Sweet Baby Octopolish!

Well, for the duration of Halloween I kind of ditched my alternating light & dark mani looks, but in thinking I should get back to that (and also reminded of all the gorgeous things I have untried by Bee's Knees recent release), I picked up Gravebone. indoor, bright CF lighting Gravebone is one of those extremely accurately named polishes - it's a jelly somewhere between nude and taupe, rather like old, weathered bone, dusted with a sprinkling of aqua-to-purple shifty shimmer. outdoor, bright afternoon daylight It's quite sheer to let that shimmer shine through, though I don't think it'd work as a topper because of the highly unusual base color.  Though some of BK's other "UP" polishes were sold with opaque crème undies, Gravebone was not.  I'm showing 3 coats here, and have even coverage but not opacity. outdoor, bright afternoon daylight In angled lighting, the sparks of unearthly sea green flip over to blue and lavender purple, which pulls t...

Well, did my last look count as "light," cuz this one is most definitely dark?  Nah, not so much.  I guess this means by not leaping back to a more demure or desaturated or neutral or pale color, I'm out of my every-other-mani-switch game?  Look, all I know is that deep violet jelly was calling my name... indoor, bright CF lighting Bee's Knees often creates lovely polishes for important causes, and For Texas supported a charity relief after the 2021 power crisis.  It's the deep violet sister to Shoggoth from the Lovecraft Country collection, and contains the green-to-blue shifting "UP sister" shimmer pigment. window-filtered bright daylight I have this filed with the blue polishes, but the base is a bit of a chameleon - it does hit a deep, cool blue in some light, but is also distinctly purple-leaning in others. outdoor, bright daylight In angled lighting, the sparkly shimmer pigment shifts to blue, bringing the whole look more to the blue side of violet...

 After some screaming acid green, it was time for a slightly more girly palate cleanser.  But I'm clinging to the end of summer, so no time for true neutrals! indoor, bright CF lighting Baroness X released her "Ex Libris" collection in 2015, and it still remains one of only a very tiny few collections I own all of.  Each of them is a brightly saturated jelly packed with Clarins 230-type pigment or one of its sisters, plus ultrachrome flakies.   outdoor, afternoon daylight Molino is the red of the collection, a berry-leaning red jelly filled with UP sister gold-to-green shimmer  and lightly sprinkled with chrome microflakies.   indoor, bright CF lighting Because it's a jelly, it needs to be built up a bit... which also means there's a lot of layering possibilities if that's your jam.  As per usual for polishes that look "complete" (as opposed to things which are obviously toppers in clear base), I prefer to do a couple more coats to get to wha...

 At the man's suggestion of "blue... no, violet!" I starting perusing my stash for a deeply saturated shade of something along those lines, and as per usual, found a gem hiding out far too long untried. indoor, bright CF lighting Bow Polish, the smaller-ml square bottled sister to Dance Legend, how do I love thee?  Dating an Alien was part of their 2016 Out of Space collection, and surely this one wins for most hilarious name. outdoor, bright direct sunlight Starting with a blue deeper than a Vulcan's blood, this jelly base is loaded with a "UP sister" pigment that's an utterly fantastic shimmer.  In direct light, it's a glowing cobalt, just barely lighter than the base color, amping up the overall look but staying fairly tonal. outdoor, bright sunlight With a slight tilt, that shimmer goes from an absolutely electric aquamarine on over to a deep royal purple.  All the colors this pigment shifts to perfectly compliment the base color. outdoor, bright...

 Bees Knee's Lacquer has planned a gorgeous collection based on The Nevernight Chronicles for her holiday/BF release, and I just won my absolute fave of this batch in her fan group giveaway (kermit flail)!!!!!!!!!!!! indoor, CF lighting DEAD.  Obviously, this treasure jumped straight on my nails the moment it arrived, as it's 100% in my wheelhouse of polish love.  Let me count the ways:   outdoor, bright afternoon sunlight 1.  A luscious emerald green base 2.  Loaded in gorgeous "UP sister" contrast shimmer 3.  That is shifty as anything into aquas and blues, so all my fave colors at once.   outdoor, bright sunlight OH YES check out that shift, at which point it transforms from a sparkling emerald to a storm-tossed ocean.  Am I over the top here?  Heck yes, no shame. indoor, bright CF lighting I'm showing Lady of Storms at 3 coats, plus my usual topcoat.  This polish is sheer enough to allow the flashy shimmer to twinkle t...

 Last weekend, the man and I went on a lovely road trip - New Jersey is beautiful and peaceful in the off-season, y'all - and when we got back I decided I was done with Star Trek nails and ready to ponder a new theme.  In the meantime, one good Baroness X polish deserved another, so I pulled this beauty out of mount untried. indoor, bright CF lighting YASSSSSSSSSS! outdoor, cloudy daylight Baroness X released Event Horizon as part of a LE outer-space themed collection in 2017 that was all-around gorgeous, all dark inky stellar beauties.  This one is a smoky black jelly base filled with a gold-to-green "sister UP" shimmer and a light scattering of iridescent flakies. indoor, CF lighting The formula was smooth and of a flawless consistency that was very easy to work with.  It's sheer enough to let the shimmer sparkle forth without being masked, so I'm showing 3 coats here. outdoor, cloudy daylight Most of my pics show emerald green over charcoal, and while that look...

Earlier this year, Cirque announced the return of their "UP sister" LE shade Thicker Than Water, which of course being turquoise sparkle is something I've regretted missing for some time now.  Unfortunately, that return was only a handful of bottles that went in a fb lottery, and I was not a winner, waaah.  To try and put that lemming to bed, I did snap up a couple other things here & there... indoor, bright CF lighting Prism Polish UK is a relatively new brand, and this is my first taste of their magic.  Leave His Brains is a vibrant aqua-blue jelly with a sparkly gold to green UP sister pigment, and according to the official description, a dash of red shimmer. outdoor, bright direct sunlight That added red shimmer kept throwing me for a loop, because in some lighting it makes this shimmer look like Clarins 230 red to green instead of one of her sisters - this effect didn't translate to photos, but I swear it's there enough of the time IRL to have...

Starlight Polish Unicorn Tears was absolutely lovely...and when I leave lovely things untried for so long, there's always a good chance something similar has caught my eye in the time between purchasing and wearing it. indoor, bright CF lighting The beautiful green shimmer in a vampy purple base is an eye-catching enough combo that I've definitely magpied similar things before.  To compare with Starlight Polish Unicorn Tears, I've pulled the recently released Bee's Knees Concilium and Femme Fatale Maleficent. indoor, bright CF lighting In the bottle, Unicorn Tears and Concilium look quite similar, with shimmer particles bordering on glass-fleck sparkly in jelly bases.  Maleficent is distinctly different here, with the glowy green being a much more finely milled texture. indoor, bright CF lighting At an angle, another difference pops out right away - the shimmer in Maleficent tilts over to a bright pinkish magenta rather than the aqua and cobalt blue of...