A girl and her love of nail polish

Archive for the ‘Swatches’ Category

Different Dimension Emily

Here’s my first swatch post of 2013, and it will be short and sweet! This is Different Dimension Emily, inspired by the TV show “Pretty Little Liars,” which was on my wish list for awhile. I finally nabbed it during a Black Friday sale.

Different Dimension Emily

Different Dimension Emily has blue, white and light green glitter in a light blue sheer base. I’ve seen other bloggers say they used it on it’s own without undies and built it up, but I actually used something underneath.

Different Dimension Emily

My disclaimer on this is that the application was actually done at a nail salon. It’s one coat of Different Dimension Emily over one coat of … something. The bottle was China Glaze but the name was mislabeled. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s Bahamian Escape, but really that’s just off of swatches online. I don’t own it. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know!

Different Dimension Emily

I love Different Dimension Emily. I think this combo looks perfect for winter, almost like a snowstorm. I think it would look great over a dark blue too, or maybe over silver.

Different Dimension Emily

Different Dimension polish is available on Etsy. As of this posting, Emily is in stock.

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Indies, Swatches

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Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

Last week, Rescue Beauty Lounge restocked some of its retired colors in its latest Bring It Back promotion, where it hauls some of the long-gone shades out of the vault to give polish groupies one last chance at nabbing them.

I actually didn’t have any RBL polishes in my collection, but I had recently read through founder Ji Baek’s “Rescue Your Nails,” so I was interested in checking out her nail polish line.

Despite the steep $20 price tag, I picked up Piu Mosso, which is an intriguing polish to say the least.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu MossoRescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

In the bottle it looks like it’s a brown polish with lots of shimmer, and on the nail it looks nearly black in most light. But in reality it’s a deep blue with some subtle bronze shimmer. Think really dark pair of blue jeans. RBL actually describes it as as “inky, blue-black.”

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

It’s really amazing. The formula is great; I could have gone with one coat, but this is actually two, plus one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat. In fact I did stick with one coat on my other hand and it looks fine. The brush is very thin, just FYI, which for me makes it harder to get a nice clean application at the cuticle line.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

Piu Mosso is very difficult to photograph, so here’s one in my lightbox with the light shining directly on it so you can get a better sense of it.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

As of this posting it is still available on rescuebeauty.com. And, just in case you were wondering, the name is a musical term meaning faster, with more movement. I like to think it’s because your heart starts beating a little faster when you look down and see this color on your nails. 🙂

Category:

Indies, Swatches

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Zoya Ornate: Aurora

Hope everyone had a good holiday and picked up a lot of good deals over Black Friday weekend. I’ve got a lot of new indie polishes coming my way, so can’t wait to show them to you when they arrive.

I’ve been procrastinating on putting up any polish posts over the past week or so because one of the nails on my swatching hand broke clean off and I wasn’t ready to face the fact that I’d need to even everything out. 😦

Zoya Aurora: Ornate Collection

But here I am with my new short nails to show off Aurora from the Zoya Ornate holiday collection. I would describe this as a purple berry shade, and then off course its got a lot of holographic glitter in it. I really love the formula on this. If you took a heavy holo polish and diluted it a bit with a jelly polish, you would end up with Aurora.

This is three coats with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Zoya Aurora: Ornate Collection

The accent nail is one coat of A Piece of Love from Essence’s Breaking Dawn Part 2 collection. Originally I didn’t buy this one but I picked it up after reading on a few other blogs that it’s great for stamping. FYI, the formula on A Piece of Love is about a hundred times better than the others in the collection.

Zoya Aurora: Ornate Collection

I added one coat of Poshe and then taped off half the nail and added two coats of Aurora to the other half of the nail. I finished it off with another coat of Poshe.

Zoya Aurora: Ornate Collection

Category:

Holiday, NOTD, Swatches

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Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn: Alice Had A Vision – Again

Friday’s the big day, Breaking Dawn Part 2 arrives! This is my final post on Essence’s line of Breaking Dawn Part 2-inspired polishes.

Earlier in the week I had Edward’s Love and Jacob’s Protection. But I saved the best for last with today’s Alice Had A Vision – Again. It’s my favorite of the three that I tried. (There’s a fourth, a gold polish called A Piece Of Love, which I didn’t pick up, although I’ve read in the meantime that it’s great for stamping).

Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Alice Had A Vision - AgainEssence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Alice Had A Vision - Again

Alice Had A Vision – Again has a purple jelly-ish base with what looks like pink, purple and turquoise shimmer in it.

Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Alice Had A Vision - Again

The formula and the brush on this one were a lot better than the others in the line. It was thinner and went on much smoother.

Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Alice Had A Vision - Again

 

Alice Had A Vision – Again and the other items in the Breaking Dawn Part 2 cosmetics collection are available at Ulta. The polishes cost $1.99

Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Alice Had A Vision - Again

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Swatches

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Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn 2: Jacob’s Protection

The countdown to the last installment of the Twilight movie franchise is on: Breaking Dawn Part 2 premiere’s Friday. This week I’m showing off some of the polishes from Essence’s Breaking Dawn-inspired line of cosmetics.

Yesterday I featured Edward’s Love, a black base with silver shimmer. Today I’ve got Jacob’s Protection, a black polish with a subtle royal blue shimmer. In low light it looks nearly black, but when the light hits it you can see a hint of blue.

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 Jacob's Protection nail polish

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 Jacob's Protection nail polish

The formula on this one is a little better than Edward’s Love was, but still on the thick side. The brush however, was even worse. It was very uneven with a severe angle on one side that made it a little difficult to apply.

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 Jacob's Protection nail polish

Jacob’s Protection is available at Ulta for $1.99.

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 Jacob's Protection nail polish

Come back tomorrow for a look at one more polish from the Twilight Breaking Dawn line.

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Swatches

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Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn 2: Edward’s Love

The last installment of the Twilight movie franchise hits theaters Friday with the release of Breaking Dawn Part 2 (yes, I have secured my tickets). This week I’ll be showing some of the Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 nail polishes.

First up is Edward’s Love. It’s a black polish with a lot of silver shimmer on it. Nothing too special here but it’s a good choice if you want something more than basic black. This is two coats plus one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Edward's Love nail polish

I will say that the formula is not that great, and neither is the brush. The formula is very thick, nearly goopy. The brush is on the short side, more like a mini bottle, and the bristle part is a bit too big for my taste.

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Edward's Love nail polish

But if you’re a fan of Twilight and/or $1.99 polish, have at it! I bought these at Ulta; I’m not sure where else they might be available.

Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Edward's Love nail polish

Come back tomorrow for a look at another shade from the Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 lineup.

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Swatches

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Ulta Hide And Go Sequins

I’ve got a short and sweet one for you this morning. I recently picked up the Ulta Glitterati Minis collection on sale for $4. If there’s an Ulta near you, I recommend running out to see if they have any left because it’s a great little set.

Ulta Glitterati Mini: Hide And Go Sequins

Ulta Glitterati Mini: Hide And Go Sequins

This is Hide And Go Sequins, a lovely blue jelly with tons of blue and green glitter packed in. It’s basically a jelly sandwich in a bottle. Some bloggers have said this is a dupe of Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe but I don’t have it to compare. It does look close based on swatches I’ve seen. At this price, who cares whether it’s exact or not; it’s close enough! Now I wish it was a full-size bottle.

Ulta Glitterati Mini: Hide And Go Sequins

I’m showing three coats here with no top coat. Awesome color! The other three colors in the set are all similarly glitter-ific.

Ulta Glitterati Mini: Hide And Go Sequins

Ulta Glitterati Mini: Hide And Go Sequins

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Swatches

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