Wheel C13: Glitters from Cult Nails and Other Indies

Ah, Cult Nails, how I miss you. I used to buy so many polishes from this indie brand when they were around, which was back when glitter was quite popular, as is obvious from this wheel. I filled out the wheel with two from Canvas, which I'd forgotten I had, and four from Beyond the Nail. Canvas is now out of business, too; I only have a handful of their shades that I picked up at one of the IEC events. Beyond the Nail at least is still around, though their shop is closed for vacation right now.




(all have one coat of clear topcoat in addition to coats noted below)

1. Cult Nails Feedback (2 coats over half black base) [mylar shreds/shards in this one; that sort of falls between glitter and flakies on the spectrum of stuff that gets added to polish]
2. Cult Nails Walk of Shame (3)
3. Cult Nails Blaze (3)
4. Cult Nails Lime Light (3)
5. Cult Nails Center of Attention (3)
6. Cult Nails Just Because (3) [I find this one so cheerful for some reason]
7. Cult Nails Disillusion (3) [more shards]
8. Cult Nails Winter's Light (3)
9. Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed (3)
10. Cult Nails Dance All Night (2 over half black base)
11. Cult Nails Coveted (2) [love this one, with the green glitter shards glowing on the deep green shimmery background]
12. Cult Nails I Got Distracted (2)
13. Cult Nails Ignite (2)
14. Cult Nails Inescapable (2)
15. Canvas ZzZzz Zap (3) [this one has so much depth to it, like a colorful night sky]
16. Canvas Electric Avenue (3)
17. Beyond the Nail Razzle Dazzle (2)
18. Beyond the Nail Royal York (2)
19. Beyond the Nail Butterfly Garden (2) [had to fish for the butterfly glitters]
20. Beyond the Nail Cherry Beach (2) [this would make a great topper over dark shades]


Bottles 1 through 4:





5 through 8:





9 through 12:





13 through 16:





17 through 20:

Wheel U7: Glitters from Lynnderella and Others

I was determined to do better with Nail Wheel Wednesday in March, a resolve which lasted one week until I skipped posting. Work is just so busy—but only for another three months or so, as I have decided to retire at the end of June, joining Mr. Karen in a life of leisure and home improvement and stuff (he's wrapping up at his job at the end of this month).

Today I have more glitters from Lynnderella plus some other indie brands and a mainstream but not readily available to me line to round things out.



(coats as noted below plus topcoat)

1. Lynnderella Snow Angel (3 coats)
2. Lynnderella All Hallow's Eve (3)
3. Lynnderella Bibbitty Bobbity Boo Blue (3)
4. Lynnderella Mercurial [older version] (3)
5. Lynnderella Mercurial [newer version] (3)
6. Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow (2)
7. Lynnderella Connect the Dots (3)
8. Lynnderella Love, Lace, and Lilacs (3)
9. Lynnderella Shape Shifter (3)
10. Lynnderella Change (3)
11. Nerd Lacquer Crunchy Frog (3)
12. Nerd Lacquer It's Just a Flesh Wound (3)
13. Nerd Lacquer Pinin' for the Fjords (3)
14. Twee & Honey 006 (3)
15. Twee & Honey Magpie (3)
16. Twee & Honey 016 (2)
17. Twee & Honey First World Purple (2)
18. Cult Nails Happy Ending (3)
19. Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper Copper'ize Me (3)
20. Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper Glorius Aquarius (3)


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:



11 through 13 (but not in that order; I don't know why):



14 through 17:



18 through 20:

















Destash notes: Same comments apply to these Lynns as to the ones two weeks ago. The Nerd Lacquers will quite possibly be with me on my deathbed, at least Pinin' for the Fjords, which is my favorite on this whole wheel. Twee & Honey is a brand I lost track of; I need to look it up again, as I very much like their bold take on black and white glitter and of course the purple on purple. Hmm, this is sounding more like "stash notes", not destash. I guess I could give up a couple of these T&H to get new ones—which isn't exactly destashing, either. Maybe when I'm retired I'll get better at giving up polish. Not sure how that will work, but I've never been retired before, so who knows what surprises are ahead of me.

Actual NOTD: Festive for the 4th

I have just a few photos of what's on my nails right now for our Independence Day holiday. I put on a white base last night, 3 coats of Milani High Speed Fast Dry White on the Spot (which I did not like as well as my beloved and discontinued Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White). This morning, I put striping tape down the center of each nail and painted Cult Nails Kiss on one side and Essie Mesmerize on the other, then peeled off the tape leaving a white racing stripe. Then I went to town with my red, white, and blue glitters; each hand got a different set of five.

Glitters on my right hand, thumb to pinky: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Beach Ball (very goopy base on this one), Funky Fingers Fireworks, Oopsie Daisies 1776 Revisited, FingerPaints Red White & Hue (same as the Sally Hansen by the same name but this had nicer base consistency), Barry M Jewel Britannia.



Left hand: Pure Ice Freedom, Love My Nails Glory, Oopsie Daisies 1776, Girly Bits Vive la Revolution, Fergie 4th of July Parade.



And here's an outtake from me trying to get both hands in the same photo using the timer on my camera.



Hope those of you celebrating this weekend are having fun and staying safe, and I hope those of you not celebrating are doing the same!

Essie Resort 2014 Swatches and Comparisons

I so very much appreciate small collections like the Essie Resort 2013 group; having one come up on my swatching schedule feels like a treat, as I know I'll probably have enough time left after trying the colors to do some comparisons, too, and I love doing comparisons. The four shades in this group are Find Me an Oasis, Cocktails & Coconuts, Resort Fling, and Under the Twilight.



Find Me an Oasis is a pale icy blue creme. I used three coats for my swatch; letting them dry more in between would have been an excellent idea, as I still see some streakiness in the finish here.



When I on Find Me An Oasis, I was reminded of Essie Borrowed & Blue from the 2011 Wedding Collection. Left to right below: Oasis, Borrowed, Oasis, Borrowed. Borrowed & Blue is a touch darker and definitely easier to work with; I used two coats of Borrowed to the three for Oasis.



Cocktails & Coconuts is a warm tan with silvery shimmer. I used two coats for my swatch. I didn't do a comparison for this one, as I couldn't think of any similar polishes in my stash. I have colors like this, yes, but none with this sort of shimmer (at least none that I found flipping through my nail wheels; perhaps there's something in a box somewhere waiting for its turn to be on a wheel).





Resort Fling is a squishy, shiny, peachy orange creme (or crelly, I suppose). My swatch is three coats.



For comparison, I grabbed two other squishy orange shades from my stash. Left to right below: Rescue Beauty Lounge Starfish Patrick (4 coats), Essie Resort Fling (3), and Cult Nails Scandalous (3). The RBL is the sheerest of the bunch, and slightly more red than the Essie. The Cult Nails color is even more red.



Under the Twilight is a very deep blue creme. I used two coats for my swatch; if I'd been inclined to use topcoat for this, I could have stopped at one coat of color, it's that pigmented.



I first thought Under the Twilight was purple-leaning, so I grabbed Zoya Pinta for comparison, but then I looked at the bottles and Under the Twilight looked not so purple-leaning anymore, so I pulled Butter London Royal Navy to represent blue-leaning deep blues. Left to right below (one coat of each): Zoya Pinta, Essie Under the Twilight, Butter London Royal Navy. The Essie has just a touch of dustiness to it compared to the other two; it's more blue than Pinta but not as blue as Royal Navy.



This is a nice collection, with a good variety of shades, especially given it's only four colors. The two most flattering for me are Find Me an Oasis and Under the Twilight.

Wheel L6: Glitters from Pop, Cult Nails, Piggy Polish, and Accessorize

(all have one layer of topcoat over the glitter coats noted below; some could use more topcoat, or at least a thicker topcoat)

1. Pop Beauty Gold Glitz (4 coats)
2. Pop Beauty Aquatic Glitz (3)
3. Pop Beauty Lavender Glitz (4) [I wish this had the holo glitter like the first two]
4. Pop Beauty Violet Glitz (3)
5. Pop Beauty Twinkle (2)
6. Pop Beauty Pink Glitz (2) [not that pink; I had to double check that I hadn't mixed up the names of 5 and 6]
7. Pop Beauty Xmas (1) [with a name like Xmas, I'd expect some green in here, but at least they didn't do the obvious and call it Ruby Slippers]
8. Cult Nails Captivated (2)
9. Cult Nails Living Water (2)
10. Cult Nails Hypnotize Me (2)
11. Cult Nails Always Winning (2) [shimmer and glitter don't usually work together as well as they do here]
12. Piggy Polish Teal It Like It Is (2)
13. Piggy Polish Among the Stars (3)
14. Piggy Polish Confetti (2)
15. Piggy Polish Beach Break (2)
16. Piggy Polish Just Called to Sleigh Hello (3)
17. Accessorize 33 Crystal Shimmer (2)
18. Accessorize unknown mini (2)
19. Accessorize unknown mini (2) [in the bottle, it seemed more like a microglitter; out of it, it seems like it belongs on a shimmer wheel]
20. Accessorize unknown mini (2) [I'd buy a full size of this one]


Bottles 1 through 4:


5 through 7:


8 through 11:


12 through 16:


17 through 20: