Tag Archives: holographic polish

A-England Ballerina Collection

March 24, 2014

Each time that A-England’s creator teases us with hints of a new collection, Adina’s eager fans wait with baited breath for what will be unveiled. The incredible formulas, the colours, the historic inspirations behind each collection… Many of us have become devotees of the brand! And today I have for you the gorgeous Ballerina collection. (For inspiration details, head over to Ommorphia’s launch post.)

A-England’s Ballerina is a collection of four beautiful, delicate holographic polishes in whisper-soft colours. The collection immediately reminded me of the tulle on dancers’ skirts… how perfect!

The first shade, and probably my favourite of the four (though it’s nearly impossible to pick a favourite) is Fonteyn. Fonteyn is a lavender-tinged silver holo with a formula so perfect, so divine, that it was a one-coater. It applied with buttery perfection, fully opaque on the first coat, and drying quickly to an incredible shine. (If you own any A-Englands, you’ll know that this brand is renowned for its high-shine finish!) Here is Fonteyn without top coat:

Full sun

In the shade

Dancing with Nureyev is blue-purple holographic with a metallic finish that almost changes colour depending on the light. It is a little more indigo in some light, then a little more purple, but always demure.

I paired Fonteyn with Dancing with Nureyev for a subtle holo gradient:

And two coats of the gorgeous Dancing with Nureyev, no top coat:

Full sun

In the shade

I had to include a macro of Dancing with Nureyev because it is so beautiful:

Encore Margot is described as an “icy blue prismatic hue,” a pale-silver holographic that dries to a cool dove grey shade. The holo effect on Encore Margot appears a little softer than that of Fonteyn or Dancing with Nureyev, but the effect is breathtaking. Another amazing formula, a little more fluid than Fonteyn, requiring two easy coats. Below, without top coat:

Full sun

In the Shade

Finally, Her Rose Adagio, a delicate soft pink holo described as “faded roses in a silver prismatic base, as romantic as it is ‘en pointe’.” Possessing a similar soft holo and formula like Encore Margot, I used two coats for the photos below:

Full sun

In the shade

What always stands out for me is A-England’s incredible glossy finish, and its beauty whether in sunlight or in the shade. These colours are so demure and perfect, so aptly named that it is impossible not to fall in love…

A-England is available directly from their website for those in the UK, or from several stockists this side of the pond (check out Where to buy), including Nail Polish Canada (with free shipping within Canada!). Don’t forget to follow A-England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and Nail Polish Canada on Facebook and Twitter!

Have you tried any of the Ballerina shades, and which one is your favourite so far?

If you liked this post, please take a moment to ‘like’ this post and/or comment! I love to read what you think.

~xo

(Product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Liquid Sky Lacquer

December 4, 2013

Holos, Liquid Sky Lacquer, Nailpolish

6 Comments

Today I’m excited to show you some beautiful polishes from an indie that is brand-new to me – Liquid Sky Lacquer. Liquid Sky Lacquer creates beautiful holo and thermal polishes, and I was super excited to try them; especially the three that I have here!

Sugared Berries is a very delicate, pale lavender linear holographic polish. The holo is extremely strong and gorgeous on this – look at the flash in the bottle to see the intensity! Seeing how light Sugared Berries was, I decided to layer it over OPI’s Miss You-niverse on my ring finger to show you its diversity. I think I would also love to see it layered over a white or another unexpected shade. Two coats on all fingers except ring:

The next colour is an absolute beauty! Walk on the Wild Side is a vivid purple linear holo that is just this side of dusty in the shade, its intense holo still visible:

In the sun, Walk on the Wild Side sparkles brilliantly in a cosmos of rainbow hues! Here are two easy, quick-drying coats over basecoat:

Finally, a fun, THERMAL holo polish: Jekyll & Hyde!

This was my first thermal polish, and I have to be honest… as I applied this medium-brown holo polish, I wondered why it was ‘fading’ slightly as it dried. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? I applied a second coat and this time, the ‘fade’ was much more noticeable. Ok so I had a bit of a bimbo moment, I admit, but it finally dawned on me that this must be a thermal polish! (Yes, and the name finally made sense… lol.) How excited I was! I immediately ran my hands under cold water to get the ‘original’ bottle shade – that gorgeous holo brown:

And when it warmed again, it turned into a gorgeous nude-orange shade, leaving a French manicure-style fade of brown at the tips:

Ok I’m a little behind on the thermal polish train, but how cool is that dual-toned manicure! I absolutely loved the effect and cannot wait to experiment with it now that it’s wintery and cold!

Liquid Sky Lacquers are available at Llarowe and on their shop website! Don’t forget to follow them on Facebook.

Do you have any Liquid Sky Lacquers? And have you ever tried a thermal polish?

~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson Part 3

September 6, 2013

Colors by Llarowe, Holos, Nailpolish, Obsessed

3 Comments

Happy Friday!

So far I’ve shown you four of the gorgeous polishes from Colors by Llarowe’s latest collection, Tribute to Michael Jackson (catch up here and here), and today, we wrap up the collection with the final three. (There is an eighth polish named Thriller but unfortunately, I don’t have that one to show you swatches.)

The final holo I have for you is another jaw-dropper: Beat It (Just beat it, beat it, no one wants to be defeated…). Beat It is described as a deep charcoal holo with blue flash, and just like Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal, the holographic effect is insane! I used two coats for the swatches below, and even without top coat, Beat It dried to a high shine:

and with flash so you can see the beautiful holo effect:

Next I have a red wine-coloured polish (Leah Ann, how did you know??) named Billy Jean. A Deep red wine crelly with intense golden red to green shimmer, no photo can do this polish justice. The wine cream-jelly base is incredible on its own, but the tiny shimmer adds such depth to this polish, making it dance in light and reflect hues of gold. I used two easy, self-levelling coats for the swatches (seriously, this was one of the nicest formulas!), with a coat of top coat to bring out the shine and shimmer:

Indoors:

And a macro shot so you can see the tiny golden shimmers in this polish:

Last but not least, I have for you Bad, a slight duochrome indigo blue with subtle pink shift. Llarowe’s website advises finishing with a good quality top coat as it dries to a satin finish. Another beauty, it leans purple and even hints at green flash in certain light. Bad has a slight metallic finish, so brush strokes may be slightly visible; however, it’s an easy polish to work with. You can see some of the pink and green reflection in the photo below. I used two coats with top coat:

And one more where you can see it shifting slightly green on my middle finger:

This collection launched on August 17th and is currently mostly sold out, but make sure you head over to Llarowe’s shop for all the restock news! (I know Llarowe is out of pigment for Beat It but promises it will be back soon!)
All Colors by Llarowe polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and come in a 15 ml square bottles with easy-to-open rubber-grip cap. Don’t forget to follow Llarowe on Facebook, Pinterest and on Instagram!

Have you snagged any of these Tribute polishes yet?

~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson Part 2

September 5, 2013

Colors by Llarowe, Holos, Nailpolish, Obsessed

3 Comments

If you liked yesterday’s post showing two of the new Colors by Llarowe Tribute to Michael Jackson collection, you will love today’s review!

Much like Smooth Criminal, Dirty Diana is another stunning linear holo, this time in a magenta shade. Hot, yet with a slight subtleness to it, Dirty Diana is gorgeous! I used two easy coats for the photos, no top coat. Application, by the way, was a breeze with this perfectly-flowing, self-levelling polish.

With flash:

In natural light:

Is that not pretty?

Man in the Mirror is described as a dense silver microglitter with holo microglitter, and it is so dense it can be a full coverage glitter in two coats. What a perfect name for this polish… perfect for the song and reminiscent of MJ’s silver glove. I used it as a gradient over Dirty Diana. Perfection:

And of course, I have to throw in a macro (feel free to click and enlarge the pic):

The tiny glitter in Man in the Mirror is so hard to capture! It is much more holographic and sparkly in real life! SImply gorgeous.

I’ll be showing you more of the Tribute to MJ polishes over the coming days!

The collection launched on August 17th and is currently mostly sold out, but make sure you head over to Llarowe’s shop for all the restock news!
All Colors by Llarowe polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and come in a 15 ml square bottles with easy-to-open rubber-grip cap. Don’t forget to follow Llarowe on Facebook, Pinterest and on Instagram!

Which of the MJ Tribute polishes is your favourite so far?

~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson

September 4, 2013

Colors by Llarowe, Holos, Nailpolish, Obsessed

10 Comments

When Llarowe recently announced that she was working on a Tribute to Michael Jackson Collection, I was overjoyed! I am a huge MJ fan, still deeply saddened by his untimely passing and still a huge fan of all of his timeless and incredible music. Superfan? Sure! And I could not wait to see what Leah Ann would create in his honour.

The first shade I have for you today is Smooth Criminal, probably my favourite of this collection, and currently my pedi colour because I could not get enough.
Smooth Criminal is a complex shade; I consider it a blurple linear holo – a gorgeous mid-tone, cornflower blue with just a hint of purple, greyed out enough to provide a steel-looking finish. It is spectacular!! And the holo is insane!! Even as I waited for the sun to peek out on a cloudy day, the holo blazed on my nails.

I used two coats, and this high shine is pre-top coat!

And check out the gorgeous holo in this macro shot:

I like to play with glitter toppers, so I decided to add a coat of Black or White to Smooth Criminal. Black or White is an aptly-named polish made up of black and white multi-sized circle, hex and bar glitter in a clear base. It is glitter heavy but still requires a good shake to get a good mix of glitter on your nails.

I’ll bring you more Tribute to MJ polishes over the coming days!

Have you snagged any of these Tribute polishes yet?

~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Colors by Llarowe – In the Navy

July 4, 2013

Colors by Llarowe, FNUG, Holos, Nailpolish, Obsessed

4 Comments

Happy Fourth of July to our American Friends!

Much like Black Gold, Texas Tea, In the Navy is a gorgeous linear holo from Colors by Llarowe’s brand-new polish collection. A deep navy the colour of the deepest sea, In the Navy is a vampy shade after my own heart… the holo in it is so strong that even in shade, you see tiny glimmers of rainbow dancing on your nails.

Application was a dream: a fluid, full-coverage polish, In the Navy has an ultra-shiny base, levelling easily, and drying quickly. Here are two coats of In the Navy over base coat with FNUG’s new IGEL Manicure Top Coat:

And here is a photo slightly blurred to show you the gorgeous linear holo:

Check out this gorgeous macro shot:

FNUG’s IGEL top coat really delivered. It is incredibly long-lasting, and truly adds an extra level of shine. I managed to wear it for a full 5 days before my polish ADD kicking in and “forcing” me to change my nail colour, but even after 5 days, there were barely any chips. I was tough on my nails, washed dishes without gloves (which I usually try not to do) and other irresponsible nail things in order to test-drive this baby. And best part? It’s a quick-dry top coat!! (I think they need to add the label “quick-dry” to the bottle because I had no idea it was fast-drying.)

See the other Colors by Llarowe here and here! Just like my previous experience with this new brand, I was impressed! The holo was incredible and application was a breeze. All of Colors by Llarowe polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and come in a 15 ml square bottles. The future bottles after the initial launch will have those amazing soft-touch caps that we’ve come to love!

In the Navy is available from Llarowe (along with the FNUG IGEL Top Coat)! Don’t forget to follow Llarowe on Facebook, Pinterest and on Instagram!
~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Colors by Llarowe Part 1!

June 5, 2013

A-England, Colors by Llarowe, Nailpolish

4 Comments

I am so excited to share today’s post with you! In anticipation of tomorrow’s launch, I have for you a preview of three Colors by Llarowe, a brand-new line of polishes by the store of the same name!

The first three colours you’ll see are all gorgeous, holographic polishes, and I hope you will like them as much as I do.

The vampiest is Black Gold, Texas Tea, a limited edition polish collection to benefit the tornado victims in Granbury, Texas. Only a small amount was created, with all proceeds going to a fund for the victims. BGTT is a jet black linear holo, and very pigmented. In order to prevent staining (Leah Ann does warn of the staining potential on her website), I used 2 coats of basecoat, and I had zero staining. One tip: when removing highly-pigmented polish, be generous and use a clean piece of remover-soaked cotton on each nail, let sit for a few seconds, and wipe off with one good swipe. Then use a clean tiny piece of cotton to clean up any edges.

Here are two coats of BGTT over 2 coats of base coat, in the shade:

Look at that AMAZING black! And that SHINE!!

And in artificial light:

Now wait for the incredible holographic sparkle in sunlight:

Next up, a tie for my favourite of these three, Rare Bear, from the Cheetoman & the Gang collection, named after her band of crazy kittens. How cute is that?? Leah Ann says that Rare Bear has the most intense blue/grey eyes, which inspired this medium gray-blue holographic. A portion of the proceeds from sale of this polish will benefit the ASPCA.

Another easy application with incredible shine, I wore 2 coats over A England’s base coat for these pictures. Look at the gorgeous steel-blue visible in artificial light:

And in the sun, wow!

Finally, the third polish for today is Sparkles are a Girl’s Best Friend, a hot pink crelly holo base with purple flash and multi colored sparkle. This polish is a tribute to Leah Ann’s best friend Emily. And girly it is! hot pink, fun, summery!

Here it is full sun:

I just love that shade of pink!!

Unfortunately all my shade shots of Sparkles were slightly fuzzy, so I don’t have a picture for you, but trust me, it is so pretty!

Final verdict: I was really, really impressed. The holo on these was incredible. It was highly noticeable, even on the very first coat. The base that was used is high-shine, even pre-top coat, and the colours were perfect. For a first collection, these are must-haves!

All of these polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and come in a 15 ml square bottles. The future bottles after the initial launch will have those amazing soft-touch caps that we’ve come to love!

And they LAUNCH TOMORROW over on Llarowe! Don’t forget to follow Llarowe on Facebook, Pinterest and on Instagram!

~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

—The Obsessed

The Obsessions and musings of a product junkie…

Archive

Tag Archives: holographic polish

A-England Ballerina Collection

Liquid Sky Lacquer

Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson Part 3

Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson Part 2

Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson

Colors by Llarowe – In the Navy

Colors by Llarowe Part 1!

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