LOOK Proud Memorial Day Nail Art

Hey all, happy Memorial Day weekend to all my US friends! Today's post is a bit different than the NOTD/nail art posts I normally publish. A couple of weeks back, I posted a swatch review of a new drugstore brand called LOOK Nail Color (read the original post here) and had a very unpleasant experience with the brand. After my review, LOOK contacted me stating they had inadvertently sent me "hand poured" samples which they use for promotional photos and that they would be sending me "production quality" samples as well with no expectation of an additional review.

I did do a comparison swatch between the two set and attempted the original nail art design I was planning for the first post with the new samples and in all honesty, these are much, much better. If I had gotten the "production quality" samples, my review would have been very different! The formulas on all three are so much easier to work with and apply a lot better. I am a bit annoyed by the "hand poured" discrepancy but I am impressed that LOOK took the time to reach out to me and correct their mistake.

So! Now that I got all that out of the way, I can show you my original design that I had planned the first time around!

New 2013 Hard Candy Polish (Pic Heavey)

Hello everyone, happy Wednesday! Today's post is full of sparkly, shiny goodness! Hard Candy has recently reinvented themselves and released a whole slew of new products, including 45 new nail polish colors. While the old vintage Hard Candy bottles with the cool little heart shaped ring are gone, the essence of the bright and fun polish is still there. I stumbled across a display at my local Wal-Mart and promptly snagged a few bottles!

Please Note: All products in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.

 

Hard Candy - Piece of Papaya (Itzy Glitzy)

 

Piece of Papaya, from the Itzy Glitzy finish, is a bright fuchsia pink and golden glass fleck polish. It is almost a foil, but the particles are smaller than a traditional foil. It is SO shiny and I love it. I am not a pink person, but throw in a golden shimmer, and I am done. Perfect for summer, or any time you want something shiny and sparkly! Formula was spot on. Smooth and flowy, perfect consistency. 2 coats, great dry time. Seriously great.

 

 

 

Hard Candy - Bitty Blue (Itzy Gltizy)

 

Bitty Blue, another one from the Itzy Glitzy finish, is more of what a glass fleck typically looks like. Bright, shiny blue. OMG, hello gorgeous! Same formula as before, and I was just as amazed!

 

 

Hard Candy - Peach Pop (Candy Sprinkles)

 

Peach Pop, from the Candy Sprinkles finish, is a milky peach base with tiny red, pink and silver glitter pieces. The look is identical to the Nails Inc Sprinkles collection from last year, but with quite a few more color options (as well as some dupes). Perfect color, and I do like it a lot more than the Nails Inc ones. Formula was, again, great. Smooth, 2 coats, dried quickly. No issues with all that glitter either.

 

 

Hard Candy - Crush On Lava (Crushed Chrome)

 

Crush on Lava, from the Crushed Chrome finish, is a violet and copper foil. This has the bigger foil pieces, as opposed to the Itzy Glitzy polishes, and is simply brilliant. Once again, great formula. Just as good as the previous ones.

 

 

If you are wondering whether or not Crushed On Lava is a re-promote of the beloved Beetle, it almost is. The overall look is nearly identical, but the base color of the polish is just slightly different.

 

Beetle has a bit of green in the base that gives a duo chrome look, unfortunately Crush On Lava is missing it. The formula is way better in the new version. Beetle is a bit thin, and requires more coats and takes longer to dry. So, that makes up for the color change, at least for me. I do think it is pretty great of Hard Candy to give us one of the best colors they have ever made, in the new line, even if it slightly off.

 

 

I am completely blown away with the polishes I picked up. Great formula, great colors, great price. $4 a bottle, is pretty dang awesome. A lot of the colors are very similar to what other brands have been putting out lately, so nothing is terribly unique, but it is a good thing to have options. Dupes happen, and I'm not complaining!

 

Hard Candy nail polish is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart.com. Bottles are $4 a piece. Products shown were purchased by me for my personal use. All opinions are my own.

Cult Nails Flushed (& comparisson)

Hey everyone! Today I have my very first polish from Cult Nails, an independent brand from Florida with a "cult" following.

I've been curious about this brand for a while, but nothing ever really grabbed my attention, until the newest collection, "Behind Closed Doors," came out a couple of weeks ago. Out of all the colors, Flushed really stood out, and I got it as soon as I could.

 

Cult Nails - Flushed

 

Flushed is a blue/purple or "blurple" cream/jelly hybrid with a subtle coppery pink shimmer. I love these types of polishes. The color and the glowy shimmer are just gorgeous together. Application was a bit tricky. I have read rave reviews on how awesome Cult Nails formula is, and was a bit disappointed. For me, the formula was too thin and runny. I don't mind a thin polish at all, but when it floods my cuticles and side walls, I tend to get a little irritated. The Cult Nails website describes Flushed as a "buildable sheer" and I agree. It was very sheer on the first coat, and I need 3 overall to get full coverage. Dry time was on the longer side as well. I managed to nick 2 nails a good 5 minutes after applying my quick dry top coat (butter London PD Quick). Letting the polish completely dry between coats will probably solve the problem, tho. While the color is very very pretty, I kinda feel like the formula has been hyped a bit. Or maybe this color is different from the rest. Reguardless, the ir is simply beautiful, and I have a tendancy to overlook problematic formulas if the polish looks like this!

 

 

One thing I noticed, when I got the bottle, was that it was almost identical to my beloved Takko Lacquer Kiss the Sky. The swatches on line look similar but show a more pink toned shimmer. I decided to do a little comparison.

 

 

Bottle Shot

 

Left to Right: Takko Lacquer, Cult Nails, Takko Lacquer, Cult Nails

Side by side, they are nearly identical. Kiss the Sky has a bit more noticeable shimmer, and the base color is more saturated (it also requires fewer coats). When you tilt your nails at a different angle, that's when the biggest difference appears, and what makes Kiss the Sky so special.

 

 

See that amazing green color shift? Flushed doesn't have it, sadly, otherwise it's a pretty good copy, based on color. Formula, not so much. Takko Lacquer beats out Cult Nails for sure.

 

So, I'm not entirely convinced of Cult Nails yet. But I am willing to give the brand another try, because you can't judge a book by it's cover, and you can't judge a nail polish company based on one polish. I'd love to hear some suggestions on other colors to try!

Cult Nails is available on line.

Spoiled Comparison

After adding the Spoiled polishes to my stash, I wanted to do a side by side comparison of a few that I thought might be dupes.

 

 

 

 

Spoiled - Toad-ally Amazing vs. Zoya - Wednesday

 

 

 

No dupes, but definitely in the same family. The Zoya polish is a bit more blue, and a bit more muted than the Spoiled polish. The Spoiled has that added shimmer to it, that makes it a bit special and different. Even if they are similar, I like them both and don't mind having them in my stash.

 

 

Spoiled - Deeper Dive vs. Sinful Color - Kissy

 

 

 

Close enough to be dupes. The base on both is exactly the same black/teal but the gold fleck is more dense in the Sinful Color polish. It also has a better formula than the Spoiled polish, but they both stain horribly!

 

 

Spoiled - Paying with Platinum vs. Zoya - Adina

 

 

No dupes, but I actually think they are the reverse of each other! Zoya is purple with a silver/green color shift and Spoiled is a silver with a purple/green color shift. Love them both, and I don't think I will ever have too many duo-chrome polishes!