Glitter Gal Silver

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I have another Glitter Gal holographic polish, Glitter Gal Silver, that was sent for review, and it's a happy surprise.  I put this one off because in the bottle the polish is underwhelming - I figured, "Huh, Glitter's Gal's OPI DS Coronation."  In the bottle that's accurate but on the nail it's completely inaccurate.

Like the OPI, Glitter Gal Silver dries super glassy smooth, but the quantity of little holo flakes is more like the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes.  From there, if you mix in the holographic effect of Chanel Holographic, where there are a million colors, then you have Glitter Gal Silver.  I used a Nutra Nail base coat, three coats of color, then a coat of Diamont to dry it.  I waited a few minutes and then took pictures in the sun.

Glitter Gal Silver Nail Polish, Three Coats

Glitter Gal Silver Nail Polish, Closer Look at Three Coats

See what I mean?  This is perfectly glassy smooth and looks like I have a boatload of holo glitter encrusting my nails.  I can't think of a down side to that.

I'm very impressed with all the Glitter Gal polishes I've tried, and Silver is no exception.  That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Serena Glam Slam England

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the OPI Serena Glam Slam England sets to show you, the purple one with Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape...Set...Match is a truly fantastic purple, about the same shade as Nubar Pasadena Purple, and the OPI has distinctly visible pink and blue shimmer bits.  It's very well pigmented, requiring only two coats and very easy to apply.  Here's Grape...Set...Match without top coat.

OPI Grape...Set...Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, which looks just like Disco Ball Sparkle, the UK exclusive from a couple of years ago, but the glitter seems to reflect more colors in Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Grape...Set...Match

This is my favorite of the Serena Glam Slam sets so far - the purple is gorgeous, and I think Servin' Up Sparkle is just more versatile than the shatters in the previous sets.

That's the news of the day, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Molten Metals

Not much to update today. I know it's been a few days since I last blogged but it seems like nothing has really happened except a trip to the dentist today where I had another wisdom tooth pulled out. I've spent a lot of time sat inside staring at all my notes from school because I have an exam on Friday which I need to study for but it's such a mammoth task I have no idea where to start! My plan is to knuckle down tomorrow and cram enough information in to my brain to pass.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM223

Base Colour: L'Oreal LaquiResist 837

Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 Moonlight Shine

Top Coat of NYC

OPI Silver Shatter & Navy Baby

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm wearing OPI Silver Shatter over Sally Hansen Salon Navy Baby today, and so I have pictures of it for you.  I did something a little different this time, I forgot to leave one nail the usual way so we could see whether it made a difference.  I'll tell you about it when that step fits in.

I started out with base coat, then two coats of Navy Baby followed by quick dry top coat to dry it.  What I liked about the Silver Shatter over Dragon manicure was the bigger cracks in it, but I thought the pieces of silver drifted a little far apart.  The idea I had to try to let the thicker coat of Silver Shatter break up nicely but not have the pieces run away from each other was to use a coat of sticky base coat (I had Nubar Foundation handy and used that) over the quick dry top coat just before applying Silver Shatter.  So once the whole Navy Baby manicure was dry, I added a thin coat of Foundation, gave it about two minutes to dry, then added a thick coat of Silver Shatter and two coats of quick dry top coat to smooth it out.  The plan was to add Foundation to nine nails so we could see a clear With and Without to tell if it made a difference, but I was watching a movie when I did the manicure, and it was a creepy part when I was applying Foundation and I got distracted, so we'll know if it made a difference another time... Here's the manicure.

OPI Silver Shatter over Sally Hansen Salon Navy Baby in Sunlight

I really like this one a lot too, and I think Foundation may have changed the continental drift I didn't care for over the red, so I'll have to do a decent test to find out.  With all the China Glaze Crackles and Black Shatter, the polish is so thick to start that applying a thick coat of it never came up, but Silver Shatter isn't anywhere near as thick, which leaves more room for how you want to apply it.  I'm not trying to make up extra rules for it or to complicate it any further, I really just want to see the ways the final outcome using it can be manipulated and how since it's kind of nice to have a manicure turn out exactly as the idea was pictured.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Silver Shatter & Chanel Dragon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd mentioned that I wanted to try OPI Silver Shatter over Chanel Dragon, so I did.  Dragon is just the shade of red I wanted to pair with Silver Shatter, and it really does give completely opaque coverage in one coat, so it seemed like a good choice.  I still think it was.  Since it was a single coat, I didn't top coat it, I just let it air dry, which only took a few minutes.  Then I added a kind of thick coat of Silver Shatter (I wanted the cracks to be big) and two coats of Diamont to smooth it out.  Here it is in the morning sun.

OPI Silver Shatter over Chanel Dragon Nail Polish, One Coat Each

This is much more what I had in mind for Silver Shatter, and I like it, especially how it cracked across near the tips.  I want to give it a go over a navy blue soon, too.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader!  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Silver Shatter

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I think it was last Friday when I noticed that I had $8 in ebay bucks, which is essentially like a store credit rebate from ebay, so I went searching for OPI Silver Shatter, and I found a good seller who had it for $8 plus $2.50 shipping, and I ordered it.  I'm not affiliated with that seller in any way and this is my first puchase from him or her, but the fact that 93 of these have quickly sold and the price hasn't been increased to match those of other sellers speaks volumes about the seller to me.  The only deviation from the listing is that Priority Mail was specified at checkout, and it was sent First Class, but I kind of figured Priority was stated in error since there's no way to cover the cost of a padded envelope, packing materials, and Priority postage for $2.50, so it wasn't big deal to me at all.  The Silver Shatter arrived well-packed and without incident today, and I decided to test it out.

Silver Shatter is about one half as thick both in the bottle and on the nail as Black Shatter, so I didn't find a need to use extra clear polish over it to smooth it out and I didn't have to apply it at the speed of light.  I just slapped a coat over my manicure, the one I showed to you this morning, to see how it applied and broke up, and both the application and how it shattered were good.  I figured Essie Smooth Sailing would be an okay base since Silver Shatter was released with the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection, the collection of washed-out pastels for the demure and understated pirate in all of us.  Truthfully, I think it just jacked up my manicure.  I'd prefer it over a black or red creme, but I really don't care for how well the colors blend together using it over Smooth Sailing - it looks more messy than striking to me, adding nothing and taking a lot away.  Here it is with one coat of quick-dry top coat to seal it.

OPI Silver Shatter over Essie Smooth Sailing and White Konad

If you let your eyes focus for a few seconds, you can tell which is the silver and that it's a nice crackle.  I want to try it out over Chanel Dragon next time, I think.

That's just about the only nail polish related thing to tell you about since this morning.  I'm probably going to get rid of this soon because I don't think it's going to grow on me, but  I wanted to give you a peek at Silver Shatter since it's such an improvement over Black Shatter and the likelihood that it'll be a hassle to get soon is pretty high.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Black Mesh & Sexagon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning there's no real sun out to accentuate the glory that is China Glaze Sexagon, but I still didn't have the heart to remove it, so I added a coat of China Glaze Black Mesh.  I went with Black Mesh rather than OPI Black Shatter because I find Black Mesh easier to apply more thinly so the cracks are greater in both number and size - I really wanted Sexagon to show through well.

It worked.  Black Mesh-ing went well, then I added one coat of a clear to it, just one I had around, to smooth it out a bit before sealing it with Diamont.  It's not as smooth as when I've used Gelous rather than the random clear, but I think one additional coat of the clear would close that gap, although it's smooth enough to not bug me at all with just the one coat I've used here, which is what I'm really after.

China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle Glaze over China Glaze Sexagon

I think it looks cool.  I believe the conclusion I've reached is that I most like the crackle polishes over holos and neons, as long as it's smoothed out well at the end.  I was reflecting on my initial reaction to trying out OPI Black Shatter - I recall proof reading the post and getting frustrated because I didn't want to keep using the word "hideous" to describe it, but that was the only word displayed on a flashing neon sign in my brain, which made it really hard to drum up others.  I'm glad I found a way to use it that appeals to me, because now I think they're a fun second-day addition to a manicure that I really like and want to draw out for another day, like Sexagon.

I don't really have any good stories to tell you today.  This has been an amazingly long week, scurrying about taking care of loose ends on old stuff and making slow but sure progress on establishing new and better things, so for the most part there have been a whole lot of unrelated events in close succession, which doesn't make for a very good tale.  I do have a good short funny for you though, a quote from one of my dear college friends.  I was blessed with a bunch of the brightest, funniest quirkiest friends anyone could ask for in college, and more often than not we were making each other laugh like fools.  Here's an example of how...

I'd stated that I found the very existence of this seemingly normal jar candle priced at $375 disturbing (I see that it's sold out despite the cap on quantity one may purchase in 30 days, which is even more disturbing).  My friend's explanation after reading the item's description was this:

"It creates 'a mystery that unravels with time.' It would probably be cheaper if the mystery unraveled all at once. Time-release mystery is ALWAYS more expensive."

On that note, I'll wrap it up.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Sexagon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After we arrived at a group consensus yesterday that Revlon Blue Lagoon was a complete failure, I felt a need for redemption and reached for something reliable for today.  I selected China Glaze Sexagon from their Kaleidoscope Collection of holographic polishes, and this is the version with a white label and black print.

Sexagon is the silver, and a particularly spectacular silver at that.  I like it because it has both the super fine holo pigment like the China Glaze OMG Collection or the Nfu Oh holos, and it also has little holo bits like the Milani holographics.  It's a good one, and I had fantastic sunlight to take a picture of it.

China Glaze Sexagon Nail Polish, Three Coats

What's not to love about this polish, right?  The manicure is a base coat (just some bottle I had lying around, I'm not sure what), three thin coats of Sexagon, and one coat of Diamont top coat.  The polish is somewhat thin, but that makes it easier to apply than some holos, and it dries very quickly and to an unusually smooth finish.

I haven't racked up any experiences worth telling you about yet today, so all I have for you now is nail polish.  I figure since that's most likely why you stopped by in the first place, that works out just fine.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Christmas Nails

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'll tell you what I've been up to this week.  I've been adding to that China Glaze Midnight Kiss manicure, the gold foil one, that I showed you on Sunday.  At this point, I've added so much stuff to it that I'm deeply concerned about the removal process and how much life it will suck out of me, but that's a concern for another day.

Today, I'll just show you the layers.  As a reminder, here's the base I started with, Midnight Kiss, in natural light.

China Glaze Midnight Kiss Nail Polish, Two Coats

That was Sunday.  On Tuesday morning, I decided to add some China Glaze Party Hearty to it.  I did three coats of Party Hearty to get the coverage I wanted, then I added (and here's where the big trouble starts) three coats of top coat to smooth it out.  So as of yesterday, the official coat count is 1 base + 2 base color + 1 top + 3 Party Hearty + 3 top coat = 10 coats of nail polish I have to remove without just snapping a nail off in my aggressive pursuit to get rid of glitter.  But it looked cool.  This is under artificial light.

China Glaze Party Hearty over Midnight Kiss = One Metric Boatload of Nail Polish

I've stated the down side of removal, but there's also an up side to seventy zillion layers of nail polish.  I spent a few hours yesterday tearing tape off of one of those big rolls with the tape cutter on it, hanging things on walls.  A few times, I really dug into a thumb nail with that tape cutter, but this industrial strength manicure didn't get scratched.  I also knocked my nails right into things a few times where I was certain I had to have broken one, but they were fine, only one big chip in the polish.

This morning I was going to do a fresh manicure to protect the exposed nail from that big chip, but the prospect of getting rid of glitter prompted me to add even more to this manicure in order to put that off for a little longer.  I decided it could use some silver, so I added two coats of CND Silver Sparkling Effect, which barely showed up.  I gave up on the CND and added one coat of OPI Disco Ball Glitter, which gave enough silver to make me happy, then two coats of top coat to smooth it out.  The CND shows up much more in this macro picture than in person.

More Coats of Nail Polish Than Is Reasonable

So now I have festive holiday nails, but I've also raised the official coat count to a staggering 15, quite likely a personal record, which affords my nails a protective barrier that may well deflect bullets.

I'll let you know how it goes when I change this one, supposing I'm able to talk about it right away.  Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

Sally Hansen Starry, Starry Flight

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I tried out one of the new limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes, Starry, Starry Flight.  Other than recognizing the similarity to name of the Essie classic, I don't get the name at all.  However, this is one cool polish, so I don't really care.

Starry, Starry Flight is a very fine platinum colored silver glitter.  When applying the first coat, I was thinking this one would never be opaque alone, but after three moderate coats it is.  I finished it with two coats of Seche Vite, and it's glassy smooth despite the glitter.  I have other silver glitters, but I've continued to acquire them because I always want them to look just like Starry, Starry Flight looks - this one's just right, so I'm done buying silver glitters.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Starry, Starry Flight Nail Polish, Three Coats

It's cloudy here, so I don't have bright light to show you how sparkly the glitter is, but at least you can see the color and coverage.

I also found that I've finally gotten used to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure brush.  I don't believe the brush is different - still moppy but stiff at the same time - but I finally got the hand of using it.  That should make showing you the others I got from this display a little more bearable!

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Color Club Untamed Luxury Diamond Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Color Club sent me samples of their Fall 2010 Untamed Luxury Collection, which consists of two sets of seven shades, and I have swatches of the Untamed Luxury Diamond Collection for you today.

I found the application of these was very good, and that the colors are well pigmented.  For the one I'm wearing, the dry time was about average.  I'll tell you specifics of each color as we go through the pictures.

Ms. Haute is a grey taupe shimmer with lots of very fine glitter.  The picture is without top coat, and I think one coat of top coat would smooth is out nicely.  I used two coats of Ms. Haute.

Color Club Ms. Haute Nail Polish, Two Coats

Snakeskin is a kind of muted olive shimmer with gold microglitter, also a two-coater.

Color Club Snakeskin Nail Polish, Two Coats

De-luxe-cious, despite the name, is a great color.  It's a slightly bluish grey shimmer with fine multi-colored glitter.  I used two coats.

Color Club De-luxe-cious Nail Polish, Two Coats

Red Velvet is a whole lot of fine red glitter in a black base.  There are lots of variations on this combination, and this is a good one - the black is very black, but the red glitter shows up well and is quite dense.  I think Red Velvet is probably most similar to Eyeko Vampira.  Again, Red Velvet was a two-coater.

Color Club Red Velvet Nail Polish, Two Coats

Covered in Diamonds is called a "luxury top coat" by Color Club.  It's a clear base with large irregular flaky glitter.  Here, I used one coat over black.

Color Club Covered in Diamonds Nail Polish, One Coat over Black

Untamed Luxury, the namesake of the collection, is a bright teal glitter in a teal jelly base.  I used two coats, I probably could have afforded to use a third.

Color Club Untamed Luxury Nail Polish, Two Coats

That brings us to the last one, Resort to Red.  Resort to Red is a cranberry red shimmer, and the shimmer is really fine, almost metallic.  This one was good in two coats.

Color Club Resort to Red Nail Polish, Two Coats 

That, Dear Reader, is Color Club's Untamed Luxury Diamond Collection.  I'll have the Indulgence Collection, the other seven shades, swatched for you soon.  Until then, love and nail polish to you!  

Houndstooth with added Bling

This is very similar to a Houndstooth mani that I did a while ago but a bit more sparkly!

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM19
Base Colour: Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Wow
Stamp Colour: W7 - Black
Top Coat of NYC

♪♫ The Flowers You Gave Me Are Rotting...

... and still, I refuse to throw them away.

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM21
Base Colour: Collection 2000 Hot Looks - 17 Wow
Stamp Colour: W7 - Black
Top Coat of NYC

Chanel Holographic

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today is the final installment of the Celebratory Holo Week, and I saved the best for last.  Chanel Holographic has the most pronounced rainbow holo effect in both sunlight and indoor light of any holographic nail polish I have.

It was an Asian release a few years ago, and it comes in a two-pack with a base coat that's like Nfu Oh Aqua Base.  For this manicure, I used the Chanel base, three very thin coats of color, and I finished it with Diamont.  Here it is completely dry in sunlight.

Chanel Holographic Nail Polish, Three Coats

I really love this polish, and a week of holos wouldn't be complete without it.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Nfu Oh Holos and Aqua Base

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'd heard about Nfu Oh Aqua Base for holos for some time, and finally decided to give it a try when I was ordering some Nfu Oh holos earlier in the week.  They arrived today, and I found that the Nfu Oh Aqua Base really does make a huge difference, making the holographic effect more pronounced.

I checked it with Nfu 61, 63, and 65, and at that point, was tired of swatching.  I used the Aqua Base for all three, three very thin coats of the holo color, and added top coat, SpaRitual Tout de Suite, to them as well to see what the finished manicure would look like.

I've shown you Nfu Oh 61 before - it's the silver.  It's much more holo with the Aqua Base.

Nfu Oh 61, Three Coats, with Nfu Oh Aqua Base and Tout de Suite Top Coat

Nfu Oh 63, a pink one, has just as dramatic an effect.

Nfu Oh 63, Three Coats, with Nfu Aqua Base and Tout de Suite Top Coat

Then I was bored with swatches and did both hands in Nfu Oh 65, the light blue, to just be finished.

Nfu Oh 65, Three Coats, with Nfu Oh Aqua Base and Tout de Suite Top Coat

So I'm a convert, and will use Aqua Base with holos from now on.  Good stuff!

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!