Halloweek Spooktacular Day Four - Sinful Colors Cloak and Swagger

Here's probably my favorite of Sinful's Halloween offerings, Cloak and Swagger. Haha! I love the name! And I love the polish, which is a gorgeous, vampy, plummy burgundy with the same fine grained texture and silvery sparkle as a Zoya Pixie Dust. I mean seriously...

 I adore Pixie Dusts, but I don't have one this color. Rather than using cute imagery involving sparkly fairies, Cloak and Swagger boasts a "tombstone matte" finish, which is just so spooky. It's so great!

 And it's maybe even greater with top coat. One coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top eventually got sucked up by the texture, so that the finish was glossy but pebbly. Wet, like a tongue. Two coats makes it perfectly smooth; the silver glitter spangles the dried-blood base, and the result is a polish that is good all year round. Play Dead impressed me with its formula, but it was obviously a novelty polish.

Tomorrow I'll show another Sinful from this collection that also reminds me of Zoya, although it'll actually be another first for the blog: a comparison post! Come back tomorrow night to check it out!

Bonita Big Dipper

I realized several things when I was editing the pictures for today's post. First, I realized that I bought this polish last winter, when Bonita had several sparkly things on offer at the Rite-Aid by my job.

Big Dipper, Golden Girl, Flirty Shirley, Flamingo, and Tinman's Brew are some of the gaudy, glittery, and even holographic Bonita polishes that I have, and I picked up almost all of them at the downtown Portland Rite-Aid on my way to work. This year, that same Rite-Aid has the summer neons still out, and no other Bonitas in sight. Bonita! Where did you go? I need cheap holo glitter that sparkles under fluorescent lights to get me through the miserable rainy winter!

 Another thing I realized is that I like making overcomplicated collages. Since I got my new lighting set up, I have been taking enormous amounts of pictures and deleting most of them, and I'm also starting to really enjoy taking bottle shots. I realized that I stole the idea of the collage with close-up bottle shot from Nicole at Bedlam Beauty, but while she makes consistently clear and well-balanced collages, mine are kind of a mess. I'm not worried about it, since I'm blogging for myself and not to provide any kind of service to others. I'm gonna call it art.

The third thing I realized: The brand name is "bonita by Royal Essence." I have never, ever heard of Royal Essence. Who or what is Royal Essence? I googled them and found a jewelry/candle company, an essential oils company, and a perfume company all by that name, as well as at least one salon.  

 Bonita has their own website, and on the about page they call themselves "Nono Cosmetics." The website says nothing, anywhere, about Royal Essence. I'm sorry this blog post raises questions it can't answer, but Royal Essence will just have to remain a mystery for the time being.

Oh, I guess I should talk about the polish itself, huh? Big Dipper is a mix of medium and small silver metallic and silver holographic glitter. I've got one coat on my index and pinky, two coats on my middle, and I sponged it on my ring finger. It's jam-packed with glitter, but the base isn't goopy or hard to spread. If you ever happen across a bottle of it for $1.75, as I did, it's a nice little holiday-feeling glitter topper. I'm wearing it over Wet N Wild Black Creme, which I was going to include solo shots of in this post before it turned out to be inexplicably long. Join me Wednesday for a more seasonally-appropriate polish.

Saturday Nail Art - Are You Plaid to See Me?

So first off, you might notice in this nail art something I alluded to earlier in the week: a change in my nail shape. Yep, I filed 'em square. I did this for a few reasons; I had a peelie on my left hand that looked like it was going to get worse, I had a hard time filing my points evenly and wanted something neater-looking, and even though I never hear anyone talk about this, it's been my experience that pointy tips get tip wear faster. Your mileage may vary.

 As you probably guessed from this post's hilarious title, this week I was inspired to do some plaid nail art. Remember last week, when I inadvertently switched Zoya Bay and Cupcake Bat-chelor Pad? It actually worked out for the best this week, too. I started out by hand-painting striped of Bat-Chelor Pad and Wet N Wild Be More Pacific over a base of China Glaze Bend Over Backwards, which would not have gone as smoothly if I'd been trying to use a texture.

 I love this color scheme, makes me think of old wool blankets. I stamped with Konad White, as usual, and the plate was from Born Pretty.

To me, this is probably the most successful nail art I've had on the blog yet. I only did it on four fingers, but I would definitely recreate it maybe as an accent nail. Next week might get a little awkward, as I have three holos to swatch and the weather is starting to turn gloomy. I'm about to get daylight bulbs and invest in a second lamp so I can take better indoor pictures, since that's what I'm going to be stuck with starting in a month or so. Fortunately, next week's polishes are super sparkly, super holographic, and gorgeous in any light!

Wet N Wild Be More Pacific

OK, so my nails look wrecked in this post. Because I don't wear a base coat when I swatch, cremes show every flaw in my nails. Later in the week, you'll see a change in my nail shape, and these pics are part of the reason why.

As for the polish itself, I actually really like this one. It's a nice thick two-coat creme, and the color is right between green and blue. Also it was like seventy-five cents or whatever. Cupcake Polish also has a polish called Be More Pacific, but this one came first. I think this is a beautiful color and perfect for summer. I don't have a lot to say about this one, come back Friday for something shinier.

Saturday Nail Art - In 3D

This week's nail art is either my greatest triumph, or my most abject failure. You be the judge, hypothetical reader.

OK, so I forgot to take step by step pictures of this nail art. I'll just describe what I did. For my base coat, I'm wearing 2 or 3 coats of Sinful Colors Bali Mist. For the...uh, let's call them "sculptural elements," I took my peelies of Revlon Balinese Bay and Zoya Bay and cut them up with a pair of scissors. I then used an old, gooey bottle of NYC Grand Central Station to stick them onto my nails in a random arrangement. So there you go.

The peel-off base coat I used was NYC Strip Me Off (two coats), and the pieces were fairly stiff. Still, it was possible to shape them to the contour of my nail, and they stayed on fine. I've never seen this style of nail art before, and I surely don't expect it to catch on because it's sort of gross, but if you want to try it out and put it on Instagram please let me know if you're able to come up with a clever hashtag, because it's just not happening for me tonight.

Revlon - Balinese Bay

Boy, Revlon. This was one of my go-to brands just earlier this year, as I was getting really into collecting polish. Their Spring 2016 collection actually had a lot of good stuff in it, then nothing for summer and two polishes for fall - just like last year, actually, except last year we got Untamed, while this year there's like a hot pink with blue shimmer and some purple-blue glittery fake duochrome thing. I won't touch those, sorry Revlon. I do have a lot from this brand that I love, but I guess they must come later in the alphabet, because...

Today's polish is Balinese Bay. In all fairness, I do like this polish for what it is, which is an insane pink and black texture with scattered holo glitter. I mean, my god. I'm simultaneously delighted and appalled by this polish. I bought it at the Dollar Tree, along with a lot of Moon Candies and some Colorstays, and its collection mate Mayan Riviera. If you've heard that rumor that Seche Restore melts glitters, this is my evidence to the contrary. The same consistency as left over Nesquick at the bottom of a glass of chocolate milk, Balinese Bay has required a lot of thinning since I've had it. 

While I appreciate it as a matte texture, Balinese Bay can also be top coated with a couple thick coats of Seche Vite. You can see the little holo glitters popping.

For $1, I've actually gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this polish, and I've worn it a couple of times. I'm really not a fan of pink, but for some reason, this combo just makes me happy. While scraping Balinese Bay out of the neck of the bottle and trying to spread it on my nails is an ordeal, and the result is an extremely busy polish, I do really like the results. I used NYC Strip Me Off peel off base coat underneath, because this polish is currently 92% glitter, 7% Seche Restore, and the rest is actual suspension base. Join me Friday for another texture!

Sinful Colors - Bali Mist

Today's polish is as mysterious and shifting as the mists of Bali, I guess? It is a duochrome...no, really...

Even though it's a pretty well-known nail polish trick to wear sheer duochromes over a black base, I figured I would judge Sinful Colors Bali Mist on its own merits and try it out alone. In the bottle, it's a pale pink with an oily green sheen; on the nail, it's basically just pink, A lovely, pearly pink, if that's what you're into. But just pink, Over black undies, though, Bali Mist looks very different.

This is one coat over Wet N Wild Black Creme, and ok, in this shot it basically is still just pink. Bad example. Let's try again.

So in the shade, at certain angles, Bali Mist is, indeed, a duochrome. In direct lighting, it's a brushstrokey sheer metallic pink. When you make decals out of it, they look like cellophane wrapping paper and it's pretty cool, I messed with that a little bit while swatching this polish and want to revisit it later. Check back on Wednesday to see a polish that is also pink, but is anything but sheer.

Revlon Artsy

First off, I'm just going to apologize for the poor quality of this post: I'm sorry. I'm sorry about my bad retouching...

 The lighting isn't so great either...

There's some really inconsistency in the photo editing...

And what a lack of variety in the hand poses!

Overall, a really inferior post, even for this blog. But you know what? I can't bring myself to reswatch this polish. Monday I mentioned the mental garbage pile? Yeah, this one is in there, too. I'll be generous and say this polish was "challenging" to apply. Lots of pushing glitter around in a thick base. This isn't a polish you brush on; you dab it, or better yet, you don't buy it in the first place. It does look pretty cool matte, I'll give it that. Join me Friday for this week's good polish, which happens to be my favorite pink.

Maybelline Alluring Rose

Welcome to a new week of swatches! I'm pretty happy that I've managed to post four times a week all through August, even though I was on vacation for part of it. The weather is starting to go back to being cloudy and rainy, so I'm going to be investing in some daylight bulbs and taking more indoor pictures. Right now, here's a photo of Maybelline Alluring Rose.

One of my earliest polishes was Maybelline Bold Gold, which, like Alluring Rose, has the word "holographic" written on the cap despite not being holographic at all. None of the Maybelline "Holographics" (I also have a third, Blue Blaze) are holographic; in fact, they are all metallics, and this one is a sheer rose to gold duochrome. It reminds me of an inferior version of Color Club Sorry, Not Sorry, which has a more opaque formula and a stronger shift. Not that Alluring Rose isn't pretty in its way...

You can see a slight, foil-like sparkle in the upper right shot, but it's generally just a metallic gold that shifts to a pale rose. It has a smooth, thin formula, so even though it's lying about being holographic, it's not a bad polish. I can't think of a Maybelline Color Show that I've really had trouble with, and it's actually the brand that got me into polish! Check back Wednesday for an actual holo!

Bonita All Things Blue

Today's polish is another neon, again without undies. It's Bonita Salon All Things Blue, and it's three coats of lovely summery loveliness.

Bonita is kind of a mysterious brand. I only ever see it at Rite-Aid, and these Bonita Salons showed up in the summer season. They are a "gel-like" polish, but unlike every other gel-like polish I can think of, there was no top coat sold with them. They do have a top coat, I've just never seen it on display. Even without a gel-like top coat, I got good wear out of this polish; I wore it as a pedi over vacation and went a week without chips.

You can actually buy Bonita products online at http://www.bonitacolors.com/ (not affiliated). Even though I've always thought of them as cheapo impulse buy polishes, they actually do have some neat polishes (unfortunately, awesome golden holo glitter Golden Girl is not on the website). I also want to note that this is the first time I've had trouble capturing a polish's actual color. It's actually darker and not as sky-blue as it photographed. Check out Friday's post for another blue polish.