Zoya Loredana

From the Matte Velvet collection 2009.
This was 3 coats.

This is my first matte polish in a really long time. As I've mentioned before in my haul post, I'm really delighted with the bottle. For all their matte polishes, Zoya gave a little twist to their usual high-gloss glass bottles, and instead packaged them in a frosted glass one. While this may compromise visuality of the polish inside (like how I didn't manage to see the exact shade and the glitters in this one until I opened the bottle), but it gives it a really cute just-out-the-fridge effect and, of course, makes it look appropriately matte.

I had however, expected Loredana to dry faster than it did, since matte polishes are meant to be some of the quickest-drying polishes out there. It wasn't slow, just that it wasn't as fast as I had expected. No matter, however. It is a gunmetal grey shade with a whole lot of silver glitter in it, though the glitter is a little diminished when it dries matte. I don't foresee that I shall be wearing this on its own very much, since I generally do not like black-ish polishes, but I think this will make a great base for nail art. Somehow, it always looks nicer when there's a mixture of gloss and matte. Not to mention, I've seen photos of Loredana with topcoat and it looks fab! I can't think why I forgot to take a picture of that.

i'm missing you like candy

ISN'T IT LOVELY? my first time trying syrup nails.

Index, ring: OPI Houston We Have A Purple

Middle, pinkie: OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

Both from the Texas collection 2011.

This manicure reminded me so much of sweet syrups and candies and gummy bears that I immediately thought of Mandy Moore's song from my (relative) childhood.

Anyway, I loved having this alternate combination that I did the reverse combi on my left hand and am intending to wear it as a manicure. Syrup nails are rather easy to do, although they'd be faster and less tedious if you used a polish that dried faster. I also love how you're supposed to use as sheer a coat as possible, which is opposite to what you're normally supposed to do for normal manicures.

I have a sneaky suspicion that syrup nails work best with jelly polishes like these 2! I tried it with OPI Yodel Me On My Cell and it didn't have that yummy an effect. However, it looks pretty good with something like Color Club Untamed Luxury as well, because in 1 coat the glitter is pretty sparse but can grow very dense as you build up the coats, so you can achieve a very nice glitter gradient effect with that one.

Color Club Ultra Violet

With flash


With flash

From the Electro Candy collection of 2009.
This was 3 coats, without topcoat.

This polish captivated me the moment I saw it. The absolutely brilliant turquoise-blue duochrome shimmer in it! I was quite taken aback. The blue in it was so electrifying that I felt this ought to have been named Electro Candy. Doesn't it look like a grape-flavoured sweet that's been electrified?

I'm very pleasantly surprised by Color Club brushes. The caps are smaller than the usual OPI, China Glaze ones but it's somehow also easier to hold, and the size of the brush is a happy medium. All in all, I felt like I had a really good control while applying. Application was great as well. Each coat dried really fast! By the time I was done with my pinkie, I could immediately start on my index again.

I think this would look like a close cousin to China Glaze Senorita Bonita, but Ultra Violet probably has a bit of a blue undertone to its purple, while China Glaze leans more towards the red. I'd do a comparison soon when I have the chance.

On a side note, I'm not really sure if this polish is suitable for nail art, like Konad-ing or shatter, mainly because of its bright but cool colour, which doesn't quite complement nail art, I feel. Maybe it'd be great for scotchtaping, though, because it just pops out at you. I can't decide whether I like this one more or Senorita Bonita.

8ty8beauty haul!

Well, OK, I wouldn't call it a haul per se. But here it is:



L - R:
China Glaze Black Mesh
Zoya Loredana
Color Club Ultra Violet (top)
Color Club Raspberry Rush (bottom)
Color Club Worth The Risque (top)
Color Club Revvvolution (bottom)
Zoya Adina (top)
Color Club Electro Candy
OPI Houston, We Have A Purple

I also got me a bottle of Seche Restore which has been delightful in thinning my now-gloopy bottles of base and topcoat.

First impressions:

I think what impressed me the most would have to be Color Club Ultra Violet. The shine is incredible! When I painted it on my nail wheel, I was almost stunned into inaction. There's an incredible electric-blue duochrome in it that really catches the eye. It's like a perked up version of China Glaze Senorita Bonita. Though this entire collection was meant to be neon, I wouldn't say Ultra Violet is. It's very bright, but it isn't eye-popping like a true neon (see: Electro Candy).

In the same collection is also Color Club Electro Candy, which is a bubblegum neon pink with a blue shimmer as well, though the shimmer in this one is a lot less obvious than in Ultra Violet, probably because Electro Candy is an extremely bright pink and that's probably going to snatch the attention away from everything else. I was almost a little alarmed at how neon this was. I think it's my first ever neon polish.

On that subject, Electro Candy and Raspberry Rush are really not that similar as it looks in the photograph. I can tell the difference between them at a glance, without having to refer to their names at the bottom. I blame the inability of cameras to probably capture pinks and reds, as I have complained about before! Raspberry Rush also has an extremely strong scent, which I was surprised at. I have never used scented polish before and it's actually quite good fun.

OPI Houston is also a lot darker than I expected. I honestly thought it was going to be a near-dupe for Tex-y but I can see that this is absolutely not the case. There is no similarity between them even in the bottle, but perhaps we may see a closer resemblance when painted. Will definitely do a comparison soon.

Color Club Worth The Risque and Revvvolution also did not disappoint. Even in the bottle, a definite depth can be seen in the polishes because of its holographic nature. Painting them on the nail wheel was a breeze too, being rather opaque. I foresee myself having lots of fun with these, with nail art.

I liked China Glaze Black Mesh more than I expected. I have always hesitated getting a black shatter topcoat because I don't really like wearing the colour black on my nails and I'd like to avoid it as far as possible. Even though OPI Black Shatter was the first ever shatter polish I knew about, I refrained from getting it for several months until I have now succumbed and gotten its less expensive counterpart, China Glaze Black Mesh. I painted it over my blue-white gradient manicure and it was awesome. I'm already in love with this.

I haven't yet tried Zoya Loredana but I love the bottle. It's a frosted glass sort of material but it almost looks like someone just took it out of the fridge. Although the frosted glass does prevent you from looking at the full glory of the polish. I opened it and took a peek and it looks fantastic. Full of silver glitter! Can't wait to swatch it.

Some updates!

I've made a Google spreadsheet with the (almost) entire list of my nail polishes and put a link to it under the About Me section on the right! (: This is for me to keep track of what I've swatched and what I haven't, and also for the viewing pleasure of all!

Other than this, I'm also happy to say that I've recently counted another NINE additions to my nail polish family, a majority of which are Color Club. I can't wait to swatch them! :D Expect some new colours coming your way soon! :D

aquarius

I wasn't really sure how to name this but here's my first somewhat successful sponging attempt!







Base: China Glaze Snow, 2 coats (Holiday collection 2010)

First sponge: China Glaze Flyin' High (Up and Away collection 2010)

Second sponge (nearer tips): Zoya Charla

I initially had wanted to use OPI What's With The Cattitude for the first sponge (the one that covers about 2/3 of the nail) and I'm glad I chose Flyin' High instead, which is a better match for Charla. I like how Charla adds that mermaid sheen at the tip.

I really like how this turned out! It looks like an ocean spray or something. I could've named it Sea Spray or On Stranger Tides, but they are unfortunately already used as polish names.

I did this by cutting a square of sponge and just putting the polish on a piece of paper (I stupidly tried using kitchen towels in my first few attempts, DO NOT use anything absorbent), then dabbing the sponge on the polish and dabbing it onto your nails. It turns out a little gross and rough at first because of the sponge (unless you're using a smooth sponge), but all is well after you put on your layer of topcoat.

I used a sponge that was holy and I guess rather rough. That's why the gradient turned out splatter-like and sort of like water splashing, which is cool with me, but for a smoother gradient, I think perhaps finding a foundation sponge or something smoother would be a better idea. I might go and hunt for one now, myself.

All in all, extremely pleased with the way this turned out! And it's super fast, because when polishes are sponged on rather than painted, they tend to dry a whole lot faster. The only rate limiting factor is most probably going to be the dry time of your base layer.

UPDATE





So I got bored and I also received my haul from 8ty8beauty so I applied some China Glaze Black Mesh over it and I love how it looks! I love how the gradient pops up against the black crackle in the forefront, and how it all looks really cartoony!

China Glaze Metallic Muse, Sci-Fi

This is China Glaze Metallic Muse, 1 coat, no topcoat.

I'm not sure why but I was led into thinking that Metallic Muse was a blue-ish foil, but it turns out that it leans more towards the light sea-green side. Or maybe not? OK, I'm confused. XD I'm not really sure, but it does have some blue-green tinge to it, as compared to Millenium and Sci-Fi.





This is China Glaze Sci-Fi, 1 coat, no topcoat.

Again, I was led into thinking that Sci-Fi was a gunmetal-grey version of Millenium, but it turns out that it's a more lavender-tinged silver as compared to Millenium. I have to say that this colour is extremely similar to Millenium, though, so I did a comparison...





As you can tell, the two colours are very similar, although I think Millenium is definitely brighter and shinier than Sci-Fi, and not to mention it's a definite white-silver as compared to the lavender tinge in Sci-Fi.

I've tried both Sci-Fi and Metallic Muse with Konad, and I find that I still prefer Millenium as a Konad stamp, unless I specifically want a silver-green/blue or silver-lavender stamp on my base colour. I think it's because Millenium is just so bright and so shiny, and plus, white-silver would be a hit with any base colour there is.

Application-wise, Metallic Muse and Sci-Fi are very similar to Millenium, since they're all from the China Glaze Khrome collection 2009. Dries super fast, one-coaters and just all-round good foils. My only query about these is how am I going to pair them up now? Hahaha. However, I don't regret getting them, beacuse they're excellent Konad stamping choices, being so opaque and drying so fast. And besides, I'm slowly getting into this futuristic, shiny, foil-ish look recently.