Comparison Thursday: Grey Glitters

Today's been a rough day.  I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and have been irritable all day.  Don't you hate that?  Add on top of that, I've been singing songs from Les Mis for four days.  FOUR DAYS.  It's my all time favorite musical and has been since I was 11, but there's only so much a person can take.  I can't get them out of my head.  So, in an effort to make myself giggle a little, I decided to watch something pretty damn spectacular.  Go ahead.  Click play.  I'll wait. (Please bear with the introduction he does because the video is totally worth it - especially if you're a console video game nerd like myself.)

HAH!  Fantastic.  It never ceases to make me smile and put me in a better mood.  Plus, I'm now enjoying my first beer since Christmas, Sweet Water Dank Tank the Gimp.  I've been trying to cut back on my alcohol just to get healthier (I'm gluten intolerant after all), but it's sooooo hard.  I love that sweet manna from heaven.  I'm also watching some Arrested Development and Eureka while the hubs snoozes on the couch with the kitties.  My night is definitely going much better than my day!

Now that that's out of the way, let's take a look at today's Comparison Thursday: grey glitters.  What's your preference for spelling the word grey?  Grey or gray?  I don't know why, but I've always spelled it grey.  If that drives you crazy, I apologize and give you permission to flame me in the comments, lol.  As you may have noticed, I've changed up the way I review polishes on the blog.  For Comparison Thursdays, I won't be doing full blown reviews of these polishes like I do in normal review posts.  Instead, I'll focus solely on comparing each of the relevant polishes instead of going into too much detail.  Then, I'll do a detailed review of each polish at a later date.  How does that sound?

Anyway, back on topic.  We're going to take a look at four of the grey glitters I have in my stash: Pahlish Sitting in a Tin Can, Dollish Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto, Pahlish Sullen Girl, and Dollish the Many Shades of Mr. Grey.

Here they all are together.

And here they are blurred so you can see the gorgeous glitters a little better.

Sitting in a Tin Can

Sitting in a Tin Can is a charcoal grey jelly with fine black glitters and multi-sized and -shaped silver holographic glitters.  SiaTC applied really smoothly without much work, but the smell was pretty off-putting - almost like I was at my grandmother's house playing in her perfume.  I noticed this with Sullen Girl, as well, so I'm not really sure what base Shannon is using or if it's something else that she adds to her polish to make it so...  pungent.  The glitters in SiaTC have sunk, but they shake up easily.  Although, they were a little more difficult to dig out of the bottle than the other three polishes.  This is two coats over undies (Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal).  Other than the fact that the glitters took a little effort to spread and the smell was a bit too strong for my taste, I really do like this polish.  It's probably my favorite of the four.

Domo Arigato(u) Mr. Roboto

I'm anal.  It's Arigatou, Ms. Dolly.  Not Arigato.  Anyway.  Roboto is a grey jelly with a lighter base than SiaTC.  It includes silver holo hexes in two sizes, iridescent glitters, and black hexes in two sizes.  Roboto suspends well, mixed easily, spread well, and only required a little dab and then a swipe on the second coat for full opacity.  It's not as dark as SiaTC and is a little more blue-toned than Sullen Girl.  The lack of smell and ease application puts this in my second favorite slot.

Sullen Girl

Sullen Girl is a bit lighter grey jelly than SiaTC and a little more brown-leaning than Roboto.  Again, this little baby smelled pretty bad.  It lasted on my hands for a whole day even with a shower, if that tells you anything.  Plus, it clumped.  A lot.  Like, a whole lot.  It was a massive pain to apply, which was completely opposite of SiaTC that applied soooo easily.  This is four coats to get an even and non-streaky end product.  The iridescent glitters make this one unique in the bunch.  This was easily my least favorite.  I'm sure that you can add some thinner and fix the thickness right up, but I also wasn't really sold on the color combination.  It'll be making its way to my sales page in the next few days.

The Many Shades of Mr. Grey

Grey is the outlier of the group.  It's a clear base with gun metal, silver, and black glitters without any holo goodness.  It spread so easily and looked great over the undies I chose (still Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal), which I had been battling with for the whole week trying to determine whether I like it or not.  I'm actually really digging it with Grey on top.  I knew it wasn't really in the same family as the other three, but I wanted to toss it in just in case anyone was curious.  It's still really pretty, and I love it for different reasons than I love SiaTC and Roboto.

Depending on what you're looking for in a grey polish, you could probably get away with only having one.  If you want iridescent, go with Sullen Girl.  If you want holo-y goodness, you can't go wrong with either SiaTC or Roboto.  You'll just need to determine what base jelly color you like best when making your choice.  Here's my order of preference, in case you're curious: SiaTC > Roboto > Sullen Girl.  Grey falls in a different spectrum.

You can purchase Pahlish at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  Follow Shannon on Facebook and Twitter for updates, news, and new collections.  You can purchase Dollish Polish at her store (NEXT RESTOCK IS TOMORROW!!!!), Llarowe, and Overall Beauty.  Follow Dolly on Facebook and Twitter for updates on restocks and new collections.

Which is your favorite?

China Glaze QT

I have another China Glaze OMG polish for you tonight - China Glaze QT.  QT has been discontinued for a while, but I managed to snag one at a salon a few months ago.  It's probably my second favorite of the OMG polishes, and only second to LOL by a hair.

Color: Hot pink

Finish: Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush: China Glaze brush – lid is a little hard to hold if you have problems grasping things.  The length and width of the brush are average with average application.

Opacity: High – opaque at two coats!

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush.

Overall Ease of Application: Hard – pools at the cuticles.  Drags, clumps, streaks, and can bald in spots.  Requires quick work to get a smooth result.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Like the other OMG polishes, QT was a bitch to apply.  Although, I seriously think it's worth the hassle.  I'm hoping that the new holo collection from China Glaze that will be out in a month or so has a better formula.  Anyway, QT lasted a long time on my nails for me at about 4 days.  I used QT with Nfu Oh Aqua Base and Seche Vite topcoat.  Also, note that the Seche Vite didn't dull the holo at all.  If you can find QT at a salon near you, grab it as quickly as you can.  There's a lot of hype for this collection, which may be a little overblown, but I believe that QT is deserving of the high praise.  While the application leaves much to be desired, the overall effect is stunning.  I've heard that the OMG polishes stamp really well, so I'm definitely planning to try it out soon.  I'll keep you guys posted on how that works out.

Keep your eyes peeled in a few weeks for the new China Glaze Hologlam collection!  Check out a sneak peek here. That navy is calling to me.

Also, don't forget about the Untried Parade giveaway going on at my Facebook page.  Post your untrieds and you could win a handmade polish by yours truly!  Get those pictures posted!!

What is your favorite holo in your stash?

Rainy Grossness!

Well, today was a rainy nasty day in Georgia.  I'm on the 34th floor, and all I could see most of the day was a white haze.  No buildings, no clouds, no sky, just white.  It's kind of disconcerting, lol.  Now, the news people are predicting we'll have "wintry" weather on Thursday.  Awesome.  I'm pretty skeptical, though, because "wintry weather" never really pans out in Georgia.  We'll see, I guess!

In other news, as you may have read on my Facebook page, I am going on a low, scheduled buy.  Basically, when I got my first paycheck after getting on a new project in November, I went totally crazy with my polish spending.  I like to say it's because I had all of that pent up need to spend after several months of low/no buy.  Either way, it's time for me to get back on track with my budget.  I'm creating a pretty ridiculous and out of hand wish list, which will help me determine what polishes I will buy for the month.  At the first of the month, I will choose which polishes I will buy and which restocks I will purchase from.  I will not exceed $50 per paycheck on polish.  I will, however, allow myself to splurge on items on my wishlist that are hard to find or limited edition that I am able to find for a reasonable price.

Had to break up the wall-o-text with something.  What's better than my kitty Jynxie sticking his tongue out at us?  It was like that for 5 minutes.  I love that cat, lol.

In the meantime, I will be working on slashing through my untried list and weeding out polishes that I won't wear again.  Hopefully, I'll be able to re-home some of my beautiful collection to help fund some of my scheduled buys.  I encourage anyone who is going on a no/low/scheduled buy to work through your untrieds and share them on my Facebook page!  Untried can mean anything from new to you polishes to new techniques.  I want to see them all!  I think I'll call it Blue-Eyed Girl's Untried Parade.  Let's make this fun and set up a giveaway!  Get your photos up on my page, labeled as Untried Parade with a brief description of what's new or untried about your manicure, by February 21st.  I'll compile them into an album and voting will open February 22nd at midnight.  The photo with the most likes will receive one full-sized polish of their choice from my hand made collection that are all LE and not for sale.  All of my available polishes can be found in my album Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers on Facebook.  

Anyway, let's get on to business!  Tonight, we're going to take a look at the rest of my New Year's Eve manicure.  I showed you my undies yesterday, which was Soflajo Red Carpet and an accent of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out.  I topped my left hand with a glitter ruffian of Lynnderella Fiddle Dee Dee and a full accent of Lynnderella New Year's Eve Eve.  On my right hand, I did the opposite with full coverage of New Years Eve Eve and a ruffian accent of Fiddle Dee Dee.  I received Fiddle Dee Dee as a random act of kindness from a friend, which was a total surprise.  Needless to say, it's one of my favorite polishes because of the meaning behind it.  Let's get on to the review!

Lynnderella Fiddle Dee Dee

Color: Clear base with multicolored and multishaped glitters including silver holo butterflies and hearts and red holo hearts.

Finish: Glitter Top Coat – glitter in a clear base to be worn as a top coat.

Lynnderella New Years Eve Eve

Color: Clear base with multicolored and multishaped glitters including several different colors of satin hearts, giant holo silver hexes, and holo regular and mini stars.

Finish: Glitter Top Coat – glitter in a clear base to be worn as a top coat.

Both FDD and NYEE

Bottle / Brush: Rectangle bottle brush – ribbed cap that is a little hard on the hands to open if you have sensitive skin.  The wand is the standard length, but the brush is a little too thin to pick up large / shaped glitter without fishing.  The brush's width is also an issue for spreading.  It doesn't fan out and pretty much requires you to dab polishes that are densely packed with glitter.

Opacity: Glitter topcoat – not designed for full opacity.

Glitter Application: Hard – difficult to dig the larger and shaped glitters out of the bottle, but spreads well with the dab method.

Consistency: Medium – base applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Easy – applies well without pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads evenly and smoothly with the dab method.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: I'm going to review both of these polishes together since they're both similar in concept.  Unlike many of my other Lynnderella's, these two had great consistency.  They weren't too thick and spread easily.  I really liked the explosion of colors and shapes that both of these polishes provided.  FDD had fewer colors and centered more around red, green, silver, and gold with holo pieces.  NYEE has pretty much every color in the rainbow.  Both are major glitter bombs, so you'll definitely need either a thick topcoat like Gelous or Glitter Food plus a thick quick dry topcoat to even things out.

You can purchase Lynnderella's from their eBay store.  Follow their blog for news and updates.  Also, follow Lovelynnderella on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for updates on new polishes, swatches of new collections, and swatches of limited editions.

Are you on a no/low/scheduled buy?  If you are, what's your plan of attack?

Fiiiiiiinally back! Soflajo Red Carpet

Wow, I apologize for taking the whole week off last week.  After being ridiculously sick for three weeks, I needed the down time.  In that time, I received some amazing polishes from purchases and swaps, reached 400 blog followers (!!!!!), and got to spend some quality time with the cutest and most ridiculous kitties ever.  Specimen #1:

Just one of my kitties striking a pose...  Say hello to Fenway!  I'll have some pics of Jynx later.

Well, since it's already late and I have to wake up early tomorrow, let's get down to business!  Tonight, I'm going to show you part of my New Year's Eve mani.  I'm pretty late in showing you guys all of my holiday manicures, so I'll try to catch up.  As undies for NYE, I wore Soflajo Red Carpet with an accent of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out.  We're going to focus on Red Carpet tonight.

Color: Red with holographic micro glitters.

Finish: Matte – flat finish, no shine.

Bottle / Brush: Round (9ml) mini bottle – wand and brush are just long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  However, the fact that it’s a mini makes application a little tricky.  Requires a steady hand to apply evenly without pooling.

Opacity: High – opaque at one coat!  I used two for photos.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Consistency: Thick – thick, but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.  Although, I didn't add any thinner.  I wanted to see how it would apply without it.  It worked well, but you have to go fast since it's a matte polish, which dries quickly.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: This was my second Soflajo, and I really liked it.  The color is more of a burnt red than a bright cherry, but the holographic micro glitters set this apart from other matte polishes I have.  Once I added a top coat, the shimmer from the micro glitters made it glow.  I will show you guys the finished mani with a top coat tomorrow night.  I also like that this is a larger mini, so you get more bang for your buck.  Jody, who owns Soflajo, is a pleasure to work with, ships quickly, and has great communication.  You can purchase Soflajo polishes at her site or at her Etsy store.  Follow her Facebook page for restock information and updates.

What did you wear for New Year's Eve?

China Glaze 2NITE

Who watched the NCAA National Championship last night?  I watched the first half then passed out on the couch, lol.  Oh well, I tried!  I didn't really have a dawg in that fight (see what I did there?), but I was a bit bummed that it was such a blow out.  I'm going to come right out and say it - I think the real national championship was played in Atlanta last December.  Just sayin'.

Aaaaaaanyway!  Tonight, let's take a look at China Glaze 2NITE.  I found this at a salon a few months ago, and they laughed at me when they sold it to me for $3 because it was used.  I laughed at them the whole way to the car while clutching my precious.  

Color: Dusty blue

Finish: Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush: China Glaze brush – lid is a little hard to hold if you have problems grasping things.  The length and width of the brush are average with average application.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush.

See that blemish on my middle finger?  Yeah, terrible application.

Overall Ease of Application: Hard – drags, clumps, streaks, and balds in spots.  Requires quick work to get a smooth result.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Wow.  While this polish is absolutely gorgeous, it is a MASSIVE pain in the tukus to apply.  You have to have on an aqua base or you need to buff your nail to a shine in order for this polish to apply well.  I've seen some people who can wear Orly Bonder as a basecoat who are still able to get an even application, but I haven't found that to be the case for me.  You have to work extremely fast or it will wrinkle, bald, and clump.  Plus, the wear time wasn't great and chipped within a day.  While this is a seriously gorgeous polish, the formula kind of kills it for me.  I definitely need to test it out with different base and top coats to see if I can get better wear out of it.  To be honest, I think that there are better holos coming out of the indie community that are just as gorgeous with much better application.

This little baby was discontinued a while ago and is an uber hard to find polish.  It was the first OMG polish I found in the wild.  While I was always into nail polish, I didn't really buy a lot of polish before this past year.  Plus, I usually stuck with just OPIs, so I probably wouldn't have gotten a China Glaze anyway.  Now, however, I love me some China Glaze.  I also love me some holos.  I'm obsessed, actually.  I can't wait until the new China Glaze holos come out this year!!!  I'm going to put those on the calender to purchase the whole set!  Although, I'm really hoping they fix the formula issues.

Are you planning to buy any of the new China Glaze holos?

Wear Test: Kelara Mercury

No Comparison Thursday today.  Instead, today's post is going to be something a little different.  When I receive items from makers for review, I will choose one of their polishes to wear for a longevity test.  I'll wear the polish for as long as it takes for it to chip.  As you'll see today, I'll take pictures each day to show exactly how the polish is lasting each day.  At the end, I'll review the polish as normal and discuss a little about the longevity.  Today's wear test is for Kelara Mercury.

First, here's the basic info on Mercury.

Color: Blurple with teal and red flashes and fine holographic glitters.

Finish: Chrome – a polish that shifts between colors depending on the angle you look at it.

Bottle / Brush: TKB hexagon brush – lid is tapered at the bottom and larger at the top, which helps with handling the brush and application.  The wand is an average length.  The brush is thin but long, so you have to make sure you don’t load up on polish on your brush otherwise it may pool up on your cuticles.

Opacity: High – opaque at one coat, but I used two for the photos.

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Thick – thick but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.

Overall Ease of Application: Easy – applies well without pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads evenly and smoothly.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Day One:

Easy application.  Gorgeous finish.  Items used:

• Basecoat: Orly Bonder
• Topcoat: OPI Topcoat (black label)

Blurry so you can see the holo glitters.

Day Two:

Still staying strong.  No tip wear.  One chip on my right hand where I applied only one coat (after a smudge) and used Seche Vite on top instead of the OPI top coat.  Otherwise, the wear on the rest of my fingers was flawless.

Day Three:

Still looking great.  Minimal tip wear.

Day Four:

I think the only reason I got any chips is because of how much I use my cuticle balms.  It lifted at the sides mostly, so I'm pretty sure that a little oil got up under the polish causing it to sheet off.  Add to that the fact that I'm a picker, and you get this.

Overall Thoughts: This has been my favorite of all of the Kelara's I received.  It's absolutely gorgeous in person.  I had a very hard time capturing all of the shifts on camera, so I tried posting pictures in different lighting and from both my camera and my iPhone.  The holographic particles are really unique because they aren't linear, like Enchanted, but scattered.  Also, unlike Enchanted, the polish is much more pigmented, goes on less streaky, has just as strong of a shift, but is opaque in fewer coats.  This is a great alternative to Enchanted's Magical Mystery Tour, which is currently sold out.  The other thing in Kelara's favor is that it's significantly cheaper than Enchanted starting at only $9 versus Enchanted's $13.

You can purchase Kelara's at their Etsy store.  Follow them on Facebook for news and updates.  Spoiler Alert: They're going to be introducing some fab holos next week!!!!!  I CANNOT wait!  I'm a sucker for anything holographic...

In other news, it's time for me to go back to the low/scheduled buy and to work through my untrieds.  I need to thin my stash quite a bit.  I spent all day yesterday building a new drawer system and organizing my polishes.  There are several that are quite dupish, so I'll be adding those to the Comparison Thursday lineup.  I've already tossed several into my sale stack.  I just need to take pictures and organize the sales page.  That being said, you'll probably see quite a few gel manicures for a little while as I still have several gel polishes that are sitting in my untried stack as well as the regular polishes.

What's your longest wearing polish?

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.* 

Happy New Year!

Happy new year, everyone!!!  I hope everyone had a nice and safe time celebrating the new year last night.  I spent my night passed out on the couch.  I'd like to say it was from alcohol, but it was actually from being sick...  I'm still running a low grade fever, but I really wanted to get a post up today since I've been slacking so much lately.  Today, I'm going to show you part 2 of my Kelara swatches: Daydream, Dragon Scales, and Mother Earth.  I'll have my final Kelara for you guys tomorrow.  Get ready, this post is going to be very picture heavy!

When I received my Kelara Lacquers, they came packaged in these cute little organza bags.  I really liked the presentation.  It was like opening up a party favor.

Daydream

Color: White with blue, teal, and pink glitters and a micro iridescent shimmer.

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

Bottle / Brush: TKB hexagon brush – lid is tapered at the bottom and larger at the top, which helps with handling the brush and application.  The wand is an average length.  The brush is thin but long, so you have to make sure you don’t load up on polish on your brush otherwise it may pool up on your cuticles.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application: 

Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Consistency: Thick – thick but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Like with Saturn, I had to add a little bit of thinner to this guy to make it easier to spread.  Once I did, though, it applied very easily.  The glitters came out easily and spread well.  It's almost too glittery for my taste.  I did three coats on all fingers but my ring finger, which I did a jelly sandwich with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu.  I'm definitely going to jelly sandwich it or wear it with unders next time.  It's a pretty and delicate polish that will be perfect for springtime.

Dragon Scales

Color: Green with gold micro glitters.

Finish: Shimmer – a polish that shimmers in the light from micro glitters.

Bottle / Brush: TKB hexagon brush – lid is tapered at the bottom and larger at the top, which helps with handling the brush and application.  The wand is an average length.  The brush is thin but long, so you have to make sure you don’t load up on polish on your brush otherwise it may pool up on your cuticles.

Opacity: High – opaque at one coat!  I used two coats for the photos.

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Thick – thick but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Wow.  I was blown away by this polish.  As you can see from the macro shot, not only does this polish have gold flecks, it also has micro green holo particles that make this polish sparkle.  Again, I added a little thinner, but it applied easily once added.  The gold in Dragon Scales seriously makes this green glow.  It's definitely one of my top greens.

Mother Earth

Color: Gold glitters in three sizes in a clear base.

Finish: Glitter Top Coat – glitter in a clear base to be worn as a top coat or in a jelly sandwich.

Bottle / Brush: TKB hexagon brush – lid is tapered at the bottom and larger at the top, which helps with handling the brush and application.  The wand is an average length.  The brush is thin but long, so you have to make sure you don’t load up on polish on your brush otherwise it may pool up on your cuticles.

Opacity: Glitter topcoat – not designed for full opacity.

Glitter Application: Medium – requires the dab method, but spreads evenly.

Consistency: Thick – thick but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Mother Earth is so packed full of glitter, that you definitely need to add quite a bit of thinner to get it to a more easily flowing consistency.  At least, for me, I like for my glitters to spread a little more sparsely rather than being total glitter bomb.  Once I added thinner, the glitters spread evenly without much work.  If I left the consistency the same as when I received it, I would definitely have to use the dab method.  I swatched it over Saturn, and they looked great together.  Like most glitters, removal was a bit difficult.  I recommend using the glue basecoat method or the foil method.  I don't own much gold, so I'm glad to have this beauty in my stash.  It's like wearing jewels on my fingers.

You can purchase Kelara Lacquers at their Etsy store.  Follow them on Facebook for news on updates and new colors.

Which of the Kelara Lacquers that I've shown you so far is your favorite?

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.*