Category Archives: Polish Review

18 Mar

Review of China Glaze Winter Holly – St. Patrick’s Day Worthy Shade

All products used were purchased by me. 
All opinions are mine. 🙂

Hi!
I don’t celebrate the holiday, but I’ve got a St. Patty’s Day worthy mani to share with you today. I started with one coat of Shisem F610 (Dark Forest Green) which I purchased at Blooming Nail Cebu. I then added 2 coats of China Glaze Winter Holly which my sweet hubby spoiled me with a couple of months go. It is a mixture of gold, green and purple glitter (with a bit of a holo sparkle) suspended in a clear base.

Without topcoat

On it’s own, Winter Holly dries the same way that CG I’m Not Lion does. It’s a grainy or sandy finish. I like polishes like this because you really get two finishes in one. You can choose between the grainy, somewhat matte finish on it’s own, and the super glittery and shiny finish after applying topcoat. I’ve included a few extra shots to show how it looks with top coat.

With one coat of top coat
With two coats of top coat
With 3 coats of top coat and in brighter light. You can see the depth.

I am really happy with this polish. It is so pretty. It was hard to remove in the manner that is typical for a glitter polish. I was kicking myself for not remembering to use my glue base for easy glitter removal. I won’t forget next time (fingers crossed). Also, as you can see, I added some gold studs which I also purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu.

Well, that’s all for me for tonight. I hope you have a great week!
Hugs,
Rach

28 Feb

Review of Sassy Color Shifting Polish in Maroon Chameleon

I’m sorry that I kind of disappeared for a bit. The kids and I went out of town for a week to visit friends and when we got home, Mr. Nailinator was pretty sick. Then I had a horrible sinus headache over the weekend, and one of my friends had a baby this week, so we watched their older child while they were at the hospital. So nails haven’t really been high on my priorities list. But I do have some ideas lined up for the near future.

I finally got my hands on some thermal polish and that is what I’m going to show you today. I heard a while back that Sassy came up with a line of “Color Shifting” shades, and I found them at Ayala Cebu a couple of weeks ago. I chose just one to try since I didn’t know if they were any good. I picked Maroon Chameleon.

Sassy color shifting polish Maroon Chameleon

I used 3 coats of this shade and, as you can tell, there is still some VNL going on there in the “warm” area. I couldn’t get the polish to warm up in the bottle in the air conditioned shopping area and I couldn’t find any swatches online so it was a surprise to me what the warmed up shade would be. Turns out, it’s warm shade was much lighter than I had anticipated and also ended up being a shade of greyish lilac that is not flattering at all on my skin tone. So I wasn’t really loving it on me. When I applied the first coat of this polish to my nails, I noticed several white specks in the polish and on the brush. I was concerned about these white specks but after I finished applying all 3 coats, I didn’t see any more specks. The gradient effect was really cool and it was fun to watch it change in water and when cool air blew on the nails. Maroon Chameleon dried to a semi-matte finish.

Another thing I’d like to note is when the sun came up the next morning and warmed up the air, there was no “cold” shade showing at all. I guess there isn’t much difference between the normal temperature of the air in Cebu and the warmth of my finger tips. Oh well. Maybe if I worked in an office building with air conditioning instead of at home with no a/c or if the warm shade had been more flattering on me, I would have enjoyed this polish a lot more.

Sassy color shifting polish Maroon Chameleon when warm

Will I buy any of the others? Probably not. I’d like to find some nice swatches so I can see the transitions of the different colors first. 45 pesos for a 7ml bottle is steep for local polish prices so I’d really love to see some swatches… Please, Sassy Colors?

Have you tried thermal polish yet? What brand did you try and did you have any of the same observations as I did with this one?

I hope you have a great week!

10 Feb

Review of Chic Siam (and Freehanded Zebra Stripes)

Hi!
I’ve got another locally made beauty to show you today. Chic has a line of polishes called their “Grainy” collection. I’ve used 4 of the 5 shaded in the collection in the past but this is my first time to use Siam. I applied 2 coats of Siam and used black acrylic paint and a striper brush to free hand some zebra stripes. Yeah, another edgy Valentine’s Day appropriate look!

With topcoat

I added a bow I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu.

Just like the other shades in the Grainy Collection, Siam dries to a semi matte, slightly textured finish. The light box lighting doesn’t do the sparkle justice at all.

It is so sparkly and I love the slightly textured finish. Siam only required 2 coats for opacity and it wears well. Clean up was easy too. There were a few sparkly bits left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. I would like to note that, even after I applied top coat, it still was a bit textured. So if you want that extra smooth, glossy finish, you might need 2 coats of topcoat. I love this polish just as much as I love the others in this collection. These are available in 10ml bottles for PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78.

Check out the other colors in the collection:
Shadow Crystal
Montana
Peridot
Amethyst
Montana & Amethyst Gradient

I hope you have a great week!
Hugs,
Rachael

26 Jan

Review of Caronia Trance and Moonlight

Hello!
I’ve got not just one but TWO polishes up for review today! Both are by a local polish brand Caronia.

First up is Trance which is what I would describe as a purple foil. It is VERY shiny and oh so pretty! Those of you who have been around a while know by now that I have a special place in my heart for purple polish.

Caronia Trance swatch

I used 2 coats here. The formula was a bit thick but easy to handle. Clean up was very easy and I wore it all day without top coat and had no wear on my tips. Two thumbs up from me.

Caronia Trace swatch 2

I actually put off buying this one because I thought it was too similar to Amethyst by Chic which can be seen here. They are actually quite different. While Amethyst has glitter bits and dries to a semi-matte sort of textured finish, Trance is a foil with a shiny and smooth finish.

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Next up we have Moonlight which I would describe as blue and purple shimmery duochrome glitter in a black jelly base. I’ve used two coats over Trance here because I already had it on and I wanted to make sure I had no VNL. After applying it, I think I could have gotten away without the base.

Caronia Moonlight swatch

Isn’t it pretty? I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. I had not seen this shade before and I was surprised by it. I haven’t had much experience with duochromes and multichromes. I think this would be a duochrome but I also noted gold tones in certain lighting. I could not photograph it though. If you have any tips on photographing these types of polishes, I would love to hear them.

After applying topcoat (which bubbled a bit because it had been raining for almost 2 weeks straight) I added a little Swarovski crystal accent. I purchased these from Blooming Nail Cebu.

Caronia Moonlight with Swarovski accent

Which is your pick of the two? Both of these Caronia polishes are available in department stores, grocery stores and pharmacies in the Philippines. These shades come in 8ml bottles for approximately 34.75 Philippine Pesos.

What do you think of my review post? I’m still getting the hang of describing polishes for you. I would love to hear your feed back or any suggestions of what other info to include. Please leave a comment. I hope you have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Rach

26 Dec

Review of Chic Shadow Crystal and Blooming Nail Cebu Water Decals

Merry Christmas!

I hope you had a wonderful day filled with much love and laughter and that you got to spend it with people that you love. We enjoyed a Skype date with my hubby’s folks in Texas and we enjoyed a lovely lunch with my parents and siblings here in Cebu. Among other yummy things, we had some awesome mashed potatoes for lunch. Mr. Nailinator found this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. The secret ingredient? Cream cheese! Best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!

On to the nails… I planned to post this a couple of nights ago but I got hit with a bad migraine and it just didn’t happen. I was too busy yesterday preparing for guests today and just hanging out with the kids and Mr. Nailinator, so I’m posting it now.
Chic Shadow Crystal with "ugly sweater" water decals

Sometimes a girl needs some nail art that is easy and super speedy. This was just that. I applied my polish ahead of time (I’ll talk more about the polish in a bit) and had planned on doing a lovely free handed design, but due to time constraints (seriously, I’ve got two very active kids and a household to run) I chose to use the Hot016 Christmas themed water decals (should have taken a picture) that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu a while back. It doesn’t really get much easier than water decals, gals. The Blooming Nail decals are great quality. They are so easy to work with. They have vibrant images, and they are thick enough that I was able to use my tweezers to position them, mumble under my breath at my lousy attempt at centering the design, and reposition it several times. Then I applied topcoat to seal it and smooth it out. I forgot to make sure the decal was completely dry before I placed it on my ring finger, thus you can see I experienced a bit of bubbling. Hopefully the next time I do decals I won’t forget that step and they will all be smooth.

Chic Shadow Crystal swatch

The polish I used as my base is Chic Shadow Crystal (PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78). It is one of the 5 shades in their Grainy Collection. The polishes in their Grainy Collection dry to what I would describe as a slightly textured semi-matte finish. This is two thin coats of Shadow Crystal over one coat of San San Cloudy Gray. I think Shadow Crystal would need 4 coats for it to be opaque on it’s own so I decided to use undies again. I really love this polish. It dries fast and I love the finish and the little sparkles. It reminds me again of glistening snow except with a grayish silvery tint. I received several compliments when I wore the polish on it’s own. If you look closely at the pictures with the decals, you will see that there is no visible tip wear. I had already been wearing it without topcoat for 2 full days when I added the decals so it wears quite well also. Cleanup was very easy for me. A few sparklies were left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. This is another perfect holiday shade in my opinion.

I’m still getting used to doing actual reviews on polishes. I would really appreciate if you would tell me if there is any lacking information in this review that you would like me to include in future review posts. Or feel free to tell me what I did right. 😉

Mr. Nailinator convinced me to take the plunge and file my nails to a sort of pointy almond shape so the next time we meet I will be sporting a different look. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback so I hope you all love them too.

Christmas Lantern - Merry Christmas to you!

I’m singing off for bed now. Again, I hope you had/are having a very merry Christmas. May God bless you and yours.

Hugs,
Rachael

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