Today’s swatch-a-palooza is brought to you by The Letter “C”. Anyone else getting Sesame Street vibes with me? Come on, now … I know you feel it. Although I have to admit I am a little more “Oscar the Grouch” today than “Big Bird”.
Because of the loveliness that is Polish Pickup, I have several indie brands that are small parts of my overall stash. I don’t love them any less, but they just don’t take up whole drawers of storage or anything like that. So I will have a few posts in which several brands might be grouped together. This is one of them. I am building up to my Colores de Carol, by the way. Which also starts with “C”. But which dominates the indie part of my stash. Dominates, I tell ‘ya!! Rawr!
Today, I have a total of ten polishes to share, spread out across five brands. And awaaaaaay we gooooo!
CELESTIAL COSMETICS:
First up in today’s line-up is Celestial Cosmetics, Resting Bitch Face (Stops Wrinkles). My internet sleuthing tells me this polish was part of the 2017 Good Girls Bad Habits Collection. It is a beautifully vibrant, yet soft, blue linear holographic. I feel like the holographic is a little bit subtle in here, but it is definitely there. You can see those beautiful rainbows on the nail, especially out in the sun. I think this has a great formula. It built up well and easily on the nail, and it was opaque for me in 2 easy coats.
I don’t follow Celestial Cosmetics, and I have never purchased from them. This polish came to me as a gift from my sweet IG buddy @docsnpolishgirl . So I can’t speak to Celestial Cosmetics as a brand or anything like that. But I can say this: I freaking LOVE this polish. It is the sweetest, most perfect tone of blue that reminds me of blue spring/summer skies, my favorite pair of perfectly broken in blue jeans, and the bluest eyes in Texas, all at the same time! That is a lot to pack into one bottle of polish, y’all. But this baby does it. As if that wasn’t enough, I would adore this one solely for the name, which is pitch-perfect. I happen to suffer from RBF. If I had a dime for every time some stranger told me I would be prettier if I smiled … Well, I would have a lot of dimes.
CIRQUE COLORS:
Cirque Colors, you’re our next contestant! Come on down!!! From Cirque, I have Lapis Lazuli, which is blue and gold and bronze and just darn perfect. Perfect, I tell ‘ya! It has a fabulous formula that is perfect for me in 2 coats (I think, if my memory serves me well …).
This is my lonely-only Cirque Colors polish, and it was a gift from my sweet nail bestie, @jenniferwallenfels on IG. And you guys, I adore this polish. I can’t get over how it looks exactly like lapis lazuli on the nails. The tone of blue is perfect. The flecks of gold and bronze are perfect. The tiny hints of brighter turquoise or blue-green are perfect.
CONTRARY POLISH:
Next up is Contrary Polish, Looking Up. This is a cerulean blue base with iridescent glitters that flash red-green-orange, depending on the light. This polish has a nice formula. I remember it being a little bit like a crelly in texture or feel as I applied it. But it was opaque in 2 easy coats.
This is my one-and-only Contrary Polish, and it came into my stash via the September 2017 Polish Pickup sale. I could not resist this light and slightly dusty blue. And the iridescent flakes are perfect. I love how they give a dusting of colors just under the surface of the base color. They are soft and rather ethereal. Really beautiful. I haven’t worn this polish much, and I think I need to change that soon.
CROWS TOES:
This is another brand I discovered through Polish Pickup. But I have purchased a few from them during different PPU months. I have a total of 4 polishes from this brand.
Buck Yoooouu! is a golden-orange base with scads of holographic glitter. It has a fantastic formula that is opaque for me in 2 easy coats. When I wore it, it was nearly opaque in 1, but I had a couple of low spots that needed a second coat.
This polish is from the September 2017 Polish Pickup. And I don’t really know what to say about it, except that it is fan-freakin’-tabulous!! Ugh. I can’t even. I love this polish because it is bright and bold, and it sparkles like mad.
Mr. Average Joe American is a blue-gray crelly base with silver-gray glitter, iridescent blue glitter, micro holo glitter and purple shimmer. It has a great formula that is opaque in 2 easy coats.
This polish came to my stash though my very first Polish Pickup, which was in August 2017. I love the mix of blues and grays in here. It is soft and comforting, like a favorite flannel shirt. Or a warm woolen suit on a rainy afternoon. Maybe I feel that way because I had a suit that was close to this color. It was during my Annie Hall phase in High School, and I had one of my dad’s old suits cut down so that it would fit me. It was made of the loveliest material, and it was slightly lighter than this. But still on the periwinkle blue spectrum. I loved that suit. Ahh … fond memories. I love this polish, too!
Need a Light?! is a “black-based blue with a shot of bright blue and silver” (description from original PPU listing). It has a great formula that is opaque in 2 easy coats. I found it does not dry gritty or overly textured on the nail, even with all of this glitter inside it!
This lovely polish came to me via the October 2017 Polish Pickup. I love pretty much everything about it. It is right up my alley in terms of color and glitter factor. I like the mix of blacks and blues in here. It is moody and a little bit witchy. I love a good dark polish, any time of the year!
Stella was described on the PPU site as “a color wheel in a bottle”. This is pretty darn accurate. This polish has a glitter blend that mixes red, silver, gold, blue, and gray. It also has a mix of micro glitters, holographic glitters, flakes, and shimmers. It has a good formula that is easy to work onto the nail. It was opaque for me in 2-3 fairly easy coats.
This is my one Crows Toes polish that leaves me feeling a little bit “meh”. I think it’s more accurate to say I don’t know exactly how I feel about it. I fell hard for the different swatch pictures I saw online leading up to the sale. Even so, I went into the PPU sale that month not expecting to purchase this one. It was a last-minute impulse buy on my part, based solely on the swatch pictures I had seen. Once I saw it in person and swatched it on my own nails, I felt a little underwhelmed.
I want to give this one another chance, though. It could be that I pull it out of my storage drawers a second time and end up completely loving it. It often works that way!
CUPCAKE POLISH:
Cupcake Polish is brand-spanking new to my stash. In fact, I did a detailed post about these polishes just yesterday. So I won’t chatter about them much at all in here. You can go to yesterday’s post to read all about them. I wanted to include them for the sake of completeness and to round out my post for today. I have a total of 3 polishes from this brand.
5 Years is a bright and vibrant pink that unexpectedly stole my heart.
Diamond is one of the prettiest flakie toppers I’ve seen in a long time. Love the soft colors in here. It also looks beautiful worn on its own.
Garnet is a juicy and luscious red with tons of sparkle.
THE WRAP-UP:
I’m wrapping this one up quickly because there is a thunderstorm raging right outside my window. And, of course, WordPress took this moment in time to fail at saving my drafts. Hopefully, my power won’t go out, but, just in case … *hits send button*
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