Sweet Baby Octopolish!

New month, new brand!  Today we have the polish that inspired this year's blog theme for me, which I've put out ISOs on the resell fb groups, pinterest, and destashes for several years (I found an old ISO post from 6 years ago!)… and then from out of the blue, it became available just last month, and it's HERE! indoor, bright CF lighting Let me tell you a little tale of "if I knew then what I know now":  once upon a time in 2013 when I was starting to have to worry about storing all the polish I was acquiring from all these wonderful indie stores and stockists, I tried to put the brakes on going overboard.  I'm not someone who worries about being a completist, and if the 2nd book in a series really sucks, there's no reason to keep reading.  I originally bought only about half of Femme Fatale's 2013 collection comprised of linear holos with amazing contrast shimmer.  I loved every single one I wore - these are all 4 or 5 star polishes, easy.  But I fail...

One of the Enchanteds I was able to pick up in my recent destash purchase was the re-release of an old fave, Austin Powers.  I was never able to get a hold of the original or the re-release, so had been pretty happy with the other gold holos in my collection, but when it was available for a reasonable price, well... indoor, bright CF lighting Austin Powers is a lovely champagne gold linear holo that's made even more blingy by being packed with translucent copper micro flakies. outdoor, shady/overcast daylight The flakes take center stage in low lighting, and then that holo BAM when the sun comes out... outdoor, direct daylight The polish is quite sheer, and needed 3 coats for full opacity.  Every coat went on smooth and even and self-leveled flawlessly, and dried nice & quick.  Some 3-coaters can be real PITA, but this was all good. indoor, bright CF lighting The other thing 3-coaters are prone to is chipping quickly, since the total mani ends up rather thick.  N...

 One of my fave brands had an absolutely stunning deep blue with rainbowy aurora shimmer, and before I clicked "buy" I thought wait a sec, where have I seen that before... indoor, bright CF lighting for all photos Aaaaaah, yes, that's it.  In yet another example of "stunning things I've left untried for literally years" we have the amazing Mortal Coil, which Laquester released way back in 2017.  I was stunningly in love with the green version, which I wore nearly immediately on arrival , yet somehow never got around to the OG stunner.   This is a very slightly dusty navy blue, lightly dusted with holographic microglitters and filled to the brim with a gorgeous aurora shimmer that shifts red to bronze to green.  My nails were always multiple colors at once and the little holo sparks shone out like stars in a night sky. lookit that shift! This polish is staggeringly beautiful in bright sunlight... of which we had absolutely none after the first day I wore it....

Many different brands keep releasing staggeringly gorgeous aurora shimmers that take a slice out of the rainbow to dance across your nails.  I'm trying like anything to not buy multiple versions of what I already have, so pulling this lovely example out this week: indoor, bright CF lighting Lust At Sea was KBShimmer's offering for the August 2021 Elements themed PPU.  It's a deep violet-purple base overflowing with this rainbow-y aurora shimmer that flashes gold to green to peachy to electric blue. window-filtered indirect daylight This color was always visually opaque with two perfect coats IRL, but it's clear in some photos that the base is somewhat sheer, with the dense shimmer that's providing coverage.  It shifts every color of the ocean, with mostly cool-toned gold and aqua sparks. outdoor, bright direct daylight In bright and direct lighting, the purple base takes center stage, with just a flash of icy champagne gold highlights, looking far more medium-purple...

A fave brand's upcoming collection includes an utterly gorgeous, rich, deep violet, jam-packed with "ocean" flakies, and I just have to... wait a sec, I'm sure I've bought this before... indoor, bright CF lighting KB shimmer released the gorgeous Ready For This Jelly as an exclusive for PolishCon 2016.  It's a deep, saturated, bottom-of-the-sea violet packed with the "ocean" type iridescent flakies that shift aqua to blue to green.  outdoor, shady/overcast daylight This polish went on like a dream in 3 perfectly smooth coats, giving me zero problems with the brush or formula.   indoor, bright CF lighting Interestingly enough, this polish starts out purple and very sheer on the first coat, yet somehow builds to looking violet and if anything leans slightly more blue than purple.  I've no idea how it leans cooler-toned with each coat, but the end result is stunning and looks just as vibrant as the bottle.  outdoor, shady/overcast daylight If the lu...

It's been a bit rainy & dreary out, and that's the ideal time for a duochrome... and the poor weather meant I had all the time in the world with no plans so plenty of time to play with a magnetic! indoor, bright CF lighting Cirque released their Illusion collection late last year - a whole batch of duochromatic magnetic shimmers, all in a jelly base.  Most magnetics are in thickly opaque bases, so you don't end up with see-thru patches after you've moved the shimmer, but this is an utterly unique look!  I couldn't help myself and bought four of them.  outdooor, bright daylight Paradox is a luscious plum wine jelly that is exactly as sheer as any true jelly - I needed to use 3 coats to get to the color saturation you see here. indoor, bright CF lighting - bottle is magnetized Compare the above shot to the top pic of the bottle to see how much difference the shimmer creates, and to see just how inky-rich Paradox's base is on its own.   outdoor, bright daylight...

 Our most recent book club pick was Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan, a memoir about surfing and life.  Though the subject didn't appeal to me at first (neither nonfiction in general nor autobiographies in specific are my cuppa), the book is genuinely fantastic, and I wanted to pull out the stops for our meet-up.  And it occurred to me I had a plate for that... outdoor, bright daylight for both I've started here with 2 coats of Fancy Gloss Lace, a soft pink that she sells as a "sheer" and we can certainly debate whether this is jelly vs crelly.  In any case, you'd need perhaps 4 coats for opacity, which is not actually what it's for IMO.  This polish is absolutely the best ever "my nails but better" shade at just a couple coats.  The sheerness keeps it neutral to the point I think it'd provide an utterly perfect clean nail art base on any skin tone. KADS Nature 011 is a square plate with 4 images of waves crashing in 3 layers, which means you ...

I knew that I wanted my next saturated dark shade to be a purple, and lately I've seen a few swatches of rich, vampy aurora shimmer purples that had me shopping my stash instead of clicking "buy now"... indoor, bright CF lighting UNFFF YASSSSS.  Exactly what I'm looking for. outdoor, bright afternoon daylight Lupercalia was the ancient Roman festival of cleansing, fertility, and wild abandon, so this lushly sensuous purple is absolutely perfect for its name.  A deep royal purple absolutely filled with finely milled red-to-gold aurora shimmer, it most often looks to be a plummy wine. indoor, bright CF lighting I'm wearing 3 coats here for full opacity, and each coat went on smoothly and trouble-free.   outdoor, bright daylight This polish is a stunner in sunlight, and just as beautiful in everyday indoor lighting.  Lupercalia is gorgeous with my skintone, and yet at the same time I think it'd be beautiful on most everyone as long as you enjoy colors this rich a...

Purple was the man's pick for the next color, and soon as he said it I knew what I'd be reaching for... indoor, bright CF lighting When Tonic first released Indiglo, I passed because surely there must be a handful of similar things in my collection, like Prince's Plums or Belinda or any number of the luscious purple-plum-indigo beauties I can't help myself from hoarding. outdoor, bright direct sunlight Enough stunningly beautiful swatches appeared all over the interwebs to convince me, quite rightly as it turns out, that I was dead wrong.  Indiglo is indeed ALL THAT , and while she may be a sister to the other richly saturated, somewhat shifty purples in my stash, she is truly unique. Thank all that's holy for destashes helping you out when you made a wrong decision the first time! indoor, bright CF lighting Indiglo's base is a smooth, lightly sheer, distinctly red-leaning plummy purple that is loaded with a staggeringly beautiful electric blue aurora shimmer. ...