Happy New Year Chromey goodness

Happy New Year to everyone.

I have HUGE plans for this evening.  As a mum of a a 3 year old and a nearly 1 year old, I'll be in bed by 10:30, I'll sleep in the new year and be up at around 6:30.  I'm such a partly animal aren't I!

Despite my plans, I did put on something with a bit of zing.  This is an older polish. Sally Hansen Canary Diamond Chrome Nail Makeup.  For some stupid reason, I never got China Glaze Millennium (I only got 2030), thinking I had a good enough silver chrome.  This is nice, but I don't think it has as much of a mirror finish as Millennium.

This was only one coat over Orly bonder.  I like Orly bonder as a base for chrome polishes because it leaves a really shiny base.  Chrome polishes always show every imperfection in the nail, so a nice shiny base helps it be smooth and glossy.

Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal

I'm taking a break from the holographics to take you down the magical duochrome path that is the magnificant Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal Nail Prisms. 

Turquoise Opal, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. You actually look the same on my nail as you do in the bottle
2. Thin, smooth formula
3. Awesome colour changing from turquoise green and blue through to rich royal purple.
4. Smooth glossy finish, top coat not required
5. Magnificant in sunlight and indoors.
6. Sparkley metallic shimmer finish
7. Great durability.

Ok, so it looks like I love you seven ways.

This was two coats Turquoise Opal over one coat generic black polish.  This first photo was taken in the shade, the rest were in full sun.

This is the Canadian version of the polish, which I actually nabbed off ebay just the other day.  In fact I nabbed two bottles for an excellent price and I have a special idea for what to do with my second bottle.  So stay tuned for that...

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.

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.

Blue shimmer comparison

After doing my 'playing the blues' mani, I wanted to do a comparison swatch of my blue shimmers.

From left to right Ulta3 'Hollywood,' Sally Hansen 'Blue It', Artmatic 'Peacock Blue' and L'oreal Jetset 'Jet.'

Each of these was two coats, except Artmatic, which was three.  Seeing them all together my favourite is the Sally Hansen. It's a richer blue colour and was much more opaque than the others.  The application brush on the Sally Hansen is weird though, it would take some getting use to.  The brush really long and wide and the actual wand part is slightly curved lengthways, which holds lots of polish.  I reckon you could do at least five nails before you would need to re-dip.

I got my SH from Priceline - it was about $7.  Pretty good value and nice quality.  I will have to go and check out the other colours.