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.  

Kiko Real Glare 04 Keen Cobalt Blue

Good morning.  I am being lazy and avoiding a run.  I'd pulled my quad so took some time off from running and now my body doesn't want to get back into it.  Also I'm fighting a cold, thanks kids.  So I decided to share a quickie post - maybe I'll get off my heiney afterwards and hit the pavement.  I wore this gorgeous cobalt blue texture polish from Kiko to an Earthquakes game recently.  Does your city have am MLS team?  If they do you should definitely go to a game, they are really fun to watch!  So The Earthquakes are white and blue, I figured this was the perfect matching shade to show my team spirit.  I picked up this Kiko, as well as a few others when I was in Miami in December.  Imagine my utter shock when I happened to walk by a Kiko store while we were window shopping.  Yup, that ended the window part of the shopping.  Well I came home with quite a haul.  Hopefully I can show you some of the others soon - my untried pile is out of control these days.  So ashamed.  

*nothing to disclose*

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This is Real Glare 04 Keen Cobalt Blue.  It seems to have been a special edition because it was displayed with a makeup selection and other polishes, all done up with this gold accenting.  But I don't know for sure so don't quote me on that.  Keen Cobalt Blue is a gorgeous cobalt blue with an interesting texture finish.  It almost looked like I was painting tiny beads onto my nails.  But it didn't feel like beads, just a light texture.  Definitely different from the Pixie Dust and Sands we are used to.  I used 2 coats for full coverage and no topcoat.  Keen Cobalt Blue had a nice formula, it was easy to apply and very opaque.  It didn't have any staining issues, thankfully.  

Superficially Colorful Fairies & Sprites

Good afternoon lovelies!  Just a fair warning that if all goes to schedule I will be bombarding you with posts in the next few days since I have a lot to share in regards to release dates and Halloween polish!  I want you to be prepared for shop openings and to get those last minute Halloween beauties that you will desperately want!  So let's get straight into the this post featuring one of the new Superficially Colorful Lacquer collections - Fairies and Sprites!  While this collection isn't meant to be a Halloween set it's actually kind of perfect for the holiday because not everyone wants to be something dark, vampy or ghoulish.  Lots of ladies, men and kids want to be pretty, wearing softer shades and covered in sparkly glitter.  So The Fairies and Sprites Collection is perfect for you if that's what you need to complete your costume OR just because you love the colors for any time of the year.  This is a textured collection so you know that fact alone has me 100% on board the Fairy and Sprite train.  I will go into detail for each individual polish in a minute, but first - the Fairies and Sprites Collection will be available on 10/27 at 12pm EST.  Now let's look at pictures!

*press sample*

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Up first I have Aideen, inspired by a 'young Irish mythologies fairy."  Aideen is a soft "pink textured polish with red-pink glitter."  I like the addition of micro glitters and small hexs to the base because it adds some interest and creates a unique look to the texture.  The formula was great, easy to work with and apply.  I used 3 thin coats of Aideen and no topcoat.  This polish dried pretty quickly too so it'll be a great grab and go type polish when you need a quick paint job right before you leave.  

Eolande, inspired by "Celtic/Gaelic mythology" is a soft "lavender, violet textured polish with several sizes of purple glitter."  Eolande is such a gorgeous color and the texture is so slight, it definitely reminds me of a delicate little purple flower.  The micro glitter and slightest touch of holo shimmer are just perfect.  The formula and application of Eolande were both fabulous.  I used 3 thin coats for full coverage and no topcoat.  

Nixie, inspired by a "German mythological water sprite" is a "light blue textured polish with medium and light bit glitter."  It's so pretty!  I actually noticed a very slight amount of purple shimmer in here and it works so well.  Sometimes a light touch is best, right?  I also noticed that Nixie dries to an almost metallic, shiny finish.  It's very interesting and unique.  Nixie had a fantastic formula and applied perfectly.  No issues to report.  I used 3 thin coats of Nixie and no topcoat. 

Finally we have Shaylee, inspired by "the fairy princess of the fields from  Celtic/Gaelic mythology." Shalyee is a "green textured polish with green glitter."  This color is just stunning!  It falls between a fresh green and a soft sage.  The green glitters look so bright against the base.  I also saw some gold shimmer in here, playing with the holo shimmer.  Formula was just the slightest bit more sheer than the rest of the collection so I ended up using 4 coats of Shaylee.  Application was great.  No topcoat in these pictures.  

I did a little skittle mani using all 4 polishes from the collection.  Look how well they work together!  

I also did some  stamping too!  I used Model City Polish Ghost Stories for a soft grey color and Pueen plate #73.  I added topcoat to this mani so you could see what the Fairies and Sprites look like with a little gloss.