Comparison Thursday: Purple Holos

This week's comparison features purple holographics.  This by no means my full purple holo collection, but I tried to pick a few that I thought would be close in shade.  As you can see, in the bottles they are much closer than on the nail.  None of these are exact duplicates.

Purchased or Made by Me

Lilypad Lacquer Almost Famous, Enchanted Awesomeness, Color Club Eternal Beauty, and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Fare the Wind

Almost Famous

Almost famous is the darkest polish in this grouping.  It's got a lovely strong pink/fuchsia flash along with the linear holo.  I'd rank AF third in holo for this grouping.  Application was super easy with the LPL wide brush, and I needed only minimal cleanup.  Luckily, the purple doesn't stain, either, so that's very helpful.  I wore this in two coats with one coat of topcoat.  Dry time was average.  Someone at some point had said that AF was a dupe of EP's Awesomeness, but as you can see, they AF is much darker and has that gorgeous flash.  AF is still available to purchase.

Awesomeness

I can't really speak to the application for this one, unfortunately, because I received it in a decant swap and those little brushes are the devil.  It's a lovely bright purple linear holographic that leans every so slightly towards the blue spectrum of purple.  It's the least holographic of the bunch and looks almost slightly scattered in some photos.  It's the second darkest of the grouping.  I used three coats and one coat of topcoat, which gave it average dry time.  Awesomeness, unfortunately, has long been discontinued, and it goes for super high prices on the secondary market.  However, you may be able to find some generous soul to swap you a decant!

Eternal Beauty

Eternal Beauty is the most holo and lightest of this grouping.  It's also a tad more difficult to apply as it's thin, a bit runny, and has a tendency to bald if you go back over the wet bits.  I wouldn't say that the application is as bad as Layla or Nuf Oh holos, though, so it's not that big of a drawback.  I used two coats with one coat of topcoat, and it dried very quickly.  I've never seen the Halo Hues in stores, but you can still find them on eBay or Amazon, which is where I got mine.

Fare the Wind

Fare the Wind is probably the closest leaning blue out of all of the purples today.  It's also the only one with a strong shimmer element in addition to the linear holographic.  It's the second lightest and the second most holographic.  Application was easy, and I used three even coats for full coverage.  One coat of topcoat made it glossy and helped it dry fairly quickly.  Fare the Wind has been discontinued for the moment, but keep your eyes out as it may make a comeback sometime this year!

So, there you have it!  Which is your favorite purple holographic?  Which of these do you wish you owned?

Yellow!

And now we've come to the last mani for this week's Enchanted Polish theme.  I still have a million more EP's to show you guys, but I'll hold off on those for a little while.  Today, I've got some lovely pastels that I was honestly afraid wouldn't work right with my skin tone.  I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find that both of these yellows worked well for me, and I loved wearing them!  Let's take a look at Enchanted Polish Serendipity with accents of Whimsical Ideas by Pam Hatched.

Purchased by Me or Gifted to Me by Friend

Serendipity is a yellow linear holographic with a strong red flash.  The holographic flame isn't quite as bright as most of the EPs I own, but it's hard to get a strong rainbow when you have a delicate pastel base.  Application was easy without pooling and didn't require much cleanup.  I used three coats for full opacity.  Dry time was average with one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.

Hatched is a lovely yellow crelly based polish with pink, fuchsia, and lavender hexes as well as blue/green iridescent hexes and shreds.  Application was amazingly easy, and there wasn't any pooling or need for cleanup.  I wore three coats without undies because I wanted to get that lovely depth you get when you wear glitter crellies.  Dry time was average with one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  I only needed one coat of topcoat because the glitters were very tame on their own.

Both of these are older polishes and are a bit harder to find, but they do pop up on blog sales every once in a while!  Just keep your eyes peeled!

Comparison Thursday: Baby Blue Holos

First and foremost, happy new year!!  I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable night last night and are ready and refreshed for a new year!  I'm currently going without polish for a while, so I don't have a NYE/NY Day mani to show you guys.  Instead, we'll get back to our regularly scheduled program of comparisons on Thursdays!  I can't do an Enchanted Week without having a comparison including a few Enchanteds!  I decided to show you guys some lovely baby blues since they remind me of the icy cold weather.  Although, the temps have been in the 60s in Georgia, so it's not exactly icy...

Purchased by Me or Given as Gifts By Friends

A Little Fishy Told Me

Fishy isn't really blue, but more of a sage green with blue sparkles.  People had, at one point, claimed that Fishy and BS were dupes, but they very clearly are not.  Fishy is definitely not blue, so it's the outlier of this grouping.  Fishy is very thin, which pooled and required cleanup.  The thinness isn't really normal for most EP's, so I was a bit disappointed in the application.  It was opaque in 3 coats, and I used one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top to give it a glossy look.

Zipper

Zipper is a little fluid, but doesn't pool too badly.  Luckily, the easy application meant that I only had minimal cleanup.  However, Zipper isn't very self-leveling, so there was some issues with streaking.  It's opaque in 2 coats, and I wore it with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  Zipper isn't shimmered like several of the other holos in this grouping, but it's the closest in color to BS - just very slightly lighter.  It's probably the least holo of the grouping.  As you can tell, it was able to ding it easily, so dry time was a little longer than the others.

Ballerina Sprinkles

Ballerina Sprinkles is the original milky baby blue holo.  While it's a lovely baby blue with a gorgeous strong pink shimmer, it is also super sheer.  BS is also extremely thin, so it pools a lot and requires a lot of cleanup.  It's the most shimmered and the most sheer of the group.  It's opaque in 4 coats.

Glimmering Lake

GL is fluid, but didn't flood my cuticles on the first coat.  It's very strongly gold shimmered with lovely gold microflakies.  It's a tad darker than BS but only 3rd darkest of this grouping.  It's also fully opaque in 3 coats.  Application was super easy and didn't require cleanup.

Hottest Spot North of Havanah

Havanah is the darkest of the bunch and has the best application.  Very little cleanup was needed. Havanah was opaque in 2 coats.  It dries matte, so I wore it with one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.

Which is your favorite?  For me, it's a toss up between Ballerina Sprinkles and Glimmering Lake.

Pinks!

Happy New Year's Eve!  I hope everyone is having a great time tonight!  I'm currently going polish free for a bit while I grow out some damage spots, so I won't be showing off a NYE mani this time.  Instead, let's take a look at the third installment of my Enchanted Polish week!  Tonight's post features some gorgeous pinks, so let's get to it!

Purchased by Me or Gifted to Me

For this mani, I used Life in Plastic, As If, and September 2013.

For the base, I started with a layer of As If, which is a gorgeous milky baby pink holographic with strong blue shimmers.  My bottle is a decant, so I can't accurately speak to application issues.  After this base layer was dry, I then took my handy Elmer's Glue that I put into an old Seche Vite bottle and painted the skin around my fingers.  I did this to make cleanup later easier.  Now, once I've finish the mani, all I have to do is peel off the glue, and it'll take the excess paint around my fingers with it!  I swear by this trick every time I do a gradient and often times when I do stamping.  It's a huge time saver in the long run!

After laying down a base layer of As If, I then sponged on a gradient using As If and September 2013.  September is a medium pink linear holographic with a slight golden flash.  I sponged on two layers of gradient, which came out nicely.

Next, I added on a layer of Life in Plastic, which is pink shimmered neon pink glitter topcoat.  Application was a tad difficult because the glitter to base ratio is a bit more in favor of base to glitter.  I had to dig out some of the glitters, and even then I had to deal with pooling on my skin.  It definitely required cleanup, but that wasn't a deal breaker for this mani since I already had to do some cleanup for the gradient.

September is no longer available, but LiP and AI do pop up at EP's suppliers every once in a while.  Otherwise, you can find them on blog sales.  

Grey and Pink

Man, I almost let the post slide tonight because I've been laid up all day with a horrible fever and cough.  But, I didn't want to give in, so here we are!  Apparently, this week is going to be an Enchanted focused week!  Tonight, we're going to take a look at a lovely grey and pink combo using Enchanted Once Upon a Cloud as accents with Lynnderella Pink Sapphire Stilettos.

Purchased By Me or Gifted by Friend

Once Upon a Cloud is a lovely medium grey linear holographic with loads of pink shimmers.  This was a polish she surprise restocked, so I was very fortunate to grab it when it was listed on her shop.  Application for OUAC is pretty amazing just like with almost all of the EP's I own.  It applied easily without pooling or streaking.  You could probably wear it with just one coat, but I chose to wear it in two for my photos.

Pink Sapphire Stilettos is a pink jelly based polish packed with hot pink metallic and holographic glitters.  Even though it's a glitter, application was relatively easy, and I only needed to lightly dab to get the glitters to spread evenly.  Unlike many Lynnderella glitters, PSS is actually fully opaque on its own in two coats!  I didn't need undies, so I didn't use any this go around.  I did use an extra coat of topcoat to tame the glitters a bit and give them a glossy look.

Sadly, these two are unavailable for purchase (I'm sorry I keep doing that to you guys!), but you can find them up for sale on blog sales pretty frequently.  Otherwise, you can purchase Enchanted Polishes at her shop here and Lynnderellas at their shops here and here.