Sally Hansen Golden Tourmaline

Holographic polishes have grown on me after not really being a fan for a long while. Maybe it's the summer sun pouring through my windows, but right now I can't get enough of them. I remembered that I had a couple Sally Hansen Prisms languishing in a drawer of my Helmer, so I decided to give them a whirl. I showed you Purple Diamond last time.

This is Golden Tourmaline.

I got very excited because I thought it would be a true red holo. And it is red, but the holo effect is not as strong in this one as in Purple Diamond.

(Here's Purple Diamond, if you don't feel like scrolling back.)

I wouldn't say this was "disappointing" per se. I still enjoyed wearing it. It just bears more resemblance to a straightforward red shimmer than a holo. It's still gorgeous in bright sunlight and would probably be a fun pedicure color. (Although I like holos on my fingers...so I can gaze at them admiringly. You know, like a lunatic.)

Lastly, a comparison.

Ozotic 511, SH Golden Tourmaline, SH Pink Diamond. This picture really shows how strong the Ozotic holo is compared to Golden Tourmaline. Pink Diamond is a little stronger, and the color is closer to the Ozotic.

I also tried a Sally Hansen Prisms duochrome, which I'll photograph in daylight tomorrow and share with you accordingly.

A couple of recent colors

Hello there. It's been a busy week and I'm very glad tomorrow is Friday. The only bummer is that there's no Formula 1 race this weekend or ANY weekend in fact until the end of the month. At my house we do love our Formula 1 Sundays.

In any event, I thought I'd share some recent manicures. No real theme other than I have the photos and I wanted to post!

This is Kleancolor Metallic Green. I got some not-so-nice comments on this one along with some raves. Green nail polish is very polarizing for some reason, I guess. I like it. It's a very glowy polish. If you are into this sort of thing, it would make a good St. Patrick's Day manicure.

I have to say though that the not-so-nice comments took the fun out of wearing it a little bit. So it didn't give me the usual joy to look at it.

Someone on MUA mentioned they got this color for stamping, so maybe I'll try another fishnet manicure with this as the accent color.

I was in the mood for another holo recently and I remembered that I have a couple of Sally Hansen Prisms. Unbelievably I found these in a local Dollar Tree. I feel like so many people find treasures at their Dollar Trees and mine are always nail polish wastelands. But one time I got lucky!

This is Purple Diamond.

I don't know if this is true for all of the Prisms, but this one has a very strong holo effect. It's even visible in relatively low light.

You'll have to forgive the leftovers of Metallic Green on my cuticles. It was stain-y!

Fall releases, some new Zoyas

July is barely over, but pre-fall and fall collections are already starting to be released. Does time fly or what?

While I love fall colors and fall clothing and everything about fall, it does make me a little bummed out. Instead of looking ahead to a long summer we're now looking ahead to Labor Day and everything that comes with it. To this day, when I see a back-to-school shopping commercial on television I get a little twinge of anxiety, even though it's been years since I had to worry about any of that.

Anyway. There are three shades that I have my eye on from OPI's Touring America Collection, but I can pretty safely say that I don't feel compelled to buy anything from Essie, Misa or Finger Paints, and I never buy anything from China Glaze so that's a non-issue. I liked some of BB Couture's recent release, but I'm not positive that I'm sold on their formula and wear; I also skipped Cult Nails' fall colors and missed out utterly on Lynderella.

Thus far I've picked up two from Chanel's fall release (Peridot and Graphite, which I've shown you), two from Zoya's Smoke and Mirrors collection (Neeka and Yara; it's possible I may get Jem at some point) and I pre-ordered Piu Mosso from Rescue Beauty Lounge.

This could of course all change when I start seeing the colors crop up on more blogs and in more pictures on MUA. With nail polish, the decision not to buy is always Subject To Change.

Since it's not a post without pictures, here are the fall Zoyas I purchased during the pre-order.

Yara and Neeka. These are both heavily pigmented creamy polishes with what has been described as "brocade shimmer" - it looks like little threads of embroidered gold running through fabric.

These polishes feel very rich and very "fall" to me. The base colors feel very autumnal. I love them! I'd like Zoya to put out a collection of this type of shimmer in every color.

Neeka.

Crazily, crazily pigmented. Pretty nearly opaque in one coat.

Yara. A gorgeous olive-y green.

If you have tried Zoya's formula in the past and didn't like it, these may be worth another go. I absolutely loved them! One thing to remember with Zoya, though, is that they generally don't play nice with Seche Vite. I've had much more success with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in the red bottle. You can also use Zoya's Color Lock system, though I've never tried it. I use Palladio Fuse bonding base coat and it works fine.

What are you getting for fall? Are there any releases you're really excited about?