Essie Maximillian Strasse Her

Essie Maximillian Strasse Her

Essie Maximillian Strasse Her is a sage green with little hints of blue. It's a lovely color and I had no issues with the formula. The below is two coats with topcoat. 

Orly Coachella Dweller

Orly Coachella Dweller

Sometimes a nice creme is what is needed. Coachella Dweller is from the newest Orly collection and it has a sort of soft diffused look on the nail. This is two coats with topcoat. 

Sephora + Pantone Universe Mini Graphic Effects Lacquers

Sephora + Pantone Universe Mini Graphic Effects Lacquers

Last year I bought the Tangerine Tango set and was not very happy with it. I loved the color but the formula and selection was blah. This year I thought I would be a bit happier because the color is Emerald. Yes! A deep luscious green is right up my alley. When I saw this set from Sephora I bought it because I love green and I'm a sucker that doesn't learn from past experience.  

This set has three mini bottles (0.3oz) with each color having a different finish: shimmer, metallic and glitter. The formula on all of them is gooey and gummy and needed thinner - a lot of thinner. I also question this green being called emerald. I find them too blue leaning to be what I call emerald and I would put them in the jade green category. The glitter is the closest to my version of emerald green. I suppose they are a shade of emerald green but I wanted that deep lush green of a gorgeous emerald stone. Hmph. 

Emerald Shimmer. This is more of a pearl finish and really reminds me of a creme de menthe color. It's very pretty, I admit, but the formula was fussy and not easy to worth with and this required 3/4 coats. I just don't see this as emerald. Does anyone else think the same? 

Emerald Metallic. This one is a big fail. It's a creme base with holo glitter but the holo sparkle is very, very faint. It essentially looks like it has tarnished silver glitter in a green base. It looks like a badly made franken. This is three coats. 

Emerald Glitter. This has a slightly tinted base with green glitter. The base is not tinted enough to be opaque but it's tinted enough that it would color a base color unless it was green. The best way to wear this would be over a green creme. This is four coats because I wanted to wear it alone. Nothing exciting and there are much better green glitters out there. 

Zoya Pixie Dust Vespa

Zoya Pixie Dust Vespa

Zoya Pixie Dust collection is six polishes with a sugared matte finish. I love, love, love the finish and feel of them all. They are all matte but still sparkle. It really does look like you sprinkled really fine sugar onto your nails. Very cool. I was sent the collection for review and have had a chance to wear them all and each one was a huge pain in the ass to apply. They have a gooey gel like consistency and if you don't wait for the first coat to 100% settle you will get major dragging and balding. They take forever to dry if they dry completely at all. The brushes on all of them are really soft and wonky in some way which made applying them even more of an issue. 

I am a huge fan of the finish and feel of the Pixie Dust collection but I am not a fan at all of the formula or the brushes. I've seen the reviews for this collection on other blogs and I can't be the only one who got bad brushes and had issues with the formula. Maybe Zoya just hates me. I really hope another company comes out with this finish because I just can't work with the Zoya collection. I'm really, really glad I didn't pay for these. I highly suggest waiting for a sale. 

This is Vespa a soft green. It's three coats and the second application. I did use thinner - lots of it - but the formula was still a pain. 

Catherine Arley 801

Catherine Arley 801

Remember in 2010/2011 when everyone was going nuts trying to get their hands on this brand? Me included! Ah, good times. Catherine Arley is a vibrant chartreuse green with a soft subtle holo finish. 

This is two coats with one coat of topcoat. I love this color so much. 

Revlon Heavenly

Revlon Heavenly

I found Revlon Heavenly in its own slot of a permanent color display so I am thinking it is not limited edition. It's a great combination of blue/green square glitter with orange flecks in a milky base. It's a pretty spot on dupe of Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven. You can see a comparison KarenD did here. I like a cheap dupe. 

I want to love this polish because I am very fond of square glitters and it really is a unique and unusual polish and the glitter pay-off with one coat is very nice. But! The formula on this is so awful and it has a very, very strong "polish" smell. The smell doesn't bother me too much but it does make my eyes water. The formula, on the other hand, does bother me. I added two full eyedroppers full of thinner and let it sit and it is still thick and gummy. It didn't self level and it didn't dry fully. It also looks best over dark colors but I wanted to see it over a lighter color. I think I may add even more thinner and see what happens but as of right now the formula is yuck, yuck, yuck! I want this polish to work because I really like it. Dammit. 

This is one coat of Orly Snowcone with one coat of Heavenly and one coat of topcoat. I took this off right after snapping the photos. 

Awful low light. 

Sunlight. 

Hit Polish Balkan Green

Hit Polish Balkan Green

Hit Polish Balkan Green can be found on etsy.

I really like this polish. It surprisingly looks good over various colors - green, orange, blue and white - but I decided to wear it (this time) over Nubar Barricade. It has blue, green and yellow matte jelly glitter. I enjoy just looking at it while I am wearing it. Really wonderful formula too. The below is one coat over Barricade with one coat of topcoat. 

The little bits of cat hair on my ring finger are on there until I take it off. It seems to have gotten trapped under the topcoat. Damn cats. It's also a bit cold here today which makes me want to find some cool fingerless gloves. 

La Femme Unica

La Femme Unica

I really like this polish. This is the type of green I would have like to have seen in the recent Color Club Halo Hues collection. Actually, since emerald is the Pantone color of 2013, I would like to see a collection of various shades of green holo polishes. I haven't seen any hint of the emerald trend in nail polish this year so I am hoping it will show in the fall/holiday collections. *fingers crossed*

Unica is a yellow based green with a slight murky undertone. It's not a true linear holo but it is a strong holo. I only needed one coat for complete coverage. I think I got this in a swap but it can be purchased at llarowe and Ninja Polish. 

It doesn't look like much in the bottle does it? 

On the nail it really comes to life. 

Color Club 2013 Halo Hues Collection

Color Club 2013 Halo Hues Collection

It seems these were released a bit earlier than Color Club expected. I was surprised to see these on Ebay but was pretty happy about it so I bought a set. These are amazingly and wonderfully holographic with a beautiful formula. They go on like a creme and I had no issues applying them like other holo polishes. If you have been hesitant about trying a holo because of the formula you should try these - just gorgeous! 

This is a heavy photo post and please pardon the dry hands. It's really cold here and my skin is showing it. I think I need to soak in lotion for an hour! I'm also wearing topcoat in all of these photos and it did not dull the holo effect. They all seem to have a slight metallic sheen to them that isn't very obvious but I do see it. I'm guessing it's the holographic pigment. 

On to the swatches! 

Beyond is a black holographic. This is one coat. One! This is a dense black and it reminds me of Jade Magia Negra. It's more black and opaque compared to Layla Flash Black. 

Eternal Beauty is a mid-tone grape purple. This photographed lighter and I tried to color correct it but I just couldn't. It's lighter than Color Club Wild at Heart and much, much more holographic. It's a bit darker than Layla Ultra Violet. It's about the same purple as China Glaze Gamer Glam but it seems to fall in between the color wheel of other purple holo polishes I have. 

Here is a color accurate but bad lighting photos. This is one coat as well. 

Here you can see it shows lighter and more pastel in looks but it's actually deeper with a slight dusty quality. 

Cosmic Fate is a peach/copper. This is in the same color family as Layla Coral Glam and maybe some older OPI Designer Series colors. The holo in this really stands out against the base color. This is two coats. 

Low light to show the base color better. 

Bright light. 

Over the Moon is, I think, my favorite. It's a bit lighter than Layla Ocean Rush and it reminds me of a few Ozotic holo polishes. A lovely deep aquamarine or a london blue topaz color. Yum! 

Low light. 

Bright light. 

Kismet is a lime green. It's a green and as much as I love green I wish Color Club had done a darker green. This is two coats. 

Low light. 

Bright light. 

Miss Bliss is a deep pink that has a slight magenta undertone. This is two coats. I'm drawing a blank on colors that are in the same family. I'm sure there are but my brain is just not pulling any out at the moment. 

Low light. 

Bright light.