BB Couture Sea of Cortez

One of my biggest lemmings was slain this Christmas by a sweet friend of mine who sent me this beauty as a gift. BB Couture Sea of Cortez is a medium blue jelly, almost leaning to teal, that is packed with that super fine glitter that BB Couture is known for. 

It seems to me like the glitter is blue and green, but at certain angles I feel like I'm seeing other colors in there too.

The formula is decent - a little on the thick side while also being rather sheer. All the BB Couture glitters that I own are this way, and they all take 3 coats for full opacity. This is a good thing though, in my opinion, because that sheerness allows the glitter to really show though and sparkle.

These aren't the world's best swatches. The sun wouldn't cooperate, and I'm away from my lightbox. I wish I'd been able to show how stunning the shimmer is a little better, but that's photographing polish in winter for you!

Hope things are going well for you all in this week between Christmas and New Years. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Butter London The Black Knight

The Black Knight was released as part of Butter London's 2011 holiday collection. It's a pretty singular polish, consisting of very, very fine blue, silver and pink glitter suspended in a black jelly base. Mine was pretty thick and required a few drops of thinner to get it to a better consistency.

I actually wasn't fond of this one the first time I wore it, but I was sick and there was the aforementioned thickness problem. I also wasn't seeing much of the pink or blue glitter, and now I think that was also because of the thickness and because I didn't shake it very well.

I'm really glad that I gave The Black Knight a second chance. It makes me feel like I have a galaxy on my nails. Simply stunning in person.

It does dry super, mega gritty, and it definitely needed some extra top coat. I used two coats of The Black Knight, and followed it with a coat of Gelous plus two coats of my usual top coat, Pro FX quick dry. Next time I wear it, I think I'll try a single coat over black to see if I can get away with using less top coat to smooth it out.

So in the end, The Black Knight took a little work for me to love it, but it was absolutely worth it. =)

Hope you all had a great holiday, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or the Winter Solstice. Hard to believe we're about to bid farewell to 2011!

Dr.'s Remedy Jolly and Joy Holiday 2011 - Swatches and Review

Dr.'s Remedy is a new-to-me brand, and I've been given the opportunity to swatch and review their holiday 2011 collection, Jolly and Joy. The collection consists of five shades; three shimmers and two glitters.

First up is REVIVE Ruby Red. I need to apologize for these less than great swatches. My bottle of REVIVE Ruby Red came with a defective brush, so I did this swatch with a brush about half the size of a normal brush. =( REVIVE Ruby Red is a lovely blackened red shimmer. I think the formula was pretty good, but I was challenged by the aforementioned defective brush.

Next up, PASSION Purple. Much better. Great brush, non-fussy formula. I like this one heaps, actually. It's a warmer toned purple shimmer. It's a little atypical for a holiday collection, but that's actually a plus in my book!

Third, we have ESSENTIAL Emerald. This baby is my hands down favorite. It's a mid toned almost grassy green with silver shimmer. Again, this is very atypical for a holiday collection. I love that this is a lighter green rather than the more typical dark greens we see at this time of year.

RESOLUTION Red Glitter is a really interesting shade to me - rose gold toned micro glitter with little glimpses of red glitter. I can't normally wear golds, but I feel like this one is actually wearable. I'm not sure I've ever seen a rose gold glitter before, so props to Dr.'s Remedy for this one. Great formula, by the way - this could almost have been a 1-coater.

And last up, SERENE Silver Glitter. This is the silver cousin of RESOLUTION Red Glitter - silver micro glitter with little glimpses of red, blue and purple glitter. I absolutely adore this one. Same formula as RESOLUTION as well - almost a 1-coater.

The brand:  Dr.'s Remedy was developed by two podiatrists who were interested in creating a healthier nail polish. The polishes are Big 3 Free, as well as being enriched with tea tree oil and garlic bulb extract. The polishes retail for $17 each and are available at www.remedynails.com.

My thoughts:  Overall, I'm really pleased with these polishes. The red and purple shimmers aren't the most unique snowflakes, but I really like the green and the two glitters. The formula is uniformly good across all of the polishes, full coverage in two coats, with the glitters almost being full coverage in one coat. That being said, I think the $17 price point is a little high. I usually will only spend that much on unique polishes that really dazzle me, like the Lippmann glitters. These Dr.'s Remedy polishes are very, very nice; they're just not $17 worth of nice to me personally.

I understand that Dr.'s Remedy does offer promotions from time to time, so don't forget to follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook. 

'Til next time! Happy Holidays, y'all!

** Products in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer and/or PR firm

for my honest review. You can read my disclosure policy here. **

Ozotic 518 + Zoya Blair

A couple of months ago, my sweet friend Nola suggested that I try layering my Ozotic holos over other colors, especially darker shimmers, to create different shades. I wanted to wear 518, but I wanted the color to be just a bit deeper, so I decided to follow her advice.

This is what 518 normally looks like. It's a stunning and very sexy BRIGHT red holo.

And here's how 518 looks layered over Zoya Blair, a gorgeous blackened red.

This honestly took my breath away. I feel like I've never seen anything quite so beautiful. It would never have occurred to me to layer them this way if Nola hadn't suggested it, so I thought I'd pass the idea along. 

Hope y'all aren't too overwhelmed getting ready for Christmas. I can't believe how close it is!

GOSH Holographic

Today I have a very special polish to show you, GOSH Holographic. This is a hard to find and discontinued shade that recently found its way to me by way of one of my polish buddies. I really do have the greatest and most generous friends. =D

Here we are. GOSH Holographic in the shade.

GOSH Holographic in my lightbox. This is pretty much how it looks everywhere in my house. The rainbows aren't quite as pronounced, but they're there. This makes me a happy girl. 

Add sunlight to the equation, and it's magic.

I mean... yeah. I really have no words.

The formula on this one is notorious for being horrific, so my buddy also sent me a bottle of the GOSH Fix base coat. This is two coats of Holographic over one coat of GOSH Fix. It really helped the application, and I plan to use it with all of my finicky holos.

And here are a few more bonus shots that I took in my kitchen this morning.

*sigh* Perfection.

Blue Cross Snowman Polish - Green Foil

Technically, this poor little guy doesn't have a name. But he's full of yummy foily green goodness!

Each year at Christmas, Blue Cross puts out these adorable little guys. To my knowledge, they're only sold at Rite Aid, Meijer and Fred Meyer. The colors seem to vary a bit from year to year, and one of the polishes in this year's collection is this stunning green foil.

I was really almost struck speechless when I put this on. This little $1.99 treasure is incredible. The formula is great; in fact, it was really a joy to apply. What you see here is two coats.

And the color... I mean... wow. WOW!

I wish now that I hadn't been quite so conservative when I found these this year. I really should have gotten more of them. I also wish that Blue Cross would make more polishes and have them out year round - and I wish they'd sell these little guys in more places. I am moving to a Rite Aid-free zone soon (with no Meijer or Fred Meyer either), so it's gonna be bit more challenging to get my hands on more of these next Christmas. Blue Cross, are you listening?!

I hope you guys are having a good holiday season. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Barielle Elle's Spell

I actually managed to put on a red polish this time! Can you guys believe it?! =D

Elle's Spell was originally released as part of Barielle's 2010 Holiday Hustle collection. Elle's Spell is multi-colored flakies in a red jelly base. The base is relatively sheer, so I layered it over a deep red shimmer, Zoya Blair. What you see here is two coats of Elle's Spell over one coat of Blair.

The formula is great, and it doesn't get much prettier than this. It feels so incredibly festive!

I understand that Elle's Spell can reach opacity on its own with about 3-4 coats. I just wanted to see what it would look like over a red shimmer, and I wasn't disappointed.

I've also seen pictures over it layered over black and dark purples that were drool worthy. I'll probably try it over Orly Wild Wisteria next time I wear it. 

I'm seriously considering making this my Christmas mani this year. I was planning on something like China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses, but I'm torn since wearing this one!

Barielle polishes are available at Barielle's website, as well as Transdesign, which ships internationally. Some shades were being sold at Ulta for a while, but my Ulta doesn't have them anymore. =\

Happy Friday, folks! 

Barry M Blue Glitter

Ok, I swear that I intended to do a red mani. I swear! It's getting so close to Christmas, and I really felt like doing something to try to get into the spirit. I have bottles of Barry M Blue Glitter and Red Glitter right next to each other. I went to pull out Red Glitter, but I didn't know what the coverage was like or what to use as underwear. I was still wearing Sally Hansen Chrome Turquoise, so I decided to try Blue Glitter over that to see how the glitter would build. Well. Before I knew it, I was putting that on instead of red! But I think you'll forgive me when you see what Blue Glitter looks like.

This is two coats over my previous mani. O.O

I mean... seriously. O.O

Fantastic formula. I didn't have to do cleanup at all. I have no idea how many coats this would take to be opaque on its own, but if layering it over another polish looks like this... who cares? ^.~

I used two coats of top coat to smooth out the grittiness. I am just astonished by how amazing this is. I must use my red one soon!

Where to find: Barry M is a brand based in the UK, but I believe they ship worldwide. They definitely ship to the US, as I've ordered from them before. A few months ago one of my friends ran into some problems ordering from their site - it took forever to ship and I believe a broken bottle was involved when it did arrive. That said, I've not had problems when I've ordered from them, so maybe it was a one off problem. But I just thought it was right to share that information. I believe there are also some eBay sellers that handle Barry M. I have about eight of them in my collection now, and I really love them.

Hope the countdown to the holidays is going well for you all, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Sally Hansen Chrome Turquoise

Today I have a vintage polish to show you, Sally Hansen Chrome Turquoise. From what I've been able to glean, it seems like the Chromes were released in the late '90s/early 2000s. I was lucky enough to receive this one in a very generous swap. 

This polish is unbelievable. The formula is outstanding. I did two coats only because I'm a habitual two-coater, but the first coat looked just like this - perfect coverage with no streaks or dragging or anything.

The most incredible thing to me about this polish is how smooth it is. Usually these metallic finishes are full of brush strokes and are very difficult to get smooth. But not this one. The application was completely effortless.

It is quite beyond me why companies stop making polishes like these - and that goes for the Sally Hansen Prisms line as well. They're highly sought after, and I have to believe that even people who aren't into polish as heavily as we are would still buy them. 

The good news is that even though these are discontinued, there must be a hidden Indiana Jones warehouse with old polishes in it, because these do show up really regularly on eBay. They're mostly even reasonably priced, though some shades go for higher amounts than others, of course.

So there you have it, shiny metallic blue perfection. 

Thanks for looking!