Category: Swatch

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Kozmic Colors and Margarita Madness.

I’m really excited about today’s swatch post and polish.

I posted before about how impressed I was with my first time trying the Kozmic Colors brand, especially for a polish found at a Dollar Store. I popped into a different Dollarama not too long ago, to see if they had anything new in the nail polish section and was very pleasantly surprised with what I found.

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This polish came in a four park of glitters. It was the only milky base color of the four–the rest of them are splatter and glitter toppers. But when I saw this polish in the group of four, I knew I needed to have them. The first thing I thought of when I saw this polish was Margaritas. These polishes don’t come with nails, but if I had to name it myself I would call it Margarita Madness.

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This polish is gorgeous. It is a milky green-blue base that is filled with large and small blue and green hexagon glitters. There are also tiny holographic glitters mixed into the base which unfortunately my camera flash could not capture. It took 3 coats to cover my nail, but it was well worth it. Honestly, I have nothing like this in my stash. It’s absolutely beautiful and eye catching.

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I tried to take a picture without flash to catch the holographic glitters, but they didn’t show up as much as I wish they would have. Regardless, I’ve fallen in love with this color. And now all I want to do is drink a margarita in the sunshine, and admire my nails. =)

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All about Neon.

So I have a swatch of a fun neon polish to share with you today from China Glaze’s 2012 Summer Neons collection.

What is it about Summer time and neon colors–I just can’t get enough! I was checking out the Chatters by my work recently, and they were had marked down all their clearance polishes to $4.99. Anyone knows me knows that I love a deal, so I ended up picking two polishes– China Glaze’s Pink Plumeria, and OPI’s I Snow You Love Me. The second I saw Pink Plumeria, I knew I had to put it on my nails as quickly as possible!

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As I’ve stated before, I’m a sucker for anything Coral so the second I saw this color I fell instantly in love. It’s a neon-ish Coral with a subtle golden shimmer scattered through out. It’s less pink than the picture above shows (thanks to my camera flash not capturing it properly) but on the nail it comes out a very vibrant coral. I’ve read that some people had problems with application, but I found the formula flawless–honestly it went on so smoothly I was shocked. It was a little sheer, so I did apply two coats with left me with very minimal visible nail line. I could have done three coats for full coverage, but it really wasn’t needed. I had no streaks, or patchiness at all. The polish does dry to a matte satin finish, so I added a coat of Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top coat to give it a glossy finish.

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I can’t not say enough how much I absolutely LOVE this polish. The subtle shimmer is beautiful, and the color is so perfect for Summer. The only issue I had was a tiny chip on my pinky finger this morning, but that could have been brought on by the house cleaning I did before starting my day. Regardless, I couldn’t stop staring at my nails all day. They even perfectly matched my dress that I wore on my coffee date with my best friend today. (Couldn’t have planned that better if I had tried!). Even he noticed how pretty and bright my nails were. =)

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I know this was a limited edition polish from two years ago, so I’m not sure how easy it would be to find now. But if you have a Chatters near you, I would recommend checking out the clearance sale they have on right now because you never know what lost goodies you might find!

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My go-to: Revlon Whimsical.

Does anyone else have a favorite polish they go to whenever they can’t think of how to paint their nails, or are short on time for nail art?

Personally, I have a couple. But one of my favorite go to polishes is Revlon’s Whimsical.

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I fell in love with this polish about 3 years ago when it first started popping up on the nail blogs I followed, but for some reason I didn’t end up buying it until last Summer. It makes me sad I waited so long to jump on the bandwagon because oh my god I love this polish. Whimsical has a milky blue base which contains multi-sized hexagon glitters. The base is very, very sheer–I’ve never tried to build up opacity with multiple layers, but I can tell it would take a few. Instead, I always paint another blue-based base color before applying Whimsical.

For this NOTD, I applied Avon’s Vintage Blue as my base color.

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Vintage Blue on it’s own is a very, very pale baby blue color. I bought this color specifically because of my Buffy the Vampire Slayer pale polish obsession. (I’m a dork.) It’s the perfect pale base for Whimsical though–it brings out the blue milky base, and doesn’t affect the end result any.

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As you can see above, the two colors work really well side by side. They look even better when you apply Whimsical over Vintage Blue.

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See what I mean? So pretty! I applied two coats of Whimsical over Vintage Blue followed by my NutraNail top coat. I could have applied another coat for a denser glitter application. However, (1) I was short on time–I did these about 2 hours before I had to leave for work, and needed them dry before getting ready and (2) I liked how it looked already, so decided it was perfect.

Like I said, this is my go-to solution for “I can’t figure out how to do my nails”. This is a very “me” polish (though I’m sure a lot of people say that haha.) I can’t help but love myself some glitter, and these just feel very girlie to me. Too bad the weather is so wretched outside (again! Bah!) because they would pair perfectly with a cute little Summer dress.

So what is your go-to polish?

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Pure Ice — Wild Thing.

Even though I seem to own a lot of different green polishes, I never seem to wear them as a full manicure–with the exception of the obvious holidays like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. Lately, though, I’ve been trying to wear other colors than my usual fall pinks, purples, and coral. So what better time that to chose a color completely out of my comfort zone!

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I picked up Wild Thing by Pure Ice at my local Wal-mart for $1.97. I don’t own very many Pure Ice polishes, even though I always find myself staring at the display. However, this color couldn’t help but catch my eye the last time I was visiting. I’m not even sure what to call this color. It’s bright green, which leans yellow. I’ve seen other bloggers describe it as a “Shrek” green, which seems pretty spot on.

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Application was pretty good on this one–I only needed 2 coats for full opacity. Dry time was also pretty good–I find that’s the trick with polishes that have a tricky formula. Before I applied it, I went online and checked out swatches on other blogs to see what the polish was like (I pretty much do this with every polish after I buy it) so I knew people had some problems with patchiness, so I applied thin coats and let it dry a bit between applications. I also applied my Nutra Nail Speed Dry top coat, which gave it a great glossy shine.

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I like this color. It’s very different for me, but sometimes it’s nice to change things up a bit. I don’t think I’ve worn a straight green manicure outside of Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day since I was probably 15. But it does remind me of green, green grass which makes me think of Summer, so it’s a win in my books. Although I probably won’t wear it everyday (just can’t do it), I think it would make an perfect pedicure color.

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From the forgotten stash — Icing’s Romantic/Relaxed.

Today I have another polish from my forgotten stash with you–and another “mood” polish! Like I stated in my other Claire’s mood polish, I was quite obsessed with these when they first came out, as I had never witnessed a thermal polish before so these left me in awe. Now that I have my Mood polishes back, I’m definitely going to have to go on a search to find more for my collection.

Today’s polish is Romantic/Relaxed from Icing’s Mood Swing polishes.

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Romantic/Relaxed is a pink metallic polish with is scattered through out (while cold) which transforms into a gold polish when it is hot. I’d call the darker version of this polish (which I believe is the “romantic” part) almost a blush. The color is very pretty, and subtle and the gold shimmer scattered through out is gorgeous. It also dries to almost a satin finish, but I added top coat to help the polish last longer (and cause–I top coat all my manicures.)

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Romantic/Relaxed while cold.

The magic happens, though, when you hands start to warm up. (And this is why I love this polish SO much) Suddenly your polish goes from a blushy pink to a full on pale gold shimmer. I know I’ve heard some people online in swatches of this polish say they weren’t too keen on the either color, but I think both are beautiful.

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Romantic/Relaxed — while hot (index and middle finger) and cold (ring and pinky).

I was so much more impressed with the change on these as opposed to my Claire’s Mood polishes which I didn’t see as much of a difference while swatching. Icing’s Romantic/Relaxed seems completely unaffected from it’s time spent in a box in the attic.

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Romantic/Relaxed mid-change.

Overall, I really, really love this polish. My only complaint is neither Icing nor Claire’s carries any of their Mood polishes anymore. I really wish they would bring them back because I can guarantee I would purchase every single color they released.  Thermal polish seems to be a popular trend that isn’t slowing down, and now that I’ve been playing with the few that I have I need MORE!

So what do you think of this “mood” polish?