Sinful Colors - Rainstorm Swatch & Review

My favorite place in the world to find Sinful Colors is Big Lots. I got this guy a few weeks ago (along with, like, ten others... I really should just suck it up and do an SC spam post one of these days) but he got lost under the coffee table until today. But then I found him. And then I swatched him.

Things!:
1. I got an Ottlight during the sale at Michael's last week (they're usually $80 but they were on sale for $24. Um, yes?)
2. My nails are SO WONKY. They don't look that wonky at the moment, seeing them with my eyes, but the get so lumpy and weird in photos. Close-ups, man.
3. I feel like there was more but I forget. Oh well.

Rainstorm is a dusty medium blue. A pretty apt name if I do say so. Applied all right; no problems but nothing to write home about. I haven't swatched just a creme in about a thousand years, huh? I can't remember the last one. Was there ever one? God, my brain.

Anyway, this is two medium coats with Essie G2G on top with fancy light!

So, yeah, there's only one. I was too nail self-conscious, the rest of them were weird looking and kind of blurry. The light is awesome, the camera isn't so bad, but I have very un-steady hands. Things, things, things.

Sally Hansen Sugar Shimmer - Sugar Cloud Swatch & Review

Guess who's back to rocking shorties? They're not quite as short as they used to be when I bit them, at least. OH WELL. My goal is to keep blarging despite my nubs. So, onward!

Today we have a polish I picked up on clearance at Ulta (though I thought this collection just came out kind of... at least I didn't hear a lot about it) whilst contemplating purchasing a few from the Gwen Stefani/OPI collaboration. It's a Sugar Shimmer which I guess differs from the Sugar Coat line SH put out by being, well, shimmery. I don't like creme textures, so I never bothered with the Sugar Coats.

Sugar Cloud is a sheer baby blue texture with a pink/yellow duo-tone shimmer. I decided to wear it over Sinful Colors - Cinderella, which shares a similar shimmer (say that shiz three times fast why don't you) because 1. my nails are stained the most awful dead person yellow and I didn't want to taint the loveliness of this polish (I mean, it's really sheer) and 2. it's.. um.. really sheer. I'd like to experiment layering this over different colors for funsies.

The swatches below are two coats Cinderella topped with two coats of Sugar Cloud in sad Ohio winter daylight because I was literally too lazy to set up my light box. Meh.

Like usual, it was hard to get the pink to show up on my camera. You can see a pretty accurately colored pink colony at the left uppermost corner of the bottle.

Sugar Cloud isn't my favorite texture of all time, mostly because I don't love layering polishes to get their full effect. I'd like to get on my nail what I see in the bottle. The drying time wasn't that great either (though I'll blame my impatience on letting four layers of polish dry thoroughly enough) compared to other textures. Pretty color, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to get any more of them.

On a side note, I think my new goal is to get my fingers to stop looking like stumpy sausages in pictures. My hands are possibly my favorite part of me buuut I certainly don't make it look that way, amirite?!! I need to take Hands Photography 101 for real.

I need to find someone who teaches Hands Photography because that person has got to be awesome.

Ciate - Pucker Up and True Blue Swatches & Reviews

I've not tried Ciate before (partially because I really, really hate the phrase "paint pots" for some reason... they're bottles, okay? And it's nail polish, or lacquer, or whatever. Nobody calls it 'nail paint'. I know it's some cute marketing thing, but I hate it). I'm a spendthrift (mostly out of necessity) so I typically try to swap for polishes that I want or if I'm going to drop a full dolla dolla amount it's only on indies, etc. Since I got a Sephora gift card for Christmas, I decided to try a few brands I hadn't yet. Ciate has this pick-3-for-$18 end cap there where you, uh, pick out 3 mini Ciate paint pots and they fit inside this little box and it's pretty adorable, okay. I actually liked quite a few of the options, but I decided to go with Pucker Up, True Blue and Risky Business.

Pucker Up, according to Sephora.com is a "Glimmering Pink". Meh! I would describe it as a highly textured metallic orchid with gold and violet shimmer. Seriously sparkly, but very very tactile... Texture polish is the one trend that doesn't set my teeth on edge so it doesn't bother me. Unlike some texture polishes (the L'Oreal Gold Dust line immediately comes to mind) it took a couple coats to get an even-looking texture on the nail. A little streaky at first, if that's even possible, but the result is worth the deliberation.

Below is three thin coats, artificial light.

With one coat of Essie G2G. I realize for full smooth-ocity I need way more than just some top coat, but even just that really brings out the color.

True Blue doesn't even have a description on the site, because duh kind of. It does, however, have a super awesome green sparkle that pictures don't show very well. There's also this pink shimmer in the bottle that doesn't translate onto the nail. Sad face.

This is two coats, artificial light. Much easier to work with than Pucker Up. Looks like straight glitter on the nail in real life. Definitely my favorite of the two.

With Essie G2G.

Top coat gives it a lot more depth and contrast. I lily like it.

As far as Ciate textures go, they're not as easy to work with as some, but their color/glitter combos make them a welcome addition to my stash.

Literary Lacquers - Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster Swatch & Review

I'm a total teal whore. I don't even care. My favorite color for the last 23 years has been cerulean blue, but I think teal is slowly eeking its way into Favoriteville.

This is another one of those polishes that I've kept on my wishlist for a while now. Why didn't I just buy it as soon as I saw it?

PGGB is the most unngghhh bright teal jelly with a mild linear holo and tiny holo glitter. I need need need need need need need to find a light for my light box that does to holo what sunlight does to holo. Is there such a light? I'll find out, guys, it's okay.

This is 3 thin coats. Essie G2G on top. Artificial (not holo-friendly) light.

The last one's with flash, for good measure, obvs.
I need more Literary Lacquers in my life. 

PinkDipsyBulle - Indian Ocean Swatch & Review

1. I bought this polish on a whim as I've never been much for pink.
2. It's seriously one of my favorite polishes of all time. I don't know how meaningful this is as my polish addiction is only a little over one year old. BUT OF ALL TIME THOUGH.
3. I lost my first bottle. I tore up my whole house looking for it. I'm pretty sure my toddler stashed it somewhere (like the trash can) and I mourned for like, three whole days.
4. I practically begged for somebody to sell me theirs as it's no longer being made, and somebody did!!

So, I don't know what it is about this polish, but I love it so much. The color is so good, you know? It's a blue base that looks periwinkle mostly because of the strong pink shimmer, and it's nice and opaque in 3 thin coats that dry amazingly fast. It does dry just a touch matte so it's shown here with (say it with me!) one coat of Essie G2G in artificial light.

It's just radiant, you know? I don't even know a less dorky way of describing it. Radiant.

I always (not always always, I guess) read reviews about polishes that "practically apply themselves" and that got me wondering what that kind of polish felt like. This is the polish that explained it to me. It's like, it knows that it's supposed to be all over those nails and it wants it. If it was a color PinkDipsyBulle still produced I would enthusiastically urge you to get it, but it's not, so you can just stare at my fat-looking fingers and pretend they're yours and get kind of sad about missing out. I just bought two more bottles from her today, and I cannot wait for them to arrive.

Femme Fatale - Winter Hyacinth Swatch & Review

I have been scoring the most awesome polishes lately. I've been smitten with Winter Hyacinth for a while now... magenta holo and circle, salmon pink and white matte glitter (kite shaped too even!) in a translucent turquoise base? Duh, I say!

This is three coats (plus a little bit of dabbing here and there) with one coat of Essie - G2G in artificial light. The first coat was super sheer and glitter coverage was "meh," but it wasn't frustrating building up to opaque and it only took a little glitter fishing (especially for the white kites) to evenly disperse the good-goods.

Side note: I hate the hardest time getting a good (decent) stupid picture on this day. I don't know what the deal was. Like, some days the lighting is just fine and my skin doesn't look freakish (I'm quite pale, really. The German genes won over the Italian ones, I guess) and other days it, you know, does look freakish. Like, silly putty looking. I don't even know.

Word.

SinfulShine - Who's the Gloss Swatch & Review

Hey! It's that polish swatch I was telling you about yesterday!

I keep typing "Who's the Glodd". It's happened like forty six times. Who is the Glodd?

Who's the GLOSS is, you know, it's a member of the fancy Sinful Shine branch of the Sinful Colors family, with its metallic cap and Gel Tech. Ooooooh boyyyyy.

Applied much nicer than Zeusy-poo, but still didn't smooth out as much as I would want a polish that's supposed to be not so much requiring a topcoat to do that job to. I don't even know what I just typed there. But do you get what I mean, kinda?

Anyway, so. It's, like, dark gray sort of, but like, barely plum-toned... and the shimmer is violet and still a little bit sneaky. I'm like 98% sure my brain is hibernating right now. I can not thoughts. Thinking is no.

Uh. Three coats, artificial light, no top coat. NOOOO TOPPPP COAAAAT.

I need food.