Sinful Colors Swatches (Summer Color Edition)

       Yesterday, I was going through my drawers looking for stuff to purge and realized that I have a bunch of Sinful Colors polishes, but haven't seriously worn a single one. I don't know why...they just never really cry out to me. But if for no other reason than to know which ones I wanted to purge and which ones to keep, I decided to swatch them. I won't be posting them all at once, so for today, I have All About You, Unicorn, and Rise and Shine.  

All About You is a clear base with lots of flat, irregularly sized antique gold and copper shimmer flakes in it. 

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   This is the oogliest thing I've seen on my nails in a long time. Like after I was all done, I looked at my nails and said aloud, "DAMN this shit is ooglay." I can't even stand how much I hate this right now. It'll probably look much better on someone with a different skin tone or layered, but by itself and opaque, I rebuke and refuse All About You.

    The formula was okay though..it was rather sheer (pictures are with four coats) and the base was a bit too thick, but besides that, no problems were had. There are bubbles, but that's because of the ceiling fan. 

Unicorn is a soft, buttery yellow creme.

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     Even though Unicorn is yellow, I needed to buy it...I don't know. I saw it and just needed to have it. And I really don't regret the purchase, because I love the color, both in general and on me. It's a very wearable and sweet color, and gives me hope for yellow. But despite my love for the color, I can say with 100% certainty that I will never ever wear it again, thanks to the nightmare that was the formula. It took four painfully streaky coats to look like something, and I really can't put myself through that again. But if anyone can recommend a similar shade with a more reasonable formula, I'd love to hear about it! I really do like the color. 

Rise and Shine is a bright teal green creme base packed with crystalline microshimmer. The shimmer shows silver, green, and blue, although you'll probably have to enlarge the pictures to see it at all. 

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Natural light, no flash.

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    Love Rise and Shine! The base color is very fun and pretty, and the shimmer is fantastic. In sunlight, it twinkles so beautifully and reminds me a bit of BB Couture's signature glitter, just crushed up really finely. 
It also went on quite smoothly...the pictures are with three coats of color, and they dried pretty quickly. The only thing about Rise and Shine is that it dried matte, like a neon. So topcoat is definitely necessary to get the most out of it. 


And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a fun fun Friday!
P.S. My giveaway ends today, so don't forget to enter! n_n

OPI Bring on the Bling

       So this past weekend was my mommy's 50th birthday, and to celebrate, our family threw her a big party. Such an occasion requires serious glittah, plus gold was one of the theme colors for the party, so I went with OPI Bring on the Bling, from the Burlesque Collection.

Bring on the Bling is a ton of multi-colored, multi-shaped, and multi-sized glitter in a clear base. There's mostly   cool-toned gold glitter, but there is also blue, orange, fuchsia, green and silver in there too.

Sunlight, no flash.

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    Bring on the Bling is awesomee. It's pretty much a gold version of Mad as a Hatter, so it's got bling, pops of color and general insanity. But one thing about Bring on the Bling that I really liked was the rather unique shade of gold that OPI chose as the main color. It's kind of pale and almost a little caramelly, and in the bottle, I was kind of scared of it. But on the nail, it's really quite pretty and flattering. So yeah, me gusta!

   The formula for this polish was typical glitter bomb fare, in that it went on fairly smoothly and dried quickly. I used four coats of color for total coverage and two layers of topcoat for a really smooth finish. So yeah, it was kind of alot of work, but that didn't annoy me. What did annoy me was the terrible wear I got out of Bring on the Bling. Just two days in, and there are already chips galore. OPI glitters never wear well on me anyway, but it's still pisses me off when this happens. -___-

And that's all from me today!! Thanks for reading, and if you celebrate Memorial Day, I hope you're enjoying it! If not, then I wish you a great Monday all the same. n_n

Zoya Jules

         For today, I have Jules, from Zoya's recently released Intimates Collection. 

Jules is a taupe-champagne and slightly frosty metallic base with tons of fine gold and silver shimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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      Jules reminds me of elderly people. I know that can be construed as an insult, but I don't mean it like that...just when I looked at it, I was like omg, this looks like an old lady. Maybe because of the frostiness...it just looks really old-fashioned and vintage-y. But anyway, Jules is a pretty one. In sunlight, it's very shimmery and in lower light, you can see all these little gold and silver speckles in it...it kind of makes me think of brocade cloth too:

    Alas, Julie looks a hot mess on me. It would look great on someone with lighter skin and incredible on someone with darker skin, but unfortunately, I feel like my skin is that perfect tone for it to just look a hot mess on me. 

    Formula-wise, Jules was okay. A bit thick, but workable. I would suggest using as few strokes as possible and waiting a little bit between coats for the smoothest finish. I actually had to apply Jules twice because I had crazy brushstrokes and bubbles the first time, and the above modifications to my technique helped a ton. Jules was also very well-pigmented and was opaque in two coats, which is what I used in the pictures. 

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day! ^_^

Rescue Beauty Lounge Look Rich, Be Cheap

           HAPPY NEW YEAR!! *throws confetti* ^_^
Yep, it's the first day of a brand spanking new year and I'm still basking in that clean slate, anything is possible, it's a new year bitches feeling. Of course, being back in school will crush my spirit into a million sparkly pieces and extinguish all hope in my heart, but for now, I'm just gonna bask. :D
To celebrate this lovely day, I am wearing Look Rich, Be Cheap from Rescue Beauty Lounge's Spring Bling Collection.

Look Rich, Be Cheap is a bunch of small pale gold and amethyst hex glitter in a clear base. There's mostly gold glitter though.

Sunlight, no flash.

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       Look Rich, Be Cheap is a little iffy to me. One on hand, I love how spangly it is. The glitter nicely catches and reflects light, and in sunlight, it has a really luxe feel to it. Also, I like the color scheme. The purple glitter gives little pops of color, and the contrast with the gold glitter is pretty.

   However, the gold glitter itself is a bit of problem for me. I was hoping for a warmer, more classic gold. Instead, Look Rich, Be Cheap features gold glitter that is cooler in tone and actually looks a touch chartreuse to me. The shade of gold does lend the polish an extra dose of uniqueness, but at the same time, I think warm colors look better on me. Also, I hate chartreuse. Because of that, I probably won't wear this that much, although I don't regret purchasing.

  Formula-wise, Look Rich, Be Cheap was fine. It went on smoothly and dried quickly. In the pictures, I used four coats of polish and I'm satisfied with the coverage that I got. There are still patchy bits, but you can only see them if you look closely. I also used one layer of topcoat over the polish, and my nails are still pretty textured. For a really smooth and glassy finish, I think one would need about three layers of topcoat, but I wasn't trying to do all that.

And with that, I am all done for today. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Day!!

OPI Bling Dynasty

           Last night, after fixing my messed up nails, I put on OPI Bling Dynasty from the Hong Kong Collection. I passed on most of the collection, because I felt they were a bit boring. But Bling Dynasty was one of the few standout colors for me, and I loved the name, so I scooped it up. 

Bling Dynasty is an old gold polish with gold and copper shimmer. The shade actually reminds me of mustard...I'm not a mustard eater, so I don't know exactly what mustard I'm talking about. But it's one of the darker ones. 

Sunlight, no flash.

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         I really like Bling Dynasty. The shade of gold is pretty unique in my opinion. Instead of being that cooler, brighter shade of gold that I think is more common, this one is warmer, darker, and it looks positively ancient. Like the kind of gold that you'd find on the death mask of a pharoah. In sunlight, the shimmer comes to life and gives the polish a subtle sparkle and shine. I wouldn't call it a must-have, but I'm a big fan of this color, which is strange, given how I feel about yellow. 

        The formula was fine. It was easy to work with and spread smoothly and thinly with no dragging or streaking. Bling Dynasty reached opacity in three coats, and dried really quickly with the help of topcoat. I think it's a tad bit brush-strokey...if I'm looking for them, I can see some of the strokes. But it's not very noticeable, and maybe someone with more skill wouldn't get them at all.

   In the interests of procrastination, I later decided to mattify this:

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I used one coat of Essie Matte About You.

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I love how it turned out. I think it looks just as pretty matte as it does shiny. 

Have a good night, guys!