Zoya Dillon turns the tide on a texture

Zoya Dillon with China Glaze Teal the Tide Turns, sun

Here’s a quick post to share a NOTD I just sported recently. This manicure features Zoya Dillon on 2 fingers. Dillon is a light seafoam green with a silver shimmer.  I use China Glaze Teal the Tide Turns on the other 2 fingers. I picked up that texture glitter on clearance at Sally Beauty.  I’m not a fan of textures, but I love the mint green base color of this one as well as the greenish teal glitter in it. So I added plenty of topcoat over Teal the Tide Turns.  

 

 

 

 

 

Zoya Dillon with China Glaze Teal the Tide Turns, shade

 

Seahorsin' Around with topcoat

China Glaze Seahorsin' Around, sun

 I'm back with a quick post featuring China Glaze Seahorsin' Around. It's a textured polish feautring turquoise glitter. As you may recall, I don't like texture polishes at all, so I coujldn't wear it alone. However, I love the colors in this glitter, so I added a bunch of topcoat to it.  Here are my pics of it. 

China Glaze Seahorsin' Around, shade

Comparison: Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel vs. China Glaze Party Hearty

Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel on left, China Glaze Party Hearty on right, over white

Oh, my poor neglected blog. Here’s a post I promised you quite a while ago that I have neglected to deliver. Hopefully it’s still in time for you to pick up the polish in question if you are still interested.

Here’s a comparison of the recent Sinful Colors holiday release, Holiday Rebel, to the legendary China Glaze polish, Party Hearty.  Party Hearty was limited edition a few years ago and is extremely hard to find nowadays.

Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel on left, China Glaze Party Hearty on right, over black

Here are the main differences I could find between the 2 polishes. The red glitter in Party Hearty is different from the red glitter in Holiday Rebel, where the red glitter is more dense.  The red hex glitter in Party Hearty is more tomato red, while the glitter in Holiday Rebel is a bit more silvery. Speaking of silver, Holiday Rebel has a some silver hex glitters in the mix that Party Hearty lacks.   Party Hearty has gold microglitter while Holiday Rebel doesn’t.  Holiday Rebel has more green microglitter than Party Hearty. 

That's about it, folks. Holiday Rebel was part of the Glitz and Glittered display from Sinful Colors this year and should still be available in stores.   If you want to see a few more pictures, jump!

A Heavenly way to Ride the Waves

Revlon Heavenly over China Glaze Ride the Waves, sunlight

Here's a manicure that I intended to do a jelly sandwich with. However, I loved the look of the glitter so much that I couldn't bear to put another layer of polish on top of it. It's Revlon Heavenly over 2 coats of China Glaze Ride the Waves, a blue jelly polish. Most polish fanatics know that Revlon Heavenly is a glitter polish that's a dupe of Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven. It features opalescent square glitter and orange flashing hex glitters. I don't know that it would work well with all colors, but Heavenly definitely looks good over dark colors, especially blues and teals.  Here it is in the shade:

Revlon Heavenly over China Glaze Ride the Waves, shade

Join me after the jump for a couple more pictures.

Heat Index of Emerald City

Jelly sandwich with China Glaze Heat Index and OPI Lights of Emerald City

It's pretty sweltering here in California and in much of the west, so this is a good time to show you pictures of China Glaze Heat Index. Heat Index is one of the jelly neons from the 2013 China Glaze Sunsational collection.  It's a neon pink jelly finish polish.  Since I wanted to take advantage of the jelly nature of this polish, I decided to try a jelly sandwich with it. I did 2 coats of Heat Index, then added 1 coat of OPI Lights of Emerald City and then topped it all off with a last coat of Heat Index. I'm really happy with how my jelly sandwich turned out, and am looking forward to playing around with the neon jellies in this collection.

 I actually love the fact that the sandwich hides the iridescent glitter in OPI Lights of Emerald City. There's something about the combination of matte white with the iridescent glitter that I'm not huge on, so hiding that glitter and having the large square glitter peek through is a look I love. I thought the formula for Heat Index was pretty typical for a jelly. I used 3 thin coats in the overall look after testing things out on a nail wheel.

How will you be wearing your neon jellies?

Jelly sandwich with China Glaze Heat Index, OPI  LoEC, and bad cuticles

If you're feeling brave, join me after the jump. I'll have more pictures of this manicure, cuticles and all, as well as a foot picture where I compare Heat Index to China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy. Join me after the jump, if you dare!

Quick Post-China Glaze Ingrid with Nina Holographic topcoat

China Glaze Ingrid with Nina Holographic, shade

Here's a quick post of a mani I did a while back. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of it even though it was super pretty. It's China Glaze Ingrid with a glitter gradient on the bottom. The glitter on the bottom is Nina Holographic Topcoat. How's that for a descriptive name? Holographic Topcoat is a gold glitter with lots holographic particles. As I mentioned the other time I posted this polish, Nina Holographic topcoat is a supposed dupe for Butter London Tart With a Heart. Unfortunately, the only store with testers of Butter London polishes in my area never has a bottle of TWAH. If I ever get a chance to swatch a tester, I'll do a comparison. I've seen pictures and it's pretty close. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy seeing this manicure.

China Glaze Ingrid with Nina Holographic, sunlight

Shell-o, is it me you're looking for?

China Glaze Shell-o with Verity Deep Violet tips, natural light

I didn't have great expectations for China Glaze Shell-o. It's a neon coral-leaning pink and a jelly finish polish to boot. Those things awesome.  However, neons tend to be streaky in and of themselves, and some jelly polishes do, too. I was afraid that the combination of neon and jelly was going to mean a nightmare of polish to apply. Luckily, Shell-o way surpassed my expectations. While it's not the easiest polish in the world to apply, it definitely has a buildable formula.

China Glaze Shell-o with Verity Deep Violet tips, sunlight

I paired China Glaze Shell-o with a cult nail polish favorite, Verity Deep Violet.  It's a purple jelly polish that's quite nice on its own. Added to the tips of Shell-o, it worked great and made for a fun look. I used 2 coats of Deep Violet over 3 coats of Shell-o. Learn more about how Shell-o applies, what polishes I think it's a mix of and see more pictures, after the jump.

China Glaze Fade Into Hue comparisons

China Glaze Fade Into Hue, center, in comparison with other lavenders

There are already a lot of periwinkle polishes on the market, and periwinkle fans are wondering how China Glaze Fade Into Hue compares to some of the others. I couldn't find any dupes in the colors I compared Fade Into Hue with, but there were a lot of colors that are very close.

Here is China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le swatched next to Fade Into Hue. China Glaze Fade Into Hue is on my ring and index fingers, Secret Peri-wink-le is on my middle and pinky fingers. These were really difficult to tell appart from each other, Secret Periwinkle is just slightly bluer and Fade into Hue is a tiny bit dustier.

China Glaze Fade Into Hue swatched with Secret Peri-wink-le

Below is China Glaze Fade Into Hue swatched with Sinful Colors Lavender. I really thought they were dupes after seeing them in the bottle, but in reality, Lavender dries to be quite a bit darker than FIH. Fade Into Hue is on my ring and index fingers, Lavender is on my middle and pinky fingers.

China Glaze Fade Into Hue is not as dark as Sinful Colors Lavender

I have some bottle shots of all 3 of these in the bottle, plus more bottle side by side comparisons with China Glaze Fade Into Hue, after the jump!

Green Ocean can't Fade Into Hue.....it's too pretty!

Sinful Colors Green Ocean over China Glaze Fade Into Hue, natural light

Here is Sinful Colors Green Ocean, a seasonal flakie polish, over a color from the new China Glaze Avante Garden collection, Fade Into Hue. I think flakies are so beautiful that they can never fade into the background. Flakies usually show up better over darker colors, but I think my pictures prove that they can look pretty good over pastels, also.  I started with 2 coats of Fade Into Hue and then added 1 coat of Green Ocean.

Sinful Colors Green Ocean over a

 Here's a picture of China Glaze Fade Into Hue on its own.  Like a lot of purple/blues, it was hard to photograph and I think it's a color you're better off checking out for yourself.  I do, however, have something coming up that should help you decide if you need this color.

China Glaze Fade Into Hue (center )with similar colors

 I’m preparing a post to upload soon, it features a lot of bottle shot comparisons and a couple of swatches of Fade Into Hue and some other colors. For now, join me after the jump for a few more pictures of Fade Into Hue.

China Glaze It's a Trapeze layered over pastel purple

1 coat of China Glaze It's a Trapeze over  Sinful Colors Candy Coated, sun

Here are some quick pictures of China Glaze It's a Trapeze layered over Sinful Colors Candy Coated lilac polish. Candy Coated is from the Sinful Colors spring pastel colection. I love pastels and purple, soI couldn't resist this one. I applied 2 coats of Sinful Colors Candy Coated and then added 1 coat of China Glaze It's a Trapeze.

1 coat of China Glaze It's a Trapeze over  Sinful Colors Candy Coated

As you probably know, China Glaze It's a Trapeze is a milky white base with rainbow glitters. I love this polish in white, but one of the best things about It's a Trapeze is how well it layers over other colors. I also loved it over pastel blue, which you can check it out in this post.

1 coat of China Glaze It's a Trapeze over  Sinful Colors Candy Coated, shade

On my thumb, I actually tried layering 1 coat of a rainbow polish and then a coat of a sheer white. It turns out everyone is right, China Glaze It's a Trapeze gives the same "jelly sandwich" look as a sheer white polish over rainbow glitter.

Finally, I was going to apologize for the quality of these pictures. The polish had long been removed when I sat down to edit and realized that all the pictures were less than optimal. It was even cuter in real life, so even though the pictures aren't great, I hope you enjoy this combination!

Running in Circles in metallics

China Glaze Running in Circles with gold and silver polish splattered on, sunlight

 When I happened to put my bottle of China Glaze Running in Circles next to my bottle of  Orly Dazzle, I knew immediately that those 2 colors would really compliment each other. Running in Circles is the awesome bright green foil from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection. I decided to do a manicure using Running in Circles as a base and then splatter it with gold and silver.  I used Orly Dazzle as the silver and Kleancolor Metallic Yellow as the gold.  I think the resulting manicure is really a breathtaking one.  I stopped and admired my nails every time the sun caught it the right way.  What do you think of it?

Running in Circles splatter manicure with Kleancolor Metallic Yellow and Orly Dazzle, natural light lamp

 

 

Christmas (Salad) Days- green glitterbomb featuring Orly Mermaid Tale

Orly Mermaid Tale over China Glaze Glittering Garland and Sinful Colors Cal You Later, sun

Here's a fun combination I wore after I decided I better get into the Christmas spirit and start doing some Christmas themed manis before it's too late. Unfortunately, I couldn't actually find any actual holiday stamps in my tiny collection of plates. The closest I came is this poinsettia stamp. I didn't want to get too complicated so I just stamped my middle finger. On the other fingers, I decided glitter was the solution. I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Glittering Garland, then added 1 coat of Sinful Colors Call You Later and 1 coat of Orly Mermaid Tale. I think the resulting manicure is blingy enough for the holidays. It actually reminds me a lot of Lynderella's green glitterbombs, like I Can Afford It and Salad Days.  However, there was a specific layering look that inspired this. Join me after the jump to see the inspiration and for more pictures!

Orly Mermaid Tale over China Glaze Glittering Garland and Sinful Colors Cal You Later, shade

Gourds in the desert? Finger Paints Gourd or Bad? over Kalahari Kiss

Finger Paints Gourd or Bad over ver China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, sunlight

Here are my swatches of Finger Paints Gourd or Bad, a multi-colored bar glitter over China Glaze Kalahari Kiss. BTW, in case you're curious, "gourd" is a specific plant but it's also sometimes used to describe squash, which I'm sure is what the name is a reference to. Finger Paints Gourd or Bad? came out as part of the Finger Paints Fall '12 collection.  It's a collection of silver, light blue, light orange and lavender bar gitter in a clear base. Kalahari Kiss is from China Glaze's On Safari collection. It's an awesome neutral camel color, in my opinion. 

Finger Paints Gourd or Bad over ver China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, shade

Here's the same combination in the shade. Please excuse my uneven nails, I had just had a break and hadn't evened everything out when I wore this combo. 

China Glaze Glitter All the Way over holiday skittles

China Glaze Glitter All the Way over various colors, shade

I knew I wanted to try China Glaze Glitter All the Way over a few other colors. It's an interesting polish, it's fairly dense but you can still see the underlying polish if you do just one coat. I wanted to do glitter tips with it and decided to try it over the colors in the polish: gold, red, purple and green. I think it looks really pretty over all of the colors, and makes for a festive look in this skittle form! To find out what polishes I used, and see more pictures, join me after the jump!

China Glaze Glitter All the Way over various colors, sunlight

China Glaze Whirled Away over a bright purple

China Glaze Whirled Away over Island Girl Aloha Luau,
 sunlight

It appears China Glaze has been paying attention to the surge in popularity of indie polishes in the last year. The proof: its new glitter from the Cirque Du Soleil collection. Whirled Away is a combination of large black hex glitter, black bar glitter and huge white hex glitters in a clear base. It should sound familiar, since a series of black and white glitters has been around for months from different indie vendors. For a comparison of a bunch of these type of black and white glitters, check out this incredibly thorough post at Chalkboard Nails.

I knew I wanted to layer Whirled Away over a bright color, and I ended up going with one of my favorite new polishes of late. Island Girl Aloha Luau is a bright, nearly neon purple with a silver shimmer. It’s super vivid and saturated, the perfect backdrop for the simple colors of Whirled Away. Join me after the jump to find out what I thought of the glitter, plus a few more pictures.

China Glaze It's a Trapeze over a pastel blue

China Glaze It's a Trapeze over Kinetic Candy, sunlight

Here is China Glaze It's a Trapeze over 2 coats of China Glaze Kinetic Candy. I got the idea to layer the milky glitter over blue after seeing some of the awesome combinations my friend Lisa over at Swatches and Whatnot has posted.  I decided to layer the milky polish over a light blue in order to achieve a look similar to Nails, Inc. Pudding Lane.  My overall look is lighter than the Nails Inc version, but I still really like it. I just did 1 layer of It's a Trapeze over 2 coats of Kinetic Candy.

China Glaze It's a Trapeze over Kinetic Candy, shade

China Glaze It's a Trapeze over Kinetic Candy, sunlight

China Glaze Pizzazz: a ¨new¨ holiday glitter?

China Glaze Pizzazz over various purples, sunlight

China Glaze Pizzazz is from the Holiday 2012 collection, so it´s definitely new in the sense of being recently released. Whether it´s a polish we have seen before is arguable, though.

Pizzazz really reminded me of Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, since they are both multi-colored glitters in a clear base. I would have pulled out my bottle of HB to do a comparison, but then I found this post from Berry T over at the Happyberrynaiad blog.  She's done a side by side comparison of Happy Birthday and Pizzazz, as well as having some beautiful swatches of Pizzazz over black and white. You can read the post for a very thorough comparison, but basically, she thinks the two are different enough for a fan of rainbow glitters to justify owning both.

Comparison of China Glaze Pizzazz with various rainbow glitters, from The Polishaholic blog

Meanwhile, over at the Polishaholic, Jen did this post where she compared Pizzazz to a few other rainbow glitters. You can see her comparison photo above. I think this is a good post to look to determine just how close Pizzazz actually is the other multi-colored glitters out in the polish world. If you're like me, you may already own more than one of them. Besides that, the post is an incredibly thorough comparison of a lot of this season's holiday polishes, so be sure to read it to avoid accidentally buying a dupe.

Regardless of its originality, or lack thereof, I picked up Pizzazz because I love glitters. I decided to swatch Pizzazz over 2 holiday colors, red and green. I also randomly swatched it over a purple skittle mani I had on the day I got it. Join me after the link to see more pictures.

China Glaze Make a Spectacle over a ton of colors!

China Glaze Make a Spectacle over  various colors

When I originally saw China Glaze Make a Spectacle at my nail supply place, I passed on it. My friend Esmeralda Pearlfinish already has China Glaze Snow Globe and, to me, it looked identical to Snow Globe in the bottle. It wasn't until I found this post about Make a Spectacle that I was sold on its uniqueness. I've ended up trying this glitter over a lot of other polishes, and it looks great over most of them. I'm so glad I went back for this polish.

Join me after the jump for a very picture heavy post with Make a Spectacle over (almost) everything!

I celebrated my birthday with Deborah Lippmann......Across the Universe

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe with accent nail, sun

Across the Universe is the only Deborah Lippmann polish that I've seriously considered paying full retail price for. None of the other polishes the brand offers impresses me quite as much as this jelly blue glitter bomb. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of a special offer from the company and got ATU for $9. It's still way more than I usually am willing to pay for a polish, but Across the Universe was definitely worth it to me.  

Across the Universe is so special to me that I felt like I would only wear it on a special occasion. That's why I waited until my birthday last week to wear it as a full mani. I wanted to do an intersting accent nail, and that's why I wore a blue green glass fleck gradient. Find out what polishes I used for the gradient (and base) and see more pictures, after the jump!

China Glaze Fast Track-shimmery good neutral

China Glaze Fast Track with Zoya Jem accent nail, sunlight

Here´s another color that I might not have picked up had it not been for the Sally´s clearance sale. I don´t usually gravitate towards neutrals, which is why I passed on this color for a while. Even though I had tried it at the sample counter and liked the shimmer, I just wasn´t sure whether I liked the polish enough to buy it. When I saw China Glaze Fast Track on clearance, I went for it and I definitely don´t regret it. It´s a great neutral color that will work with a lot of skin tones, and gold shimmer in it is just divine! I couldn´t stop staring at my nails every time the light caught the shimmer. I added a saran wrap accent nail in Zoya Jem. I knew Jem had gold undertones and after trying a series of colors with Fast Track, it was my favorite. More pics after the jump!