Darling Diva Cloud City

In line with The Lando System from yesterday, I have another polish inspired by Bespin: Darling Diva Cloud City. Rather than the colors we see in the movie, this polish captures the feeling of a soaring, wide open sky. Cloud City is a medium sky blue holographic that includes pink shimmer and multicolored iridescent flakies.

Cloud City has a jellyish consistency and was a little thick while also being a little on the sheer side. That said, it goes on pretty easily and is pretty forgiving. I did need to use three coats to make it mostly opaque, though there was still some visible nail line even after three coats. If you really dislike anything sheer, you could definitely layer this, but I think it looks very pretty and delicate alone. 

And for good measure, here's an iPhone photo so you can see the flakies, though the lighting is not great:

This is really pretty! I like how the same inspiration can result in two very different looking polishes. This color is so soft and pretty and I love the combination of finishes-- I think they work pretty well together without competing too much. I would say that the flakies kind of disappear in the shimmer and holographic finishes most of the time, but do come out with the right conditions and give this some added dimension. Lovely!

Shleee Polish Scarif and Destruction of Jedha

I'm starting out the week with a two-fer! Today I have two newer polishes from Shleee Polish, and they are both inspired by new planets from the newest Star Wars movie, Rogue One! First up is Scarif, which is a tropical planet that housed the plans for the Imperial projects, including the Death Star.

Scarif is a light sky blue creme with a gorgeous gold and pink shimmer. I was really pleased with the formula-- it was nicely pigmented and went on very smoothly and easily. I used three coats here, though you might be able to get away with two depending on your polishing style. It was an easy three coats and went on very quickly. I loved how this looked on my nails and I didn't want to take it off!

Next up, we have the Destruction of Jedha, and sorry, the title of the polish is a slight spoiler if you haven't seen the movie. (Which you should, because it's really good.) The planet of Jedha is place of pilgrimage for those who believe in the Force and also a place where the Empire was mining kyber crystals to power the Death Star. As a polish, the Destruction of Jedha is a green based polish that shifts purple and is packed with multicolor flakies! The formula was good-- this went on easily and the flakies were dispersed well throughout the base. I did used my standard three coats, but probably could have gotten away with two.

I really love both of these! The colors are gorgeous and I love that they have different finishes. Scarif definitely recalls the lush, blue waters of the tropics and Destruction of Jedha shifts between many different colors, capturing the frozen desert. It's hard to pick a favorite, though Scarif holds a slight edge because I love a good blue and the shimmer!

Polish 'M Center Stage

Because I showed you a metallic polish on Monday, I've got another one to share with you today-- this time from the brand Polish 'M! Centerstage was released a couple months ago and I loved the photos I saw so much that I decided I had to have it (ok, so that's really not that much of a challenge). Centerstage is described as a "crazy metallic flakie polish! It's in a clear base with rose, platinum, bronze and gold flakies." I think that sums it up very nicely!

I didn't have any issues with the formula of Centerstage. Because it is made of flakies, it's not 100% opaque right away-- I believe I used three coats here. It builds up very nicely and I didn't have any issues applying it!

Foils like Center Stage never fail impress me with how shiny and reflective they are-- it's mesmerizing! I was really happy with this and I freaking love how shiny it is and how it changes under different lighting conditions.

Here's an iPhone photo so you can see it in a slightly different light:

Are you drooling now? So.flipping.gorgeous! 

Centerstage is currently available for purchase if you are interested!

Different Dimension Lyra

Today I have a pretty amazing polish to share with you, and introduce a new-to-me brand! (Technically there has been a Different Dimension polish on the blog before, but only as an accent nail-- this is my first real, proper post featuring the brand!) Today I have Different Dimension Lyra. This polish is part of Different Dimension's Shooting Stars series, which is a series of limited edition polishes that are released on Friday evenings and listed until they sell out. And as the title of the series suggests, they are named after stars! Lyra is beautiful silver holographic with multi-chrome flakies and silver flakies! You'd think that could be overwhelming, all the different elements harmonize beautifully to create an epic polish! 

I was not disappointed with Lyra at all. The formula was great and I had no issues at all while I applied it. Of course, I have no notes, but I'm pretty sure I only needed two coats. Because of all that's going on, I do have a lot of photos-- it was hard to choose! 

Artificial light (flash):

Natural light:

This is my first Different Dimension polish and I think it's official: I'm in love! Lyra is totally stunning. This polish has so much going on and it's irresistible! I couldn't stop staring at it-- every lighting situation brings out another aspect of this polish and it's never boring. I didn't want to take this off. Unfotunately, Lyra is long sold out now, but Different Dimension has a lot of other stunning polishes for sale.

ILNP Supernova

Today I have another ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakie to show you! This time it's Supernova, which shifts from blue and teal to green and eventually violet. Here I wore this over Sally Hansen Regal, which you can see in my last post. This would look gorgeous over a green, a deeper blue or probably any color. I used two here and got good coverage! This polish was sparser than Electric Carnival, and ILNP suggests 3-4 coats if you want to wear it opaque on its own. I would agree with that, though I intend on layering these over a base color.

Although my photos don't truly capture the extent of the shift on the nails, it's there-- believe me! You can see in the bottle how the colors shift from blue/green to violet/red and that shift does happen on the nail. You really need to see it in person.

Natural light - shade:

Seriously, I can not get enough of these Ultra Chrome polishes. So freaking pretty. It's hard to resist staring at my nails... or buying the rest of these. (Now I really want just the blue/green one. No Cat, noooooo.)

The Ultra Chrome Flakies retail for $12.50 and are currently available on the ILNP site.

Cult Nails Seduction

And I saved the best for last-- Seduction! This such a fabulous polish. Maria made this polish after a friend mentioned that she wanted a flakie polish without green flakes after seeing Clairvoyant. So Maria went to work and created another amazing flakie polish. Seduction is described as "a purple/red sheer jelly base with red, blue and pink iridescent flakes."

Here I have one layer of Seduction over one coat of Cult Nails Vicious (which is a deep purple creme polish you've seen before). Since that base color of Seduction is a sheer purple, I wanted to layer it over a purple to show it off to best effect. It went on easily, no problems with the formula. This also doesn't have a top coat either.

I don't really have a lot to say about this polish because I'll just keep repeating the same adjectives: amazing, stunning, gorgeous, beautiful. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Usually I hate my artificial light pictures, but I think Seduction looks amazing here.

Natural light - shade:

This isn't the greatest angle, but you can see the color shift up close on the nail.

And... a freaking crap ton of bottle shots:

Look at how amazing it looks! Drooling.

Look at how amazing this polish is! Seriously stunning. I am huge fan of Clairvoyant, but like a lot of polish lovers out there, I think that I may like Seduction more! I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true! The color shift is a amazing and it looks gorgeous in person.

Because Seduction is made with the same flakies as Clairvoyant/Unicorn Puke, it is limited edition and will gone when it sells out. It's still available on the Cult Nails site for $10.

Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

Tonight's polish is the last from the Let's Get Nekkid Collection. Toxic Seaweed is a polish that Maria jokingly referred to as her alien neutral. Toxic Seaweed was a lab mistake that Maria made a few changes to and then decided to release it with this collection.

Toxic Seaweed is amazing, seriously. It's green and gold glitter with red and orange flakies in a sheer teal base (making it a great polish for St. Patrick's Day as well). I find the formula to be a little thick, but workable. One coat gave pretty good coverage, but I used two coats in my pictures below. There is still a little bit of visible nail line, so I think either three coats or potentially using this over a teal base color would be perfect if you want completely opaque coverage. Toxic Seaweed dried pretty quickly, but also dried very gritty, so you'll definitely need to us a top coat at the end.
Toxic Seaweed is one of those polishes that convinces me I'm a glitter fiend even though I say I'm not. I'll be the first to say that the thought of flakies and glitter was a little weird, but it works so well in this polish. I could not stop staring at my nails. This polish is mesmerizing. And don't kill me, but this makes me think of Christmas, with the green and gold and red. LOVE IT.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Toxic Seaweed is sadly a limited edition polish due to limited availability of the flakies that Maria uses and so when the polish is gone, it's gone forever unless this issue is resolved (which at this time seems unlikely). So if you like it, I would snag it sooner rather than later!

Football (Non)Friday: Alamo Bowl Edition

Hey football fans!! Tonight is the Valero Alamo Bowl, featuring the Washington Huskies against the Baylor Bears (and current Heisman winner, RG3). The game kicks off at 6pm Pacific time, so this is officially late. Whoops! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! This is Washington's first appearance in the Alamo (which just became a Pac-12 bowl last year when we were still the Pac-10) and also the first time Washington has ever played Baylor. UW faces an uphill battle as Baylor is on a five game winning streak and their quaterback, Robert Griffin III just won the Heisman trophy. The Dawgs are kind of in a lull-- they managed to win the Apple Cup fairly decisively, but otherwise had a very lackluster finish to the regular season. It should be a high scoring game if both offenses are firing on all cylinders. But enough football talk, let's get to the polish!

Tonight's football manicure features Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas and Essie Luxeffect top coat As Gold As It Gets.

Mismas is seriously the be-all and end-all of purple creme polishes. Take from a purple polish lover, folks! While I don't own every single purple polish out there, I do own a lot of them, and Mismas is perfect. That's right, I said it. PERFECT. Mismas was created for RBL's Fall 2009 Blogger Collection for Michelle Mismas, whose blog All Lacquered Up could also be considered the be-all and end-all of nail polish blogs. Mismas is a deep purple grape polish and seriously, pretty much has the best formula on a polish I've ever encountered. It's insanely well pigmented and goes on super smooth and shiny, even without a top coat. Mismas is almost a one coater, though I did notice some balding with just one coat, so two is perfect. It dries quickly, so that's really not an issue at all. If you are looking for the one perfect purple creme polish for your collection, this is it. I'm not even joking. The price tag is a little steep at $18/bottle, but seriously, this polish is purple perfection and in my opinion, totally worth it. Mismas was sold out when I first became obsessed with nail polish, but has recently been re-released through one of the RBL Bring-It-Back votes and is still for sale on the RBL site.

Of course, my camera did not capture this totally accurately and the pictures all lean a little more blue than the polish actually is in real life. Also, I used my mom's Ottlite for a few of the artificial light pictures to see if I could get a slightly better picture of the true color of Mismas-- it wasn't entirely successful.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Gorgeous, right? I was a little loathe to change it, but I recently picked up one of Essie's new Luxeffect top coats-- As Gold As It Gets. This is a clear polish that is chock full of golden flakies in various sizes. The polish is a bit on the thick side, but not too unmanageable.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light:

The gold flakies give this an unusual finish and it's pretty cool looking. My camera makes them look more iridescent, but they're pretty much straight up gold in real life. I will have to try this over some other polishes, but I think it's really cool and I'm glad Essie has stepped up their game with some cool top options, similar to the other big name brands out there.

The score currently stands at 21-14 in Baylor's favor. LET'S GO DAWGS!!