Sunday, March 31, 2013

Sinful Colors Cinderella Swatch And Review

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!  We spent some time with friends and went to dinner with them.  Poor LO has a runny nose and since she can't breath through her nose, she's has to breathe through her mouth instead and keeps drooling through all her shirts.  Is it bad that I find that funny?  Her spirits have been great and she hasn't been grumpy at all.

I've got a popular Sinful Colors polish today called Cinderella, and true to its name, it's a delicate light blue shade with a strong pink shimmer.  Unfortunately, the formula is terrible.  It was very streaky and sheer during application and took forever to dry in between coats.   I used three coats for this mani with no topcoat.  I would recommend using a quick drying topcoat on this if you don't want tons of dents.  I took some extra pics because I wanted to try and capture the pretty pink shimmer.

Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella

Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella

Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella

Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella

Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella
Sinful Colors Cinderella
If you can get past the nightmarish application of this polish, the polish truly is the stuff from fairy tales.  After taking these pics, I promptly dented most of the fingers by doing nothing - the polish still hadn't dried despite giving it plenty of time to dry.  Sadly, this is one of the few fails that I've encountered from Sinful Colors and it's going into my swap pile.

Easter Mani: Jindie Nails Rave Swatch And Review


 Tomorrow(or today I guess) is Easter and although I don't normally celebrate, I had to pull out something pastel-ly to wear for the occasion.  Looking through my untrieds, Jindie Nails Rave stood out so I've got that for you to see tonight.  It's a white crelly base packed with neon hexes in yellow, green, blue and pink along with fuchsia colored circle and blue microglitter.  I had a lot of trouble with the formula in that it was a little too watery.  The polish wanted to pool along the edges and the glitters wanted to drag towards the tip of the nails so I ended up dabbing the last coat to get the glitters to spread out evenly.  Not fun.  I used about three coats and a layer of SH Insta Dri.

 Jindie Nails Rave
 Jindie Nails Rave

 Jindie Nails Rave
 Jindie Nails Rave

 Jindie Nails Rave
 Jindie Nails Rave

Jindie Nails Rave
Jindie Nails Rave
Jindie Nails Rave
Jindie Nails Rave

Despite the difficult formula, I like the end result because it reminds me of speckled Easter Eggs.  I'm on the fence about keeping it in my stash - there are better performing indie polishes out there with similar coloring but I do love name Rave because it reminds me of my younger days(yes, I was a child of the 90s and that's what we did).  Glowsticks anyone?

A Quick Comparison of OPI Thanks a Windmillion and YSL Jade Imperial

Good evening dears, I have a request to compare OPI Thanks A Windmillion and YSL Jade Imperial.  They're both pretty jade creams but there's quite a price difference between the two.



Formula is very similar for both, each could be nearly a one coater but two coats provide even coverage.  The brushes are both wide and there's no pooling or streaking for either.  Both dry to a high shine on their own.  


Colorwise, there's definitely a visible difference.  The YSL appears a touch darker and greener whereas the OPI is lighter and leans slightly blue.  Do you need both?  Probably not.  Personally I like the greener shade of the YSL and will most likely keep that one in my collection.  However, if I didn't have the YSL already, I think I would be just as happy with OPI Thanks A Windmillion

Thanks for the question The Ramblings Of A Maniac!


Friday, March 29, 2013

NerdLacquer Exterminate Swatch And Review

I've got a quick one for you this evening because I have to go to bed like a hour ago for work in the morning.  This is Nerdlacquer Exterminate from the Dr Who collection and I love the combination of glitter in this.  I wish I'd noticed earlier because I can't believe I let this slide for the past couple weeks without swatching it!  It's a gorgeous brown shimmery jelly with tons of multisized gold and blue hex glitter.  I think my batch may have more glitters than previous releases because the other swatches I've seen show much less glitter.  I used two coats and had some slight clumping but that's expected with as much glitter as this has in it.  Otherwise it went on smoothly and there was no dragging.  This is finished with a coat of Gelous and Poshe.

NerdLacquer Exterminate
NerdLacquer Exterminate

NerdLacquer Exterminate
NerdLacquer Exterminate

NerdLacquer Exterminate
NerdLacquer Exterminate

NerdLacquer Exterminate
NerdLacquer Exterminate

NerdLacquer Exterminate
NerdLacquer Exterminate

Yum, I love the way this looks like chocolate-y goodness on my nails.  The pop of blue is really eye catching as well and compliments the brown really well. I need to swatch more of my Nerds, especially after the past couple 3rd party restock debacles these past couple days.  It's always better to enjoy what I already have rather than buying more.  Have you looked in your stash lately and used an untried?

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine Swatch And Review

I'm a little sad today, it was a coworker's last day at our work and I'm sorry to see him leave because he was always fun to work with.  We celebrated by going out with the work crew to a local cantina for drinks and food and we all had a great time.  I think everyone will miss him tomorrow when we see his empty desk.  I'm sure he's off to bigger and better things, so I'm happy for him but I hope he stays in touch with us.  Do you still keep in touch with coworkers who have come and gone?

Tonight I have my final Contrary Polish from the Spring Love Lyric's collection called Ain't No Sunshine.  It's a lovely dusty blue with silver flecks mixed throughout.  I think it's fairly unique in that I don't see a lot of polishes anymore with monochromatic flecks.  I wish there were more polishes like this out there, but unfortunately there aren't very many.  Revlon Royal Cloak, one of my all time favorite polishes, comes to mind.  The formula on this was excellent, I had no issues with pooling or streaking and I only needed two coats for opacity.  It dried to a satin finish on its own so I used a layer of SH Insta Dri for shine.

Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine

Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine

Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine

Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
Contrary Polish Ain't No Sunshine
 Isn't that just gorgey?  Do you know of any polishes that have flecks similar to this?  Another polish that comes to mind is China Glaze Ahoy but maybe it has smaller glassflecks.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Sinful Colors Endless Blue Swatches And Review

If there's one thing I learned on my trip to the east coast, that's to remember to moisturize!  I forgot how harsh the weather can be on the nails and how brittle they can get from indoor heating.  I suffered a couple breaks as a result.  I applaud the gals who can maintain their nails in that kind of weather, I know that I couldn't!

It's very rare that I find a polish that really impresses me, especially a drugstore polish.  Sinful Colors Endless Blue is one of those rare occurances.  I initially had low expectations for this shade because blues always tend to stain and I usually get a little streaking with application.  I had neither of those problems with this color, and to top it off, I only needed ONE coat of this polish for full coverage!  It's a beautiful cobalt blue shade, and a near dupe to the infamous Nails Inc Baker Street.  I didn't even need a topcoat for shine, this baby has its own to show off!

Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
If you don't have this yet, you need to run out and get this ASAP!  I'm sure it'll be a mainstay in your collection, and for $1.99, you can't pass it up.  I think it's going to be permanent color, but just in case, nab it up now in case it goes away.  I found mine at Target and I hear that there's a LE display as well.

China Glaze Hologlams Dark Holo Picks

We've made it back from our trip from NC and we had a lovely time with the grandparents in-law and visiting the countryside.  LO did great on the plane ride again, however on the way to the airport she had a meltdown in the car, poor thing.   I know now to take a layover if it means using a closer airport.  The only thing I really regret is not visiting Charlotte because that's the city I'm interested in moving to next.  If you have any advice about this city, I'd really like to hear it!

I was able to find some of the China Glaze Hologlams at my nail supply store last week so I picked up the colors that I liked, which were mostly the darker shades of the collection.  I always gravitate towards darker holos because it's hard to find a good dark holo, especially since the holo pigment always lightens the base after it's added.  As a forewarning, this is a picture heavy post!

To keep this short, I'll summarize the four polishes together because they all performed similarly.  The holo effect in these were minimal if not non-existent indoors, and you can see that in the first photo of each set.  When in direct light, the holo appears and it's a much finer sharper holo effect due to the smaller spectraflair particles.  In comparison, the Color Clubs seem to have a more rugged holo rainbow because the SF particles are larger.  When applied, it was slightly runnier than other holos I've used but I didn't have any trouble with pooling or streaking and used two coats for each mani with no basecoat or topcoat.

Galactic Grey is a charcoal grey holo.

China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey

China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey

China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey

China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey
China Glaze Galactic Grey

Strap On Your Moonboots is one of more unique colors from this collection, it's a dusty navy blue holo.

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots
China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

When Stars Collide is a lovely plummy purple holo.

China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide

China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide

China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide

China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide
China Glaze When Stars Collide
OMG a UFO is a dusty green holo.

China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO

China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO

China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO

China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO

China Glaze OMG a UFO
China Glaze OMG a UFO

I think everyone had high hopes for this collection but if they're like me, the collection is a little disappointing in how weak the holo effect is compared to the OMG collection and the recent Color Club collection.  However, I do like the colors and find them to be unique compared to other holos I've seen.  The price point is reasonable if you can find them thru a wholesale supply versus retail.  Have you tried any of these, and how do you think they perform?