Rokk96 - Silver Screen

A new brand of polish today. I actually swatched this a few weeks back, before I had a trim of all my nails.

This Rokk96 brand in Silver Screen.  I bought these from Price Attack, and there is a quite large range of colours in this brand. They were $8 a bottle, or three for $19.

Silver Screen is a fabulous metallic blue.  I'm not really sure what to call all the variants of blue, but this is certainly darker that the other two metallic blues I have (Ulta3 Little Boy Blue and Razzle)  Maybe it's cornflour blue?

On the second day wearing it, I decided to mattify it with Essie Matte about you.  It still looked fantastic.

I found the formula on this beautiful and the wear was very good too.  This was two coats.  I bought two other colours in Rokk96 but haven't tried them yet. Has any one else tried this brand?

Sally Hansen Blue It

I have swatched this polish in a comparison with my other blues, but I haven't done it on it's own.  This is Sally Hansen, Xtreme wear polish called Blue it.  I love the name and I love the polish.

These polishes have a really long and flat wand that really holds the polish.  I found I could do a couple of nails without having to redip into the bottle.

This polish has fantastic pigment and was almost a one coater.  But I did two just to ensure it was totally even.

There's a georgous blue metallic shimmer to this polish and it doesn't dry streaky at all. 

Blue it - Love it.

Nfu Oh #56 flakey

This is the last of my Nfu Oh flakey polishes.  Unfortunately I don't have #51 so I just have to make do with the less popular ones that I can actually buy here in Australia.

This is #56 which is an amazing rich emerald green, with a green shimmer and green flakies.  On some angles it also has a blue duochrome effect on the green flakes.  Again, it's too sheer for my liking to wear on it's own.  And for some reason it makes me feel like the wicked witch of the west wearing it. Why is that?

Up close of the pretty green flakies.

And here is some magic over black.  I felt like mixing it up a bit, so I did one coat of #56 on all nails, but then added one coat of #43 with the orange flakies too.  This pic in the sun is hard to see all the beautiful colours.

Indoors you can see the colour contrast and you can see the multi colour effect of the blue and green on the index finger.

And even closer. Soooo pretty.

So while I pretty much hate my Nfu Oh flakey polishes on their own, I absolutley love them layered over other colours.  

It's such a shame that these polishes aren't more easily available in Australia.  As far as I know there is only one distributor and they have a total monopoly on the market and often charge around $30 for a single bottle, especially of the popular polishes.

Nfu Oh flakies #55 and #57

Here are some more of my Nfu Oh 'on sale' flakies haul.  I certainly can't rave about these polishes on their own.  At least they are wearable (unlike the yellows), but the colours are non descript and so incredibly sheer.

#55 is a sheer green polish with a green shimmer and orange flakies.  This swatch was three coats. Reminds me of bottle green.

Up close angled shot to see the orange flakies.

#57 is similar to the above polish except it is a lighter green tint.  Same green shimmer and orange flakies. Three coats.

Up close it's very similar to #55.

Again, over black the magic happens.  This shows #55, then #57, #55 and #57.  As you can see, over black both these polishes are identical.

Same in the sun.  Notice how these flaky polishes are really much prettier indoors than in the sun.   You loose all the flaky bits in the sun.

Finally a zoom in, #57 on the left, #55 on the right.  You can clearly see the green shimmer and the orange flakies, but notice here you can really see a duo chrome effect in the flakies and they go from green to yellow to orange.  Very cool.

Anyway, gotta run. Survivor Heroes v Villains final episode just started and I'm tragically addicted to the show.

Nfu Oh flakies 41 42 43 58

Seriously - pass me a bucket, I think I'm going to barf!

Here I'm showing you Nfu Oh flakies #41, #42, #43, #58.

First up, #41.  This is a yellow jelly with and orange flakey.  It also has a yellow shimmer to the polish.  After I swatched this I couldn't believe how disgusting it looked.  It made my nails look stained and as though I was suffering jaundice.  Three coats.

Here is an up close, where you can see the shimmer and the flakies.

#42 is another yellow jelly with orange flakies, but no shimmer this time.  The yellow in this is also stronger.  I still wanted to puke with the colour of this on my nails. Two coats.

Up close of this yellow hideousness.

And the hits just keep on coming with #43.  This is an orange jelly with orange flakies. Two coats.

And the barfness up close.

#58 looks so pretty in the bottle, but still pretty meh on the nail.  Certainly better than the three above.  I'd call this a burnt toffee colour with orange flakies.  Two coats.  It's another ugly colour in my opinion, but at least this is wearable on it's own.

And now, just like the ugly duckling, the polishes turn beautiful.  They just needed to be layered over black.  These pics actually show all four polishes.  You can see the shimmer in the index finger which has #41 on it.  Then #42 on the middle, #43 on the ring finger and #58 on the pinky.

Layered over black, #42, #43 and #58 are basically identical.  Which made my mum super happy, cause I gave her the bottle of #42.

Please tell me, has anyone ever actually worn these polishes on their own and not layered over anything.  I think on their own, they are truly the most hideous and unappealing polishes I own.  But layered they can be incredible. 

Black and White kitties

Last week there was a little kiosk at my local mall that was selling all sorts of little nail art sticker packs.  I naturally bought seven packs, among them, a pack of black and a pack of white kitty cats. 

I did up this crazy mani (and only remembered to take photos the next day) using alternate black and white polish and kitties.  I also used a different base coat under the black polish (Ulta3 Speed Dry Base and Top coat) and it was terrible.  The black polish lifted off in entire sheets, yet the white polish stayed put beautifully.

I was a little unco in applying the stickers.  I was probably a bit impatient (surprise, surprise) and didn't wait for the polish to dry enough, and then had trouble putting the stickers on with tweezers, particularly lining the sticker up in the right spot.  The nail art stickers were great though, and they had little silver diamantes which sparkled well.

Orly Rage vs Ulta3 Envy

I remember a while back, some chat on the Vogue forums about trying to find a dupe of Orly Rage, and how far off Ulta3's Envy was.

I thought I would do a quick swatch to show the differences.

Orly Rage on the Index and Ring fingers, Ulta3 Envy on middle and pinky. 

Below is the same in the shade.

And some close ups in the shade. Envy on the left and Rage on the right.

And in the sun.

So yep - Rage is pinker, but the tones and finish are very similar.  I reckon a couple of drops of red polish in a bottle of Envy would make it a dupe.  For $2, I will just have to pick up a spare bottle of Envy and give it a go.

Silver foil finish comparisons

I already told you that I recently got the Orly Foil FX range.  I love Luxe, but today's post is about Shine. What I have today is a comparison swatch of my silver foil polishes.

This swatch shows four polishes! Seriously, this hand could have passed for the same polish on each finger. So, in no particular order, the polishes shown below are:

• Sally Hansen Celeb City
• Ulta3 Snazzle
• Orly Shine
• Revlon Diamonds are Forever

Can you guess which polish is which before you scroll down?

• Index: Revlon Diamonds are Forever
• Middle: Orly Shine
• Ring: Sally Hansen Celeb City
• Pinky: Ulta3 Snazzle

And now some close ups to really try and pick the differences.

This is Revlon Diamonds are Forever on the left and Orly Shine on the right.  Shine looks a teeny bit darker here, but it's just the angle that my nail is photographed on. Oh, and sorry for the messy application, I really should have done a clean up if I planned on doing such close ups.



 

This is Orly Shine on the left, then SH Celeb City on the right. Again, IRL Shine doesn't look darker like it does here.

Finally, SH Celeb City on the left and Ulta3 Snazzle on the right.  This is where you can see a difference.  Snazzle doesn't have quite the same visible foily particles like the other three.  Its finish is much smoother looking.

To me, the first three polishes are dupes, and Snazzle is almost a dupe, but just not the same particle size. 

Do you need them all, well...nope!  Whichever one is easiest for you to get your hands on will do just fine to put a tick against 'silver foil polish' on your list.

Ozotic - unnamed duochrome

*edit* Thanks Kaz from Pretty Random, who identified this as an Ozotic brand.

I have this cool little bottle of polish that has no label or printing on it.  In fact I even remember that when I bought it it didn't have a label or anything, it was just a blank bottle.  I'm wondering if anyone out there recognises this brand?

The polish is a beautiful metallic peacock blue with purple and bronzy gold duochrome.  You can easily see the purple duochrome on the nail above, but you can see the yellow gold in the bottle and on the angled close up below.

It's only a little bottle, probably about 7ml I'd say.  I remember that I bought it in a chemist at a nearby shopping centre (Gungahlin Square), that is cost about $10 and that I bought it back in 2003!  I also have another bottle that is the same brand. Again no label or writing, but it is a silver holographic polish  (which come to think of it, was pretty leading edge for a 2003 polish).

Any ideas anyone?  Regardless, it's pretty isn't it.

Orly Luxe + Gold foils

I finally got the Orly Foil FX collection last week and I think I may have just found my new favourite polish.  Orly Luxe is right up there equal with Jessica Palladium, and maybe just pulling in front because I have it in a massive 18ml bottle, rather than the teeny 7ml Jessica bottle.

There are heaps of swatches of this around, and here are mine.  This swatch was taken on day three, so I'm super impressed with the wear on this too.

I used Nail Tek II foundation, which also arrived in my stash from the USA, and I really love this base coat.  This was two coats of Luxe with one Seche Vite top.  Below pic taken indoors and it's still very shiny and blingtastic.

I wanted to do a comparison with my other favourite gold foily (yeah - know that's not a word) metallics.  This pic taken in the shade is, from left to right: Urban Decay Twisted, Orly Luxe, Jessica Palladium and Ulta3 Antique Copper.

Same polishes in the sun, from left to right: Urban Decay Twisted, Orly Luxe, Jessica Palladium and Ulta3 Antique Copper.  Twisted is a lot darker indoors than the others, but wow it just pops in the sun.  I will have to do a separate swatch of it soon. 

Orly Luxe and Jessica Palladium are very similar.  Pretty much the same colour.  To me the only difference is that Luxe is more foily and Palladium is more sparkly.  And while Ulta3 Antique Copper is slightly pinker and not really foily or sparkly, it's just metallic, God Damn it's a good polish for $2.

Nfu Oh 66 + Green holo comparison

Nfu Oh 66 is a pale green holo.

And here it is indoors.

Not sure what's going on with my camera and the pictures coming up.  I swatched the above pics last week, and the below ones just today, and my fingers look all lobstery and the green polish doesn't even look the same.  The index finger in these on the left is the same polish as above, not the pinky!!! Weird.  I took them standing in the same place, at around the same time of day too and it was sunny outside on both days?  I dunno?

Anyhow, from left to right, Nfu Oh #66, Nubar Reclaim, China Glaze He's going in Circles, China Glaze, L8R G8R.

And the same in the sun, from left to right, Nfu Oh #66, Nubar Reclaim, China Glaze He's going in Circles, China Glaze, L8R G8R.  Nfu Oh #66 looks much bluer in this pick, but in real life it's much more like the full swatch above.  L8R G8R is also a very yellow green compared to the others which are all in the same tone.  I love how rich in colour Nubar Reclaim is for a green holo, so different to all the other pale ones.

Close up of Nfu OH #66 and Nubar Reclaim.

Close up of China Glaze He's going in Circles, China Glaze, L8R G8R.

Sorry about the lobster hands!

Any questions about colours or finishes?

Ulta3 Giveaway - Second place redraw

Too bad Sheri - I still haven't heard from you, so I just did a redraw.
Congrats to Leah.  You are the new second prize winner. I've sent you an email.

BYS - a couple of chromes

I really want to keep my holo theme going, but I don't have anymore swatched just now - I have to wait for the sunlight on the weekend.  Instead we'll have some sparkly fun with a couple of BYS Chrome polishes.

BYS Thank God it's Friday.  A light mauve foil finish.  It dried a bit streaky but the brush and application was very good. Good colour pigment, this was two coats.

You can't really see the streaks with this polish indoors, only when in direct sun light.

BYS Bling! is a cool toned gold.  I wouldn't really call this a chrome or a foil, to me it's just a gold metallic polish.  This was two coats and it was a little sheer.  It could have used three.  I love gold polishes, especially cool toned ones, and this is right up there with my other cool toned favourites like Jessica Palladium, Orly Luxe, Ulta3 Antique Copper and Urban Decay Twisted.  I feel a comparison swatch coming on.

And an indoor pic, just cause I took one.

I'm swatching green holos tomorrow.  Cool.