The ABCs: O for Orchid

2012 is really turning out to be the year of indie brands, and I certainly am not complaining! Etsy is practically flowing over with talented new frankeners, and a few weeks ago I found a link to a store called Candeo Colors. The bottle pics made my jaw drop, and before I knew it, I had placed an order for four bottles.

Today I will be showing you the polish conveniently beginning with “O”, Candeo Orchid. Orchid has a shimmery fuchsia base and is loaded with small copper, light purple, magenta and large silver holographic hex glitter. Holy macaroni, this is so stunning! Absolutely breathtaking! I guess I don’t have to say there was love at first sight.

Not only is this pretty to look at, the formula is great as well. It’s also one of the rare occasions where you can actually wear the indie polish on its own, I’ve used two coats here and that’s enough for full coverage. I also had no big problems getting a decent amount and variety of glitter onto my nail, all in all an excellent polish in every way!

Candeo Colors is as I said an Etsy store, it seems like they are sold out at the moment, but keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates. As far as I can tell, they will be restocking on this Thursday (3/29), and if I remember correctly, the polishes are $8 a bottle.

The ABCs: M for MishMash

Today’s polish comes all the way from Australia, and it has the euphonious name Ozotic Pro MishMash 534. Why is it called MishMash, you wonder? It’s because it’s a simply genious mix of holographic and duochrome! It’s like the two biggest nail polish obsessions of mine from last year got together and had a mindblowingly gorgeous baby.

Miss 534 has a base that flashes between blue, indigo, pink, golden and purple, and in addition it has a rainbow of holographic particles that shows up in bright light or in the sun. I hope you don’t mind a slight picspam!

This polish could theoretically be used solo, but I’ve layered it over black here. Not only does it preserve the preshush polish, but it also makes the duochrome colors pop more. This is two coats over a black creme, and 534 is very easy to apply.

What are you waiting for? Run, don’t walk (your fingers over your keyboard, that is) to Picture Polish, Llarowe or Harlow & Co and get you some of this gorgeousness!

The ABCs: H for Hi-Tech

The ABCs roll on, today we’ve come to the letter H, which is represented by Milani Hi-Tech. Hi-Tech is one of the 3D Holographics, and these scattered holos have my favorite holo finish of all times! This one is right in the middle between green and yellow, I guess this color is called chartreuse?
Lo and behold, we even got some (albeit weak) sun today, perfect start to the holo season, don’t you think? The rainbow effect in Hi-Tech is a little bit stronger than I managed to capture in these pics. Man, why don’t I wear holos more often, I simply love this acid green holobomb!

The formula is quite nice, a little bit thin, but manageable. For all intents and purposes it’s opaque in two coats, but I’ve used three coats here, because macro reveals even the slightest hint of visible nail line.

Milani 3D Holographics are still available at Cherry Culture, and they’re actually on sale right now at $3.99 a bottle.

Lynnderella Mysterious Ways

I felt a little weird at the thought of posting a Lynnderella mani after all the drama that’s been surrounding these the last few days. But then I thought, why shouldn’t I? My Lynnderellas are some of the most precious polishes I own, and it’s not because they are difficult to get hold of or because I’m gloating and shoving my goodies in other people’s face. It’s because they are so incredibly pretty, so why don’t we get back to enjoying these beauties instead of fighting over them? Lovely is as lovely does, remember?

So without further ado, here’s Lynnderella Mysterious Ways over Zoya Caitlin. It’s from the Funny Money collection, and the description is: A grey-violet base with multi-coloured shimmer, white, silver, gunmetal  and holographic hexagons, diamonds, squares and dust.

Mysterious Ways is easy to work with, and the glitters spread easily and evenly on the nail. I used two coats of MW over Zoya Caitlin. I’m still battling with my Glitter Tamer, it does this weird streaky thing after it dries. I think I’m going to try decanting some of it into another bottle and thin it a lot to see if that helps.

As of right now, it seems like Lynnderellas will still be sold at Llarowe. My best advice is to keep an eye on Llarowes Facebook page, she updates regularly with information on the ordering process and availability.

Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe, Gingerbread & Sugarplum Fairy

Here are the rest of my picks from the Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe collection for Holidays 2011. I know it’s way too late, but I was really busy before Christmas and just didn’t get around to trying these in due time. I hope you don’t mind a little belated holiday collection swatchin’! If you do mind, I promise this will be quick and dirty.

Beyond The Mistletoe

Light blue-green and holographic glitter in a clear base. 3 coats.

Gingerbread

Gold and holographic glitter in a sheer base. 3 coats.

Sugarplum Fairy

Silvery lilac and holographic glitter in a clear base. 3 coats.

The formula on all of these were pretty thick and gummy, quite typically for glitters. They are very sheer on the first coat, but all of them can be built to opacity in three coats. I bet they’ll work perfectly for layering in one or two coats, so they have great versatility. My favorites from this collection are Sugarplum Fairy and Jingle Jangle, which I’ve shown you here.

So there you have it, maybe you’d still like to get some of these glitterbombs? I bought mine from TransDesign, and most of this collection is still available there for $3.10 a bottle.