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

Posts tagged ‘pink’

Kleancolor Pink Lady

This polish is another unique shade from Kleancolor! I haven’t seen any other polish like this, anyway. Pink Lady is a neon hot pink creme with small silver foily flake-type shimmer. It has the typical nice thick pigmented Kleancolor Creme formula. I used two coats plus top coat here. Since it has a neon formula, it dries semi-matte before the top coat is applied.

Kleancolor Pink Lady

I decided to do a Konad accent nail, but the first shade I stamped on didn’t show up very well so I ended up stamping again overtop with a different polish. The first polish I used was Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia (which is actually a neon red; I don’t see any fuchsia in it, anyway!), which didn’t really contrast enough against the base to look good. So on top I added a second stamp using Kleancolor Metallic Pink, an intense fuchsia foil.

Kleancolor Pink Lady, stamped on ring finger with Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia and Kleancolor Metallic Pink

I really like the multi-layer effect! The stamp I used was a fern design from Konad plate M83.

Kleancolor Pink Lady, stamped on ring finger with Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia and Kleancolor Metallic Pink

Zoya June

I can hardly believe it’s already June! But since it is, I thought I’d post some photos of Zoya’s polish named June!

June is a light sheer nude beige with pink tones and shimmer.

Here it is in the shade:

Zoya June

Shown are three coats over a ridge-filling base coat (I think it was Zoya’s Get Even that I used).

Zoya June

In the shade the pink tones really come out.

Zoya June

The formula on this one is nice, not streaky at all; the three coats were only due to the sheerness and not any application issues.

Zoya June

And here it is in the sun:

Zoya June

In the sun the shimmer comes out and the colour seems less pink.

Zoya June

The shimmer is June is made up of tiny little fine shimmery flecks in a sort of opalescent silvery shade that reflect several different colours in the sun, as you can see in the bottle in this next photo.

Zoya June

June is nothing too flashy, but she’s a nice little polish!

Barry M Peach Melba

Today for your viewing pleasure, I’ve got more photos than necessary of a plain peach creme! Heh. I like the photos and don’t feel like choosing. This is Barry M Peach Melba, a very nice creme peach shade.

Barry M Peach Melba

Shown are three coats, and my index has a layer of Poshe topcoat overtop to cover up a big smudge that I got from removing a cat hair that got into the wet polish before I could take the pictures!

Barry M Peach Melba

It’s a pastel shade of coral-toned peach, not too pale and not too bright. Disclaimer: these photos were taken in sunlight as the sun was beginning to set, so they are more orange-toned than in other lighting situations.

Barry M Peach Melba

I found the formula a little thick and hard to level, hence the need for three coats. I added a few drops of thinner to the polish. All that may have had something to do with the hot and humid weather. (I suspect this might be a frequent theme in my posts for the next few months… “It was thick and I had to add thinner, but…”)

Barry M Peach Melba

I found that it dried very quickly, but again the weather might have been a factor…

Barry M Peach Melba

I really like peaches and corals lately; I’ll have to do some more comparison posts for these shades! Especially since these ones turned out a little too orange!

Barry M Peach Melba

OPI The Show Must Go On

Today’s post will be short on words but heavy on pictures. This is another example of my favourite type of polish – duochrome glass fleck!

OPI The Show Must Go On is from their Burlesque collection which was a holiday 2010 collection. It’s red but shifts colours from fuchsia through to orange, copper and even some golden yellow at extreme angles. I love it! It has a great formula too. Shown are three coats, but the third one I just put on before photographing because I’d had the polish on a while and somehow got some hairline cracks, not chips, in it while doing dishes! Two coats is enough for opacity. Shown in various lighting situations as listed.

Ott Light:

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

Sun:

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

Natural light, various degrees of overcast/partly sunny:

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

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! πŸ˜‰ 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)

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

I’ve been on a big pink kick lately, not sure how that happened! I decided to give light pinks another chance and determined that I don’t really hate them all on my skin tone like I used to!

This one is OPI Pedal Faster Suzi from the spring Holland collection. Silly name (why does Suzi need to name so many polishes after herself?!), pretty colour. It’s a light-medium pink, not too bright but not dusty either, with silver shimmer flecks that sparkle blue and pink in the light, which you can see if you enlarge the third photo. Shown are two coats. It has a nice formula with no application problems.

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

Comparison: FingerPaints Circus Peanuts and China Glaze Peachy Keen

I recently got four polishes from the FingerPaints spring 2012 collection, Gumdrops and Lollipops, and today I have Circus Peanuts to show you. I love the colour; it’s a pinky, pastel coral peach creme shade. The formula isn’t the greatest but not the worst either. It’s quite thick and very pigmented like most FingerPaints cremes are, but it’s also a little streaky like a lot of pastels are. I ended up using three coats to even out a few slightly patchy spots I could still see after two coats. I’m thinking that adding some thinner to this polish will help with the application.

FingerPaints Circus Peanuts

When this first came out I wondered how it compared to China Glaze Peachy Keen. Turns out they’re in the same colour family but not really all that close.

FingerPaints Circus Peanuts and China Glaze Peachy Keen

Circus Peanuts is a bit lighter and definitely pinker; Peachy Keen is more of an orangey peach. This photo shows three coats of each.

FingerPaints Circus Peanuts and China Glaze Peachy Keen

FingerPaints Circus Peanuts (index and ring) and China Glaze Peachy Keen (middle and pinky)

The formula on Peachy Keen is streaky and significantly more difficult than Circus Peanuts’ in my opinion. While I used three coats for each, the third was definitely necessary on Peachy Keen whereas I felt that I could have gotten away with two for Circus Peanuts if I had been a bit more careful. Shown below is the result after three streaky coats (with top coat but after about a day and a half of wear). This polish, while not quite as thick as Circus Peanuts, definitely could benefit from a good dose of thinner just to attempt to make it less streaky. I really love the colour though, so I think it’s worth the hassle of its application!

China Glaze Peachy Keen

Layering with FingerPaints flakies

Back in January Sally Beauty Supply released an awesome collection of flakie polishes under their FingerPaints brand called Special Effects. These have been reviewed tons of times online already and are probably sold out by now at most Sally stores, so I just wanted to share a few layering combos I did with some of these polishes over the last few weeks. Unfortunately there wasn’t any sun for any of these pictures though.

Two coats of Motley, the green-blue-violet flakie, over three coats of Sally Girl Peabody in very overcast natural light:
Fingerpaints Motley over Sally Girl Peabody

Fingerpaints Motley over Sally Girl Peabody

Two coats of Asylum, the red-yellow and blue-violet flakie, over two coats of Nubar Pink Flame, again not very good lighting; this is artificial light:
Nubar Pink Flame with Fingerpaints Asylum

Nubar Pink Flame with Fingerpaints Asylum

Two coats of Twisted, the most colourful of these flakies (it’s pretty much like all the others in the collection mixed together), over two coats of OPI Russian Navy Suede, overcast light:
Fingerpaints Twisted over OPI Russian Navy Suede

Fingerpaints Twisted over OPI Russian Navy Suede

I definitely like the last combo best – I’ve determined that I really prefer flakies over dark colours where they stand out clearly, rather than over pale colours.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I wasn’t originally planning to do anything special with my nails for Valentine’s Day, but then I put on Zoya’s Cho right before bed last night, didn’t use quick-dry topcoat, and woke up with my own fingerprints on several of the nails, haha!

So, this morning I decided to add some glitter to cover up the fingerprints – LA Girls Glitter Addict polishes in Inspire (light pink) and Animate (red). I topped it off with a layer of Zoya Lucy, a sheer jellyish off-white, for a somewhat subtle-looking jelly sandwich. Pics are in artificial light with flash.

Zoya Cho, LA Girls Glitter Addict Inspire & Animate, and Zoya Lucy

Zoya Cho, LA Girls Glitter Addict Inspire & Animate, and Zoya Lucy

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! πŸ˜€
Zoya Natalie, Sparitual Savoir Faire, Zoya Flowie

Zoya Natalie, Sparitual Savoir Faire, Zoya Flowie