Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs [Pic Heavy]

Hello everyone!  I've been wanting to post these for a while now but so many things got in the way.  Most dismal weather that prevented me from getting any good lighting.  I'm going to break down and buy a light box set soon.

This is the last collection I tried with my "claws".  They unfortunately couldn't last for the entire collection.  I thought it was suiting since this is called Claw Polish! ;)

All photos *should* be clickable.

Bordello - dark pink/silver foil.  ONE COAT!!

I'll say it again.  ONE COAT!!1one

MME Moriarty - blood red jelly!  2 coats.

This looks more translucent in the photos than it did in real life.  Three coats might be required.

Morgause - burgandy with a slight pearl shimmer. 

I have trouble describing this one because it's so different in real life.  The colour is so rich and the pearl shimmer is very faint on the nail but you can tell it's there in the luster.  You can see it in the darker photo in the upper right. You can stick with 2 coats just fine but I did three coats to get the same richness that I see in the bottle.

Destroying Angel - dark chocolate brown creme. 2 coats

So glossy!

Maiden - sheer light pink 2 coats.

I honestly never get sheers right.  I would have loved this if it were a creme. 

Croquet - medium pink creme, 2 coats.

I can't believe I'm going to rave about a pastel pink polish.  This was the perfect consistency.  I have NEVER tried a pink cream in this colour range that wasn't streaky and difficult to manage.  Croquet was a little watery, but completely manageable.  I didn't once flood my cuticles or even fear it happening.  Not at all streaky.  If you like pink, this one is GOLD.

Opium Poppy - hot pink creme.  2 coats

Unfortunately I lost the photos for this one in a sea of pink polish pics that I was clearing out of my polish folder.  If this isn't enough I'll re-swatch this one!  It was as perfect in the application as Croquet.  Unfortunately is was clashing with my skin tone a lot in the photos which is why I might have accidentally deleted them.

Overall these polishes were pretty amazing to me for such an "unknown" brand.  I know BPAL has been surfacing pretty successfully in the nail polish blogging world but otherwise people I've spoken to don't really know about it.  The polish always applied well, dried well, and held up well with wear and tear.  I seriously hope they expand their colour selection because this can easily be one of my favourite brands of polish ever.  That is saying a lot.

The site can be a little tricky to navigate. http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/ You want to go to Trading Post, then nail polish.  As you can see they offer quite a bit from their site.

The direct link to their polishes is here.

I will be showing you more of another colour from Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs in a post of it's own.

Embalming Fluid. So check back next week!

If you have any questions about this brand or any of these polishes leave a comment!

[These polishes were provided to me by the company for an honest review]

Orly Bloom Collection Review

Hello Ladies!
Writing this blog Sunday night so you can see it tomorrow morning.  (good morning!)
I wanted to try this collection out last weekend, but it was raining and overcast with clouds.
Anyways, this collection was released in the Spring 2010 so chances are you may have already seen it. :P

 

I started out with pink because I am rarely a fan of the colour.  Reminds me of Pepto and Barbie dolls. Unfortunately this pink wasn't doing me any favours.  Sorry pink lovers!

This is Blushing Bud.  It's a hot-pink creme with decent application.  This was 3 coats.

Pure Petunia is a pinky-purple creme.  The application was good, I still needed three coats though.  But It's not unusual for me to use three coats on a manicure.

 

Now this is an interesting colour.  In the bottle it looks like rust with a pink shimmer, and the only shimmer in this collection.  Strange, no?   On the nail Ginger Lily's pink shimmer isn't as obvious and the rich colour of the rusty red comes to life.  This is very unique.  Three coats.

 

I wore Thorned Rose for 5 days straight during the workweek.  In the bottle it looked like a dark berry colour, but on my skin it looked more like a dark red.  Only in some lights did it take on it's berry self.  I love this one.  Orly describes it as a Red Wine Creme, I agree... somewhat.  I thought this one was more like a jelly.  It didn't apply or even look like creme on the brush, and it took 3 coats.  The fact that I wore this colour for 5 days straight with minimal tip-wear is pretty amazing.

 

Oh, well hello there, green polish. Don't you look charming! Wandering Vine looked more subdued in the bottle, but on my nails it became a rich forest green. Two coats!!

 

Wild Wisteria is so wild it made my camera go bonkers.  It's not a navy, rather it is a royal purple creme. This applied like butter and required only two coats.  Below is a block of what I consider the "true" colour for reference since my photos didn't work out too well.

So what are your favourite colours in this collection?  Mine are Thorned Rose, Wandering Vine, and Wild Wisteria.

China Glaze - Foxy

Ok, polish number two in the Vintage Vixen collection!  Say it with me now...

FOXY!

Natural Light

Flash

I hope these images expand.  They're supposed to!

This polish is a very cool rusty red shimmer.  MMM!!  It just glows with that gorgeous orange-red tone.  I have seen at least one other blogger that has said that it appeared to be a red with a bronze shimmer, but I didn't see that at all in my bottle.  Maybe my formula was a bit different.  I don't have my "bottle butt" image for this one because the camera died but it's the same format of label in my last post.  I've also noticed that a lot of girls have a VV collection that has the sale stickers on the bottoms with bar-codes.  Mine do not, they look like they are strictly for promotion.  Maybe they ran out of promotional bottles and dipped into stock?  

I unno.

[This polish was provided to me by the PR company to review]

China Glaze - Riveter Rouge

So here is my first contribution of many for the Vintage Vixen collection by China Glaze.  To avoid being a photo spammer I'll be doing these by the bottle and not all at once either.  

All photos can be clicked to see the full-sized image.

Riveter Rouge:

Natural Light

Flash

Bottle Butt

This polish is a cherry red shimmer with silver micro-glitter scattered throughout.  It had a wonderful formula and I used 3 thin coats.  Drying time was good, as is with all China Glaze polishes.

[This polish was provided to me by the PR company for review]

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Well.... the mani looked better in my head... but not bad for painting with a cuticle stick!

I used China Glaze - Paint The Town Red for the flag, and Sally Hansen - White On for the white parts.  

I threw Klean Kolors - Firework on my pinkie and thumb for fun.  You need fireworks on your country's birthday!  :D

Flash                                   Natural Light

Some close-ups of Firework.

Diamond Cosmetics - Cherry Tobacco

Here is another Diamond Cosmetics gem!

I put this colour on because I was in a vampy mood this past weekend *snicker* because it was True Blood's 3rd season premier! (HA!!  Pun)

This colour appears to be a brown that is so dark that can almost be mistaken for black (or is it just an off-black?).  Mixed inside is a GORGEOUS black cherry shimmer.  It glows.

 I think if the base was closer to brown it would remind me of my favourite pop - Dr. Pepper.

Mmmmm.

Diamond Cosmetics - Hue Are You?

I know it's been a long time since I've posted.  I've been having a bit of a rough time.  [Insert whining and self pity here].  I'll be going to the doctor this week to ask why my vocal chords hurt so damn much.  My throat isn't sore unless I speak.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt so much, others I can barely make a squeak.  And since I'm a receptionist that has to pronounce Greek and Croatian names all day, I need to talk.  

Cough drops, anyone?

I apologise for how dark a couple of these are.  It was getting late in the evening when this was taken and it really showed in the photos. This polish is a maroon or... well it looks like drying blood to me but I've been watching a lot of "True Blood".... with a lovely golden shimmer.

Natural (evening?) light

Flash

Bottom

Tiffany from Yardsticks 4 Lunatics was sweet enough to get me this from her last order.  Diamond Cosmetics doesn't ship to Canada unless you spend $250.  Or was it $500?  I don't know.  But it was a lot.
they also wouldn't email me back about their current crappy 'Canadian Distributor' and what it takes to become a distributor.  Nice customer services, DS.  /end sarcasm.

Cheeky Monkey Polish Review

The other week I received a box in the mail from Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics. When I opened the box it contained a lovely gift bag (shown by Gizmo here) Inside was a cute pink emery board with "cheeky monkey" printed on it. (sorry I failed to take a photo today), a funny sticker that says "You are F'n Fantastic" with the Cheeky Monkey logo... and yes... I forgot to include a photo of the sticker too. I suck, I know. at the bottom of the bag was three polishes and a topcoat.


This is "One Night Stand". It is a pink pastel with a light pearl shimer.

"Staggette", a creme medium toned red. I like to describe it as a strawberry red. It was really hard to capture it, it is showing up a little more orange than it is in red life.

The best bottle tag of the bunch! :)

And the best for last (IMO), "Romp". A beautiful dark purple with a vibrant blue shimmer.

"I Like It On Top", clear topcoat. It has a light pink tone to it, but it is clear on the nail.

All of these polishes formulas were watery. The most difficult one I think was One Night Stand. It took about 5 coats to get it as even as possible. The thin brush on all of the bottles made the thin formula really difficult to handle. I'm used to the pro-wide brushes a lot of polishes have converted to. I think if they had a wider brush, it would have been easier to handle the formula.
Staggette was the easiest to handle. It evened out in about three coats, which is great for a thinner formula polish. Romp was in the middle. It covered better, but was still a little on the difficult side.

One thing I didn't like was the drying time. All of them took a long time to dry, and with thin formula I expected it to dry a lot faster. The multiple coats didn't help. The topcoat could have saved this but it was a slow dryer as well. You might notice a smudge on the index finger for the pink polish (One Night Stand). I thought the polish was dry, but I smeared it when was trying to take photos. I think it was at least 10-15 minutes after I applied the topcoat.

The colours on these were awesome, I really loved them. Romp was definitely my favourite!

Dispite my beef with the drying time and the brush I am pretty sure I'm going to get a few colours from their website. I'm thinking Hangover will be one of them. :) So next time I'll use a pro-wide brush and some sort of quick-dry product. Any suggestions?

[These products were sent to me by Cheeky Monkey for review.]