Sunday, June 3, 2012

more China Glaze swatch spam

Good afternoon and welcome to yet another swatch spam post from yours truly!
I'm making my way through swatching and posting all of my polishes and these swatch spam posts really help me get it all done!
For some reason I really like doing swatch spam. I hope you guys don't mind it either!

Today's spam is China Glaze. Some blues, some crackles, some sheers, and a brown. Nice and random.
One or two of these swatches were done at different times so some are older and crappier but hey, they'll do.


China Glaze - Blue Sparrow (Neon)
Blue Sparrow is not exactly neon as the name says, but it's really vibrant and fun to wear! It's full of blue glitter, and dries a bit matte like most neon pigments do. This is 2 coats. Love it!


China Glaze - Dorothy Who?
This is a stunner that I think everyone should have in their collection! Two coats of lovely blue jelly packed with glitter.


China Glaze - Frostbite
This is an intensely vibrant blue shimmer that's almost metallic but not quite. This was one of the first CGs I bought because it really stands out in the big display at Sally's!


China Glaze - Cracked Concrete (Shown over Essence - Walk On Air.)
This is the slate gray crackle from CG, shown in the first photo with topcoat and the second photo without. It dries matte, as usual. Works pretty well! I don't think I've actually worn this one, I can't seem to think of a color it would look fantastic over. Undecided.


China Glaze - Lightning Bolt (Shown over Essence - Gleam In Blue)
Ah, Lightning Bolt. Somehow I got it to mostly work for this swatch!
The last time I tried to use it, it did not work at all. See here for that fail.  I am holding a grudge against this polish because of that fail. And now I have a white crackle that works amazingly, the one by Color Club. I hate this one so much that in fact I might even dump it out and use it for a franken bottle. Take that!!


China Glaze - Haute Metal (Shown over OPI - Paint My Moji-toes Red)
Sally Beauty put their crackles on clearance a month or two ago, and I picked up two of them. It was a useless purchase really because I don't think I'll be using them very often. Oh well, they were $3. 
This is the pink crackle from the Crackle Metals.
It worked pretty well, and I bet it would look nice over black. I like this one more than the next.


China Glaze - Latticed Lilac (Shown over OPI - Vampsterdam)
This is the purple Crackle Metal which really isn't very purple at all. It's basically silver. And as you can see, it didn't even crackle on two of my nails. I think I needed to shake it some more - it's like the pigment drops and you're left with basically clear polish in the top of the bottle. So it's sheer and weird. Meh.


China Glaze - Below Deck
A "purple-taupe" creme polish that covers in 2 coats. Sometimes I like this color and sometimes I don't. The formula is nice and it's always good to have neutrals.


China Glaze - Rainbow
This polish is certainly not a rainbow. It's a super sheer shimmer. The polish is a milky white in the bottle and gives just a hint of white on the nail, with a lot of pink shimmer. I've shown 3 coats here so I could capture it better in a photo, but if you're going for just the sheer look of this polish you could wear one coat. My mom wears one coat of this on her nails almost all the time. She likes the pink shimmer without really being able to tell she has polish on. (She likes to pick at polish if she can see it. She's bad.)


You can also layer this over other colors to give them a wash of pink shimmer, but you also add a milky look. Not my fave. (Shown here over Below Deck.)


China Glaze - White Cap
This is another sheer, totally packed with gold shimmer. I've shown it here at 3 coats, which is kind of a weird look. I don't love it on its own. But it looks really cool layered!


Shown over Essence - You Belong To Me. It adds a nice golden shimmer. I bought this after seeing a manicure with it on another blog that I wanted to recreate... But I've totally forgotten where or what.

WAIT! I remembered. It was here on Colores de Carol! Damn, I love that mani.

There we go - another 10 polishes posted. I've only got what, 400 more to go? Ha!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

super random OPI swatch spam

Hey everyone! I've got some big, random OPI spam for your viewing pleasure today!
The last time I was doing a swatch marathon I hauled out my OPI drawer and swatched pretty much everything inside it that I hadn't already done.

There's some super old stuff, some Touring America polishes, a shatter, a Christmas polish... All thrown together. Enjoy!

Friday, June 1, 2012

1/2 of the OPI Holland Collection

Hey everyone! I'm gonna hit you with a few more swatch spam posts in the upcoming days because my swatch folder is just overflowing!

When the Holland Collection from OPI was first announced, I was so in love with all of the colors. But then when they came out, I decided I didn't really need any of them. So I didn't buy any!
...But then I found a bunch on sale for $2 and I ended up with six.
(A lot of you have been asking me where I find OPI on clearance for so cheap - they were at a local drugstore called Lawtons which I think is only in Atlantic Canada. It was only one location and I have no idea why they were so cheap. Some were old stock and some were new. They have the Hollands for full price again there now. So weird.)


I'm happy I picked these up, they are such pretty colors! Let's get to the swatches.


OPI - I Don't Give A Rotterdam!
Pretty shimmery blue, needs three coats for the best color payoff. I just love the large, almost-speckled shimmer of this type of polish.


OPI - I Have A Herring Problem
I've shown you this polish already in this manicure. Another shimmering blue but a slightly different shade than the previous one. If you look at the bottle shot at the beginning of the post you can see the difference in the colors better.
They are super similar so you don't really need both, unless you're a sucker for the shimmer like me! (And if they are $2 each you can totally justify it, too.)


OPI - Kiss Me On My Tulips
A nice, bright pink creme! Nice formula, 2 coats. Not an original color but pretty nonetheless.


OPI - Vampsterdam
Okay, I regret buying this one a little. It's much streakier than I anticipated and I just don't like it. 3 coats.


OPI - Pedal Faster Suzi!
Gorgeous shimmery pink! I adore this one. It covers nicely in just 2 coats, but you can also wear it at just one coat for a sheer shimmery look, which my mom loves!


OPI - Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?
Yes, yes I do. And I love purple. 2 coats of loveliness.
I had a request to compare this one with another polish I posted about recently:


OPI - Dutch Ya Just Love OPI / Sephora by OPI - Hell To The No
I couldn't get a great picture of the difference in these two on a wheel so I'm just gonna show you the bottles. The Sephora polish is a more vibrant purple and the shimmer is more golden compared to the bronze shimmer in Dutch Ya.
I prefer the Sephora but the OPI is nice too, of course.

What do you guys think of these colors? Did you pick up any of the Holland Collection?