Twinsie Tuesday: Kiko 255

Tuesday again!  For most American readers, that means back to work after a nice long weekend.  I hope you're all settling back into the drudge again without too much discomfort.

For today's Twinsie Tuesday challenge, we had to swatch a holographic polish.  Holos are hands down one of the most beloved of all polish finishes and I have been lucky enough to have collected a number of really gorgeous holos.  Instead of reswatching one of my favorites, I thought I'd try out a newer polish of mine that looked like it could play the part this Tuesday.

Um, well...this was a bit of a trial by fire.  Kiko 255 was on my wishlist for awhile and I was blessed with an amazing swap buddy in Spain, the lovely Ruth, who found this beauty and shipped it off to me.  As you'll see from the bottle shot at the bottom, 255 looks quite holographic under glass, albeit a very scattered one.

However, when I applied it, the holo became very shy and literally hid under the gorgeous vampy plum creme base.  While I am absolutely in love with this color (what a purple!), I feel bad that I'm sorta cheating my way through this holo challenge.  Only very faintly can you make out the super light sprinkling of holo glitter that even with flash only showed up in one picture, which thankfully looked good and I included it below.

This is two thick coats.

I tried to capture as accurate a picture of what this polish looks like in real life as possible.  The first two pictures are pretty color and finish accurate, although as you can see from both macro shots, there's an evident trace of micro glitter that looks almost like fairy dusting.  

While this is not the typical in your face, saliva-inducing, lemming creating holo, I'm actually quite pleased with this polish as a whole.  Just disappointed that I only slightly got through with today's challenge

Take a look at my Twinsies' holos for today:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Srsly Swatched

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Tara at Polishy of Truth

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Essie Braziliant

Since Tangerine Tango was named color of the year by Pantone, I've found myself gravitating more and more toward oranges.  Awhile back, Nory sent me Essie Braziliant, the titular name of Essie's summer collection from 2011, because she thought it was a really ugly color on her.  While I'm happy that she's been increasingly upping her orange polishes and cosmetics these days, as you'll see below, I have benefited from her initial dislike for the citrusy hue.


Braziliant is an interesting polish.  The color is on the cusp of being neon, but isn't quite there.  While a creme, there is an electric quality to the finish that I can't attribute to any shimmer or undertone.  Drying creamy and glossy, this orange is simply summer in a bottle.


The formula, however, is a major pain.  It took me three exceptionally wonky, thick, and uneven coats to build up to a smooth finish.  While I typically don't mind applying three coats for opacity, I don't like having to do it just to make my nails not look like the aftermath of a muddy orange landslide.  


Nevertheless, here's the finished product.

Despite the annoying application process, I absolutely love this color and am actually shocked that I didn't even think twice about this when it was released last year.  Even though this is clearly not a jelly, it's just super juicy looking and really flattering on my barely there skin tone.  


What do you ladies think of this orange?  Does it make anyone else want a creamsicle?

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China Glaze Riveting

While I was late to everything Hunger Games (the book, the movie, the polish), I can officially say that I'm a bit of a fangirl now.  I'm almost done with the last book, have had the experience of crying through two hours of the moviem and now own two polishes from the collection.  Though I'm still not the biggest fan of the polish collection as a whole, since I'm now familiar with the story, I personally find the whole idea of marketing polish off a concept that revolves around child gladiators somewhat offputting.


That being said, I wore my Riveting when I went to see the movie.  So much for principles.


Anyways, I digress.  Riveting is a burnt orange jelly that literally glows from within because of all the gold and copper flakie glitter swimming within the polish.  While it took three coats to reach a dense enough opacity for my liking, I'm sure most people who are happier with a slightly less intense orange look will be happy with this in two coats.

Riveting is one of those polishes that loves to come out to play in the light.  As you can see from these pictures, the flakies jump from the nail to show a highly pigmented and awe-inspiring color.  While this isn't everyone's cup of tea -- my mother was not a fan -- there is something both fun and serious about this polish.  Or maybe I'm just projecting serious because I'm reading the books.  Either way, I know that this will make an awesome pedi :)


What's your take on the Hunger Games series and polish line?

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Sally Hansen for Tracy Reese in Parrot

Typically, I post my swatches in order of how I wear and upload them.  However, for the past few weeks, any time my boyfriend sees a green polish on me, around me, or nearby, he invariably says, "that's the one I got you, right?"  Since he doesn't get the nuance of polish colors, I told him that I would post Parrot today so that I could reference it whenever he asked on my phone.


The story behind me getting this bright grass green was that my boyfriend, who I had asked to pick me up some bubble wrap while out at Home Depot, surprised me by buying a polish on the way back and stuffed it in the middle of the bubble wrap roll.  Being as bright as it is, I noticed it immediately and pulled it out and put in on immediately.  It really was such a sweet and thoughtful gesture.


Parrot, one of the Sally Hansen for Tracy Reese designer collaboration polishes for Spring 2012, is not a classic "me" color.  While I'm getting more and more into greens, I tend to steer clear of the yellow-y ones.  But my boyfriend loves bright reds and greens, so I'm not surprised he veered straight towards this bright, vibrant hue.


Like all my beloved CSMs, this applied smoothly and opaquely in 3 coats (for some reason, I find CSMs always look best with three).  

My two largest concerns about this polish actually proved to be unfounded: on the nail, the yellow undertone mostly disappeared, and more importantly, no lobster hands!  I received so many compliments on this polish from girls in my office and in fact, the next week I noticed one of my co-workers got a manicure with a similar green polish as well.  I always questioned the boy's taste in colors, but I think he proved me wrong this time.  


Thankfully, he doesn't read this blog :)


What do you ladies think of this green?

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Housekeeping: Announcements and Reminders

Happy Friday, girls!  Long weekend ahead for we memorializing Americans.  I personally can't wait!

Before I get lost in a frenzy of weekend lethargy, I want to keep you guys abreast of the goings on in Amandaland.

I purchased my own domain!  

While the original blogspot address will still direct you to my site, please change your bookmarks to www.amandalandish.com.  If you have any issues with accessing the new domain address, please let me know.  It's a little thing, but it's exciting to own my own little piece of the webiverse :)

Fun in the Sun Giveaway and Nail Art(ish) Competition nearing its end.

To get your entries in before end of day Monday, May 27, please check out the links below:

To use the rafflecopter form for the Fun in the Sun Giveaway, click here.

For the rules to the Nail Art(ish) Competition, click here.

Note to those who have submitted to the competition: I've received a shockingly high number of entries and I must say that the competition is stiff.  You ladies have really amazed me with your creativity!

Good luck to everyone who enters!

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Pure Ice Twinkle

Since I'm a little all over the place these days and feel awful for not posting as regularly as I like, I figured a short post is better than no post, right?  So here's my quickie:


While I love me some Pure Ice polishes, I think this one kinda let me down.  In the bottle, Twinkle is a peachy orange creme that looks alight with golden shimmer.  While my swatch makes this look fairly shimmer infused, in real life the gold just washed out the color instead of brightening it up.  Despite how vibrant this photographed, the base color was not quite this bright on the nail.  On my skin tone, this just came off almost like a nude with a slight sunburn. 

This is three very thin coats that just didn't build up well.  Typically I find that Pure Ice polishes are highly pigmented and are good to go in two perfect coats.  I don't know if I just have a funky bottle, but this is not my normal Pure Ice love fest.  


Do any of you have this color?  Did you have the same issue?

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