Swatch and Review: Ruby Wing

Good day, all! I was sent these polishes from Ruby Wing and with the weather here in NYC turning warm and sunny, the time to test them out finally arrived.

Two of the shades are from the Spring Garden Collection, which is scented, and two are from the core collection!

First up are the scented shades!

Here's Cut Grass, which smells like... guess what? Cut grass! It starts out as a light moss indoors...

Swatch and Review: China Glaze Tranzitions

Happy Saturday, everyone! Today, I have for you three of the new Tranzitions shades from China Glaze!

The Tranzitions are a form of color-changing polish in which the use of top coat triggers the color shift. In all of the swatches with the dual colors, I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

First up is Shape Shifter, a gunmetal metallic polish. This was opaque in just one coat. The color itself was pretty, but very streaky. I did my best to hide the brushstrokes, but I wasn't thrilled with the end result.

Here is Shape Shifter with the top coat. I wanted to do some designs on the nail so you could see the difference with and without top coat. As you can see, the color shifts to a blurple that I'm pretty fond of and would probably wear on its own.

This one is Altered Reality, a teal metallic polish that was opaque in one coat. This was even more streaky than Shape Shifter.

The french tip I did was with two coats of top coat and it barely made a difference. The shift wasn't enough to be noticeable for me. This was by far my least favorite of the three.

Split Perso-nail-ity was my favorite of the three and probably the only one I'd wear again. It's a dusty pink that changes to more of a magenta. This is with two coats to even out the streakiness.

And here is the color with the top coat. I used a dotting tool to create the polka dots and then dotted the original color back on to hollow them out. I thought this was a pretty easy way to do nail art.

The pros: Versatile color. Need only one bottle for multiple looks.

The cons: Slow dry time unless you use a top coat, but you can't if you want any portion to remain pink. These shades also stained my nails. Additionally, the brushstrokes are not really attractive to me in the first two shades and not nearly enough of a color shift.

The Tranzitions collection is currently available at ULTA and other beauty retail stores. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficial), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

What do you think of the Tranzitions? Do you have a favorite?

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.

Top of 2012: Orange

Now, I'm not really an orange person. So it's rare for me to find any that I like. But there were three in 2012 that really caught my attention.

The big brand trophy goes to China Glaze Desert Sun, a dusty mandarin creme. It was just orange enough to make a statement, but subdued enough that I can rock it any day of the week.

The indie crown, without a doubt, goes to SoFlaJo Pendragon. You can wear it as a dainty peach shimmer or layer it over black for a smoldering orange-bronze sparkle. Either way you choose, it's still awesome.

And the best bargain brand orange, weighing in at a steal at $.99 a bottle, is Essence Wake Up! It's a little more tangerine in person, but it was bright and summery and GREAT to wear if you have a sports team with orange as a color. (I have both the Mets and the Knicks... score!)

Orange you glad you checked this one out? (Cue: rim shot.)

Swatch and Review: SoFlaJo Ghost of a Chance

Happy Monday! (Yeah, I know.)

I'm going to post a little more on NYFW and Fashion's Night Out in a few days, but today, I have for you a wonderful creation from SoFlaJo.

Halloween is a little over a month and a half away, but Jody's Terrified Collection is bringing the scary spirit to your nails!

Here is the full collection above... STUNNERS!

I had the opportunity to try out Ghost of a Chance, a crystalline shimmer polish that doubles as a blue-green top coat!

Here, you can see the ghostly-presence of the green and blue shimmer.

Because of the undertones of the glitter, I chose to layer Ghost of a Chance over a range of dark blues and black. From left to right, there are two coats over Zoya Indigo, Zoya Ibiza, Zoya Song, and Zoya Tart.

I think it gives them all a gorgeous depth that a plain creme or frost just can't portray on its own. Though, I think it looks the BEST over the black because it gives the green the most pop!

While this definitely has the look of fall, I think this will be amazing for an icy winter look too!

Like all of SoFlaJo's polishes, the application was outstanding. She really knows how to do awesome, transformative top coats!

Handcrafted, all polishes are made from natural pigments and glitters with bases free of the chemicals Toluene, Formaldehyde and Dibutyl Phthalate and Formaldehyde. You can purchase any and all of the Terrified Collection now at the SoFlaJo Etsy Shop. Mini bottles are available for $5 (7mL) and the full size bottles are available for $10 (15mL). The 5-piece Terrified Collections (available in mini or full size) have deep shipping discounts too. BONUS!

What do you think of Ghost of a Chance?

Princess Polish

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.  

Swatch and Review: SoFlaJo Pendragon

I'm REALLY excited to bring you this awesome polish today from SoFlaJo. I've had my eye on the entire collection, called Year of the Dragon, since it was first released.

The Year of the Dragon collection consists of 8 sparkling color-changing top coats made from natural pigments that are incredibly dynamic. How dynamic? Well, let's take a look...