Color Secrets A Star Is Born

 

 *Sent for review*

Today I have a polish from a new to me brand, Color Secrets A Star Is Born. Color Secrets is a division of a company called JB Cosmetics. Founded in 2005, JB Cosmetics is a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical-grade skin care, eyelash treatments, makeup, and
nail care products. Their polishes are 3-Free and vegan, and they offer 72 shades as well as nail appliques. A Star Is Born is a stunning shimmering yellow gold polish with tiny iridescent glitters strewn throughout. The minute I saw this in the bottle, I knew I would love it. I am always looking for gorgeous real yellow gold polishes. I couldn't quite capture the iridescent glitters in the pictures, but they are visible in person and add a unique element to the polish.

Having never tried a Color Secrets polish before, I wasn't sure what to expect. The formula turned out to be quite nice and easy to work with, maybe a tad on the thin side, but not a problem. This polish was opaque in three coats to my eye, but I did a fourth because I know my camera likes to make shimmery polishes look sheer.

*Sent for review*

Overall, I am impressed with my first Color Secrets polish, both in the color and the formula. I have two more to show you and hope they'll be just as good! A Star Is Born and other Color Secrets polishes are available on http://www.colorsecretspro.com/

China Glaze Immortal

 *Purchased by me*

Halloween is fast approaching and I have not really done any Halloween manis! Honestly, I have not done many actual manis lately, with my dad being in the hospital. But, I really love Halloween polish, so I'm going to have to fix that. I'm starting today with China Glaze Immortal, from last year's Halloween collection. Immortal is an amazing gray with shimmer flecks that look pink, green and blue depending on the lighting. I actually just got this polish recently and I can't imagine why I skipped it last year, it's gorgeous!

This is just two coats of Immortal, it was nicely opaque. The formula was excellent. It reminded me of how amazing China Glaze polishes are when they are at their best.

*Purchased by me*

Now I'm eyeing this year's China Glaze Halloween collection and wondering which ones I should get to prevent me from wondering why I skipped them a year from now! What are your favorites from this year? Immortal is still available on transdesign.com, if you're looking for it.

OPI Take Ten Holiday Minis Gift Set!

 *Sent for review*

Among OPI's holiday gift options is this cute little set of ten mini polishes. All 10 polishes are beloved OPI colors, ranging from older classics to newer favorites. The cool thing that I really like about this set is that you can give the whole set of 10 polishes to someone, or divide up into two sets of 5. Here's what the sets looks like divided-

This classy neutral set contains OPI Pirouette My Whistle, Alpine Snow, Bubble Bath, Tickle My France-y, and You Don't Know Jacques!

This set of holidays reds ranging from bright to dark contains OPI Cajun Shrimp, Big Apple Red, German-icure by OPI, Malaga Wine, and Lincoln Park After Dark.

First up we have OPI Alpine Snow, a favorite of mine for nail art. I have been through of couple of bottles of this over the years and it is still my go-to white creme. It's a nice bright white, kind of stark-looking, but I like that sometimes for a certain look.

This is three coats of Alpine Snow. Two coats is mostly opaque, but I usually use a third to even out any streaks. The mini version was maybe a tad streakier than the full size, due to the smaller brush.

OPI Bubble Bath is a classic OPI pale pink sheer. I believe it's one of their most popular shades. It probably looks better if you don't have green stains on your pinky nail, LOL! I see why this is a favorite of those who like wearing sheer polish, it's a pretty flattering pink-white shade.

This is three coats of Bubble Bath. I had absolutely no trouble with streaks, this applied nice and evenly.

Next up is OPI Pirouette My Whistle, a more recent OPI favorite. Pirouette My Whistle is a cool mix of white satin hex glitter and teeny silver sparkles in a clear base. This is a nice subtle looking glitter that adds dimension without adding a lot of grit to your mani and removes pretty easily.

This is one coat of Pirouette over Bubble Bath. It applies really nicely, although you may occasionally have to fish around for the white satin hexes. 

OPI Tickle My France-y is new to me, I have never tried this one! It's a nice pale mushroom-y creme, very neutral and work appropriate. It leans a little pink too, rather than brown, so I'd imagine it's very flattering on a wide variety of skin tones.

This is three coats of Tickle My France-y and I still had some VNL. I thought this was more opaque, based on swatches I've seen. I am not crazy about this color with VNL, but maybe with four coats it would be better. It had a good formula, not real problems.

My favorite of the neutral set is OPI You Don't Know Jacques!. Shockingly, I do not own this already! Why?? I've been missing out on this hunk of taupe-y creme goodness! Jacques has that little tinge of purple that makes it a little more exciting than straight taupe. It also happens to be super flattering on me, so I'm going to need a full size bottle.

This is two coats of Jacques and the formula was excellent! Even with the mini brush I had no difficulties applying this.

OPI Cajun Shrimp is another polish I don't own, but now need a full size bottle! Cajun Shrimp is a bright coral-y red creme. It actually leans a bit on the crelly side, in between and creme and a jelly. It's squishier than a standard creme.

This is three coats of Cajun Shrimp. I still had some VNL at two coats, so I went with a third. The formula was lovely though, more gel-like than standard cremes as well.

OPI Big Apple Red is another classic OPI that has been popular for years and years. It is a real true red creme. It's bright and sassy, but also classic. It doesn't lean too blue or orange, just nicely red.

This is three coats of Big Apple Red, again, I had some VNL at two coats. Nice formula, maybe a hair on the thin side, but not bad.

OPI German-icure by OPI is a favorite of mine in OPI's recent history. It's a gorgeous vampy red-brown shimmer. OPI really does vampy shimmers so well! It looks like it's glowing in the sun and it's not so dark in low light that it looks black. This reminds me, I need to wear this again soon!

This is three coats of German-icure. For such a dark color, the first coat is so sheer, I always use three coats for this. But it's worth it! Great formula on this too!

OPI Malaga Wine is a nice purple tinged red creme, maybe almost crelly. I wouldn't really call this wine, it definitely says more berry to me. Another very popular OPI color.

This is three coats of Malaga Wine. It had a similar formula to Cajun Shrimp in that it felt a little gel-like. I always find that very easy to work with and control near the cuticle.

And finally, we have another extremely popular OPI shade that I don't own- OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. I know, I know- coming from someone who claims to love vampy polish, this is like heresy. But for some reason, I always felt that I had something similar in my collection. Now that I see it in person, I don't actually have anything like this. Other deep vampy cremes in my collection are too black, too brown, or even too red. Lincoln Park is really a deep dark purple and I really love that!

This is two easy coats of Lincoln Park and the formula was a dream.

*Sent for review*

Overall, I think this set would be an amazing gift for that friend who's just getting into polish, or the one who keeps stealing your polish and won't buy her own. A seasoned nail polish hoarder collector may own several of these already, but check your stash. I personally did not own 7 out of 10 of these, making it a very worthwhile addition to my stash.

Take Ten is available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com. Take Ten retails for $24.95 ($29.95 CAN).

OPI Top This! Top Coat Set Swatches!

*Sent for review*

Sorry for the silence around here this week! My dad has been in the hospital and had surgery yesterday, so between visiting him and work, it's been impossible to get any blogging done. The surgery went well though and hopefully he'll have a smooth recovery. Today's post is one of the many awesome gift sets OPI released for the holidays this year, OPI Top This! Top This! is a set of three top coats, the regular shiny OPI top coat, OPI matte top coat and a glitter topper, OPI Snowflakes In the Air, that is exclusive to this set. I really like a lot of the OPI gift sets this year. For one thing, the packaging is really cute. The cardboard on this box has a kind of golden sheen to it in person and a quilting effect as well.

I swatched OPI Matte Top Coat over OPI DS Temptation first. I've wanted to try Temptation matte since I got it and it looks gorgeous this way. The OPI matte top coat is really nice, it definitely provides that frosted glass effect that I am always looking for in a matte top coat. It's a good matte finish, maybe a bit satin-y rather than flat wall paint looking. I am psyched to add this matte top coat to my collection, I'll be using it quite a lot.

This is just one coat of OPI Matte top coat over two coats of Temptation. There was no need for a second coat of the matte. I found this matte top coat dries a little bit slower than others in my collection (China Glaze, KnockOut Cosmetics), but I think that is a good thing. Sometimes, matte top coats dry so quickly that you can't work with them and smooth out any lumps and bumps. This matte top coat was easier to work with and allowed me to get a nice smooth finish.

I then used the shiny OPI Top Coat to make Temptation shiny once again! The fun of this top coat set is going back and forth between matte and shiny. I think it would make a great present for that friend who is already into nail polish, but maybe doesn't have a large top coat collection.

The OPI top coat is not a fast dry top coat, but it didn't seem like it took forever either. I often use non-quick dry top coats, because the wear time with QDTCs for me personally is horrific. I would say the OPI top coat dries way faster than Zoya Armor, faster than CND Shiny, and about the same as Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure top coat. I also find it shinier than all three of those. I'm not sure why, but I haven't owned a bottle of OPI top coat before. I'll be excited to really test it out and see how it wears.

This gorgeous holiday treat is two(ish) coats of OPI Snowflakes In the Air over OPI Incognito in Sausalito, topped with OPI Top Coat. Snowflakes In the Air contains small and medium holo hex glitter in a clear base. It is the perfect holiday glitter top coat. All of these glitters are holo, so you can imagine all of the rainbows in person! There is a lot of glitter in Snowflakes In the Air, and this is mostly one coat. My middle nail is one coat, but the other nails each got a tiny empty space on them, so I went back and dabbed a glitter or two on there. That's why I say "two(ish)" coats. But the glitter is nicely suspended in the base and you do not have to fish for anything.

 

Like other glitter-heavy polishes, Snowflakes In the Air has a slightly thicker base, but it was not a problem at all. It actually made application easier. I think even people who struggle with applying glitter will find this to be pretty effortless.

 Of course, I had to try topping Snowflakes In the Air with the matte top coat. Although this dulls the holo effect, I still really like it and now it looks just like snowflakes! I want there to be another blizzard like last year so I can wear this combo while snow pours down outside.

*Sent for review*

Overall, I had fun with this top coat set and I do think it would make a great gift, either for your polish loving friends or just for yourself. If you don't already own the OPI matte and regular top coats, but have been wanting to try this, this is a good opportunity. And Snowflakes In the Air is just stunning!

Hopefully, I can soon resume blogging as usual, because I have a TON of cool stuff to swatch. I can not wait to try the OPI Holiday Liquid Sands!!

OPI Top This! is available now at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com. Top This! retails for $27.00 ($32.85 CAN).