Swatch: Formula X for Sephora’s Demolition

Welcome back, reader! I’ve been slacking on my swatches, but I’m still working on them. Today I have a glitter topper someone once told me was “terrifying” because it looked difficult to remove. This is Demolition from Formula X for Sephora; I’m wearing one thick coat (basically two) over Marc Jacobs Beauty’s Shocking (pink), Butter London’s Tea and Toast (taupe), Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Lighthouse by the Lake (blue), a nameless vintage Maybelline (brown), and Sally Hansen’s Sun Kissed (orange).

Demolition is a clear-based glitter topper; the glitters are hexes of various sizes and pastel shades, which focuses largely on pastel pink. Application was good; the polish consistency is a little on the thick side, which is necessary to carry these chunky glitters. It dries quickly, though, and with a somewhat textured finish; top coat is definitely required for a smooth-to-the-touch finish.

I know these chunky glitters have fallen out of style, but I am still about them. I was super excited to find a polish like this from a mainstream brand as well; they had several color variations on this formula and I bought several of them. It wears pretty well despite being on the thicker side; a lot of heavy glitter toppers like these are quick to chip, but not this one. My only real complaint is that it takes quite a bit of top coat to smooth it down.

The Formula X brand was discontinued by Sephora.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: GOSH’s Frosted Purple

Welcome back, reader! My swatch today is one of the polishes I bought while I was in New York a few years ago. Many people buy postcards and t-shirts as souvenirs, and I bought nail polish. This is GOSH’s Frosted Purple; I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

Frosted Purple is a shiny glittery purple textured polish. Application was good; the product consistency seems a bit thin for a textured polish. It’s a good thickness to carry all the glitter and bits, but is very easy to work with. I had an opaque first coat, and used additional coats to build up the texture.

This polish reminds me of a druzy; it’s super textured and super metallic. It’s actually pretty unique for a textured polish. I was always skeptical of the Liquid Sand imitators, because a lot of them just weren’t that great and didn’t carry the same quality. This one does.

Truth be told, I don’t know where to tell you to buy GOSH. I got this in a Duane Reade in New York. I’m pretty sure you can order it online in any case.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: Finger Paints’s Psychedelic Hue

Welcome back, reader! Even though I’m swatching a lot of new stuff from The Indie Shop Atlanta, I still have some swatches in the slush pile waiting to be published, and this is one of them. This is Finger Paints’s Psychedelic Hue; I’m wearing one coat over Sally Hansen’s Grey Area (gray), Deborah Lippmann’s She Bop (pink), and Zoya’s Chantal (nude), as well as a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Psychedelic Hue is a clear-based flakie topper with green-to-blue shifting flakies. Application was good; the flakies distribute very easily over the nail when brushing it on. The product consistency is on the thin side, but the flakies suspend very well. Drying times were good, and the polish dries smooth to the touch. I used top coat for extra shine.

I adore flakie top coats. This one’s pretty basic as far as flakie toppers go; of course, this one’s been around a while and they’ve come a good way since then. I wanted to show this one over a few different colors, and unfortunately, the bright natural sunshine kind of washed it out over the lighter colors. With the lighter shades, the individual flakies aren’t as defined, but the shine and iridescence are still visible. Over the darker color, it looks fantastic; everything is nicely defined and exciting. The following photos were taken in the shade, attempting to show off the color better over the lighter colors.

I believe Psychedelic Hue was discontinued by Finger Paints; other Finger Paints polishes are available at Sally Beauty Supply.

I bought these polishes myself.

Swatch: Creative Cuticles Nail Polish’s Purity

Welcome back, reader! I have another Indie Shop Atlanta swatch for you today. This is my first-ever Creative Cuticles Nail Polish! I’ve been admiring CCNP from afar since I found out they were local to me, and I’m super excited about trying them out! This is Purity; this polish is part of a collaboration between CCNP and Ribbits Stickits. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

I love handwritten labels!

Purity is a deep frosty green polish with some fine golden glitter. Application was easy; I had no issues at all with the product consistency or drying time. The polish is pretty well-pigmented, which is great for coverage, but is unfortunate for the glitters; they get lost in the base a little bit. Also, there still seems to be a bit of visible nail line, despite the coverage. The polish dries quickly and with a satin finish; I used top coat for shine.

This is a pretty nice polish, and I definitely want to try more CCNPs. The base color is very rich, and the set it comes in is a pretty good deal; you get the polish, a small bottle of Ribbits Stickits’s acetone additive, and a full-size of their liquid latex skin barrier. If you’re an avid nail polisher like I am, both of these things will come in very handy for you.

The In Death CCNP x Ribbits Stickits collaboration set is still available from the Ribbits Stickits site. Other Creative Cuticles Nail Polishes are available on their website.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: Envy Lacquer’s The Indie Shop #4

Hello again! I have more swatches, and this time, it’s an Indie Shop Atlanta exclusive 2017 VIP exclusive! I know we just had the Indie Shop again, but I have so many polishes from last year’s show that I haven’t even used yet, like this one. This is my first-ever Envy Lacquer, The Indie Shop #4. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

The Indie Shop #4 is a deep cool green polish with green shimmers, both iridescent and colored flakies, as well as some holo. Application was easy; the polish consistency is great, and the flakies and shimmers get distributed easily on the nail. The polish dries quickly and with a satin finish; I used top coat for extra shine.

I love this polish. It’s a bold jewel tone, and the flakies look like confetti. This is a pretty unique addition to my collection! Polishes like this is why I keep going VIP at the Indie Shop. I can’t afford to miss out!

Envy Lacquers can be found on their website.

This polish came in the VIP bag for The Indie Shop Atlanta 2017.

Swatch: Essie’s Penny Talk

What’s this? A swatch? Yes! I feel so bad that I can’t post as consistently as I used to. I have so beautiful swatches to share, especially after The Indie Shop, so I’ve got to get through the ones I did months ago. Today’s treat is Essie’s Penny Talk; I’m wearing three coats alone.

Penny Talk is a copper metallic polish. The product consistency was pretty typical of an Essie polish; it was a little on the thin side, but still delivered good coverage. I had full coverage in two coats. You can see there are some brush-strokes, but this is pretty typical of metallic polishes. It dried pretty quickly and with the metallic, shiny finish you see here.

This was the first Essie polish I ever bought that wasn’t a glitter topper, and it’s a pretty special polish to me. It’s also something that’s pretty unique to my collection. I know makers have been doing metallic polishes on and off for decades now, but these are the mainstays in my collections. I am such a huge fan of them.

Essie polishes are sold in drugstores. I got this one at Walgreens.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: Baroness X’s Space Cat

It’s swatch day! Here’s another polish from Baroness X‘s Cats in Space box. This is Space Cat, and it’s dreamy. I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Space Cat is a magenta polish with sterling silver flakies and a shifting pink-to-green shimmer. Application was good; the first coat applies sheer and coverage builds with additional coats. The consistency is good; I had no issues with it. The polish dries with a glossy finish.

So, there’s a lot happening in this polish, and I love it. The base shade itself is a stunning berry. The silver flakies add a reflective quality to the polish. The shift, which is in green mode most of the time, just makes it glow. It’s so ethereal and I love it.

Space Cat and other Baroness X polishes and products are available on their website.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: Enchanted Polish’s Ice Castle

Hey! It’s another swatch this week! Let me preface this one by saying that this is not my best work, and I’m aware that these photos are not up to my personal standards. The day I took these, it was cloudy outside, and I’m not great at getting a good holo shot indoors except for under certain lights, and well, this is what happened. This is Enchanted Polish‘s Ice Castle; I’m wearing three coats alone and two coats over Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Lighthouse on the Lake.

Ice Castle is a sheer holo topper with blue-to-purple shifting pigment. Application was good; the polish is super easy to use, has a great consistency, and the holo effect is actually pretty strong in the right lighting. It gets good coverage at three coats, though it is still quite sheer. I used top coat for shine.

This isn’t a swatch as much as it is a reminder that this polish exists. I feel like it’s a pretty ubiquitous polish, a common one to find in any indie polish collection, but I never see anyone using it. If you have it in your own collection, consider this a challenge to get it out and use it. If you don’t, use something you’ve had for a few years. I want to see your oldies!

Ice Castle and other Enchanted Polishes are available in their online shop.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: Emerald & Ash’s Construction Season

Welcome back, reader! It’s another swatch! This is Emerald & Ash’s Construction Season, a throwback from their 2013 Road Trip textured polish collection. I’m wearing three coats without top coat.

Construction Season is a bright orange polish with a fine texture. Application was good; due to the textured effect, the polish is quite thick, and goes on in thick coats. I find this kind of consistency easy to work with, but I realize some people don’t. The texture is pretty smooth, and smoothness increases with additional coats. It mostly serves as a visual effect than a palpable one, so even the people who dislike textured polish may like this one.

So, when I was getting this post together, I noticed that Emerald & Ash’s website is down and the domain is expired. I know they were on hiatus for a while, but I thought they came back, and it’s sad to lose another maker. So many of them are closing up this year. It’s a terrible shame. I hope everything is going well for them.

I bought this polish myself.

Swatch: ellagee’s Elva

Hey, reader! I’ve got another swatch for you. This is ellagee‘s Elva; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

Elva is a sheer blush pink holo with iridescent flakies. Application was easy; the product consistency is easy to work with, and the flakies spread out well over the nail. The first coat goes on very sheer, and though coverage does build with additional coats, nail lines are still visible even after three coats. You can’t see it so well in these photos because my nails are short, but it’s there. The polish dries to a smooth and glossy finish.

Elva is such a delicate polish. The sheer polish gives way to a powerful holo effect, and in the shade, you can see the flakies come out. It’s versatile, too; you can wear it alone as I have here, one coat alone for a small bit of sparkle, or use it as a topper. So many options!

Elva was discontinued by ellagee. As of this writing, ellagee is on hiatus.

I bought this polish myself.