"Troubled Love" Valentine's Day Collection from Superficially Colorful - Requested Review and Swatches

Today I have the honour of doing a review of the latest collection from Superficially Colorful, the "Troubled Love" Valentine's Day Collection. Adi (Jin) Tamir, the owner of Superficially Colorful, lives in Israel, and all the polishes on her site are hand-made by her. They are 5-FREE, as they do not contain Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde or Toluene, nor do they contain formaldehyde resin or camphor. They are cruelty free and their creation did not harm any living being.  Jin, is short for Jijit - the Hebrew word for a redhead girl.

 Jin explains the theme for this collection this way:
"Love has many faces and one of its saddest faces is a one-sided love. So Valentine’s Day is not always about chocolate and kisses. My Valentine’s Day collection is inspired by several songs from my personal playlist that are an ode to the troubled, one-sided love. It’s a rather varied collection: it has glitter, it has holo, there are jelly and crelly polishes, and there’s even a thermal." 

The first polish I'd like to tell you about is "Tainted Love", which was inspired by the song by that name, originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964, and later covered by the group Soft Cell in 1981.

Photo in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

This polish is a beautiful grey duo-chrome that shifts between green and violet, depending on the light.  This polish is beautiful to work with - it went on smoothly, with only two thin coats required for full coverage.  It dried very quickly, too, which is an added bonus.There is a glimmer of pinkish violet under artificial light inside, but I was not able to catch the true beauty with my camera.  Overall, this is a gorgeous polish which I will be wearing time and time again.  I think it would also work really well for stencils and stamping.  I love it! Here are some photos taken outside in shade and sunlight, and the colour is pretty true to life.

First photo indoors, second photo under artificial light (click on photo for larger view)

Both photos taken in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

Photo taken in shade

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"Never There", the second polish I'd like to show you, was inspired by the song of the same name by the group Cake recorded in 1998.  It is a silver holographic polish with a touch of pink - Jin describes it this way - "It's not a pink polish.  It just has this pink... "smell" to it." 

Taken in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

This wonderful polish went on like a dream, and even one coat gave good coverage, however I used two coats for my swatches.  As I was applying it I kept saying "Wow!" to myself, and my hubby agreed with me.  This polish is amazing, and I will definitely be buying some more before it disappears from the Superficially Colorful site. It is the first holographic polish I have used, so it was a real surprise to me to see the effect on my nails.  In the sun it is absolutely awesome.  Here are some more photos taken in sunlight and shade. You can see from these photos why I fell in love with this polish.

Both taken in shade (click on photo for larger view)

Both taken in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

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The next polish I'd like to show you is called "Foolish Heart", which Jin describes as "a thermal polish that changes color from dark crimson, blu-ish mulberry red when cold to a fire Sienna red when warm.  It is reckless and foolish, but it knows what it wants." The polish was inspired by the song "I Was A Fool", recorded by Tegan and Sara in 2013.

Taken in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

I wasn't too sure about the colour of this polish on me at first, but by the time I had finished the swatches I was sold.  The first coat was a little streaky, but two good coats gave a lovely matte finish.  The thermal effect was visible from the first stroke of the brush, which actually made it a little hard to know whether the polish was covering the nail, because the base looked so pale compared to the tip.  After I added the Seche Vite top coat the effect was beautiful.  The actual polish itself is a matte finish, though, and many people may prefer this.  In either case, it is a very pretty polish.

 

First photo taken indoors, next one in shade (click on photo for larger view)

     

First photo in my sunroom, second in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

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The fourth polish in the Troubled Heart collection, "I Will Survive", is by far my favourite.  Jin describes this as "a dark berry jelly with holographic glitter in different sizes" . It was inspired by the song "I Will Survive", recorded by Gloria Gaynor in 1978.

I did not want to take this polish off to do the last swatch, and I wish I had done this one last so I didn't have to.  It is a beautiful jelly polish, rather thin, but two good coats gave a gorgeous jelly finish, and as this is my first jelly polish, all I can say is it was like putting sparkly, crushed raspberries on my nails.  There was plenty of glitter, and although it does settle in the bottle, it didn't take long to distribute it throughout the polish, and I had no trouble getting lots of glitter with each stroke of the brush.  The holographic glitter sandwiched in this beautiful jelly gives an amazingly beautiful look, and the different colours reflected through the polish are wonderful to look at.  It is a polish I would wear for any special occasion without question, and I'm definitely going to have to buy some more of this polish before it disappears.  I'M IN LOVE! is the only phrase I can use to describe this polish.  

 

First photo taken indoors, second one in shade (click on photo for larger view)

 

Both photos taken in sunlight (click on photo for larger view)

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The final polish in this collection is "Don't Leave Me This Way".  Jin describes this polish as "a red/orange crelly (creme/jelly) with matte red glitter of different sizes and just a little bit of matte red hearts glitter. Hesitant and unfinished, stuck with a broken heart between the orange and red."  It was inspired by the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", recorded by the group The Communards in 1986.

Taken in shade (click on photo for larger view)

Of the five polishes in this collection, this is the one I like the least.  It is a thin crelly, and was very hard to work with. I had to really fish around in the bottle to get any of the larger glitter, especially the hearts, which were hard to find (but Jin said there were only a few, so that's understandable, I suppose).  I needed three coats to get full opaque coverage, and the finish is matte and very uneven.  To get a smooth finish I needed two generous coats of Seche Vite top coat.  The overall effect is orange/red, but the red glitter is not clearly visible at all.  There is smattering of holographic micro-glitter, which shows up quite well in the last photo, which was taken in the sun.  The colours in the photos are very close to what they look like on my nails. 

  

First photo taken indoors, second taken in my sunroom (click on photo for larger view)

 

First photo in shade, second in full sun (click on photo for larger view)

For all swatches I used two base coats, OPI Ridge Filler Base Coat and OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, with one coat of Seche Vite Top Coat over all, with the exception of  "Don't Leave Me This Way".

Overall, this collection is beautiful, and such a novel take on Valentine's Day.  All but the "Don't Leave Me This Way" polish went on really easily, and were beautiful to work with.  They all came off with minimal effort, and there was no staining at all, despite the fact that they all contained colours that are notorious for staining nails. The range of colours is stunning, and the range of finishes is terrific, with something for everyone. I have no hesitation in recommending the "Troubled Love" Valentine's Day Collection at all.  The collection was sent to me by the owner of "Superficially Colorful" for my honest review, and that is what I have tried to do.  I received no payment for my comments.  All five polishes are available individually for $9.00 US, or you can purchase the whole "Troubled Love Collection" for $42.00 US.  Links to the YouTube videos of the songs which inspired this collection are available on the individual polish pages on the Superficially Colorful site.

I bought another collection from Jin at the same time as she sent me these, which is the "Remnants of Winter" collection, and they all look amazing too.  I'll try to do some swatches of them when I can get time.

So, thank you, Jin, for trusting me to do these reviews for you, and I hope I have not let you down.  This was my first proper review for anyone, and I found it to be a real challenge.  I wanted to do full justice to the polishes, especially with the photographs, and I took hundreds of them to just get the few I've included here.  Although it was hard work, I really enjoyed it and would love to do more for Jin, or for anyone else who would trust me to do some for them in the future.

Thanks for checking out my blog.  God bless you, and have a great day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

he song Never There by Cake (1998)

Never There is inspired by the song Never There by Cake (1998) - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/troubled-love/never-there#sthash.vFeY2576.dpuf

Manicure for 17 January 2015 - Very Disappointing!

 

Above you can see this week's manicure, and to say the least, I am extremely disappointed with it.  I thought I would give Seche Vite another go for my top coat, in case the problems I had last time I used it were because of incompatibility with the polish I used, but I wish I hadn't used it again!  As you can see, after only 2 days (and in actual fact the morning after I did my manicure), the polish had started shrink back from the tips and bases of my nails, and a hard edge had formed along the side of some of the nails, instead of being lovely and smooth like the other top coats I've used in the past.  All I can say is, I will only use Seche Vite again if I plan to only leave my manicure on for a day or so, e.g. if I am doing a review of polishes for someone, etc.  If I want one that lasts, I'll use something else.  Oh, well, one learns from one's mistakes, but I'm upset because this was my first time doing an ombre manicure, and I was hoping it would work out as well as it looked before I put the top coat on.

The polishes I used for this manicure were from a Fing'rs EDGE OMBRE Nail Polish boxed set of 5 different mini purple nail polishes.  The set came with a bit of sponge, too, so that I could do a sponge ombre manicure if I wanted to, and I might try it in the near future.  I'm sorry the colours didn't come out quite right in the photo, because they really are so rich and pretty. We're still experimenting with how to get the best results with our different cameras we have in the house, but I'm still not happy with the way the colours turn out.  I'll have to try some different lighting experiments and see if we can find something that gives better results.

I started with a coat of OPI Ridge Filler Base Coat, followed by a coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.  The individual bottles in this set didn't have names for the colours, but you can see what shade I used on each nail, so it doesn't really matter.  All the polishes went on beautifully, and I only needed 2 coats to get lovely even coverage.  I then added one coat of Sinful Colors I Miss You glitter polish, which looks lovely under some lighting, but not so bright indoors in natural light.  The glitter in the bottle is a lovely tiny silver and holographic purple in a purple base, which was pretty transparent, but you could probably get full cover with 3 coats.  I might try this sometime and see how it turns out.

Next, I added 3 different shaped and sized gold decals to my ring fingers that I bought on eBay from echofairyland.  They have an amazing selection of Nail Art products, and their prices are amazing, so I can definitely recommend them.  Then, finally, as you already know, I added a coat of Seche Vite to all my nails, and another coat to the nails on my ring fingers.  No more need be said on that subject.  I think I covered it all at the beginning of my post.

The colours in the set look wonderful together, and I'll definitely be trying another ombre with them in the future, but with a different top coat.  I wasn't too sure how they would look before I started, so it really was an experiment to see what an ombre manicure looks like on MY nails, instead of on someone else's nails online.  I was a bit nervous before I started, as I always am when I'm trying something new.

Now to the other disaster that occurred while doing this manicure.  I had intended to do some stamping on my feature nails, but the two different stampers I already have, which I received in stamping sets, just don't work.  One came with my Salon Express Nail Stamping Kit, and the other one came with some stamping plates I bought online.  I tried using some stamping polishes that came with the stamping machine I bought to try (silly me), but they dried on the plates before I could even get the stamp on the plate.  So, I tried a couple of different nail polishes, but still no luck.  They aren't very soft, so that could be part of the problem, but even using the nail polish I barely got any of the image onto the stamper.  I tried a few different plates from different brands, but still no image.  So, I had to give up on that idea and I'll have to go back to the drawing board on that issue.  I'm going to try again with different polishes, and if I still can't get them to work, I'll buy a new stamper.  I even tried two different types of scraper, and an old credit card, but they didn't work either.  Altogether, the whole experiment was a disaster, and I was so looking forward to having a lovely design on my nails to show you.

I've also received my first request to do a review of some Indie nail polishes, which is a real thrill for me.  I didn't think anyone would ever ask me to, and I was really surprised when they said they wanted me to do some, and that they would send me their new collection to review.  I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the name of the polishes, so if you want to find out what they are and who they were made by, you'll have to check back in a few weeks (or earlier if they don't take too long to arrive).  It is not an Australian Indie polish, which is another reason I was so surprised that I was asked to do the reviews.

So, that's it for another week. I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you, and you can now choose to follow me if you want to do so.  The links are on the top, right-hand side of the page.

God bless you, and have a wonderful week.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

My New Year's Eve 2014 Manicure

I've just realised that I haven't blogged about my New Year's Eve manicure yet.  I've been so busy, that I forgot all about it. So, here it is!

I decided to use the China Glaze "Unforgettable Collection" I received in the mail the day before, which I thought was really gorgeous and would make a great New Year's Eve mani.  The colors included in the set are:  Platinum Silver, Liquid Leather (black), Bridezilla (pale pink shimmer), White On White, and Nova (holographic glitter in a clear base). Here's a photo of the collection.

I started with one coat OPI Natural Base Coat, which is still my favourite.  It hasn't let me down once when I've used it, so I'll be keeping an eye out for it on special for sure.  Next I added two coats of Platinum Silver to my pinkies (two coats was all I needed for great coverage), two coats of Liquid Leather to my ring fingers (2 coats also ample here), three coats of White On White to my thumbs and middle fingers (which was still didn't give the cover I would have liked), 4 coats of Bridezilla to my index fingers (I think I should have added a pink nude under this, or some other pale colour), and one coat of Nova to my ring fingers over the Black Leather.  Then I added some quirky cat stickers I picked up online some time ago (can't remember where - AliExpress, I think), and I love them.  I adore cats (have two of my own), so I will most likely be featuring cat-themed nails quite a bit :)

I finished off with one coat of my OPI Top Coat, which I still think is better than Seche Vite if you don't want any shrinkage of your polish, and you want your manicure to last more than a couple of days.  The OPI dries quickly, and leaves a great shiny finish.  Seche Vite dries your manicure faster, but as I usually have plenty of time, I won't be using it very often.  I certainly don't think I'll be replacing it after I've used it all (I've still got a large bottle to go). I'll only use it if I need my mani to dry extra quickly. As usual, I will add another layer of top coat every other day to freshen it up and keep it on longer.

As you will notice, the tip of my index finger is still showing where the nail lifted off the nail-bed down the side of my nail because of the chemo earlier in the year (see just under my logo).  My other index finger is the same, and so are several of my other nails.  In fact, my left index finger is actually looking worse each time I take my polish off.  I'm praying it is not going to come off completely.  I'm hoping they will all grow out normally, but I don't know if they will or not.  I know a lot of people get permanent damage from chemotherapy.

Also, on Saturday evening I banged my lovely middle fingernail, shown in the photo, which I have been nurturing along for months and months, and took a great chunk out of it, so I had to file it right back.  I nearly cried, because now the nail looks all lopsided as the break was so far down my nail.  The cat on that nail now has part of his tail and bottom missing.  I immediately covered it all with another coat of OPI Top Coat, and hopefully it will last until Tuesday, when I intend doing my nails again.  The reason it broke instead of flexing is because the top half of my nails are still so very fragile because of the chemotherapy damage, and still look brown and ugly without any polish on them.  I file a tiny bit back each time I do my nails, so they are slowly growing out, and I guess I'll just have to be patient.  My middle finger on my right hand is still being held together using the "tea bag patch" method because the tip is threatening to come off at any time.  The patches are working well each time I do them, though, so I can definitely recommend it as a solution if you have a split in your nail.  I just couldn't rescue the other one because it broke right off.  BUMMER!!!!

The only polish I didn't particularly like in this collection was the White On White.  It went on very patchily, and was hard to get full coverage, even with three coats. The other colours were lovely to use, and went on very smoothly.  I particularly like the Liquid Leather, which is a black polish I'll be going back to time and time again, I think.  It went on so smoothly, two coats were more than enough, and the finish was really glossy.  I just love it!    I'm still struggling to get the stickers to go where I want them to on my nails, though, so a couple of them are a bit crooked.  The trouble is they are just so darn sticky :).  I'm going to try water transfers next time and see how they go.

Well, that's me for another week.  God willing, I'll be back again next week (if not before) with my next mani, and I hope the New Year is a great one for you and your loved ones.  Have a great week!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

I have nothing to declare - all polishes were from my personal stash, all bought and paid for by me.

Another Christmas Manicure 14 December 2014

Sorry it's been a while (12 days, I see), but I had another disaster this week.

My last manicure lasted 9 whole days with virtually no damage at all.  I was amazed, but I didn't want to bore you with more photos of it. However, I stuffed up royally with my manicure for this week first time around, so I had to take it all off and start again, after I had slept on it and worked out what I had done wrong.

So, today I have a Christmas-themed skittle manicure (with each nail completely different).  Here's the best photo I could get of it - although it still doesn't really do it justice,  it's pretty close.  I love the colours of all the polishes I used, and will certainly be using them again.

I started with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat.  I then added 2 coats of Colours by TBN "Dancing In The Forest" on my pinkies, 3 coats of Revlon Brilliant Strength "Hypnotize" on my ring fingers (although 2 coats would probably have been enough), 3 coats of OPI "Alpine Snow" on my middle fingers and thumbs, and 2 coats of ulta3 "scarlet" on my index fingers. I found the OPI "Alpine Snow" rather hard to work with and, if I hadn't been adding glitter and stripes to the nails I used it on, I would have had to add another coat to get a smooth finish.  The other polishes were all really easy to work with, and I only added the third coat on the gold nail to add intensity to the colour.  This is a gold that I will be using a lot, I'm sure, because it is just so easy to use, and looks so amazing.  I think it would be great for stamping and/or water marble manicures, too.

Once my polishes had all dried, I placed strips of masking tape and striping tape on my thumbs. I then added one coat of ulta3 "scarlet" over the nail, quickly removing the tapes before the polish dried.  I'm afraid I wasn't very happy with the way the stripes turned out, because there were a few spots where I obviously hadn't pressed the tape down firmly enough, especially on the edges of my nails.  I discovered last night, after I had finished it, a tip suggesting that I use a coat of top coat on my nail before doing the striping, and I'll try that next time. However, as a first time striping job (where I painted over them instead of using them as the stripes), I am reasonably happy with it.   I then added 2 coats of KBShimmer "Kringle All The Way" to my ring fingers, and 2 coats of ulta3 "disco fever" to my index fingers.  I had to fish around for some large glitter with the KBShimmer, but there is heaps of different-sized glitter in the bottle (red, green and silver in different sizes, and tiny holographic glitter throughout), so it wasn't hard to get some large ones.  The ulta3 red glitter was really easy to use, and also has plenty of glitter.

Finally, I applied 1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (Yay! I finally got some!) to each nail, and I'm thrilled to bits with the finish it has given to my nails.  It covered all the glitter beautifully, and dried my manicure so quickly I couldn't believe it.  I will be interested to see how long my manicure lasts with this as my top coat.  I'll be adding another coat, as usual, every other day, and will let you know next time how well it goes.

The damage on my nails is still growing out, and I am nursing another break on my right thumb, but each week there is less of the horrible, dark-brown, fragile, flaking area on my tips left, and more of the lovely pink new growth at the base of my nails.  I am just filing a small amount off each week before I do my new manicure, and my nails are definitely getting a lot stronger each week since I started using the Jojoba oil at least twice a day. They seem to be growing faster, too, which is fantastic.  I'm also using Swisse "Hand Skin Nails" tablets, and I'm sure they have helped, too.

I've been having trouble finding a good, natural cuticle oil that uses Jojoba oil as a base that is a reasonable price, but have decided to make my own after I have used up all the treatments I've already bought.  I'm also having trouble finding a good, hydrating hand cream, but I've found some great recipes online, so I've decided to source all the products I need to make my own, and have also found a recipe for an exfoliating sugar hand scrub, and will be making some of that this week once I find some nice jars to put it in.

I'm amazed at how much information there is available about natural solutions to my hand care problems, and I have found suppliers and recipes for just about everything I need to make my own.  I am allergic to perfumed products, and also to a lot of the preservatives and other artificial additives cosmetic companies use in so many of their products.  It's hard to avoid some of them with my manicures, of course, but at least I can with the products I use every day on my skin and nails.

As I used 2 ulta3 polishes this week, I thought I'd mention the fantastic Christmas gift ideas they have available here in Australia this year.  My hubby bought me a wonderful ulta3 Advent Calendar full of mini nail polishes, and so far the colours have been amazing, and I haven't got any of the ones that I've opened the window for, so hopefully I won't have any of them.  There is also a cube of 18 full-size ulta3 polishes, and a large candy cane full of full-size polishes. I think they have a couple of other gift items, too, but I haven't discovered them yet.  Of course, I've put my order in to Santa for one (or more, perhaps) of them for Christmas.  There are some great Colours by TBN gift sets as well, and lots of others around the stores for other brands, so I'm hoping Santa gets the message and is feeling generous.

So, that's it for another week.  I hope you like what I've shared with you this week, and that you'll come back often to see what I've been up to.

God bless you, and peace be with you all!  Have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

P.S. I have received no monetary or material gain from my reviews of the products used for this manicure.
Everything comes from my personal stash, all purchased by me, either in-store or online.