Stash Swatch Initiative: Essie Set in Stones

Hello!

Essie Set in Stones. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today, I have a quick swatch of a polish I've been using quite a bit of lately. This is Essie Set in Stones.

Set in Stones is simply a mix of three different sizes of silver hex glitters in a clear base. I always want to call this Nothing Else Metals, so pardon my previous and future errors, please.

Essie Set in Stones. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one swiped on coat of Set in Stones over yesterday's Rainbow Honey 488nm swatch plus one coat of NYC In a New York Minute Topcoat. This provides a nice glitter density, and I found it had the right clear base-to-glitter ratio for easy application.

Essie Set in Stones, matte. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I believe this was a part of the first Luxeffects line Essie came out with a few years ago. I've had this one for a long time, but I would bet I purchased my bottle at CVS back in Maryland. It's a solid, staple polish, and I think this is still available.

Essie Set in Stones. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: OPI Push and Shove

Hello!

Today I have OPI Push and Shove! Push and Shove is a super-metallic silver polish. It was from the Gwen Stefani Collection, and it comes with a special base coat called Lay Down That Base. Even with using that base coat, this polish only lasts about 24 hours.

OPI Push and Shove. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Lay Down That Base, two coats of Push and Shove, and one coat of Seche Vite (I think... I wore this sometime in March and didn't take notes...). I found this to be fairly easy to work with, but you do need to be careful with brush strokes.

OPI Push and Shove. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

The effect is crazy-metallic! It's almost mirror-like in that I can see blurry reflections in my nails. The trade-off for the awesome finish, however, is the wear time. This will start showing tipwear surprisingly soon, and in a day, be flaking off almost like the silver stuff on a scratch-off.

OPI Push and Shove. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I purchased my bottle on clearance at Sally Beauty, where I still saw a few bottles left on the clearance shelf about a week ago. It's a novelty polish, and definitely not for everyone, but if you're at all interested in it, I think you can probably still find it. I'm going to guess that this one might become one of those coveted, hard-to-find polishes some day.

OPI Push and Shove. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Essie On a Silver Platter

Hello!

Essie On a Silver Platter. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is Essie's On A Silver Platter.

Essie On a Silver Platter. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

On a Silver Platter is a crazy mix of shimmer and glitter. There are two sizes of cobalt blue, holographic hex glitters swimming in a heavy shimmer that shifts from silver to a greenish-gold. It is incredibly sparkly and totally awesome! My pictures don't tell the complete tale well because my camera refused to acknowledge the gold shift on the nail (but you can see it in the bottle!). :(

Essie On a Silver Platter. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of On a Silver Platter plus one coat of Gelous and one of NYC In a New York Minute over Saturday's OPI This Gown Needs a Crown swatch. I didn't have any issues with application. I did try to layer this up on it's own, but it is surprisingly sheer at first. I think you could get to opacity in three coats, but it might end up getting a bit chunky and the snazzy blue glitters would get lost in the sea of shimmer.

Essie On a Silver Platter. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I think this looks fabulous over the silver foil, and it keeps it true to in-bottle look. In person at this angle, the gold color shift was really noticeable, not that my camera cared... /grump.

Essie On a Silver Platter. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I purchased this bottle just last weekend at CVS.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: OPI This Gown Needs a Crown

Hello!

I'm starting the year out right and keeping to my resolution of posting more than four swatches per week -- here is OPI's This Gown Needs a Crown!

OPI This Gown Needs a Crown. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This Gown Needs a Crown is a very shiny silver foil-like polish that dries down to a satin finish. The silver flecks are so shiny that the satin effect is rather subtle. It is just sheer enough at one coat that you could layer it over another color, but I only needed two coats for opacity.

OPI This Gown Needs a Crown. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are a base coat of Seche Clear, and two coats of This Gown Needs a Crown. The polish is easy to work with and applies easily.

OPI This Gown Needs a Crown. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

In this picture, I added a coat of topcoat to just my ring finger. There is barely a discernible difference in sheen, but this polish is gorgeous either way you want to wear it. I do like the satin finish because it gives the polish a softer look that is very pretty.

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I purchased my bottle recently from Ulta. The added crown-shaped charm comes attached to the bottle, which I think it a super cute idea! This polish is definitely a winner -- good job, OPI!

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Zoya Trixie

Hello!

Today I have the fantastic Zoya Trixie swatched up for you!

Zoya Trixie. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Trixie is a silver, metallic foil -- it looks like liquid metal! It is very bright and shiny. It's amazing!

Zoya Trixie. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

For swatches today, I've used a base coat of Seche Clear, one coat of Trixie, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. This is wonderfully pigmented and covered perfectly with one coat.

Zoya Trixie. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I purchased this super polish directly from Zoya's website. They often run flash sales and give promo codes, and the best way to catch those is to follow their Facebook page.

More soon! ^_^

Crumpet's Laid-Back 31 Day Challenge: Silver

Hello!

Today is day two of the 31 day challenge, and today's prompt is "Silver". I'm not entirely sure of the rules here, but I started with silver nails... so that counts right?

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I started with one very carefully applied coat of MS Milani, which is an okay silver polish. It's not the super metallic polish like we've seen recently from Essie. It's definitely a frosty finish and feels very 'vintage'. It did show some brush strokes, so I used a make-up sponge to dab on a final coat to hide them. Since I was already doing that, I decided to add some pink with Zoya Rory to create a little gradient. Once that was all dry, I stamped the heartstrings image from BM-11 with Zoya Carly. I topped it all off with NYC In a New York Minute. In the end, I loved how this turned out, even if I wasn't crazy about the silver I started out with for my base color.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I spent much more time on this mani than the last one, keeping in mind the lesson learned about patience there. I'm happy to say, I had no problems with this mani. Everything worked to my satisfaction, and it's as perfect as I think I could ever manage. Yay for winning!

Check out the others' manis below!! More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic

Hello again!!

Installment number three of this mini-series is Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic.

Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This one is a base of silver micro glitter with fine blue hex glitters. I couldn't tell if these were a navy blue or a more turquoise blue. They looked like they could go either way depending on the light. Anyway, this polish is gorgeous!

Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix, two coats of Showgirl Chic, and one thick coat of Seche Vite. The formula on this was thinner than the previous ones, but seemed to cover better. This one looks foil-like as well, and, just like Big Money, I am loving this as a full mani.

Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

I can see myself wanting to wear this a lot in the winter. It reminds me of cold and ice and snow. I'm already inspired to use this as a base for a wintry mani... maybe some blue snowflakes stamped over the top? Or some red bells for Christmas? Summer isn't gone yet, but I'm looking forward to the change of season already!

Like the others, I found this at CVS. I spied them at Target and Walgreens too!

Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^