Not Very Recent NOTD: Two Red Violet Looks

The photos I'm going to post today are so old that I was still working when I wore these polishes, but it would bother me if the historical record of my manicures here was incomplete, so let's time travel back to June and see what I had on my tips. First up, Smitten Polish Aer Opal v2. The v2 means it's the version with stable pigment (there's more on how well the brand handled that issue in my post about its orange/pink sister polish Ignis Opal). This is a vibrant red violet packed with iridescent flakies.



I can't find my notes on how many coats of color I applied, but since I took a photo of the product line up, I do know I used Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator and Butter London Nail Foundation under the Smitten and Diamond Dry over it. Let's just enjoy the pretty, shall we?





The other red violet mani I have to share is what was on my nails on my very last day of of work, a pale orchid creme transformed with a holo topcoat. Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator started the party, followed by Salon Sciences Instant Artificials, then two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Orchid Around and one of Starlight Polish Starlight, all topped with Diamond Dry (which did not dull the holo of Starlight). In the lightbox, this combination looked like a pretty pastel shimmer with hints of holo.



In direct indoor light, the holo emerged more:



In sun, even filtered through a window, there were rainbows:





And now I believe I'm caught up with my nails of the day except for what's on them right this very minute. Next goal: catch up with the swatches I did last month.

Starlight and Sparkles Mythological Holos

Earlier this year, I did a series of posts showcasing some Starlight Polish pretties that Issa of Starlight and Sparkles had sent me for review. I especially liked the Starlight holo topper (in this post) and ordered a full size bottle so I wouldn't have to worry about running out. Of course, I couldn't resist getting a few other things, and it's those things I have to share today—a trio of holo shimmers. Left to right below:d Phoenix Fire (wine), Unicorn Spell (purple), and Dragon Breath (green).



Since I only bought mini bottles, I didn't want to do full hand swatches of each color (can you tell that fear of scarcity is a recurring theme for me?). Looking at the three polishes and my four fingers, rather than repeat one of the colors, I decided to try layering on one of my digits. Top to bottom below: Dragon Breath topped with Unicorn Spell, Dragon Breath, Unicorn Spell, Phoenix Fire. These are two coats of color, no undies. In indirect light, the holo effect is very subtle.



In direct room light, the holo starts to show more:





Outdoors in sun, the rainbows really come out to play:







These all also have a subtle duochrome shift in them, but I got so distracted by the holo that I failed to capture it. To have even more time with these pretties, I added topcoat (Seche Vite in this case) and went back out into the sun to make sure I could still see the pops of color. I could. I was pretty sure I would, but never hurts to check, right?





I quite liked the smoky effect I got with layering Unicorn Spell over Dragon Breath; I might need to do a full mani of that look.

These polishes and other pretties are available in the Starlight and Sparkles etsy shop.

Starlight and Sparkles Duochrome Toppers, Part Two

A couple weeks ago, I posted the first three duochrome toppers I got for review from Starlight and Sparkles, the Starlight Polish Mythological Trio. Today I have the remaining three, the Mermaid Melody trio: Ever Blue, Splash Dream, and Star Jewel. As with the other trio, the stars on the labels coordinate with the color shift of the polishes.



As with the first set of duochrome toppers, I layered these over black creme to bring out the shifts to their best advantage. The shimmer in this trio has a denser look than the Mythological colors, with a microflakie/flecked finish rather than tiny scattered shimmer particles.

Ever Blue shifts from blue through blue violet and purple to red violet. The shift is quite strong even in indirect light. Depending on the angle, you may see the whole range of colors on each individual nail or you may see a single color dominate on one nail and a different color on the next.









I wasn't blessed with cloudless weather the day I swatched these, but there was some sunlight filtering through. Outside, the dense shimmer gave Ever Blue an almost metallic look at some angles.





Splash Dream shifts from purple through pink to gold. I absolutely fell in love with this one.









In sunlight, Splash Dream displayed the same almost-metallic effect that Ever Blue had and proved to be quite the chameleon. Sometimes it showed the full purple to gold shift, sometimes it went all purple, and sometimes it went mostly gold.







Seriously, those last three photos are all of the same polish, taken within about a minute of each other. Amazing. Okay, just one more of Splash Dream.



Star Jewel shifts from cool-toned green to golden green. This is a more subtle shift than the other two in the trio.







Here's Star Jewel in sunlight:





Obviously Splash Dream is my favorite of these three, though they are all beautiful. The formula was easy to work with, not too thick or too thin. I used one coat of each of the toppers over the black creme and did not need to add any clear topcoat as they were smooth enough on their own.

This trio is available as a set of full-size bottles for $22.50 or minis for $9.50 at the Starlight and Sparkles etsy shop. Individual bottles are available for $8/full or $3.50/mini. You can follow the brand on Facebook here.

The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the polishes for my own use.

Starlight and Sparkles Duochrome Toppers, Part One

Today I have another installment of the polishes which Starlight and Sparkles sent for review. Originally, this was going to be the final installment, covering all of the duochrome top coats Issa sent, but when I started going through the photos I took and trying to winnow them down, I realized that to do justice to these polishes I'd need more shots than usual for each one, so I'm going to split them up into two posts.

For this post, I have the Mythological trio, consisting of Dragon, Phoenix, and Unicorn. I love that the stars on the labels are color-coordinated with how the pigment in them shifts.



Dragon shifts from green to antique gold; I layered it over Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme to show it off. Below, you can see that just a slight variation in the angle of my fingers brings out the different sides of Dragon.







The above three shots were all in the indirect illumination of my lightbox; look below how wonderfully the colors pop in direct room light.



Then I took Dragon outside into the sun and got to see even more colors show up. Sometimes it looked very similar to how it had indoors, shading from olive green to antique gold.



Sometimes I'd see the gold shade into a rich brown:



Sometimes there'd be lots of pops of color:



Most surprising, sometimes Dragon would turn entirely green, not olive at all, just straight up green. I have no idea what the neighbors must have thought if any of them saw me out in my yard, waving my hand around, moving it up and down, tilting my fingers this way and that as I enjoyed seeing all Dragon had to show me.



Next up is Phoenix, which shifts from orangey red to golden green. I layered this over the black creme as well. Here it is in the lightbox, where it seemed to want to show mostly its red side.





And here's Phoenix in direct room light:



Once again, intersting things happened in the sunshine. I'd hold my hand one way, I had an olive green mani.



I'd tilt my hand another way, my nails turned coppery brown.



Another shift, and I had a festival of fall color going on. So much variety from one polish!



Wrapping up, we have Unicorn, which shifts from green to blue. As with the other two, I used a black creme base to show off the shift. In the lightbox, it liked being green, mostly.






In direct room light, the blue started to come out to play, too.



Unfortunately the best indoor shot I got showing the range from blue to green is very blurry; I move my hands around so much when I'm swatching a duochrome that this tends to happen a lot.



Of course I had to go outside into the sun to see what Unicorn would do (and amazingly the sun was still playing nice, not hiding behind clouds as it seems to like to do on days when I'm swatching). Here's Unicorn looking mostly blue:



And mostly green:



And blue and green at the same time:





I was really impressed with these toppers. They applied very nicely, with no dragging or leveling issues, and were so fascinating to look at. I want to try them over different base colors at some point, as I can see some interesting things happening.

You can buy this trio as a set of full-size 15ml bottles for $27 at the Starlight and Sparkles etsy shop. The trio in a set of minis is $12, which is a bargain as far as I'm concerned. Individual bottles are available, too.

The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the polishes for my own use.