Swatch: KIKO Holographic Nail Lacquer Part 2

On latter part of KIKO swatches, I’m going to show 401/Peacock Green and 402/Jewel Pink. Oh, actually I was misunderstanding the direction…that’s why previous and these pics are kinda “opposite direction” :( Sorry!

Now as before, all swatches are taken under 6500K daylight lamp, with 3 coats of polishes.

401/Peacock Green, without topcoat. Bright turquoise holo. It looks pretty much metallic but of course still pretty. I think it’s unique color for smooth fine holo :)

401/Peacock Green, with topcoat (essence better than gel nail top sealer). Again, I don’t see any difference between with/without topcoat; actually holo effect comes bit stronger with topcoat IRL. Better to apply the topcoat. I love with it.

402/Jewel Pink, without topcoat. Cool-toned berry pink holo. Honestly I’m bit disappointed with this, it’s pretty but holo effect was subtle from what I thought. Maybe it’s because of base color wasn’t so suitable for their holo particles…

402/Jewel Pink, with topcoat (same as before). With topcoat, AGAIN holo effect is strengthened on this color. Like 400/Steel Gray, I definitely wear this shade with topcoat. Oh, and now I can tell the answer; beyond all the “with topcoat” swatches, I applyed glossy topcoat on all the fingers EXCEPT MIDDLE finger. Could you guess that? :)

So overall;

I like these because of;
+ Nice smooth holographic effect (especially 400/steel gray)
+ Topcoat friendly, even BETTER to apply topcoat
+ Reasonable price with good bottle size, 4.95 euro/11 ml each

I don’t like these because of;
- Not easy formula, patchy and sheer; better to use aqua base
- Few color range, I really hope they’ll release MORE

I can say I love this collection, it’s not super-duper holo but pretty smooth holo, which is really surprisingly NOT killed by glossy topcoat. This will definitely prevent the chipping - which is one of biggest weak point for classical holos - and help for easy daily use. Nice collection, I really can recommend this!! :D

Swatch: KIKO Holographic Nail Lacquer Part 1

Holo, again. It’s really a heavenly time for holos; next to Layla and Pupa, another Italian brand KIKO now released their holos! I remember they released so-called “hologram lacquer” few moment before, which seemed to be something duochrome-y and not a “holo” at all, BUT this time…KIKO released REAL HOLO. Yay!! :D

The collection is made by 4 shades, and today I’m going to show you 399/Silk Taupe and 400/Steel Gray. Another two shades are coming on next post, because the color had pretty interesting character…it’s real topcoat friendly, I mean, generally topcoat didn’t kill the holo effect, or even ENHANCED the effect.

Anyway let’s start with the swatches. All swatches are taken under 6500K daylight lamp, with 3 coats of polishes.

399/Silk Taupe, without topcoat. Silvery gold holo. Holo effect is not super strong but very smooth and pretty. Dries as matte, just like ChG FYI or similar.

399/Silk Taupe, with topcoat (essence better than gel nail top sealer). Just to be fair, I left one finger with NO topcoat; and I don’t see any difference between them. Even with final macro shot, I think it’s really impossible to guess which one I didn’t apply the topcoat…or could you? :)

400/Steel Gray, without topcoat. Charcoal gray holo. Looks a bit similar to color Club Revvvolution, but holo effect is much obvious. Cool, great color.

400/Steel Gray, with topcoat (same as before). I think now you can guess which finger I applied the topcoat; and also can understand what I felt as “topcoat friendly”. Topcoat definitely enhances holo effect on this color, which is not generally seen on classic holo polishes. Because of this effect, I felt KIKO’s holo polish has pretty unique formula; clearly not as same as others :)

Application itself was not easy; it’s better than old holos but still have “patchy” formula, that it didn’t go so well on normal basecoat and better on the aqua base. With the aqua base, I didn’t have any problem for application…it went smooth, enough coverage with 2 coats (even I did 3 here).

Now that’s it for today, I’m going to show you rest of two on the next post!! :D

#062: Fantasy Fire (or how base color can kill the beauty)

Orly Nail Defense
Franken blue-black polish (2 coats)
KIKO 335 (1 coat)
MaxFactor Fantasy Fire (2 coats)
essence better than gel nails top sealer

Fantasy Fire. Obviously the world’s best known UK-exclusive polish. Well I’ve heard now it’s also available at Slovenia and Romania (thanks for the info, Johanna!), but definitely it’s still one of HTF polish. It was one of my biggest lemming; though I was so lucky that Hannah from Polly Polish kindly sent her backup to me!! I was super excited, but also already afraid to lose each single drop because of tiny bottle, though for sure I had to give a try…And FAILED :(

So above is my FAILURE mani. Because the base color of fantasy fire is Royal blue jelly but I don’t own such a color, I took KIKO336 for base color and it went just TOO BRIGHT for delicate shimmer of Fantasy Fire; it’s completely killed by background color. I gave very nice two coats but pigments didn’t appear well, no color shift too, just pretty few red shimmer…that’s only I could see on this mani.

I was so sad about this. I couldn’t stand the result. Also I was very sure I did wrong. I KILLED THE BEAUTY. Shame my fault. I sought my stash, grabbed black/blue/purple creme, mixed up together…

And got this. Finally I mixed KIKO336, 335, 224 and essence black is back. I don’t remember how much doses I used for each, and actually it went a bit too black…but additional coat of KIKO335 turned the color as nice deep blue color. And now I covered with Fantasy Fire again, and…

...WOW. It’s just like coming back to the first pic, but just WOW…can you believe I gave exactly the same coat as before? I already could notice much pigment than before even by only one single coat, but two coats…it turned to heaven. Polish heaven. How beautiful.

So in summary; I’ve learned the importance of choosing right background color. It’s not super important for other stronger pigments/glitters, but at least for this kind of color-shifting pigment…it’s necessary. Maybe black must be most easiest background color, but I’m satisfied with dark blue for the Fantasy Fire; I didn’t want to kill the base color of polish itself too! :)

何故にこういうカラーシフト系ピグメント入りポリというのは地区限定販売が多いんですかね。以前紹介したBeYuは基本ドイツ限定（多分オランダにも？）ですし、今回のFantasy FireはUK限定品。MaxFactorってドイツにもありますよ。何でUK限定なんですかね。
ともあれクラランス230系カラーシフトシマーポリ第2弾、です。BeYuのは8ml入りでしたが今回のは5ml弱しか無い！ということで節約すべくベースカラーを別途塗布、……して大失敗したの巻ともいいます。あれだね暗い色じゃないとダメですね。Fantasy Fireの地色が鮮やか目な青だったので手持ちの青を下に塗ったのですが何分明るすぎた。失敗しました。シマーが全然見えない。いや見えるけど凄い控えめ、かつ偏光なはずなのに全然色が変わらず赤いまま……orz

で腹立ったあまりに色を自作調合して（ダークブルーのクリームカラーって意外と無いもんですから……色は2枚上を参照）その上に塗ってみた結果がこちら。

何というかこういうポリってバックの色を物凄く選ぶんだなあ、というのを身を持って知った次第です……orz
凄ーくキレイなんですけどね。なかなか気難しい1本ですな。

#061: Milky mint X Multicolored fine glitters

Orly Nail Defense
Manhattan Green Chai (4 coats)
essence better than gel nails top sealer

I think I must begin the post by saying loudly: BLOGGERS KNOW THE BETTER.
Because they’re users, blogger-produced colors (which is pretty much seen on US brands) are often very interesting, unique and of course cute; and today’s “blogger edition” color is also not an exception :)

Manhattan is German brand; actually I don’t know so much about this brand except its unique polish bottle shape. I was always wondering if it’s good to have or not, as it’s not popular as Catrice or essence…but when I saw the news release about blogger-LE collection with this polish, I simply thought I SHOULD have this.

So Green Chai is sheer milky soft mint green creme loaded with fine magenta/orange-red/pale yellow glitters and superfine green glitter. It needed 4 coats to build up the bottle color; it’s THAT sheer. It’s really pretty polish, no doubt about it, though it’s too sheer and too white in my taste…but I really respect and appreciate it’s challenge on polish designing, it’s so unique and I’m still very happy owning this! :D

えーまず、ここしばらくのスウォッチ・レビュー記事では英語のみ状態になってしまい申し訳ないです。日本語文が上手く挿入できない！ということで思い切ってばっさり切ってしまいました。その代わり写真になるべく説得力を持たせて写真　だけ　でも解るような記事作りをして行けたらと思っていますので、懲りずに読んで頂けると嬉しいなーと思っております。よろしくお願いします。
とはいえ普段の記事は相変わらず日本語併記です。ついでにお気づきの方も多いかと思いますが英語記述と　全　く　違　う　ことを書いていることもしばしばです。その辺も併せてお楽しみ頂ければと思う次第です＜おい

さてそんなこんなですが今回もちょっと変なポリのご紹介です。色が結構揃って来たからか、最近ポリ探しの目が「変なポリ」という感じになって来ました。何か買うとすれば理由は「変わっているから」or「見たこと無いから」。コレもそんな感じでピックアップした1本です。マンハッタンという歴としたドイツのブランドがドイツ国内のブロガーさんと協力して作った色の1つです。クリームベースに細かいカラフルラメ。ラメが結構ぎっしり入っている割に、粒が細かいからかざりざりせずつるんと仕上がります。何だか石材とか床材にこんなんあるよなーという感じ。ただすっごいシアーなので色をちゃんと出すには4回重ねないといけないという。塗りムラも結構あるのでなかなかトリッキーなポリです。あとちょっと私自身の肌には白過ぎたかな。とはいえ結構お気に入りなので手放す気はさらっさらありません！(｀・ω・´)

Swatch: Depend Holographic Nail polish Part 3

I’ve shown 8 of 12 colors until yesterday; today is last part ;)
Part 3 of Depend holo swatches, featuring least 4 colors, 2033/Ocean Blue to 2036/Ocean Green!

As before, ALL swatches are taken under the daylight lamp (6500K), and I gave 3 coats + 1 coat of essence better than gel nail top sealer for each polish :D

2033/Ocean Blue. Bright sky blue holo. Now I really wonder if sky blue is most obvious background color for all the holos (such as Cathrine Arley 674); holo effect of this color is very strong!! It seems to be perfect summer color but also sparkles under dim room light :) 2 coats for good coverage, 3 coats for complete bottle color.

2034/Steel Blue. Soft grayish pale blue holo. Looks like kinda sheer color but it have good coverage as most of colors, 2 coats are already OK (but better for 3rd coat). Looks like the blue version of 2028/Heather Pink, pale color though pretty strong holo effect! Unique color, of course I love this very much <3

2035/Laurel Green. Yellowish gray-toned grass green holo. One of biggest surprise in whole collection. I didn’t expect that this one also show such a strong rainbow effect!! It’s as strong as 2033/Ocean Blue, that holo effect was still clearly visible even under dim light. I don’t think there’s so much green holo like this! Good with 2 coats, best with 3.

2036/Ocean Green. Bright green-blue holo. Or perhaps blue-green? Not sure, but I don’t say this one as “green” even if it’s named as “green”. Bright holo as another “ocean” color 2033/Ocean Blue, just a bit darker and green-toned. OK with 2 coats, but better 3rd coat to get strong color, as other shades :)

Phew! It was big work for me that I usually don’t get entire collection and also don’t go for swatches; but it was definitely worth doing for these polishes.
So now let me summarize for my opinion;

I like these because of;
+ Good brush and great formula = super easy application
+ Basecoat/Topcoat friendly, no need for specific treatment
+ Nice color choice; I think bright colored holo is not that common
+ Not super cheap but still inexpensive, 2.64 euro/$3.99 each

I don’t like these because of;
- Bottle size is pretty small (5ml) and thin = tumble pretty easily
- Where is ingredient info? I don’t see anywhere including website :(
- Not many possibility to buy (I’ve got mine from beautycosmetic.biz)

Well overall, I love this collection. I even think these are one of the best holo polish collection from EU! I can’t say these are BIG3 free though…still I can recommend because of nice color range. I hope they’ll continue to produce holo polishes in other colors, it might be promising & exiting!! :D

Swatch: Depend Holographic Nail polish Part 2

Hope you’ve enjoyed yesterday’s swatches! They’re all cool, right? :D
Now part 2 of Depend holo swatches are featuring another 4 colors, 2029/Charm Pink to 2032/Denim Blue.

Again please notice that ALL swatches are taken under the daylight lamp (6500K), and I gave 3 coats + 1 coat of essence better than gel nail top sealer for each polish :)

2025/Charm Pink. Bright vivid pink holo with hint of blue. More light color than Raspberry, but has good coverage as it; two coats are already OK (but I love to give 3rd coat on my taste). Holo effect looks subtle here, but I’m sure it’s because of combination with lighting; it’s pretty strong holo as others!

2030/Plum. Light purple holo. I think it’s pretty rare color for purple holo, as most of them has darker color to strengthen the holo effect; but this one has pretty strong holographic effect despite of it’s light tone. OK with 2 coats, but clearly better to give 3rd coat to get the bottle color.

2031/Lavender. Soft pale lavender holo. This one is sheerest in the colored holos; almost as sheer as 2025/Silver. Not enough with two coats, so 3rd coat is mandatory…or maybe even 4th coat. Very soft color but really pretty! Holo doesn’t appear so strong compare to others, but enough to add nice accent to the color :)

2028/Denim Blue. Middle toned washed denim-like warm blue holo. Other way around, SUPER-HARD-TO-CAPTURE COLOR. The tone of color changes so drastically under the light, and holo effect too; I don’t know why. But it’s definitely NOT subtle holo at all like you can see on my swatch! Hope I can take better pic soon :/ OK with 2 coats, but better for 3 coats.

Again I had no problem with the formula of these all, and were topcoat friendly; and I also must say they’re all basecoat friendly too, that it doesn’t require special basecoat like aqua base for its easy application.
Now this is it for today, tomorrow I’m going to show last 4 shades!! :D