Wheel R14: Glitters from Belarus

Belarus has been in the news lately; when I went there for work a couple times five-ish years ago, I just knew it as a former part of the Soviet Union that I was excited and a bit anxious to get a chance to see a small part of. Of course I veered off the program laid out for me by my work and my hosts, taking a few detours on my own to seek out nail polish. I found it was quite possible to buy it even though I spoke only a handful of words of Russian (all but two-ish of which I've forgotten by now). A lot of what I bought was glitters, 20 of which I have on today's Nail Wheel Wednesday.

 

(all have clear topcoat in addition to glitter coats noted below) 1. Novelty Cosmetics 533 (3 coats)
2. Novelty Cosmetics 805 (2)
3. Novelty Cosmetics 807 (2 over a skintone base)
4. Novelty Cosmetics 817 (2 over a skintone base)br /> 5. Novelty Cosmetics 541 (2 over a skintone base on half and black on half)
6. Relouis 421 (2 over a skintone base on half and black on half)
7. Relouis Glitter Collection 01 (2)
8. Relouis Glitter Collection 03 (2) [has tiny silver glitter in it; probably should have put over black]
9. Vivienne Sabo Noctuelle unknown (2 over half black base)
10. LuxVisage Galactic 208 (2)
11. LuxVisage Galactic 207 (2)
12. LuxVisage Galactic 204 (2)
13. LuxVisage Galactic 206 (2)
14. LuxVisage Galactic 212 (2)
15. LuxVisage Galactic 215 (2) [really a microglitter]
16. LuxVisage HiTech 10 (2 over a skintone base)
17. LuxVisage HiTech 25 (2 over a skintone base)
18. LuxVisage HiTech 12 (2 over a skintone base)
19. LuxVisage HiTech 18 (2)
20. LuxVisage HiTech 19 (2)

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 9:

 

10 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A look at the glitter in #15 in direct light:

 

Wheel G9: Textures from Foreign Brands

This edition of Nail Wheel Wednesday features textured polishes from brands that aren't typically seen in the U.S. I admit Essence is a bit of cheat, since it is at Ulta and Fred Meyer, but not all of the Essence textures on this wheel were available in the U.S. Some I got in Belarus, some in Canada, some in swaps. A few of these, though from textured collections, are really more just glitters being their naturally bumpy selves, but that's okay. This is a nail polish blog, not a deposition. :)



(all two coats)

1. Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect My Lucky Star
2. Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect Hey Nude
3. Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect Hello Rosy
4. Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect Me & My Lover
5. Essence Effect Sparkling Sugar Baby You're a Firework
6. Essence Effect Sparkling Sugar Underwater Love
7. Essence Effect Metal Sugar Skyfall
8. Essence Effect Jeans Sugar Blue-Jeaned
9. Essence Aquatix The Ocean Sand Under Water Love
10. Essence Aquatix The Caribbean Sand Aquatix Bay
11. Essence Superheroes Sand Effect The Incredible
12. Essence Beach Cruisers The Sparkling Sand Keep Calm and Go to the Beach
13. Essence Beach Cruisers The Sparkling Sand
14. Luxvisage Sahara 55
15. Luxvisage Sahara 67
16. Luxvisage Sahara 65
17. Luxvisage Sahara 60
18. Luxvisage Sahara 58
19. IsaDora Sugar Crush Ocean Crush
20. Dance Legend Sahara Crystal 20


Bottles 1 through 4:



5 through 8:


9 through 13:



14 through 18:



19 and 20:

Minsk Haul the Second

Yep, still catching up. Today I have polishes from my second trip to Belarus last September, the one that I included in my Geographically Diverse Displays post this past fall.

I wanted to buy most of the Catrice colors I saw, but narrowed it down to just four so I could get other brands, too. Left to right: PLUMdogMillionaire, Stardust, Berry Potter & Plumbledore, Kitch Me If You Can.



I got two Eveline miniMAX shades, 413 and 402. I had a few others from the brand in my stash from swaps, but none from this line.



MILV was a new-to-me brand; I got three of them: 27, 36, and 73.



Two LuxVisage colors jumped into my basket: 508 and 138.



Did I say two LuxVisage? I meant six. I also grabbed two from the Flirt line, 306 and 307, and two Defile, 104 and 105.



No, wait, I meant nine LuxVisage, as I also got three from the Sahara textured line, colors I hadn't picked up on my previous trip: 60, 58, and 59.



Okay, really I meant 14 LuxVisage, because I decided I also needed to add to my Hi Tech and Galactic purchases from the earlier visit. Numbers on these are 25, 215, 207, 204, and 208.



I'd gotten two Belor Design polishes on my spring trip, but neither were in the Podium Gel Effect line, so I got two of those, 119 and 120.



I added to my Novelty Cosmetics collection with three more of the Mix Beads & Sticks glitters: 807, 815, and 817.



I also got four more Novelty Cosmetics from I guess the core line, as they had no special labels on the handles: 532, 530, 533, and 156. These and the three above cost the equivalent of US$1.75.



Max Factor Glossfinity isn't a line I've ever seen in the States, so I got two pretty green ones: Vivacious Lime and Aqua Marine.



Another two Dona Mirelle polishes came home with me to join their peers already in my stash: Opti Grow Magnet in MG15 and
Matt Color in M21.



I got two more of what I had been calling the R Crown brand but have since learned is Relouis. Judging by the design on the caps, these are crackle polishes, and heaven knows I have more than enough of those, but I didn't have any from Belarus, and these looked like pretty shimmers if they weren't actually crackles. I had to look at these closely to verify that they really did say "Graffi collection" on them, not "Graffiti".



Essence of course I have plenty of, but the selection I can easily get at home is limited, so I grabbed some ones I hadn't seen before, including this half dozen Colour & Go shades: Hey Nude (which I wore for a full mani last year), Be My Lucky Star, Galactic Glam, Headphones On, Over the Rainbow, and Purple Sugar.



Also got a trio of other Essence: Effect Metal Sugar in Skyfall, Beach Cruisers I Heart Summer Break, and Holo Jewels Bejeweled.



All the polishes above were in open displays, so I could just grab what I liked and go to the checkout. These last couple groups were in the mall kiosks behind glass, which meant getting my hands on them was more complicated. Thank goodness for having charades experience and a digital camera; using both of those things I managed to communicate what I wanted and in which colors. I chose three Golden Rose Carnival shades: 12, 11, and 13.



Five Dance Legends came home with me: Lumos 1019 and 1018, Rio 15, Sahara Crystal 20 and 17.



So far I've only had time to play with a fraction of these. I used the two Podium Gel Effect polishes as a base for the LuxVisage Hi Tech bar glitter (that one was only US$1.59). I'm still not 100% comforatable with bar glitter but it is definitely interesting to look at. It was two coats of the cremes (the darker was nearly a one-coater) plus two of the glitter (some dabbing was required) plus clear topcoat.



I did LuxVisage Defile 105 as a base for Golden Rose Carnival 12, leaving an accent nail un-glittered.



I did two textures next, LuxVisage Sahara in 60 with 58 on an accent nail. I liked 58, the gold, better than the purple, which surprised me.



Adding topcoat made me like the purple more, but the gold got pretty, too, and it was more glittery than the purple.



I forgot about my slight disappointment at the purple texture when I got the Dona Mirelle Matt Color 21 on my nails. I love this.



Much as I wanted to keep admiring the matte blue, I also wanted to try one of the Dance Legends, so I added the Rio glitter on top of the matte. It was flat enough that I didn't need to add topcoat. It totally took that sophisticated blue into the fun zone.



I don't want to say the visit I bought all these polishes on was my last trip to Belarus, though I fear it may have been. I'd love to go back, but it doesn't seem like work will be sending me again, and I'm not sure how or when I'd go about getting there as a tourist. I'll put that on the increasingly long list of things I'll look into after I retire.