Nina Ultra Pro "Velvet Seas"

After seeing some posts from Magic Maid on the Nina Ultra Pro "Velvet" polishes, I decided to grab one from Sally's and give it a try. I decided to take "the blue one" since that might be a color I don't have as much of.

"Velvet Seas" is a very pretty metallic silver blue...the kind of blue that shows greenish-blue in some lights. The "velvet"" aspect would probably refer to the effect of the white shimmer incorporated into its metallic formula. When examining the bottle under the light, one can see tons of tiny micro-fine white sparkles. Applied to the nail, the surface also shows this sparkliness indoors with overhead lights. Outdoors and and in my office during the day, the discrete sparkles do not show as much as an overall shimmery metallic.

I am reminded of the China Glaze Romantiques a bit, although they dry to a chrome finish, and Velvet Seas retains the sparkles. Magic Maid calls this polish a "foil" so I'll go with that.

I was very impressed with how easy it was to apply. After all, my whole theme here is my status as a major nail noob! The first coat was pretty much opaque. I applied a second coat just to even things out but I bet a real expert could get away with one coat! I was able to go back over with the brush while applying, and the surface just smoothed right out....it did what I wanted it to do! Too often, one extra brush stroke just ruins things. With metallics you can often see major ridge action, but I didn't with Velvet Seas.

These pictures were taken indoors during the evening.



Bottle shots:


When I wrote about the Fingerpaints Holiday Collection, I commented that I knew that Sally's had more brands than just China Glaze but had not really looked at them. Just as I now realize that Fingerpaints is really nice, I am now open to trying more of the Nina Ultra Pro. Maybe I'll get the green option in this series. Either way, while I don't see collecting either Fingerpaints or Nina like I do with China Glaze, Essie, OPI, and Zoya, I will definitely be open to getting colors and formulas from these two new-to-me brands that fill gaps in my overall collection!

Zoyas Have Arrived and China Glaze Chromes are Complete!

Weekends are always good, by definition. My weekend got off to an especially fantastic start. I left work early to get my hair cut---my restored bob and highlights look awesome, long overdue!!---then headed to the nearby Sally Beauty to check on the current state of China Glaze affairs.

Thanks to Sparkled Beauty, I had been alerted to a buy-2-get-$3-off deal for the China Glaze glitter and chromes collection, and I was still missing two of them. I used the $3 off to get China Glaze Millennium and Metallic Muse!!

l-r: Twenty-Four K (purchased earlier), Millennium, Metallic Muse, also at beginning of post.

I also got a dotting tool and a striping brush so that I can dip my toes---and fingers, lol!---into some simple nail art.

Coming home, I was excited to find my Zoya order from a special BOGO this week waiting for me!! Yay! My first Zoyas. Funnily, I thought I had ordered 12 but actually had gotten only 10. 8 of the 10 had arrived, with the other 2 shipping separately.



Lol! Not to worry, the above pics were staged. The polish arrived properly packed in little boxes amongst the styrofoam pellets.

Using the excellent pics on Polish Mayhem, which featured a daily Zoya back in May 2009, I had chosen a selection of really pretty colors to try this brand out. Ooh wee! All of the polishes are so pretty. I am typing this with Zoya "Ki" on my fingers and will post a review soon, followed by more Zoya and China Glaze madness.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, filled with color and, if you are so inclined, nail polish happiness!!

China Glaze Atlantis and Sally Beauty Glitter Haul!!

The other evening, I found myself in the area of a shopping center that has a Sally Beauty Supply. Well, time to check out the China Glaze glitters I had been reading about!

The shop had a display of China Glaze glitters and chromes, and I just decided, in my new-found glitter frenzy, to just say yes---to all of them!! I also picked up China Glaze "All About Audrey" (a robin egg blue I was on the lookout for), "Watermelon Rind" (an intense dark teal green shimmer I fell for on the spot), and "Shower Together" (a turquoise creme).

The China Glaze glitters are:

Atlantis: a teal green base choked with multicolor glitter
Nova: shiny silver glitter reflecting in multicolors
Dreamsicle: A bright, orange creme containing some multicolor glitter
Cleopatra: fine yellow gold glitter reflecting mostly gold and some colors like green and blue
Medallion: a green-tone gold (I've also seen it called titanium) glitter reflecting flashes of multi colors
Glacier: liquid opal. A cloudy white base with some multicolor glitter

Chromes:

Twenty-four K: Yellow-gold metallic
In Awe of Amber: Coppery metallic

Atlantis is easily the stand-out of this subset of China Glaze glitters.



The base color is sheer and is close in color to China Glaze "Watermelon Rind." The first coat is sheer and streaky, but looks great on the second coat. I needed to give my index finger a third coat.


Look at that glittery goodness!

The glitter seems to just sit on top of the nail surface and bling out like there's no tomorrow! The surface is fairly smooth but with just a little roughness from the glitter. The sparkle against the darker green background is just craziness!!!! It's fabulous. I'm considering whether, with the darker overall color, wearing it with matching clothing....even with the bling and the multicolor sparkle, can this be part of my envisioned neutral glitter polish with work-casual look?

When inside and not getting direct light, one doesn't see the sparkle, just the green with tiny speckles. My pictures do not begin to capture the bling of when light is hitting it, though!

I also found that outside out of the direct sunlight, you can see the sheerness of the base color, and the glitter is like raised speckles. A very interesting perspective on this blingy, colorful glitter!

Finally, I put a coat of Essie's Matte About You to see what the polish looks like when mattified. Basically, it was smoothed out and dark green with white speckles. I didn't think it was very interesting, since the sparkle and color were muted at this point.


So, it seems a dark sheer color can really rock its glitter, whereas thick, opaque colors can't? Case in point, the glitter not showing through on "Gaudy Yellow" Milani and the "Sparkling Blue" Milani (the sparkle did look good on the darker surface, though). I'm on the lookout for other China Glaze glitters that feature the darker, sheerer colors. I know I want to try "Ginger" as showcased by Body and Soul.

I have read of 50 glitters, although some accounts say 50 polishes, many of which are glitters, in this China Glaze collection. I can't find much comprehensive information on the Web, and the online stores don't seem to have a lot of description. I want a list of all of them with descriptions. Please feel free to point me to the general information! I would love to see some metallic brown glitter, or some more polishes in darker colors formulated just like Atlantis.