Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility

          The next blue I'll be showing is Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility. I think it was released as part of last year's Spring Collection, and with spring finally showing up around here, I thought it would be fitting. 

Tranquility is a very pale and slightly muted baby blue creme.

My camera picked a little bit too much up on the blue and made this a tab bit too bright...in reality, the polish has a bit more green to it and is less saturated. Think of a washed out Tiffany blue. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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    Tranquility is lovely. I found it to be pretty and springy, and although I was expecting something more saturated, I like the slightly muted quality of it. My only complaint was that I found it a bit stark for my tastes. If they could have softened it up a bit, perhaps by giving it more of a cloudy jelly-ish finish (a la RBL Bikini Bottom), that would have been better. Even so, I'm still glad to have this color...I have so few blue cremes, and this one is nice, especially for the price. 

    When I saw Tranquility in person, I steeled myself for a horrible application, but I was pleasantly surprised. It went on easily, and was opaque and smooth in two coats. I could have gone for another one, because in some of the pictures, it looks a bit ridge-y, but I'm still happy with how Tranquility turned out. Dry time was also very good.

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

Color Club Masquerading

        So as many of you know, April is Autism Awareness month. Autism strongly affects my own family, so it is an issue that is very near to my heart. And since it is also Autism Awareness week on the nail part of the hair board that I frequent, I wanted to do the same thing here. That means the next week, The Phalanges Files will only be showing blue polishes. Except for one time. 
But anyway, to kick it off, I went with Color Club Masquerading, from their Alter Ego Collection.

Masquerading is a silvery cadet-blue in a frosty-chrome finish.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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      Masquerading is okay. It's not the best thing that Color Club has come up with, but I like the muted and silvery shade of blue, and I'm particularly fond of the finish. It makes me think of blue steel. Not this kind:

But like...actual steel that's blue. 

And as a bonus, it's not uber-brushtrokey, like I would expect the lovechild of a chrome and frost polish to be. 

    Application-wise, Masquerading was pretty easy. I used slightly generous coats (two made it perfect), used as few strokes as possible, and let it dry for a few minutes between coats, and all was well. However, I do recommend a good ridge-filling coat beneath this, because Masquerading is the type where if your nails are ridgey or otherwise imperfect, it'll show right up. Ask me how I know. -___-

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading and have a great Monday! 

Zoya Kimmy vs. Hard Candy Lava (Plus Konad)

      Okay, so in my post about Kimmy, I mentioned that it could possibly be a dupe of Hard Candy Lava. While procrastinating on life (*in Rajiv from Outsourced voice* because that's how I do it) I was able to get together a quick comparison of the two, so here it is:

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Kimmy, Lava, Kimmy, Lava

Natural light, no flash.

L-R: Kimmy, Lava, Kimmy, Lava

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Kimmy, Lava, Kimmy, Lava

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Lava, Kimmy

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Lava, Kimmy

    Okay, so they aren't dupes. Lava is more vibrant, warmer, and more orange than Kimmy, and the shimmer is more spherical and less distinct. But really, you only see a true difference in bright sunlight and certain levels of shade. Under florescent light, they look much much more similar. They also have similar formulas, with both reaching opacity in three coats.

    So I don't really think that a person would need both. If you did get both, you'd be able to justify it, but both are probably not necessary unless you have a thing for these types of colors.  As to which one is better,  idk. I suppose that depends on access and personal preference. I like them both the same. 

I also did some Konading on Kimmy. 

I used Color Club Revvvolution, with Plate M57.

Sunlight, no flash.

   It's not the most creative combo, and I don't even think I really liked it, but it was okay to wear for a day. Can't go wrong with leopard print. ^_^

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco

            As part of my birthday bender present to myself, I placed an order from Diamond Cosmetics. I'd been wanting to try their stuff for a long time and the prices were going up, so it seemed like a good time. One of the polishes I got was Cherry Tobacco. 

Cherry Tobacco is a rich, blackened red creme base with tons of burgundy and amber shimmer in it.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     Cherry Tobacco is vampy, shimmery, sexified goodness. It has that gorgeous effect where it's black on the edges and bright in the middle, and I love how it's hard to really tell what color it is. Sometimes, it looks burgundy and other times, it's more of a deep chocolate shade. It reminds me of dark cherry wood, actually. Ahh I couldn't look away from my nails when I had this on...it's just so freaking hot. 

   Cherry Tobacco also boasts an amazing formula. I was doing my nails kind of close to bedtime, and this polish was actually opaque in one generous coat. I went with two and a layer of topcoat, but both were unnecessary, since Cherry Tobacco also dried with it's own little sheen. The polish also went on uber-smooth and was very controllable. My only complaint was that the brush was a little bit stiff, but I guess I'd rather it be too stiff than too loosey-goosey. 

But that's all I've got for today! I hope everyone has a beautiful Friday, and thanks for reading! 

Zoya Kimmy

   Today, I have my final (whoop!) polish from the Sunshine Collection. Meet Kimmy!

Kimmy is a bright and bold cherry red base with red and gold shimmer particles in it.

The shimmer comes together to form a sparkly foil finish, a la the Sparkle Collection.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, with flash.

Yes, this is a terrible, unevenly lit, blurry as hell picture, but I like that it shows how bright Kimmy is and how it sparkles. So I'm putting it in. Say something. *puts on G face*

Sunlight, no flash.

      Kimmy is so beautiful. It features such a bold and pure shade of red that it fairly glows, and I'm in love with the sparkling metallic finish. I'm already planning a Fourth of July look around this polish...it's perfect for that occasion. All spangly and majorette-like. However, I think that Kimmy is not that unique. When I put it on, I had a niggling feeling that it reminded me of something, but I couldn't place it until like just now. It reminds me of Hard Candy Lava. Kimmy maybe features its gold shimmer a little bit more prominently and Lava may be a bit oranger, but I'm like...99% sure that they're at least kissing cousins. So expect a comparison for that in the near future. 

    I think because it has a different finish from them, Kimmy was much better than its Sunshine sisters, in terms of pigmentation. I only needed two coats for opacity, but went with three for fun. It also went on smoothly and dried fast. 

And that is the last of my summer Zoyas! Personally, I think that they did a good job overall, although the Summertime portion seemed rather uninspired. And instead of making Faye that plummy purple, they should have made her a really vibrant lapis lazuli or turquoise blue. ALSO, they should have given all the mattes the same shimmer that they gave Phoebe. But besides that stuff, not bad Zoya. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day! :D

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.

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    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! 

Zoya Faye

Are you guys sick of Zoya yet? I'm a little sick of them. But I just have a few more to go from the Sunshine Collection, and then we can go look at other stuff. I thought it'd be nice to start this collection off on a high note, so here's Faye.

Faye is a ton of gold and purple flat shimmer particles in a sheer plummy base. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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I tried to blur this one a little bit, to show the sparkles.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Faye is so gorgeous! I actually think of it as Danni's grandma. In lower light, the golden shimmer kind of takes over parts of the nail so you get a bit of a purple-golden-copper duochrome-type thing going. I tried to show some of that in the second to last picture. And in sunlight, the shimmer glitters so beautifully. I love how it dances across the nail and contrasts with the base color. My only thing with Faye is that I don't really see it as belonging in this collection. All the other shades are really bright and sunny, but this one is kind of not. It actually reminds me most strongly of changing leaves, so maybe it would be better suited for a fall release. But it's still awesome and unique.

   Faye's formula didn't really give me issues. It was a bit sheer, so four coats was necessary to eliminate all VNL. And it doesn't seem to want to cure...I've been wearing it for about...14 hours now, and some of my nails are still dentable. But it went on okay...nice and smooth. 

And that's all! Thanks for reading! ^_^