Hello, my lacquer loving peeps, Happy Monday. I hope your week is off to a great start. I decided to start mine off by trimming my nails down to nubbins and breaking out a fun flirty color. I know fall has officially arrived but I'm not ready to put away my pastel colors just yet. Besides holographic polishes are fun no matter what the season is right?

     Today I have a few photos to show you of Color Clubs Cloud Nine from the Halo Hues 2012 collection. I love a good holographic polish and Color Club never disappoints. Even indoors these polishes still know how to shine. I really need to add a few more of these to my collection, especially since Cloud Nine is the only one I have so far.

     I started with 2 coats of Cloud Nine. This polish can easily stand on it owns but I added a little nail art on an accent nail. I even tried a little crystal for the first time for some added bling.

Photo was taken in Natural Light

Photo was taken in Full Sun

     I absolutely love this color and can't stop staring at my nails. Trust me, it's taking me way longer than it should to write this up because the light hits my nails and I get distracted. It's going to take me a little bit to get used to the nubbins but it needed to be done. I had a little streak there where a corner would break off of a nail and they needed to be uniform again. On the upside, all those dark vampy colors that are coming up look great on shorter nails.

     Which colors do you think are must-haves from the Color Club holos? I need a few good ones for my wish list. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

     Today's NOTD post is Essie Wrapped in Rubies from the winter 2007 collection. A deep rich brownish red with subtle golden shimmer. My daughter was actually the one to pick this color out at the store and I was hesitant at firsts to buy it. In the bottle, it looks more brown than red and I wasn't sure I would wear a deep golden brown on my nails. But she begged and gave me her sad puppy dog eyes that I have a hard time refusing so I gave in and bought it.  I owe her a big thanks because this color is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

     Wrapped in Rubies seems more like a fall color to me with its brown undertones. Although in certain lighting it reminds me of a garnet which is more winter I guess. That being said this color will help transition the season effortlessly.

     I used 2 coats of Wrapped in Rubies plus top coat for this picture. The application was nice and smooth. The polish flowed nicely off the brush without flooding my cuticles. The first coat covered pretty well with only a few streaks here and there. Full opacity was achieved with the second coat and it dried to a semi-gloss finish

The photo was taken indoors in incandescent light

     As you can see that golden shimmer in the bottle doesn't transfer well to the nail. As I sit here looking at my nails I can get hints of the shimmer as I move my nails back and forth. Once outside the shimmer shows itself a little more but not quite like I was expecting.

The photo was taken in full sun

     Now don't adjust your monitors. That picture is unedited (except for the watermark) Full sun gives Wrapped in Rubies a luminescent glow on the nails unlike any I have ever seen. Still no real evidence of that golden shimmer but we can all agree it plays a big part in how this polish looks outdoors.

     Today I have for you the second part of my Glitterfied Nails review. If you missed the first part you can find it here. This time around I have 3 glitter polishes to show you. 2 from the Team Spirit Collection and 1 from the Copper Collection. With school being back in session and football season underway it's a great time to sport your teams' colors on your nails. There are 27 polishes in this line but, if you somehow don't find your teams colors, custom requests are available. Now let's get to the polish, shall we... I'll warn you this post is a little picture heavy.

     First up I have Black Out from the Team Spirit Collection. A clear based polish with multiple sizes of superfine, hex, shreds and squares glitters in black, gray, silver and white.



     Here I have 2 coats of Black Out alone. The application was pretty smooth with even glitter coverage on each nail. The white large square glitters were a little harder to get out of the bottle than the rest, but I was able to get some with minimal fishing.

    Hello, my fellow lacquer lovers. Today I have some nail art for you that I have been wanting to try for a very long time. I finally attempted a vintage rose manicure. This one intimidated me a little bit but, I finally decided to just go for it. Besides, if I really screwed up there's always acetone, right?

     I started with a base coat of Revlon's Enamor. A vibrant shade of pink. I would say it's slightly darker than a bubblegum pink but not by much. The following picture is two coats of Enamor plus top coat.

     Today I have a very quick NOTD post for you. As some of you may have read, some bloggers are doing a series called #hepicksmypolish where the boyfriend or husband picks the nail polish colors used for that manicure. I enlisted my 7 yr old son to help with this. He was not overly enthused, to say the least, but did it anyway.

     The polishes he chose for me are Cult Nails Manipulative and Girly Bits Crunchy Leaves. Two indie polishes that I had yet to use so I was able to knock out 2 untrieds with this also. Double score!

     Manipulative is a robins egg blue with iridescent shimmer while Crunchy Leaves is brown, red and, black glitters in a dark grey base. Here I show two coats of each plus top coat.

The photo was taken in direct sunlight

     No matter how hard I tried my camera just wouldn't pick up the shimmer in Manipulative. Even when taking photos in natural light like in the next picture.

The photo was taken in natural light

      For this manicure, I also wanted to try out the two accent nails look. I'm not sure I would pair these colors together again. Maybe if there was a little less red in Crunchy leaves or if Manipulative was a slightly deeper blue I would like them together more. All in all, it's not a horrible combination though. I wonder if I can get my 9 yr old son to pick colors for me next time?

     Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the experiences bloggers have had with this challenge.

     Today's NOTD is China Glaze Infra Red from the 2013 Holographic Collection. I've had this in my collection for a few months now. All of a sudden the other day I had an urge to use it.

     Infra Red reminds me a lot of Orly's Miss Conduct. It's not quite as in your face and Miss Conduct though. Infra Red is a deep, rich pink with flashes of purple, orange, yellow and blue. The following picture is two coats of Infra Red plus top coat.

The photo was taken in full sunlight

The photo was taken in natural light

      Recently I discovered Glitterfied Nails and placed a small order. Andrea was wonderful and added in a few polishes for me to review. I decided to split this up into two posts with the first one focusing on the great fall colors I received. All of these polishes can be purchased in her Etsy store. Each polish retails at $8.75 for a 15 ml bottle.

     Glitterfied Nails nail polishes are as Andrea describes them:
   
     Check out that coverage in 2 thin coats! I'm still stunned by the number of hex glitters I was able to get just by dipping the brush into the bottle.

     Today I have a comparison of OPI's Down to My Last Penny and Revlon's Captivate. Both polishes are great colors for the upcoming fall season. Last Penny is a HTF Black Label polish that I was only able to get my hands on through a bog sale. I have found it listed on eBay for the hefty price of $65. Captivate is from Revlon's 2012 fall collection but I still see it in stores so I am assuming they have merged it into their core line. Captivate can be purchased for around $5 depending on the retailer. So how do these two compare? Will you need to shell out the Big bucks for Last Penny or be a thrifty polishaholic with Captivate?

     Well, we are about to find out. Let's start by comparing the two polishes in the bottle.


      As you can see both colors are extremely close to each other.  Both colors are a warm copper with golden shimmer.  Last Penny has more golden shimmer which makes it appear more lit from within in this shot. But will that make a big difference when applied to the nail?

2 coats of each polish no top coat.

     My official opinion is that these are not dupes. They are, however, similar enough that you don't need both in your collection. Last Penny has just a hint more orange than Captivate. I guess all that golden shimmer did make a little difference after all. Both polishes have a smooth application and full opacity with 2 coats. I am having a hard time picking a favorite because they are just too close in color, application, and coverage. The only real deciding factor would be availability. And Captivate wins that category hands down.

     Are you able to choose a favorite between these two? Thanks again for stopping by and as always, feel free to leave a comment. Happy polishing everyone!

     Today's NOTD is Revlon Captivate from the fall 2012 collection. A gorgeous copper with tons of shimmer. When I firsts saw this polish in the store I was in love. It was one of those bottles that practically jumps off the shelf into your cart. I'm really not sure why I waited so long to use it.