Nubar Going Green Collection

          So, as many of you know, a few days from now is St. Patrick's Day. I love St. Patrick's Day, not because I'm Irish or know any really cool Irish people, but because it is the one day where I can wear all green everything and not be looked at as a complete freak. And I sure do love green. So I thought it would be fun to bombard you guys with lots of green polishes in the following days. To start the party off, I battled clouds and other such weather-related tomfoolery to re-swatch the polishes that I own from Nubar's Going Green Collection. I think it's the only all green collection in nail polishdom, and it celebrates our lovely planet to boot, which makes it so very near and dear to my heart.


So we'll start off with my least favorite, Conserve. 

Conserve is a slightly light emerald green polish, with green shimmer.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Natural light, no flash.

      Even though Conserve is my least favorite in the collection, it's still pretty. I think it's just a little bit plain...the color itself isn't very arresting, and although the shimmer is nice to look at and adds depth, since the color of it is not dramatically different from the base, it's not particularly interesting. 

Next up is Earth.

Earth is a blue-leaning green base with green and turquoise shimmer.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I like Earth much much more than I like Conserve. It has a more interesting and unique base color, and I love how the shimmer is more contrasting, even though it doesn't really come across in the photos. For me, Earth evokes images of the ocean and frolicking sea mammals, and it's so glowy! Nubar did a nice job with this one. 

Third is Greener.

Greener is a deep foresty green with lighter green shimmer.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I can't resist a good dark and dangerous green, and Greener is a great one. It's just so sexy, and the shimmer with the base gives some really lovely depth and plenty of glow. Ahh it's so hot. 

Next is Forest.

Forest is a slightly dark blue-based green creme. Those gold thingies are not part of the polish....they're reflections of something. Sorry. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

        Forest is a great green. I really can't explain why I like it so much, but I do. I just like to look at it on my hands. ^_^

And finally, I have my favorite, Wildlife.

Wildlife is a duochrome with a khaki green base and that flashes different shades of copper and green. There's also a rose pink/gold shimmer in there. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Wildlife is such a beautifully unique polish. The duochrome is really strong, and although it looks best in lower light, you can see the color shift all the time. I also really love the color combination...watching the greens and browns dance across my nails, lions and cheetahs running across a yellow Kenyan plain comes to mind. I love this one so much....definitely one of my favorite greens ever. 

   So pretty much, the whole collection is awesome. Every color is lovely to behold, and I appreciate that it covered a range of shades and finishes. The real must haves for me would be Greener and Wildlife, although buying the whole shebang is perfectly justifiable, and if you are an ardent green-lover, advisable. I myself wish that I had just bought the whole set, because I got them separately across several hauls, and it ended up costing more. Plus, I still don't have Reclaim. And I didn't get no Diamont.  -___-

   The formula on all of these were quite good...I used three coats or color and one layer of topcoat for all the polishes, although three was only necessary in Wildlife's case. For the others, two sufficed. They all went on smoothly and easily, and dried quickly as well. 

And that's all for today!! Thanks for reading and have a good night! ^_^

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.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

`

       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.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     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.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    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.

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!

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!!