Wheel G16: Charcoal and Black Shimmers

Nail Wheel Wednesday is back with charcoal and black shimmers. Some of these seem like they might actually be textured, too.

 

1. Orly Color Blast Hearts of Steel (2 coats)
2. Rescue Beauty Lounge An Accidental Interloper (3)
3. Milani 176 2.0 (2)
4. Wet 'n' Wild Fergie Heels of Steel (3)
5. Jesse's Girl Black Satin (2) [satin finish]
6. elf Metal Madness (2)
7. Zoya Claudine (2)
8. Essie Gel Couture Hang Up the Heels (2)
9. Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Keep Vinyl Alive (2)
10. OPI Queen of the Road (2)
11. Sally Hansen Satin Glam Silk Onyx (2)
12. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure To the Moon and Black (2)
13. Studio M Show Time (2)
14. GOSH Stardust Night Sky (2)
15. 2B Colours Jeans Look Black (2)
16. Formula X for Sephora Black Hole (2)
17. Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Diva After Dark (2)
18. OPI Center of the You-niverse (2)
19. Essence Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Edward's Love (2)
20. The New Black Gold Grenade (1)

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheel Y15: Charcoal Shimmers

Dark and mysterious shimmers for this Nail Wheel Wednesday. And they are all shimmers, even though some don't show that very well to the camera in the lightbox. At a distance, they look more similar than a close inspection shows them to be. Some are more sparkly, some more pearly, some bolder, some subtler. Some lean blue or green. It's those variations that keep me interested in this project.

 

1. L'Oreal Drop Dead Gorgeous (2 coats)
2. Essie Tribal Text-Styles (2)
3. Urban Decay Uzi (1)
4. Pure Ice Black Velour (2) [really nice matte finish on this one]
5. Studio M Good as Granite (2) [a topcoat would bring out more of this one's sparkle]
6. OPI Black Satin (2)
7. Sally Hansen Good Kind Pure Lava Rocks (2)
8. Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Venemous Vixen (2)
9. Elle Chain Mail (2)
10. Dior Night Shock (1)
11. SinfulColors SinfulShine Da New Black (3)
12. Urban Decay Oil Slick (2)
13. Sally Hansen Triple Shine Slick Black (2)
14. OPI Coalmates (2)
15. L'Oreal Tuxedo Noir (2)
16. L'Oreal Power Potion (2)
17. Butter London Chimney Sweep (2)
18. Kleancolor Metallic Black (1)
19. OPI 4 in the Morning (2)
20. Zoya Anais (2)

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Cruella Pairings

Today I have some swatches I did a while back with my selections from the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Cruella collection. Of course I got all three of the glitters and also got three shades I felt coordinated with them (and that weren't core colors with a new cap screwed on). Left to right: Fame & Fortune, No to Conformity, Iconic Darling, The DeVil is in the Details, Luck & Glory, Pretty in Punk.

 

Here's Fame & Fortune, a warm purple almost metallic shimmer, with No to Conformity, a topper with blue, purple, and rose pink glitter ... mostly hexes, including some very small ones, but also some irregular shards (I guess that's the non-conforming part). I used two coats of Fame & Fortune and one of No to Conformity, plus clear top coat.

 

 

A closer look at No to Conformity:

 

I did like Fame & Fortune on its own quite a bit, so here's a peek at that:

 

Up next, Iconic Darling, a frosty light grey, with The DeVil is in the Details, a black and white glitter topper. Iconic Darling took three coats before I felt it looked decent. The DeVil is in the Details was fine at one, with no issues getting glitter out of the bottle and onto the nail.

 

 

 

Finally, Luck & Glory, a blue shimmer that leans just a touch periwinkle, and Pretty in Punk, a topper with pink, red, purple, and sky blue matte hex glitter. I did two coats of Luck & Glory and two of Pretty in Punk because I just wanted more of that glitter.

 

 

 

My least favorite of these is Iconic Darling; it was a bit too brushstrokey for me. My favorite is No to Conformity, which has already made it into my pedicure rotation as it goes with many of the colors I wear on my toes and is a fun way to freshen up my look between color changes.

Essie Gel Couture Quad

I don't have many shades from the Essie Gel Couture line, but I do pick up some now and then when they catch my eye. Today I've got four colors, none of which are particularly summery, but when the motivation to swatch hits, I don't argue seasonality. Left to right: Blossom into Style, Dressed for the Party, Brocade Crusade, and Embossed Lady.

 

My motivation wasn't strong enough this day to swatch these individually (yes, even though there were only four colors total), so I did them in pairs, starting with Blossom into Style and Dressed for the Party. Both of these are pastels with a perle/frost finish; Blossom into Style being a pale green and Dressed for the Part a light blue. These colors reminded me of that short-lived Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect line from 2011-12 (see display in this post), but these were less well behaved. I used four coats, hoping each one would be the one that leveled things out, but was still left with some unevenness in the finish.

 

 

In direct light the shimmer shows more, but so does the unevenness.

 

I was much happier with the application of the two dark shimmers, Brocade Cascade (blue grey) and Embossed Lady (deep purple). These were both two coats and leveled well. The shimmer in Embossed Lady shows up slightly more than in Brocade Cascade, probably since it has a darker base.

 

 

 

The two pastels are from the Garden Gala collection from earlier this year; they don't seem to be on the Essie website now, so maybe I wasn't the only one who didn't care for the formula. The two darks are from Brilliant Brocades from last fall/winter and are there, so may still be available somewhere.

Essie Gorge-ous Geodes Collection

The Essie Gorge-ous Geodes holo polishes from 2019 sat in my swatching box nearly forever waiting for my motivation to coincide with a sunny day in the studio. Finally everything aligned, and I pulled them out. Left to right: Rock Your World, Stop Look & Glisten, Semi-Precious Tones, Of Quartz, Gorge-ous Geodes, and You're a Gem.

 

I wanted to work quickly because sun is not reliable around here much of the year, so I didn't swatch these individually. First up, the two cooler tones: Rock Your World, a silver, and Stop Look & Glisten, a charcoal brown. I used two coats of each plus topcoat. Here they are in the lightbox; you can see a little bit of the rainbow glow even in this indirect light.

 

In direct room light, more of the colors from the holo showed.

 

Of course as these things go, when I was ready to take full sun pictures, the sun went and hid behind clouds, so I've got filtered sun photos instead:

 

 

What with the sun getting iffy, I put the remaining four on in a Skittles mani (top to bottom): Semi-Precious Tones (light warm gold), Of Quartz (sandy gold), Gorge-ous Geodes (rose-y copper), and You're a Gem (rose-y brown). All two coats plus topcoat.

 

Here they are in direct room light:

 

 

And here they are in the sun:

 

 

These are pretty, though I wish they'd widened the color range a bit. The two golds are very close to each other, for instance. I did a "gradient" with three of the warm tones, and I can't really tell it's a gradient.

 

In sun, you can see a tiny bit of difference between the base of my nails and the tips, but nothing dramatic.