China Glaze Riveting

I know my last post was full of orangeness, but I guess I have one more for you guys still. Here's China Glaze Riveting, from their Colors of The Capitol Collection. 

Riveting is a vibrant but slightly burnt orange jelly base with tons of golden glass-flecks floating in it. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    When I heard that China Glaze was doing a Hunger Games themed collection, I was really excited. I've always considered them to be one of the more creative mainstream brands out there and THG included some incredible visuals for them to draw from, so I really thought they would turn out some magic. I ended up being really disappointed though....the collection was so boring and in my opinion, not worthy of being associated with THG. I know that's kind of harsh, but this is nail polish and books/movies. It's not a game, people! 

     But in all the gloom and doom, Riveting (inspired by District 3, which supplies Panem with technological goodies) was one bright spot. And I do mean bright...the shade of orange is one of those awesome ones that are deep but still very vibrant and eye-catching. I also love how the glass-flecks sparkle in the sunlight, but in regular light, glow with this gorgeous intensity. They also stand out well against the base shade, and the whole thing works together to be an amazingly satisfying and beautiful polish. It kept a smile on my face all day and also won me a few compliments, which was nice. 

    Riveting also features a fab formula. I only needed two layers of polish for full opacity, although I think three is needed for the maximum depth of color. I used three for the pictures. But anyway, the polish went on super-smoothly, was easily controlled, and dried quickly with no incident. I am such a happy camper with Riveting. It's absolutely marvelous.

But that's all I've got for today! 

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is having an awesome Saturday!

Who Likes Orange Polish?

  Chi-Chi doesn't like orange polish. I don't, I don't, I doooooooon'tttt. I don't like orange things in general. Except for orange foods, but that's just because I'm greedy and do not discriminate against food. But with the warmer weather we've been having lately, I've been in the mood for it. Orange polish, I mean. So last week, I wore a couple and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I like orange polish after all lol.

First, I wore Barielle Joytini. 

All pictures are with an Ottlite, no flash. 

Joytini is a bright, but kind of light cantaloupe jelly-creme hybrid. 

    Joytini is a great color for spring...it just has that soft, milkiness that goes well with the feeling of the season. I also thought it was very flattering on my skin and loved the shiny, slightly jelly finish. What I didn't like was applying Joytini. The formula was very sheer and needed about four or five coats to be opaque. Of course, my nails got all thick and unattractive because of all the coats, which ruined the softness of the color somewhat. In the future, I'll have to use underwear with it.

And then I wore China Glaze Papaya Punch.

These pictures are in sunlight, with no flash.

Papaya Punch is a bold yellow-orange creme.

   Papaya Punch is a fun one! It's bright and tropical-looking, without being neon, and makes me feel like I should be laying somewhere on the beach. Wearing it, I am reminded of Sunny Delight, which is disgusting to the taste, but quite pleasing to the eyes. And while I liked it on my hands and even got a few compliments on it, but I think I might even like it more on my toes in the summertime. It's just one of those colors, you know? Formula-wise, it was also pretty agreeable. It was kind of thick, so I only needed two coats, and they went on fairly easily. The wear on Papaya Punch was not so good though. I wore it for about three or four days and while there were no chips, every single nail had cracks running through the polish. It was horrific, and I found myself actually wishing for chips so I would have a real excuse to remove it lol. 

But that's all from me today!! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Monday!

More Color Club Poptastics

    Hi guys!! First of all, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a satisfying 2011, and that 2012 will be even better. To be honest, I'm really anxious about this year...this spring will be my very last semester as an undergrad and I don't know what to do next. I've been in school literally for as long as I can remember. So this will be...interesting, I guess.


Secondly, I have to say sorrrryyy again for being such a bad blogger lately. It's partially because I've been busy and partially because my heart isn't in polish and blogging so much anymore. I think I'm getting bored with it all...it just feels kind of futile, you know? I'm trying to get reinspired and fall in love with polish again, but idk...it's just not happening. And then it doesn't help that my nails are staging a rebellion. 


But anyway, I spent the holidays wearing mattes that I've worn already, so I don't really have anything nice to show you all. I did get a few other polishes from Color Club's Poptastic Collection swatched though, and can show you guys those. And all pictures are in sunlight, with no flash.


First up is the collection's namesake, Poptastic

   Poptastic is a pretty and bright neon pink. It's sweet and wearable, but not anything special and if it didn't come in the box set, I probably wouldn't have it. Formula-wise, it was okay. A little thin maybe, but not overly troublesome. Pictures are with three coats of polish and one layer of topcoat.

Next is Almost Famous.

      Almost Famous was a surprise for me because I really like it, despite my general aversion to yellows. I think it's just so bright and sunny that you can't help but like it lol. Formula was also surprise, in that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I used four coats of polish, but they went on pretty smoothly for a yellow. There was some streakiness and whatnot, but they covered up pretty nicely with more coats. 

Last is Wham! Pow! (their punctuation, not mine):

     Wham! Pow! is probably my favorite of these three. The shade of orange has a bit of extra red to it, which adds interest, and I love its level of brightness. It isn't a retina-searing polish, but it's still substantially bright, which makes it fun but still wearable. Application was also quite easy...three easy coats and I was all done. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading and listening to me whine, and I hope your holidays were all perfectly lovely!

(Lame) Halloween Mani

   For Halloween, I wanted to do something cool and interesting, but I didn't have any time. I hate how there aren't enough hours in the day. So I will just show you guys the nails that I slapped together, and we can just move on to more fun things. Like CHRISTMAS!! Eeeee. 
Also, all pictures are under an Ottlite with no flash.

This was three coats of Color Club Wham! Pow! (damn unnecessary punctuation), with one thin layer of China Glaze Black Mesh on top. 

      So yep...that was it. Orange creme with black crackle. Way unoriginal, but it came out well so there's that. And it was the first time that people have stopped me to try to guess my nail color! I embarrassed myself with the first person because I assumed she was also a nail fiend and started blabbing away until I realized that she was staring at me like I was some kind of sick freak. I played it cool with the other people though, so lesson learned.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Thursday! ^_^

China Glaze Orange Knockout + Lightning Bolt

      You know, one thing The Phalanges Files has been missing this summer is neons. I have very few neons, probably because I don't really buy polish in the summer and that's when all the neons come out. But one of the few that I have are China Glaze Orange Knockout, and I'm going to show that to you today. Yay!

But sorry about the craziness that is my skin...my camera just freaks out man. 

Orange Knockout is a neon, traffic-cone orange creme.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Orange Knockout will always have a special place in my heart because it was a gift from my friend Sayra. She's an awesome nail tech and used to blog at Totally Nailed It!, but stopped a few months back, which was sad. But yeah, she sent me this and even though it's not the most unique thing in the world, I love it! It's such a pretty and fun color to wear and there really is nothing like burning out the retinas of innocent bystanders with your nails. 

      It was also very easy to apply...I went with three coats for full opacity, and Orange Knockout went on nice and easy with no tomfoolery of any kind. 

After enjoying Orange Knockout for a while, I used China Glaze Lightning Bolt on top, and followed that with a layer of Essie Matte About You. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      Orange Knockout was great on its own, but with Lightning Bolt, I really love it! It's like a radioactive creamsicle and me gusta! 

And that's all I've got for you guys today!! Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is having a great weekend! 

Zoya Tanzy

Next one from the Sunshine Collection is Tanzy. 

Tanzy is a bunch of small and flat gold shimmer particles in a warm, sheer tangerine base.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I actually don't like Tanzy on me. I like warm colors, but on me, Tanzy just looks brassy. It would look killer on someone with a darker skin tone though. But looking at it objectively, Tanzy is a good color. It's bright and sunny, and when the shimmer catches the light, it sparkles and makes me feel like I have sunbeams at the tips of my fingers. So Tanzy is great for summer, but it'll also be awesome for a winter pick-me-up mani...looking at it, I feel like I should be lounging on an orchard in Florida, eating clementines and feeling the sun on my skin. 

   Formula-wise, Tanzy was okay. It was a little sheer, so what you see in the pictures are three coats. Four on some fingers. But at least it went on smoothly and dried in a reasonable amount of time.

And that's all for today! Thanks for reading! 

OPI Big Hair...Big Nails

        For today, I have OPI Big Hair...Big Nails from the Texas Collection. BHBN (as I shall call it from here on out) is one of the six polishes in the collection that feature OPI's brand new and totally unique sorbet finish.

BHBN is an orange-leaning, bright coral jelly. 

Sunlight, no flash.

And sorry about the shrinkage.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, noflash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I really like BHBN's color...it pulls really orange on me and is not particularly unique, but I still like it. It's so bright and cheerful, and evokes thoughts of summer days on a tropical beach. It also reminds me of the delicious papayas in Del Monte's Tropical Fruit Salad.  And as a jelly aficionado, I love how shiny and squishy the finish is.

   But Lord have mercy upon this formula. At first, I enjoyed BHBN's liquid-y, non-streaky formula, but the lack of pigmentation started to get to me. I ended up needing five coats of polish to achieve the opacity in the pictures. I only used a milky base coat beneath, so next time I use this, I'll definitely put on underwear first.

   And as far as the sorbet finish goes, it's bullshit. I feel like OPI's marketing department made it up to get people more interested in a collection that would have otherwise gotten a lukewarm reception. This stuff is just plain old jelly polish...nothing new, special, or revolutionary about it.  However, I do have to give OPI's marketing people a shiny gold star and a cookie, for unlike mice and men, their plan totally worked. 

And that's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading!