Review: China Glaze Hologlam collection part 2

Hello!!

I'm back with the second half of the polishes I bought from the China Glaze hologlam collection. If you missed the first half of the review, you can get to it by clicking here. :) I originally said I bought 9 of these polishes; I think I was in denial about how many I bought, because it turns out I have 10 of them. Or maybe I just can't count...>.>

All polishes are shown with no basecoat, and one coat of Seche Vite. Formula was great as long as I didn't use basecoat--when I did, I got horrible dragging and ended up having to use three coats to even it out. But without basecoat, all were fine with two thin coats. :)

First up today is Cosmic Dust, which is a light gray polish with a light blue bent to it:

China Glaze Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Cosmic Dust in the shade

This one leaves me a bit 'meh'. It's fine, but nothing really special like some of the others in the collection. However, in an odd ironic shift, I think it's really pretty in the shade when the holo doesn't show as much, and I've included a picture of that here; there is a very slight duochrome feel to it with blue and purple visible. :)

Next, Not In This Galaxy. This is somewhere between a pink and a coral, depending on the light you show it in--for the most part, it's fairly pink, but there is enough coral that comes through that I love it. So I guess that means that I...I...own a pink holo! ::gasps::

China Glaze Not In This Galaxy

Next is Sci-Fly By. This is a medium-light blue with a prominent rainbow. This is a little darker than the typical blues in other main-stream collections, and it's very pretty. I also thought this one was interesting in the shade (they are all fine in the shade, but some are finer than others if you know what I mean!):

China Glaze Sci-Fly By

China Glaze Sci-Fly By

Sci-Fly By in the shade

Next up: Galactic Gray! This is a dark charcoal gray polish with a medium strong holo flash. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this when I bought it, but I LOVE it. There is something about the texture to it, or maybe it's that the shade of blue in the rainbow goes so well with it. Whatever it is, it just works and although I don't wear much gray, I think I'll be getting some miles out of this:

China Glaze Galactic Grey

China Glaze Galactic Grey

And then we have the bang-pow of Infra-Red, a magenta purple-pink with a medium holo flash. I haven't seen another holo quite like this before; the other purples I've seen are much  more blue-based, and often more on the pastel side. This is bright, summery, and crisp. I love it:

China Glaze Infra Red

China Glaze Infra Red

And then, bringing up the rear with a proud sashay, we have Strap On Your Moonboots. This is a deep slate blue that gives a punch of saturated color; the holographic rainbow was a bit more on the subtle side, more like those in OMG A UFO and When Stars Collide. When I was choosing which to buy from the collection, I had a hard time choosing between this and Take A Trek, and I'm glad I talked myself into getting both. 'Get Both!', said I, and I was right. They're different enough, and for heaven's sake, they're holos. 'Nuff said:

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

Overall, I'm really pleased with this collection. I love getting a set of saturated, jewel-toned holos that have the linear holo in a fairly strong form. The only one of these I could do without is Don't Be A Luna-Tic; a close second is Cosmic Dust. But this isn't because there's anything wrong with them per se; it's just that they are more like the typical holos that are pretty much everywhere. The others feel much more special to me, and speak more to my aesthetic. :)

In terms of the collection as a whole, I like what China Glaze did here (okay, who am I kidding, I love it), but I'm a little surprised by how many blues there were in the collection. I would have lost Don't Be A Luna-Tic or Cosmic Dust and done a forest green or a deep red. But, that's like when the judges on Top Chef send someone home because their dish was only a 9.5 out of 10; it's not a fatal flaw by any means, lol. This collection is so gorgeous and I'm so happy with it. :)

(uh oh...did my reality TV obsession just peek out? ssshhhhhhhh....maybe nobody noticed...I think I got away with it...)

So what do you guys think? Fab or fail?

Thanks for stopping by,

Xoxox,
M.

NOTD: When UFOs Collide

Hello!

Today is my second entry in the Tri-Polish challenge; for March, we have to create four manicures using our chosen shades of coral, green, and purple. Three of the designs can use two of the colors, and one must have all three.

For today I decided to use my green (China Glaze OMG A UFO) and my purple (China Glaze When Stars Collide) in a gradient. I also stamped with Barry M Gold Foil and Cheeky plate GA48 (yes, basics like gold, silver, white and black are allowed). Here is the final look:

When UFOs Collide

Don't those colors look pretty? Next time I do this gradient, I'm going to stamp vines and grapes on it, because the colors make me feel like I'm in a vineyard. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Please check out the other challenge manis below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Stone Age

Hello!!

Today's prompt in my Llama Nails Time Periods challenge is the Neanderthal/Stone Age period. Whenever I think of this period, I think of cave paintings...so I googled some to get some inspiration. When I saw this one from a cave in Chitradurga, I jumped for joy, because it has the exact same skill level as my free-hand abilities!

Chitradurga cave painting

Because I've been playing around with my new China Glaze hologlams, I started with a base of Galactic Grey, a dark slate grey holo:

China Glaze Galactic Grey

China Glaze Galactic Grey

Next I saran-wrapped over the top with Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, to create the mottled look of the background. Then I free-handed some of the figures from the painting with Wet n Wild White Creme:

Finally, I put some matte topcoat over the whole thing to give it more of a chalk-and-stone sort of look:

What do you think?! I think it came out really cool, and it actually looked good on, like an abstract-y black-and-white print. :)

Thanks for stopping by! For more Stone Age manis, check out the links below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Review: China Glaze Hologlam collection, part 1

Hello!!!

Today is a happy, happy day.

A few days ago, the China Glaze Hologlam polishes I ordered arrived, and I did a dance of joy. I've been waiting for the polishes since before I even knew they were going to come out; when I first learned about the OMG collection, I hoped beyond hope that China Glaze would put out another collection of holos. Well, to be fair, I tried to tell myself there was no point paying all that money for the OMG because if I was patient, another such collection would come out.

Well, finally it did, and it's all that, and more. Because, as you know, I love my jewel-toned polishes. And this collection gives them to me in beautiful, glorious holos.

These are linear holos, and they're what I'd call medium to medium-strong holos. Not as HOLY WOWZA as Nfu-Oh or Layla, but still proud to show their rainbow.

I didn't buy the whole collection, but I did buy most of it; I splurged and got 9 of them because I had an awesome discount coupon (yay, coupons!). I'll show you 4 today.

First, one of my favorites in the whole collection: When Stars Collide. This is a deep wine-colored purple that is exactly the sort of holo that has been dancing around in my dreams:

China Glaze When Stars Collide

China Glaze When Stars Collide

China Glaze When Stars Collide

Of course when I swatched this, the sun went into hiding. I waited as long as I could to swatch it, but when I started to see tip-wear, I went ahead and used my light-box. Believe me, the holo is even stronger in direct sunlight. :)

Formula on this, and all of the others, was perfect, as long as I didn't use a basecoat. When I did, I had horrible drag that took three coats to even out. But when I didn't, it went on like butter.

Also like other holos, these are unforgiving, particularly because you don't have a basecoat to hide any flaws. I'll point this out below.

Next up is Don't Be A Luna-Tic. This is pretty, but not particularly unique--all holo collections have this color, pretty much. In fact, I didn't buy a similar one from the Halo Hues because I knew this one was coming out; it's a soft sky-blue holo:

China Glaze Don't Be A Luna-Tic

You can see in this picture what I meant about the unforgiving nature of this polish--if you look at my middle finger, it looks like the polsh chipped and I just painted over it or something. No, what that actually was was a tiny bit of peeling on the nail, so little it was barely detectable by feel. In order to swatch the other polishes, I had to buff it down completely, and even then it was touch and go. So beware--any flaws on your nail will need to be dealt with before wearing these polishes.

Next up, my other top favorite: OMG A UFO. This is a stunning olive green with a smooth, creamy texture:

China Glaze OMG A UFO--Seriously, how gorgggggeous is that?

This and When Stars Collide are the absolute stars (no pun intended) of the collection to me. No accident I chose them for two out of three of my tri-polish challenge colors!

And finally for today, Take A Trek. This is a medium periwinkle blue holo that reminds me of the ocean; of all the polishes from the collection that I bought, this one had the most subtle rainbow:

What do you think so far??

Thanks for taking a look, and I'll be back with more!

Xoxox,
M.

(The products in this review were purchased with my own money.)

Before & After: Tri-polish challenge

Hello!

Crumpet Nail Tarts are trying out a new type of challenge--the Tri-polish challenge. Here is how it works:

1) Each month, the 'prompt' is a set of three colors. For March, the colors are coral, green, and purple.

2) Each participant picks a color they want to represent each of those three colors. The ones I've picked are Sally Hansen's Snappy Sorbet for coral, China Glaze's OMG A UFO for green, and China Glaze's When Stars Collide for purple.

3) Each participant does 4 manis, of any type they like (stamping, gradient, free-hand, etc.). The only requirement is that each mani must contain at least two of the three polishes, and one of them must involve all three.

I'm not sure how well I'll do with this challenge, because usually polish 'speaks to me', and I get a mindset about what I want to do with it. So coming up with 4 different approaches will definitely stretch my versatility and polish muscles!

For today's mani I used two of the three colors, my purple (China Glaze When Stars Collide) and my coral (Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet):

China Glaze When Stars Collide

 I used Cheeky plate C, and added two sequins in green (in the spirit of the challenge, although this doesn't count for my all-three-colors mani. :) )

I'm already in love with this challenge because it's getting me to put together colors I wouldn't have before. I never would have paired these, but I love them together. :)

Thanks for looking! Please check out the other purple, coral and green manis below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Kinda Before & After: Jurassic Bubble Wrap Mani

Hello!!

And so begins my new challenge with Llama Nails--Periods of History! We're starting with the Jurassic period and each week will be moving up through time to the future. :)

I started with a base of Kleancolor Metallic Green, and then put some Spoiled Call You Later over it. Then I decided to try a new technique over it--bubble-wrapping. I figured, if saran wrap works to create cool texture, bubble wrap should be even better! It does create round areas, with an overall texture similar to what you can do with saran wrap, but a little more dense, which is kind of cool. :)  Anyway, I did this with a muddy beige polish which promptly got lost among my other polishes and I can't remember what it was...>.<

Bubble Wrap effect

Cool circular textures

Next I stamped over it, first with China Glaze Joy and China Glaze Glittering Garland; I used Bundle Monster BM10 and BM207:

What do you think? I think it looks like a cool Jurassic jungle with T-Rex slash marks going across the foliage. :)

Thanks for looking,

Xoxox,
M.

Winner: Fix My FAIL!

Hello everyone!

I have the winner of the 'Fix My FAIL' fun-test: It's Rithika from Closet Diva!

Here is the manicure I asked participants to deconstruct and reconstruct:

And here is how she fixed it:

I love that the glequins give it more definition and cause the glitter to pop more than on my manicure; I also think the fact that she used a creme under helps the pop, too.

While there is no prize for the fun-test, the winner gets to be featured on my blog and gets a shout out to her blog, so please take a moment to check out her blog at Ramblings Of A Closet Diva. :)

Also, I didn't get many entrants for this fun-test, so I'd like to ask for feedback. Should I do it again or not? Would people participate if I do it again? Should I give more than one manicure to choose from? More/less time to enter? Or is it just a stupid idea and I should abandon it, lol? Please let me know either in the comments here or by giving me feedback on my Facebook page. .

Thanks for looking,

Xoxox,
M.