Selections from SpaRitual Wander Collection

Standing at Ulta looking at the display for the SpaRitual Wander collection for fall, my first instinct was of course to grab one of each color and go check out. My next instinct was to get none of them because they weren't on sale and I didn't have a coupon (or not a good coupon; I don't recall exactly since I'm at Ulta so much the trips tend to blend together). Then I managed to find that underutilized part of my brain that practices moderation and picked my three favorites and bought those. Left to right: Starry Night, Arroyo, Nomad.



I started with Starry Night, a brown shimmer. I think this an overused name for nail polish, though I must admit none of the others I own are brown, so that's different. My swatch is two coats, no topcoat. The labels on all the colors in this collection call the finish "sandy matte shimmer", which leads one to believe there will be texture, but this must be the finest-grained sand in all the land, as it's hardly bumpy at all. I'd call the finish closer to satin than matte, too.



Never mind the satin versus matte issue, though, because Starry Night looks much better with a shiny topcoat, which brings out the golden/olive shimmer.





In direct low light, the shimmer pops even more:



Arroyo is a dusty rose with gold shimmer, and has the same finish as Starry Night. Again, I swatched at two coats.





The change in Arroyo with topcoat wasn't as dramatic, though it did look nice.



In direct low light, the gold sparkled quite nicely:



Nomad is an olive green with gold and pink shimmer, and is also a two-coater.





Here's Nomad with topcoat:





And here's Nomad in direct low light:



I'm happy with my choices; I can see wearing any of these as a full mani. I actually did wear Arroyo to work for a week after I did these swatches. On my skintone, it's got that almost-but-not-quite-mannequin hands subtlety, but the gold shimmer adds enough interest that it didn't bore me after a day.

You can see swatches of the whole collection at The PolishAholic.

SE Michigan September Displays

Once again, it's past time for a display post. Since my last one, I've been to Houston and to Minsk and shopped for nail polish in both places as well as making my usual rounds here in metro Detroit, so I have even more photos stored up than usual. In order to not make this the longest post ever, today I'll share the displays I've come across close to home here in Michigan, then later in the week, maybe as soon as tomorrow, I'll do a travel display post.

I am not sure what's up with the Essie Back to Chic trend collection; the display at Rite Aid had four shades: Macks, Master Plan, Minimalistic, and Who Is The Boss. That last color is from the Wedding 2012 collection, but the others I don't know the history of. Apparently there's a six-shade version of this collection, too, as I found reference to it on Essie's Facebook page, showing these four colors plus Power Clutch (Fall 2011) and Not Just a Pretty Face (Summer 2009).



I do know what's up with Essie Dress to Kilt; it's their fall collection. Ulta is the first place I saw this one. Top row: Dress to Kilt, The Perfect cover Up, Take It Outside, Fall in Line. Bottom: Dress to Kilt, Style Cartel, Partner in Crime, Fall in Line. As usual, I've since seen lots of variations of the display, but in the interests of getting to my travel photos, I won't subject you to all those permutations. I'll just say these colors have appeared in a Nail HQ at CVS, a 4-shade display at Rite Aid (lacking Partner in Crime and Fall in Line), and a sidekick at Meijer.



The latest collection from FingerPaints I've spotted at Sally Beauty is Masquerade Affair, with four colors: Masked Beauty, Ball Gown Glamour, Queen for a Night, and Dance 'til Dawn.



Funky Fingers has a group of glitters called Back to Cool at Five Below. Pep Rally is hot pink, bright blue, lime, and purple matte glitters. Teen Spirit is magenta, black, and white. Varsity Blue is bright blue metallic, black, and white. The Notebook is pastel pink, black, and white.



At CVS I saw a Maybelline Fashion Rocks display with a handful of limited edition polish colors tucked in amongst a lot of makeup. The LE colors are Plum as You Are, Greyz in Love, Fashionably Slate, and I Got You Beige. The core ones are Fuchsia Fever, Gilded Rose, Dressed to Kill, Punk Rock Pink.



Milani has revamped their nail polish; the new Color Statement line has cylindrical bottles with fat silver caps, which look more modern than the old bottles did. I saw these at CVS in the core display. There look to be some nice colors here, but I do miss all the blingy glitters and eye popping neons from the previous line. Top row: Pearl-plexed (sheer), Doll Face, Bombshell, Hot Pink Rage, Ultra Violet, Imperial Purple, Lovely Amethyst, Sugar Plum. Second row: Silhouette, Mint Crush, Tattle Teal, Water Front, Peri-wink, Blue Print, Charcoal Charm, Ink Spot. Third row: Spotlight White, Lady-Like (sheer), Corrupted Coral, Mago Tango, Red Label, Modern Rouge, Ruby Stone, Enchanting. Bottom row: Quick Dry Top Coat, Pink Beige, Mauving Forward, Bronze, Gold Plated, Gilded Rocks (glitter), Rainbow Prisms (glitter), Club Lights (glitter).



Sally Beauty was the first place I saw OPI's fall offering, the Nordic collection. Front row: My Voice is a Little Norse, How Great is Your Dane, Do You Have this Color in Stock-holm, Viking in a Vinter Vonderland, Skating on Thin Ice-land, Thank Glogg It's Friday. Back row: Going My Way or Norway, Ice Bergers & Fries, OPI with a Nice Finn-ish, My Dogsled is a Hybrid, Can't aFjord Not To, Suzi Has a Swede Tooth.



Plain OPI Nordic display at Ulta:



Orly's fall collection is Smoky, and I saw a display for it at Sally Beauty with four colors: Highlight, Smoked Out, Blend, and Darkest Shadow.



The odd thing was that chained to the Smoky display was a card showing six colors, including Edgy and Brush It On that weren't in the display. So far I've yet to see a six-shade display anywhere.



Meijer had the Revlon Boho Chic display, done in collaboration with Gucci Westman. The four polish shades are Confident, Edgy, Bohemian, and Artsy. I almost scooped them up on the spot, but noticed they were priced at 9.99. What? Core Revlon shades are 4.19 at Meijer. Thinking this was a mistaken tag, I scanned one at the price checker, and it came up 9.99. Nope, not gonna do it. I don't care how fancy a designer worked on them, ten bucks for drugstore polish is too much. Fortunately, I came across Musings of a Muse post about them, and exchanging comments with her led me to look at Bed Bath & Beyond, where I found them for the regular Revlon price.



Rimmel's latest is Get Your Glitter On, with five limited edition glitters. I saw this one at Meijer. Colors are: Bedazzle, Disco Fever, Bling Thing, Midnight Mistletoe, and Disco Diva. The "mistletoe" one leads me to believe this is actually a winter holiday collection, in which case, it's here way, way too early.



I came across the Sally Hansen Create & Ornate display at CVS (and later at other places, in a white display rather than CVS's black). This has a black nail art pen, two nail art stripers in silver and white, and eight limited edition Xtreme Wear shades. In front, there are four matte finish colors: Chain Mail, Wax Poetic, Royal Shyness, and Blue Blood. In back, four glitter toppers: Rogue Red, Court Jest, Family Jewels, and Mind Your Manors.



Walgreens had a corner display from Sally Hansen with the Runway Collection of Complete Salon Manicure colors (but not the lace Salon Effects from the standalone display I shared in my August display post), the Xtreme Wear shades from Create & Ornate as well as some summer and core colors (though if those were supposed to be in there, I'm not sure).



Meijer was the first place I've seen Sally Hansen Costume-ize Your Nails, a Halloween collection. (Though of course that wasn't the first Halloween polish to show up, what with the Bonita colors hitting the shelves in July.) Front: Fuzzy Coat Witch-ful Thinking and Fur-ankenstein, Big Glitter Costume Glitters and Dressed to Thrill. Back: Insta Dri OMGhost (hoping this is Whirlwind White reincarnated so I can stock up), Pumpkin Queen, Night Fright, and Scaredy Matte; Salon Effects in Hallowscene, Little Black Lace (same as in Complete Salon Runway display), Skull and Crossbows, and Kiss My Fangs.



Continuing the Halloween theme, SinfulColors Wicked Color display appeared at my Rite Aid near the end of August. Colors here: Glow in the Dark, Let's Talk, Pumpkin Spice, Black on Black, Starry Night, Cauldron Couture (new), Courtney Orange, Glow in the Dark.



Walgreens had a bigger Wicked Color sidekick display. This had the same colors as the smaller one at Rite Aid, plus these shades: Cloud 9, Snow Me White, Splatter Spell (new), Pine Away, and Mystery Moonshine (new). It also had spiderweb patterned nail stickers.



The Walgreens version of SinfulColors OMGeode display that I shared last time is called Nails That Rock, and has the same shades: Thimbleberry, Dream On, Why Not, GoGo Girl, Charmed (old name, new color), 24 Karat, Starry Night, and Vintage (new color).



Walgreens also had a sinfulShine display called Shining Bright Off the Runway with these colors: Prosecco (new), All the Rage, Most Sinful, Devious, Set the Mood, Haute Shine (new), Nouveau Purple, and Shining Couture (new).



Sparitual has the Wander collection for fall: Starry Night, Tapestry, Nomad, Oasis, Mirage, and Arroyo. The labels describe these as "sandy matte shimmer" finish, but the one I tried so far was not really noticeably textured.



Meijer had two new Studio M display for fall, but as usual they were not all new colors. First up is #1 Fan. Top row (all shades have two slots): Bright Night, Neon Caution, On the Field (new), French Tip. Middle row: Gold Links, Darkest Black, Lightning Blue, Touchdown (new). Bottom row: Red-ical Gypsy, Gray Matter (new), Grape Escape, Mamba.



The other fall Studio M display is Fall in Love with Color. Top row: Darkest Black, Port-folio (new), Grape Escape, Orange Hot, Wing Fling, Vintage Vamp, Orange Hot, Purple Medallion. Middle row: Style Icon (new), Model Behavior, Gold Glitter, De-luxe-cious, In the Limelight (new), Rad Nomad, Darkest Black. Bottom row: Orange Hot (x2), Darkest Black (x2), Vintage Vamp, 0-60 Top Coat (x2).



So many fall collections are showing up now that the Wet 'n' Wild All Access Beauty display with limited edition Wild Shine colors in summery shades really popped when I saw it at Walgreens. Four shades here: Chambray Showers (turquoise), Ferris-Wheel Romance (light orange), Spitfire (orange), and Gyp-sea Green (teal).



Wet 'n' Wild also has a more autumnal-looking All Access Beauty display out with size limited edition matte Megalast shades, which I also saw at Walgreens: LAC-My Mani, Distressed to Impress, Rouge 66, So Berry On Trend, Careful It's Vine-tage, and Echo Dark.



Ulta had the Zoya fall collections, Entice and Ignite. Top (Entice): Nyssa, Claire, Veronica, Margo, Ryan, Genevieve. Bottom (Ignite): Autumn, India, Teigen, Sansa, Remy, Yuna.



Okay, that's plenty of shopping for one post. There are still more things I'm keeping an eye out for, for sure, like the six-color Orly Smoky collection, and the Milani Bedazzled display I've heard about, and the pumpkin polishes which should be showing up at Meijer any minute. Of course I'll get them into a future display post when/if I do see them.

Various Summer Brights Comparisons

I did a fair few comparisons when I swatched the L'Oreal Neons last month but my swatching boxes still had some brights that weren't in that shade range, so today I've got a few more comparisons showing different brands' takes on summer cremes.

Starting with bright pinks, I've got Orly Neon Heat (from this summer's Baked collection) and OPI Girls Love Ponies (from the Mustang collection).



What looks like a small difference in the bottle becomes much more pronounced on the nail, with the Orly being much brighter than the OPI—though the Orly is not quite neon despite the name; you can see that it doesn't dry to a satin finish like a true neon would. I used two coats of the Orly and three of the OPI, no topcoat; the OPI would have been two coats if I'd used a base, as the only reason I added the third was to disguise the ridges on my ring finger. Top to bottom: OPI, Orly, OPI, Orly.



In the orange red category, our contenders are Butter London Ladybird (Lolly Brights), OPI Race Red (Mustang), and NYC Carnival Red (City Samba).



Left to right below (two coats each):Butter London, OPI, NYC. These are very similar to each other, with the NYC being just a touch brighter. I actually liked the formula of the NYC the best, and since it's also the cheapest by a large margin, I'm declaring it the winner in this group.



I only had two medium pinks and two corals in my summer swatching boxes, so I put them together: Sally Hansen Summer Lovin' (from the new shades that showed up at Walgreens), Wet 'n' Wild Beat of a Generation (All Access Beauty), NYC Tropicoral (City Samba), and Sally Hansen Beach Redy (also Walgreens).



No dupes here. Top to bottom below: Summer Lovin' (3 coats), Beat of a Generation (2), Tropicoral (2), Beach Redy.



For light oranges, I have Julie G Old San Juan (Cruise), Maybelline Coral Heat (Bleached Neons), Essie Serial Shopper (2014 Neons), and Wet 'n' Wild Love Me Some Muscles (All Access Beauty).



No dupes here, either. Left to right (three coats of each): Julie G, Maybelline, Essie, Wet 'n' Wild. Julie G and Essie come closest to being a match, but the Julie G is definitely more yellow toned.



Moving on to bright lime greens, I've got three: OPI Life Gave Me Lemons (2014 Neons), Sparitual Firefly (Explore), and Maybelline Lime Accent (Bleached Neons).



Left to right below: OPI, Maybelline, Sparitual. The Sparitual is the brightest and most yellow-leaning. The Maybelline has a slightly more creamy, pastel look.



There were some medium greens in summer collections as well. I have these three: NYC Palm on the Beach (City Samba), Butter London Sozzled (Lolly Brights), and Wet 'n' Wild Contact High (All Access Beauty).



These are not at all alike, other than they're all green. Top to bottom: Butter London (2 coats), NYC (2), Butter London, Wet 'n' Wild (4). The Butter London is what I'd consider a true green. The NYC is leans more toward blue and also looks to have a touch of white in it. The Wet 'n' Wild is more yellow leaning and really could use some undies.



I will wrap up with a nail blogger fail moment. I took bottle shots of this next group, but neglected to get any photos of them on my nails. Duh. Left to right: Maybelline Day Glow Teal (Bleached Neons), Essie I'm Addicted (2014 Neons), Essie Vices Versa (2014 Neons), and OPI You Are So Outta Lime.