Nubar Reclaim

I just ordered some Nubar polishes off ebay (retail price but FREE SHIPPPING!), and Reclaim is one that I've wanted for a long time but somehow just forgot to get it in my last order. When I got it and tried it on a swatch wheel, I felt a little disappointed.

But then I tried it on and I am in love. What an awesome green! Chief says it looks like a "creepy, slimy Halloween type of green" which I am totally ok with (Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday)!

Nubar - Reclaim (sun)

Nubar - Reclaim (shade)

I know it's been seen a lot, but it's new to me and instantly became one of my favorites! The holo is very linear and kind of subtle in normal lighting (more prominent than in the picture), but it gives it a very 3D appearance. Very cool!!

Ozotic 503 Swatch

This is a pretty awesome polish altogether. I've heard some say that it is not a very strong duochrome, and I have to disagree - the two main colors, a grassy lime green and a purple/grey/bronze, are almost ALWAYS present at the same time in most lighting. But in addition, it also has a subtle multichrome rainbow (the oil-slick type) that shows up at extreme angles.

This is how it looks a majority of the time:

Ozotic Pro - 503

This is 3 coats of 503 over 1 coat of Wet'n'Wild Black Creme.

**Just a note: This polish was a PAIN to photograph. I could not for the life of me get the purple/bronze to show up AT ALL! It just looked plain green (which is why a lot of pics of this color just appear to be solid green). So my gracious and wonderful friend actually edited the color into the photos, and it looks exactly how it does in person.

To show the cool multichrome, I used my new "underwater trick." Basically I just submerged my hand into a bowl of water and snapped some pics! But check out how it shows ALL of the colors at once!

I've started using this technique for photographing all of my duo/multichromes, so I will have others to show you as well very soon.

Nubar Peacock Feathers Swatch

Ever since Scrangie started on her duochrome kick, I've been trying every single one I have (full manicures, too!). I love trying to capture all the colors in photos, though sometimes it can be frustrating! I've found a new way of photographing duo/multi-chromes: underwater! I discovered this after these swatches, but I'll probably put this back on to try it in the near future.

This is one of the most awesome duochromes I own: Nubar Peacock Feathers.

I tried to capture the various awesome colors in this one in these pictures.The primary color shift in this polish is a purple to green shimmer that shifts though a golden-grey with a navy blue base, and it really does look amazing in person!  Other colors do show up on occasion like the copper that can be seen in the bottle on the last picture.

If you like duochromes in the purple-blue-green spectrum, I highly recommend this one!

My version of RBL's Piú Mosso

When Michelle first posted about the Firebird collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge (at All Lacquered Up here), I fell head over heels for Piú Mosso. What an amazing navy blue with fiery copper shimmer!

Since I'm not too big on paying that much for polish (although I have a few RBLs that I love!), I decided I'd try to replicate it using some polishes that I already have. Here are the results:

First I tried CND Effects Copper Shimmer over RBL's Dead Calm but since Copper Shimmer is so dense (is showed up as more of a pearl finish), I decided I'd decant some of it into a partially emptied Wet'n'Wild clear bottle. It turned out to be the perfect copper shimmer - exactly what I was looking for. However, because the clear was not a suspension base, it all settles to the bottom and must be shaken for a while each time I use it.  For the blue, I decided dead calm was a little too bright and wasn't quite as inky as Piú Mosso appeared to be, so instead I used China Glaze Calypso Blue as the base.

All in all I think my version came pretty close to the original.  I think the shimmer in mine might be slightly more prominent in low-lighting than in Piú Mosso, but I think it's just about as fiery in the sunlight!  Overall, it's one of my favorite polish combos I've done in a while!

What do you think?  Did I come close?

Fire Kitty and Nails!

So maybe you didn't know this, but I love World of Warcraft. My two mains (nope, I can't pick just one) are a gnome warlock named Whatsit (Chief has a gnome rogue named Whoosit... aren't we cute??) and a feral druid named Zyrah. Last night, Zyrah brought down the 6th boss in Firelands for the third time and Fandral's Flamescythe dropped!

All of my combat is in cat form, and this staff makes my character look like this:

I was so excited that all night I dreamed of ways of putting these flames onto my nails, and here's how it came out. I'm pretty happy with it, though I might do it again with a little more orange next time (less red). I used Zoya Kimmy for the base (2 coats), then lightly brushed Zoya Tanzy over it starting a little farther towards the tips each time, then added just a hint of China Glaze Lighthouse on the very tips.

I'm still so incredibly excited I can't stop squeaking now and then :o)

EDIT:  By the way, all of my Wow characters or on the US Doomhammer server.  Let me know if you have a toon there or would like to try playing and I can send you an invite for a trial account!

Missha HGR01 (with Chanel Peridot comparison)

Remember how much I fell in love with Peridot? It's the only polish in my collection that I've worn three times within a couple months, and I noticed I've already used a noticeable amount. Well, instead of buying a backup bottle (too expensive!) I decided I'd try out this polish that's supposed to be very similar to Peridot: Missha HGR01 (I found it on ebay, and it's not too terribly expensive). I am SO happy I did! Check this out!

Missha HGR01

This has the same duochrome metallic finish that Peridot does - so shiny and pretty! Like Peridot, it shows some brushstrokes while it's wet but they disappear as the polish dries.  The color spectrum on this one seems to "begin" where Peridot "ends." The greenish teal that you see at the extreme angles on Peridot is very similar to how HGR01 looks straight on. Then HGR01 turns to a bright cyan blue and even royal blue at the extremes. If mermaids wore nail polish (I only assume they don't because it'd be hard to paint your nails underwater... heehee), I think they would DEFINITELY wear this color. This feels like a "mermaid in a bottle." Oh, and also it smells like roses (very nice).

Because of it's similarity to Peridot, I wanted to show the two next to each other. I love both of these so much, though the gold in the Peridot really suits my skin tone more.

Missha HGR01 (middle and pinky) and Chanel Peridot (pointer and ring)

See how the green on Peridot (pointer) kinda of matches the green of the Missha (pinky). So cool! Love it!

Sinful Colors Let's Talk and Nfu-Oh 51

Just a quick layering combination that I had in mind when I first got Nfu-Oh 51. I'd seen it over purples and blues and loved it, so I wanted to try it with the most vibrant purple I own: Sinful Colors Let's Talk. This color is crazy I tell you!

I tried to capture the color shift of the Nfu-Oh flakies in the next couple pictures. You can see the bright green at the extreme angles. Soooo neat!

Here's a quick pic of Let's Talk on it's own... isn't it amazing?!

Deborah Lippmann Yellow Brick Road Swatch

After seeing promos for this one I knew I really wanted it, so I included it in my order of Chanel Peridot the other day.  Of course, I was too excited about Peridot, but I finally decided to try this one for a full manicure today:

Deborah Lippmann - Yellow Brick Road

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this polish...  I mean, it's such a beautiful yellow, but somehow I don't think I like the visible nail line that's still there at 4 coats (shown above).  Being a jelly finish, I expected it to take a few coats to even come close to opaque, but it's still not.  I'm really not bothered much by VNL with other colors, but not a fan of it with the yellow.  Ah, well.  I will wear it and take it off tomorrow if it really bugs me.  In the future, I think I'll layer it over Essie Marshmallow (my all-time favorite white) to maintain the jelly look.

What do you think of the visible nail line for Yellow Brick Road?  Do you like the idea of a yellow jelly?  Have you tried this one?

Chanel Peridot Swatches and Review

So I was all ready yesterday to swatch the Zoya Sunshine collection and declare my love for Zoya (and I still will soon).  But that was all before I ran into Scrangie's post about Chanel Peridot.  I had seen promo pics for it and figured "eh, it's not going to be as awesome they make it look."  But whoa, Scrangie's pics proved otherwise.  So I contemplated for awhile about whether I REALLY wanted to spend $25 on a single nail polish, but within the hour I had it ordered on Nordstrom.com with the in-store pickup option.  My other half ("Chief" we will call him) works down by the mall and he was awesome enough to offer to pick it up for me on his way home (awww).

So now I have it!  And it's amazing!  Let me show you...
 

 Chanel - Peridot

First off, I happen to have a puzzle ring with a peridot on it, so I wanted to see how the polish compares with the real thing.  If only the stone had the same color range that the polish does...  Still beautiful together!

(I sell puzzle rings at the Arizona Renaissance Festival, and if you have a faire near you my company may sell them there!  Norman Greene does amazing custom work which you can see at www.renaissancerings.com. Yes, they really do disassemble!)

Now to show you the amazing duochrome!  While it's not a very strong color change, it is a very beautiful one.  With light at a direct angle, it looks very gold (almost amber in places), but as the angle gets higher (with straight on being 0 degrees), the color shifts into leaf green, teal, and blue at the most extreme angle.

Coincidentally, peridot is Chief's birthstone, and he never liked it cause he thought it looked "booger green."  Well, if this is booger green, then I'm head over heels in love with snot.  Like Scrangie stated, when I first put it on I didn't like it, but as it dried, it started to "even out" and the streaks disappeared and the duochrome strengthened.  It DOES look nearly opaque in one coat, but I found that the more coats I did, the deeper it looked.  For these pictures I did three THIN coats.  The key that I found was to do nice thin coats with as few strokes as possible to minimize the streaks.  Don't take too much care on the first couple coats, but make sure to do a nice, thin, quick final coat.

Another note...  I can see why Scrangie was fascinated with it while typing - these are the moments where you see the blue/teal at the extreme angles, and it is quite mesmerizing  :o)

Do you like Chanel Peridot as much as I do?  Do you think it's worth the $25 retail price, or will you pass this one up?

Color Club Electro Candy Swatches

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post.  So much has been going on in my life, and I just haven't felt up to blogging.  Hopefully I can tell you all about it sometime, but for right now I'm unable to post about it.

So let's get on with the swatches!  These were taken way back in February before I stopped blogging, but I can't remember having any application issues with any of them, and I believe most were two coats.  I know this collection is from long ago, but I wanted it so badly and was so excited when I finally got them!

Color Club - Volt of Light

Color Club - Tangerine Scream

Color Club - Electro Candy

Color Club - Ultra Violet

Color Club - Pure Energy

Color Club - What a Shock!

Overall, I loved this collection.  Color Club does neons quite often, but this collection was unique because of the shimmer!

Do you like neons?  Do they go well with your skintone and make your hands look tan, or ghostly?