Third Week Throwbacks: Julie G Hot Cinnamon

I think it's safe to say the textured nail trend is over. I think it died with 2014. I can't say I ever was into the trend, but there were a few I liked from Zoya and Julie G. They definitely find their way into my rotation every once in awhile and I still appreciate the good ones. I have a Julie G one to show you today.

Hot Cinnamon

Hot Cinnamon is a cherry red with red textured sparkle.

Collection: Julie G Frosted Gumdrops 2013

Color: I think I maybe one of the few nail addicts who love red nail polish. I think it's because it's a color that suits me best. That being said, this is a great red. I love the vibrancy of this red and it would be great for the upcoming holiday season. I like the textured look of this,  the texture particles are uniform and makes this look chic and streamlined.

Formula: Excellent easy to use one coat formula. That's one of the reasons I love textures.

Price: You can purchase this on the Jesse's Girl website for $3.99.

Overall: This is a great textured red polish. I think there were some textured fails out there -cough- Zoya Ultra Pixies-, but ones like this I don't think are outdated at this point. I like the look of it, and it's a great all around polish.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Sephora X Celestial

I have a gorgeous textured glitter to share with you today. This is one the Sephora X brand sold at Sephora. This Sephora X brand kills me. I swear they have some of the most beautiful polishes, but at price I can't afford to purchase frequently. That being said, I think this one is worth the splurge!

Celestial 

Celestial is a aquamarine textured glitter.

Color: This color is drop dead gorgeous. This is a bright aquamarine that shines and sparkles so brightly. I think this color would be flattering and most and easy to wear any time of year. This is shimmery for the holidays and bright and bold for spring and summer.

Formula: Excellent formula. I used 2 coats above. This applies so easily and smoothly.

Price: This is $12.50 at Sephora. A bit steep, but worth it.

Overall: Celestial is a really winner. The color is great. The formula is excellent. I absolutely love this polish!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks

Better late than never. You all voted OPI Alcatraz...Rocks as one of your favorite polishes in 2013 on my poll late last year. I had never tried it at that point! I just recently tried it a few weeks ago, and I get the hype now, it is pretty awesome.

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks w/ top coat

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks is deep blue texture shimmer with flecks of gold and pink.

Color: Isn't this great? I love this rich blue with the gold mixed in. This color is striking an elegent.

Formula: Good formula I used 2 coats above.

Price: This polish is $9.00.

Overall: Gorgeous textured polish. I love the richness of the color. This is one of those that speaks for itself. I can't really add much to its greatness!

My Rating 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

L'Oreal The Reign of Studs

The whole textured L'Oreal Gold Dust collection was something I thought I completely missed the boat on. I saw people posting pics of it in November, but I never found it, so I just resigned to the fact that it wasn't meant to be.

I didn't realize it was actually a January 2014 release, and the people who found it early just got lucky. I stopped by Walgreens after New Years, and was very pleased to see I really didn't miss the boat. I picked up 5 colors, and The Reign of Studs is one of them.

The Reign of Studs

The Reign of Studs with top coat

The Reign of Studs is a really stupid name that I hate lavender textured glitter.

Color: This is a beautiful sparkling lavender. This is one of those where I believe the picture speaks for itself.

Formula: Excellent, easy to apply. I'm sure some could get away with one coat, but I did two for good measure.

Price: I paid $6.99 for this at Walgreens. I'm not sure if this is standard price though? I live in a tourist area, so everything tends to be $0.50-$1.00 more for me.

Overall: The dumb name aside (I really can't stand the name), this a beautiful polish. I love it with top coat and without. I don't own a color like this and the formula is great. This polish is a win.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

Essie Lots of Lux

When I first heard about the Essie Encrusted Treasures collection, I was intrigued. Some of the polishes scared me, and some flat out stunned me. I couldn't resist this next one because, it's blue and sparkly. That's a good enough reason...right?

Lots of Lux

Essie Lots of Lux is a textured royal blue glitter.

Color: This is one of those polishes that looks better on the nail than in the bottle. This looks awesome in the bottle though, and even better on the nail. The blue is rich and saturated, and it has little tiny specs of gold on there too, that make it really pop.

Formula: Awesome formula here. You could probably get away with one coat if you wanted, but I went with two for good measure. I will warn you though, good luck making this one shiny. This eats top coat in milliseconds. I tried to take pics of it with top coat, but it completely ate my top coat before I could get a photo!

Price: I got this for $8.50 at CVS.

Overall: Great royal blue textured glitter polish. The color is rich and the formula is great. I do wish I could of tried it with top coat, but it probably would of taken 3-4 coats!

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday! 

Zoya Stevie

Do you ever buy a polish that you don't really like, but because so many other people love it, you figure you must be missing something? It's nail polish peer pressure, I tell you! Every time I've done this I've ended up disappointed. My initial instinct was right, and I then feel stupid for the purchase. This is how I felt about Zoya Stevie.

Stevie

 Stevie w/ top coat

Stevie is a pastel lavender textured glitter.

Color: I don't like this color. I love lavenders, but this shade is a little too light and pink-toned for me. I prefer cooler blue-toned lavenders. I also wish this color had a bit more punch to it. This is purely my opinion though. Like I mentioned above, most everyone I know loves this one.

Formula: This one was sheer. I used 3 coats above. Perhaps this why I don't care for it either? I tried this one after I had tried the Zoya PixieDust fall collection. If you're familiar with those colors they're one-coaters and very saturated. This one was light handed and weak in comparison.

Price: This is $9.00 on the Zoya website.

Overall: This isn't a bad polish. The color isn't bad either, I just don't care for it. Objectively, I do find in comparison with other Zoya PixieDusts this one is weaker as far as pigmentation and formula. This is just OK. Personally, I find it less than OK.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday! 

Zoya Chyna

I'll keep today's post short after yesterday!

I love red glitters, don't you? Red is a classic color that's blinged out, and honestly I think looks good on everyone. You cannot go wrong with a great red glitter. I recently found out you can't go wrong with a textured red glitter either!

Zoya Chyna

Chyna w/ top coat

Chyna is a ruby red textured glitter.

Color: Awesome, rich, and sparkling red. This is a pretty standard red, but look at it? Chyna with top coat is pretty much any other red glitter, but textured it's a whole new ballpark. Chyna is amazing!

Formula: Excellent. I used 2 coats for the swatch above.

Price: This is $9.00 on Zoya's website and is part of the PixieDust line.

Overall: Great textured red glitter polish. You cannot go wrong. I think everyone needs this polish in their collection. Must have!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Milani Fall 2013 Textured Creams Swatches & Review

* I received the following products in exchange for my honest review.

I have the new Milani Fall 2013 Texutred Creams to show you today. I was very impressed with Milani's first textured collection. Milani is definitely in my top 2 as far as brands with textured polishes. The fall collection followed suit and equally impressed me.

Gracious Green

Gracious Green is a sage green textured cream.

Mystery Mauve

Mystery Mauve is a medium muted pink-brown textured cream.

Lovely Lavender

Lovely Lavender is a pale lavender textured cream.

Charming Carmine

Charming Carmine is a true red textured cream.

Velvet Violet

Velvet Violet is a medium muted purple cream.

Beautiful Bordeaux

Beauitful Bordeaux is a blackened plum textured cream.

Color: I can confidently tell you, I have no other textured colors like this at all or even remotely close to these. The colors in this collection are completely fresh and new to me, and are definitely new to the drugstore market. The colors are also perfect for fall.

Formula: Lovely Lavender and Gracious Green I used 2 coats for, and the rest I used 3. I found the formula to be expected with these. The formula was good, not bad, but not perfect either. The darker colors need a little more care with application. What I was surprised most with these is that while they are textured, they don't dry completely matte. These do dry to have a bit of shine to them. I waited 20 minutes on each just to make sure. That being said, yes these do have a longer dry time, but nothing excessive.

Price:  The polishes in this collection are $4.99 each on the Milani website. This collection can also be found in select CVS and Fred Meyer stores.

Overall: I love this collection. The colors cover the full spectrum of fall shades (muted, soft, and vamp). The formula was good. This is an excellent collection featuring a popular nail trend with popular shades at a drugstore price. My favorites in this collection are Gracious Green, Charming Carmine, and Beautiful Bordeaux. You cannot go wrong here!

My Rating 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

*The above products were sent in exchange for my honest review.

Happy Monday!

Zoya PixieDust Chita

I must admit, I was not fully into the whole textured nail trend thing until I tried Zoya PixieDusts. I liked some from other brands, but I wasn't in love with the trend. Zoya really knew what they were doing with the PixieDust polishes. They have the perfect texture, they're fine, not bulky or bumpy. They have the right amount of sparkle to them to keep them from looking dull and flat. I'm very impressed!

I have Chita from the fall 2013 Zoya PixieDust line to show you today.

Chita

Chita w/ top coat

Chita is a sparkling forest green.

Color: This is a beautiful shade of green. I know many of us are green lovers, but green can be a finicky color on some skin tones. I think this green would be flattering on most. The color is rich and just a tad bit muted.

Formula: We have another one coater here. The formula on this was excellent.

Price: This is $9.00 on the Zoya website.

Overall: Beautiful shimmering textured green for fall. The formula is excellent, and this just an all around great polish!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Zoya PixieDust Sunshine

Who else hauled like mad with Zoya's last BOGO sale? This is the only time I haul Zoya. I picked up 12 polishes, and I pretty much took care of all of lemmings from the past summer and fall collections. I definitely hauled some PixieDusts in this mix. I didn't have any PixieDusts before, so it's my first experience with them. Today, I have Sunshine to share with you.

Sunshine

Sunshine w/ top coat

Sunshine is a denim blue textured glitter.

Color: -Picks jaw off floor- This is flipping amazing. This is from the fall Pixiedusts collection. The color is rich and pigmented. There is the perfect amount of color and sparkle. Love.

Formula: One-coater. Not a maybe one-coater. Not a if you use a thick coat you could get away with one-coater. This is a 100% one-coater, guaranteed. How often do you hear that? Perfect formula.

Price: This is $9.00 on Zoya's website.

Overall: This is a must have. You need this.  It's already been added as a contender for my Top 20 of 2013 list. This is perfection in so many ways. Sunshine is awesome as texture and with top coat. I admit, I'm not major texture fan, but Zoya's PixieDusts has won me over. They know how to do these textured polishes right. They have the perfect mix of color and sparkle where these are not flat. The texture is fine and not lumpy or bumpy. Amazing. Go buy this, please!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!