SWATCH: OCC - Something

Getting back into the swing of things, just as school is about to start!  I've actually been sitting on these swatches for a bit...again with the laziness of not wanting to crop/edit pictures.  I really need to stop with that.  But anyway...

I bought this polish from the OCC booth at IMATS.  It was on sale for $5/polish, so I ended up buying 2: this one and Chlorophyll, which is the one I originally wanted.  OCC's Something is a gorgeous sky blue with a dusty quality to it.

in the shade

in the sun

I loooove this polish!  It applied really well, with not much work to it and no streaks at all!  That's quite unusual for pastels...at least for me.  And I think I used 2 coats for the opacity above.  The color is gorgeous, as mentioned.  Plus, the name is cute!  (You know, "something blue"...get it? ;P)

Definitely impressed with the quality of this OCC nail polish and can't wait to try Chlorophyll.  I think I might get some more polishes from OCC at next year's IMATS!

Have you tried OCC nail polish before?

SWATCH: Revlon Moon Candy - Supernova

Hello~ It's been so hot for at least the past two weeks!  It makes a person not want to do anything but sit in front of the fan/air conditioner, haha.  Anyway, today I have a polish from the Revlon Moon Candy collection.  This is my first time trying any of these Revlon duos.

I originally wasn't going to buy anything from this collection because it just didn't seem worth it.  They're quite pricey for the amount of polish you get.  But this week, CVS is having a pretty good deal on Revlon polish, so I decided to give it a try.

This particular duo is called Supernova.  It has a dark gray base with pink/peach flakies that also flash green and yellow.

The above swatches were done with 2 coats of the base color and 1 thick coat of the flakies.  I knew there could be some problems getting the flakies from bottle to nail, since I read some reviews before buying, so I just didn't wipe the brush at all before applying.  Whatever was on the brush went on the nail.  I had  no problems with application for the base color, and the flakies didn't give me much of a problem either, as can be seen from the pictures.  I didn't use a base coat for these photos.

If you're interested in this polish or any of the other Moon Candy collection, CVS is having a sale on Revlon polishes.  It's currently $4.99, which is a deal in itself since these are regularly priced at $8.29.  But you also get $3 ExtraCare bucks, which is like getting this polish for $1.99.  

Do you have any of the Moon Candy polishes?

SWATCH: Julep - O Canada!

Today I have a swatch of Julep's O Canada! polish, which I added on to my Julep Maven box this month.  It is a glitter polish, with mostly small round opalescent glitter and sparse red hexagon glitter in a clear base.  You definitely need a base color for this polish, I think. For these swatches, I used Julep Kate as my base.  I started with 4 coats of that and then applied 2 coats of O Canada!  

in the shade

in the sun

in the sun, a better view of the glitter

in the shade

in the sun

I'm not in love with it...I think layering it over white doesn't really do the opalescent glitter justice, since you can't really see it.  Also, the white polish doesn't look so great on my nails, to begin with.  I'll have to try it with other base colors and see if it grows on me...As far as application goes, I think it's pretty hard to mess up glitter polish.  It's very forgiving in application, and I've never had a problem with applying a glitter polish.  This is no exception!  It applied really well, so no problems there.

IN THE RING: Julep Daphne vs. Julep Miranda

As I mentioned in my last post, I've already found a dupe for Julep Daphne!  It just so happens that I had Julep Miranda, from my introductory Julep Maven box from August of last year.  These two polishes are almost identical!

julep miranda vs julep daphne

You can already tell just by looking at the bottles that these two polishes are very similar.  I think Miranda, on the left, is just a tad bit greener, but maybe that's just me.

Sometimes polishes may look differently when applied, even though they look similar in the bottle, so I decided to swatch them side by side:

pinky+middle = miranda & ring+index = daphne

You can see there is a slight difference in this photo.  Miranda is slightly lighter, and still looks a tad more green to me here.

index+ring = daphne & middle+pinky = miranda

pinky+middle = miranda & ring+index = daphne

But as seen in the last two pictures, the difference is really hardly noticeable.  It's definitely not a big enough difference to need both these polishes in your collection.  I'm kind of disappointed, since these are both Julep polishes and they are SO alike.  It's almost like they took Miranda and slapped another name on it, and then called it a new polish.  So if you have one, skip the other!

SWATCH: Julep Daphne

Ok, let's start swatching my July Julep Maven polishes! :)  First up is Julep Daphne which is a pretty dusty teal color with a creme finish, but it's not very unique.  I've already found a dupe for it in my collection, and it's a polish from Julep too!  Post on that coming soon~  But for now, here's is Daphne:

This applied very well!  It took two coats to reach this opacity, and the formula was neither too thick or too thin.  I like it, but it's not a must have for me, especially because I already have a polish like it.

Julep Maven: July 2012

Hello there!  It's been a while hasn't it?  I got caught up in school and my internship and just let this little ol' blog go.  Basically, I got lazy.  All I pretty much wanted to do was bum, when I wasn't at school or my internship, lol.  But I'm back!!  Summer is here, and I've got quite a bit of time to swatch and take pictures.  Yayy!

To start off, here's my Julep Maven box for July!

I usually get Boho Glam, but this time I decided to go for It Girl.  I didn't want the lip gloss the other boxes came with, but I wanted the America polish, so it kinda seemed like my only option, haha.  I wasn't thrilled with the polish colors, since I'm not a big fan of white polish (usually streaky) and I already have several colors like the dusty teal that Daphne is, but I could live with them.

l-r: Daphne, Kate, Mila, America

If you notice, America looks like it's not filled to the top.  It seems like the polish settled, but I think it's like that because it's a very thick polish.  It doesn't move at all when I shake the bottle!  And when I opened the bottle, it was goopy and you can hardly tell there are any stars in it.  I was quite disappointed by this, since this was the polish I was most looking forward to.  Also, I was hoping to wear it for 4th of July, but it arrived this past Friday, the 6th of July.  Bummer.  I've contacted Julep about it, to see if it's truly supposed to be like this.  We'll see what they say!  Maybe when I swatch it I'll like it better.  But for now, I'm sure there are better star glitter polishes out there...

add ons: O Canada! and Chelsea

I decided to add on O Canada! and Chelsea because I really liked the look of them.  I liked all the glitters this month, so it was tough to choose which ones to add on.  This was my best solution. xD  I'll just have to get Yumi some other time, I guess!

Swatches coming soon.  And lots of other things I want to post about, like my IMATS haul!  I'm going to try posting at least twice a week, starting now!  Stay tuned~! :]

Swatch: China Glaze - Riveting (Colours from the Capitol)

Drumroll, please!

THE GIRL ON FIRE!

Haha, that's what this polish reminds me of.  The girl on fire.  This is another China Glaze polish from the Colours from the Capitol collection, and it was the one I was most looking forward to when I first saw that this collection was coming out.  I'm not disappointed with in the least...in fact, I love it!

Riveting is meant to represent District 3, whose main output is Technology.  It is a bright red-orange jelly with tiny golden shimmery glass flecks, creating a gorgeous polish.  This is perfect for summer!  The formula was a bit runny, allowing you to apply thin coats easily, and it applied wonderfully.  I used 3 coats to achieve this opacity.

And then I tried it with Luxe and Lush layered on top!

This is 1coat of Luxe and Lush over 3 coats of Riveting.  I love this layered look!  Though I thought my previous layering was nice, this one is so much better.  The flakies look like they're glowing!  So pretty!

So far, Riveting is my favorite from this collection.  But we'll see!  I still have 2 more polishes left to swatch...see you tomorrow for the next one! :]