Pointless Cafe: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Glitter Daze - New Indie Glitter Polish

Today I have 4 new glitter polishes from a new indie line called Glitter Daze!

Their introductory line is called Love at First Sight and is a Valentine's Day inspired collection consisting of Cupid Hit Me, One Grape Love, Pure Seduction and First Love.

Glitter Daze Love at First Sight Collection (with Seche Vite top coat)
Thumb to Pinky: Cupid Hit Me, One Grape Love, Pure Seduction and
Cupid Hit Me again on the pinky.

I can't seem to get my camera to pick up what a hot pink Cupid Hit Me is!

Descriptions from Glitter Daze's site...

Cupid Hit Me is a fun and flirty hot pink. It is loaded with multi-sized pink and red glitter as well as silver holographic glitter.

Glitter Daze Cupid Hit Me

Image of Cupid Hit Me from Glitter Daze site

One Grape Love is a warm purple polish with red, purple, and fuchsia glitters.

Glitter Daze One Grape Love

Image of One Grape Love from Glitter Daze site

Pure Seduction is a deep red polish with a lot of glitter. It contains medium sized gold, fuchsia, and garnet glitter, as well as small red glitter.

Glitter Daze Pure Seduction

Image of Pure Seduction from Glitter Daze site

First Love is a pale pink nail polish with medium-sized light pink and lavender glitter, as well as small gold and silver glitter.

Glitter Daze First Love

Image of First Love from Glitter Daze site

without top coat

with top coat

close-up with top coat

I didn't have any harsh smells as you sometimes get with indie glitters. The formula kept the glitters suspended well and they applied evenly and without leaving me with the feeling I needed to try and "place" the glitters. All of these are shown over my bare nails with only two coats, but I'm sure they would look good layered over base colors as well. The coverage was, however, adequate enough that I didn't feel the need for a colored base coat of polish. Glitters were densely packed. I imagine three coats would give full opacity. Also, I only used one coat of Seche Vite which gave me a smooth surface without that "gritty glitter feel."

Glitter Daze polishes are available through their website and blog here for $4.50 each.

So what do you think? Have you been trying indie polishes lately? Will you try these?

Click here to enter my Winter Giveaway - ENDS FEBRUARY 8TH

Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration.

For more information, please visit my Disclosure Tab.

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China Glaze High Def - Swatches and Review

China Glaze High Def is another yummy offering from their Tronica Collection, Spring 2011. I hope I was doing something really important last year to have missed out on this collection. Geesh. It's really pretty outstanding. I think maybe part of the problem was the hype leading up to the release had everyone thinking (and hoping) that it would be more like their hugely popular and highly coveted OMG Collection. It wasn't. And while it may have been much different, I think it is pretty spectacular in its own right.

High Def is a cool-toned cornflower blue with a fairly tight scattered holo. The holo isn't quite as tight in High Def as it was in Electra Magenta, but it's close. Went on creamy and evenly. Two coats to full opacity.

Photos here shown with two coats and no topcoat (in most photos) unless otherwise stated.

China Glaze High Def

China Glaze High Def (with top coat)

China Glaze High Def

China Glaze High Def (with topcoat)

As stated in my previous Electra Magenta post, these aren't in stores anymore (unless you're in on a supply store or something) but you can still find them at a reasonable price on Amazon, at blog sales, etc.

There were 12 polishes in the collection.

3D Fantasy
Cyberspace
Digital Dawn
Electra Magenta
Gamer Glam
High Def
Hologram
Hyper Haute
Laser Lime
Mega Bite
Techno Teal
and
Virtual Violet
Did you snag any of these when they were in the stores? Which are your favorites?

Also, don't forget to enter my Winter Giveaway if you haven't already!

If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

Glam Polish's China Glaze Hunger Games Giveaway!

Yes, she's giving away 6 colors from the Capitol Colours Collection!

Check out Glam Polish's Blog and ENTER while you're there! (US Mainland and Australia only)

Also, don't forget to enter my Winter Giveaway if you haven't already!

If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

Monday, January 30, 2012

China Glaze Electra Magenta - Swatches and Review

China Glaze Electra Magenta is one of those yummy polishes from their Tronica Collection for Spring 2011. A collection I somehow missed! I'm not sure how that happened at all. I remember hearing about it ahead of time and then didn't really think of it again until I got Electra Magenta through a blog sale. Now I'm determined to get some of the others! The formula and the *almost* linear (very tightly scattered?) holo remind me, oddly, of a-England's Tristam, Lady of the Lake and some of the new Legends Collection. Smooth, creamy...dreamy.

I've been hard-pressed to pin this color down in my head though, which is part of the reason this post is late. I've been staring at my nails all day trying to decide exactly what color it really is! I know it says Magenta right there in the name, but I'm not sure that's what I would call it. At one point I thought maybe it was purple, then pink then berry...finally I *think* I found the word I'd been searching for. Orchid! Of course that still really doesn't help much in the color description. It's like a lighter version of OPI DS Exclusive. One thing for sure - it's cool-toned. So I'm going to say it's a cool-toned purplish-pink holo and leave it at that. You can judge for yourself when you see the photos!

Pretty sure it's a one-coater but I've been a serial two-coater for years, so I've used two coats and no top coat for these photos.

China Glaze Electra Magenta

These aren't in stores anymore (unless you're in on a supply store or something) but you can still find them at a reasonable price on Amazon, at blog sales, etc.

There were 12 polishes in the collection.

3D Fantasy
Cyberspace
Digital Dawn
Electra Magenta
Gamer Glam
High Def
Hologram
Hyper Haute
Laser Lime
Mega Bite
Techno Teal
and
Virtual Violet

Tomorrow I'll be doing High Def, which is the stormy/cornflower/dusty blue. If I can force myself to take this one off!

Did you get in on these last Spring? Do you like them?

Also, don't forget to enter my Winter Giveaway if you haven't already!

If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Amazing Blog Giveaway by Dandy-Nails.com!

I about fainted when I saw this one!

Dandy-nails.com is having a blog giveaway and you could win China Glaze Liquid Crystal, Full Spectrum and Optical Illusion!

Is this Polish Porn or WHAT?

Visit her here and enter to win. Good Luck!

Also, don't forget to enter my Winter Giveaway if you haven't already!

a England The Legends Collection - Swatches and Review (PIC HEAVY)

Well, I've been sick and let me tell you, these Legends sure upped the cheer-factor in MY house this week. Exponentially! I didn't think Adina could ever top, or even MATCH, the magnificence of Tristam and Lady of the Lake. But she's at least matched them. This entire collection surpassed my expectations.

The Legends Collection consists of seven polishes that were named after the tale of Saint George and the Dragon. I could cut and paste from Wiki here, but I won't. Most of you have heard the story and if not, well, you know how to find Wiki. I know you're just here for the photos anyhow!

Here are the names:

Saint George - teal holo

Dragon - green holo

Princess Sabra - golden holo

Order of the Garter - royal blue glass fleck

Princess Tears - light grey/lilac holo

Bridal Veil - black holo

Ascalon - medium grey holo

I started to just order a few of them and I'm so happy I didn't because the ones I wouldn't have ordered may just be my favorites!

First up, and rightfully so, is Saint George (who is, just FYI, the Patron Saint of England.) This is a magnificent deep teal leaning toward a blue teal, but depending on how the light hits it, the green also plays a huge role - highly pigmented and creamy with so many shimmers, it's hard to pick out exactly what they are. The holographic properties are *almost* a straight linear but not quite. I'm going to call it a tightly scattered holo. Very tightly. It goes on smoothly and is self-leveling. I used two coats and no top coat for the photos. Sorry there are so many, but I tried very hard to get shots of how the light reflects off of it. (Pro Tip #1: I didn't put on a base coat for these swatches and I highly recommend you use one, especially with this good ol' Saint George.)

a England Saint George

Next up is Saint George's co-star, Dragon. Dragon is a lush green and with the holographic shimmers seems to have the iridescence that a real life dragon scale might have! As with Saint George, the scattered holo is so tight it's *almost* a linear. Creamy, smooth, self-leveling, highly pigmented. Again, lots of photos as I've tried to capture how it looks, which is very difficult, especially for someone like me who's not a photographer. It flashes light green, dark green, gold, blue and well, you get the idea. Have a look...

a England Dragon

Since Princess Sabra is the princess Saint George saved, she's up next. Princess Sabra is a rich gold with olive undertones and has the same tightly scattered holo. More pigmented than I expected for a lighter shade. Very rich and creamy like the others. When I applied the first coat I just knew it would be a 3 or 4 coater, but I wasn't sad for long when the second coat worked its magic. Totally opaque and even with 2 coats!

a England Princess Sabra

Next is Order of the Garter. This one is the "odd man out" in this collection as it doesn't have the holographic properties of the other six. The Order of the Garter is the highest order of chivalry or knighthood existing in England. It's the richest of royal blues and just chock full of glass flecks and shimmers and sparkles in the light like nobody's business. But once dry, I think you will need a top coat with this to show it to its best advantage. I had the most difficulty with the application of this one. It still went on smoothly and in two coats, but wasn't quite as creamy and smooth as the others. I may have tried to apply the second coat too thickly, but all in all, it wasn't bad. I might try to do 3 very thin coats next time. Upon close inspection, I think there is even some pink shimmer with the glass flecks.

a England Order of the Garter

Next is Princess Tears. It's a light grey/silver with lavender, lilac, pink and blue flashes and tons of tightly scattered holographic shimmer. Like Dragon, Saint George and Princess Sabra, it's creamy, smooth and well pigmented. Goes on like a dream and is opaque in two coats. (This is another one I had doubts about after the first coat, but the 2nd coat was magic.)

a England Princess Tears

Next is Bridal Veil. This is what I call a black holo. But that doesn't even begin to describe it. It's another scattered holographic shimmer polish - not quite as tightly scattered as the others, but still gorgeous with the prismatic flashes. Creamy, smooth, highly pigmented and probably a one-coater, though I used two coats on all 7 Legends.

a England Bridal Veil

Finally we come to Ascalon. Saint George's trusty sword. This is definitely a unique polish (as if the others weren't?) in that it has a strong duochrome quality along with the holo. It reminded me of something you might have if Orly Space Cadet and Nfu-Oh 61 had a baby. Except BETTER. It's a medium steel grey and is another tightly scattered holo. The formula on this is most like Dragon, Saint George and Princess Sabra...creamy, smooth, self-leveling. Goes on like a dream.

a England Ascalon

Wow, that was a LOT! In summary, I really liked all seven of The Legends. The only issues I had were that a couple of the brushes had a stray bristle that needed cutting off, which took all of 3 seconds, so really not much of an issue. I do love the brushes as they are cut well and hold the perfect amount of polish for each nail with out "re-dipping." I did have a little application problem with Order of the Garter - a little thicker than the others, but nothing major. The other six were pure perfection. (Pro Tip #2: These polishes go on easily and in very few strokes. If you like to go over and over and over your nail with the polish, you'll need to do it differently with these.)

A-England polishes are available on their website, and they offer free international delivery. You can also order through Ninja Polish, MeiMei's Signatures, Overall Beauty and Llarowe. And of course, you can always stay up to date on their latest release by following a-England on Facebook and Twitter! Also follow Ninja Polish on Facebook, Overall Beauty on Facebook and Llarowe on Facebook and MeiMei's Signatures on Facebook for more updates, availability and re-stock information.

My favorite? I don't think I can pick! The one that surprised me the most was Princess Sabra. I almost didn't order that one and that would have been tragic. It's definitely in my top three. The other two are Saint George and Dragon with Ascalon pulling up in 4th position.

Which are your favorites?

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