Essie DJ Play That Song Neon Collection Summer 2013 Swatches and Review

Essie always does really pretty neons and this year's neon collection is no exception.  It's a little different this time around- they're jelly neons, not opaque cremes and they're not quite as fluorescent-bright as usual, but that's not a bad thing.  They look like candy!

Essie Neon Collection 2013 

(press samples)

 Essie Boom Boom Room.

Pale yet vibrant baby pink creme.  This is a true opaque creme, not a jelly. I wonder if the Boom Boom Room is on top of Boom Boom Mountain?

 Essie Bottle Service. 

Bright neon fuchsia jelly. Super saturated and glowy. 

 Essie Bouncer, It's Me!

Vibrant blue jelly-creme.  Stunning.  Dries darker than bottle color.

Essie DJ Play That Song.

Neon plum jelly-creme. 

Essie Saturday Disco Fever. 

Blazing bright dark neon orange jelly. 

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker.

I don't know if I'd call this one neon, but it is bright.  Grassy, yellow-toned green jelly.  The most sheer color in the collection.  Makes me think of lime Jell-O!

The formula on these was lovely.  On the thicker side, but not gooey-thick. Just smooth, slower-flowing thick.  Since these are jelly-finish polishes, they're sheer and need three coats for evenness and opacity.  I still have some visible nail line at three coats.  Four coats made these nearly entirely opaque, but I preferred the more translucent look of three coats.

If you prefer a more opaque look, Essie recommends layering these neons over white.  Layering over white can also brighten the color, but I'm just not a fan of this technique. 

Essie Blanc.

Bright white creme.  Three-coater.  

Two coats of neon over three coats of Blanc.

 

 I think this looks sloppy and doesn't actually save any time unless you can manage to apply them completely evenly with only one coat each.  Blanc is rather streaky and needs three coats to look even, so that's three coats of polish right there.  Then the neons also look streaky applied over bright white, and that's another two to three coats.  Five to six coats of polish, not even counting base coat or topcoat, and they still don't look as good as just applying the polish alone. 

   

I love these.  All of them.  They're bright and beautiful and the jelly finish makes them extra pretty.  The downside is that they're pretty sheer, but they dry fast enough that it makes up for it.  I wouldn't bother with the white layering thing, though. It's an extra time-consuming step and, if you ask me, completely unnecessary.  

These are available now on essie.com!

(Collection was provided for review.)

OPI Soft Shades inspired by Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful Spring 2013 Swatches and Review

  

OPI's Soft Shades collection for 2013 (sent for review) is a set of three sheers, three glitters and one new Liquid Sand shade, all inspired by Disney's Oz The Great And Powerful.  I don't plan on seeing the film since the original one still terrifies me, but the polishes are pretty much the opposite of traumatizing and nightmare-inducing. 

What?  Come on.  Don't try to tell me that the Wizard of Oz isn't scary.  It is.  ANYWAY.  Soft Shades.

OPI Don't Burst My Bubble.  Sheer off-white.  Has a clean look as if it has a touch of blue or violet in the base rather than a yellowed/antique look.  This was a little streakier than the other two sheers but nothing terrible.

OPI Glints of Glinda.  A sheer, mostly neutral beige creme.  It's nice and sandy looking, not too strongly brown, too yellowy, or too pink, and light but not chalky or excessively white-ish.  Very easy to wear.

OPI I Theodora You.  A light, neutral, sheer pink creme.  More pink than white, but also has enough warmth in it to seem almost peach-colored in certain lights.  Very nice glossy-thick finish to this one, almost a creamy/milky jelly finish.

OPI Liquid Sand polish in What Wizardry Is This?  This has a warm, dirty olive green shimmer base with glints of gold, bronze, brown, red and even a few flecks of blue.  It dries to a sandpaper-like finish that's semi-matte.  I let this one dry for an hour before taking the picture and it still has a bit of shine to it, but I've heard from many people that their Liquid Sand polishes turn completely matte after drying.

OPI Liquid Sand polish in What Wizardry Is This? with topcoat.  I prefer it this way as the topcoat makes the multicolor particles stand out and sparkle instead of just looking textured.  It needs at least two coats of topcoat to smooth out the sandy texture.

OPI Lights of Emerald City (over OPI Don't Burst My Bubble).  A clear base (with slight blue-ish tinge) with medium square opalescent mylar glitter and large pearlized white glitter squares. I love the idea of this glitter but not so much the execution.  The clear base is very thick and gooey and the glitter is very sparse which makes it difficult to apply.  You end up with thick, globby nails and barely any glitter.  I'm going to thin this and see if it applies any easier, but I still think it could use just a touch more glitter in the base so more ends up on the nail.

OPI When Monkeys Fly! (over OPI Glints of Glinda).  A clear base with small, roung hologram glitter, medium hexagon silver and hologram glitter and giant gold chrome hexagon glitter.  Glitters this large tend to do that taco-curl thing, but these stayed surprisingly flat on my nail.  It is a bit odd-looking because there's less of the giant glitter than the other colors, but still pretty cool for layering.  OPI recommends a gradient glitter tip look with this combination:

OPI Which is Witch (over OPI I Theodora You.)  A clear base with silver hologram microglitter, medium silver and hologram hexagon glitter and tiny hologram bar glitter.  This looks way more delicate on the nail than I thought it would from looking at it in the bottle.  That's a good thing.  It's the perfect bar-hex holo combo for layering because the pieces are so small and fine.  It won't clump up or cover your base color in weird ways like larger hex and bar glitters usually do.

The formula on the cremes was good, and the glitters were smooth but thick.  The sheer cremes have a thicker texture than last year's Ballet soft shades and were a little streakier for me, but maintain that same self-levelling super-glossy quality that I liked about the others.  I didn't have trouble with any shade except Lights of Emerald City, which was thick and goopy.  Dry time on these is very fast.

Pretty and delicate with a touch a glitter.  Good for Spring or for office wear.  I personally preferred the milky jelly look of the NYC Ballet Soft Shades (especially as a glitter sandwich), but these are still flattering and natural.  They're neutral enough to be worn by a wide range of skin tones and they didn't give me a problem with streaking. 

The Liquid Sand finish still doesn't have my heart, but I love What Wizardry Is This? with topcoat.  Also: awesome name.  I have to recite it all dramatically every time I say it. What wizardry is THIS??

This collection is available now!

(This was sent for review.)

Picture Polish Blog Fest - Attitude and White Wedding Swatches and Review

It's that time of year again- time for Picture Polish Blog Fest! And I have two of Picture Polish's new colors to contribute to the blog swatch fest: Attitude and White Wedding.

Picture Polish Attitude - Picture Polish White Wedding

Picture Polish Attitude. Created for Kim at Overall Beauty. A dark blue-toned purple shimmer base with large, sparse, chunky holographic particles. They look like shards of shattered metal and they shine with rainbow colors in the light. Unlike holographic glitter, these particles are completely flat and the polish dries perfectly smooth. In low light, the polish looks like a velvety night sky with small, sparkling stars flickering here and there. In sunlight, the polish explodes with purple shimmer and rainbow fire. Great contrast between light and dark in this polish.



Picture Polish White Wedding. Created for Leah Ann at llarowe. A bright, clean, slightly blue-tinged, semi-jelly white creme base with tiny iridescent pastel rainbow sparkles. The sparkles in this are absolutely gorgeous. They're fine and delicate but still a fairly noticeable size. Smaller than the hologram flecks in Attitude but large enough to look distinct. Every color of the rainbow is visible in here in every light. The sparkling colors look so beautiful against the clean white base, like a pristine patch of freshly fallen snow. Even if the color wasn't so incredibly pretty, I'd still love this polish just for the name. Billy Idol = <3

The formula on each of these was different. Attitude was thin, smooth and extremely easy to apply. The only problem I had with it was some bubbling which could have been avoided if I waited longer between coats. White Wedding was a bit of a problem for me because of its thickness. It's one of those formulas that seems a little gooey and stretchy when you apply it, leaving thick ridges that pool and bulge out at the edges of the nail. The only way I could apply it evenly was to do extremely thin coats, wiping all the excess polish off the brush and as much as I could off my nail, and then wait a minimum of 6 minutes between each new coat. I did three coats of Attitude, four coats of White Wedding. Dry time is average on Attitude and long on White Wedding.

I think both these colors are amazing, and they couldn't have been made for two nicer people. Kim and Leah Ann are both extremely sweet, kind, reliable, and absolutely dedicated to customer service. Everyone did such a good job on these colors. They're unique and beautiful. My only complaint is that the formula on White Wedding could thinner and smoother.

Picture Polish is available at many online shops worldwide, so please check the Picture Polish Network page to find a seller near you.

(This was sent for review.)

Rescue Beauty Lounge GOMM Collection 2012 Swatches and Review

The new GOMM* collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge is a set of seven shades inspired by the life and works of an American artist.

(*Edit:  Due to copyright issues, the names of the polishes have changed.  For more information, see here.)

Rescue Beauty Lounge GOMM*

Rescue Beauty Lounge Abi*. Abi is a light, yellow-toned green with very subtle yellowed silver shimmer. Some of the shimmer is darker and more green, but most of it is a very light metallic greenish-yellow. This shade has a very faded, weathered look to it that does make me think of cactus and dried grasses in New Mexico.


Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella*. Bella is a soft, clean white. It's the only one in the collection that has no shimmer at all. Instead, it has a creamy, soft-looking, translucent jelly finish. I found this color to be too streaky to wear alone with only one coat, but it was perfectly even at three, which is what I'm wearing here.


Rescue Beauty Lounge Faraway*. This is a light turquoise with bright blue-green shimmer. The shimmer is small, subtle and is not immediately noticeable. In dim light, it adds a green cast to the polish, but in brighter light you can see that it's bright and green against the turquoise base. Makes me think of what Pure Ice Heartbreaker would be like with an opaque creme base. The shimmer in this is smaller, but the colors are similar in both.


Rescue Beauty Lounge Ghost*. Ghost is a medium bronze shimmer. It looks quite dark here, but it is a bit lighter in real life. The base of the color looks like a neutral medium brown, but it's filled with iridescent metallic shimmer that adds warmth and multicolored sparkle to the polish. When the light hits this just right, the fine shimmer particles flash a rainbow of colors.


Rescue Beauty Lounge Jack*. This one is a dark and strongly blue-toned green with subtle teal and aqua shimmer. In indoor light, the very fine shimmer appears as a reflective blue haze across the surface of the polish. It only begins to look sparkly or shimmery in bright, direct light.



Rescue Beauty Lounge Poppy*. Poppy is a warm, bright poppy red with subtle pink-red-orange duochrome glass fleck shimmer. The shimmer in this is different than the usual Rescue Beauty Lounge ultrafine shimmer. It's shiny, crisp and reflective, much like glass fleck shimmer, but with a smaller particle size. The bright red-orange base is ever so slightly sheer which, in conjunction with the lighter shimmer, gives the polish extra depth that the others don't have. The shimmer in this is very subtle, though, and only really makes itself known in bright light.



Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe*. Santa Fe is a light, yellow-toned orange base with subtle green-teal-gold duochrome shimmer. I have to say, this one is definitely my favorite. The combination of soft, faded orange with the glow of the green-gold color-shifting shimmer is so gorgeous. The shimmer in this is a little heavier than in the rest of the shades, so it is actually visible in any light. Bright light or sunlight only amplifies the green glow in this polish.


The formula on these was varied, but generally good. Bella was the oddball since it's a jelly. It wasn't thick or gooey, but needed three coats to look even due to the sheerness and slight streaking on the first coat. Poppy and Faraway had the nicest texture, thinner and smoother flowing than all the others. The rest were a little thicker and didn't flow quite as evenly, but were still very nice to apply. All but Bella were completely opaque in two coats. Dry time is average. All are shown with a coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge topcoat.


I'll admit, I'm no expert on G*, not by a longshot. I only know a little about her life and her backstory, but I have seen a lot of her work. I think this collection really captures those G* colors. What do you think?

The Rescue Beauty Lounge GOMM* collection goes on sale in July and there will be a pre-order in June, but I don't know the exact dates for either.

(This was sent for review.)