Saturday, May 12, 2012

Saturday Swatches

Every Saturday Occasionally, on Saturdays,, I'm posting manis, swatches and other assorted nail-related pictures taken during the week recently, that didn't make it into a post of their own. If there's some polish here you're particularly interested in, drop me a line and I'll write a more detailed review about it.

Color Club - Coral Cascade / 3 coats + TC

Note: I'm not 100% sure this is Coral Cascade, because it was from a mislabelled set and there is no number or name on the bottle itself. Other blogs seem to agree on it being Coral Cascade though.


China Glaze - Cowgirl Up / 2 coats + TC



China Glaze - Cowgirl Up / 2 coats
Essence Dance Topcoat - Waking up in Vegas

Thursday, May 10, 2012

[NOTD] Frosted Champaign with no frost but lots of purple glitter. Also, a mission statement.

I have come to a truly shocking realization a few days ago. First - I own over 100 polishes. Okay, that isn't the shocker, I knew that. I use those silly little nail tip fan thingies, you know the ones you can buy in packs of 50 on ebay for a Euro or so, and I have a swatch of almost every one of my polishes, so I had a general idea of just how many there are. No, the slightly shocking realization was that I have never used over two thirds of them. Swatching doesn't count.

I had, as of this week, 88 polishes I have never worn in a full mani. Or at least not so I can actually remember it.

Whoops.

Therefore, my new mission: I shall not buy new polishes until I have made a sizeable dent in my untried pile. (No, it's not actually a pile.) Say, half of them. I'll not buy any polishes until I have worn at least 44 of those I own but haven't touched yet. I know myself. I might make exceptions for something truly amazing and limited, because if I don't, I'll just give the project up as too hard.

This is what I'm looking at right now. Not too daunting, is it? Doesn't even look like 80+ bottles.



I have started this week, with the pretty P2 polish I posted yesterday and continue with an Essence polish from January's Crystalliced LE. Since it's no longer available, I'm not writing a review....

Essence Crystalliced - 05 Frosted Champaign3 coats


That got really boring after a day - time for a party!

Above & Essence nail art special effect! - 01 it's purplicious


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What is the untried-rate of your stash? Or are you generally good about actually using what you have?

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

P2 - Indigo Denim from Denim Delight

This is the 2nd polish I got from P2's Denim Delight collection - Indigo Denim, a nice dark blue packed to the brim with silver micro-glitter/shimmer. It also has a matte finish - there's so much shimmer it looks almost like a silver polish in some angles with the original finish. A very interesting effect, and really pretty, alas I just don't like mattes on my own nails, even though I think they are gorgeous in theory. No idea why.
With a TC the blue colours stands out more and the shimmer acquires lovely depth and complexity. Yum.


For a review & the product details, see my previous post, about Navy Washed Denim from the same collection. I don't really have much to add - they are about the same, quality-wise. Unfortunately Indigo Denim does stain somewhat when you go at it with polish remove. Nothing a bit of soap won't handle though.
This time, the mani lasted two days with some minor chipping on index fingers & thumbs (that I filled in) and almost no tipwear. These pictures were taken just before I removed it.

P2 denim Delight - 030 Indigo Denim
2 coats + 1 coat Essence BTGN

Sunday, May 6, 2012

P2 - Navy Washed Denim (from Denim Delight)

I feel like there's always a jeans/denim collection floating around somewhere, and usually I don't find them particularly exciting, but this recent collection from P2 really was a success as far as polishes go.

The Denim Delight limited edition included four polishes - three shimmers and a creme. The creme was red *yawn* so I passed it over, just as one of the shimmers - a grey with golden shimme, which was too warm for my skin. 
I did get the other two however, a gorgeous light blue with light golden shimmer and a dark blue densely packed with silver shimmer. I only had the chance to wear one so far and I'd like to post it while the collection is still out there.

Ladies and Gents, I give you:

P2 Denim Delight - 020 Navy Washed Denim.
2 Coats + 1 coat Essie Good to Go

As you can see on the second picture and the swatch on the nail tip, Navy Washed Denim has a matte finish - not unlike the OPI suede line, or so I've heard. However, I don't much like the look on myself, so I slapped a glossy TC on anyway.  The glossy finish brings out the pretty shimmer much better.

Ad the gritty details.

Price & availability:  2,45 € for 8 ml in your favourite DM shop or whichever of your local places sells P2. This is from a limited edition that has been out for a while. My shops all still have it though.

Formula & application: it's a bit thickish, due to the tons of shimmer. I also had some problems with bald patches and streaks when I tried a second pass with the brush over the same spot and as a result I needed two coats for most fingers, but if you're quick and precise, you can just slap it on and it'll be fully opaque in one coat.  It most emphaticly did not agree with my BC (Essie Nourish Me) so that might account for my bald patches problems. Since it has a matte finish, it dries pretty fast even without TC.

Wear & tear: On this score, P2 never satisfies me - I suspect their polishes just don't agree with my body chemistry, since many people report good to average wear. This one almost survived one day in the office - towards evening I had some chips and could pull it off those nails entirely. There was no tipwear of the other nails, so I'm not going to exclude the possibility of carelessness on my part.

On the whole P2's Navy Washed Denim is a gorgeous blue with some nice sparkle. It looks well with the original matte finish or a glossy TC - this kind of effect isn't often found in the drugstore price range. For that I'll even forgive the lack of durability and the disagreements with my BC.

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Did you get anything from this Limited Edition? And how do you like P2 polishes in general?

KIKO Aureus Pomegranate Addendum

Since my original post was just me squeeing over the colour, I wanted to share the rest of the possible pertinent info, like formula, wear, etc.

So. Aureus Pomegranate a.k.a. #397. Honestly, why don't they just print the names on the label, if they bother making them up? I always have to look them up on the homepage.

Price & availability: Kiko polishes are available in Kiko stores or online on their homepage www.kikocosmetics.com. #397 is from the limited City Summer Collection and retails at 4,90 € for 11 ml.

Formula & application: Formula is okay, tends to pool a little, but not too bad. The colour is mostly opaque after two coats but if you make them very thin, you might need three. The drying time is also unremarkable. My only complaint is the brush, really. I feel like the KIKO brush has too many hairs and as a consequence tends to hold too much polish. But that's a quibble, really.

What did surprise me - in a good way - was the complete and utter lack of staining. I pretty much expect a certain amount of stains with reds, purples and blues - at the very least when going at it with polish remover, but nope. Nothing. I had to do some cuticle clean-up and not even a trace of colour afterwards. That was really satisfying.

Wear & tear: Alas, here's the big weakness of KIKO polishes, at least for me, and this one is no exception. I had really visible tipwear after less than one day, dominant hand being much worse than the other. With an extra coat to cover up the wear it lasted for another day, before developing even more tipwear. There wasn't any significant chipping, which is progress I guess. On the whole it lasted about two and a half days. I've had worse from KIKO, with chips after only a few hours, so this isn't too bad and certainly something I'm willing to overlook because the colour, omg, the colour.

A reminder:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

KIKO Aureus Pomegranate Swatch & Headsup

This is about KIKO - 397 - Aureus Pomegranate
I just had an absolute Nailgasm when my first hand was done. This polish is stunning! My pictures absolutely do NOT do it justice! There's much more golden shimmer and the colour is less brash and more nuanced. It's super-glossy too. TC isn't really necessary, but I always use a quickdrying one anyway.

This is from the current LE City Summers and costs 4,90€.  Absolutely worth every cent, IMHO!

PSA: If you're interested in KIKO polishes, now is a good time to get them - they currently have a discount on polishes, it's 2,50 € for all colour polishes ( excluding the LE ones, more's the pity).
The regular price is 3,90 €. That is a bit too much for me because I always had a hit and miss record with KIKO, but at 2,50 I just can't say no and will visit my local shop tomorrow ;)


And now back to the gilded pomegranate. Two coats + TC.




If you like fuchsia or berry colours and if you can get KIKO, absolutely have a look at this one - it's truly gorgeous!

EDIT: A review can be found here.