Tuesday 26 February 2013

Swatch & Review - OPI Disney's Oz The Great & Powerful Collection

Gah! It's been so long since I did a post. I have been busy being a tourist during my last days in San Francisco. Now I am back at home in gloomy, rainy weather...*sigh* I am desperately missing the sun right at this moment. 

So back in early February, I went to buy the OPI Euro Centrale collection. When I walked into the store, I couldn't believe my eyes...they were selling OPI Oz collection!!! Then I basically forgot about the Euro Centrale collection and starting fondling over the Oz collection for the first 5 minutes. At first I was unsure about whether to go for the nudes in this collection. Nudes have been a thing for me for awhile now, but truth is...how many nudes does a girl need? Despite the fact that I feel I probably have too many nudes, I still bought the nudes. Do I have a problem? Definitely. Looking on the bright side, though, I love the 2 nudes I got from the collection! So onto the swatches, this is an extremely picture heavy post (with a lot of commentary from me), prepare yourselves!!!

Up first are the nudes of this collection. I did not get Don't Burst My Bubble because I felt it wasn't unique enough of a nude. As for the two I did get, these were less of a jelly polish compared to last year's NYC Ballet collection. However, these were definitely shiny and sheer, so I would still consider them jellies.

April 2013 addition: See OPI Don't Burst My Bubble swatch here.

Glints of Glinda:
Beige jelly. This is probably the closest to skin colour I have ever got with a polish. I definitely had mannequin hands with this one. Below is 3 medium coats without top coat, and there is still VNL.

I Theodora You:
Baby (or Barbie?) pink jelly. Below is 3 medium coats without TC, tad of VNL. Second picture is more colour accurate to real life. The first picture makes it look more white than it actually is. This is a beautiful pink that is not chalky or white whatsoever. Instant love for me!


Next up the glitters! I wasn't particularly impressed by swatches I had seen of any of these glitters. It was their uniqueness that persuaded me to buy them. Now that I have actually tried these babies on, I am wondering why I ever doubted OPI. All of them are much more amazing in real life than in pictures. Cameras cannot capture all the glimmer and colour changes of these glitters. I highly recommend them, minus one unless you are not afraid of some work (later on this).

Light of Emerald City:
Large opaque white squares with medium sheer opalescent squares in a clear base. Below is 2 coats over OPI Eurso Euro. The opalescent squares change colour from orange to yellow to green. These show up really well against dark polish, but tend to fade into the background on light coloured polish due to its transparency. Glitter pay off is aweful if you try to apply it like regular polish. Removal is tough, especially the white glitters.
*Application tip: apply with a huge glob of polish and move the pieces to desired position (glob method).

 Below is 1 thick (glob) coat over OPI Steady As She Rose



















Which Is Witch?
Holographic large hexagon, small bar and small round glitters in a clear base. This thing sparkles with holographic goodness like there is no tomorrow! Glitter payoff is awesome. Below is 1 coat over OPI Eurso Euro and OPI Steady As She Rose. Removal was surprisingly easy, easier than foils and tad harder than creams. What's funny about this polish is it reminds of paper shavings in puzzle boxes, must be the tiny bar glitter.



















When Monkeys Fly!
Huge yellow gold hexagon, large and medium holographic hexagon glitters in a clear base. Glitter pay off is ok if apply as per usual, glob method is recommended. This is my favorite of the 3 glitters! I love how chunky it is, and the holographic glitters sparkle like a diamond does. However, the big con (deal breaker for some) is the curling of the huge gold glitters. I'm guessing the curling may be due to the glitter being so large. The curling does cause this polish to be scratchy, a thick coat of TC I found helped a lot with this. Though, I do not think you will be able to have a glassy smooth finish even with 2 coats of TC. TC will only help to decrease the scratching caused by curling.
               How I plan to overcome the obstacle of curling glitter in the future:
               Use toothpick or tweezers to flip glitter down, so scratchy characteristic can be eliminated
I even pressed down on the glitters with my nails to uncurl them a bit, it helped. So if you dont mind the scratchiness or tedious task of flipping the glitters over, you should definitely get this one because it really does look amazing. Removal is difficult as per usual for glitters. Below is 1 thick (glob) coat over OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow (amazing combo, a must try!) and China Glaze Kalahari Kiss.

Below shows the curling of the huge gold glitters. This picture was taken before I added one thick coat of top coat.


Finally we have liquid sand!

What Wizardry Is This?
Dark brown with strong gold tones and gold shimmer liquid sand.  You may remember that I was not a fan of the liquid sands from the Mariah Carey collection. This baby has single handedly made me a liquid sand fan. I am absolutely in love with this one! In fact, I had this baby on for 3 whole days and when it came time that I had to take it off I find myself struggling to fetch the polish remover. This reminds me of gold in a mine, where the wall of the mine shimmers with gold. Under the sun you can sometimes see hints of green and copper shimmer when looked at closely. Application was easy and opaque in 2 coats. I found the dry time of this one to be tad faster than the Mariah Carey ones. In between coats I gave it 5 to 10 minutes (time for it to get matte and gritty). For complete dryness it takes longer, but I find this polish is not delicate like regular polish so you can start doing tasks with your hands before it is completely dry. Removal is easier than foils and harder than creams.


Phew! Finally at the end of the post. That was a real long one! I was just so excited about this collection that I had to share lots of pictures and my thoughts on it all. Overall, I am very impressed with this collection. I ended up liking (or should I say loving) a lot more of these than I originally anticipated. My picks would be What Wizardry Is This?, I Theodora You and When Monkeys Fly (if you don't mind the curling).

What are you favorites? Which ones will be you picking up next week when the collection comes out? 

Saturday 16 February 2013

Swatch - Zoya Neely

Woohoo! I never thought I would see the day when my name becomes a nail polish name (since I have yet to meet a person who has the same name as me). Well the day is here my friends! I have to admit this is the only reason I bought this polish...but hey, I gotta own polish that literally has my name on it, right? The spelling is a tad different but it's the same name nonetheless. Without further adieu here is Zoya Neely, a dusty seafoam mint cream! (Part of the Zoya Lovely collection released last month).

 Just look at how shiny this baby dries!

Sunlight

Specifications:
Formula: easy application
Pigmentation: Good (2 coats in pics above)
Dry time: bit longer than what I expected for a cream
Finish: shiny and glossy (see 2nd pic)
Removal: easy
Prone to: nothing (no streaks!)

I ended up liking this colour against my skintone quite a bit, so this ended up being a great match for me! This is a definite winner in terms of formula for such a light pastel colour. 

How do you like this colour? Do you also own a Zoya polish that bears your name (which one)?

Thursday 14 February 2013

NOTD - Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope everyone had a good if not awesome day. My day was quite tiring, a jam packed day. My boyfriend took the day off, so we got to spend the whole day together! This is special since we haven't been able to spend many Valentine's together over the years. So of course my nails needed to be special!

This manicure did not turn out the way I had hoped. I was extremely frustrated with it in fact...this is all due to trying to paint hearts onto my nails using scotch tape. The tape kept ripping and sticking to my nails!!! That is why there are bumps and dents on a couple of my nails, so try to over look those...I tried evening things out with top coat but I only had time to do 1 coat. Anyway! I have been dying to get some black polish on my nails, so that's where the inspiration for this mani started.


What was used:
OPI Black Onyx
OPI The Color of Minnie
Urban Outfitters Silver Holo
China Glaze Glistening Snow (heart on thumbs)

How do you guys like this dark twist on a Valentine mani? What did you wear for this special day?

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Swatch & Review - Color Club Halo Hues 2013

 Holos!!! I was so excited to get this collection. These can kind of be considered as my first holographic polish experience. And let me tell you, the experience was amazing! The colours show up strong and are not swallowed or covered by holographic craziness. There are also a couple of unique colours for holos, in my opinion. Warning: picture heavy post! Truth is though...no one can get enough of holo pics.

For the pictures, I put on 2 coats of polish with no base or top coat. Thumb has base coat and top coat (Seche Vite) to observe changes in holographic properties (last pic for each colour).

Cosmic Fate:
Peachy orange metallic foil holo.
Flash
Sunlight

Kismet:
Hybrid of moss and sea foam green metallic foil holo. 
Flash
Sunlight

Beyond:
Black holo. Pictures are of 1 thick coat. Least holographic of the collection, but definitely noticeable (especially in the sun). Top coat does not affect holo much, just as strong under sun. Very fast dry time (surprise!).  
Flash
Sunlight

Eternal Beauty:
Purple holo. Holo effect not as strong indoors, but strong in the sun. Top coat does not affect holo much, just as strong under sun.
Flash
Sunlight

Miss Bliss: 
Dark pink holo (very strong holo). Top coat does not affect holo at all (bonus!). 
Flash
Sunlight

Over The Moon:
Frosty blue holo (very strong holo). Top coat does not affect holo at all (bonus!).
Flash
Sunlight

Specifications:
The colours really show up strong for this collection, which I like. I find a lot of times the color becomes very faded or overpowered by the holographic effect that it just looks like a silver holo.
Dry time: fast, but tad slower than Halo Hues 2012 collection
Formula: easy application, good coverage (2 coats)
Prone to: Nothing (not even brushstrokes, may seem so when applying and wet, but when dry holo covers it all up)
Finish: not shiny, top coat is viable option
Base coat: compatible (special BC not needed), does not affect application or holo (I tried both OPI Nail Envy Matte and OPI Natural Nail Base Coat)
Top coat: smudges/fades out the holo a bit to make it less in our face, but still strong holo. This applies to Cosmic Fate and Kismet. The others' holos are less affected by top coat (read above).
Removal: easy (slightly harder than creams)
Application: Apply fast and try not to go over the same spot more than once to avoid dragging due to fast dry time of these polishes

Edit: This collection is now available on the Color Club Website

This was an amazing collection, I really love it! From what I have read about holographic polishes, seems like they can be a pain, but these were perfect. My favorites of the collection are Beyond, Cosmic Fate and Kismet. These are my favorite mostly for the reason that they are not your usual holographic polish colours. Which of these drool-worthy holos do you like?
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