Urban Decay/Zoya

One coat of Zoya Luna over two coats of Urban Decay F Bomb. I'm kind of mixed about this...on some nails it looks nice, but on others I either did too much of Luna that it covered F Bomb or too little that it looked streaky. I do like that it kind of reminds me of Christmas! I'll review the individual colors once I've worn them on their own.

Barielle - Snap Dragon

Sorry about the lack of clean up! Part of the Spring 2010 Wildflower collection, Snap Dragon is a metallic-y seafoam green. I say "metallic-y" because it doesn't look as metallic as others that I have, when it's wet it looks really frosty but that goes away a bit as it dries. I used 2 coats and no top coat, with the exception of the index finger to show that with top coat it's considerably less streaky. I learned that you have to get a lot of excess from the brush, because if you get too much on the nail and then take polish off the brush to fix it, that just makes the streakiness worse :\

It's not available on Barielle's official site (I got it at TJ Maxx for I think $3.99), and I don't know of any e-tailers that carry Barielle. Then again, I only know of 8ty8, head2toe, and Transdesign. If I see it available anywhere I'll update this post, otherwise I recommend checking eBay.

Revlon - Cotton Candy/China Glaze - Medallion

this is the first Revlon I've tried in years, and it's actually quite nice! it's kind of sheer and streaky on the first coat, but is much better on the second. I was also surprised that it actually smelled like cotton candy, I haven't worn scented polishes in a long time so I didn't think it would be accurate. I did my nails last night and the scent has worn off since then, but while it was there I could smell it through the Seche Vite (after it dried, of course)...I wasn't able to smell it unless my nails were by my face, so it isn't overwhelming.

I also wanted to try a glitter...gradient...thingy. I don't actually know the name of it, if there even is one. it's where you put on a glitter polish starting at the tip and drag it about halfway down. I didn't look at any pictures for reference, but I don't think it looks bad for a first try. I used China Glaze's Medallion, and I love the way it looks! Cotton Candy is pinker than the picture shows, it was too late for a sun picture so this is the best I could get. you can see some of the shimmer if you look closely. oh, ignore my middle finger. I know it looks weird but I can't bear to file the rest down :(

by the way, I don't know how many CVS' are doing this, but one that I went to had two bins of clearance which included nail polish (I found colors by L'oreal,Maybelline, Milani, Nicole by OPI, NYC, and Sally Hansen). it's actually where I got Cotton Candy!

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Urban Decay - Big Bang

found this in my drafts - Big Bang is a pink foil with silver shimmer that doesn't really show up in this picture. it's also more sparkly, but I wasn't able to get a picture in the sunlight. it applied good, no streakiness that I can recall and was perfect with two coats. I think I was able to do one medium coat though and have it look fine. you can still buy the Apocalyptic Nail Kit on Urban Decay's website for $20, down from $26.

Update!

I know it's been a really long time since I've posted anything, but I'll get back to posting within the next couple of days. I don't remember why I stopped, but I really want to start up again. And maybe doing more swatches will help me get some polishes out of my stash, since I've been failing at that by just doing bottle comparisons!

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Zoya - Nina/Rage Konad

does anyone else wonder who Zoya names their polishes after? i can't think of any famous Ninas off the top of my head, so i'm going with Nina Williams from Tekken for now :-P. Nina is a vampy brown creme that doesn't look black/almost black. although, for some reason it was showing up black in the pictures and i had to use flash. so sorry about it looking a bit weird, but at least it's more color-accurate.

i used two coats, almost one. the Konad is from disk m57 and i stamped it with Orly's Rage which worked really well, it was a little more gold in person than in the picture. and to seal it, i used China Glaze's Fast Forward top coat which didn't smear/shrink it at all, but i really recommend using it near an open window, or outside if you can. maybe it's because i'm a bit sensitive to smells, but it has a very strong scent to it.

Urban Decay - Gunmetal

*sigh* posting this is making me want old school and old old school UD polish even more. although they did re-release Big Bang in the Apocalyptic set (the same set Gunmetal came from), so maybe they'll do another re-release when they come out with Book of Shadows III. i'm really hoping for Salmonella or Live Wire, but i'd be happy with anything.





Gunmetal is a shimmery charcoal that has some blue in it as well. in some lights it also takes on a brown cast. i used two coats here, if i remember correctly it applied a bit streaky but was fine after the top coat.

Zoya - Salma/Sparkle Gloss Top coat

yay, more Zoya! i also got my exchange polishes the other day, so you can expect to see more Zoya for awhile :D the ones i got are:

Buffy
Charla
Gigi
Ivanka
Nina
Jo
Perrie
Trixie

i had to only get 8, which was a LOT harder than i thought it would be. but i'm really happy with what i got, so it's all good. anyway, here's two coats of Salma with one coat of Sparkle Gloss topcoat (which i found at Goodwill for $1.99!):




Salma is a warm shimmery red with a teeny bit of brown. Sparkle Gloss is a sheer top coat with small particles of glitter, that for some reason would just NOT cover the tips of my nails. maybe i got too much on the brush, i know the Zoya shimmers i have tend to do that sometimes. i don't know if this functions as a real top coat (as opposed to just using it to layer over polishes), so i used Seche Vite anyway. i'll try and get some more backlog up tonight/tomorrow, and i'm doing a red creme comparison soon, i only have five of those so that should be pretty easy!