Saturday Spotlight: Texture

Good evening.  Hope Saturday has treated you well.  Didn't really do much over here, a little running, a little tv watching, a little cooking, a lot of lazing around.  I really only wanted to leave the house for froyo, so maybe I'll rally the troops to make that happen soon and that totally just happened.  But I really do need to kick it in high gear to share my Saturday Spotlight with you!  For this one I decided to feature texture polish!  This became a trend about 2 years ago, but I still thoroughly enjoy a nice texture polish.  I like how they have a great matte finish and have a slight sandpaper feel.  Of course most have sparkly glitters or shimmer so that helps in my adoration towards texture polish.  So whether it's a fad or not, I still like the finish and will continue to buy new ones that I feel are pretty and unique.  Let's jump in to the post and check out some textures!
*nothing to disclose*
First is China Glaze Sand Dolla Make You Holla.  This came out last spring as part of the Sea Goddess collection.  This is a lovely whitish-pink full of dark pink, white and blue glitters.  The texture is a bit loose but it's still there.  The formula was easy to work with and I used 3 coats.  No topcoat. 

Rimmel London came out with a set of texture polish (last year?) and the collection was called Sweetie Crush.  I think it was Soda Shop inspired.  I picked up a few because the soft pastel shades were nice and I liked the metallic finish.  This pretty yellow is called Sherbert Sweetheart.  The formula was a bit sheer but despite that I enjoyed the color, especially the golden shifty-iridescent glitters.  The one thing I would complain about was the wide brush, it was like a Dior brush but bigger and the texture polish saturated it more so it was wide and thick causing it to be a little difficult to manage.  I used 3 coats and no topcoat.  

Kiko also answered the call to texture polish (a few times) and released the Cupcake collection.  It's actually one of my favorite collections because the colors were so different.  I actually have the majority of this collection (and would love the rest!).  This one is 655, AKA Menta.  Yup, this color is definitely refreshing and minty, like a mouthful of Colgate.  It's full of blue and red glitters for added interest.  The formula and application were both great, very on par with all the other Kiko's I have tried.  I used 3 coats and no topcoat.  

Another great brand from across the pond that also threw their hat in the texture ring was Barry M.  The Royal Textured Glitter Collection (fancy pants name) came out in 2013.  Princess is from that collection and it's a soft pink full of gold shimmer.  It really screams princess to me, it brings up  memories of a satin pink princess gown with gold trim I wore one Halloween.  The formula and application were both great.  I used 3 coats and no topcoat.  

Ok ok, I was totally in love with this polish when I put it on!  It's L'Oreal I Like It Chunky and it's a coppery-orange dream!  It it going to be a perfect Fall polish.  It makes me think of caramel apples, or basically anything drenched in caramel.  Not only do I love the base color, but the gold and pink shimmers and gold glitter are just breath taking.  Also the feel is exactly what I have come to expect from a great texture polish.  Formula and application were both fabulous.  I only needed 1 coat for full coverage!  No topcoat.  

And rounding out the post is the deep and vampy Chameleon Crush from IsaDora.  I wish IsaDora were easier to obtain, but I am very happy with the few that I have (all textures actually).  This is a totally gorgeous polish and the finest texture of all the ones in this post.  The colors are a deep purple with some green shift and loads of gold shimmer.  The first coat was sheer but it built up perfectly in 3 coats.  No topcoat used.  

Saturday Spotlight: Illamasqua

Good evening!  Sorry for the late post but I was up at 7am and out on the soccer fields watching my kids play in a tournament all day long.  No seriously, we didn't finish until 4pm.  Fun day but man I am tired, and sunburnt.  So today I decided to feature Illamasqua.  This awesome brand from the UK has fabulous, buttery cremes that are a dream to apply.  I've also fallen hard for their shimmers.  Of course they have other finishes as well - something for everyone!  This brand used to be much easier to come by as it was stocked at a few US store counters, but they've been pulled from the shelves.  At least we can get them shipped directly from Illamasqua OR you can wait for Haute Look to have a sale with them and pick up odds and ends to fill the holes in your collection!  So enough blabbing, let's look at our spotlight brand today.

*nothing to disclose*

Illamasqua: Website/Shop, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter 

Up first is a real beauty, Melange.  This is a gorgeous soft green, kind of sagey, kind of minty, full of gold shimmer and flecks and some purple sparkles.  The formula was fabulous.  Melange covered perfectly in 2 coats.  I finished with a layer of topcoat.  

Facet is another gorgeous shimmery shade.  This one is a taupey/mushroom/brown color with loads of copper shimmer/sparkle.  I loved this one so much more than I expected to.  This was another fabulous formula.  Facet applied like butter in 2 coats and 1 layer of topcoat.  

Moving along, here's Boudicca.  Boudicca is a bright fiery orange full of shimmery flakes.  This one was a bit more sheer so you can see my nail line.  I probably should have gone for one more coat.  But is still had a great formula and applied nicely.  I used 2 coats and finished with a layer of topcoat.  

And then there was Marquis!  I really love this red-coral texture.  The added gold shimmer is really pretty and makes the color so bold.  The texture has a nice feel, not overly gritty, but not too fine.  While this color isn't overly unique (Zoya Destiny, Julie G Sugar Rush, OPI Jinx are all similar) it's still pretty and I don't mind having it.  I used 2 coats of Marquis and no topcoat.  

Here's Peruzzi.  I didn't even know about this until I saw it on a Haute Look sale.  It was so pretty i just had to have it.  Peruzzi is a golden yellow full of larger metallic silver glitters.  This is a chunky texture polish, created by a mixture of the glitter and base.  The formula was really easy to work with and I reached full opacity in 2 coats.  I did find this one unique and the only other polish I have to compare it to is Zoya Solange.  Rest assured they are not the same as Solange does not have the metallic glitters.  I used 2 coats of Peruzzi and no topcoat.  

While I still have quite a few untried Illamasquas I plucked Hemlock out of my helmer drawer.  This is a very sheer nude/opal base full of green/gold shimmer.  You can actually see that it's green in the bottle but on my nails translates more golden.  I'll be honest that I'm not the biggest fan of shades that are this sheer.  I wanted to wear it alone, but clearly it should be layered over a creme base color.  The formula was just as nice as the others.  I used 3 coats of Hemlock and 1 layer of topcoat.