Comparison Thursday: Medium Blue Holos

Well, today was a fantastic day...  My poor kitty isn't feeling well and isn't eating, so we've had to take him to the vet twice (once for emergency and once for a checkup after the emergency).  Long story short, he had a million tests, and we still have no idea what's wrong.  Le sigh.  Please send positive thoughts to him so that he recovers quickly!  Here are a few pics of the little butt so you can see just exactly how adorable he is <3

Purchased by me, made by me, or gifted to me.

So now that the sad news is over, let's take a look at some blue holos.  For this grouping, I looked at the following:

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Ocean Warmed by the Sun, Lilypad Lacquer Violet Moon, Model City Polish Cold Snap, Nailant Never Wanna Know, and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Chlorine Light.

There's one thing that I can say about every single polish in this lineup - all had extremely easy application with very little need for cleanup.  Let's take a peek at each polish individually as well as together!

Ocean Warmed by the Sun

OWbtS is definitely the outlier in this group as it's the most teal.  It's closest in color to Cold Snap, but definitely not a dupe.  Ocean has a very strong pink to purple shift, and it dries satin.  While it is opaque in 2 coats, Ocean is thick without being clumpy.  You can currently purchase Ocean Warmed by the Sun at my shop here.  There's a discount code for all items in the On the Way Out section, which includes all of the Far From the Sun collection, good until 1/16 at 11:59 pm est.  Use code GOODBYE at checkout to redeem!

Violet Moon

VM is a little more periwinkle than the rest of the polishes in this grouping, but I wanted to see how it compared anyway.  It has a strong pink flash that is very visible both in the bottle and on the nail.  VM is also opaque in 2 coats, but I used 3 just for my photos.  You can purchase LPL's at her shop here, but it appears that she's currently on vacation.

Cold Snap

Cold Snap is the most silvery-blue of the group.  Like the others, it's fully opaque in 2 coats, but again, I used 3 for photos.  CS is also the most scattered of the group and doesn't have any additional shimmers.  I had a very slight bit of staining after I took it off, but only on the skin around my nails.  A little extra scrubbing helped to get it all off.  As I stated above, it's closest in color to Ocean Warmed by the Sun, but it's not a dupe.  You can purchase Model City Polishes at her shop here.  Sadly, it appears that CS has been discontinued, but you can grab Arctic Sea instead, which is also gorgeous and could probably tide you over!

Never Wanna Know

NWN has the smallest holographic particle in the grouping.  It's also sheer without being too thin, and there aren't any added shimmers to the blue.  It's closest in color to Chlorine Light and probably the 4th darkest of the group.  It took 3 coats for full opacity.  Like with Cold Snap, I had slight staining upon removal.  I think I'm going to have to blame the staining on my dry skin, though, as I don't have staining issues when my skin is nice and moisturized.  Sadly, Stinna doesn't sell her gorgeous creations, but she has been known to donate them for prizes in giveaways!  Make sure you're following her blog for hot tips on if she's got any available to pick up somewhere!

Chlorine Light

Chlorine Light is the darkest of the grouping.  Its added umph comes from flakies whereas the rest of the grouping has nothing, strong shimmers, or glass flecks.  Application for CL is super easy, and I only needed 2 coats for full opacity.  You can currently purchase Chlorine Light at my shop here.  As I stated earlier, there's a discount code for all items in the On the Way Out section, which includes all of the Far From the Sun collection, that's good until 1/16 at 11:59 pm est.  Use code GOODBYE at checkout to redeem!

So, what do you think?  Which was your favorite?

Beachy Nails

I know it's winter and all, but I happened to wear this beachy mani a few months ago and never got around to posting about it.  It's one of my favorite manis that I've ever done, so I really wanted to show it off.  I was originally planning to wear this with an accent or two of BEGL Siren Seashore, but I loved the way it came out so much that I just couldn't spoil it with glitter.  So, without further ado, let's take a look!

Purchased by Me or Gifted to Me

To create this look, I used Lilypad Lacquer Lunar Lights with accents of Nailant Havfrue.  Lunar Lights was in the September What's Indie Box, and I was in love the minute I saw it.  Havfrue came from a indie polish maker swap that Stinna, aka Nailant,  and I participated in during the fall.  I'm so lucky that she likes me and gives me her goodies because I just love every single Nailant polish I own!

Havfrue is a gorgeous medium blue holographic with gold and green micro flakies.  I used three coats, which applied super easily without any need for cleanup.  I only needed one coat of topcoat to make it glossy.  Removal was normal but without the staining you often see with blues.

Lunar Lights is an off-white linear holographic with a significant amount of gold flakies.  White holos are pretty much impossible to make, so this one has a slight bit of greying to it like most others.  The holo is linear, but it's pretty faint - most likely due to the fact that Nicole wanted to make sure the polish kept its color.  It's a tad thick because it's got a lot of flakies in it, but it didn't really make application difficult.  I used three thin coats and one coat of topcoat on all of my nails except the index finger.  On my middle and ring fingers, I sponged on a gradient using both Havfrue and Lunar Lights.

You can follow Nailant at her blog here.  She sometimes participates in giveaways with some of her hand-made polishes as prizes, so make sure you keep an eye out for her stuff!  They're so worth it!  You can follow Lilypad Lacquers for news and updates here.

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?

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.