bsd

Left to right, He Loves Me Not, Fingerpaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout, three coats each. 

Left to right: Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not, FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout

Left to right: Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not, FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout


 

The Fingerpaints is slightly more purple and has translucent blue glassfleck-type flecks rather than opaque flakes. 

Top to bottom: Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not, FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout

Top to bottom: Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not, FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout


 

The Glam Polish is slightly pinker and dustier and has much smaller blue glassflecks as well as scattered holo. 

Left to right: Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout, FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not

Left to right: Glam Polish Beauty School Dropout, FingerPaints Gorgeous Graffiti, Black Cat Lacquer He Loves Me Not

Zoya India and Comparison

This burgundy-red beauty is India from Zoya’s Ignite collection of last fall. Shown in two coats, no top coat. Great formula. It’s got a ton of glass-fleck shimmer that reflects golden, red and purple tones.

zoya_india4

zoya_india2

zoya_india

zoya_india3

Under Ott Lite:

zoya_india_ott

Here’s a comparison between India and Zoya’s Anastasia, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, and FingerPaints Palette of Perfection.

Left to right: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Left to right: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Anastasia is shown in four coats; it’s a lot more sheer. It also has a more plum-leaning base, and the base is metallic instead of jellyish like India’s. I would say Anastasia is like a plum version of Zoya Autumn with its more metallic base.

Top to bottom: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Top to bottom: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Joe Fresh Cinnamon is shown in two coats like India. It’s got a lighter red base and less intense golden shimmer than India.

Left to right: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Left to right: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

And finally, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection is also two coats. It’s a truer red with no hint of burgundy/purple, and its golden shimmer gives it a very warm/orangey tone.

Left to right, under Ottlite: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Left to right, under Ottlite: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Love this comparison as an ombré mani!

Top to bottom, under Ottlite: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Top to bottom, under Ottlite: Zoya Anastasia, Zoya India, Joe Fresh Cinnamon, FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

ILNP Music Box, Cutie Pop and Dreaming in Violet

This is a mani I wore last year back when these polishes were new, released for spring 2014 by I Love Nail Polish (ILNP).

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet7

The purple is Dreaming in Violets, the pink Cutie Pop, and the blue Music Box. Two coats each plus top coat.

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet6

They each have this great glass-fleck shimmer to them, although it’s most apparent in Cutie Pop since the shimmer in that one is gold and contrasts better with the base colour. Above I was trying to show off the blue glass flecks in the bottle of Music Box. The flecks in Dreaming in Violet are a fuchsia/purple shade.

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet5

Love these three! And the formula on them was great. I’ll just let the rest of the photos speak for themselves…

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet4

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet3

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet2

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet

In the shade:

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet_shade2

ilnp_musicbox_cutiepop_dreaminginviolet_shade

Black Dahlia Lacquer Hot Pink Tulips

Hot Pink Tulips was part of the New Year multichrome flakie duo by Black Dahlia Lacquer. I also have the other polish in the duo, Lime Green Daisies, but haven’t worn that one yet!

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips

It’s got a lot of great stuff going on in it! Fuchsia pink multihrome flakies that shift to purple and blue, gold flakes, hot pink glass flecks, and probably more that I’m just having trouble distinguishing!

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips2

Completely opaque in two coats, which is what’s shown here (plus top coat).

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips3

The finish is totally smooth and gives off an overall metallic look from all the chrome flakies.

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips4

In shade, the pink multichrome flakes really show off their blue-violet side:

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips_shade

With flash:

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips_flash

Under halogen light:

blackdahlialacquer_hotpinktulips_halogen

Love!

Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine and Comparison

I recently learned of Black Dahlia Lacquer, an indie brand based in Texas that just launched last fall, who make vegan polishes. The polishes looked great, so I had to place an order to check them out! 😉

black_dahlia_lacquer_bottles

From left to right, Dandelion Fields, Beach Jasmine, My Butter Half, 90 in November (this one wasn’t part of my order but was sent as an extra!), Daffodil Petals, Austin City Limits. The polishes come in an 8ml ‘petite’ size, which is what I ordered, as well as regular 14ml full size. Today I’ve got swatches and a comparison for Beach Jasmine but I hope to also photograph the rest of them soon!

I love the bottles, the 8ml bottles have the same unique shape as the full size ones, which is a really nice touch! The brush, again even in the mini size bottles, is a flat wide brush, my favourite type.

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine3

Beach Jasmine is a light taupey-beige creme with lots of gold flecks. A beautiful nude colour!

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine2

I used two coats here. (My coats seem to have been a bit thinner on my index finger than the other nails and I think maybe it shows a bit in the photos…) The formula was smooth and easy to apply. Very happy with this polish!

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine

In the shade:

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine_shade

Since I love nudes with gold shimmer, I had a few in mind that this one reminded me of: Cult Nails Mazo, China Glaze Fast Track, and Essence Irreplaceable.

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine_compbottles

This first photo shows two coats of each polish. As you can see, Mazo is much more sheer than the others.

Left to right, 2 coats each: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Left to right, 2 coats each: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Next photos show 3 coats of Cult Nails Mazo on the index and 3 coats of China Glaze Fast Track on the ring (the third wasn’t really necessary but I wanted to better cover my ridges on that nail).

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Mazo is more yellow-toned, Fast Track is browner, and Irreplaceable is just slightly more grey.

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Irreplaceable is definitely the closest to Beach Jasmine though. Irreplaceable’s shimmer is slightly more dense and has a very slight green shift to it that doesn’t show on the nail, but the two are close. I believe Irreplaceable is hard to find now, so this polish is a good replacement (har, har!) for anyone looking for it.

Top to bottom: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Top to bottom: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Now, I can’t show a polish with Jasmine in the name without showing my beautiful Jasmine. 😉

bed_jasmine

Jasmine is the most feral of our cats; she’s almost 9 years old now and has been with me since the age of 6 months, but it’s just in the past two years that she’s really allowed me to pet her at all (and then, just in her ‘safe’ situations – but in those situations, she’s learned that she really likes it!).

bed_jasmine_and_friends

She’s much more comfortable with other cats than with humans. Here she is on the bed with Oliver (one of her littermates, who adapted much more easily to us humans), Seymour who is licking Oliver, and the baby of the family, Wu, on the right!

Zoya Autumn and Comparison

Zoya Autumn is from last fall’s Ignite collection. It’s a great metallic orange-copper base with sparkly gold shimmer flecks. Two coats plus top coat.

zoya_autumn_sun

Little Wu kept photobombing me. ❤

zoya_autumn_wu_photobomb

zoya_autumn_wu_photobomb2

zoya_autumn_sun2

Indirect light:

zoya_autumn_partshade

I compared Autumn to four other shades: OPI Bronzed to Perfection (2 coats), which has more of a creme base with added shimmer, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising (3 coats), which has small bronze, pink, and greenish-gold glass flecks in a (I think) clear base, Sparitual Rusted Lux (3 coats), a rusty red jelly base with heavy gold glass fleck, and Sparitual Conduit (3 coats), a brownish jelly base with the same gold glass flecks. The differences show best in the shade and artificial light photos.

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Shade/indirect light:

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Ott Lite:

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

I love all of these!

Zoya Zuza, Wednesday, and comparisons

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! 😀

Zoya Zuza

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 Zuza

Zoya Wednesday

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.

Zoya Wednesday

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.

(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.

From the Vault, again…

More random old stuff!

Nubar Pink Flame, under artificial light:

Nubar Pink Flame, artificial light

Nubar Pink Flame, artificial light

Nubar Pink Flame, artificial light

Comparison: left to right, Finger Paints Catwalk Queen, Butter London Bumster (middle and ring fingers), Misa Hot Couture. The Butter London and Finger Paints polishes are quite close, Finger Paints just has slightly more orange, while the Misa is noticeably darker.

bumster_catwalk_hotcouture

bumster_catwalk_hotcouture2

Butter London Bumster by itself:

bumster

OPI Pepe’s Purple Passion (in light box and camera wouldn’t focus properly on the polish surface!):

pepe

pepe2

pepe3

pepe4

I’ll admit, while I ended up really liking Pepe’s Purple Passion, I mainly wanted it for the name, because of this handsome guy whose name is Pepe. Although we usually call him Tex. 🙂

20131026-212445.jpg

Essence Wanna Be My Sunshine with accent nail in NYX Girls Pure Green, all layered with LA Girl Zesty Citrus overtop:

yellowgreen_dots

yellowgreen_dots2

Illamasqua Elope:

elope

elope2