Heaven Nail Lacquer Review and Swatches

Today I have swatches from three Heaven Nail Lacquer polishes. I found these at my local Albertsons grocery store. Did you know Albertsons had such an extensive cosmetic department?? It's pretty impressive. I had never heard or seen Heaven Lacquer but they had a decent color range of about 15 colors on display and many of them were pretty unique. I think I'll be going back for more!

These retailed for $2.49 for me and I'm quite impressed for the price and being a brand I had never heard of before.

On to the colors-

Aloha Orchid is a beautiful lilac kissed pink pastel creme. This polish sits right on the line of neon pastel. It's creamy, light and bright all at the same time. The formula was pretty good. It was a little thicker than normal, but not difficult to apply. This was opaque after three coats and dries down to a satin finish.

 Island Orange was an unexpected stunner for me. (I'm not a huge fan of orange with my skintone) This is a creamsicle orange pastel with a faint but there, yellow shimmer running throughout. I actually didn't even notice the shimmer until I took these pictures. It also has that almost neon pastel look. This was smooth and easy to apply. It was a "normal" consistency for polish and was opaque in three thin coats. This dried down the most matte of the three.

 Big Mint. Oh my! This was so hard for me to capture color accuracy because it is truly a neon pastel. This is a bright blue tinted grass green neon pastel creme. This dries down to a more shiny satin finish. This had an decent formula, it was thicker than the other two colors and dried quickly which caused a ridgy effect on the nail. It's worth three thicker coats. This is a beautiful color.

The above swatches are three coats, no topcoat.

Overall, after trying these three polishes from Heaven Lacquer, I'm definitely calling myself a potential fan. The formula was a little inconsistent between the three but the color payoff was fantastic. For $2.49, I'm not complaining. These colors are typically ones you see from higher end brands, like China Glaze, Essie, OPI etc so I'm pretty excited to have found these at a drugstore price point.

Thanks for reading! Until next time...

-Nic

Sinful Colors Walgreen's Exclusives Swatches and Review

So today I finally found the three Walgreen's exclusive demi mattes from the Chalkboard Collection. I also saw the beginnings of the All Nighter collection. I'm not sure why my Walgreens puts up new displays, then adds a bunch of permanent shades to fill it out. I want to buy all the new things now! Not one at a time. Anyway, here we go.

The three exclusives are Whiteboard, Blackboard and Pink Break. I also have Late Night Haute and Casablanca from the All Nighter Collection.

Swatches have no topcoat.

Whiteboard-

It's a smooth white creme that dries to a demi matte finish. The swatch above is two coats. It was very smooth, slightly thin, but completely opaque in two coats. This dries quickly so don't overwork the polish on the nail to avoid streaks and clumps. It's a nice white and I think this would work as a great base to neon polish or nail art.

Blackboard-

An almost black creme, This dried to the same demi matte finish and was also a thinner formula like Whiteboard. The above swatch is three thin coats and it is fully opaque. I love this polish. It's so so very close to being black and the demi matte finish separates it from your typical black matte polish. This reminds me of black licorice or jelly beans. 

Pink Break- 

A dusty mauve pink creme. This did not dry to the claimed demi matte finish and I was heartbroken. The above swatch is two coats. This polish was a little thicker than the first two colors. I was looking forward to this color so much, and you can see for yourselves, the finish between the black and pink is huge. I waited almost 2 hours before writing this in hopes it would change finishes. It did not. 

 Now, these Pink Break bottles were sitting next to a row of a color called Starfish by Sinful Colors. Guys, it's the exact same dusty pink. I could not tell a difference between Starfish and Pink Break if it wasn't for a sticker telling me so. If you have Starfish, put a matte topcoat on it and you'll have what Pink Break was supposed to be.

The two All Nighter polishes I got were Late Night Haute and Casablanca. These were the only two I could find in the store for now.

Late Night Haute-

A stunning sheer teal jelly base with aqua, pink and lavender glitters, shifty flakies and bar glitters. The above swatch is 2 coats. There was no need for glitter placing or dabbing to manipulate the glitter. This is sheer, but dense and builds up beautifully. I would think 3-4 coats might give you opacity depending on how thick your coats are. Also, a note for my fellow polishers who hate bar glitters, the bars in this polish are very end of nail friendly. They don't stick up and poke your eye out. I liked them and I abhor bar glitters.

Casablanca-

A tiny darker than silver metallic polish. This is a thicker formula but not difficult to work with at all. The above swatch is one coat. ONE COAT! I was actually shocked. It is a tiny bit brush strokey and levels off pretty well, but you can see minor strokes in my swatch above. If brush strokes bother you, trying sponging on a final coat of this polish and smooth with topcoat.

There they are. I'm so disappointed about Pink Break. I really wanted that demi matte pink since Sinful Colors nailed that satin finish with the entire Chalkboard Collection (in my humble opinion). I will also continue to stalk Walgreen's until I find the rest of this All Nighter collection. I need the pink and purple sisters to Late Night Haute!

Thanks for reading and until next time...

-Nic

New: Sinful Colors NEON Collection

Today I have all six Walgreens exclusive Sinful Color sNEON shades for you. I bought mine for $1.99 each. Let's start with the packaging. The bottles are wrapped so the color you see is not the actual polish. Some are not what you would expect from the outside, so on to the swatches so you can see what I mean.

L-R: The Bright Thing, Rays of Bright, Vivid a Try, Bright to the Point, Bright B4 UR Eyes, and 

neON and ON

 

Instead of showing each individual bottle, after swatching I think I can sum these all up together. 

CONS:

-I'm not sure these polishes are neon. It was bugging me so much that I took photos of the swatches in three different types of light. Sometimes they look bright, but I'm still not convinced of the neon-ness.

-They all had a thin and runny jelly formula. And I mean, runny! As in speed racing to flood and pool in the sides of your nail. In fact, with Bright to the Point (light pink) I had the polish run down so fast, it dripped onto my table. 

-These also take forever to dry, which may be me expecting them to immediately dry down if they were real neons. Maybe I was being closed minded. Either way, it felt like it took longer than a normal creme would take to dry.

Let's get some positives in here, because there are some, I swear!

PROS: 

-They are pretty pigmented for a jelly "neon". In my swatches below, I painted the right half of a nail white and left the other bare, then topped the whole nail with three coats of the neon polish. The Bright Thing, Bright to the Point and neON and ON didn't show much difference between the white base or bare nail. This means they can be opaque on their own without a white base. However, for full effect and not four coat manicure, I recommend a white base with all of them. 

-They take forever to dry. I know this was a con, but on the other side of things, longer drying time means more time to work the polish with streaks or patchy spots. Which you might need the time to catch the polish before it floods your entire finger. 

-These dry very glossy. This can be a pro or con, but I'll say a pro if you're not a fan of topcoat.

-The bottles are fun to look at.

 L-R: neON and ON, Bright B4 UR Eyes, Bright to the Point, Vivid a Try, Rays of Bright, The Bright Thing. White base on right half of each nail, indoor studio lighting.

 White base on right half of nail, indirect sunlight

 White base on right half of nail, direct sunlight

So my overall opinion is that I don't love or hate these. The formula is workable but not ideal. If you are wanting to purchase them because they are neons, keep in mind the shades aren't quite there. As the polish names suggest, they are some type of bright, but not much else. My favorite would be Vivid a Try since over a white base, it seems to be the most vibrant. Until next time...

-Nic

FOUND: A Bargain at Ulta!

I was wandering Ulta yesterday, not actually looking for anything. I was just killing time at the mall and Ulta was closest. I found my way to the clearance aisle and TADA! Zoya's entire Delight Spring 2015 collection and Satins are marked down to $4.97 each. Like I said in a previous post, I won't pay full price for high end polish. So I immediately grab the ones I don't have at home and as I'm walking away, I see a random bottle marked $.97. Whaaaat is that, as I almost drop everything else. It's Orly! I've never tried Orly but always wanted to! Well, today is the day, I say. There were only two bottles so I grabbed them not even really looking at the color. Now that I'm home from spending $21.82 (yay!) before tax, I realized these Orly polishes are actually colors I would wear. Ok, good. Now lets' take pictures of them!

L-R: Zoya Daisy, Leslie, Lillian and Ana. Orly Candy Shop and Sweet Dreams

Daisy, Leslie, Lillian and Ana 

Daisy is a soft yellow with a blue/green microfine shimmer running throughout. Leslie has the same shimmer in a lavender base. Lillian is a powder blue creme with a tinge of green. These were beautiful and opaque in two coats.

Ana is a blush toned nude creme with a satin finish when dry. It's opaque in two coats, however, work quickly as these can dry up and get lumpy and weird.

Orly Candy Shop and Sweet Dreams

Oh Orly. I wanted to love you and this was not a way to start. It's not actually that bad, I guess since these were my first Orly bottles, I was expecting kittens to be saved or something. 

Candy Shop is a weird shifty creme. What I mean is sometimes it wants to be pinky mauve then sometimes it wants to be a dusty rose purple. It's pretty. The formula was slightly thick and goopy to apply. Same thing with Sweet Dreams. Maybe I can just attribute this to them being opened up while at the store? I can't imagine Orly just has that formula.

Sweet Dreams is a midtone cool gray with a purple duochrome type shimmer. It's pretty but I feel like I have something like this so I wouldn't say unique. This was opaque in three coats.

So I left Ulta pretty excited for my cheap finds and after making them pose for me, I'm glad I wandered through there. Until next time...

-Nic

New: Sinful Colors Chalkboard Collection

I finally found a Walgreens that had this display! I didn't find the black, white or pastel pink exclusives to Walgreens, but I will continue to hunt them down. Not that I went to six different stores for these...I only went to five. These are pretty and the formula was smooth and generally easy to work with. The finish on these makes them dry quicker, so take care not to over work the polish when applying. They will almost immediately become patchy and streaky. Stick with thin, quick swipes and you'll be fine. The first four are pastel tones and dry to a demi matte/satin finish. The purple and pink shades are jellies and look to have a wax like sheen to them when they are dry. They remind me of jelly beans!

 

There is nothing peach about this shade. This is a soft lemon pastel yellow creme. It was opaque in two coats with minor streaking, which is impressive for a pastel yellow. In some lights, this can look a little darker but still holds it pastel tone. 

 This is a pistachio pastel green. Two coat to be opaque, good formula. In some lights, it can look more like a grass green, which still looks pretty.

This is a pastel cornflower creme mixed with a hint of periwinkle. This is my favorite shade of the bunch. The formula was perfect and opaque in two coats.

This is a pastel lilac. This was opaque in two coats but for some reason was more prone to streaking. This one dried faster than the others for me, which might have been the reason for streaks.

This is a warm toned purple. It has a jelly formula which was easier to work with and there was less worry for streaks or patchiness. This would be lovely for jelly sandwich manis. This one can be opaque in two coats depending on how you apply your coats. It might need three.

This is a midtone red based pink. It has a jelly formula, same as Hazed (above), also great for jelly sandwiches. This one can be opaque in two coats depending on how you apply your coats. It might also need three coats.

All in all, these are pretty colors with a nice demi matte finish. The formulas are easy and for around $2 each at Walgreens, they are a pretty good value that I'm not disappointed with. Until next time...

-Nic

Zoya Buy 3, Get 3 Free Haul

This sale was for the 4th of July, which was perfect since my birthday was the 3rd. That made the perfect excuse to get myself a nice birthday present. I purchased 6 polishes and got 6 free for a total of 12 bottles. If you're like me, these kind of sales are what us Zoya fans wait for. I honestly can't bring myself to pay full price for hardly anything unless I'm getting something worthwhile. Worthwhile it was!

Here's what I got-

Top Left to Bottom Right- 

Arizona, Kitridge, Layla, Marley, Robyn, Neely, Neeka, Blaze, Payton, Dream, Godiva,& Stevie.

Arizona is a soft, slightly cooler toned orange creme.

Kitridge is a very bright, cool toned baby pink creme

Layla is an almost neon, darker pink jelly that dries to a satin finish

Marley is a pale lilac creme with a hardly noticeable white silvery sheen running throughout 

Robyn is a bright but midtone blue creme 

Neely is a very light, muted mint green creme that has just the slightest hint of a gray undertone 

Neeka is a true deep grayish purple creme with tiny scattered gold accents

Blaze is pink touched cranberry jelly with scattered holographic sparkle 

Payton was a pain to capture. She is a brighter than pictured, purple jelly with scattered holographic sparkle 

Dream is a bright cobalt blue jelly with holographic sparkle 

Godiva is a champagne nude textured polish with tons of silver glitter. Dries to a matte textured finish. 

Stevie is a lilac textured polish with tons of silver glitter. Dries to a matte textured finish.

A lump of swatches on a wheel-

If I had to pick favorites, Blaze, Dream, and Payton are stunners. The holo glitters are so fine you can't feel them and they remove from the nail like any other polish. Stevie and Godiva are beautiful matte sparklers but a nightmare to remove.

These are off to their respective drawer! Until next time...

-Nic