Color Club Backstage Pass Collection Fall/Winter 2011 Swatches and Review

What's that? More glitter!, you say? I think I can help with that. Have a look at Color Club's latest release: The Backstage Pass Collection. Six chunky glitters in all different shapes, sizes and colors.


Color Club Backstage Pass. This is very large silver and purple hexagon shaped glitter, plus a little bit of smaller hex and normal sized purple and silver glitter in a clear base. It's extremely thick and chunky and doesn't apply like normal glitter polish. Instead you have to dab it onto your nail and spread the glitter pieces around with the brush. Some of the glitter in this one seems curved... U-shaped... 3D. Like a taco. Those pieces tend to flake off the nail after the polish dries, even after topcoat is applied.



Color Club Fame and Fortune. This is a magenta jelly base with a random assortment of shattered holographic silver pieces. This is not normal glitter, not that flaky, crinkly mylar glitter like the old NYX Avenue polishes and not traditional 'flaky' style glitter. It is large, irregular, shattered pieces of plastic. Very, very cool looking and unique in my collection. Even if this is a pain to apply, the end result is worth it.



Color Club It's A Hit. This is just a very large purple hexagon glitter in a clear base. Some of the glitter in this has that curling/curving problem like the glitter in Backstage Pass. These large hex glitter shades are best left for layering.



Color Club Platinum Record. Large and small pewter hex glitter and small, round silver and grey glitter in a slightly smoky-tinted clear base. Again, best for layering.



Color Club Take The Stage. This is regular gold glitter and a small amount of the shattered hologram glitter that's in Fame and Fortune in a clear base. The holographic accents are cool, but not that noticeable.



Color Club Wish Upon A Rock Star. A multicolored glitter in a clear base. There's silver, red, green, gold and purple regular glitter plus some large lavender hex glitter and maybe a piece or two of silver broken hex in there as well. This one was the easiest to apply of all the shades and it's possible to wear this alone, but it's definitely easier to layer.

Here's a few of the shades layered:

Backstage Pass over white.

It's A Hit! over pink.


Platinum Record over white.

The formula on these was not good. That's normal for this type of glitter, but knowing that doesn't make it any more fun to apply. The base is thick and glue-like, while the glitter all clumps up in the bottom and sides of the bottle and on the brush stem. You have to make globs of polish on the nail and then individually place the glitter with the brush instead of brushing it on like normal glitter. I did three 'coats' (drop/push technique coats) each, except for the layered pictures which are only one coat. Drying time is good, but none of them dry flat, so multiple coats of topcoat are required.

Overall, I like the colors for the most part, but the application is dreadful. They're so chunky and gooey, it really requires patience to get a nice, even glitter distribution with these. That, and removal is a bit more rough than normal glitter, these big hex pieces really love to stick to the nail.

My picks are Fame and Fortune, Wish Upon A Rock Star and Backstage Pass. Wish Upon A Rock Star has the easiest application and all three have really interesting color mixes and effects. As sharp and poky as it is, I love that shattered plastic glitter in Fame and Fortune! Especially in the hot pink base.

(These were sent to me for review.)

China Glaze Eye Candy 3D Glitters Collection Winter 2011 Swatches and Review

This has been one glitter-heavy season for nail polish collections, hasn't it? Not that that's a bad thing, of course... You know me, never enough glitter. Anyway, this particular collection is called Eye Candy, and that it is. It's a set of six "3D" glitters (glitters which are a mix of different kinds of glitter) from China Glaze that are opaque enough to wear solo.


China Glaze Blonde Bombshell. This is a clear base with superfine light, yellowy gold microglitter, sparse gold stringy/bar glitter and small (but larger than the other particles) round yellowy gold glitter. The stringy glitter is subtle, but adds a nice touch to what is otherwise a standard gold glitter. It's really pretty and sparkly, but probably my least favorite of the set. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just that there's so many gold glitters in clear bases, it needs to stand out a little more to be interesting to me. The stringy glitter helps with that, but it's not the dominant glitter in the polish, so you hardly notice it.



China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. This is a very fine silver microglitter in a clear base with a sprinkling of small, round aqua blue glitter. Very pretty and icy looking, isn't it? It almost looks like a foil because of how fine the base glitter is. The little glints of blue are perfect. I'm sure this is named after Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but all I think of is that Styx song. That, or Lorelei of the Rhine.



China Glaze Love Marilyn. Yes, this looks a bit like OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It!, but in my opinion, it's better. This is a small, bright red glitter and a larger, but still small round silver glitter in a clear base. It lacks the large hex glitter and the magenta glitter of the OPI. China Glaze Love Marilyn is nice and opaque and looks very rich and very red on the nails. The color distribution is more even in this one, only slightly less silver than red. Definitely prefer this one.



China Glaze Marry a Millionaire. This one is a mix of small, round, light lavender glitter plus fine stringy/bar glitter in a gold/green/blue multichrome color. At some angles it looks like there's some dark purple glitter in here, too, but I'm having a hard time picking out the individual particles. The stringy glitter is dominant in this one. Very complex and interesting! And opaque enough to wear it by itself instead of being topcoat-sheer like a lot of stringy glitters tend to be.



China Glaze Material Girl. This is a light rose-pink superfine microglitter, a small/medium, round rose pink regular glitter and a larger/medium hologram hexagon glitter in a clear base. I love the glitter configuration in this- the micro, small and medium particles are well balanced and really do give a 3D effect. My only complaint is the color. It seems like almost every pink glitter in my collection, from any brand, is this color. Does pink glitter come in only one shade or something? It looks similar to Pom Pom from the Specialty Glitters collection. I like the way this looks, but I'd really like to see other shades of pink glitter.


China Glaze Some Like It Haute. Oh yes... yes they do. Man, is this one intensely gorgeous polish. I know there are two or three other similar glitters out right now, but I like this one the best out of them. It's superfine black, blue-gunmetal and charcoal microglitter and larger round holographic glitter in a clear base. It goes on so easily and the microglitter combines with the holographic glitter to give it so much depth and insane sparkle. Definitely my favorite in the collection. It's not lumpy, it doesn't bubble, and the holographic shine looks like fireworks on the dark microglitter base.


The formula on these was good. Some shades are a little on the thick side, but not like the Wet n Wild Ice Baby or Nails Inc. Specialty glitters. I had zero trouble with application. I did three coats of all, but most were almost completely opaque in two. I used one coat of topcoat, but they could probably use a second to give them a glassy, smooth finish. Dry time wasn't bad, either. My only disclaimer about the formula is to wait a minute or two in between coats so the glitter doesn't clump because of the thicker base in these.


Overall, I wish a few of the colors had more to them and that these weren't so close to other colors, but I still like them. The formula was a breeze to apply compared to a lot of the new glitters I've been swatching lately. Everything lies nice and flat and they don't need a gallon of topcoat to smooth them. If you were disappointed by the sheer glitters in the OPI Muppets collection, definitely check these out. There's a lot of sparkle and brightness to these and you don't have to worry about doing 76 coats to get them to cover. Two to three coats of glitter, and a coat or two of topcoat is all they need.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Zoya Feel Collection Winter 2011 Swatches and Review

Now this was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't expecting another collection from Zoya until spring! Right on the heels of the glittery and gorgeous Gems and Jewels holiday set comes a second winter collection from Zoya: Feel, a set of six full coverage neutral creams.


Zoya Avery. This is a neutral pale peach creme. It has a very slight yellow tone to keep it from being too pink, but it's also pink enough to keep it from looking beige. It looks like a little bottle of Zoya foundation to me; if I didn't know it was nail polish, I might try to put it on my face!



Zoya Carey. Carey is the true grey in the collection. Several of the colors have a grey base, but this one is practically pure grey. It's on the light side and in certain lights it looks quite blue. Almost looks a little purple in the bottle.



Zoya Kendal. Kendal is a very light purple with a lot of light grey. It dries much darker on me than it appears in the bottle. The bottle seems like a pure pale purple, on my nails it looks like a darker purple-grey. Very pretty either way, I like the way this one looks on my skin tone.



Zoya Kennedy. This is another one that seems to dry a very different color than it looks in the bottle. In the bottle it seems like a dusty pale pink, on my nails it looks like a foundationy peachy-pink with a slight grey tinge. This is one of those putty type colors, just a tad cleaner looking. I like this one on me too.



Zoya Kristen. This is a shape shifter! In some lights it looks like a straight pale grey with some blue tones, but in others is looks like a dusty powder blue with almost no grey. In my pictures, you can see how much it shifts with the lighting. Most of the time it looks mostly blue to me. This seems like the most unique color in the set as I can't think of another blue exactly like this.



Zoya Megan. Not to be confused with the other Zoya Megan. Anyway... This version of Megan is like a mix of Carey and Kendal. It's pale a lilac-toned like Kendal, but it has a lot of blue and grey like Carey does. It looks like a plain light grey in my pictures, but when I see it in real life it has a definite blue-purple tint to it. The purple for some reason just won't pick up on my camera... but it is mostly grey anyway.

The formula on these was not what I expected. The colors are all nice and opaque like I hoped they'd be, but the texture of the formula is quite disappointing. The formula on the recent Smoke collection cremes was amazing, but I found these to be a very different animal. They have that texture that polishes had right when brands switched to three-free: runny and gooey at the same time. You know how you'll think you had removed all the excess polish from the brush, only to have a huge drip run onto your nail from out of nowhere? These do that. They don't seem to self-level like Zoya's other colors. The most frustrating thing for me was that after I had applied the polish, it would somehow run and pool in one corner of my nail, leaving drips and bumps, like it wasn't drying fast enough. The colors were completely opaque in two coats, but because of the textural issues, I applied three coats plus a little topcoat to even them out a little more. The drying time is long on these. I don't know if I got a bad batch or what, but these don't feel like any Zoya polish I've used before.

After playing around with these a little, I have a few tips for applying that may help with the runny formula. First, apply as thin of a first coat as you possibly can. Get all of the excess polish off the brush and stem- even when I thought I had it perfect, drips still formed. After applying your very thin coat, I'd really recommend waiting a good 3-5 minutes before the next thin coat. Otherwise, you may end up with that clumping/pooling issue that I experienced. Finally, wait another 3-5 minutes after your last coat before applying your topcoat. The bristles from the topcoat brush seemed to leave grooves and scratches in the polish when I applied immediately after the final coat, but waiting a little longer should prevent that. The longer you wait between each coat, the better.

Overall, I liked the colors but not the formula. While the colors aren't sparkly or exciting, they are pretty. Every shade looked classic and flattering on me, but because they're mostly neutral toned (none lean strongly warm or cool), they'll look good on a wide range of skin tones. Each shade has either a grey or a beige base instead of a white base, so they all have a very subdued, muted, marshmallowy look instead of a bold or stark creme finish. These are good office-appropriate, everyday neutrals with a little twist. Nothing crazy or edgy here. Good opaque alternatives to some of Zoya's older, super sheer neutrals.

The release date for these is today, November 15th, on Zoya.com.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Essie Winter 2011 Collection Swatches and Review

A little set of six creamy, muted shades from Essie this winter. It actually doesn't feel like a winter collection to me. Nothing snowy, not too vampy, no pairing of red and green, no glitter. Just a few wearable, subdued shades that could really be in any season's collection.



Essie Bangle Jangle. A very soft purple-tinted grey. In some lights it looks more purple than grey, like pictured here. This is not stark or chalky, it, like the rest of the shades in the collection, is very soft and creamy, even a little muted looking.



Essie Brooch The Subject. A light creamy beige. A little bit of grey (just a drop), a little bit of pink. Not pure stark beige. Soft and creamy beige.



Essie Bobbing for Baubles. A very dark dirty blue creme. Actually, it looks more teal than pure blue on me, like a Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal type of teal. The smoky peacock kind.



Essie Cocktail Bling. This one is a blue-toned light grey creme. Not a whole lot to add to that!



Essie School of Hard Rocks. Another teal creme, but this one is lighter. My picture does it no justice, but it's also very soft and muted like the other shades in the collection. It's more pronounced on this color, but I don't think my photo conveys how soft it looks.



Essie Size Matters. A light, pink-leaning red creme. This seems so out of place with all these greyed-out, borderline pastel colors, but somehow it works. I think this collection needed a little splash of color.


The formula on these was great. Smooth and even. Bangle Jangle was a little streaky, but otherwise no problems to report. I did three coats of each. Drying time was great. Brushes were thin and even, no defects.


Nice little set of soft shades, but nothing we haven't seen before. Essie doesn't do teals all that often, so that was nice to see in here. Bangle Jangle is very pretty. Other than that, nothing exciting or brand new, so not much for me to say except that I can't wait for the Luxeffects collection to be released!


(This was sent to me for review.)

Finger Paints Merry and Bright Collection Holiday 2011 Swatches and Review

Finger Paints has done a really different type of Holiday collection this year. None of the predictable reds and greens and golds commonly seen this time of year, but instead the Merry and Bright collection contains a selection of bright colors and glitters for layering.


Comet's Collar. A light metallic yellow-toned green. This is made of medium-sized shimmer particles in a subtle mix of colors- some yellowy, some iridescent, some gold. It gives the polish a textured shimmery look with glints of iridescent color when the light hits it just right.


Drummer Boy. A light blue glitter in a clear base. This is your standard type of glitter particle- big, round, silver-based. The blue coating looks lighter or darker depending on the angle, and is very shiny in a chrome-like way, but isn't actually very sparkly.


Frosty Night. A plain silver glitter in a clear base. Like Drummer Boy, this glitter is shiny but not sparkly. It's actually rather dull looking, it doesn't come alive in the light like normal glitter. This is probably my least favorite silver glitter ever.



Santa Kisses. A red glitter in a clear base. This one isn't as shiny as the others, and it's not sparkly, either. It's colorful, but it's dull and lifeless.


Winter Sky. Under winter skies, we stand glorious.... Winter Sky is a very unexpected bright but soft blue with gorgeous electric aqua shimmer. It doesn't look like much inside, but the shimmer really comes out in sunlight.


Yule Be Merry. Another really unexpected color. Bright magenta with pink and purple flash.

Just for fun, this is what my label for this one said. I know it's not the real label because it's a sample, but it still made me smile. I love typos on polish bottles!

Since the glitters are so sheer, I thought I'd try layering to see what they look like:
This is one coat of Drummer Boy over Winter Sky. Much better layered, but still no sparkle! Just shiny metal plates.

The formula on these was somewhat hit and miss. The glitters were thick and a bit goopy, but the shimmer shades had a fairly even, albeit rather thick, formula. Winter Sky was opaque in one coat, the rest needed three. I'm wearing three plus topcoat in these pictures. Drying time is long due to the thickness of the formula.

I have to say... I'm disappointed. I liked these better in the promo pictures because they looked more sparkly and colorful. In real life, they're just... Eh. The shimmer shades are nice, but I would personally pass on the glitters. They're really sheer and they don't sparkle. I do appreciate that they decided to think outside the box and not do the stereotypical red/green/gold-themed Holiday collection, but I gotta tell you... I miss those stereotypical holiday colors! I love those velvety, vampy reds, sparkly silver and gold glitters, blackened evergreens and snowy whites. To me, this collection feels like a random assortment of colors leftover from other collections.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but none of these colors really stand out to me or draw me in. This is the first Finger Paints holiday collection I haven't liked. In my opinion, each year Finger Paints does one of the prettiest holiday collections out of all the brands (see 2010, 2009, and I haven't reviewed it, but here's 2008 for reference). This year's collection seemed to lack that holiday magic and sparkle that the Finger Paints holiday collections always have.

Anyway, these will be available starting in November exclusively at Sally Beauty.

(These were sent to me for review.)