Color Club Worth The Risque

With flash

From the Femme Fatale collection 2009.
This was 3 coats, without topcoat.

This is proof that not all valid holos need an Aqua Base, or has to be linear, or from the China Glaze OMG collection. I was initially hesitant. I wondered if Color Club, one of the secondary brands to my mind, can produce a decent holo. This polish threw my groundless doubts away and stomped all over them before burning. This is an amazing holo, so much so that it almost looks like a nail foil! Doesn't it look like I just stamped a piece of foil on my nail?

It is a scattered holo that is definitely silver, unlike OPI DS Sapphire. I have heard that though it required 3 coats to reach opacity on the nail, it does an excellent job as a stamping polish on Konad so I'm definitely going to have to try that soon. A holo stamp! That is immeasurable prettiness. The photo with the flash reminds me of those Pokemon trading cards I used to collect as a kid, with its holo borders. I love how fuzzy it is. I am beginning to appreciate scattered holos as much as I do linear holos.

I also bought Color Club Revvvolution (I always can't keep track of how many 'v's there should be in its name), which is sort of its black holo counterpart, and I am eager to swatch it for you! I think I shall try out a Konad with Revvvolution as the base and Worth The Risque as its stamp.

As a side note, my friend bought Color Club Fashion Addict, from the same collection and is a lavender scattered holo. It looks remarkably similar to my OPI DS Diamond! Perhaps I might get her permission to use it in a comparison between the two. If they are dupes, then Fashion Addict would prove to be a cheaper alternative to the slightly more expensive Designer Series by OPI.

Color Club Electro Candy

From the Electro Candy collection 2009.
This was 3 coats.

Mine eyes, they do dazzle.

Seriously, when I was applying this, I felt like I was applying pink highlighter fluid. This is now the brightest polish I own. I think anyone could see this a mile away. Electro Candy is a neon bubblegum pink with a hint of coral, and also with a turquoise shimmer that is hardly noticeable on the nail. Even in the bottle, you'd have to tilt it at a certain angle to see a glimpse of it. Anyhow, I think I can safely say that I would not be wearing this polish on its own. It's just not becoming to blind passers-by.

Really though, the brightness of this polish almost seems to give it a quality like it's glowing. It's a bit surreal. Even when I view it in a dark corner of my room, it's almost as if it's glow-in-the-dark (which, of course, it isn't). I was also quite sad to see that the turquoise shimmer didn't come through very much on the nail. I'm not sure if it's because the polish itself is just way too bright to let any other distractions come through, or whether it's the fault of the formulation.

However, application-wise, I have nothing to complain about. Each coat dried remarkably fast, as was the case with its counterpart, Ultra Violet. By the time I was done with the pinkie on one hand, the index was sufficiently dried to begin the second coat. I'm undecided as to the brightness of this polish. It's really the first neon polish I own and I am shocked that they can even formulate such an amazingly bright colour. I'm generally not one to wear such madly bright polishes. Mad colours, yes. Madly bright - meh.

OPI Houston, We Have A Purple

From the Texas collection 2011.
This was 3 coats, without topcoat.

I have to say that every time I'm forced to photograph such colours like these and Do You Think I'm Tex-y, it nearly gives me a brain hernia at how red it comes out in my photos. I confess I tweaked the colours on Photoshop to make it even remotely similar to the original colour. OPI Houston We Have A Purple is a grape coloured jelly that is visibly and significantly more purple and darker than its counterpart Do You Think I'm Tex-y, but my camera begs to differ.

I currently have this and Do You Think I'm Tex-y painted on alternate fingers, and using the syrup nail technique. I love how it looks! It really reminds me of the Hi-Chew grape flavoured candy. I can almost just taste it. I really like jellies. They're not as ostentatious as glitters, cleaner than duochromes, and not as boring as cremes. I love how squishy and shiny and soft and gummy-like it looks. It really makes me feel like eating them. D:

Can you imagine if they had scented jellies in the future? Like if they really smelt like Hi-Chew gummies? I think I'd go wild with cravings everytime I opened the bottle, much less painting it. OMGAH!

Anyhow, fancies aside, I have to say that perhaps it's due to the nature of the sorbet finish that this polish is meant to have, but the formula seemed rather watery and runny, as was the case for Do You Think I'm Tex-y as well. It's really difficult to keep the polish from pooling in my cuticles while painting, and quite a bit of clean-up was required. I did notice, when I was dabbing excess polish back into the bottle, that perhaps in order to achieve that sorbet effect, they did have to make this polish thinner than usual. In the bottle, it looks more like syrup than nail polish. However, I like the jelly finish so much that I would say this pooling thing would not deter me from buying more.

Do you like jellies? What do you think of scented jellies?

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.