Sweet Baby Octopolish!

On this week's round of "wow how have I let this go untried for so very long," I'm featuring CrowsToes Betelgeuse. indoor, bright CF lighting Once upon a good several years ago, CrowsToes released Huginn & Muninn, one of my all time ever fave polishes ... then a couple years later released what appears to be a flakie version of the same magic. indoor, window-filtered daylight Like its glassy metallic sister, Betelgeuse seems to be primarily either purple head-on or green at angled lighting, with an added glimmer of magenta or gold in between.  Also like its sister, there's a little something extra in the way of shimmer, this time a subtle holo dust blended into the dense flakies. outdoor, direct sunlight Also like H&M, Betelgeuse needs 3 coats to come up to full opacity.  The major difference here is that the jelly base is much less deeply saturated, removing that sapphire blue undertone.   outdoor, indirect bright daylight Where Betelgeuse truly amazes in...

 As a scientist, I'm unapologetically liberal in my political leanings, and WOW did I breathe a sigh of relief this week!  A celebration of a peaceful transition of political era was most definitely in order. outdoor, cloudy daylight I've started with a trio of polishes with quite different holo finishes.  My index nail is Dance Legend Triumph, a navy with larger silver holo flake.  My middle finger is Shleee Ghostly Snapshot, a lovely iridescent white with a light scattering of very fine holo dust.  The red nails are Emily de Molly Understatement, a jelly packed full of holo glitters. indoor, bright CF lighting Over my variously sparkly red, white, and blue base, I've layered Justice Ginsberg's dissent collars in silver holo, and the feminist power symbol in blue holo, all in celebration of our first black woman elected to the Vice Presidency.  Images are from a custom Lantern & Wren plate memorializing "The Notorious RBG," which stamped great. indoor,...

 There's a super helpful comparisons group on fb that has on more than one occasion reminded me that something previously purchased is going to waste while sitting on Mount Untried... indoor, CF lighting Lucky 13's punnily named Kind of a Big Teal'c was from the space-themed PPU of exactly one year ago, and is quite obviously designed for me.  Flakie, somewhere between emerald and oceanic aqua, all yes. outdoor, late afternoon sunlight After days of wearing this polish, I still can't 100% settle on what the base color is.  "Teal" is probably the best descriptor, but the iridescent ocean-type flakies in there that shift from bright blue to aqua to purple make the overall look lean anywhere from turquoise to emerald in different lighting.  outdoor, shady/overcast daylight Some lighter aqua shades, especially those with warmer-toned pink or reddish shimmer, are particularly bad at the dreaded lobster hands.  Teal'c is saturated and dark enough, though, that t...

 Let's start the new year fresh, alright? indoor, CF lighting Ethereal Lacquer keeps knocking me out with her ethereally shimmery polishes, but this one caught  my eye as not quite her usual MO.  When all is said & done, it works as a pearlescent version of mannequin hands for me. outdoor, bright afternoon sunshine Vanilla Chai Latte was part of a duo with a cuticle oil product, and while I'm way stocked up on moisturizers, the idea of a softly shimmery neutral color is always one that catches my eye. indoor, bright CF lighting Vanilla is exactly what it sounds like: a warm-leaning vanilla-tinted crelly base, absolutely filled with aurora shimmer that goes from red to bronze to green.  I adore that emerald spark over a more subtle shade just as much as I do when it's Clarins 230 pigment over a dramatically dark one - this is a totally different look, but just as right up my alley. outdoor, bright direct sunlight This color is absolutely appropriate for office wea...

 Just a few weeks ago, I saw a stunning swatch pic in the facebook dupes/comparisons group that led me (and I think several others) down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out what we were looking at.  Turns out that the original pic was both photoshopped all to hell and from a brand that's no longer active... but several people suggested alternates, including this: indoor, CF lighting Well, hellooooo there, vampy dream. outdoor, bright sunlight The end result of all the image searching is that Sally Hansen released a whole red collection in 2018, several of which weren't truly red, and that one of which was reported as a dead-on dupe for OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, with a more opaque and smooth formula.  Oktoberfest is one of the ones that got away - it looked identical to Germanicure in the bottle, and by the time I realized I'd like both, it was going for crazy prices on ebay.  For a mere $5, I was more than willing to take this possible dupe for a spin. outdoo...