Fingerpaints Sketched and Etched

This is just a real quick review of Fingerpaints Sketched and Etched.  I wear it pretty regularly under glitter and as a base coat for a Konad and I thought I would go ahead and just swatch it alone while I had it on. 

I only have two Fingerpaints polishes but the formula on both is good, applying smoothly and covering fully in 2 coats.  Sketched and Etched is a nice fuchsia lacquer with a slight shimmer.  The best part about it is that it has that glowing from within appearance, which you of course can't see in this picture because winter hates me and the sun.  Occasionally I do have visible nail line if I only use two coats of this but since I normally layer something over it doesn't bother me.

Sketched and Etched 2 coats and topcoat (indoors), this is much brighter in person.

Does anyone have any Fingerpaints favorites?  The formula seems to be pretty solid and I like the colors but I haven't seen a lot of swatches.

Photographing Holos is a PITA

So photographing holos is a total pain.  I am totally going to get/build a light box as a result of today's polish.  A month ago I bought a bottle of China Glaze DV8 and has very excited about it.  Two days after buying it I accidentally knocked the box holding it onto the cold, hard, porcelain tile...shattering the bottle and sending gorgeous teal holo everywhere.  I was very sad.  On the positive side it gave me a reason to go buy a new bottle.  I was on a No Buy....ok I still officially am on a No Buy, but I'm not very good at it.  While at the local Vietnamese nail supply store (OMG!  I need to do a whole article on this place) grabbing a fresh bottle of DV8 I also picked up a bottle of LOL.  Its discontinued, if I don't get it now I might miss out.  Right?

Since I have had so many blue polishes on lately I decided to swatch the LOL first.  LOL is a purple linear holo.  I am obsessed with the linear holos like those in the OMG and OPI DS collections, they actually started my polish addiction and I have no willpower when it comes to them.  I was expecting really god things from LOL and I was needless to say giddy about trying it out.

Much like my experience with OPI DS Glamour, initially I was unimpressed.  It wasn't as dark a purple as it looked in the bottle and it didn't really have any of the holo goodness under fluorescent lighting.  Once I caught a glimpse of it under some nice recessed lighting or sunlight though....OHHH MAMMA!  Not as obvious as Glamour but still pretty fantastic.

Giddy and filled with purple, hologram cheer I grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures.  I normally try to take photos without a flash as my pasty white fingers reflect too much light with a flash.  Unfortunately there was no way to see how awesome this polish is without a flash or a better lighting set up than I currently have.  I resigned myself to taking one with and one without a flash, and a close up of the yumminess.

 

Three coats CG LOL and topcoat indoors without (L) and with (R) flash. 

 

 Ohhhh sparkly!

Because it was so overcast and gray out I wasn't getting a lot of light reflected back from this (well, the ladies room at work has great lighting but its just weird to hang out there and look at your nails), so I decided to add some hot pink and a little sex appeal for a Valentines-y konadicure.  Leopard print is romantic right?  No well my idea of Valentines day is skewedt, so this next week's mani's could be very boring or incredibly out of character for me.

CG LOL (3 coats), Fingerpaints Sketched and Etched, M57

Buried Treasure - OPI Bling Dynasty and CG Cleopatra

I am sure many of you have seen the swatches of the OPI Hong Kong Collection on other blogs by now.  Yesterday I snagged a few of the colors using gift cards from my mom (go mom) and rushed home to test out something I had been musing about... 

All Laquered Up described Bling Dynasty as a "burnished gold" that an "ancient queen" would wear, which by the way I totally agree with.  Its beautiful.  It looks a bit green on me, but I think with a bit of color this summer it will be fabulous.  This is a nice gold metallic shimmer that applies great and stamps for all you Konad fanatics. Also since this is the first OPI I have reviewed let me just say this....I LOVE the pro wide brush.

OPI Bling Dynasty (3 coats) and topcoat.  There hasn't been sunshine here in a week so excuse the crappy photos.  I am getting a light box.

Anyway, All Lacquered Up's description got me thinking about my other favorite ancient queen polish, CG Cleopatra. Cleopatra is gold glitter polish in a clear base, but this is no ordinary gold glitter.  Its an almost coppery gold...don't get me wrong its gold but in certain light it just looks deliciously tarnished, and it has holo glitter!  As soon as I saw Bling Dynasty for the first time I knew I wanted to layer Cleopatra over it.

 

One coat of CG Cleopatra and topcoat over Bling Dynasty.  This was taken the day after I did the mani, once the sun FINALLY came out so there is a bit of tip wear.

Close up of sparkly goodness

My nails are crazy sparkly!  The Cleopatra blends almost perfectly with the Bling Dynasty, its like they were made for each other.