SinfulShine I'm Blushing & Amazonian

*Press Sample*

As you know, I'm a big fan of SinfulColors - they have a wide range of shades, tons of new collections, and a wallet friendly price.  This year, SinfulColors launched their new SinfulShine line, which is being exclusively sold at Walgreen's.

I wanted to try out two SinfulShine shades that were completely different from each other, so I went with a work appropriate creme and a vampy, fall-ready shimmer.

SinfulColors describes I'm Blushing as a light pink. Their description is straightforward and accurate. I'm Blushing is the lightest of ballet pinks with a creme finish. I wasn't expecting this shade to be so opaque! I'm Blushing was on the thicker side, but went on smoothly and was nearly opaque in one coat. I used two coats for this mani.

Sunlight

Indirect Light

Not only did I'm Blushing go on smoothly, I swear it self-leveled itself even more as it dried. The pictures above were taken without top coat. This is definitely a shiny polish. Due to its opacity, I'm Blushing might be a tad stark on me to be work appropriate if I was in a conservative office, but I think it would be perfectly fine in a more casual office setting or a paler skin tone.

I also tried out Amazonian, a sparkly jungle green.  This shade's formula was even easier to work with, but I still used two coats. Here's Amazonian with no top coat.

 

Amazonian is ridiculously pretty! It's dark, it's green, it's so shimmery!! Since Pantone made Emerald the color of 2013, I've been working on trying out more green polishes. I'm ok with them, but only a few truly make me stop and go whoa - like Nars Zulu, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, and Zoya Ivanka. Amazonian has made that short list with its shimmer's depth and sparkle.

While these SinfulShine polishes dry on the faster side of average and they do have glossy finishes, I don't recommend skipping a top coat. I'm rough on my nails with typing and dishes, and I got tipwear on the first day with these manis. I suggest putting a top coat on to seal and protect if you want to wear these polishes for more than a day - which you're definitely going to want to do with Amazonian!

SinfulColors Savage + Orly Sparkling Garbage

Matte polishes are sneaky. Some times they're labeled, some times they're expected because they're in a matte collection, other times it's a complete surprise. It happens most often with bright colors that don't look neon in the bottle, but must have neon pigment in their formula because they dry matte.

And then you have SinfulColors Savage. Looks like a blue on the darker, greener side of teal in the bottle. Then you start applying it and something about the application seems off. It's really opaque but a little thin, a little streaky. It dries and bam! It's a matte?! Yep, even though Savage is an older shade from the core collection, I didn't know this when I bought it.

With a top coat, it's beautifully glossy and shiny. Unfortunately, I hadn't prepped myself or my nails for matte application which requires slightly more effort. I ended up with a few thin spots and ripples where I didn't pay enough attention.

Two coats of Savage + Shiny Top Coat - mani's not bad, but it's not great

I picked up a pretty holographic topper for about two bucks at the most recent Sally's Clearance sale, so I put it on to hide the flaws.

This is Orly Sparkling Garbage from their 2013 Summer Mash Up collection.  This is a very sheer holographic glitter in a dark seafoam green base. I put two coats on over Savage to pump up the rainbow effect. Sparkling Garbage had a very fine grit to it, so I used two coats of top coat for extra glossiness and smoothness.

Here it is all blurry, so you can see the sparkly rainbow effect. This is much closer to this mani sparkled in real life than the pictures above. 

I'm really happy with this layering, which is good because I was low on time to do polish changes this week and this mani wore like iron! I didn't get tip wear until Day 5! I'm not sure if it was the base coat, Savage, Sparkling Garbage, the top coat, or the combination of them all that made it so magically long lasting, but it was incredible.

Only downside was the terrible staining from Savage during removal. Even letting the remover soak on the nail for a few seconds and pulling it all down in one swipe to minimize cuticle staining, I was still left with blue cuticles and nails. I haven't had any staining like this from any of my recent SinfulColors blues, so I don't know what made this shade so stain-crazy.

China Glaze Grafitti Glitter & Mosiac Madness

Before I head on over to Sally's for their Clearance Sale this weekend, I thought I'd try out two of the polishes I got from their last sale.

Mosiac Madness & Graffiti Glitter

Both of these polishes are from the China Glaze Winter 2013 Glitz Bitz 'n Pieces collection. They're microglitter, hex glitter, and bar glitter combinations in clear bases. It's ridiculous how easy the application is with these polishes given how much glitter is packed into each bottle.

Graffiti Glitter is the green of the collection. The tiny round, small hexes, and large hexes all come in a vibrant emerald green and black. The largest of the hex glitter and the bar glitter are black. Here is one coat layered over China Glaze For Audrey.

Mosiac Madness is the sapphire blue version of Graffiti Glitter. There's blue and black round, small hex, and medium hex glitters with black bar glitter.  Here is one coat layered over China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

Ott Light

Indirect Sunlight

I don't know why I didn't play with these glitters sooner!  They were so easy to use and the layering combinations are endless. No dabbing, pulling, or placing - just load up the brush, swipe, and done. I can't wait to try them over raspberry pink, mint green, or a dove gray!!