Nubar Opulent Pearl, Take Two

          After my Nubar Opulent Pearl flop, I wanted to give it another chance to impress me. Partially because I really wanted to like it, and partially because it kind of cost alot of money, and I hate wasting money. So I tried it again, but this time, I used a white underneath it, instead of a black. I meant to do it alone, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, given how sheer it was and how many coats it would take to look like something. Anyway, here's what I got. The pictures need to be bigger to really see the flakes:

Close look at Opulent Pearl. Interestingly, I did notice with this application that Opulent Pearl has a really fine, silver shimmer in it. I guess I missed it the last time because Heavy Metal has shimmer of its own. 

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight no flash. This look didn't play well with the sunlight.

Shade, no flash. 

Natural light, no flash.

     It was really hard to capture the flakes, so I tried to matte-ify it and try again. I think matte is easier to take pictures of, because there's no light reflecting.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

      For this, I did two coats of Essie Limo-Scene and three coats of Nubar Opulent Pearl. The shiny ones have one layer of Poshe and the matte ones have one layer of Poshe + a layer of Essie Matte About You. 

     I still have VNL galore and bubbles to boot, but I do like this. The pictures suck and don't adequately convey what I see on my hands at this moment, but it's really gorgeous and calming. The creamy, shimmery white and iridescent flashes reminds me of the inside of a seashell and white, sandy beaches.  Like if I was ever invited to P.Diddy's White Party at the Hamptons, I'd totally wear this mani. And I'll be keeping it in my back pocket to whip out in the summer.  I think my family is headed to the Bahamas this year for summer vacay *fingers crossed* and I'd love this on my toes for that. Only, next time, I may go for three coats of Limo-Scene and two of Opulent Pearl just to eliminate VNL.

       But I'll be taking Opulent Pearl off my bad list. I think it's just not made to layer over dark colors, which is a shame and a lie, given what the flakes can do. But I can accept and love this little guy for who he is. 

And I guess the search for a rainbow-flake topcoat continues. 

Nubar Opulent Pearl

This post is going to be about Opulent Pearl, one of the Nubars that I bought during the Saint Patrick's Day sale. It's clear-ish, so I decided to put two coats of Opulent Pearl over one coat of LA Girl Rock Star Heavy Metal to make sure that the flakies showed up. I wore this one a while ago, but I figured that I should post it now that I have Nfu-Oh 40 to compare it to. 

This is a close look at Nubar Opulent Pearl. Opulent Pearl is made of opalescent flakes in a milky base. On the nail, they show blue, green, orange, yellow, and the occasional purple.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Low natural light, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash. I think this picture shows the flakes best. 

        All of these pictures are taken with two coats of La Girl Heavy Metal, one coat of Opulent Pearl, and one layer of Poshe. While I love the fact that this one does give rainbows, I'm mad at it too. Firstly, I think the flakes were a little too small. Some bigger ones would have been nice. And I'm not a fan of its base at all. 

        Opulent Pearl's base is just too milky. It washed out Heavy Metal, and removed much of the contrast between Heavy Metal and the flakes. Without that contrast, it looks really dull and a little messy. I wish that in this case, Nubar had taken a line from Nfu-Oh's book and went for a clear base.  If just that one thing were different, I'm sure I would have liked this. 
     I definitely took this mani right off after taking these pictures. And now I'm sad because this was my first experience with a Nubar, and it sucked butt! Hopefully, the others will be better. And I'll figure out what to do with Opulent Pearl. Maybe it looks better over light colors or on its own. 

Nfu-Oh 40

           Okay, so I totally didn't go do anything really. I returned my key to the depot (I locked myself out yesterday) and I bought a box of donuts. I also picked up my Nfu-Ohs from the package depot and tore the box open before my door had fully closed behind me. I was just going to rub them a little and maybe give them un besito, but I ended up wearing one. Because I didn't want to take off Drama in the Dark, but I also did not want to compromise the color of the Nfu-Oh,  I wore Nfu-Oh 40. 

Nfu-Oh 40 is made up of opalescent flakes (that mostly flash blues and greens) in a clear base. The shimmer is from Drama in the Dark. Nfu-Oh 40 is utterly shimmerless. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight no flash. I wanted to show how the color changes. 

Sunlight, no flash. The spectrum of blues and greens here is what I see most of the time.

Natural light, no flash.

    And then because I wanted to put off doing the stuff I had to do, I went ahead and applied one coat of Essie Matte About You.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash. 

       Wooh, I love this one. lol! The flakes are gorgeous, and they contrast beautifully with the black. I also love that the base is completely clear...no muddying of the base polish, which helps display the flakes in their best light. I don't know if it was quite worth the price tag, but it is nice, and a great addition to my little family. The polish went on super smoothly, and the flake payoff was great. All of these are three coats of Drama in the Dark, and one coat of Nfu-Oh 40. The shiny ones have a layer of Poshe, and the matte ones have a layer of Poshe as well as one layer of Essie Matte About You. 

     My only critique of this is that I wish that it flashed more colors. I was hoping for more of a rainbow effect,  but I do honestly like what it does. In some way, it reminds me of Earth. I'm trying to figure out what to do with my nails on Earth Day (April 22nd, everyone mark your calendars!!), so this one can get thrown into the hat as a possible part of that.

     

    

Nicole by OPI Drama In The Dark

           Well...today is Saturday....the sun is shining...a breeze is blowing...spring is in the air...Nfu-Ohs are at the package depot waiting for me to pick them up....and I am wearing black nail polish. And it feels so gewd. This is another polish that I got from TJ Maxx, in a two for $6.99 deal. It's called Drama in the Dark, and while it doesn't quite live up to its name (no drama here), it is a lovely color.

Drama in the Dark is a grey-blue shimmer in a black creme base. The shimmer is very subtle, and although I see it in every light, I'm sure that most people looking at my nails wouldn't notice it. 

Sunlight, no flash. I know I'm not holding anything, but I couldn't do it with that damn bottle. Whose idea what that?!

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Shade, no flash.

Artificial light, flash.

     While I don't find this color particularly special, I do love it. The shimmer is fantastic and makes its presence known just enough to ensure that the polish doesn't look like a basic black color. It's not entirely noticeable, like the shimmer in LA Girls Heavy Metal is. 

    The formula on this was fine as well. All of these are three coats of color with one layer of Poshe. So while it isn't super-pigmented, I'm still happy with how deep, rich, and smooth the color came out to be in the end. No off-black here.

   I think that's all I have to say about this color, so I'm going to go and do the giant list of stuff staring me in the face at the moment. I hope everyone's weekends have gotten off to a great start!

NOTD: Milani Ruby Jewels

           Unfortunately for me, my big cat mani started peeling in a corner. It was because the nail itself was peeling. So I ended up taking it off, buffing my nails, and putting on Milani Ruby Jewels from the core collection instead. I didn't really want to wear this. lol!!

Close look at Ruby Jewels. It's a bright red glitter suspended in a deeper, cherry red, jelly base. It's pretty, even if it's not unique. Everyone and their momma has done this type of thing.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Artificial light, flash.

    I don't have too much to say about this color...it's red...it's sparkly...it's pretty....the end. Like I said before, it's not particularly special or anything. It's the sort of color that I'd wear to an office, just to get away with wearing glitter at work. All my pictures are color accurate, for their lighting. Indoors, it really does get much deeper and darker, and outdoors, it brightens up considerably.  Funnily enough, I like it best indoors. The darkness makes it more becoming, in my eyes. And the brightness of the glitter comes through much better.

   The formula on this is lovely as well. All these pictures are three coats, with one layer of Poshe. The first coat looked like Barbie nail polish (you know, the cheap watery stuff that came with the Barbie and washed off in plain water) but by the third coat, it really shows itself. 

   And I would tentatively call Ruby Jewels a ChG Ruby Slippers dupe. I don't own Ruby Slippers (I had this first) but I was in a nail polish store while I was wearing this, and I picked up a bottle of Ruby Slippers. My fingers matched the color in the bottle perfectly. Like, there was no difference. So I don't plan on ever buying Ruby Slippers, or at least not until this runs out. 

  This post rounds out the last of my Milani polishes, so depending on the weather, I'll be trying to wear some nice, dark colors, or some duochromes. I've been doing lots of bright, sparkly stuff lately, and it's starting to make me sick.

NOTD: Milani 3D + Konad

    After I had a few hours with Milani 3D alone, I couldn't take it anymore. In the throes of dissatisfaction and boredom, I got my little envelope of Konad stuff. I need to find better storage for these thingies. But anyway, I got out my envelope, and started Konading it up. I decided to take advantage of the tawny gold and to create a cheetah-leopard-ish look. It's not cheetah because the spots have holes...and it's not leopard because the spots don't have brown in them. I'm very nitpicky about that...I hate when people call leopard print cheetah!! But I digress.

This is the plate (m57) and pattern that I used. 

I used Wet n Wild Black Creme to stamp this pattern on, and then used a thick layer of Poshe to seal the deal. Excuse the cotton strand. I didn't even realize it was there.

Natural light, no flash. 

Artificial light, with flash. I was trying to get some of the holoness to come out. :(

    Once I came to terms with the fact that this would never come out the way I wanted it to (black spots against a strong holographic gold) I decided to go ahead and matte-ify the whole thing. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash. I used one coat of Essie Matte About You. 

Natural light, no flash.

      

    I'm glad I opted to go matte with this. I really love it so much more. And the matte-ness does something interesting to the little particles in the base polish. I think it shows more when the pictures are enlarged. Anyway, I had a good time with this! It was really easy to do this look, and although it isn't perfect and is super simple, I still like it and will wear it with pride. 

    See...if this was a lion mani, that would be best pun ever. Get it? Pride?! Ohohoho!! I'm putting that one in my back pocket to use in a lion-related situation. Because you never know when such a situation will arise. Lions are everywhere. And I'm rambling. And I have class soon. So I'm off! 

Milani 3D

           Today, I'm wearing Milani 3D, the namesake of the of the 3D Holographic Collection.  Looking at this polish on my nails, it's ironic that this would be the one that they name it after. Here are my pitchas:

Close look at 3D. It's the same deal as the other two guys: tiny holographic scales/flakes in a colored base. In this case, the base is a nice gold. I don't know the difference between warm and cool gold, so I'll just leave it at gold. lmao!

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Shade, no flash.

This was the most holographic I could get this to look. Shade, with flash.

     The bad news is that I feel like this polish barely qualifies as holographic. There are particles that change color in the light, true, but this definitely pales in comparison to Hi-Res and Digital. No smooth holo at all, and barely any scattered. It was really disappointing. And it's why I thought it was ironic that they would name the collection after what I'm thinking has to be the least holographic polish in the bunch. 

   But 3D's saving grace is that it is a really lovely gold, and the particles add some nice interest. Additionally, the formula was easy, and the color was not hard to build up. All of these are three coats of color, with one layer of Poshe. I'll enjoy wearing this in the summer, especially when I get more color to my skin. I love gold with sun-darkened skin. But I'm still mad because I paid for a pretty gold holographic nail polish...not just a pretty gold one. So boo, Milani! 

  My final thoughts on this collection (or the part of it that I own) is that it is nice. 3D brings it down for me, but Digital and Hi-Res are beautiful colors and pick up the slack. If I was going to put them in order, from most loved to least, I'd say Hi-Res, Digital, and then 3D. Which funnily enough, was the order that they got posted in.