Essie Lapis of Luxury and Shine Of The Times (From Luxeffects!) Swatches!

Hi guys! I am so sorry that I haven't posted in so long! As I said in my last post, I was sick with the demon cold from hell, so I wasn't really feeling well enough to edit pics and post. It was hard enough to wrangle my 19 month old and hang out with my 10 year old! I'm back now and thankfully feeling much, much better. Hubby ended up sick the past 2 days, but is better today as well, which means time to post and catch up on blogs!

I actually wore this mani the day I got sick, and I was so excited about it. I have had Essie's Lapis of Luxury for months now, but I wanted to pair it with something awesome, since I love this shade of periwinkle blue and I felt that it needed something to make it pop. Black would've worked, but that's the old standby for any color and I wanted something that would compliment the periwinkle without overwhelming it. I was also itching to wear Shine Of The Times from Essie's Luxeffects collection, and decided to try out the 2 together. The results were awesome!

First, let's take a look at Lapis of Luxury on its own.


Sunlight:

Indoors, natural light:

I have to say that out of the ton of Essie Polishes in my collection, this is the only one that has let me down. Essie's polishes are usually a dream to apply, but not this baby! Perhaps it's just my bottle, but the formula was runny and thin, taking 3 coats to reach any kind of opacity. But, after 3 coats I still had bare spots from an extreme case of drag. Not only did it have drag at the tips, but anywhere I went over the polish more than once (in order to correct a bare spot), it would create an ever larger bare spot! Very frustrating and such a let down. Especially since I love this color so much. It's an absolutely gorg shade of periwinkle blue, much like the Periwinkle Crayon that used to be my favorite as a kid. The sheerness reminds me of a jelly, although this polish is NOT a jelly. Dry time was also a bit slow, and without a top coat the shine was a bit disappointing. I see this being used as a base for layering or nail art, but not something I'll be wearing alone since I don't have the patience for the 4-5 coats it would need for full opacity and coverage.


But....add Shine Of The Times, and wow! I love the combination of a flakie with this shade of blue!

Here is Lapis of Luxury with one coat of SOTT:

Sunlight:

Indoors, Natural Light:

I love these 2 together! The flakies in SOTT are so glowy, and I love how the red and teal play off the Periwinkle Blue.  In person this combo is so subtle and beautiful. A lot softer than what I normally wear, but still eye catching.  But, I just had to see what it looked like with a matte top coat. I mean, who doesn't love some matte flakies, right? I grabbed my Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love and added a coat!

Indoors, natural light:

Wow! The colors really pop when matted! I wore this mani for 2 days just like this. It did look better in indirect natural light as opposed to direct sunlight though. It washed out in the sun and just looked like I was wearing a lumpy blue polish. I guess that's the downside to choosing a rather light base for Shine of The Times.

Shine of The Times is my very favorite polish from Essie's Luxeffects collection. I love Essie, and an Essie flakie was just irresistible! To be honest, as much as I love flakies, this is alot like most of the flakies floating about in polish land. Same colors, same effect. If you already have Nubar 2010 for instance, there's no need to rush out and grab SOTT, unless you just want the Essie version.  The one difference I can see is that SOTT is a denser flakie. It is so packed with flakies that one thin coat is definitely enough. Anything more and the flakies will take over and obscure most of your base color.  Formula was excellent for Essie's first foray into flakies, thick enough to cover and spread the flakes evenly, but not so thick that it's hard to work with. After 2 days, I had zero wear on this combination, even wearing the matte top coat.  Overall I am pleased with SOTT, even if it isn't all that different from the others.

For another look at Shine of The Times with some awesome base colors and a great mani idea for those that don't like a full flakie mani, check out my awesome friend MariJo's post over at her blog Polish Obsession!

I *am* really looking forward to Finger Paints all-flakie collection. After seeing the press releases, they look like they really stand out. Different color flakies make me very happy.

Hope you guys are all well, and I'm so sorry I was gone for so long! I have a few more posts to try and squeeze in tonight and tomorrow morning in order to catch up, so heres to hoping I can manage to get those done!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber