Zoya – Kelly

My first time wearing this bluish-gray creme. I was hoping it would be like Below Deck.  It is just a little darker, but I love it!

Color Club Revvvolution over Zoya Lo

I saw the Vivid Lacquer stamping plates and had to get some!

This image is from VL 005. Its the famous Lorem ipsum quote block in really pretty font!

It seems like everytime I wear Zoya Lo, I love the color but really want to stamp a gray or black over it. Color Club Revvvolution is black holo that stamps nicely.

4 Browns Swatched – With OPI Shim-merry Chic

Its so hard to wait for these 2 broken nails to grow… I want to get swatching again!

So I’ll just apologize for the first 2 screwed up nails and post anyway.

Here is (from pointer to pinky) LA Colors – Chocolate Shimmer, OPI – Amarillo Almondine, Essie – Armed and Ready, and the pinky and bottle are OPI – Shim-merry Chic:

Shim-merry Chic came out a while ago with Merry Midnight. It has flakies that are a goldish-green, a blueish-purple, and the rest is mostly a neutral brown color.

Armed and Ready ended up looking very dark gray. When you can catch the shimmer, you see the gold flash, but it is a very hidden shimmer.

I love Chocolate Shimmer, so that’s a keeper for sure. Amarillo Almondine might be a little too light for my taste!

Spring Giveaway!

That pretty glowing one there at the top is from Night Reflections! Its the clear with glitter that glows Aqua in the dark! Fresh from their shop. Since I have my polishes up on a rack, I can see this one glowing twice as much as my others, even the OPI and China Glaze polishes I have that are glow in the dark! The first winner will get that plus 4 of the others.

I want to pick 3 winners again. So I’ll ask you what your favorite items are from the rest of them, and the first winner will get 4! The next two will get 3 each. Last time I was able to give everyone something they wanted, so it was pretty fun!

Left to Right: Sally Hansen – Ice, AQumore – P039, LA Girls – Enchanting, NYX – Perfect Gray, Sinful Colors – Easy Going, NYX – Dreamy Glitter, Essence – King of Mints, Revlon – Starry Pink (aka Popular), FingerPaints – Gossamer White, and a limited edition tinted SoftLips SPF 15 in pearl (never opened, of course)!

The difference now is… I have no more Google Friend Connect. So there went my followers and my method of doing giveaways. (Until we figure out the best new way, that is!)

So this time, to enter, you can do one of two things, or both for an extra entry!

1. Use the giveaway picture and post/blog about this somewhere, put the URL to your post into the form
(The link to the giveaway is -> http://shimmerspark.com/posts/spring-giveaway-2012)

2. Become a follower in another type of network and comment to tell me your username on that network

(Just go on my sidebar over to the right and pick from Google+ Circles, HelloCotton, Bloglovin, Networked Blogs, or LinkyFollowers. Become a follower and post a comment to this entry to let me know what your username is for what network. If you have trouble with the new comments system, please email me or send a facebook message/wall post!)

I’ll close this one before my wedding, so I’ll go with May 18th!

As always, thank you again so much for reading my blog! I love giving you guys presents so I can do more than just say thank you!

♥
Holly

China Glaze – Foie Gras

I still can’t get enough of these creme polishes that are this rich color that looks taupe sometimes, plummy at other times, kind of greyish…

They always surprise me! I have to compare this to Below Deck, of course. It has a similar mix of shades but this one is more brown.

I also have to rave about the formula. It is so opaque that two coats is perfect and it didn’t dry too fast and become gloppy like some other brands I have polishes like this in. It will dry a tiny bit darker than the color you see in the bottle.

Speaking of that though, if you notice a little bit of bubbliness to this swatch, it isn’t the polish’s fault this time, I just overdid it on the Mavala Barrier Base + Sally Hansen Nail Quencher layers beneath it since my nails had gotten dry.

With the next post, its giveaway time again! 🙂

Dollish Polish – Cold Winds Are Rising

This is from one of the awesome franken designers on etsy. I couldn’t pass up a grayish blue jelly with pretty blue and silver sparkles in it!

There are also some larger hex glitters in a really pretty darker blue that really stand out when they land on your nail among the other smaller blue and silver particles.

I put it over Color Club – Take Me To Your Chateau this time. I actually saw myself in the mirror after and thought it was too smurfy blue with that underneath. Next time I’ll try putting it over a white and a light gray. I’ll swatch it again when I do!

Here is the base color so you can see how it made it so blue instead of more of the grayish color like the polish is…

I know, my nails are SO short right now… so much envelope-making and other wedding crafts have torn up my nails lately!

Nfu Oh – 63 over China Glaze – Concrete Catwalk

I wanted to use the new Konad plate I got. It is one of their latest – m85.

I started with China Glaze – Concrete Catwalk and then stamped with a pink holo, Nfu Oh 63. I love stamping with these because it does look pink and gray mostly, but in the sun you can really see the rainbow appear in the stamped design!

Julep – Holly and other blush pinks

I was thinking about giving Julep polishes a try and their facebook page was offering a few dollars off. So I went to look and found one named Holly. So, I had to. It was literally calling my name.

Ever since I tried Misa – Blush Hour, I’ve been in love with these opaque super light pinks that have a greyish tone rather than a blue or coral tone. My other favorite is Butter London – Teddy Girl. Orly – Kiss the Bride is another that is almost exactly the same as Blush Hour but a tiny bit brighter.

So when I got Julep – Holly, I compared it to 3 others that have been in my “new” pile waiting to be swatched!

Sinful Colors – Easy Going, French Tip Dip’s unnamed pink, Essie – Fiji, Julep – Holly

Here they are swatched!

Julep – Holly is the only one with shimmer to it. I can’t wait to get Play the Peonies so I can compare those two.

Essie Fiji is what I decided to wear today. Its really opaque and harder to apply than the others, but it has the benefit of not having thick layers that take longer to dry, which is good since I’m doing this before work! haha!

The French Tip Dip ended up being more of a slightly darker jellyish gray pink, so although its awesome, I put it up for swap on MUA.

Sinful Colors – Easy Going is great. Its a little more glossy and makes thicker layers, which is better for when I have more time to let it dry, so I’m keeping that one too!

BB Couture – Wire Stripper

I have 2 more BB Coutures for this week. This one is Wire Stripper!

It seems to shift from purple, to a warm sparkle. By warm I mean not really gold or green, but somewhere in the middle, maybe pewter?

I love how its dark, glittery, sparkly, duochrome… can’t go wrong with that. 🙂

Misa – Pay Days Are Happy Days

This one was kind of blah on me so I swapped it, but on the right skin tone it would be a nice color… a muted grayish taupish color!

I do love this 9-5 collection so much! Blush Hour and Coffee Pick Me Up are 2 of my favorite polishes!

Ginger + Liz – Wax Coat Polishes!

I had to get both of these wax coat polishes. On their site, there are two colors of Wax Coat polishes… Royal Flush and Gray Area. Click here to see the info on it!

It is supposed to dry like candle wax.

I think it did what it said!!

It isn’t dry and rough like a matte polish, isn’t that cool?

BB Couture – Cowboy

On the nail, it looks JUST like a mushroom! Have you ever seen a more mushroomy color?

Like other BB Coutures, the application was awesome. Opaque in 2 coats. 🙂

Borghese – Castello Blue

This is one of the new Rapido polishes that have been out for Spring. It is a grayish blue like Eyeko – Rain, so I’ll compare them for ya!

Castello Blue

Borghese – Castello Blue (index and middle) compared to Eyeko – Rain (ring and pinky)

I prefer Rain because it has a more opaque base and kind of pops a little more.

I thought since it was a Rapido polish, it would be opaque and thick, but its actually a really glossy and not so thick polish.

L.A. Girl – Antique & Enchanting

Last time I made a purchase from Cherry Culture, I picked up some from the shimmery nudes collection that L.A. Girl came out with.

I got 3 and only liked one of them. Here are the two that seemed kind of blah on me. I bet they’d look awesome on different skin tones.

Antique is a light gray taupe nude with some silver shimmer:

Here is Enchanting. I could pull this one off I think, but I just don’t like lavender tones on me. The only one I like is Zoya – Marley, so I put Marley on my pinky in this swatch for comparison:

Next, I’ll swatch the one I liked the most!

BB Couture – Coal Miner

I have to say again that I’m so glad I finally gave BB Couture a chance, because I used to think I didn’t like their polishes but I am always SO impressed when I put them on!

This one is a dark gray color with blue shimmer.. but not like the regular navy blue I usually see in dark blue shimmers, its really more like a lighter powder blue shimmer that comes out looking SO awesome in the dark base!

I don’t even like blue polishes really unless they are super light blue, but I’m SO in love with this one!

Look at the shimmer in that bottle. 🙂

In the shade it is still really nice and shimmery, but I do like the way it looks better in the sun.

I have a few more of their polishes that are coming up! They claim to be base coat, top coat, and strengthener all in one. I never usually put just polish on with no base or top coats, so I haven’t tried it alone, have you?

Borghese – Mochaccino

Okay, after this one, I want to do pastels and Easter colors all week!

I just have to get this last one in, just in case you go nail polish shopping and see these Borghese Rapido on a shelf. I didn’t want you to miss out on Mochaccino or overlook it if you like the hidden shimmer taupes, because this one is so pretty!

On the nail it will appear a little darker, and the shimmer isn’t as apparent as Chanel’s Paradoxal…

But look what lies inside! How pretty is this!?

After I wore it like that, I decided to add some pink shimmer, so I layered Orly – Fifty Four over it. Its really sheer so it just added a tiny bit of pink sparkle. I felt more Springy I guess!

It really is a nice taupe creme in the shade or from far away. I kept thinking that it was almost a mauve-ish purple gray taupe cream when I’d look at it in the shade, if that makes sense? Probably not, you’d have to see it for yourself!

It isn’t a Paradoxal dupe, although some people might refer to it that way since it has the similar taupe and purplish tone with hidden purplish shimmer. I find the shimmer to more of a mauve-ish purple shimmer though, compared to Paradoxal.

If you like it, go get it before the new Borghese Rapido displays get raided! 🙂

Diamond Cosmetics – Concrete Jungle

I’ve been looking for a gray creme that had blue in it but wasn’t too bright or too dark… this one is just what I wanted!

I keep thinking I can make a franken if there’s a color I want so badly and can’t seem to find from any brand. I’m glad I found this one, but I have SO many polishes to make my own perfect colors… I have to keep that in mind for when I get some time to play around with my nail polishes a little more. 🙂

Rescue Beauty Lounge – Catherine

This one really has so many different looks! From far away it seems like a purple grey metallic color, but when the light catches it or if you look more closely, you can see so many different colors in this one.

I turned the bottle around for another swatch so you can really see the color inside of the bottle… how do you even describe that?

There are tons of twinkling bright colors like pink, purple, cyan, bluish purple, and even glints of lighter pewter. Check that out!

My first Rescue Beauty Lounge haul ends with that one and I am so impressed by this brand. I can’t wait to try more when they come out with newer ones… I’m really sad that I missed out on Anne!

China Glaze – Below Deck

Can I gush about this one? I had no clue I’d like this color, I just randomly threw it in my cart to add a few dollars and get free shipping.

I LOVE this color! It is a tad bit purple, but it is more like if you mixed blueberry syrup with chocolate! You know, not quite purple, not quite blue, but… blueberry… and chocolate. Yum.

I keep staring at it and I’ve worn it 3 days now.

 

I heard that Misa – Coffee Pick Me Up is almost exactly like it, so I had to order that too and see how they look in comparison.

Did I mention that I LOVE this color? 🙂

Misa – Touch the Rainbow

This is such a nice clean blue/gray/minty sparkly polish! I don’t know how to describe it (obviously!) but it is actually this opaque after only 2 coats!

It isn’t dirty looking even though it has some gray in it…

If you look closer up, you can see the shimmer of the minty green inside.

I am keeping this one, its lovely. 😀