LA Colors Creamy Neon Collection

I was glad to see the LA Colors Color Craze Gel Creamy Neon colors show up again in the Halloween display for a selfish reason: I'd swatched them this summer after they first came out but never did a blog post using those swatches for some reason I can't recall (or figure out now). There are eight shades here: Chill Out, Splashy, Jazzy, Girl Talk, Gossip, Good Vibes, Day Glow, and Lucky.



I swatched these over a white creme base, as is my habit with neons. In retrospect, I should have tried these without the base, as the light and bright colors of the Glow shades worked just fine on their own. Ah well. I will have to try them that way next time ... if there is a next time; it's hard to get back to things when there are always new things to try. I was inspired to try water marbling with these as well (also over a white base) since the colors looked so nice lined up next to each other.

First up: Jazzy (pastel purple), Splashy (pastel blue), and Lucky (pastel green). I did a marble on my index finger with all three shades, though Jazzy sort of got pushed out of the spotlight by the other two. I did two coats of the solids over the white, though might have been able to get away with only one.





The next set I pulled was Good Vibes (pastel orange), Day Glow (yellow), and Chill Out (pastel teal).





That left the two pinks, Gossip (warmer pink) and Girl Talk (cooler pink). On my index finger, I marbled Gossip, Day Glow, and Splashy. On my pinky, the marble was Girl Talk, Jazzy and Chill Out.





I was having so much fun playing with these that I did another four marbles with various combinations (these are all over a white base as well).





I'm glad they brought these back for a rerelease; they're fun to play with. I don't know about the neon part, as they don't dry particularly matte or satin as I expect o neon pigments but they're definitely creamy.

Sally Hansen Crayola Metallics

I am really struggling to find any time to swatch lately between all the travel for the moving MIL cross country project and it now being ski season, which means when I am home, I want to be out on the mountain since that's the main reason we retired here after all. Thus, when I did have a slice of time in my studio to try the newest Sally Hansen Crayola Insta Dri shades, I only was able to do Skittles swatches. (In hindsight, I think perhaps if I'd spent less time balancing half the bottles on top of the other half for the group photo, I could have done more swatching.) And now here I am posting this late in the evening, but I figured best to post while the keyboard is hot (or something like that).

Top row: Metallic Sunburst, Blast Off Bronze, Alloy Orange, Bittersweet Shimmer, Big Dip O'Ruby, Shimmering Blush. Bottom row: Sheen Green, Metallic Seaweed, B Dazzling Blue, Razzmic Berry, Sonic Silver, Deep Space Sparkle.



For my first quartet, I did the oranges, reds, and pinks. Top to bottom: Alloy Orange, Bittersweet Shimmer, Big Dip O'Ruby, Shimmering Blush. All of these were one coat. Yep. One. They're packed with silver shimmer to give them that metallic look, which can be a bit of a challenge to cleanup, but just in the immediate sense; those little particles will detach themselves with the first handwash, but I didn't want to risk doing it too soon and having to reswatch since I didn't have time.







Next up, the metals: gold, bronze, silver, pewter. Top to bottom: Metallic Sunburst, Blast of Bronze, Sonic Silver, Deep Space Sparkle. These were also all one coaters. The silver is a deeper shade than most metallic silvers; I like it.







Lastly, the Karen colors: green, teal, blue, purple. Top to bottom: Sheen Green, Metallic Seaweed, B Dazzled Blue, Razzmic Berry. I did one coat of all but the green; that seemed better with two.







I love this collection. It really does remind me of metallic crayons. Sure, if they'd let me choose the colors, I would have done another purple, one that was cool-toned, and lost one of the red/pink shades, but that's a minor quibble. I'm betting these will stamp well; sure hope I have to time find out before too long.

SinfulColors Jingle Jells Swatches

It's almost Thanksgiving, which means Christmas decorations are up all over the place, so I feel it's okay to share some Christmas polishes, in this case the SinfulColors Jingle Jells, a four piece collection of glitters: Candy Apple, Mint Candy, Candy Ginger, and Rock Candy.



Because these have stickers on the caps saying they're jelly toppers, I experimented with different bases under them, but just in case the stickers were misleading, I also did one finger without a base. First up, Candy Apple, which has small and medium red hexes and tiny gold glitter in a red jelly base. Top to bottom: two coats of Candy Apple alone (it was surprisingly opaque, though admittedly I did apply thick coats), one coat over SinfulColors Cross My Heart (warm red creme), one coat over SinfulColors No Text Red (cool red creme), one coat over SinfulColors Georgio (burgundy creme). I put topcoat on all my nails, though the glitter wasn't especially bumpy. I liked this best over the darker base, which really made the glitter stand out, though it was perfectly fine on its own and over the two reds.







Mint Candy has a green jelly base with green hexes and tiny gold glitter. Top to bottom: two coats of Mint Candy alone, one coat over SinfulColors Pistache (mint green creme), one coat over SinfulColors Hey You (lime green creme), one coat over SinfulColors Exotic Green (grass green creme). All nails have topcoat. Some of the hexes are a warm-leaning green, so can also look golden in some conditions. That made me think this looked as much like a St. Patrick's Day polish as a Christmas one, though alternate it with Candy Apple and it'd be Christmas no question.







Candy Ginger (not Candied Ginger, which I what I want to call it) has gold hexes and tiny gold glitter in a yellow jelly base. Top to bottom: two coats of Candy Ginger alone, one coat over SinfulColors Simply Silver (silver metallic), one coat over SinfulColors Hush Money (rose gold metallic), one coat over SinfulColors Pull Over (yellow creme). I was hoping the silver base would make it more kind to my skintone, but that didn't work; the yellow jelly is not to be tamed.







Rock Candy is the odd polish out in this collection as it does not have a tinted base, nor does it have the tiny gold glitter. It's got silver hexes and small iridescent blue microflakies in a clear base. I went ahead and used colored bases on all my nails for this one. Top to bottom, two coats of Rock Candy over: SinfulColors A-Crush (pale blue creme), SinfulColors Rave New World (sky blue shimmer), SinfulColors Endless Blue (royal blue creme), SinfulColors Into the Blue (dark blue creme). I added clear topcoat to all these combinations. The blue flakies showed best on the darker blues though they did add depth over the lighter ones as well.







I felt bad that I hadn't given Rock Candy a chance to shine on its own, so I did another handful of swatches with it. Top to bottom: three coats of Rock Candy alone (it isn't as sheer as I thought it would be), two coats over SinfulColors Simply Silver on remaining nails. I left the topcoat off in this case; you can see it's not especially bumpy. The blue flakies get lost in all that silver though they do spark here and there as the light catches them. If they'd put this in a blue base, it would have paired more nicely with the Candy Ginger's gold.



Finally, to show the base colors of the jellies, I swatched them over white. Left to right: Candy Ginger, Candy Apple, Mint Candy, Rock Candy. All one coat over the white, no topcoat.



This is a fun little collection for the holidays, and not just Christmas. Like I said above, Mint Candy will do nicely for St. Patrick's. Candy Apple will work for Valentine's, of course. I'm not sure what holiday is yellow ... Easter maybe? Combine Candy Ginger on some nails with Rock Candy layered over various pastels fo make an Easter candy look. There are a lot of possibilities with jellies like these, and of course I love my glitter regardless of trends.

Salon Perfect Drop Dead Gore-geous Swatches

Nail Wheel Wednesday is taking a break today so I can post the swatches of the Salon Perfect Halloween polishes before Halloween is over. (I know being a better swatcher means being a more timely swatcher; I just don't seem to be able to manage it these days. Guess this blog is more of a historical document.)

There were five new shades released in this year's Halloween display: Ashes to Ashes, Shapeshifter, Under Her Spell, Lust at First Bite, and Dust to Dust.



Shapeshifter is an orange scattered holographic shimmer (perhaps a case could be made for calling it a weak linear holo, too). I did two coats, though it was nicely opaque and one thick coat might have been sufficient. In the indirect illumination of the lightbox, there are no rainbows.





In direct indoor light, some hints of holo start to show:



In sunlight, more colors appear:



I also bought Too Cute to Spook from the display; it's an orange glitter that's been re-released which I missed last year. I did a rough glitter gradient with it over Shapeshifter and rather liked the result (I did add clear topcoat, too).







Ashes to Ashes is the other holographic finish in this group; I swatched it next in case the sun decided to try and hide later. This is a two-coat dark grey almost black shimmer that in the lightbox displays no holo effect.





In direct indoor light, though, the rainbows do appear:



In sunlight, wow, so many colors:





Ashes to Ashes got the rough glitter gradient treatment with Lust a First Bite, a gold glitter. This has clear topcoat on it as well.





Under Her Spell, a light purple shimmer, looked so sheer in the bottle that I put down a base of Pure Ice Your Majesty, a blue-leaning purple shimmer, on three of my nails before I opened it. My index finger has three coats of Under Her Spell alone, and it's hard to see it's there. Two coats of it over the purple adds a delicate pink and gold shimmer.





You know I love layering, so I tried some more bases under this one, too. Top to bottom: three coats over a white French tip, two coats over OPI Care to Danse (pale pink jelly), two coats over China Glaze Plur-ple (medium purple creme), and two coats over black creme. I really liked it over black; it shimmered in purple, gold, and pink.





Since I was in layering mode, I tried Dust to Dust over a variety of bases as well. This one has black, silver, and holo glitter in a clear base, but it's so densely packed that it doesn't layer as well as I'd hoped. Top to bottom, one coat of Dust to Dust over: Revlon Silver Base, Salon Perfect Shapeshifter, Salon Perfect Ashes to Ashes, Funky Fingers Dark Knight. I had to add clear topcoat as this one was a bit bumpy on its own.





The colors from the holo glitter popped in direct indoor light:



Nine Lives is another re-release I got from the display; it's a black with gold shimmer that covers in two coats.





It seemed natural to try the gold from this year, Lust at First Bite, over Nine Lives. I slicked on one coat of Lust at First Bite on my middle through pinky fingers, which pretty much obscured the base color.





I'm glad I picked these up. I'm also glad that some brands are still putting out limited and holiday editions.