Nubar Blue Hydrangea

I don't have a ton of Nubars, and sometimes I'm not sure why that is. They have great colors, I like the brush, the formula has been good on the ones I've tried. I guess other things have taken priority over my amassing a giant collection of Nubar. But! When I saw this one, which is part of Nubar's spring 2011 collection, I knew I had to have it.

This is one of my favorite light blues. I hesitate to call it a pastel because even though it is light, it also has a brightness to it that makes me think of summer skies. I guess it's halfway between pastel blue and sky blue.

The color isn't the only thing I struggle to describe. You can't really see it in these pics because I really couldn't capture it no matter how hard I tried, but the finish is like a frost... only without the gross frost brush strokes. There's shimmer going on here, but not shimmer as I normally think of it. The finish almost reminds me of a pearl - shimmery, but completely smooth.

The formula is buttery perfection. No dragging or bald spots or other miscellany that makes light blues such a nightmare normally. If you like light blues at all, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It's just lovely!

FingerPaints Artist's Sapphire - AKA Why My Husband is Awesome

Today I have for you FingerPaints Artist's Sapphire, a deep, shimmery blue with that "lit from within" quality so many of us love so much.

This is one of 13 shades that are on clearance right now at Sally's for $1.99, as I mentioned in this post a few weeks ago. I had never noticed it in the core display before. It's funny how sometimes these gems are right under our noses for a while before we see them.

This polish really doesn't look that remarkable in the bottle either. This is the part about why my husband is awesome. Well... he is awesome for many, many reasons, but the one that's germane to this post is that he has this knack for picking out polish for me. The day I was in Sally's and saw this, I picked it up and put it back down. The exchange that followed went like this:

Him:  You don't want that? It's only $1.99.

Me:  Nah. I have lots of dark blues. Pretty sure it's close to something I have. 

Him:  I don't think it is. It's only $1.99, you should totally get it.

Me:  Nah. Look how dark it is. It's just gonna look black.

Him:  I don't think so. You really should get it. I think you'll be surprised.

Me:  Hmm, okay. I guess since it's only $1.99....

Did I also mention he's persistent when he has this feeling about a polish?? =) He's never wrong about this stuff. Never. It's uncanny, and I love it. That's why he's my favorite polish shopping partner. The closest thing I have to this is OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue, which is... not very close at all, as it turns out!

 

I left the big old red LAST CHANCE sticker on there so you know that time is running out to pick this up if you want it. It's really so amazing, and my experience is that once FingerPaints polishes are gone, they are well and truly gone. I think it's because of the limited distribution through Sally's, so there just aren't as many sources for them to start out with. It's a challenge even trying to swap for these once they're gone.

And lastly, here's a pic of it in full sun. Ah-maze-ing!

Thanks for stopping by, as always! And to my DH - thanks again, honey! You were totally right! =D

Borghese Capriccio Blue

This is such a lovely, serene shade, very reminiscent of the color of Wedgwood.

I actually don't have much to say about this one, other than that I love it. =) Great formula, two easy coats. It has that squishy quality of these almost jellies we've been seeing lately.

I wish I could think of more to say because I'm usually so long winded, but I guess sometimes the colors really can speak for themselves.

Just lovely!

Colour Alike 445

This beauty was my NOTN for all of about two hours before I dinged it up beyond repair. *sigh* Then I tried to fix just the messed up fingers and dripped acetone around and generally made a mess. Still! It's a beauty, and I got pics before I messed it all up, so here it is! Colour Alike 445 is an absolutely luscious deep teal with subtle shimmer.

The shimmer actually doesn't die on the nail, but it's not super obvious either. The color is so deep and rich, and the shimmer adds even more depth to that. Outside in the sunlight, it really does come alive, but it's beautiful indoors too.

The formula on this one is great, though a little thick. I added a few drops of thinner and it flowed much better for me. I think I could have gotten away with one coat, but I did two because that's how I roll.

And these were taken with flash to bring out the shimmer.

Hope you all are doing well, and hi to the new people! Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little blog! =D

Nfu Oh GS14

Nfu Oh makes the most crazy amazing polishes, and GS14 is no exception. It's a thicker black jelly that is absolutely PACKED with holographic glitter. I had to take these photos outside because my lightbox simply couldn't capture it. And even being out in full sun, these pics don't do it justice.

Wow, right? I squeed when I took it out of the package.

I did some experimenting before I did the full mani, and it was nice and opaque in two coats. I ended up doing one coat over one coat of Rimmel Black Satin for this mani - I found that it didn't get quite so gritty that way, plus it conserves the awesomeness of the Nfu Oh. =)

I finished it off with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Pro-FX. It's completely smooth, not gritty at all. I love it!

Hope you're having a good Sunday. True Blood premier tonight, wooot!

Orly Frisky + Comparisons

When I first saw the promotional bottle pics of Orly's Happy Go Lucky collection, I immediately got that telltale tingle of a lemming being born.

The blue shade practically screamed that it had to come and live with me. I was also interested in the green and the purple, but the blue... the blue! I was a bit concerned, though, that this would turn out to be too close to other sort of medium turquoise blue/aquas that I own, so I knew that I had to see this one in person before blindly purchasing it. I popped into Sally's yesterday to find a full display of these. Yay, I could compare the bottle to other similar shades! I compared it to China Glaze For Audrey and Orly Gumdrop, and it was more blue than either of those, so home with me it came!

Ooh, ahh. It's so pretty! It practically screams summer to me. I was still worried about duplicates in my stash though, so I pulled out some the most likely candidates.

Once I had them lined up like this, I could tell that none of them were actually that close. But bottle appearances can be deceiving, so I swatched them all next to each other.

Now. If you don't have the same kind of crazy that I do, you might not need this color. But for me, the fact that it's more blue and brighter than any of its cousins that I own means that I am a very happy camper right now. =)

The formula is what I've come to expect from Orly. It's the right consistency, neither too thin nor too thick, and gives full coverage in two easy and cooperative coats.

What can I say? I love it! =D

I hope you found this post helpful and, as always, thanks for stopping by!

Trying to De-Dupe My Stash - A Bunch of Comparisons

I've been working on my stash a bit lately, getting rid of the things I'll never wear again, and my project tonight was to actually swatch some of the polishes I have that look so close to each other in the bottle. I found doing this really, really helpful, and I hope it helps you guys out too! =)

China Glaze Tree Hugger vs. China Glaze Entourage

My verdict:  They are close... very close. Tree Hugger has more straight out shimmer, while Entourage is more of a glass fleck. Entourage also has a little less yellow, so it's more flattering on me. It gets to stay.

CND Eclectic Purple vs. Zoya Kieko

My verdict:  I really struggled with this one trying to convince myself they're different enough to keep both. They're not. The CND stays.

OPI Jade is the New Black vs. Ulta The Jungle Look

My verdict:  These might as well be the same polish in different bottles. I'm leaning towards keeping the OPI, but I really do like Ulta's brushes more. I dunno. One is definitely going though.

OPI Malaga Wine vs. Zoya Stacy

My verdict:  I thought these were much closer than they actually are. They both get to stay.

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise vs. Sinful Rise & Shine

My verdict:  I've seen a lot of people call these dupes, but in real life, they're actually not dead on dupes. The China Glaze is brighter with more shimmer. Having said that, though, they are too similar to keep both. Turned up Turquoise stays.

Orly Sapphire Silk vs. American Apparel Peacock

My verdict:  These are closer than I thought. Peacock is a little more vibrant, plus it's a one coat wonder, which makes it better for layering. It's hard to part with the Orly because I really love Orlys so much, but I really think Peacock is staying and Sapphire Silk is going.

OPI Yoga-ta Get this Blue vs. FingerPaints Artist's Sapphire

My verdict:  Much more different than I thought. They both get to stay. I'm sure they're thrilled. ^.^

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic vs. Essie Dive Bar

My verdict:  I saved this one for last specifically to show how deceptive the bottle color can be. In the bottles, these look completely identical. They even both have the purple flash in the bottle that doesn't translate to the nail. But as you can see in the comparison, they are really not that close. Rodeo Fanatic stays for sure. I'm on the fence about Dive Bar. I think it's a smidgen too dark.

Nic's Sticks Rainbow's End

Nic's Sticks are nail polish pens made by Nicole by OPI. I pretty much always ignore them because the brush is terrible, there's not a lot of polish in the pen for the price, and the colors are normally pretty snooze worthy. Then a couple of months ago, two Nic's Sticks started appearing in closeout stores and clearance bins that were actually linear holos - a gold one called Rainbow's End and a silver one called Silver-ella. A few people on MUA ended up finding these at Tuesday Morning and Marshall's. I was out running errands over the weekend and went into Tuesday Morning. These kinds of searches are usually fruitless for me, but I emerged victorious with these!

Yes, three of them... because it takes three of these to equal one normal bottle of polish. My friend Love8Brain over at MUA had typed up a tutorial on how to take these apart to decant them into a normal bottle of polish, so that's what I did. These three silly sticks turned into this:

I put this one for the first time late this afternoon, and I'm absolutely dazzled. It is noticeably holographic even in indoor lighting. I know it would really come to life out in the sun, but it was rainy and overcast all day today. I've done what I could to capture it using a direct light source indoors, and I'm very happy with the way these pictures came out.

Rainbows!

Raaaaaaaaaaainbooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwws!

Seriously, this is amazing. And the formula is fan-freaking-tastic. Holos are notorious for having hideous formulas, but this one is great. I used my normal base coat, Pro-FX epoxy. Two easy coats, completely non-fussy formula. I love this.

I really want Silver-ella now too. I haven't given up the hunt! Perhaps I shall get lucky!

Happy Friday! =)