Friday, July 27, 2018

Essence Out of Space Stories Swatches

In one of my April disply posts, I shared the five polishes in the Galaxy Nails section tucked into the regular Essence section at my Ulta. Of course I bought them all; at $2.99 each, how could I not, really?
Shortly before I left on my road trip through Michigan and Ontario, I swatched those five Out of Space Stories polishes, intended to do a post about them while I was traveling, but before I could do that, I came across two more in the collection at a drugstore in Canada, as I mentioned in my June display post. So I had to buy those as well, but then didn't want to share the swatches of the first five until I could also swatch the other two. So this post has been several months and two countries in the making, which is at least a better reason than I usually have to be behind on things.

Top section, left to right: Space Glam, Outta Space if the Place, Intergalactic Adventure, We Will Spock You, Across the Universe. Bottom: Beam Me Up and 1000 Light Years Away.



I started with the lightest shade, Outta Space is the Place, a very pale pink with pearl and blue shimmer, though the blue only shows up in some lighting conditions (or it might be green shimmer, it's hard to tell since it's so elusive). I used three coats; two might have worked if I'd made them a touch thicker.





Direct light shot of Outta Space is the Place to bring out the shimmer:



We Will Spock You is a silver holo shimmer. I did three coats of this one as well, and that was just enough to hide my nail line (you can see hints of it in these photos, but to the naked eye it wasn't showing). In the lightbox, this looked like a fine silver shimmer.



In direct light, the holo showed some color:



In sun, the holo was stronger, but still on the weak side; at this price point, I couldn't be mad about that.



Across the Universe looked shifty in the bottle, so I put a black creme base on my index finger before I swatched it, hoping to draw out the shift. It worked. Over the black base, one coat of Across the Universe showed a purple/green shift. On ny other nails, two coats of Across the Universe alone gave an interesting mauve with a grey/green flash (and visible brushstrokes from the pearly shimmer, which added to the throwback feel of this one).





I decided I'd also try layering Space Glam, a rosy pink with gold shimmer. Over the black base on my index finger, just the gold showed—it's a dense shimmer; that's just one coat of Space Glam topping the black. On my other digits, three coats of Space Glam built nicely to a very blingy, almost metallic look.





Intergalactic Adventure is a blue shimmer which covers in two coats and shows hints of both brushstrokes and a purple/teal shift.





Seeing the shift in Intergalactic Adventure on its own, I thought I probably should have tried layering itone over black, so I did that, but also another few combinations. Top to bottom: Outta Space is the Place topped with Space Glam, Across the Universe topped with Space Glam, We Will Spock You over black, and Intergalatic Adventure over black. I was quite taken with the Across the Universe and Space Glam pair; the shimmer in Space Glam covered the brushstrokes in Across the Universe and the base colors blended into an interesting shade.





When I got these combinations in the sun, I was interested to see the gold shimmer on the first two sparking other colors, with the gold mostly disappearing. Some rainbows did show from the holo over lack on my ring finger, and the blue/purple shift on my pinky also popped.



Beam Me Up is a bright pink with fine silver and very shy holo shimmer. I used two coats for my swatch.



I wasn't blessed with sun the day I swatched this, but I fancied I could see a few hints of rainbow colors from the holo in direct lamplight:



1000 Light Years Away is a black with silver microglitter and small holo hex glitter. I did two coats and added clear topcoat even though this is not a bumpy glitter. I think it looks like a starry night sky; very pretty.



Catching the holo glitter in direct light:



I'll finish up with my attempt at a galaxy mani with these Galaxy Nails polishes. I did a base of Intergalactic Adventure and sponged on Outta Space is the Place, Across the Universe, a Space Glam. That all was fine. Not so fine was my dotting of "stars" with white; they were way too big but I plunged head and topped my index and middle fingers with Essence Hello Holo, my ring with Space Glam (which turned the "stars" pink), and my pinky with We Will Spock You, which obscured most of my sponging.



I continue to wish that we got more Essence here. These are fun polishes and a good value.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Wheel T10: Dark Grey Cremes

This episode of Nail Wheel Wednesday continues the grey creme story I started last week; the ones I have today are darker than those last week. I think two more wheels, a white/light grey and a dark grey/black, should mostly clear out my backlog of this color/finish family. Then I can start in on the other hues and finishes that have been neglected while I unpacked and sorted my stash.

One note before I get to the photos: it was 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35 C) in my studio the day I painted this wheel, so I had fans blowing on high setting in order to not get heat stroke, which means some of the polishes got an extra coat they wouldn't have needed in better conditions (the quicker dry ones didn't have a chance to self-level before the fans dried them), some have bubbles and other irregularities that aren't their fault, and some got a topcoat I wouldn't usually put on because I was trying to compensate for these issues. All that said, you can still see the colors and the differences among them, so I'm going ahead and posting this. I might have to try to get into the studio earlier in the day while the summer heat is still going strong in town ... though getting to places early in the day is not one of my strong suits now that I'm retired.




1. Elf Misty Haze (3 coats plus topcoat) [this was especially quick to dry and thus looks especially uneven due to conditions]
2. L'Oreal Greycian Goddess (3)
3. Sally Hansen Triple Shine Wet Suit (2) [ah, Triple Shine line, seems we hardly knew ye before you were discontinued, though you did last longer than some lines, like Smooth and Perfect]
4. Essie Petal Pushers (2)
5. Rimmel 60 Seconds Man Overboard (2)
6. SinfulColors My Turn (2) [I had forgotten this was a matte finish, and wow is it good]
7. Butter London Full Steam Ahead (2) [this one was especially bubbly in the heat and breeze]
8. Rescue Beauty Lounge Forgotten Road (2)
9. Inocos Cinzento Rei (2)
10. SinfulColors Smokin (2)
11. OPI Nein Nein Nein OK Fine (3) [at this point on the wheel it becomes a question of when grey ends and when black starts]
12. Ulta Steal a Kiss (3)
13. Divergent Violet Abnegation (3)
14. Dermelect Excentric (3 plus topcoat)
15. The New Black unnamed (2 plus topcoat)
16. Mattese Elite Fantasias (3) [this is interesting—it started life as an intense purple, but has faded to this grey; I'm thinking the slight satin finish is due to the neon pigments in it that have now lost their color]
17. Elf Thunderstorm (2 plus topcoat)
18. SinfulColors Ardoise (2)
19. Revlon Supernova (2 plus topcoat)
20. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Grease Lightening (2)


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:


11 through 15:



16 through 20:








I was so taken with the finish of #6 I have to share another angle:














Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Recent and Delicate NOTD

I'm back from my recent trip, and will get back to swatching and display posting before too long, but in the meantime I have another nails of the day look I wore. Like the two I shared early this month, this started with Essie TLC Laven-dearly as a base, as I really do think it's helping my nails. This time, I sandwiched a layer of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials between coats of Laven-dearly, then added some fairly low key bling with a coat of the shimmery and glittery Funky Fingers Unicorn Dust, and finished with Orly Sec 'n Dry.

Funky Fingers Unicorn Dust and Essie TLC Laven-dearly

Funky Fingers Unicorn Dust and Essie TLC Laven-dearly

Funky Fingers Unicorn Dust and Essie TLC Laven-dearly

Funky Fingers Unicorn Dust and Essie TLC Laven-dearly

Funky Fingers Unicorn Dust and Essie TLC Laven-dearly

Since I've been happy with how the Essie TLC is making my nails happy, I bought the clear version to use as a treatment base under manicures where I don't want the tinted version. I don't expect this will be my holy grail treatment forever, but for now, it is.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Wheel S10: Grey Cremes

It's been a long while since I did cremes for Nail Wheel Wednesday, but my stash is finally all unpacked and the untrieds are grouped by color and finish, so I was able to pull together twenty light to medium greys (or grays) for today. Most of these are cool-toned, though a few are warm and one or two might even fit on a taupe wheel.



1. Deborah Lippmann Misty Morning (3 coats)
2. Maybelline Color Show Bare Escape (3)
3. Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Greyfitti (2)
4. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Pumice (2)
5. Double Moon Eucalyptus (2)
6. American Apparel Echo Park (2)
7. Butter London Billy No Mates (2)
8. Flormar Princess Castle (2)
9. Cult Nails Faded (2)
10. SinfulColors Cool Credit (2)
11. Sephora Formula X Extraordinary (2)
12. SinfulColors Cool Gray (2)
13. Orly Boho Bonnet (2)
14. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Highgray to Heaven (2)
15. Deborah Lippmann You Got Me Started (2)
16. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Show Steel-er (2)
17. Studio M Gray Matter (2)
18. Hedy's Ma.nish.ma Rollin' Stone (2)
19. NYX Cloudy (2)
20. Zoya Tove (2) [satin finish]


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 15:



16 through 20:







(Sorry about the blur in this next one ... I only took one close up of these shades, and this is it. I blame pre-road trip busy-ness.)