Monday, August 3, 2015

SinfulColors: A Class Act and Night Owl

 *Purchased by me*
 *Provided for review*
 
It's August!  Which means it's time for me to start getting exciting about the promise of Autumn (maybe not in AZ so much), football, and most importantly Fall polishes!  My guess is that it's still hot where you are, and bright colors are still on your nails.  SinfulColors is with you!  They just released their brand new back to school collection; 'A Class Act' and it's a great transition collection.  The colors are bright but soft, and they included 9 new demi-matte polishes!  
I'm posting this quickly, so you can see all the polishes in this collection and scoop up a bunch since they are on sale at Walgreens for 99 cents this week!  I will have swatches up soon, but here are the details and some bottle shots:




I don't think I need to say anything about Night Owl, one of the new glitters....I mean just look at it!

Night Owl





Photo courtesy of SinfulColors

The full A Class Act collection consists of 27 shades grouped in sub-collections, and while some are re-promoted colors, there are 15+ new glitters, creams, demi-mattes, and shimmers.  I purchased A-Crush and tried it as soon as I got it home (the light blue demi-matte) and I liked the formula.  The best way to describe the finish is right in between a matte and a cream; sort of waxy. There is no shimmer, and it's not quite flat, but doesn't have the shine of a cream polish.  A-Crush took 2 coats to be opaque and you have to work fast because of the matte quality.

The sub name of the matte collection is called 'Chalkboard Diaries' and 3 of the demi-matte shades (black, white and pink) are to be exclusive to Walgreens - so go, go, go!

Which colors are you picking up from the sale this week?  What did you think of this collection and the new mattes?
I'll have swatches up soon.  In the meantime, check out SinfulColors social media sites:

SinfulColors Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website

~ Hayley ~

Thursday, July 30, 2015

BEGL Fan Favorites

This post is maybe a little bit rushed, but I wanted to get some swatches up and let you know about the restock tomorrow (July 31 at 3:30 edt) over at Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer! She previously released her Fan Favorite's collect as a pre-order, but tomorrow she will release the collection as a regular restock. I wanted to give you a head's up because this collection contains some of MY favorites as well and therefore I highly recommend you get over there and grab them while you can!

BEGLs for restock on July 31, 2015 Including The Fan Favorites Collection, from L to R: Untrodden Snow, Monster's Tea at Tiffany's, Cherry Blossom, Sordid End, Siren's Birthday Sprinkles, Fierce & Free, Bound to the City Life, Wanna Fall In Love Tonight, I Still Adore, and Fare the Wind - Photo Courtesy of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer
You might realize you've seen a few Fan Favorites polishes here on Polished at Heart. These include Fare the Wind (easily one of my top 10 polishes of all time). It is described as darker blue-leaning purple linear holographic with a blue to purple shift and red micro-flakies with a slight metallic finish. I would describe it as purple amazingness.

Fare the wind with accent of Lynnderella Blue Rouge on middle nail.
 
 
You can check out more swatches of this gorgeous color here and here.


I hope you remember the awesome teal squishy jelly I feel in love with in January - Bound to the City Life. If you missed it then, it is also coming back with the Fan Favorites Collection. BEGL describes this one as a dark teal jelly with teal, turquoise, purple, and blue holo microglitters. More swatches can be found in my review of the Spark in the Dark collection post here.




Another favorite making a comeback is Sordid End. I took some beach pictures wearing this one last year, but never got time to do a post. Good thing I saved them! This beauty is described as a periwinkle leaning cornflower blue with a teal to blue to purple shift. You can see some of the teal shimmer in this photo. 


And what is a swatch post with "the claw"?


Two polishes from the Fan Favorites Collection that I did not have, so I pre-ordered them, are I Still Adore and Monster's Tea at Tiffany's. First up, Monster's Tea. This color is described as Tiffany blue with green to red shift. I'm not sure if I see the red shift, but I do love the green in this one. It dries to a satin finish and I decided to leave it that way for these photos.

I do love my nails and my flowers....

Anyone care for a cuppa?
Monster's Tea had a slightly different application feel from other BEGLs I have used. However, take that with a grain of salt since I polished with this during some extreme heat and humidity with my windows open as my air conditioning was broken at the time. I noticed that the polish wanted to get tacky, like it was drying, very quickly and this led to a little streaking/patchiness. I want to try this one again now that my house is back to normal, livable temps. I would bet it would apply with no problems like my other BEGLs, but as always I wanted to let you know my honest experience. The photos also show three coats.

I Still Adore is an orchid pink holo with gold to pink shift. It applied nicely and was perfectly opaque in just two coats. Here are two photos of I Still Adore taken in full sun. See how she sparkles on my ring and pinky fingers?


I have two other Fan Favorites that I haven't taken photos of (yet) and they are Untrodden Snow (white with gorgeous blue shimmers) and Wanna Fall in Love Tonight (red-leaning purple with red shimmer). And after seeing some gorgeous manis I would love to grab up Cherry Blossom and Fierce & Free as well! I'm also loving this months latest Siren - more on her below. The polishes in the Fan Favorites Collection will be sold individually or as a set: individually - full size bottles $8.50-$12 | mini bottles $5-$6; as a set - full size bottles $102.50 | mini bottles $55.

A few other polishes will be listed tomorrow as well. They are the latest limited edition Siren, Siren Channels the 80's and the July Destination Duo, the Gulf Coast Sunset Duo. This month BEGL teamed up with Literary Lacquers! The duo consists of Gulf Coast Twilight by Literary Lacquers, a soft dusky twilight purple linear holo with iridescent gold flakies and a touch of orange shimmer; Happy Hour at the Blue Parrot by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, a juicy orange jelly with purple and copper shimmers; and 10 beachy cocktail water slide decals. Siren Channels the 80's is a totally rad neon green jelly packed with silver holo, gold holo, lime holo, and rainbow iridescent microglitters. Both photos below are courtesy Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers.

The Gulf Sunset Duo with Literary Lacquers

LE Siren Channels the 80's
Hmmm...looking at that Siren again, I think I definitely need her. I can say with confidence that I have nothing like her in my hoard collection. 

Siren Channels the 80's will be available in full size only for $8.50 and limited to one bottle per household. The Destination Duo box will be $25 shipped domestically, or $22 plus shipping fee for international customers. The Duo can be purchased at both the Literary Lacquers and the BEGL shops. 

Restock is tomorrow, July 31st at 3:30 edt - don't forget! I have a feeling some of these will go fast and they will be gone for a while (if not forever). 

For your stalking convenience:
BEGL Shop
BEGL Facebook
BEGL Fan Page BEGLove
BEGL Instagram



Do you think you'll be grabbing any of the Fan Favorites? Or do you already have them all? How about that neon Siren? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo
Jackie 


* DISCLOSURE * All Polishes were purchased by me except Bound to the City Life which was provided for review in January 2015. All opinions are my own.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

I'm wearing a holo? This is Surreal...

But, really it is....

This is a Sephora (Formula X) oldie and the name is Surreal.  :)  This was a polish I happened on last year at Big Lots for $2.99.  It simply looked like a light aqua chrome in the bottle. No trace of holo.  Then I tried it, and bam!

sephora surreal

This was my first official holo, and I had no idea I even had it in my possession. This formula is superb, it didn't really show brushstrokes for being a chrome in shade and indoor light.  In the sun it's a lovely aqua holo.  This was 2 very easy coats, no top coat, and very fast dry time.

I know you can still find this on eBay and other places online, but I believe Sephora discontinued this line of 'hologram chromes.'  It's not super unique but it's very pretty with both properties playing off of each other.
Below is a photo in the shade and one more in the sun, so you can see the difference!

aqua holo polish

aqua chrome polish
Indoors
Shade
It goes to show the surprises you probably already have in your collection...so go through some untried polishes! :)

~ Hayley ~

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Summer Favorites Swatchfest!

*All Polishes Were Purchased*

A few of my favorite colors to wear this summer are notorious for formulas that are a struggle.  That being said, the colors are worth it. I'll give you my honest thoughts below:

under the blacklight

First up is Urban Outfitters Honeydew.  This was 3 coats that dry slightly matte, and topcoat to even things out.  In the bottle it looks extremely close to Color Club Under the Blacklight.  Honeydew is in the pastel neon bunch and I cannot get enough of colors like this!  On the nail it's slightly brighter than Under the Balcklight, which you'll see below.  Decent formula (since I have come across a pastel neon that has yet to be easy, I was expecting it).  This one was slightly on the easier side to work with.  I  love the glow in late dusk and early morning you get with these colors.

color club pastel neon

Next is Color Club Under the Blacklight. I LOVE this color - I wore with matte topcoat it in the above picture because it was my first try with the polish, and figuring out the formula was a struggle.  This was 3-4 coats (some had 3 some had a thin 4th coat).  This was an indoor shot which leans more yellow than outdoors like you see with Honeydew (I promise these two colors really are similar!) but my camera was a little freaked out so it is very slightly greener.

fuchsia polish

Pure Ice Feisty is up next.  This one was from a few summers ago, but Pure Ice does bring back previous shades and I came across this in Walmart just the other week, so it's still around!  This was 2 very easy coats.  Pure Ice formulas are thin, so I was pleased with how opaque the coats were and that it didn't flood at all.  I recommend this polish if you see it.  It dries semi-matte like neons do - this was without topcoat.  I later tried to matte it - and it almost acted like a crackle polish - it was so odd!  I'll try it again with a different matte, but it is a beautiful purple leaning fuchsia!

bonita colors

This is Sweet Cheeks by Bonita Colors. This was the first polish from Bonita that I have tried.  I was a little thrown by this coral.  In the bottle it look more pink than in the picture, BUT this is definitely color accurate on me.  It dried on my nails more orange coral than the pink coral in the bottle.  Still very pretty for summer and stellar 2 coat formula.  It is not terribly unique - so if you don't have it there are a ton of similar options out there.  SinfulColors Island Coral comes to mind, because that is another one that leans pinker in the bottle, but more orange coral on the nail. 

peach polish
Outside - sunlight

peach polish

This last polish was one of my favorite colors, but I'm pretty sure I cried and almost threw the bottle out of the window when I applied it.  This is Spring In My Step from China Glaze.  I adore this color! It's a beautiful pinky-peach, and it's bright!  The formula was HORRIBLE though. It was streaky and patchy - this is 4 coats + topcoat and every single one was a struggle.  But I cannot express how I LOVE this color!  I give it a pass for that only, but I'm on the hunt for anything similar.  I might have found one, so I'll report back.

Thanks for stopping by!  Are there any other colors you recommend similar to these?  What are your favorite summer polishes?

~ Hayley ~