China Glaze - Hologlam Collection 2013 - Strap on your Moonboots and OMG a UFO

Today I'll give you the two other Hologlam polishes that I have bought: Strap on your Moonboots and OMG a UFO.
I loved the dark and somewhat odd colours in this collection, the pastel ones I have seen a thousand times so I let them pass.

First up is Strap on your Moonboots (2 layers):

China Glaze - Strap on your Moonboots

In diffused light

In halogen light

SOYM is a lovely murky darkish blue with a hint of purple but it has a hint of green as well......strange I know! The holographic effect is a bit less then in When Stars Collide, but just a tiny bit.

OMG a UFO (love that name) is an olive green, and this one is a bit iffy. The holo effect does not come out to play as easily as the other two and the application was a bit difficult: it caused bald spots. So application must be in not too thin layers and as little strokes as possible.
The colour was a bit of a let down for me: it could have been slightly more dirty and darker this was just too golden for me (with a frosty finish of the holographic particles).

Here is OMG a UFO (2 layers):

China Glaze - OMG a UFO

In diffused light

In halogen light

Conclusion is: I love When Stars Collide best followed by Strap on your Moonboots. OMG a UFO has the best name, yet the colour and consistency are a bit of a let down.
I am considering buying Not in this Galaxy and Infra Red....but I am not sure....all those decisions to make... >sigh<

Just a little post: Essie - Silken Cord (winter 2010)

I am always on the lookout for a nice, red nail polish!
And one fine day I crossed paths with Essie Silken Cord.
The tone is a pure red, a bit darker then hot red and it has a bit of a dusty look to it.
Perhaps I should discribe it as a winter red...(then Snap Happy would be a summer red).

Here it is:

Essie - Silken Cord

Top: Essie - Snap happy, Bottum: Essie - Silken Cord

It is a perfect red in my eyes, but the wearability was not perfect: it was chipped within a day!
I will try this again with Essie base and top coat: hopefully that will stay put for a few days longer.

China Glaze - Hologlam - When Stars Collide, holographic collection 2013

It was collecting dust in it's nail polish drawer: China Glaze When Stars Collide, a warm maroon coloured holographic polish.
Today it is time to reveal it's beauty.....
There is much said about the Hologlam Collection and most nail enthusiasts came to the conclusion that it lacked in va-va-voom holographic splendour.
I like it that it is not in your face holographic, the spectra flair particles are very fine in this polish and they give it more of a glow most of the time. But under halogen lights and natural sunlight (offcourse) the rainbows come out to play!
The subtleness of the holo effect makes this polish very chique in my eyes (the colour helps as well).

I tried to caputure it's glorie:

China Glaze - When Stars Collide

In diffused light

In halogen light

The colour is lovely: a lot of other brands copied it or perhaps better phrased "were inspired" by the colour (Layla, Dance Legend, A-England etc.).
It is dark, but not too much.
It is maroon, but not too braun.
It is holographic, but not too in your face.
It has a lovely formula and covers very well in two coats.
It is not topcoat repellend.

I like it a lot; I am very happy that I bought two little friends to accompany WSC in my drawer and on my nails ;-)

Chanel Taboo and comparison.

I splurged........
After seeing swatches of Chanel Taboo I could not resist the temptation am I went out and bought the sucker!
It is a lovely and complicated colour: the base is deep purple blue (like OPI - Every Month Is Oktoberfest) and it has the same red shimmer like Chanel Malice has. BUT it has blue and pink shimmer TOO! The red and the blue shimmer are ultra micro the pink is a bit bigger and seems to float like tiny stars in the polish.

Chanel - Taboo

In diffused light

In sunlight

Complicated as the polish is, it needed a comparison badly; I compared it with OPI-Every Month Is Oktoberfest OPI-Black Cherry Chutney, Chanel-Malice, OPI-Germanicure and OPI-Royal Rajah Ruby.

Comparison

OPI - Every Month Is Oktoberfest, OPI - Black Cherry Chutney, Chanel - Taboo

Chanel - Malice, OPI - Royal Rajah Ruby, OPI - German.icure

The base colour of Chanel is the same as the base of OPI EMIO even the red shimmer is comparable only the OPI lacks the pink shimmer which makes the Chanel stand out and the blue shimmer is a golden/copper glow here. The base of OPI BCC is more purplish and the shimmer here is less red (more purple), no pink shimmer and just a hint of blue shimmer (you have to look very hard for this).
As you can see in the pics Chanel Malice has a burgundy base and pinkish red shimmer (so no blue and pink), OPI-GI has more of a braun toned watery base with a coppery red shimmer. OPI-RRR has a deep braun red base with burgundy red shimmer.

Conclusion: they are all alike and definately family but there are no dupes here; Chanel Taboo is the most versatile and complex of the bunch...a justifiable buy I would say :-)

p.s. wear time was not perfect: after 2 days the tip wear was too much for me to bear and I had to remove Taboo from my tips.....

Zoya PixieDust spring 2013 - Vespa

Keeping it green these days...
Zoya Vespa is a PixieDust polish like the Liquid Sands by OPI from the spring 2013 collection and I love these kind of finishes!
The colour is a light and slightly transparent sage green with tiny silver micro glitter. The base dries swift and matte and the micro glitter gives the whole thing a little umph.
I used it this time without any base or strenghtening stuff and no topcoat ofcourse, just to see how that would wear. At day three there is no tippwear, no bits and pieces missing, it still looks fresh and perfect!

The first three pictures were taken at day 1:

Zoya PixieDust - Vespa

in diffused light

day three, in sunlight

day five, diffused light

Well, as you can see Vespa stays very much put...even without basecoat! You can see some minimal every day wear but after 5 whole days my nails still look pretty decent :-)
I just want another colour now.....I only have to figure out which one is up next.....

China Glaze Sunsational Summer Neons 2013 - Highlight Of My Summer

I almost forgot about Highlight Of My Summer, even though it initially was my first pick out of the collection.
HOMS is a very fresh, minty green colour with a lot of white in the base and some yellow to make it not too minty. Colour wise it is very lovely, I do not have anything similar in my stash. Consistency wise it was a hot mess......when I was little I used to paint my nails with Tipp-Ex (used for blocking out type errors). This white stuff had a terrible consistency, dried instantly, clotted always and HOMS does excactly the same things :-(
It dries so fast it does not level out, so it streaks and it clumps. I added thinner which helped a little but not enough by any means. After 3 fairly thick layers of HOMS it n e e d e d two thick layers of topcoat to smooth things out a bit.
Wear time was horribly bad as well: the next day I had bits and pieces missing from my tips...

I did a very brave (dare I say so myself?) attempt to photograph this monster (the pic with the "sunset button" is the most colour accurate I could achieve):

China Glaze - Highlight Of My Summer

in diffused light

in sunlight

using the "sunset button" on my camera

Conclusion: love the colour, hate the polish!!
I'll use it for dotting but never again for a full mani. >sigh<

OPI The Bond Girls Collection summer 2013 - Solitaire with a dash of Pussy Galore

After three weeks of NO nail polish at all on my nails (which was kind of refreshing) I decided it was time to  get painting again. I choose Solitaire from The Bond Girls Collection (all Liquid Sands).
Solitaire is like moon dust......a softly glittering silvery white. With some lights the silvery glitters seem to be dark grey, like little moon craters, and in other lights they glow up like sparkling silver. I love this colour; it is pure white and yet it isn't, if you get my drift ;-)

Have a look yourself:

OPI The Bond Girls Collection - Solitaire

I wore Solitaire like this for a day and then I decided to add some subtle striping.......

OPI The Bond Girls Collection - Pussy Galore

Photo taken inside

Photo taken outside

Pussy Galore is a very soft and girly addition to Solitaire...you have to look to see it. It is a lovely soft pearly shade with some slightly darker pink microglitter hiding in the murky waters. I could not get those micro glitters to show themselves to the camera >sorry<

All in all I really like the Liquid Sands and Solitaire is no exception. Can't wait to try Pussy Galore on all my nails: perhaps next time.....?!

Petit haul from France...Lollipops, Biguine and Nocibé

Just got back from a two week trip to the south of France!
We froze our asses off....it was C O L D: only 4 Celsius in the night (and we were camping!)....who would have thought it could be so cold this time of year in the Midi Pyrénées?!

Cathedral in Albi, France

And yet...there were some sunny moment as well :-)

Salade in the swamp.....

We had a very busy schedule so there were not much shopping opportunities....
I only visited La Fayette and the Nocibé:

My two finds in La Fayette

Lollipops - Mademoiselle Violette nr.11

Biguine Gloss&Shock 13573 Kaki Silver

Mademoiselle Violette is a stunning glitterbomb! In the bottle it reminds me of Zoya Julieanne...on the nail it is a completly different story. It is a jelly with loads of microglitter that shifts in colour from deep purple to hot pink. When the light is just right you can even detect a shift to the golden copper tones. The formula was terrible: syrupy and glue like...it can be I was a little impatient (this was the last polish to swatch)....yet.... This were two thick gloopy layers of glue ;-)

The Kaki Silver reminds me of OPI's Designer De Better...it has the same feel to it. Metallic glass fleck with some different colours thrown  together in a happy marriage silver with green and brown flecks. The formula was perfect a bit on the thick side but very workable. This is two easy layers.

The three little Nocibé polishes

Nocibé Pure Glitter - Angels Only

Nocibé Vernis Caméléon - 3 - Spectral Pink

Spectral Pink with Angels Only

Nocibé Vernis Brillance Éclat - 182 - Fall In Love

Fall In Love with Angels Only

Next up is the Nocibé trio, starting with the glitter topper Angels Only. It has tiny micro gold glitter and some slightly bigger gold micro glitter together with red and pink micro glitter in a transparent base. It is a topper, you can were it alone (of course) but it will never become opaque. This was two layers.

Second up is the Vernis Caméléon in Spectral Pink a true duo chrome polish! The base colour is a golden copper tone that shifts from pure yellow gold to bright pink. It has a lovely workable formula and the result is pefect in two layers. It sparkles like crazy in the sun and I really like the added effect of Angels Only.

Third up is Fall In Love, a strawberry jam red with some micro micro glitter and a slight blue/purple shift. In the bottle this looked very interesting (especially in the bright halogen lights of the store...). In real life I am not so very excited though. It is a unforgiving colour: too rich and to cold looking on me....I do not think that it gives me lobster hands but it makes me look very pale and unhealthy. The topper does nothing for it either, in the pic it looks OK but in real life: >ieuw< ! The contrast was too big the gold too stark for the strawberry jam. No it did not make me fall in love and even angels couldn't help me.
The formula was good, this is two layers...perhaps I should have gone for three to make it even deeper and more like the bottle.