Essie Luxeffects Collection

I hope you have been enjoying the Sinful Colors swatches throughout the past week while I was away, but now I want to show you what I paired them up with. Each of them was topped with a different Essie Luxeffect polish, which I won in a giveaway from Kristen of The Manicured Monkey. Thank you again Kristen, I love them :)

I applied just one coat of each for the swatches here. They all provide a unique way to spice up a manicure. Be warned, I may be gone a little overboard on the photos, but I hope you will enjoy the swatches.

Essie A Cut Above (Over Sinful Colors Slate)
This polish is made up of a mix of different sized pink glitter. Most prominent are the large hexagon glitters. I chose to wear one coat of A Cut Above over Sinful Colors Slate since I love the combination of pink with gray. The glitter was easy to apply and spread well. It was surprisingly smooth for a glitter after just one layer with top coat.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essie Collection: Luxeffects Color Name/Number: A Cut Above Number of coats: 1 (over Sinful Colors Slate) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

As Gold As It Gets (over Sinful Colors Amethyst)
This is composed of tiny gold flakes in a milky base. Application was great and I love how it looks over purple. Purple and gold are the colors of my Alma Mater, so this manicure would be perfect for sport games, if I were a fan of such things, but I digress. This is one coat plus a top coat over Sinful Colors Amethyst

A closeup to see the small flakes...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essie Collection: Luxeffects Color Name/Number: As Gold As It Gets Number of coats: 1 (over Sinful Colors Amethyst) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Set In Stones (over Sinful Colors Timbleberry)
This is basically the same as A Cut Above except with silver glitter. I wanted to pair it with something unique, so I tried it over Sinful Colors Timbleberry, a bright pink coral (although it looks orange in the photos). I was not too thrilled with how this combination looked. Application was good, no problems with the glitter bunching up. This is one coat of Set in Stones with a top coat.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essie Collection: Luxeffects Color Name/Number: Set In Stones Number of coats: 1 (over Sinful Colors Timbleberry) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Pure Pearlfection (over Sinful Colors Nirvana)
This polish is a pearly shimmer in a milky base. It doesn't photograph as well as it looks in real life since it blinds the camera. I really liked how it looked over Sinful Colors Nirvana and have already used it to add a touch of shimmer to the argyle manicure. Application is great, this is one coat with a top coat.

At a different angle you can really see the light dusting of shimmer...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essie Collection: Luxeffects Color Name/Number: Pure Pearlfection Number of coats: 1 (over Sinful Colors Nirvana) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Shine Of The Times (Over Sinful Colors Seaweed)
Flakies! What can I say about this polish that has not already been said. It is pure perfection. Application is great and it looks amazing. I think it is a dupe for a few other polishes, but I don't hear anyone complaining. I have already gotten a backup bottle of this and have a strange desire to get more. Is that weird?

I wanted to see what it looks like over a lighter color so I paired it with Sinful Colors Seaweed. It was hard to photograph the flakies over a light color with my standard light settings. They seemed to blend and not show up as they do in real life...

Changed my light setting a bit so the light is not direct. I usually don't use this setting since it creates a matte effect in the photo, but in this case it does a better job of showing off the flakes...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essie Collection: Luxeffects Color Name/Number: Shine Of The Times Number of coats: 1 (over Sinful Colors Seaweed) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Shine Of The Times (Over Wet 'n Wild Black Creme)
Of course I couldn't resist trying it over black and then just staring at it while slowly wiggling my fingers. I'm sure I looked like a real dork, but how can one resist such colors?

Yes, I wiggled them in front of the camera as well and created this to show the different colors as the angle of the light changes... so gorgeous... :)

 

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essie Collection: Luxeffects Color Name/Number: Shine Of The Times Number of coats: 1 (over Wet 'n Wild Black Creme) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I hope you enjoyed the swatches. I'd love to know what you think of them. Are you as head over heels for flakies as I am? :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Barielle Cashmere or Loose Me with Essie Braziliant in Argyle

I mentioned yesterday that in addition to swatching the Barielle Style in Argyle collection I also messed around with some nail art that I will show you over the next few days. For this manicure, I was inspired by the collection's name and decided to try the argyle pattern on my nails.

I started out with Barielle Cashmere or Loose Me which I paired up with Essie Braziliant in an argyle pattern. Green lines were added using acrylic paint. It looked a bit bland so I topped the whole thing off with Essie Pure Pearlfection. I can't quite decide which version I like best, so I will show you both and hopefully you can tell me what you think. This is topped with the luxeffects polish...

UPDATE: Tutorial for this manicure available here.

This is what it looked like before I added Essie Pure Pearlfection...

I would love to know what you think. Which version do you like better (if at all)...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Borghese Sonata Berry C with Pure Ice Oh Baby!

I'm not feeling well today, so I will keep it short and show you a manicure from a while back. This is Borghese Sonata Berry C topped with Pure Ice Oh Baby!. Oh Baby! is a sheer base with a color shifting shimmer. The shimmer changes from green to blue to purple/magenta depending on the angle that it is viewed at. It is a fun and quick way to spice up a solid color. I'm loving all the "effect" polishes lately...

In it's own Borghese Sonata Berry C is a deep berry red polish with a jelly finish. I used three coats to get nice even coverage. It is not original in my collection, but I do tend to like these colors so I end up with lots of them. Application was good, I love the wide brush in these polishes. This is with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Borghese Collection: main line Color Name/Number: Sonata Berry C, B255 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

What do you think of the "effect" polishes that are so popular lately?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Ulta - Army of 1 with Prestige

I have been wearing a lot of purples lately and even though I love them, it was time for a change so out came an army green. This one is called Army of 1 from Ulta's Salon Formula line. I have had an obsession with this color for quite a while now and have accumulated a few polishes from different brands that at least in the bottles all look like this one. I will try to compare them at some point.

The formula on the polish was a little thick, but manageable. Nothing a little polish thinner couldn't fix. The brush is slightly widened and very easy to work with. This is two coats for full coverage...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ulta Collection: Main Salon Formula line Color Name/Number: Army of 1 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I like the color, but once I had it on as a full manicure it just seemed to be missing something... a little spark. Maybe that is because I have been wearing a lot of shimmery polishes lately and the cream finish of this seemed boring, but I decided to spice it up.

I chose to use a polish I have had in my collection for a long, long time, but have not used recently because is so sheer (and I have only recently discovered the magic of layering polishes). Sadly I have no name for this polish. The brand is Prestige about which I also have no information. I'm assuming it either came in some sort of set or dollar store maybe. If anyone has info on this brand please let me know. Trying to google "prestige nail lacquer" is useless since I come up with all the brands that are "prestigious".

The polish is a milky sheer base with a gold shimmer. It is sadly not B3F, which is a big negative in my book. This is one coat of prestige polish over two coats of Ulta's Army of 1...

Some different angles...

It reminds me of the "effect" polishes that are so popular right now. Are you a fan on the layering trend?

P.S. I'm trying to swatch all my Ulta polishes right now because of the requests in the haul post, but I would like to know if you get tired of seeing the same brand day after day and want variety, or if this is good. Your comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)