Zoya Zara & Black Shatter

I'm kinda short on time today, so here's a quick post featuring Zoya Zara and OPI's Black Shatter.

Zara was one of the free polishes I picked from Zoya during their recent promotion.  I had decided to pick up polishes that I liked, but wasn't sure I $7.00 liked them, know what I mean?  So I got Zara. Colbie, and Sloane.  I'll talk about those more soon.  Anyway, Zara was my favorite of the three and the first I wore.

As you can see, it's a light warm purple with heavy amounts of gold shimmer.  It's a great polish to make you feel a little flashy, but still "normal" enough looking that you don't get weird looks at work meetings - trust me, I tried it!  :)

Zara isn't the most opaque polish in the world, I think this was around 4 coats?  It applied very smoothly though and I didn't have trouble with dry time after I topcoated it.  It even held up pretty well, at least for a Zoya... I still haven't found the right combo to get them to last more than a couple of days.  I think I had this one on for at least 4 with only tip wear, no chips.

It was starting to look pretty rough though and I was going to a family function and didn't want to show up with so much tip wear, so I decided to try out Black Shatter.  I wasn't totally sold on the crackle idea, but I wanted Serena Williams' Simply Smashing and Black Shatter comes with it, so I have it.

I really liked it once it was on!  The shatter effect was perfect on my index and middle finger - I didn't get the coat thick enough on my ring finger and you can tell by the brushy-looking part on the left edge.  I loved how the shimmer from Zara just peeks through a bit to warm it up.  Application on Shatter wasn't as difficult as I had heard - a medium-to-thick coat gave the perfect look.  If you apply too thin, it will just look like you messed up something.  Apply too thick and it won't shatter.  It dried in about 2 seconds too.  That's what I think I love the most!

So I got Black Shatter thinking I probably wouldn't use it much, but after trying it out, I think I'll be using it on those manis that are past their prime, but I don't have the time to redo.  It will give them a totally fresh look without me spending any time!

I haven't totally jumped on the crackle bandwagon - I didn't (and don't plan on) buying any of the China Glaze ones, but I will continue to pick up the Serena Williams' sets, so I will get the White Shatter and Red Shatter for sure.  I also have seen that there is a Silver Shatter coming out with the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, so I'll be getting that one - who can resist Silver Shatter?!

Basecoat: Instant Artificials

Topcoat: Poshe

Number of coats: 4 of Zara, 1 of Black Shatter

Revlon Top Speed - Electric, Ocean, Royal

Today I have the last of my Top Speed series for you - there are more out there, but these are the 12 I own.  I keep talking myself out of Emerald, Black Star, Hazy and Lily... so I might be back later to add another post to this series!

First off is Electric, a yellow with subtle shimmer.

Yeah... the shimmer is REALLY subtle... like, it disappears on the nail.  I was disappointed that it came out looking like just another yellow cream.  The formula wasn't *too* terrible for a yellow, but it definitely wasn't the best of this collection.  I believe this was 3 coats.

Ocean is a teal metallic that borderlines on TOO metallic... lots of brush strokes here!  I wasn't overly thrilled with it, even though the color is really saturated-looking.  This stayed on less than 24 hours before I had to remove it - I just didn't dig it.  The finish is a lot like Grape's, but Grape doesn't show anywhere near this many brush strokes.  Ocean had a MUCH better formula though... very smooth.

Finally, the one you've seen countless times, Royal.  I really do love this one.  It's a beautiful, rich jelly with a perfect formula.  I read others had a bit of trouble with this one, but I thought it was one of the best.  It's so shiny and squishy!!

My faves of the collection are Sugar Plum, Chili, Jelly, and Royal - 3 jellies (well, Jelly is actually a cream that looks like a jelly) and a non-brush-strokey metallic.  All of them were very easy to work with and had great pigmentation.  I love the Revlon brush and the Top Speeds really do dry fast, even without topcoat.  The jellies are so shiny and squishy looking that you probably could go without!

Overall, I'm quite fond of the Top Speeds and I recommend picking up any colors that tickle your fancy!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: 2-3

Revlon Top Speeds - Chili, Espresso, Stormy

So... moving right along here...

This is Chili, an orangey-red jelly that I just adore!  It's so shiny and squishy!  *squee!*  Formula on this one was great, perfect in 2 coats!

Espresso is a deep dark chocolatey brown with a gorgeous, almost hidden shimmer.  It's there, but not super noticeable.  Formula was great here as well, 2 coats.

And here is Stormy, a greige neutral tauple cream.  I showed this in comparison to Below Deck here - it's a little less purple than many similar polishes.  Formula wasn't quite as great on this one, kinda reminded me of Vintage in the previous post - thick and unable to self-level.  I didn't use topcoat in the swatch, but it really would have helped!

Of these, I prefer Chili - I'm suddenly starting to love all these bright colors on me, though I have shied away from things so bold in the past!  I can't wait to wear this one in the summer months.  Espresso is actually one of my favorite browns, the shimmer in it makes it not quite so severe.  I love the color of Stormy - I think it is my favorite of all the greige colors, but the formula is lacking - I'll try to thin it out and see if it improves.

One more post to go in this series!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: 2

Revlon Top Speed - Cherry, Vintage, Jelly

Again, I'm late with a post... I can safely blame this one on photo-editing laziness.  I'll try to finish up the Top Speeds this week - everything has been edited, so it shouldn't be *too* difficult!

First up is Cherry, a medium red creme.

Ugh, I took this pic after a day of swatching and you can really tell - sorry for the dryness!  As you can see, Cherry is a medium blue-based red creme - not dark, but not very bright either.  I didn't think it looked too bad on me even though I normally hate blue-based reds on my skin.  This stained the heck out of my cuticles though!

Vintage is a dark berry, though not quite as dark as this pic makes it look.  I like the color quite a bit, but the formula was definitely lacking on this one.  It's thick and doesn't self-level well at all.  Even with topcoat, it isn't perfectly smooth.  It took two tries to get this one even enough to post.  :P

Last for today is Jelly, an orangey pink jelly-ish creme.  Haha, I know, that's not a great description, but it is the truth!  I don't normally think bright pinks flatter me too much, but this wasn't too bad - I think it's the orangey-ness.  The first coat makes you think it is a jelly, but it's actually a cream with some of the squishy-ness of a jelly.

Of these 3, Jelly had the best formula, followed by Cherry and way behind is Vintage.  It might be the most difficult one of all the Top Speeds... though Grape was really patchy.

I don't think I used a topcoat on Cherry or Jelly, but I did on Vintage to try to even it out.  These are pretty shiny on their own!

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: Beauty Secrets Fast Finish on Vintage

Number of coats: 3

Revlon Top Speed - Violet, Sugar Plum, Grape

Ugh, sorry again for the lack of posts... crazy-stressful work + horrid winter weather = no Normal Girl!  Fortunately we didn't get it quite as bad downstate as Chicago did, but it still was not good!  Nothing was open here - even the University of Illinois closed and apparently they have only closed like 3 times in their 144 year history!  The stupid bank decided to open a few facilities at noon, but only the drive thrus, so, being the manager, I had to go in.  It was too dangerous for ALL employees to come in, but it was ok for the tellers - WTF?!  *grumbles*  My street had not been plowed of the 12+ inches of snow we got (not to mention the freezing rain we had the two days prior), so it took my husband doing a lot of shoveling and creative maneuvers with the car for us to make it in.  >:P

Anyway... you aren't here to listen to me complain. Since I have been so short on time lately, I think I'm going to do a couple of series of different lines of polish.  I'm going to start off with the Revlon Top Speeds that have come out in the last couple of months.  I don't have the entire collection, but I do have quite a few.  Walgreens was giving $5 Jingle Cash with every purchase of one of these, basically making them $1.99 each, so I acquired some that way, then Meijer put out a smaller display with $1.00 off coupons on it, making them $2.99 each... so I've ended up a bunch of them.  I'm sure by now you've seen a million pics of Royal, but have you seen the others?  I couldn't find swatches of most of them, so hopefully this series will be helpful to you.  Today we're going to look at a few of the purples.

First off is Violet.  Let me tell you, this beauty is very shy and doesn't like her picture being taken!

This was as close as I could get to true-to-life color.  It's actually warmer than this, but still violet, not pink-leaning at all.  Something about the color is kinda mesmerizing - there is some serious depth to what appears to be just another violet shimmer. 

This is Sugar Plum... and to be honest, I don't know how to describe this one.  It's purplish, but more burgundy than purple... is there a name for this exact shade?  Whatever it is, it's amazing.  I looked at this one numerous times before I gave in and finally bought it.  I was afraid it would be a little frosty and brush-strokey, but it isn't either of those - it is one amazing shimmer.  It's got little bits of pink and green shimmer in there.  I wore this one for about 5 days and could not stop looking at it.  I think this is my favorite of the entire collection.

And last today is Grape.  It's a deep purple shimmer, kind of a lighter/warmer version of China Glaze's Let's Groove.  The blue and red shimmer are there as well, but they aren't as obvious as Let's Groove.  My camera did not like this color and every picture came out slightly blurry, but you get the idea.  This one didn't wow me as much as the other two.  I wore it for just a couple of days before I was over it.

Application-wise, these are pretty danged nice.  I have to tell you - I LOVE the Revlon brush.  Not sure why - it seems pretty standard - but it is my favorite out of every brand I've tried.  The formula varies by color and finish - Sugar Plum was amazing and practically applied itself, while Grape was patchy and I struggled to get it even.  Violet fell in between - not great, but not horrid.  These are a fast dry formula and they actually do dry pretty fast - better with a fast dry top coat.  Some of these, like Sugar Plum, you can get away with one coat if you are careful, others will need at least two, if not three.

Do you have any Top Speeds?  What are your favorites?  I think retail on these is $6.99, but you can find them cheaper at discount stores like Meijer ($3.99) & Target ($4.99) - they haven't shown up at my Wal-Mart yet, but maybe they will soon and even cheaper than Meijer's?  Also look out for $1.00 off coupons on some of the displays!

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: Beauty Secrets Fast Finish

Number of coats: varies by shade, 2-3

China Glaze - Anchors Away Comparisons

I didn't do comparisons for all of AA because I had some that were totally unique in my collection, but here are the ones I did do!

First up, Pelican Gray.  I filled a request on the NB for it compared to Zoya Harley and then I thought about it later and decided to compare it to Recycle as well, so sorry there are two pics instead of just one on this one.

Pelican Gray vs Harley Bottle:

On nail:

As you can see, Harley is more purple-toned than Pelican Gray and its shimmer is no secret!

Here it is compared with Recycle:

I thought these looked pretty similar in the bottle, though PG is a little lighter and has shimmer, but on the nail, they really don't have much in common...

Recycle is much browner, darker, and has no shimmer.  Not really anything alike at all!

Cilucia over at Spaz & Squee compared Pelican Gray with Zoya Dove and Diamond Cosmetic's Concrete Jungle (which is a dupe to RBL's Concrete Jungle I hear) as well, so stop by and check our her AMAZING pics!

Next we have Below Deck.  It is supposed to be similar to Channelesque also by China Glaze, but I don't have that one to compare it to.  I have a ton of greige/gruples/whatever you call this color, but I decided to go with a couple of drugstore ones since those would be the easiest to procure - Confetti's Moonstruck and Revlon Top Speed in Stormy.

Bottle:

You can see from this bottle pic that the Revlon is more brown than Below Deck and Moonstruck, but those two are nearly identical.

Moonstruck is just the tiniest bit browner than Below Deck, but they are close enough I doubt anyone but a NBer would notice the difference.  If you have a CVS in your area, you can pick up Moonstruck for $1.99 and maybe save yourself a bit of cash?

When I showed Knotty, I mentioned that it had the same kinda shimmer as Sally Hansen's Fairy Tale Ivory.  The base colors are quite a bit different, but they both have a rainbow shimmer that really perks up a neutral.

I'm having a hard time photographing the rainbow part of the shimmer, but trust me, it's there!  You can see Fairy Tale Ivory's in the post I made about it - the shimmer in Knotty is identical.  I think the base color of Fairy Tale Ivory flatters me a bit more, so I probably won't wear Knotty as often, but it is nice to know I have another option when I'm looking for an interesting neutral.

White Cap vs CND Jade Sparkle:

In the bottle pic, you can see how dense the sparkles are in Jade Sparkles - White Cap just looks white in comparison!

On the nail, the differences are much more subtle.  They both have a lovely green-to-gold sparkle that will easily get noticed, but White Cap has that milky white base instead of the clear Jade Sparkles has.  I guess the question here is what you are planning on doing with it - if you are looking to layer this polish, you probably should do Jade Sparkles instead.  However, if you are planning on wearing it on its own, White Cap is the one for you.

Cilucia also compared these and you can see her layering experiment (scroll down) and decide which one you prefer, or both!  After seeing her pics, I ordered Orly Enchanted Forest!  :)

Now I'll move on to the Knotty Nauticals set.  I know others are comparing Ahoy! to lots of other China Glaze pinks, but I really have no pinks that look even remotely similar, so I didn't do anything for it.  I haven't seen it confirmed as a dupe to anything yet, so if you love it, get it!

I don't have very many red cremes in my collection, so I pulled out the two brightest I could find to compare to Hey Sailor! - Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Rapid Red and American Apparel's Poppy.

They look pretty danged close in the bottle, don't they?

Not so similar on the nail, which I am glad to see!  Hey Sailor! is more distinctly red than Poppy, but not as dark as Rapid Red.  I have been seriously lemming OPI's Color So Hot it Berns (is it sad to say that it is the only one I'm missing from the Swiss collection?!) and All You Desire did a comparison of it and Hey Sailor! - maybe I don't need CSHIB?

I had originally gotten AA Poppy out to compare it to Life Preserver.  They really aren't too much alike, but it was the closest I had - I need more oranges!

My photos all show Life Preserver being more vibrant than it really is.  There is a dusty quality to it that you can't see here.  I'd like to see it compared with OPI's Hot & Spicy, but I don't have that one yet.  Do you?  What do you think?

Now, I know that there is no way that Lighthouse and Sally Hansen's Sunflowers would be dupes because of the different finishes, but I did want to compare the base colors for you so maybe you could decide if this is a yellow that would work for you!

In the bottles I thought they looked close, but on the nail, they don't really seem like it... but odds are if you can't wear one, you probably can't wear the other and vice versa!

I was really concerned that Starboard and Essie's Pretty Edgy would be dupes... so much so that I almost didn't get Starboard, but then I decided to just get all of them.

When I started pulling out greens, Nina Pro's Salsa also seemed pretty close.  You can see here that there is a smidge of dustiness to Starboard that Pretty Edgy doesn't have.

On the nail, Salsa dries darker than it's bottle color, so it's definitely not dupey.  However, Pretty Edgy and Starboard are pretty darn close.  Again, there is just a hint of dustiness to Starboard that separates them.  If you aren't a NBer or a green lover, you probably could get away with just one of the two!

The last one I have for you is First Mate.  I pulled American Apparel's Mt. Royal and OPI's Dating a Royal.

I was a bit surprised how much Dating a Royal and First Mate looked similar in their bottles, but you can definitely see differences on the nail.

While they seemed similar in the bottle, you can see here that First Mate is definitely navy, whereas the others are more cobalt blue.

Whew!  Thanks for sticking with me there, I know the last two posts have been majorly pic heavy!  Can you think of other polishes the Anchors Away collection should be comped to?  Let me know!!

Also, while you're letting me know about that... do you like the text being on the pics, or would you rather I just told you what order they were in under?  I couldn't decide, so I added the text, but it might look tacky?  Someone make up my mind!  :)

Basecoat: None

Topcoat: None

Number of coats: varies

China Glaze - Anchors Away!

I apologize that I didn't get these swatches put up before you'd seem them 1000 times... I've had this collection since a couple of days after they were released.  I should have gotten them done sooner, but my job has stressed me out beyond belief and I really didn't feel like swatching for a few days.  However, here they are, hopefully better late than never!

This is the first time I've bought an entire collection at once - I did end up with a couple of other entire collections, but I've bought them in pieces.  Not this one - I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.  A lot of people were meh about it, but I think it is absolutely stand out!

We'll start with the Knotty Nauticals, which is the brighter of the two sets in this collection.

Oh yeah, and see all that shine?  It's all polish, baby - I didn't use topcoat on any of these!!

This is Ahoy!, which might actually be my favorite here.  I hardly ever wear pinks - I can't find any that really flatter me.  I think this one looks pretty good - I actually wore it for a couple of days this week!  You might be saying "it's not really pink...", but this is as close as I get!  It's a really saturated almost jelly base with gold flecks that really make it glow.  Stunning!  Two coats

Gak!  A pink and a red that I like on me in the same collection!?!?  Crazy!  This is Hey Sailor! an incredibly shiney orange-based red jelly/cream combo.  I actually saw someone post on the NB the other day that they think this might be a new type of finish and I totally agree.  This collection is the first I've seen to have these jelly/cream things.  They're as opaque as a cream, but they have the glossiness of a jelly - I love it!  Two coats.

Life Preserver is a dusty orange version of this jelly/cream thing - opaque in two coats (one if you are careful!) and it shines like crazy.  It's dustier than my picture shows, but still a bright vibrant color.  I love oranges and this one does not disappoint!

I had the hardest time capturing the glass fleck in Lighthouse correctly.  It blurred no matter how still I held my hands!  I don't have a lot of yellows, but most of the ones I have are not fun to work with.  Lighthouse was a breeze!  My friend said it looked like sparkling urine, but he's a boy, what does he know?  It is sparkly though... three coats.

Starboard is another jelly/cream opaque in two coats.  I think this one will be great to wear during the summer.  It reminds me of thick lush grass squishing under your bare feet!

First Mate is amazing.  I own several blue creams, but nothing tops this one.  That wonderful jelly/cream finish, perfectly opaque in 1 coat if you are careful (I used two because I'm not careful!), and it never looks black, which is a problem for a lot of navy blues.

Next up, the Sand & Sea set!

Pelican Gray is a pretty neutral gray, not leaning overly blue or brown.  It has a slight bit of shimmer (the secret shimma!) what you can barely see on the nail.  Mine seemed a bit goopy though, probably needs to be thinned for better application.  Three coats.

Sea Spray  has that same secret shimmer that you can just barely see, it it makes it so special!  I also found it a little thick and hard to apply evenly.  This is three coats.

Sunset Sail is not as horrible looking on me as I thought it would be, but it still doesn't look good.  It's a really pretty peachy nude with a subtle silver shimmer.  It might be more flattering on cooler skin tones - I thought it looked pretty good on All You Desire!  Three coats

Below Deck is another one of those purple/grey/taupe things, but I think I might like this one better than the others I have.  It looks good on warm skin and is edgy, but still work appropriate.  This was two coats, but it could have used a third.

I wore Knotty for about 3 days, which is pretty decent for me!  It has the same multi-colored shimmer as the previously reviewed Sally Hansen Fairy Tale Ivory, but it is more beige than nude.  I was hoping it would be like a sparkling Your Nails But Better, but it was just a tad too dark for that.  I kept it on for 3 days though, so I wasn't too disappointed!  Three coats.

And finally we have White Cap, another glass fleck.  The flecks seem to change from gold to green depending on the angle.  My camera freaked out on this one and refused to get a clear shot.  I think it would look great layered, but it also works on its own for a interesting sheer.  Three coats.

All in all, I love this collection.  The only one that I don't know if I will wear is Sunset Sail, but I still like it - how often do you find a collection where you like everything?

To be honest though, I was a little disappointed in the application of the Sand & Sea set.  I was really looking forward to Pelican Gray and Sea Spray, but I had troubles with both of them.  I'm hoping a little thinning will make the difference.

I was FLOORED with how amazing everything in the Knotty Nauticals set was - color, formula, finish - it truly is a winner!  If you only decide to pick up part of this collection, make it this half - you won't be disappointed!

Let me know which ones you love (or hate!) in the comments!

And... I have done a bunch of comparisons on these... I will post them next!  :)

Anchors Away is popping up in Ulta and Sally's now and retail for $5.99 each.

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: NONE!!

Number of coats: varies