Color Club Halo Hues Holographic Nail Polish Collection Spring 2013 Swatches and Review

Hey, more holos!  Good ones.  Linear ones.  Holos pretty much speak for themselves, so just soak in the rainbowy goodness of the Color Club Halo Hues collection:

Color Club Angel Kiss.

Color Club Beyond.

Color Club Blue Heaven.

Color Club Cherubic.

Color Club Cloud Nine.

Color Club Cosmic Fate.

Color Club Eternal Beauty.

 Color Club Halographic.

 Color Club Harp On It.

 Color Club Kismet.

 

 

 Color Club Miss Bliss.

 Color Club Over The Moon.

The formula on these was very good.  Some of the older linear holographic polishes had huge problems with streaking and bald spots when not used with an Aqua Base-type basecoat, but these do not have that problem at all.  They apply evenly without bald spots, streaks, running, pooling, excessively thin formula or sheerness, or really any noticeable problem.  Some colors apply easier than others, but overall I'm pleased with the application.  I'm also happy about how long they wear; the past few times I've worn these has been without any base or topcoat and each one lasted almost a week without chipping.  Usually the stronger the holo, the faster it chips, but I didn't have that problem with these.  Fast dry time, as expected.  Zero complaints in the formula department.  Opaque at two coats, which is what I'm wearing here.

Topcoat does seem to dull the holographic look a little, but it gradually returns to full strength the longer you wear it.  I don't wear base coat or top coat with these, though- they don't seem to need it for wear, dry time or shine.

One thing I like about some of these is the intensity of the base color.  Angel Kiss and Miss Bliss are two good examples of a colorful holo that's not overly faded or silvery-looking.  Not all the shades have saturated, colorful bases, but they all still have a very strong linear holographic effect.

You may have noticed that there's a black holo in this collection.  It's good.  It's better than Revvvolution.  I don't like it quite as much as my beloved OPI My Private Jet, but it is one of the better black holographic polishes I've come across.  Good formula, reasonably and affordably priced and easy to obtain.  I'd pick it up if you are a fan of black holos.

The price of these varies depending on where you get them from.  I paid $8 each for mine at 8ty8beauty, but I just saw them on clearance at Meijer for $3.50 a bottle.  Much cheaper than pretty much any other full-sized holo polish on the market right now.

Beyond The Zone Color Jamz Pro Formula Hair Color in Bubble Head Pink

I know you all want to see nail stuff and not the side of my head, but I just finished my last bottle of this yesterday and it reminded me to write a review.  More of a warning than a review, really.

This product gets a special award from me because it's the worst hair color I've ever used.  I have pretty realistic expectations when it comes to beauty products, so it's rare that disappointed in anything as much as I was with this. 

I bought it because it was on sale and already cheap (around $5).  I'm really happy with my usual color, but I could get two bottles of this for the same price as one jar of Manic Panic, and the color looked similar in the bottle, so I figured why not?

I have two good things to say about this.  One, the squeezy bottle packaging is convenient (except the texture of the color really thick and hard to squeeze out).  Two, it's a pretty color right out of the bottle.  Oh... And I guess it smells okay.  Maybe that's three.

Other than that it has no redeeming qualities for me.  Why?

• It stains everything... except my hair.
• Really, even leaving it on for five hours didn't make it stick to my hair.  
• It bleeds more than any color I've ever used.  Even when my hair is dry.  It gets on everything.
• It dries my hair out really bad and makes it feel gross. 
• It only lasts one wash before any noticeable color it deposited on my hair fades drastically or disappears altogether.

I had already used one full bottle a few months ago and the second one I bought was just sitting in my cabinet taking up space, so I used the whole bottle to touch up my just-starting-to-fade ends. 

Beyond the Zone Bubble Head Pink over Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink (Manic Panic Lie-Locks on bangs)

Really not much of a difference in color than before I applied it except that the parts that were starting to turn light pink are a little darker now.  The only real difference is that now my hair feels dry and my neck and back are stained hot pink.

I purchased mine from Sally Beauty. 

All better!

Still sick, but at least I fixed it!

Manic Panic Amplified Hot Hot Pink mixed with one tiny, dime-sized dab of Manic Panic Atomic Turquoise

Oops

I know, it's obnoxious, I keep complaining about it, but... I've been sick for almost an entire month. It's getting on my nerves.  I missed the flowers blooming on my pear tree because I've been doing nothing but sleeping and coughing!  I've been waiting for that all year!

The sickness started out as an innocent-enough itchy throat during the last week of March and then mutated into some flu-like monster that put me on my ass for two weeks straight.  Then I felt better for about a week and BLAMMO! Back with a vengeance.  So it seems I have bronchitis (nobody got time for that, et cetera, et cetera) and I'm feeling very lethargic because of it. 


Lethargy and sickness = gettin' lazy with my normally enjoyable beauty routine.  No polish.  Cuticles a mess. Clarisonic battery dead.  Every time I've put makeup on this week, my eyes just water until it all runs down my face.  And... my hair.  Yikes.

Lately I have on Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink with some combination of Atomic Turquoise or Ultra Violet in the front or sides, but I've been letting it fade out because I wanted to try a different color (Manic Panic Pretty Flamingo, anyone tried it?).  The (extremely porous) ends had already faded to a nice pastel pink, but the roots were still super bright and it looked weird.

I didn't feel like bleaching my roots (even though they need it) and I didn't feel like touching up with mega-super-staining hot pink while I'm this sick, so for some reason I decided to just cover everything with Electric Amethyst. 

 Freshly washed Electric Amethyst over Hot Hot Pink (still damp)

So... black roots.  Then a stripe of dark fuchsia, then a stripe of purple, and then... Grey in the front, blue on the sides and pink around the back. Oops.

After three washes with Shimmer Lights shampoo and blow-dried

Right now it's turned into a nice faded lavender/mauve type color, similar to all those grey-purple-taupe-putty polish colors that were popular a couple years ago. It's a lot bluer than I thought it would be, but I'm going to fix it as soon as I'm not hacking up my internal organs.  I like the pastel/faded/antique look on other people but I need bright.

Just thought I'd share this so you can laugh with me while I'm recovering.  I mean, don't laugh too much, but... yeah.  I'm going to go make some tea and pass out in front of Adventure Time reruns now.

Pretty Serious Birthday Party Celebration and contest!

Want to help celebrate Pretty Serious' first birthday and have a chance to win some Pretty Serious polishes?  Check out the press release below.  I think you're going to like the prize.

  

PRETTY SERIOUS IS TURNING ONE!

 

Our fabulous NEW sparkling birthday polish "Daphne's Birthday Party" is now on sale and you can help us make May 14th a very special day for both us and our girl Daphne, and pick yourself up some bonuses as well! 

How can you be a part of the festivities? Easy!

Firstly, grab yourself a bottle of Daphne's Birthday Party as soon as you possibly can! You want to make sure you have yourself properly prepared in time. You can pick it up now at www.pretty-serious.com

Next, get that polish of sparkly explosion on your nails so you can grab yourself a swatch or two (a whole blog posts worth even!) If you are going to put it on your blog, you may want to get it ready before hand, but most importantly...

TRY NOT TO EXPLODE AS YOU WAIT UNTIL MAY 14TH!!!

Once it hits May 14th in your timezone, unleash upon the interwebs with all you have and wish Daphne a Happy Birthday! We want to spread the sparkly confetti far and wide on one big special day, and we don't care if you aren't a nail artist with but just a dormant instagram account to your name - join in with us!

Finally, come to our site and hit the Contact Us tab on the side of the page, or just email info@pretty-serious.com, and let us know where you put your swatch. 

Why?

We're giving everyone who joins in a 20% off discount code for their next order! But most importantly, we'll put you in the draw to win the very special prize of 
 

EVERY SINGLE POLISH WE RELEASE UNTIL DAPHNE TURNS 2!!! 
 

Trust us, that's quite a bit of polish that will start paying off rather immediately.

As we said before though, just a few general rules-

• Your swatches must be of Daphne's Birthday Party, and they must be your own. Stealing someone else's swatch of Poltergeist Puddle and putting it up on the day doesn't count. Just saying, because there's always someone... Also, the polish must have been bought by you. No buying one bottle so you and 5 close friends can enter. That's not very sporting. Group orders are okay, provided every entrant [purchases their own bottle.

• Your swatch must be viewable to all on some form of social media or website. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, your own blog - the more the merrier!

• Each person will only be entered into the draw once. We toyed with the idea of an entry per separate post, but obviously, some people have a much larger online presence than others and we wanted a fair and even playing field for everyone joining in. We hope everyone will simply get into the spirit of it all and go crazy, if possible, anyway!

• When we say "every single polish", that does not include any special one off polishes we may do for whatever reason. An example of this is The Great Below, a one of a kind polish currently up for auction for Paint It Blue. Other Limited Edition's in the vein of Emma Louise or Golden Ticket - all yours!

• The competition is open to anyone who buys a bottle of Daphne's Birthday Party. Any bloggers that we may give a promotional sample to are not eligible, but if they bought a polish like everyone else - fair game! Also, our immediate family and close friends - all ineligible.

• We'll draw the winner as soon as we can possibly organise it after the day is well and truly done. It will be drawn by a mutual third party who we have not yet decided on, and we will post a video of the drawing on our YouTube channel for all to see. Kaz is already cranky that she has to be in front of the camera, but we will do our best to prove we have an honest winner.

If anyone has any questions or is confused about anything - PLEASE ASK US! Leave a comment on our blog or Facebook wall, send an email, whatever you are comfortable with! We won't bite, and we're happy to help!

We hope you'll be a part of our incredible first birthday celebration!

There's still time to grab a bottle, so feel free to share this info on your blogs and help us make our first birthday an even bigger party!!

Daphne's Birthday Party is now available from www.pretty-serious.com for $9.95. Our Aussie made polishes are cruelty free, vegan friendly and Big 3 free. Volume is 11ml/0.37fl.oz

 

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms 22 Bronze Coral

One of my side projects has been working on swatching my stash of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms.  I swatched a good portion of my collection a while back and I thought I had posted all of my swatches. Guess not.  Found this one sitting in my drafts folder.  Huh.  Well, I'm posting it now.



Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in 22 Bronze Coral.  Tons of colors in this one.  Bronze and coral, like the name says, but also pink, gold, yellow, green, red, orange, mauve, red and a little purple.  This has a very fine but distinct type of shimmer particle in it, as you can see in the bottle in the very last picture.  It looks nearly holographic in certain types of light.  Like most of the Nail Prisms, this one was on the sheer side.  It's been so long since I took this picture that I don't remember exactly how many coats I needed, but I'm certain this is at least four. 

Even with all of the new-style duochrome/multichrome polishes that have come out lately, I still have an extreme fondness for these. They're sheer and they take a million years to dry, but there's just nothing like seeing all of those unexpected colors shifting and changing right before your eyes.