A-England Lady of the Lake

           Hey guys!! My computer issues are finally over, and I finally got some sunlight and time, so to celebrate, I have on Lady of the Lake, from A-England's Mythicals Collection. 

Lady of the Lake is a dusty, blue-based purple with a scattered holographic effect. 

Sunlight, no flash. 

This is the one picture where the color came out accurately, so just imagine that all the pictures are this color. ^_^; 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

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`

       I really like Lady of the Lake. I find the dusky shade of purple lovely and unique, and of course, I love the holo finish. It's not particularly strong, so you won't see it all the time, but in the right light, it's beautiful. 

       Lady of the Lake's formula was also beautiful. It was the perfect thickness and went on  ultra-smoothly, with no streaking or dragging. The polish was also excellently pigmented, only needing two thin coats to reach opacity. And like many other holo polishes, it dried fast and shiny, without the assistance of topcoat. 

   Really, the only bad thing about this polish is the price. They're 9.5 pounds a pop, which translates roughly to 15 -16 USD. So yeah, it's expensive. Just as costly as some Lippmanns and almost as costly as RBL. But with the quality of the polish combined with the beautiful color, great holo effect, and excellent customer service that I received, I felt like I got my money's worth.  Plus it was my birthday. So if you have a splurge coming and can swing it, I'd definitely recommend picking up Lady of the Lake.

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have a happy Saturday! ^_^

Zoya Danni

    Okay, so a spot of bad news... my computer cord recently started spitting fire and smoke so I think it's a good idea to maybe not use it anymore. I managed to do and schedule this post before my computer died, but with no power source and nothing good in the backlog, it's gonna be kind of dead round these parts until my replacement cord arrives. In the meantime, I've got Zoya Danni, from the Intimates Collection. 

Danni is a saturated lilac purple metallic base with silver and pink flecks of shimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     Although I normally have issues with light purples, Danni is one that I'm really glad to own. I was initially concerned that it would be too frosty, but despite all the shimmer, it nicely manages to avoid that pitfall. I can't even really explain how it looks, but trust me....it's beautiful, and utterly unique to boot. I can't think of a single polish that looks like Danni. And it gets extra points for sharing a name with one of my closest friends. 

 I was also really impressed with Danni's formula. It was a bit thick, but definitely not to the point where application was tough. On the contrary, it actually applied really smoothly...I had to wait a bit between coats to avoid dragging, but dry time was good so it wasn't much of a nuisance. Also good was the pigmentation....in the pictures, I've got on two coats of polish and one of topcoat.
 
And that is all I've got for today! Have a nice weekend, and see you guys next week! 

Cult Nails Living Water

     Today, I've got on Living Water, from Cult Nails. And I apologize in advance for any random copper sparklies that you see...somehow, bits of my eyeshadow ended up in the pictures. I have no idea how or why.  -_____-

Living Water is a blackened and murky blue jelly base with lots of small sky blue and emerald green square glitter.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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    I love Living Water...it's such a beautiful and unique color. It was conceived by Tierney, from Tier's Thoughts, and her inspiration was phosphorescence in the ocean, which completely comes across in this polish. The base is really dark blue, to the point where it reads black most of the time, much like ocean water at night. And the glitter isn't the kind that sparkles, rather, it glows and flashes from the depths of the base. It looks better in low light than it does in sunlight, which is a tad bit disappointing, given the fact that spring is just around the corner. But when cold and dark weather returns, I'll definitely be reaching for Living Water again. I wouldn't call it a must have color for everyone, but it's surely something special. If you like glitter and/or blue polish, and don't mind the price, I do recommend picking it up. And you also get to support another nail blogger's dream, which is nice. 

   Living Water also boasts an excellent formula. It was super easy to apply, with no dragging, streaking, or other such things. It also had the perfect pigmentation, only needing two coats to achieve full opacity and depth. However, it dried really matte and gritty, so it will definitely need lots of topcoat. I went with a layer of Gelous, a layer of China Glaze stinky stuff, and then a layer of Seche Vite, because the stinky stuff wasn't shiny enough. So also make sure to use a high quality topcoat, because Living Water didn't give me the polish nirvana that I was looking for until I busted out the SV. 

  ETA: Ooh, I forgot to mention that Living Water is a pricey polish. It's $10, and while I personally can see the price reflected in the color and the quality of the polish, that's still mad money for a bottle of nail polish. So think before you buy, kay?

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

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.

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     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!

Black History Month Nails

    As many people know, February is Black History Month in the U.S.  I didn't want to let the month end (I know I'm cutting it close) without doing some kind of nail thingy to commemorate the occasion.  So using the colors of the Pan-African flag, I came up with this:

Sunlight, no flash.

Sorry for all the glare...I took these later than I normally do and the sun was acting funky.

 -___-

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     To do this, I drew a diagonal line across my nail and filled it in with Nubar Unfaithful Red. Then, I covered the other half of my nail with Nubar Greener.  After letting that sit for an hour, I used a thin layer of China Glaze Black Mesh on top, let that crack up for like ten minutes, and finished the whole thing with topcoat.

   I wish I could have done something better conceived, but there just wasn't much time. In any case, I like it. I got lots of compliments on it too.

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

China Glaze White Cap

        For today, I have China Glaze White Cap from the Anchors Away Collection. 

White Cap is a very sheer ivory base, stuffed with gold iridescent glass fleck shimmer. As well as gold, the shimmer shows bits of orange and lime green, depending on the light. I couldn't capture it in the pictures but you can definitely see it in person.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I felt so irritated with my camera while trying to take pictures of White Cap, because it just could not pick up the details in the polish. So the pictures are lame, but White Cap is awesomeness. In person, the shimmer catches the light and gives the nails this lovely golden sheen.  Within the sheen, you can see the individual bits of gold, orange, and green shimmer sparkling. It's so lovely, and made my nails look like abalone shells on crack. Another plus is that the golden iridescence kind of cuts and softens  the whiteness of the polish, making it much more palatable for people like me, who can't really get with white polish. China Glaze really did a great job with this one.
   I also found White Cap's formula agreeable. It's extremely sheer, and my nails are gross and stained, so I prepped them with one coat of Seche Ridge Filling Base and one coat of Essie Limo-Scene. Then, I applied three coats of White Cap, followed by one layer of topcoat. Even though it was kind of alot of work, I didn't mind, because White Cap was quite easy to work with. It wasn't streaky or draggy and even though the formula was thin, it wasn't watery or uncontrollable. I really think that White Cap would make a great addition to anyone's polish collection...it's so versatile and pretty.


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

Color Club Revealed

     For today, I've got Color Club Revealed, from the Alter Ego Collection. 

Revealed is a peachy-pink creme base with super secret rose pink microshimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Lately, I've been craving these more demure shades, and Revealed is a cute one. It's soft and pretty, and pastel without being chalky or stark. I also liked how it made my nails look perfect...they seemed longer and squarer with this polish on. But I did not like how I could barely see Revealed's shimmer. It shows up fine in the bottle, and I expected it to be subtle on the nail, but it ended up being invisible, which sucks. It's such a lovely color of shimmer in its own right, and looks particularly nice with the base color. Why would they not want people to see it? o_O

   I also hated Revealed's formula. It has that weird sticky-thick syndrome and went on in streaky patches. The pigmentation wasn't that bad, because it was opaque in three coats, but I ended up having to dab polish into the bald spots, and then applying one more thick coat to try to even up the streaks. Luckily, with the help of topcoat, Revealed dried to a fairly smooth and creamy finish, but that doesn't negate the nightmare of applying it.  

   Even though Revealed is inexpensive and I love me some Color Club, I have to say that this one was a bit of a fail. If I could do it again knowing what I know now, I'd definitely put that $2.50 towards something else.  Like a sammich.  n_n

And that's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful Friday!