Showing posts with label picture polish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label picture polish. Show all posts

Saturday, 7 January 2012

Flakie-palooza, part 1

All photos can be clicked for a full-sized version.

Flakie-palooza part 2 can be found here.

One of the problems with testing polishes in Canada in winter is that the sun (when it's out) is out so briefly, you really have to rush to get your pictures taken! I wasn't expecting any sun today at all, but I got lucky and had about two hours over lunchtime to work with. I managed to swatch four of my 11 flakies, all over Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory black creme.

First, the creme. This is probably overlooked because it's just a black polish, and is overshadowed by the gorgeous holo it comes packaged with. But I have to say this is the nicest black creme I've ever applied. It flows onto the nail like ink, almost floating off the brush and onto the nail bed. With careful application, one coat is completely opaque and streak free.

This was the base for all my flakie swatches - one good coat of Edge of Glory. I'd love to see this offered on its own because the formula is just to die for!





I managed to get through all of the Picture Polish flakies and Essie's Shine of the Times before the sun disappeared.

Up first, Essie's Shine of the Times.

The bottle:





One coat:



Two coats:



This is the most bling-tastic of the bunch - almost fully flaked out with just two coats. It shimmers green, gold, red, and orange in the sun, bright and intense.

To be honest I found this a little TOO packed with flakes. It's difficult to control just how much you're getting. I'm going to try swatching it over a light colour at some point to see if it's less in your face.


Next up, Picture Polish Splendour.

The bottle:





One coat:



Two coats:



While this has the same colour composition as Essie's Shine of the Times, it's much sparser on the flakes. This gives you a little more control over just how flaky your polish gets, but I found this one a bit TOO light on the flakies. I do love the variety of shapes and sizes though, and what flakes are there are extremely vivid.


Next is Picture Polish Hypnotic

The bottle:





One coat:



Two coats:



Like Splendour, this one was fairly spare on the flakies. It built a little more nicely, and I really like the varied colour scheme. This one flashes blue, orange, and green, all in varied flakie sizes. In the sun, it reminded me of a paint spatter effect on the black polish.

Finally for today is Picture Polish Festival.

The bottle:





One coat:



Two coats:



The final Picture Polish is also my favourite of the bunch. This one flashes every colour of the rainbow, and is slightly heavier on the flakies than the other two. It built nicely with two coats, and the variety of shapes, sizes, and colours made it my favourite swatch of the day. I saw red, pink, yellow, orange, green, purple, and blue all mixed together even on the first coat.

Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory came from Gaga's Workshop at Barney's NY (a Christmas gift from my wonderful boyfriend). Picture Polish can be obtained from their site, or at Harlow & Co. Essie Shine of the Times is available in various shops, and on Amazon.

That's part one of flakies done for now. If the sun cooperates, I should be able to get through the rest tomorrow!

Friday, 6 January 2012

2012: The Flakening

This is what will occupy me for a good part of the upcoming weekend.

All photos can be clicked for the full-sized version.

This is my basket o' flakies, eleven in total. I was waiting on the Deborah Lippmann to arrive before I started swatching, and I'm glad I did!




All polishes are layered over two coats of Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory black creme polish. I realised after I downloaded all the pictures that I didn't have any pictures of Nubar 2010 in the single coat lot - I'll have to fix that this weekend when I do this on my nails!

A few general observations:

I was convinced before I started that there'd be at least one exact dupe in this mess, but surprisingly, there isn't! The colour, size, variety, or quantity of flakies differed in each polish.

Essie Shine of the Times was the single most packed with flakies colour out of the whole bunch! I'm sure a third coat would have reached full flakedom. Second up was Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory 3D Holo.

Picture Polish Hypnotic was the sparsest on flakies, but it should build easily enough. All the Picture Polish flakies were less generous on the flakies, but this could be a good thing if you wanted a less in your face look. It also gives you more options as it's easy to layer on more flakies, but tough to reduce them! Having said that, I think you'd have to use the whole bottle of Splendour to get the same effect I got with two coats of Essie Shine of the Times.

Closest dupes: Essie Shine of the Times, Picture Polish Splendour, and Nubar 2010. You'd have to layer the last two to get the effect of the Essie though!

Most unique: Picture Polish Festival and Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo

One coat, no flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times





One coat, flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times





One coat, no flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Flashy
Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked





One coat, flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Flashy
Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked







Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour






Two coats, flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour





Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked






Two coats, flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked





Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times
Nubar 2010
Finger Paints Flashy






Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times
Nubar 2010
Finger Paints Flashy





I like all of these for different reasons. Essie Shine of the Times just blew me away with how packed with glitter it was. Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory 3D Holo stands out for the unique colour profile - cooler with more purple and blue flashes than the others. Picture Polish Festival is a stunner for the sheer number of colours packed into it and how varied the sizes are.

I can't wait for this weekend so I can swatch these properly and get some sunlight on them!


I had extra nails left on the wheel when I finished with the flakies, so I swatched some other random polishes because hey, why not?

One coat, no flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above





One coat, flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above





Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above




Two coats, flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above



American Apparel Meteor Shower is funky and different. Glad I grabbed this one!

I can't think of any reason I'd want to wear American Apparel's Constellation polish. What a mess! I'm glad it only cost me $3!

American Apparel Light Year is neat, though a bit tough to work with on the wheel.

Essie Pure Pearlfection will be fun to play with. I need to swatch this over light colours!

Essie A Cut Above - I really like this one! I bet I could get it opaque in another coat or two. I don't have a lot of polishes yet so even though it's not that unique, I don't personally own anything like it.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

My latest haul!

The postman showed up with three packages for me today! First, my Manglaze order came, which thrilled me. Then I got my first ever order from Rescue Beauty Lounge. And finally, my first order from Harlow & Co, with the Ozotics, Glitter Gal, and Picture Polish colours! And then I happened into Shoppers on my way home where they had Gosh on sale for $5 each. How could I resist?




Top: Sally Hansen Salon Effects Peppermint Twist
Middle: Revlon Snow Bunny, Gosh Metallic Blue, Blue Monday, Black Passion, Orange Drops, Rusty, Manglaze Fuggen Ugly, Matte is Murder
Bottom: Nyx Bejeweled, Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso, Scrangie, Glitter Gal Suede 3D holo, Ozotics 520, Picture Polish Voodoo.