Some SquareHue polishes revisited

I’ve been subscribing to the polish-of-the-month (POTM) club called SquareHue since January, and have swatched and reviewed each three-polish box.  Several times I’ve said, “Oh, I should try this” or “I should try that” with some of the polishes — either a different look or giving a polish I thought was too streaky another try — and I’m finally going to do it.

If you’d like to see all my original review posts:

January

February

March, part 1 and part 2

April

May

As you can see, over time you’ll start to build up a varied and interesting collection.

I mean, is this a gorgeous gaggle for spring or what?  (One from January, three from April, two from May)

I had no issues at all with the January collection, but don’t feel I showed the sparkly top coat, Arctic Frost, to its best advantage.  I took a photo of it over the light blue of Glacier Skies and you could barely see the top coat.  Here’s Arctic Frost over a much darker color, February’s Dear John which is a blackened red shimmer:

Speaking of February, I’d found the peachy-nude shade, High School Crush, thin and streaky.  I tried it again over a base coat of opaque white, which worked sooooo much better.  Also, I was more careful to mix up the bottle before application.  Here I have two thin coats of High School Crush over one coat of white.  I like this much better than the four coats of HSC I tried originally.

Oops, I didn’t wrap the tip, but otherwise it’s great.

On to March.  I had problems with Blond Ale and this time I made sure to mix the bottle more thoroughly since it had been sitting for a long time.  Three coats was sufficient instead of four, although the frost finish showed brushstrokes.

Then I tried a matte top coat from Butter London that practically eliminated the brushstrokes.  An interesting look, like suede.

April’s box was perfection.  Wouldn’t change a thing!

Yesterday when I swatched May’s box I had a hair-pulling fit with the frosty Mother’s Pearl.  Today I tried to slow down more in my application, and also I topped three coats of it with the matte top coat.

Whoa, soooo much better, although I got a little sloppy.  What can I say; I’m tired.

So when you have a polish of any brand that’s just not working right for you, try these tips.  If it’s thin or patchy, use an opaque base coat — white/light for light colors, black/dark for dark colors.  If the finish isn’t to your liking, change it with a top coat — clear and shiny, matte, glitter, and so on.  If it’s too thick, use nail polish thinner (not polish remover!).

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Some readers have asked me what other POTM clubs or subscriptions are available.  Here’s a brief roundup that is by no means complete.  I haven’t personally tried any of them.  Check with all companies regarding features, availability, commitment, prices, and so on.  By the way, there are some companies that take your money and then send an old bottle of OPI or whatever.  Beware of those!  Also beware of ANY company, polish or not, that isn’t up front about cost.

Julep is probably the Big Mama of POTM clubs.  You take a style quiz which asks for your email to receive results and then you can either go with whatever style they think fits you or browse all the styles.  Some boxes appear to contain two nail polishes plus one other beauty product and some contain three polishes.  You know in advance which colors you’ll get, but the polishes are only 0.27 oz/8 ml, which I consider a mini.  Some people like the bottle shape, which is tall and skinny, and others don’t.  There are many reviews online regarding formula and wear time.

Lacquerous is one where you rent polish.  That’s not a typo.  Rent.  It’s $18 a month and you receive three polishes that you can use up to three times each (yes, appaRENTly they measure it upon return and they reserve the right to charge you for the full bottle price if you use too much) and then send back in prepaid packaging.  They have designer brands like Chanel and Dior, plus more quotidian ones like OPI.  From the web site it sounds like you get to pick the ones you want to try, and I don’t know if you’re limited to, say, one Chanel a month or whatever.

Sorry, but I don’t want to use polish that’s already been used by strangers, plus how do you know someone didn’t sneak in some cheap dupe?  Sharing with friends is one thing, but this is different.  If I’m going to spend the money I want keepers, and besides, my luck would be that the last person to use the polish I got was Typhoid Mary.  (I kid.)

Color Me Monthly appears to send one polish a month for $7.  I’ve read very little about this program but the reviews I have seen are generally favorable.

Are you more into nail art?  Nail Art Society has a club that sends one polish plus some nail art supplies.  I’m not into feathers and sequins, but if you are, it might be worth finding some reviews of the company.

As for me, I’m very happy with SquareHue, but it’s good to have choices.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a fantastic Mother’s Day!!

Let’s compare: rose golds

Disclosure:  One of these polishes was provided by Zoya for review.

Yesterday when I was swatching Zoya’s Irresistible Collection of foils, I kept thinking of other polishes I wanted to compare them to.  When Irresistible was first announced, I thought Tinsley looked like a foil version of one of my first ever Zoya polishes, Happi.  Is it?  Let’s find out.

Surprisingly, at least to me, Happi and Tinsley are not similar at all.  Happi is a cool pink gold duochrome shimmer, and Tinsley is a rose gold foil.  Tinsley has a definite glittery look.

Tinsley is, however, very close to another Zoya shade called Tiffany.  I just bought this one in the Earth Day sale and am kind of bummed that they’re so close!  Tiffany is from the older Flame Collection and I really thought from its picture that it would be more peachy or coppery.

Here are all three, left to right:  Happi, Tinsley, and Tiffany.

I applied three coats of each and here’s how they look under reflected outdoor light, next to a bottle of Zoya Purity for contrast:

In direct sunshine:

The base of Tinsley is slightly more pink than the peachy base of Tiffany, but all the gold foil/flakes (beautiful!) make the two polishes almost duplicates on the nail.

One great thing about doing this comparison is that I was reminded all over again how much I love Happi.    Also, I think what I’ll do with Tiffany is pour some of it out and add some copper or brown polish (?which one?) to make a copper foil that I might like for fall.  That’s something to do if you end up with duplicates — play with them and change them to make something new!

Disclosure:  One of these polishes was provided by Zoya for review.

Simply Irresistible

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Took me a while, but I finally have Zoya’s Irresistible Collection to show you!  Through no one’s fault that I can see, the first set that Zoya sent me was lost in transit.  It was entered into FedEx’s system and then… nothing.  But as they say, better late than never.    It was much appreciated for Zoya to send me a replacement.

Irresistible is a set of six bright foils.  I’ve only mentioned about a hundred times how much I love a foil finish, because it’s shimmery and glittery without having either visible brushstrokes or chunky glitter.

The formula of all six was very consistent — not too thin, not too thick.  For each polish, two coats would have been enough for decent coverage but I used three coats because I think the third coat brought out the richness of each color.  All photos are shown in reflected outdoor light and then in direct sunshine, with no top coat.

First — Kerry, a sunny yellow-gold.  It’s not a daffodil color nor a bronzed gold.  If anything, it might have a very faint greenish tint.

Amy is an intense orange with a lot of gold shimmer.  Outdoors in the direct sun (second photo) I think it leans red.

Tinsley is the one I was looking forward to the most, and I’m not disappointed.  It’s the epitome of the term “rose gold” — a pretty rose pink with tons of gold shimmer.  It kind of has a duochrome look going on too, because at different angles (first and second photos), you see either more gold or more rose.

Bobbi is another pink, but is cooler in tone, much more fuchsia, and it has silver shimmer instead of gold.  Love this one too.

I liked Rikki, a cool fern green, a lot more than I expected.  Greens are tough for me to wear and often bring out weird tones in my skin, but I think Rikki looks great.  Must be the silver shimmer it has.  I also saw a few flecks of gold in the direct sun.

Similarly, Hazel has both silver and gold shimmer, and is a light steel blue that looks darker in the sun.  Could be wintery-looking but also great for summer — a nice change from neon blue or turquoise.

I love the Irresistible Collection and it’s perfect for summer.  My favorites are Tinsley, Bobbi, and Rikki.  Hazel’s right up there too but I wonder if I have a near-duplicate.  Kerry and Amy would probably look much better on someone with a different skin tone than mine (I’m such a self-critic).

Here are all twelve of the Irresistible and Stunning polishes together.  As you can see, each one in its set has a somewhat close shade in the other set, but Stunning is all cremes.  From top (12 o’clock position) and moving clockwise:  Kerry, Darcy, Amy, Thandie, Tinsley, Micky, Bobbi, Yana, Rikki, Josie, Hazel, and Rocky.

Disclosure:  These polishes were sent by Zoya for review.

Reva

Ready for the last Sunshine Collection polish from Zoya for me to swatch?  It’s Reva, another red.

Reva differs from yesterday’s Kimmy in that Reva has a dark pink base and has a cool tone.  Overall I’d call it a true red, though.  The gold microflakes warm it up a bit and keep it from being too dark or cool.

Confusingly — to me, at least — Zoya calls Kimmy “candy apple red” and Reva “strawberry red” yet I think it’s the other way around.  Your individual candy apples and strawberries may vary.    Either way, they’re both beautiful.

Excellent coverage was achieved with two coats, and again, the formula was very smooth and streak-free.

Reva, two coats, no top coat, under indirect outdoor light, with a fill flash, and then under direct cloudy sunlight:

Normally I would be more drawn to the cool tone of Reva as opposed to the warm one of Kimmy, but I think for summer I actually prefer Kimmy.  I believe I’d be more likely to wear Reva as a holiday color; it’d be perfect for Christmas.

Kimmy

Hope you’ve gotten your Zoya Earth Day half-price sale polishes picked out!  If not, no rush — you’ve got through the 26th to place your order.

Sometimes it’s hard to choose colors.  For one thing, there are so many.  For another, some of the colors look similar.

Today I have a gorgeous red to show you that I’ve had for a long time but just haven’t swatched.  It’s Kimmy, a fiery red from the Sunshine Collection which was first released for Summer 2011.  All six polishes in this set are chock-full of sparkly gold microflakes, and they’re metallic and glittery without having large chunky glitter.  I’ve swatched Faye, Apple, Tanzy, and Rica from Sunshine previously.

Kimmy should not be confused with Kimber or Kym (Zoya, I beg of you, please stop with the similar-sounding and similarly-spelled names!) although all three are beautiful reds.  Kimmy has a warm, slightly orange tone.  It reminds me of Elke but is more glittery.

Two coats gave good coverage, and the formula was as smooth and as streak-free as possible.  Absolutely no visible brush strokes.  Have I mentioned I hate visible brush strokes?  I hate visible brush strokes.

Here’s Kimmy, two coats, no top coat, under indirect outdoor light and then with a fill flash.

This last photo, under weak direct sunlight, shows a slight pink tinge.  Interesting!

So if you’re looking for a bright summery red that sparkles but doesn’t overwhelm, maybe Kimmy deserves a spot on your wish list.

Lets compare: PixieDusts plus others, Part II

Disclosure:  Some products in this post were sent by Zoya for review.

So glad that many of you found my comparisons yesterday helpful!  More today.  LOTS more.

First of all, here are three polishes that I’ve swatched in the past but will not be comparison swatching today because they aren’t even remotely similar like I thought at first:

(l to r) Solange, Ziv, and Piaf, all from Zoya.  Solange is a yellow-gold matte textured PixieDust, Ziv is a metallic true gold foil, and Piaf is a very light yellow shimmer.

Let’s look at dark oranges:

(l to r) Zoya Milla, Zoya Myrta, JulieG/Jesse’s Girl Sugar Rush, and Zoya Destiny.

Milla is a coral-pink-orange jelly with some gold flakes, Myrta is a medium-dark orange foil from last year’s fabulous Surf Collection, and Sugar Rush and Destiny are matte textured polishes.

All photos are under indirect outdoor light, and again, I’m holding a bottle of Zoya’s Raven for contrast.

I’d consider Sugar Rush and Destiny duplicates.  Their formula (excellent), color, and finish are all so close I don’t think I could tell them apart.  Myrta is a great foil and Milla is a pretty polish that doesn’t get near the love I think it deserves.  You could do a jelly sandwich manicure with it.

Now, silvery lavenders:

(l to r) Zoya Julie, Milani Hi-Res, JulieG Crushed Candy, and Zoya Stevie.  OPI Can’t Let Go is hovering in the upper right corner only because it’s another purple matte textured polish, but as you can see, it’s much darker and more blue-toned than the others and I won’t be swatching it today.  You can see my swatches of it here, and I like it a lot, but it is quite dark.

Julie is a light shimmer, Hi-Res is a very glossy holographic glitter (unfortunately discontinued but I see it for sale online occasionally), and Crushed Candy and Stevie are matte textures.

No dupes.  Crushed Candy is more pink and has larger glitter than Stevie.  Julie and Hi-Res have completely different finishes.

Since we’re looking at these, let’s bring back Miranda from yesterday.  I turned these bottles — Miranda, Crushed Candy, and Stevie — sideways so you could see more of the polish.

Crushed Candy seems to be a color in between the pink of Miranda and the lavender of Stevie.  I LOVE all three.

Let’s move from pink to red:

(l to r) Zoya Miranda, JulieG Hot Cinnamon, and Zoya Chyna.

No duplicates.  All are pretty; Chyna has more of a ruby tone.

Even though I showed blue ones yesterday, I want to revisit Zoya Liberty and compare it to JulieG Blueberry Fizz and Zoya Nyx:

Gee, why did I even show Liberty again?  Not even close.  Blueberry Fizz and Nyx are similar but not dupes — Blueberry Fizz is more of a sky blue and has larger silver glitter, and Nyx is thinner and more steel blue.

Finally, just because I can, here are JulieG Rock Candy and Zoya Vespa compared to each other:

Not close.  Rock Candy is thicker, more of a teal green, and has larger silver glitter, while Vespa is thinner and a light gray-green.

Whew!  Hope I haven’t overwhelmed you with samples and comparisons.  Of all the polishes today the only true duplicates in my opinion are JulieG’s Sugar Rush and Zoya’s Destiny.  Both are excellent polishes from great companies.  The JulieG polish is less expensive but the bottles are smaller as well.

Disclosure:  Some products in this post were sent by Zoya for review.

Zoya Summer PixieDusts — the review

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Have been looking forward to this set of matte, textured, sparkly,  PixieDusts from Zoya ever since they were first announced.

If you’re new to the world of matte textured (MT) polishes, they’re different from regular polishes in that they have a sandy or sugary feel (not sandpaper-rough), and dry to a matte or mostly matte finish.  Different companies have different MT polish looks, as might be expected.  A few have no sparkle at all, a look I don’t personally care for because to me they look like bumpy dried paint.  One company at least has a fair amount of chunky glitter in its MT polish.

I prefer the slightly sparkly look; it’s the Goldilocks of MT polishes — not too dull, not too glittery.  Juuuust right.

Application of these Summer PixieDusts was excellent.  Be sure to use thin coats and let each coat dry thoroughly before you apply the next one for the matte look.  Zoya recommends not using a base or top coat, but a clear shiny top coat gives these polishes a gorgeous different look as well.

There are three warm colors with gold sparkle — yellow-gold, light orange, and medium-dark orange, and three cool ones with silver sparkle — medium pink, lavender, and bright blue.  Each is shown under indirect outdoor light, with the flash, and in direct sunshine.  Some of the sunshine photos look like I added little fake “starburst” sparkles, but I didn’t; that’s really how the polish looks. 

First up, the lightest, yellow-gold Solange.  I like that it’s neither too yellowish or too brassy.  Wouldn’t it look great with, say, a teal shirt?  Three coats.

Beatrix is citrus orange, light and sparkly.  The color seems halfway between Solange and the next color, the darker orange Destiny.  Three coats.

Destiny was a bit of a surprise for me.  Instead of being just orange, its base is a sheer coral-pink.  Only needed two coats of this one.

Miranda was the one I was looking forward to the most and it does not disappoint.  I love trying different colors but pink always calls to me!  Three coats.

Stevie is lighter than I expected from the promo photos but it’s still very pretty.  It’s like the MT version of Zoya’s Julie.  I used two coats.

Liberty is probably the most intense color of the bunch.  Liberty with an accent nail of the previously released red Chyna for the 4th of July?  I just might have to try that.  Two coats.

Oops, this next photo is outdoors but the sun went behind the clouds and refused to come out.  The nerve.

Overall I love this set and it’s so bright and summery.  They seem to have more fine glitter and be less matte than Zoya’s first PixieDust set, but I wonder how much of that impression is due to the much brighter, higher angle sunlight today as compared to a few months ago.

SRP is $9 per 0.5 oz/15 ml bottle.  Available at http://www.zoya.com or at select retailers and salons.

My favorites are Miranda and Liberty, but I hope the warmer colors look better on me when I get a little tan this summer.  Which are your faves?

Tomorrow I’ll post some comparisons between these polishes and matte textured ones from other collections, and also between these and some older Zoya polishes..

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Fly With Me

Although the title of this post is the name of a polish, it also jarringly made me think of the early 1970s ads from National Airlines.  Remember their “Fly Me” campaign?  It consisted of very sexist ads that pictured young, beautiful flight attendants — back when you couldn’t even be a flight attendant unless you were young, pretty, and met weight requirements — with the tagline “I’m Cheryl.  Fly me.”  Or whatever the woman’s name was.  “Fly” being a wink-wink, nudge-nudge euphemism for another verb.  If ya know what I mean.

*** sigh ***  The things we grew up with!

But I digress.  Fly With Me is a neon-bright glass fleck or foil from Color Club’s 2012 summer collection Take Wing.  All six polishes are really bright and attention-grabbing.  Click this photo for a much larger, sharper picture.

I didn’t get the whole set, just a store’s retail set that had four of the polishes, and I gave one away because I had a dupe (the yellow).  The complete set is not available from Color Club any longer, but you might find it on eBay, and the individual polishes can be found at Head2ToeBeauty, among other retailers.  The bottles are full-size, 0.5 oz/15 ml.

Fly With Me is an unusual light yellow-green with a slightly darker green duochrome shift.  The formula was good but extremely sheer, and even with four coats I could still see my nail line, so it might be better over a creme such as a light green or white.  It dried quickly and looks very shiny and sparkly.  Under indirect outdoor light:

Same lighting but a different angle, where it looks more green:

And with the flash:

It’s pretty but I think it’s a little too “Nickelodeon slime green” to flatter my hands.  Would be fun for a pedicure, though, and it could even be a Halloween color.  For a lime green, I prefer SquareHue’s Flower Power.

A beautiful Aria

I have an interesting pink to show you today, and while it’s not new or ground-breaking or traffic-stopping, it’s very pretty.  Meet Aria from Zoya, part of an older collection called Sirens.  Zoya calls Aria “A muted deep pink base with flecked with gold and silver glitter.  Soft and girly with a touch of glam.”

I found the base to be a sheer rose pink and wouldn’t call it so much a glitter as a flakie.  The flakes are very small but flash pink, coral-gold, and even one or two spots of violet.  Perhaps the silver flakes look pink to me because they’re in the pink base.

Application, coverage, and dry time were all good.  I needed three coats for full coverage.  Here it is under indirect outdoor light, with the flash, and then a closeup of the first picture.

It’s just a nice spring color if you like rose pink or raspberry pink.  It’s not as sparkly or loud as a glitter like Zoya’s Gilda and would also make a nice top coat over another pink.  I bought this one on a whim to round out an order I was placing with Zoya and am glad I did!

Frosted Gum Drops from Jesse’s Girl, Part I

Two weeks ago I was quite excited over being able to pre-order the new set of polishes called Frosted Gum Drops from Jesse’s Girl/JulieG at a great introductory price.  The sale has come and gone, but the individual polishes will go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, March 20th (first day of spring!) at the company’s web site.  The price will be $3.99 each, per info on their Facebook page.

These are sugary-looking textured polishes, not as matte as the PixieDust ones from Zoya, and not as glitter-heavy as the Liquid Sand ones I’ve tried from OPI.  Each bottle contains 0.35 oz/10 ml, so they’re bigger than what I consider a mini (0.25 oz. or less) but smaller than what I call full-size (0.45 oz. or more).  I think it’s a great size bottle, since I have yet to use up a full-size polish.

The handle is average, and the brush seemed fairly thick in that it held a lot of polish.  The polish itself was thick but in a good way — not so thick that it was hard to apply, nor clumpy, but applied very well.  It went on super-smoothly and evenly.  I was thrilled with the application, some of the best I’ve ever tried.

Today I’ll show you the three “warm” polishes, Tangerine Dream, Sugar Rush, and Hot Cinnamon.

Tangerine Dream is indeed a bright tangerine color.  It contains micro glitter or flakes in light orange and gold, and I needed three coats.  I love this color even though it’s not that great on my skin tone.  Each swatch is shown in reflected outdoor light and then in direct sunlight.

Sugar Rush is a darker orange-red that made me think of one of my favorite kinds of candy called “Orange Slices” which are really nothing more than sugar, corn syrup, and artificial color.  Like Tangerine Dream, Sugar Rush contains micro glitter or flakes in gold but also orange-red.  Only needed two coats.

Hot Cinnamon is just the color of the candy called “Red Hots.”  It’s bright red although the base is faintly tinted dark pink.   Two coats gave great coverage, and this one dried slightly more matte than the other two.

I’m just crazy about all three and think I’ll be reaching for them a lot this summer.  They’d be great for pedicures, too — so bright and fun.  Tomorrow, the three cool shades.