Mashup: Indie Wednesday meets Flakie Friday with SYN Cosmetics
Hello again everyone! If you keep up with me on Facebook, you already know I’ve been in a bit of a funk this week- and if not, you may have thought I dropped off the Earth. I think I’m back to feeling normal, though!
A few announcements! I think a very small part of my funk was being restricted to these theme days (though most of it was not polish related). I thought they would be a great idea to keep me motivated, but in reality it’s having the opposite effect. In light of that, I’m dropping Flakie Friday. This will be the last official Flakie Friday post. I’m keeping the other 3 (Mani Mondays, Try It On Tuesday, Indie Wednesday), but I won’t force myself to do them each and every week. If the mood strikes me to wear something else? I’ll do it!
I’m also going to begin doing ‘Favorite’ posts. I really enjoy reading other bloggers monthly favorites roundups, so I’ll be adding in one of my own once a month. I’ll be working on July’s this weekend! It will feature all sorts of different things I’m interested in at the moment, not just polish. Trying to branch out a little- I have a TON of interests! But of course the blog will remain 99% polish related 🙂
So onto today’s post. I’m sure you guys have seen me raving about the new releases from Syn Cosmetics- and some of that is what I’m going to feature today!
Syn Cosmetics is an indie makeup brand that recently (a few months ago I believe) added polish to her lineup. Be sure to check out everything she offers!
First up is my very first purchase from Syn- All White Everything.
This is 1 coat of All White Everything over 2 coats Hard Candy Beetle (what was intended for the Try It On Tuesday that I didn’t post- I’ll reuse it this coming Tuesday!)
Its a very roughly similar idea to Lynderella’s Love, Lace and Lilacs, but in no means a dupe. I don’t own LLL, but this one lacks the heavy fine white glitter and the variety of hex sizes. But if you’ve been looking for a nice, white CTD type glitter, give this one a look!
Next up are 2 that I was SO excited to play with- her newest additions to the line, solar changing polish!! She has an awesome video available on the site!
Obviously, the photo on the left is inside, and the one on the right is outside in the sunlight. I alternated between Solar Skies and Sunkissed- Sunkissed is the pink and Solar Skies is blue. Both appear the same- a milky clear- inside.
I layered each over 2 coats of white polish, followed by 2 coats of the solar changing polish.
I will say, I was a little disappointed Sunkissed didn’t quite show off as well as Solar Skies. Look at the bottle! The color change is HUGE, but over white it just wasn’t as noticeable. The blue was very apparent though!
These also definitely require sun- being inside, no matter how well lit or even ambient sunlight you have, they’re going to remain clear. As soon as you step into sunlight outdoors though, it changes fast!
So what did I do? Went back inside, and added more coats of Sunkissed. This is 4 coats of Sunkissed, and you can see it a lot better! Even with 4 coats, it wasn’t overly thick- so it’s definitely doable! LOVE these! Even my husband was into it, and thought this was the coolest thing ever. They’ll be releasing color-to-color changing ones soon, so keep yours eyes out!
Last one up is my quasi flakie of the day- a new unnamed Syn polish!
There was recently a promotion that if you spent $30.00, you would get one of the upcoming, unnamed polishes for free! I nicely asked if I could get this one- I LOVE pink of course, and I love shards and flakes and fun things!
I am in love with this! Ya’ll, this is only ONE coat! This has a little bit of everything in it- ultrafine pink, fine white, hot pink squares, pink hexes, white and black shards and bars. I layered this over 2 coats of Zoya Adina (another Try It On Tuesday color- I’m working ahead!).
You can purchase Syn Cosmetics on their site here, and follow them on Facebook for updates here. Be sure to check them out!! You’ll always find awesome promotions on Facebook- I’ve caught the buy 3-get 1 sale as well as a 35% off flash sale!
Flakie Friday- Revlon Moon Candy in Milky Way and Moondust
It’s time for another Flakie Friday!
Today I’ll be featuring 2 of the colors in Revlon’s new ‘Moon Candy’ line.
These… aren’t exactly cheap. They run at around $8 each, which is why you only see 2. I just couldn’t justify the cost (Imagine that, me not justifying a polish purchase!). They’re a double-ended polish, which Revlon seems to be releasing a lot of lately. Crackles, neons, now flakes.
I knew this before I purchased, but sadly these aren’t true flakies. They’re the thick, mylar flakes that will stick up on your nail and feel chunky. I still like these kinds of flakes, but they’re not my favorite.
There’s 8 colors total right now, with 2 more set to be released at a later time. On one end you have a solid color, on the other you have the flakes for ‘layering’. Most of the time, the 2 colors are coordinated.
First up, we have Moon Dust!
This one comes with a black unnamed color on the other end. It was a 1-coat polish, though there was a tiny bit of bald spots. Since I was sticking heavy flakes overtop, I didn’t bother with 2 coats.
This is 1 coat of the Moon Dust flake topcoat. I had to do a tiny bit of dabbing, but not much.
I honestly was not a big fan. These large flakes can be a pain to work with- and this one I just didn’t think looked that great. I bought it because another great write up showed this as being a blue flake- but my bottle is completely different than hers, and mine is just an identical dupe to Color Club’s Covered in Diamonds and China Glazes Lush and Luxe- but not as nice as either (especially Lush and Luxe). I was sad 😦
The second polish I bought from this line is Milky Way!
This one, I did like. It comes with a dark grey unnamed polish- and I don’t have a darker grey, so that’s always a plus. These are also different than any other flakes I have- and as someone devoting 1 day of each week to flakies, you can be sure I have a ton!
The shards in Milky Way look to be similar, though possibly smaller, to Color Clubs Diamond Drops (which I don’t own yet). Rather than being iridescent, they’re solid silver with a holo finish.
Like Moon Dust, I used 1 coat of the grey, and 1 coat of flakes. Coverage was ok- only some bald spots and some dabbing.
One word of advice- be sure that bottom coat is dry before you add the flakes. I was in a hurry, and adding the flakes sometimes pulled my undercoat and completely messed it up.
These also took forever to dry- I didn’t add a topcoat, but usually with only 2 coats of polish the dry time isn’t too long. Not the case here.
Overall, I’m pretty disappointed. I’m still happy I bought at least Milky Way, but when these were first announced I was really hoping they’d be more traditional flakies, ala Hidden Treasure or others like it. But it’s a start!
If you’d like to see a great comparison of the *entire* collection, head on over to SoFlaJo’s writeup here! You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it to get a closer look. And also compare her Moon Dust with mine- they look nothing alike! I want hers, haha!
I need to go out to help with a fundraiser tonight, but I’ve already been organizing pictures for both the next giveaway (I PROMISE it will go live later tonight!) and my NOPI Target post. That was supposed to be for yesterday, but my week was more hectic than anticipated- but photos are edited, so I will have it set to post tomorrow.
Flakie Friday: Essie As Gold As It Gets
I love gooooooooooold!
I’m sorry for the delay in posting this, guys! I had everything done earlier, but didn’t get a chance until this evening to sit down and write it out.
So for today’s Flakie Friday, I decided to go in a tiny bit of a different direction- Essie’s As Gold As It Gets!
As Gold As It Gets is part of Essie’s LuxEffects collection, which can be found in most drugstores, Target, and Walmart. It’s a beautiful GOLD flakie!
This is also packed with a very fine, pretty iridescent shimmer. The flakes are very delicate, so you won’t notice any chunkiness wearing this. I stuck to the basics again this week- pairing As Gold As It Gets over Cult Nails Nevermore, my go-to black polish. Even though it can get ‘boring’ sometimes, black is almost always the best underwear to really show a flakie off!
All of these photos were taken outside in the sunlight, which is where I try to take most of my pictures. We’ve had rain (hallelujah!) every day this week though, so this is the first outdoor shot of the week.
See the faint microfine glitter? It adds a pretty rainbow effect to the topcoat. This is REALLY noticeable outside!
This was 1 coat of Nevermore, topped with 1 coat of As Gold As It Gets. That’s just 1 coat! As an added bonus, having a manicure with just 1 coat + 1 topcoat means it’s dry FAST.
Essie can be purchased for around $8 at most stores. Be sure to check out the newest LuxEffect, Stroke of Brilliance! It JUST appeared in my local Walgreens, so they’re beginning to hit the stores! I’ll be doing a bonus post on Sunday to show off that gorgeous new color 🙂
And as a fun bonus picture: Here’s a comparison shot of Sephora’s It’s Real! 18k gold topcoat.
Disclaimer: I don’t actually own this polish (though I have every intention of buying it hopefully soon). I did this exact manicure (AGAIG over Nevermore) about a month ago, and we happened to go to the outdoor mall that is home to Sephora that day. I happily used the tester of It’s Real!, and then came home and took photos. Because that’s totally what normal people do.
Anywho- you can faintly see AGAIG under It’s Real! if you look close enough. So this should be a pretty good way to show how different they are! It’s Real! was absolutely stunning on my fingers, I could not stop staring that day. As soon as I save up get the guts to chunk down $30 on a topcoat, it will be mine!
Be sure to check back tomorrow and Sunday- while I don’t normally do weekend posts, I have a lot to share so I’ll have 2! Tomorrow will be featuring some new indie colors generously given to me (that will be available Sunday for sale!), and Sunday I’ll be showing off Essie’s new Blue Rhapsody and Stroke of Brilliance!
Flakie Friday: Cult Nails Seduction over Max Factor Fantasy Fire
It’s been a busy week! Even though some posts were late, I think this is the first time I’ve done something every day. I don’t plan for that to be the norm 😉
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! It will be closed down at midnight tomorrow night- Saturday July 7.
I have a BEAUTIFUL combo for you today! I can’t remember where (I’m so sorry!), but I’ve seen a few people combine Cult Nails Seduction with Fantasy Fire from Max Factor- WHAT a gorgeous pairing!
For those that aren’t familiar with either polish, Cult Nails Seduction is a limited edition flakie that can be found on Cult Nails site for $10. If you want it, I highly encourage you to get it while you can! I can’t being to talk about how much I regret not getting Toxic Seaweed before it was discontinued… and of course I would give my right arm for Clarivoyant.
Max Factor Fantasy Fire is sadly only available in the U.K., and only in mini size. So if you’re anywhere else, you’ll have to find a swap buddy or head to Ebay. I used a U.S. seller on Ebay with a high rating, and for a reasonable price (well, sort of reasonable). Fantasy Fire is highly sought after due to its similarity to the illusive and no-longer-available Clarins 230. It’s a STUNNING multichrome in a bright purple base.
*Drool*
This was actually my first time using Fantasy Fire for a full mani, and I made the mistake of NOT layering it over something. Ladies, don’t repeat my mistake! While gorgeous, Fantasy Fire is fairly sheer. In the picture below I have on 3 coats- and you can still see my nail staining (it makes the multichrome effect show up differently).
Notice the little ovals of a different color at the tips? That’d be my staining- it’s almost grown out.
I hated to cover up such a pretty color, but I did. While Seduction covers up a lot of the beauty of Fantasy Fire, layering them together gives a gorgeous shimmering depth to the polish.
Cult Nails really does flakies well. Clarivoyant is absolutely STUNNING, and so is Seduction. The flakes are thick, dense, and very colorful. Seduction has a strong orange to blue-purple color shift in a sheer purple base.
Just look at that beautiful bottle shot!
Overall I liked this combo, but next time I may try more of a flakie-sandwich with Fantasy Fire, because I think FF got a bit too lost in the flakes.
For what it’s worth, even with Seduction on top, I CAN STILL SEE my staining. It just shows up as black shadows on the tops of my nails. I just can’t win!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Flakie Friday: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (original) over Cult Nails Cruisin’ Nude
Hello polish monsters! Today is Flakie Friday- and I’m going to feature Sally Hansen’s Hidden Treasure!
Sadly, this is not a polish you can run down to the drugstore to pick up.
‘But Diana,’ you may ask, ‘I’ve seen Hidden Treasure in stores, and I just saw it show up on tons of sites for sale when I checked Google.’
Well my friends, that’s because Sally Hansen likes to be annoying.
The original Hidden Treasure (this one) was sold in Spring 2010 as part of a beachy-themed collection. Like all collections, it was limited edition. This was before I was really into nail polish- although I did already have about 50 bottles- so I had no earthly clue something this beautiful was sitting over at Walgreens. I didn’t make rounds of the drugstore beauty counters back then- if I was there and something caught my eye I’d get it. It was certainly not the first flakie, but I think it was one of the first easily accessible ones.
So then Sally Hansen comes out with another Hidden Treasure. Polish loves rejoiced, thinking the beloved flakie had returned! But no. The current Hidden Treasure- in the same bottle style (it’s still part of the Salon Manicure line)- is not a flakie. It’s very beautiful, yes, but it’s more of an opalescent top coat.
In FACT, just to make things more weird and bizzare- it IS a re-release of one of the colors in the original Hidden Treasures collection! The new Hidden Treasure is an identical copy of Ring My Shell.
Why in the WORLD Sally Hansen re-released a color under a different name- and a name from the same original collection- is beyond me. Really, does that make any sense??
Anyways… because I love flakies, I was determined to get my hands on this particular one. I bought mine from Ebay for around $12, around $15 after shipping. It’s definitely buyer-beware on Ebay- I’m hesitant to buy any polish much above that price point (case in point- I’ve seen many a case of people paying a LOT of money for Clarins 230, and they get something that’s very clearly not Clarins 230 in a Clarins bottle). Luckily, my bottle arrived full and perfect. Lets look at a macro shot!
Oooooh, ahhhhhh…
The best way to really show off a flakie is over black, but this post series will get boring quickly if I only ever feature flakies over black. So this week, I opted for a neutral base. I went to Cult Nail’s Cruisin’ Nude for this- it’s a beautiful beige polish with a slight pinkish shimmer.
Lighter colors won’t highlight the color shifts as well in traditional flakes, but it can make for a beautiful look. I think my nails look something like the interior of sea shells (but maybe a bit darker).
Please excuse the state of my nails… I had the GREAT idea to paint these last night- and then do housework this morning, including dishes- before I took photos. Not my smartest idea.
These pictures are all with 2 coats of Hidden Treasure.
Even though Hidden Treasure is hard to get your hands on, the red-orange-green color shift in this polish is one of the more popular flakie shades. In fact, you can get a very similar one right now by running to just about any drugstore- Essie’s Shine of the Times is pretty close dupe. So is Nubar 2010, Finger Paints Flashy, and GOSH Rainbow (though some of those aren’t easily found, either). What I prefer about Hidden Treasure compared to the others, though, is the coverage. Hidden Treasure is SERIOUSLY dense. As you can see in these photos- 2 coats is almost a solid sheet of flakes.
Hope everyone has a great weekend- try to stay cool! It’s going to be a scorcher!
Flakie Friday: Zoya Chloe over Cult Nails Nevermore
Sorry this post is coming so late! I got caught up cleaning the house and some other things and before I knew it, the day was almost done and I still hadn’t painted my nails for the post. Luckily the sun was still shining when I finished!
Today is my first Flakie Friday, and I decided to start off with a flakie that is easily available to everyone.
Zoya Chloe!
Chloe is part of Zoya’s Fleck Effect line from Spring 2012, along with Maisie and Opal. It can be found here.
This is a beautiful flakie, that’s slightly different from the more common color schemes you’ll find. The flecks are mostly orange with a yellow shift, but there’s also the occasional yellow and green flecks to add some interest.
Application is wonderful- the flakes are fairly dense and you really only need 1 coat. For these photos however I added 2 coats of Chloe over 1 coat of Cult Nails‘ Nevermore. If you’re looking for an amazing 1 coat solid black, check out Nevermore! It’s wonderful.
On to the pictures!
Look at all those beautiful colors!
Close up of my nubbin thumb nail
Hopefully these photos can really show off how beautiful Chloe is! They were taken outside in full sunlight to really try to capture the colors.
Now a lot of people will already know this, but if you haven’t purchased from Zoya.com before, you’re in luck! Use can use THIS referral link to get a free polish of your choice (maybe Chloe?). Also with the program, if you buy 2 extra polishes along with your free one, you’ll receive free shipping! Not a bad deal! As a disclaimer, I do receive sharing points if you use the link- but the more I get, the more goodies I can get for giveaways!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Polish Monster 