Hits Speciallita Unconventional

Hits Speciallita is a Brazilian brand, the company responsible for those insanely awesome Mount Olympus themed holos that have been making their way across the blogosphere. I have a couple of the holos myself, but I haven't worn them yet. My first mani adventure is Unconventional, a violet to red duochrome.

I had a really hard time capturing the darkest color shift. It almost looks like a blackened red until you notice that the darkest shade is actually a deep bluish violet.

This is one seriously amazingly sexy polish. Here's the lightest shift I was able to capture, a bright, warm red.

Please forgive the bubbles. I couldn't see them at all until I was looking at these pics - macro is a harsh mistress. I'm choosing to blame the bubbles on the brush, which is pretty much the worst brush I've ever encountered. It's large and mop-like, while at the same time being oddly stiff. The brush in this one was also wonky with stray hairs poking out. I trimmed what I could, but yeah... the brush SUCKS.

The formula is a little on the thick side, which I'm pretty sure is exacerbated by the terrible brush. The pigmentation is great though - this is two coats, and I almost could have gotten away with one. It's nice to have a duochrome that doesn't need to be layered over another color - although I suppose layering this one might not be a bad idea given how small it is - only 6ml.

The sad thing (or the happy thing, depending on your point of view) is that even for the problems with the brush and the itsy little bottle, I do not regret buying this polish for a single instant. It's stunning in person, and these pictures absolutely do not do it justice. I'm considering buying a backup of this polish, wonky mop brush and all.

Unconventional is available on Llarowe.

Happy Thursday, folks. Almost the weekend! Thanks for reading. =)

Zoya Posh

I really love suede finish polishes, and Zoya Posh is probably my favorite of the bunch. Behold:

This one has a decidedly different finish than my other suedes from Zoya - more satiny, I guess. Here it is with top coat.

I did something different this time - I used my GOSH fix base coat as a base with this to see if it helped with application, and it totally did. It made Posh just glide on with none of the patching or streaking issues that suedes sometimes have. 

So I did one coat of GOSH fix, one coat of Posh, then one coat of my normal quick dry top coat, Pro-FX, then another coat of Posh. I did that to try and make it not chip so fast. I put it on yesterday, and I already have one corner of one nail that I can tell wants to chip. =\ That's the only thing I don't like about suedes - I wish they lasted as long as regular polish. Sandwiching it with top coat helps me some, but they still chip faster than normal polish.

As far as I can tell from Zoya's site, Posh is now discontinued. It was out of stock for the longest time, but now it doesn't even come up in a search at all. There are still some out there on eBay and I think on Amazon, but if you want this and you've been waiting, I'd get it sooner rather than later.

Happy Saturday, thanks for reading! ♥

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!

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! 

OPI Speak for Your-Elf!

First, my apologies for the sub-par pictures of this polish. I'm away from my lightbox, and the sun hasn't made an appearance where I am this week in several days. I did what I could with the lighting I have available to me, sorry about that!

So here we go. This is one of the OPI Ulta holiday exclusive polishes, Speak for Your-Elf! It's a cooler toned red with a glass fleck finish. Is it unique? No, not really. But I've learned my lesson with Ulta OPI exclusives the hard way, so I went ahead and picked this one up. 

This is two coats. I struggled with the application on this one a little bit, but I don't think it's so much the polish as the brush. My nails are narrow, and I always make a mess with the OPI Pro-wide brush. I know a lot of people love it, but the brush is wider than my pinky nail, so it makes it a little tough.

All in all, it really is lovely... just not terribly unique. I've read that the other OPI Ulta exclusives this year are pretty easily duped as well. I think it's kind of a shame that they're not making more of an effort to make these limited edition exclusives more unique, though I guess that my wallet is happy about that. 

So there you have it. Pretty, but do you need to run out and buy this one? If your collection has as many glass flecked reds as mine does... probably not!

Happy Monday, folks! Hope you all are staying warm and not running yourselves too ragged as the holiday season gets into full swing!

Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers

Words are failing me on this one. Ruby Red Slippers is one of the most beautiful and sexiest polishes I've ever seen. Red hex glitter along with normal red glitter in a black jelly base. I wore two coats of Ruby Red Slippers over one coat of FingerPaints Black Expressionism. 

Simply perfection.

Hope all my American readers had a great Thanksgiving, and that the rest of you are all having a great week! As always, thanks for stopping by!

China Glaze Winter Berry

I kept telling myself I didn't need another red creme. Turns out, I was wrong! =)

China Glaze's Let It Snow 2011 holiday collection features two red cremes (three if you count the vampier Velvet Bow), with Winter Berry being the one that is cooler in tone. I went back and forth about getting this one. I have a fair amount of red cremes. And honestly... I'm not even sure this is unique in my collection. But the lemming was there and it wasn't leaving, so I went ahead and bought it. And I'm so glad that I did.

Winter Berry is just perfect in every way. The formula is great - two easy coats is what's shown here. It's sort of halfway between a creme and a jelly, so it borders on that wonderful squishy quality of a jelly without any of the opacity or streaking issues that jellies sometimes have.

It's also just about the perfect shade of red for my skintone, which doesn't hurt anything either. =D So do I have a dupe in my collection for this one? Yeah, I probably do. But I love this so much that I'm not even inspired to go and check to see what I have that might be close. And when I do get around to de-duping my collection again (We all know it'll happen eventually!), I'm pretty sure this one will stay over whatever else I might have that's close to it. I just love it that much. =)

Just perfect. *sigh*

Thank you everyone for the well wishes with the bug I had earlier this week. =) I'm finally starting to feel human again, yay! 

And, as always, thank you for stopping by my little blog. =)

BB Couture Dragon's Breath

BB Couture is a brand that's not really well represented in my stash. I had gotten two of them before and ended up swapping them away, but I'm finding myself drawn to them yet again. Dragon's Breath was one that got its claws in me and wouldn't let go. It's been perpetually out of stock at Overall Beauty (one of the only sources for BB Couture), so when I saw that a friend of mine had it on her swap list, I snatched that bad boy up. So here it is!

I would say that Dragon's Breath is a sort of raspberry red jelly that is absolutely packed with micro glitter - I think the glitter is red, blue and gold, but I'm not positive on that. What I am positive about is that this is one amazing polish.

I mean... wow, right? This is three coats. It was a little streaky at two coats, but not unmanageable. But at three coats I found that it really deepened the texture of the polish, so I'd be inclined to do three coats no matter what. (You can click on these to make them bigger, just in case you didn't know!)

These micro glitters are really where BB Couture excels. They pack these tiny glitters into these jelly bases, and it's just magical how much insane shimmer and sparkle goes on in these babies.

The best source for BB Couture polishes is Overall Beauty. Kim is also starting to carry Ozotic, Glitter Gal and Cult Nails, so you might want to hide your wallet before you go and look around there. =)

That's it for me for today. As always, thanks for stopping by my little corner of the web!

China Glaze Dripping Wet

Dripping Wet is, without a doubt, the sexiest polish I own. Deep, dark, vampy red jelly. Simply perfection.

Sadly, this polish is now hard to find. I was lucky enough to receive this in a RAOK (random act of kindness) from a sweet girl in return for a kindness that I showed her. That's the kind of karma I love! =)

This is two easy coats. The formula is great, really top notch. I've worn it with three coats before as well, but it tends to look black on me at three coats, while at two it still looks red in most lights.

Just stunning, no?

I hope you all are having a good week. Thanks for stopping by! <3