Long Overdue LVX First Impressions and Review

Hello polish lovers!

Sorry for the long absence but I was involved in some pretty intense renovations...they kind of tried to destroy my nails so they are shorter than I like them.

As the title says, this is a long overdue first impressions and review of LVX polishes.  I was at Marshalls one day and found some of these polishes, all from last year's Spring and Summer lines.  At first I only bought 2 because I had never found the brand to buy in store before and I didn't know what the quality was like.  I also don't think I could pay $16 for a single polish....it would have to be pretty damn amazing and last more than a week with no chipping for me to even think about it.  Fortunately the ones I found at Marshalls were only $7 which is much more do-able for me.  The first 2 I got were Celeste and Viridian.  (WARNING:  These photo's were taken months ago when my dominant hand was not usable so the clean up is not as good as normal, also please excuse the awkward hand position...really difficult for me to photograph my left hand.)

Celeste is a gorgeous soft grey'd out light blue...opaque in 2 coats and lasted on me for 4 days before it began to chip.  This was the first I tried and made me go back to Marshalls for as many other colours I could find.

Viridian, sorry the sunshine kind of washed it out and made it much brighter than it is IRL, this is a gorgeous medium toned green, the kind that my camera kind of looks at and cries about, could not get a colour accurate photo to save my life.  This was also opaque in 2 coats.

On my next trip to Marshalls I found Modena, Citrine, Azalea, Chambord and Indigo Bleu.

Azalea, pretty pink based lilac, similar to Pantone's Radiant Orchid colour of the year.  This had the best formula of the great formula's and was opaque in 1 coat.

Chambord is a deep raspberry colour, opaque in 2 coats and very pigmented.

Citrine is the only one of the bunch with a weak formula but it is a yellow...a mustard-y yellow but yellow none the less.  This was 3 coats to become opaque but applied smoothly like all the other colours.

Indigo Bleu was just as pigmented as the other colours but stained quite badly on removal.  You have to make sure not to re-use your cotton round or you will never get it off your cuticles.  The gorgeous purple/blue depending on lighting is totally work the extra mess though.  This is also 2 coats.

Modena is the last swatch I have for you.  An amazing bright poppy red.  2 coats, clean up was difficult, this one stains worse than Indigo Bleu, and not just your cuticles but nails too.  Definitely need to double up on base coat before I use this one again, but sooo pretty, and I am not a lover of reds.

I was later able to find Fantom, a white, and Cerulean, a royal blue at Winners, but have not swatched these yet.

Overall I was incredibly impressed with the quality and pigmentation of these polishes and hope that I manage to find more on other outings.

That is all for today.

Until next time, polish happy!

China Glaze City Flourish and Sea Goddess Collections, First Impressions and Review

Hello polish lovers!

Sorry I have been absent for a while but I think the last challenge had me on posting overload so I took a bit of a vacation when it was over.

Today I have 4 polishes from China Glaze Spring Collection City Flourish and 1 polish from the Sea Goddess Collection.

I will start with the City Flourish collection.

So I finally got around to creating a light box so I am hoping that will help with how uneven my lighting has been.
I purchased these colours when Sally Beauty had China Glaze on their 1 day sale in February, and have used them in mani's since but have not yet told you what I thought of them.

First up is In a Lily Bit.

In a Lily Bit is a lilac cream polish with a strong pink undertone.  The formula is thin but not overly difficult to work with and requiring minimal clean up, the first coat is streaky but is opaque on the second coat.  The polish is one of those neon pastels and does dry matte so it does require top coat.  This is 2 coats topped with Seche Vite.  I normally avoid this shade but the brightness stops the lobster fingers.

Second is What a Pansy.

What a Pansy is definitely my favourite name of the collection, although it is not my favourite polish.  What a Pansy is a mid-tone purple with strong blue under-tone.  The formula is thicker than In a Lily Bit and would be a 1 coat-er if the application was not slightly patchy, fully opaque in 2 coats.  This one does not dry matte and the above picture is 2 coats with no clean up and no top coat.

Third is At Vase Value.

At Vase Value is a light blue that shares its value range with For Audrey, and shows slightly more green IRL.  The 1st coat is streaky but is opaque in 2.  This dries with the same matte finish as In a Lily Bit and this photo is 2 coats with Seche Vite.

Last is Grass is Lime Greener.

Colour-wise, Grass is Lime Greener is my favourite of the collection...but of course it has the worst formula.  It is both patchy and streaky and uneven with 2 fingers requiring a third coat.  It is the most neon pastel of the collection and I do not have anything comparable by other brands.  It dries with the same matte finish and this is 2-3 coats(depending on the finger) topped with Seche Vite.

Next I will show you the 1 polish I purchased from the Sea Goddess Collection: Wish on a Starfish.

Cute name and a very pretty polish.  The Sea Goddess collection is the first China Glaze has released that is all texture containing glitter or shimmer.

Wish on a Starfish is a pink texture polish with a ton of gold shimmer.  This polish has a great formula, in that it stays exactly where you put it and requires no clean up.  Unfortunately it requires 3 coats to be fully opaque and not show VNL.  Drying time is on par with other texture polishes that I own(which I think is way too long and part of the reason I seldom use them).  It would be interesting to put 1 coat over a pink base and top coat, just to see how much the gold shimmer really shows.

Overall I really like the China Glaze polishes for Spring.  The colours are totally appropriate in their Easter Pastels, but bright enough to not look washed out.  I know I will be using them all spring and a few into the summer too.

That's all for today, I will be back probably on Friday for my next post.

Until then, polish happy!

Sally Hansen Triple Shine Dive In Review

Hello polish lovers!

I told you I would be back...and I am.  I am back with a polish that I swatched almost two months ago but was so involved with numerous challenges the photos stayed in my un-edited folder, gathering computer dust.  So you will remember I did a first impressions post on 2 colours from the Sally Hansen Triple Shine collection, I loved Kelp, even though it was more of a 3 coater, as I had VNL at 2 coats, and Fanta-Sea is really more of a glitter topper than a stand alone glitter polish, since 4 coats could not get it opaque.  Today I have another creme polish from this line, Dive In.

This, ladies, is a true 2 coat polish!  It is a bright blue/green and reminds me very much of the Caribbean waters, making the name of this polish very appropriate.

As you can see this photo was taken before I had my series of breaks that necessitated cutting my nails to less than half their former length.  I miss those nails, but I know they will be back.  My non-swatching hand is already coming along nicely, but my swatching hand has some catching up to do.

This photo has been slightly colour corrected, because for some reason my camera totally freaks out around any teals and refuses to show the colour accurately.  I had the same problem with Orly's Unreal Teal, which is one of the reasons I have not shown those photos yet...well that and it totally stained my cuticles on removal which seriously ticked my off.  Although it did not stain as badly as OPI's Swimsuit...Nailed It, that gorgeous sparkly polish not only got my cuticles but the nails themselves!

Anyway, on to this gorgeous colour. I loved this polish, this is 2 coats, no top coat and it is opaque and glossy and lovely.  I decided I liked it so much I put it on all my nails and used it as a base for some stamping.

I used the PUEEN24 plate and the brocade image to make some really lovely wallpaper nails.  I used Essie Good as Gold to stamp, I love stamping with that polish so much!  All of the Essie metallics are gorgeous stampers and are completely opaque in one coat.

In conclusion, Dive In is definitely the winner, in terms of formula, of the 3 Sally Hansen Triple Shine polishes that I have tried, although Kelp is so far my favourite colour.  I was really impressed with Dive In's opacity and shine and I believe I kept the finished product on my fingers with minimal wear for almost a 5 days before I had to take it off, not because it was chipping, but because I need to change my polish often.

That is all for today, but I will be back on Monday with day 31 of the 33DC, so close to the end on this.

Until then, polish happy!

Sally Hansen Triple Shine First Look and Review

Hello polish lovers!

I was browsing through my local Walmart earlier this week and stumbled upon the new Sally Hansen Triple Shine display!  Me being the nail polish addict that I am, I could not resist getting 2 to try out.  I decided to limit myself to 1 creme and one glitter, to get a sample of both.  The colours that I got are, Kelp Out, a bright leaf green creme, and Fanta-Sea, a silver and ice blue glitter.

I started by swatching Kelp Out.  The instructions on the bottle say to do 2 coats...but this is what 2 coats looked like on my nails.

2 coats equals definite VNL and I can't do that, my OCD kicks in and makes me want to take it all off.  So I decided to add another coat....and this is when the magic happened.

Yes! This is what I was looking for.  I love this colour!  It is so bright and cheerful, it reminds me of new leaves in the spring, not at all like Kelp, I've seen kelp and that stuff is usually much more brown than this.  The formula, besides being a 3 coat-er was smooth and creamy.  I don't think I have a similar colour in my collection.  The Triple Shine bottles have the same brush that the Insta-Dri do so it takes very few brush strokes because the brush is so wide(these photos show zero cleanup, this polish stays where you want it and doesn't flood the cuticles).

Now for Fanta-Sea.

On my pinky I have 1 coat, ring is 2 coats, middle is 3 coats, and pointer is 4 coats.  I did not do this over a base colour because I wanted to show the true colour of the polish without influence.

As you can see, this polish isn't really meant to be worn alone.  It would take way more coats than I have patience for to achieve opacity.  I am really looking forward to seeing what this looks like over undies, I think I may go dark, like a navy polish.  I may show something like that in the future.

Overall, besides the misleading instructions on the bottles(neither of these polishes are 2 coat-ers), I am rather impressed with this new line.  My photos are taken showing the polish by itself, no top coat!  They are super shiny! I have only swatched so far, I have not done a wear test, that may come in the future.

And now, for a mani I rocked for almost a week!

Ahh! Empty hand!

As you can see, this photo was taken before the sun disappeared from the skies and we were left in darkness.  This is a few days in so you can see some legitimate tip wear(normally my mani comes off way before wearing can occur) but I love this Bird plate from Messy Mansion!  The feathers look drawn on and sketchy and I love that.

That is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with the next theme in the Falling for Nail Art Challenge.

Until then, polish happy!

Lucky 13 Lacquer, No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me, swatches and review

Told you I would be back, fellow polish lovers!

I have a really special treat today.  When I was in uni one of my roommates, Laura, made me watch this little sci-fi fantasy show that wasn't even on for one full season.  That show was Firefly and quickly became one of my favourite shows(I cannot tell you how many times I have re-watched the DVD's and Serenity), along with Veronica Mars and Doctor Who, two others I attribute my fandom to Laura.  Firefly also was the beginning of my love of  Nathan Fillion, which will never die and continues in my love of Castle, but that is another post for another day.

Today I am talking about Firefly and a polish inspired by River Tam, one of my favourite characters from the show, played by Summer Glau.  No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me is from Lucky 13 Lacquer's Ballad of Serenity collection and can be found here.  I was lucky enough to pick this up during her 15% off lady inspired lacquers sale that she had in August(look forward to future posts featuring Bad Wolf and Golden Snitch).

No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me, two coats, one coat Seche Vite, artificial light

Love, love, love, love, love this polish!  So gorgeous! So much depth! So much sparkle! my camera really couldn't handle the sparkle.  The above is two coats only, the polish is thick, but workable, no problem getting the glitter out or distributed on the nail. It's a minty green shimmer base with with tiny silver and fuchsia glitter with larger silver and iridescent fuchsia hex glitters.  This polish is awesome!  It wore like iron on me and I wore it for FOUR days!  FOUR DAYS!  I don't wear any polish for four days! Usually by the second day one nail(usually my wonky thumb nail)has chipped and its all over, but not this polish.

No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me, two coats, two coats SV, sunlight

This polish was also a lot smoother than I was expecting, most glitters that I am used to are so rough you can't even think about top coating them without specialty top coats, which I do not have.  This polish did slightly eat the first coat of SV, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting, and the second coat stayed very smooth and shiny.

No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me, bottle shot

I couldn't leave you without a shot of the bottle and all of its gorgeousness.  I really cannot wait to try Golden Snitch and see if the wear time is comparable for me.  Please remember that having a polish last for four days is something that is pretty much unheard of on my nails so someone else's wear time could be much longer than mine was.

Until next time, polish happy!