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