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

Posts tagged ‘holo glitter’

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

Here are the other two On Safari polishes that I recently purchased. First up is Kalahari Kiss, a very yellow-toned beige creme (I love this colour!). Shown are two coats and I had no issues with the formula; it went on quite smoothly. Photos are in partially sunny and shady conditions.

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

I did a glitter-tipped gradient using I Herd That over Kalahari Kiss. I Herd That is an orange-toned bronzy glitter with holo glitter in it. It was quite easy to apply, I just brushed and dabbed it on to make the gradient. I did two coats of the glitter at the tips, receding to one coat further back on the nail, then added top coat. The glitter dries a bit rough (and matte) so a layer or two of topcoat is needed if you want to smooth out the texture and get it nice and shiny.

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

Under my Ott Lite:

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

This next photo features my beautiful girl Azrael!

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That with Azrael

Next I have two coats of I Herd That over bare nails (plus one coat of Poshe topcoat) to show how it looks on its own. As before, it was easy to apply, no need to “place” the glitter or anything like that.

China Glaze I Herd That

Since a few people had expressed curiosity about how this one compares to last winter’s Ulta-exclusive China Glaze glitter polish, Fireside Glow, I decided to do a comparison. I compared it to Fireside Glow and Ulta-mate Holiday, the other Ulta-exclusive glitter in that same release, both of which I was able to obtain thanks to a helpful US-based nail polish enthusiast! 🙂

Left to right, Fireside Glow, I Herd That, Ulta-mate Holiday:

The swatches show two coats of each polish. I found the formula thinner on the Ulta exclusive shades; they were not quite as easy as I Herd That to get opaque in two coats without getting bald spots, but no big issues. Index to pinkie, Fireside Glow, I Herd That, Ulta-mate Holiday, I Herd That.

As you can see, Fireside Glow is not all that close to I Herd That after all; it’s much more of a pinkish copper shade. Ulta-mate Holiday is obviously much more yellow than the others and seems to have a higher concentration of holo glitter whereas the others also have copper and orange glitters mixed in respectively. I Herd That seems to have a little less holo glitter than Fireside Glow.

On the other hand I found I Herd That to be sparklier than the others in lower lighting situations, probably because of the greater amount of non-holo glitter, if I had to guess why!

Slightly blurred to show the holo sparkle in the sun:

Category:

China Glaze

Tagged with:

Kleancolor Café au Lait

Today’s polish is one of my very favourite nude polishes, Kleancolor Café au Lait! It’s a highly pigmented beige creme with yellow and peach undertones.

Kleancolor Café au Lait

The formula is thick like Kleancolor cremes tend to be, but not in a bad way, and it covers completely in two coats. Shown are two coats with topcoat, in sunlight.

Kleancolor Café au Lait

This next photo turned out brighter/darker than the polish really is…

Kleancolor Café au Lait

I love this shade on my skintone. It’s really subtle and yet still a kind of offbeat shade because of the yellow in it. It’s what I reach for if I don’t know what I want to wear on my nails.

Kleancolor Café au Lait

Since it was starting to have small chips after day one (standard for me), I decided to add some crackle on top to cover those up for the next day. I added China Glaze Tarnished Gold crackle. Then, for good measure, I added two layers of Orly Prisma Gloss Gold, a fine gold glitter with some fine holo glitter dispersed throughout.

Kleancolor Café au Lait, China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

Kind of a monochromatic crackle/glitter combo. I prefer Café au Lait on its own though!

Kleancolor Café au Lait, China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

The holo glitter particles in Prisma Gloss Gold are very elusive; maybe they would be less so over a more contrasting base! This blurred photo is the only one I took where they sort of show up on the nail!

Kleancolor Café au Lait, China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

Category:

China Glaze, Kleancolor, Orly

Tagged with:

Soulstice Spa Harbour Island and Cape Cod

Soulstice Spa has released four new polish shades into their collection for spring 2012, and today I have two of them to show you, complete with comparisons to a couple other polishes I have.

The two polishes I got are Cape Cod, a light, slightly muted blue with pearly shimmer, and Harbour Island, a pale, sheer peachy-pink-nude jelly with holographic glitter in it! As a bonus, a couple of adorable kitties will be making an appearance in today’s photos! 😉 All photos are taken in direct sunlight.

These next photos are three coats of Cape Cod. At first I found the formula to be thick so I was having trouble evening out my coats but I added a little Beauty Secrets thinner and that helped a lot.

I really like this shade of blue and the fine pearly shimmer!

The shimmer has a sort of blueish glow to it in the sunlight, very cool!

This polish reminded me of Milani Antique, another light blue with the same type of finish, so I did a little comparison. Index and ring are Antique, middle and pinkie are Cape Cod, three coats each. As you can see the Milani is a couple shades darker than Cape Cod.

And here is my boy Thor checking out the comparison, haha!

Next up, Harbour Island. These photos are also three coats.

The formula was really smooth and easy to apply but it’s a sheer and the third coat adds more sparkle and reflectivity.

The base colour of this polish is pale peach with a bit of a pinkish tone.

The holo glitter does dry slightly rough, but top coat easily takes care of that (these photos include top coat).

As always you can click on any of these photos to see the sparkly holo glitter in better detail!

I can’t say that I have any other peach/nude jellies with holo glitter! But here is a comparison to the closest thing I have, LA Splash Sparkling Jellyfish. Sparkling Jellyfish, in the middle in the following photo, is significantly deeper, brighter and more pink.

And finally, Harbour Island makes a great layering polish; here it is over China Glaze V, a light orange-coral creme. Hanging out in the photo is my boy Wade! (Wade lost an eye to a severe upper respiratory infection as a kitten when he first arrived at the shelter, but it doesn’t slow him down in the slightest! Nor does it prevent him from being the alpha male in our little feline “colony”!)

The other two polishes in this release, which I don’t have (yet, at least!), are St. Tropez, a beige nude that looks to have pearly shimmer similar to Cape Cod, and Kauai, a berry pink with golden shimmer. If you’re curious about them, blogger Glazed Talons reviewed them both here. These shades are available directly through Soulstice Spa on their website; Nail Polish Canada also sells Soulstice but they don’t have these new shades in stock yet as of the time I’m posting this.

Disclosure: the Soulstice Spa polishes in this post were provided to me for review. All opinions are my own honest opinions. (The other polishes in this post were purchased by me. The cats were rescued from the street and adopted from a shelter, respectively. :P)

Category:

China Glaze, LA Splash, Milani, Soulstice Spa

Tagged with:

Kleancolor Holo Pink and Holo Orange over Milani Retro

Kleancolor has a half dozen of these holo glitter polishes in different colours; I decided to layer the pink and the orange over 2 coats of Milani Retro, which is a pastel coral creme with subtle shimmer (and a nice formula!).

These are holo glitters, not smooth holo particles, so they do dry rough. They also don’t dry all that quickly, but don’t take as long as the Kleancolor layering glitters which can sometimes be really bad! Shown are two coats of each glitter, with top coat. On their own, they may need 3 coats for opacity; I’m not sure.

In the sun:
Kleancolor Holo Pink and Holo Orange over Milani Retro

The pink and orange are both pastels; they appear darker and more pink/coral here because of the coral polish underneath.

In the shade:
Kleancolor Holo Pink and Holo Orange over Milani Retro

I didn’t really care for the pink all that much on my skintone, but I really like the orange and plan to try it on its own as well as over other bases. Also looking forward to trying Holo Yellow!

Category:

Kleancolor, Milani

Tagged with:

Orly Androgynie

Orly Androgynie is from their Holiday 2011 collection. It’s a black jelly with holographic and gold microglitter and larger hex iridescent glitter that combines with the black base to reflect colours that are light but not pastel. It’s kind of similar to Sephora by OPI’s 212-Sephora, but with multicoloured hex glitter instead of flakies.

I love the look of this polish. Its formula wasn’t the greatest though; there’s not enough suspension base in it so the glitter sinks to the bottom. I found that standing the bottle upside down overnight before I used it, as well as standing it upside down between coats of polish, helped a lot with that and I was able to get a proper amount of glitter onto the nail. The formula also seemed a bit thick-yet-runny at the same time. I can’t remember if this was 2 or 3 coats, but whichever it was it’s with topcoat. The end effect was worth the hassles! These first two photos are in natural overcast light.
Orly Androgynie
Orly Androgynie
Blurred to show the sparkle:


Orly Androgynie

Androgynie's sparkle


And finally, the full mani in the sun:
Orly Androgynie

Category:

Orly

Tagged with:

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

Tagged with:

A few Halloween manicures

A few Halloween NOTDs (nails of the day) from the past couple of weeks! (Although, really, I would wear these anytime!)

Milani Flashy Orange with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris stamped on (I’m not very good at stamping yet…)

Milani Flashy OrangeThe other hand, with scurrying spiders!

Milani Flashy Orange

A candy manicure: China Glaze Liquid Leather with Nubar V for Men matte topcoat, in an attempt to make nails that look like Panda Licorice!

China Glaze Liquid Leather, Nubar V for MenWet n Wild Cougar Attack (I broke down and bought this on ebay… I doubt they even release these limited edition collections here in Canada…)

Wet n Wild Cougar Attack

The next day I added some nail art using the orange and black striping polishes from the Orly Instant Artist “Flights of Fancy” collection. The collection also included a dotting tool which is what I used to create the web-like design.

Wet n Wild Cougar Attack

China Glaze It’s Alive from their recent Halloween release:

China Glaze It's Alive

It’s Alive with OPI’s glow-in-the-dark Zom-body to Love as slimy tips:

China Glaze It's Alive, OPI Zom-body to Love

My attempt at capturing it glowing in the dark:

China Glaze It's Alive, OPI Zom-body to Love

Happy Halloween everyone! 🙂

Category:

China Glaze, Konad (stamping plates), Milani, Nubar, OPI, Wet n Wild

Tagged with: