Heaven Nail Lacquer Island Color

Hi guys! Today I have the one polish in my stash that is sure to stain anything and everything within a 30 foot radius of where you are polishing. I'm only kind of kidding...

Meet Heaven Nail Lacquer in Island Color. I found this brand while *gasp!* Grocery shopping at Albertsons about a year ago. They recently released new colors and re-designed their bottles (another CG look alike) and since I'm a sucker for neons, I grabbed a few. Island Color was the first to jump out at me, and I couldn't wait to try her out. She's actually one of my fave colors, a gorgeous deep Indigo leaning Violet neon with an almost rubbery satin finish. Unfortunately, she has some serious attitude and does not like to play nice! I guess this is why most people don't haul at the grocery store, right? ;)

When I sat down to use this baby, I wasn't prepared for what she dished out. She certainly wasn't this badly behaved when I swatched her on a nail wheel! On the very first nail, she came out fairly runny, but she also had a surprise in store! The polish, although thoroughly shaken and rolled, separated and left a watery streak of Violet mixed with chunks of heavy pigment on the nail! No amount of mixing, thinning, shaking, taking a blowtorch to this baby helped. It happened on every single nail! Of course this led to serious flooding and streaks as well as some bubbles and obviously uneven surfaces. Yikes! You would think I would've just given up on her, but I love this color enough that I grit my teeth and pushed on. Although not perfect, this was my result (please forgive the staining and cuticles. I did this on Tuesday and was doing a nebulizer treatment while polishing and just didn't have the energy to mess with cuticle remover just yet):

I love this color, and I love this finish. I really wish she wasn't such a delinquent polish!

I also took the opportunity to try out my Orly Flash Dry Quick Dry Drops since I wasn't going to be using top coat for this mani. They did speed the drying process, but only slightly, and I noticed that it seemed to significantly decrease wear time. Usually with this brand I get at least 2-3 days without any major wear, but this time my mani lasted less than 24 hours before I had huge chunks missing. It literally popped off like dried wall paint! I'm not certain, but I may think the Flash Dry Drops made this polish brittle. I'll have to try the drops with a better brand to see what happens, it may be a case of incompatible chemistry.

Hope you all are having a fabulous day! Thanks for dropping by!

Next up: Zoya Surf, Maybelline Color Show, some top coat reviews, X Out Nail Art, and a teeny bit of Spiderman.

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Orly Dark Shadows Collection, Mysterious Curse

Hi guys! Obviously I am still alive since I'm posting. :) Feeling better, yet still a work in progress.

I meant to post this on Monday, but that whole brush with death thing not only messed up my ability to take some daylight pics, but I banged up my nails a bit. I didn't have the energy to re-swatch this one, so I did the best I could with what I had.  Please forgive my cuticles - I'm in desperate need of some cuticle remover! Plus I wasn't all that concerned with moisturizing on Monday, although I needed it after playing in bleach without gloves (bad! I know!)

Out of the 4 polishes in Orly's new Dark Shadow's Collection, this is the only polish that jumped out at me, and even then it's probably because I have been meaning to pick up Royal Velvet for awhile now, and Mysterious Curse is really nothing more than Royal Velvet with a neato new name.

Despite this being what I consider the perfect shape-shifting blurple polish, I had some serious issues with this girl. Not only was the application slightly nightmarish (bubbles anyone?), but the formula was horrendous (runny to start, then so thick that I had to dump in a ton of thinner and it was STILL gloppy as all get out!)!! I'm usually a big fan of Orly, but this really left a bad taste in my mouth. I hear Royal Velvet has a much better formula, so if you really dig this color, pick up RV. It will save you a serious headache.

These swatches are 2 coats of Mysterious Curse over Seche Recondition, 1 coat of Seche Vite to even out the surface after bubbling, then one more coat of Mysterious Curse and a final top coat of NYC In A New York Minute Top Coat (Not a bad top coat, although I still prefer a deep dry top coat). I used several different types of lighting since I had no access to daylight. Not the best swatches out there, but you get the idea, right?

It's really too bad the formula on this polish was so bad. I adore this color, and even got several compliments on it while in the ER! I'll have to pickup a bottle of Royal Velvet to compare formulas. I'd love to wear this color again, but not if I have to deal with the bubbly glue-like formula!

Next up: The world's worst staining nail polish, Zoya Surf, Maybelline Color Show, and some Nail Art for a new product and great cause!

Hope you're all having an awesome Wednesday and are all breathing easy.

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Butter London- The Black Knight

Hi guys! I'm still feeling horrible, so this will be short and sweet, but I figured I would at least post something since I'm a little behind and I spent a good chunk of time indulging my depression since hubs was traveling for work and I was run down. For those that don't know, I have 2 kids: a 21 month old son and a 10 year old daughter. My daughter has Asperger's Syndrome, so we have a lot of OT and Neurology Appointments, as well as trying to help her transition to middle school next year. I also own my own business, which requires a ton of paperwork, computer work, as well as driving and walking. Lemme tell ya, when Hubs is gone? I'm going a good 20 hours a day just to get things done. I'm certain that contributed to my picking up this heinous illness. So that's what I've been dealing with, and since I suffer with depression and anxiety disorders, it's been very hard. I think I'm due for a med change since before hubs left I was having trouble with anxiety and leaving the house. I know, TMI, but for those that know me a little more and are wondering where I went, etc., there ya have it.

On to the polish!

Today I have Butter London's The Black Knight to share with you. I've had this polish forever, but just never really found the right occasion for it. Finally, the night hubs left town, I said sod it all and wore it anyway!

I want to tell you guys how fabulous this polish is, and that it's totally worth the $14.00. But I can't. This one is a matter of how much you will tolerate to get to the final look. The Black Knight is a mass of multi-colored glitter in a black jelly base, but it's not your usual multi-color glitter. Nope, it's a gorgeous mix of blues, pinks, and what looks like some silver and gold. The pink and blue truly dominate, and that's what made this polish a must have for me. It really is absolutely gorgeous. But, the formula? What a hot mess! It was thick from the get-go, but it just became so gloppy that I had to thin it out after the 4th nail. Even after thinning once, it still glopped up so badly that the neck of the bottle was clogged. I've never used a polish that was this thick and gloppy in my life! I was so frustrated by the end of the second coat that I swore I would never wear this again and threatened to re-home it. I have since decided that it may be worth the hassle for some special occasion or another, but I certainly won't be wearing it just for fun. This was really inconsistent with Butter London's usual smooth formula, and I'm hoping maybe it was just my bottle. At least I hope so because I sent a bottle of this in a package to someone and I really don't want their head to explode when they try to use it! ;)

Despite having the most evil of all formulas, she is a pretty girl. Of all my glitters, this one got the most compliments. Wear was average, lots of tip wear (wrapping them was a waste of time), but no other chips or wear.  This is 2 coats over Julep Nail Therapy and topped with Out The Door (I ran out of SV. I have since procured some, thank god!).

See? She's gorgeous enough, but is she worth all the hassle? I'll let you be the judge...

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber