Belle of the Ball

New colors from Pure Ice!  Although I have little official news — OK, none — a new set of spring/summer colors from Pure Ice has started appearing in Wal-Mart, and the collection is called Belle of the Ball.  Pure Ice, as you may know, is a budget brand that costs $1.97 or so for a full-sized 0.5 oz/15 ml bottle.

I’m not sure how many new colors there are.  I’ve read six or eight, and the new ones are mixed in with the old ones so it’s really hard to tell.  I picked up three:  Playful Princess #1041, Castle of Dreams #1046, and Fairy Godmother #1045.

I don’t know why the label on the lavender bottle is different than the other two; it had something else weird going on with it, which I’ll explain later.

Pure Ice is one of the very few budget brands that I truly like, and I’m not just saying that because they sometimes send me samples (these three bottles were bought at retail with my own money).  Pure Ice and Sinful Colors seem to have mostly consistently good colors, finishes, and formulas that rival more expensive brands.

Playful Princess is a true teal creme.  It and the other two colors were similar in that the first coat was streaky but the second covered very well.  All photos are under indirect outdoor light and then in direct sunshine, with no top coat.

Gorgeous summer color!

Castle of Dreams is a periwinkle blue creme with a faint shimmer that’s visible in the sun.  I have an unreasonable love for periwinkle blues; don’t know why!

Fairy Godmother is a slightly dusty dark lavender or light purple with a faint shimmer.  The polish itself was fine but the stem of the brush was attached very crookedly to the handle, so trying to apply the polish neatly felt like trying to put lipstick on in a moving car.  I did the best I could.

Since this bottle had a bad stem and a very different label, I wonder if I got a maverick somehow.  No big deal.

I love all three colors, and you can’t beat the price.  You may have to comb the Pure Ice displays to find these new colors but they’re worth it!

My kind of yard sale

This Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19th, Color Club is having a sale at their site.  25% off seven-packs, two-packs, four-packs of minis!  Plus the web site says free shipping on orders over $30.  Huzzah — great if you don’t have any local stores that carry Color Club like poor, deprived me.  My local Sally Beauty Supply has them at Christmas time but not otherwise.

CC’s duos are two full-sized polishes.  The regular SRP for a full-sized bottle of Color Club polish is $8, and the duos are usually $12 each, so with the 25% off they’d be $9, or $4.50 per bottle.  Great savings.  Here’s a summery duo of shades:

There are lots of other duos on the site; just put “duo” in the search box.  Many fall and winter polishes from this past year.

The 4-packs are mini bottles, great if you want to try some new colors or if you don’t need full-sized bottles.  They’re half-sized (0.25 oz/7 ml), not ultra-minis with only about a tenth of an ounce like some companies.

Finally, if you really want to expand your polish stash, take a look at Color Club’s 7-packs.  These include full collections plus I believe a clear top coat.  The regular price is $48, so they’re $36 with the 25% off.  Here’s one I’m tempted to get, even though I already own the silver-gold one called Antiquated.  I just love foil finishes so much.

Blogger Scrangie swatched the entire Foiled Collection when it was released in the fall of 2011, and I love her review and photos.  This sale might be a good time to get together with a few friends or family members and place an order.  Think of the fun you’d get, splitting up the colors and having a polish party!

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!).

************************************************

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!!

The SquareHue May box — The Madonna Collection

Thanks to the vagaries of the U.S. Postal Service, it took over a week for my May subscription box from SquareHue to arrive.  But finally it’s here — The Madonna Collection.

From this teaser photo, I’d guessed the trio of polishes would be heavy on pinks.  No kidding, it’s all pinks!  Now, I love pink and I love cool-toned shades, so I’m fine with three cool-toned pinks, but there’s some grumbling in the ranks (more on that later).  I really thought the box would contain two pinks and then a white or a peach.  Let’s meet the trio:

Happy Creme is a bubblegum pink creme, Mother’s Pearl is a medium-light carnation pink frost, and Day Glow is a hot pink creme.  The latter two look similar at first glance in the bottle but they’re very different.

Happy Creme’s formula was fair, a little streaky.  I used three coats and since it wasn’t super-glossy on its own I added a clear shiny top coat, which really improved the look.  One thing I’ve found with the SquareHue polishes is that I need to use a light hand with the brush.  Don’t press down hard.  I don’t know if the bristles themselves in the brush are slightly stiffer or harder than other brands, but they seem to dig into the polish more, if that makes sense.

Here’s Happy Creme under indirect light:

In this light it appears to have a faint orchid tint.  I like it a lot.

Mother’s Pearl, being a pearl/frost, showed brushstrokes terribly.  A top coat didn’t help and actually seemed to make things worse.  Three coats:

Eek.  I like the color but not the finish.  It’s way too frosty and streaky and I can see where most younger women would call it a “grandma color.”  But if you wanted a retro look, hey.  A matte top coat instead of a clear one might look better.

Day Glow is super bright!  It’s a dark geranium pink that dries semi-matte.  The formula was smooth and perfect.  Three coats without and then with a clear top coat:

This one’s my favorite.  Would look great on toes, and would probably really pop over a base coat of opaque white.

Now, just because you have a pink creme, that doesn’t have to mean plain.  I tried three different top coats over Happy Creme.

Left to right:

• Lavender Sparks, a lavender and holographic glitter (micro and small hex) from Maybelline
• Hefesto, a holographic shimmer from Hits
• White Veil, white small hex glitter and gold medium hex glitter from Sally Hansen

I like the middle look best.  You could get something similar with Fairy Dust from China Glaze.

About the colors being all pink, I gather from Facebook that some people were unhappy with that.  It goes with the Mother’s Day/Madonna theme, though, just like I won’t be surprised if the July colors are red, white, and blue.  There’s no guarantee that the three polishes in any one SquareHue box will be from different color families; they’re surprises.  Over time, you’ll see a variety of colors from the boxes.  If you must know what the colors are going to be in advance, SquareHue’s not for you.  There are other polish-of-the-month clubs, but none I’ve been tempted to join (price, quality, number of polishes).

The preview picture for the June box is sure vibrant.  It’s called The SoBe Collection.  South Beach, right?  I’ll guess a teal blue, a bright orange, and then I don’t know what else.  Maybe black?  Khaki or sand?

I got nothin’

I’ve been a bad blogger this past week.  My mind is elsewhere.  Spring fever, maybe?

I was all primed to swatch and review my May monthly subscription box from SquareHue, but it’s still in transit.  Been that way for over a week.  SquareHue acknowledged the problem on their Facebook page, and apparently the boxes just sat around in an understaffed USPS sorting facility for days.  People are starting to get their boxes, though.  Mine’s not here yet.  Sad face.

Other bloggers have more get up ‘n’ go than me, that’s for sure.  Would you like to see a bunch of bright new summer colors?  Check out The PolishAholic’s review of the entire 12-bottle set of Sunsational polishes from China Glaze.

I first mentioned these back in December when the tentative name of the set was On the Shore.  There are six cremes and six jellies; I may have had two of the jellies’ names switched in my old post.  At any rate, TPA doesn’t seem thrilled with them at all, with serious reservations about the formula.

I might pick up the blue jelly, Isle See You Later, but am not tempted by the rest.  Jellies are fun to layer with glitter, or to use as a sheer tinted top coat, but I already have purple, bright pink, and teal jellies from Zoya (The Gloss Sampler) and don’t need more of those same colors.

Speaking of Zoya, if you participated in the big Earth Day sale, have you sent in your old unwanted polishes for recycling?  I finally did that today… took me long enough!

Crazy for Kieko

I loved reviewing Zoya’s Stunning Collection last week, but what’s one color the set was lacking (not that every set can have every color)?  Purple.  So let me show you another summery shade.

This is Kieko, from the 2011 set of six cremes called Summertime and it’s got enough red and berry tones to make it really interesting.  Zoya describes it as “Warm, red toned dusty light purple with berry tones with an opaque cream finish. A nice alternative to pure pink or berry, especially flattering on warm skin tones.”

Well, my cool skin tone loves it anyway.  This kind of color makes me happy just to look at it.

Kieko applied very smoothly and two coats gave wonderful coverage.  I was going to add a clear shiny top coat, but Kieko is so glossy on its own that I didn’t.  For a full manicure, I’d add one for protection, as always.

Under indirect outdoor light and then in bright direct sunshine:

I think Kieko is one of those colors people might not expect on an older woman… which is partly why I love it!

Zoya’s Stunning Collection — the review

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Zoya is rolling out some beautiful polishes for us this spring, as part of their official summer releases.  Today I have the Stunning Collection.

Stunning is a set of six cremes, but Thandie, Micky, and Yana have an extremely subtle shimmer.  It’s so faint I thought at first I was imagining it.

First I tried Darcy, a bright daffodil yellow.  I found the formula a bit thin, and the application streaky and patchy on the first and second coats.  I used three coats.  This photo and all other photos today are under indirect outdoor light and are shown without any kind of top coat.  All other polishes required two coats.

Hmmm, doesn’t wow me.  I love the color yellow in general but don’t think Darcy flatters my skin tone and actually think it makes my skin look grayish.  I swatched Zoya’s Creamy last year, and while I no longer own this color, I don’t think there’s a big difference between the two.  You might have better luck wearing this one; I’ve read at least one blogger who said Darcy was her favorite from the whole set.

Thandie is a bright (not neon) medium orange that has a slight dusty hue.  I rarely find an orange I like, but this is one of them!  Don’t think I have anything like it in my stash.

I was really surprised at how much I like Thandie.

Micky, whose name makes me think of my favorite Monkee from the ’60s — go ahead and laugh, I don’t mind! — is a medium coral pink.  I love pinks but tend to reach for cooler or lavender ones, so the warmth of Micky is a nice change.

Micky’s a fun retro look.

Yana looks only slightly darker than Micky in  the bottle and in these photos but I think they look much different in person.  Yana is a bright geranium pink.  Love it.  Like I don’t wallow in pink already!

Rocky is a medium blue, slightly dusty.  I was reminded of two other cremes from Zoya, Robyn and Yummy, but I like Rocky better because it’s not as bright or neon.

Finally, Josie is a medium grass green, not a lot to say about it.  It’s pretty but for some reason doesn’t grab me the way most of the rest of the set does.

Overall, I think the Stunning Collection is great for summer.  Makes me think of citrus fruit, flowers, grass, and blue sky.  My favorites are Yana, Thandie, Micky, and Rocky.

I also wanted to compare the bottles in Stunning to five of the ones from last year’s Beach Collection.  Beach had no yellow, and Stunning has no light pink like Beach’s Shelby (not shown).  In my opinion, there are no duplicates.

Disclosure:  The Stunning Collection was sent by Zoya for review.

P.S.  I will not be able to review the Irresistible Collection for at least a few more days.  Zoya sent it but it has vanished into the ether. 

China Glaze Autumn Nights

This early spring weather has me frustrated.  Temps in the 60s one day, in the 20s the next.  But I live in Montana; I really should be used to this by now!  I know people in the northeast U.S. who are ready to kill Punxatawney Phil for predicting an early spring, as they dig out from yet another snowstorm.  And speaking of storms, the latest round of them in the country’s midsection has delayed my Zoya Summer PixieDusts until at least Monday.  Sob.

But to either throw us a bone or make our seasonal confusion worse, how about news of an upcoming FALL collection?  Just read about China Glaze’s on some European blogs, and the set will be called “Autumn Nights,” which I find cozy-sounding and intriguing from the get-go.  All pictures, names, and information are unofficial.

Sorry I don’t have bigger, better photos.  Most will be shimmers and the only two cremes are Queen B and Charmed, I’m Sure.  The last two colors, Don’t Make Me Wine and Red-Y & Willing, look like they have a beautiful duochrome shift going on.

I’m looking forward to seeing these (release date ~ August 1st) but first I want to get my hands on some of CG’s summer neon jellies.

Look what’s Blooming

I’m back from my vacation/spring break and ready to swatch again!  See what was waiting for me when I got home, SquareHue’s April box, the Bloom Collection:

Unlike the March box, which was all shimmers/metallics, the Bloom Collection is all cremes, and in lovely spring-like colors of grass green, butter yellow, and flowery lavender.  They have some names that will strike a chord with us Baby Boomers, too:  Flower Power, Yellow Submarine, and Groovy Love.

Flower Power is a lime green that I never would have bought on my own, only because it’s so different.  But I like it!  The word that comes to mind about it is “fresh.”  It was perfectly opaque and smooth in two coats.  All three polishes are shown with a clear top coat under indirect sunshine.

Yellow Submarine is sunny, cheerful, and not too neon.  I like this polish better than the darker, more intense yellow creme called Creamy I tried here.  Also, I have a similar color called Unicorn from Sinful Colors but I never liked it much because the formula was thin and it stained horribly.  Yellow Submarine didn’t stain my nails at all but a base coat is still always a good idea.   Again, it covered well in two coats.

Finally, Groovy Love is one of my favorite polish colors, lavender, yet I don’t have one exactly like it.  It doesn’t lean pink or blue; if anything, it might be very slightly gray.  Love it, so flattering.  Two coats:

I think the entire Bloom Collection is a big fat winner.  It’s exactly what I’m in the mood for this time of year.  The colors would also be great for nail art such as dots or stripes, if you’re so inclined.

********************

SquareHue is a prepaid monthly subscription service, aka a polish-of-the-month club.  I’ve discussed it extensively before and you can read more about it at the company’s web site.  I’ve been very pleased with almost all the colors I’ve received so far, and consider it a special little treat for myself.  Because we deserve it.

Think SUMMER with new collections from Zoya!!

BREAKING NEWS — Zoya announces their new summer 2013 collections,

STUNNING and IRRESISTIBLE!

Here’s the official press release:

JUST LIKE THE SUN, YOU ARE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION!

STUNNING & IRRESISTIBLE

Twelve new Sun Inspired Colors for Summer 2013.

Summer brings the sunniest colors to nails! Including six super shiny creams and six fresh foil metallics to put all the focus on the brightest shining light in any room – YOU!

Zoya SUMMER 2013: STUNNING Collection

• Darcy (ZP663) – Sunny Yellow Cream – Full Coverage.

• Thandie (ZP664) – Citrus Orange Cream – Full Coverage.

• Micky (ZP665) – Amazing Coral Cream – Full Coverage.

• Yana (ZP669) – Rubine Red Cream – Full Coverage.

• Josie (ZP667) – Grassy Green Cream – Full Coverage.

• Rocky (ZP668) – Serene Blue Cream – Full Coverage.

Zoya SUMMER 2013: IRRESISTIBLE Collection

• Kerry (ZP684) – Yellow Gold Foil Metallic – Full Coverage.

• Amy (ZP670) – Red Orange Foil Metallic – Full Coverage.

• Tinsley (ZP671) – Rose Gold Foil Metallic – Full Coverage.

• Bobbi (ZP672) – Hot Magenta Pink Foil Metallic – Full Coverage.

• Hazel (ZP673) – Blue Green Foil Metallic – Full Coverage.

• Rikki (ZP674) – Fern Green Foil Metallic – Full Coverage.

Shipping April 15, 2013

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE – all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find over 300 stunning Zoya colors on www.zoya.com.

Each and every color has a name as unique as the women who inspired it.

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!

$8.00 ea. (US).  Available on Zoya.com

———————————————————————

I hope you’re as excited as I am!  Just looking at these bright, summery colors cheers me up and makes me think of sunshine.  I’m such a fan of foils that I’m most excited about Irresistible.  That rose gold Tinsley — fantastic!  Looks like a foil version of one of my first Zoya polishes ever and still one of my favorites, Happi.

At the risk of sounding like a total, slobbering fangirl, I even love the names — Josie, Darcy, Amy, Hazel, Kerry.

These polishes, along with the Summer PixieDusts and mini “Cuties” that I posted about earlier today, are truly an embarrassment of riches!