Girly Bits Cu Blue

Girly Bits just released a gorgeous collaboration shade with The Polishaholic, so I figured it was time to dig up my so far only GB polish from the untried stash, Cu Blue.

Cu Blue is a very deep cobalt blue, liberally sprinkled with copper shimmer particles:

From the bottle shots above, you can see 2 things: it's definitely a sheer jelly, and in the bottle it looks nearly black.  To be honest, when it first arrived, I was sorely disappointed - this most definitely looked like one that would be a surprise black in most lighting, which is why it languished in the untrieds despite the swatch stick assuring me that it was blue in 2 coats.  I was happy to find out wearing it that in all lighting, Cu Blue is most definitely BLUE, and isn't anywhere near black.  In fact, I wouldn't even call it navy blue - there's no dusky or grey tinges to it, definitely a deeply saturated cobalt true blue.  The copper shimmer, while certainly present, is more hidden than I wanted.

indoor CF lighting

For all pics, I've done an accent nail of one coat of Sinful Colors All About You, so I could get a little warm glittery sparkle without overwhelming the cobalt.

indoor, office fluorescents

Cu Blue is in some ways, exactly what you'd expect from a jelly:  it's shiny as all get-out, and it does show some even edgewear after a day or two.  But the formula was truly amazing for jellies: though the first coat started out a bit sheerly streaky (as per typical), by the time I got back to my thumb for the 2nd coat, it had almost fully self-leveled.  Even in bright light, at 2 coats, it's not at all patchy, though I didn't add the 3rd coat for 100% opacity, since I was veering away from surprise-black-land.

outdoor, direct sunlight

outdoor, indirect light

As a totally unexpected bonus, this stuff doesn't stain.  At.  All.  Totally shocking for any deep blue, but a huge surprise for one this richly pigmented.  The acetone & brush technique for cleanup didn't result in any smurfy cuticles, and the painless removal didn't leave me with gunked-up nails.  Wow.

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars.  It's a gorgeous blue, and the fantastic formula is absolutely enough to get me to buy the green version, even knowing that the other one is just as likely to have somewhat too subtle shimmer.

Where to buy:  for Canadian folks, you can buy direct from Girly Bits.  She's recently started shipping to the US too, but you can also pick some up at Llarowe.

~Michelle