Ciate Trio swatches

Been away awhile again. I wanted to show you all what I've been up to. First up, I got a trio of Ciate polishes from Sephora in JC Penney the other day while I was scavenging for $7 Illamasquas. They caught my eye because they looked like versions of MAC Bad Fairy. One a brighter pink with glitter, one duller duochrome, and one a gold green shimmer with pink glitter. After swatching them, I'm not really thrilled, and they might have to go back. $25 for three mini polishes is pretty bonkers. But I've swatched two of them here for you. The third, Heirloom, was basically like Orly Space Cadet without the teal base, just purpley pink brown.

Ciate Love Letters, two coats over two coats of a Chelsea grey. Pretty duochrome, but basically like Sally Hansen Lava with extra hexes in fuschia and light copper.

And Ciate Antique Broach, one thin coat over Sinful Sugar Rush.

Over all, decent formula, pretty colors, but not worth $25. The only unique aspect of these is the addition of multiple sizes of hex glitters to brighten up the polish. I don't mind the glitters, I was afraid they would get too covered in the shimmer and get that frosty look. But  also didn't think there was enough contrast between the shimmer and glitter. Meh.

Maybelline Color Show - Downtown Brown

I think I'm falling in love with chocolate colored nail polishes! I only have a couple browns, but this is one that I can really dig into. Downtown Brown is the first polish I've picked up from Maybelline's new Color Show line, and a really unique color to my collection. It's part of Maybelline's Limited Edition fall collection which has a few awesome duochrome colors, but only one that I thought was really unique. Downtown Brown has a rich warm brown base with a green to teal to blue/violet duochrome shimmer. In most light it looks brown with a silvery shimmer, but in the right light, magic!

This is three coats (though it looked pretty awesome at two) with a coat of Seche Vite for shine. The formula was good, which is a refreshing change from the goopy messes I've been using lately.

Yummy! It reminds me of mint chocolate chip icecream and Ande's mints.  If  you're looking for a good fall polish or love browns, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Scrangie

Hellloooo sexeh purple! I've been neglecting my purple polishes for awhile, but no longer! Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie was my first high end polish and my first kinda sorta "indie" polish. RBL's are known for usually having a good formula and "hidden" shimmer. Luckily for me, the shimmer in this one isn't too hidden. RBL Scrangie was released in 2009 in a collection that was created in a collaboration with the bloggers they were named after. Scrangie says in her post about it here that she was inspired by a beetle shell or butterfly wing when collaborating with Ji from RBL.

Now, I got this in a swap through pure luck over a year ago, not knowing how gorgeous or hard to get it would be. I don't know if I'd ever being able to lay down $18 for any of the Rescue Beauty Lounge colors out of my own pocket, the only two I have, I swapped for. So this is one of the only posts you'll ever see me do for RBL, if you want more, check out my buddy Rach's blog, Stuff I Swatched, she has a bunch.

I like it because it's A) Purple B) Duochrome C) awesoommmmeee. The base is a pretty purple, a little more red than blue, with a gorgeous aqua flash, and the occasional hint of gold sparks. The formula on Scrangie is a little thin, so I did have to use four coats, but I think it was worth it! It's definitely unique in my stash.

So pretty~!

China Glaze Unpredictable stamped

Here's another duochrome post for you! I've been on a roll with these lately. I bought a few from the fall China Glaze collection New Bohemian, and unfortunately, I'm still not that blown away by them. I was hoping for something more like the Ozotic multichromes or the old Sally Hansen Nail Prisms, and got frosty chromes with a more subtle shift. Since I don't think green nail polishes look that great on me, I stamped it with a black pattern to make it more fun.

 

I do love me a duochrome! Just wish it was a liiittle more saturated in color.

Models Own Aqua Violet stamped

MMmmm.. I love duochrome polishes. They just make nails magical. I picked up Models Own Aqua Violet at Urban Outfitters for only $5 on sale. Total win purchase. I have a bunch of duochromes but not one like this. It's a very mellow color shifting polish. It shifts from aqua with a bit of teal to blue to purple. Lovely. The formula was kind of thick and bubbled on me, but a little thinner and Poshe topcoat helped to smooth it out. This is four coats with one coat of Poshe.

And then I stamped it with Color Club Wild at Heart!

Mmmmm. Can't go wrong with duochrome and holo!

New Icing polishes!

On one hand, I love that Icing stores frequently come out with new colors, but I get so sad when I miss out on a limited polish and can't get it again. This time I hit it just at the right time! I grabbed two colors, one that reminds me of Butter London Disco Biscuit, and one that reminds me of China Glaze Rainstorm.

I Like the Night Life is sooo neat and complex. Medium bright blue base with a cool purple flash and small blue glitter throughout. I was afraid that this polish would dry lumpy, but it was perfect! A little thick, but I was so happy that one coat of topcoat smoothed it out and the shimmer wasn't too hidden! Shown here is about three coats.

And here is Lipstick and Lovers. This sucker was super frustrating for me because it wouldn't get opaque! This if four or five coats, and eventually I just gave up and said whatever. It's so bright that I figured nobody would care if there was visible nail line. Otherwise formula was okay, super pretty bright pink bordering on reddish pink with a pretty blue/violet shimmer with blue glassflecks. Reminded me of Disco Biscuit, which I've been hardcore lemming. Next time I'm going to try this over a white base to lighten it up and help with opacity.

You can buy these babies for $4.50 at Icing stores, and they always have a buy one get one 50% off deal. Happy shopping!

Nicole by OPI - It's Up to You

The only thing I love more than a holo is a good duochrome. I'd never even heard of this polish before, but I recently acquired it through a great multiswap through MakeupAlley.com. This polish has been around for awhile and is still relatively easy to find online. The colors in It's Up to You are absolutely captivating. This polish has a blue base, bright but not super bright, that flashes with an aqua blue glow in bright light, and in the shade there is more of a turquoise flash. Then on the very edges you can find a hint of indigo blending to purple. Oohhhh, love so much. Enjoy!

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Coral Amber

I wasn't sure if I'd posted this polish before, but either way, it deserves attention. Coral Amber is a beautiful duochrome holographic polish. The base is a pearly pink to coral orange subtle duochrome with a pink flash, highlighted with a weak linear holographic sparkle. Very girly and pretty. Most of the time this polish looked pink to me, but in the sun, I loved the orange-y coral that came out.

Easy peasy formula. Did two coats with one coat of Seche Vite. Unfortunately Sally Hansen discontinued the Prisms years ago. However, they popped up in Ross last year and sometimes show up in Dollar stores to keep your eyes peeled for this beauties!

Nails Inc Franklin's Row

Isn't she a beaut? This is my first Nails Inc polish, and I was pretty happy with it. I was super excited to find a new Sephora in my hometown, and I had to investigate. They had the new nail bar with all the different brands of polishes arranged in a rainbow of happiness. It was like polish heaven! I'd never seen Nails Inc in person and it was a physical thing to try to keep myself from grabbing and walking out with everything! I controlled myself and this was the only thing I picked up, but let me tell you about it!

Franklin's Row is a duochromatic polish... full of mysteryyyy. The base was an almost pearly greyed out dark blue with purplish duochrome. But theeen there are the foily flecks that shift from pretty reddish pink to purple to blue! There seem to be two different colors of flecks that allow at least two colors to flash at one time. Awesooome. The formula was nice and easy to work with, I used three coats but I only really needed two.

Love it!