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!

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Traffic

   Hi guys! For today, I have Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Traffic. 

Traffic is a bright, school bus yellow creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

    I'm not sure why, but lately, I've been more and more into yellows, and Traffic is a pretty one. It features a rich and full-bodied shade of yellow and made me want to paint smiley faces on my nails. I also feel like it doesn't look horrible on me, so yay for that.

    However, Traffic had a horrendous formula. And I know that a tough application is par for the yellow course, but Traffic took it to a whole other level. I needed five coats (yes five) to calm the streaks and bald spots, and by then, my nails were so thick and unattractive that I ended up taking this off soon after taking the pictures. So as much as I like the color, I'm going to purge this one. The thought of dealing with it again makes me want to cry. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! 

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. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

   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.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     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. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    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

China Glaze Lighthouse + Crushed Candy

           I was picking out a color to wear today when it hit me that I really need to get rid of some of my children.  I love them, but this is getting out of control. Plus, I have to go home soon. My family hasn't seen my stash in a year, and it's kind of doubled in size. I don't want to hear any concerned speeches or have to deal with Hoarders knocking on my door, so yeah...time to purge. I've gone through my worn polishes, so now I just have to start on my untrieds.
First on the chopping block is China Glaze Lighthouse, from the Anchors Away Collection.

Lighthouse is a sheer lemon yellow base packed with gold glass-fleck shimmer pieces.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

I blurred a little to show off the sparklies.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I went back and forth on Lighthouse, but I'm glad that I bought it. It would look better on someone with a darker skin tone, but I don't think it looks terrible on me. And objectively, Lighthouse is quite pretty. The shimmer keeps me from looking like I have a terrible nail disease, and I love how it sparkles in the sun. 

   But as pretty as Lighthouse is, the formula gave me a headache. It applied smoothly, but it was so sheer and thin. I ended up doing one layer of Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage, another layer of Essie Limo-Scene, three layers of Lighthouse, and one layer of topcoat. It was so hard. Haha that's what she said. But no really, it was alot of work. 

I also added some China Glaze Crushed Candy to the mix. This was a combo that I'd been wanting to try forever, but the results were less than...awesome. 

   It would have been nice, but those damn ripples came along and messed it up. I don't know if they were because of all the layers or what. 

 But anyway, Lighthouse can stay. It is unique in my collection, plus I really do like it.

And that's all for today. Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

OPI Fiercely Fiona

           Today, for the sake of continuity, I'm wearing OPI Fiercely Fiona, from the Shrek Forever After Collection. The pictures aren't too cute today, because it's rainy and cloudy outside, but I did my best. lol!

Fiercely Fiona is a bright but light yellow creme, with some green and brown thrown in. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Indoors, flash.

I don't think any of these pictures are exactly true to color. I think if there was sun, I'd have one that was.

     Okay, confession time: this is the very first yellow nail polish I have ever owned. I just hate yellow on me. I think it looks horrible. But I love Fiona, wanted to give yellow a chance, and I didn't have to pay retail price for it, so I went ahead and scooped it up. The shade of yellow is interesting, and I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it before. But that said, I don't think I like this on me. It pains me to say that, because I really wanted to like Fiercely Fiona and there's nothing wrong with the color, except for it being yellow. And I can't hate a yellow polish just because it's yellow. But deep down in the cockles of my heart, I can't bring myself to like this. :(

     Application wise, Fiercely Fiona wasn't anything horrible. The pictures are with 4 coats of polish and one layer of topcoat, even though the polish was opaque in two coats. I needed the extra 2 coats to smooth the polish out, because it was streaky. But it wasn't traumatic for me, despite the fact that in addition to the streaking, there was dragging. I just kept on globbing on the coats until the streaks were gone.