OPI Just Spotted the Lizard - $8.50

OPI's new The Amazing Spiderman collection is about to be released in store and there has been a lot of noise about this polish. Not only because it's a pretty rad multi-chrome, but because it's a Chanel Peridot (see my Peridot review here) dupe. With Chanel polishes now fairly assaulting wallets at a price of $26, it's nice to see a less expensive alternative to a popular shade. I've got several photos of OPI JSTL, and then below I have a couple comparison photos.

As far as this polish, It's pretty much a dead-on dupe of Peridot. It's somewhat sheer, but with three thin coats you get full coverage. The color in most lights is pre-dominantly an amber gold with a seafoam green and light turquoise showing up from time to time. The wear was pretty average, I tested it for two days and didn't have any tip wear or chipping. It doesn't show stroke lines as much as Peridot, which really didn't have much in the way of stroke lines in the first place; it's just mainly more metallic whereas Peridot does have some foil-like flecks which scatter light a little more. JSTL doesn't really have that and so it has a more linear light  reflection.

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For this manicure I wanted to get the look of antiqued and distressed metal so I used several metallic polishes and sponged them on to make a sort of textured look. The addition of a holographic teal to the tips was an afterthought, but I thought it made it look better. The whole thing was inspired by CND's recent spate of "acid-washed" colors on pointed almond nails with a really deep smile line for the french. I basically went with that theme, but changed up some colors and added texture, which I think makes it look neat. The holo at the tips is subtle but it makes it a bit more interesting.

Products used:

• China Glaze Millenium
• China Glaze 2030
• Orly Luxe
• China Glaze Techno Teal
• Seche Vite Topcoat

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One of five new flaky beauties from Finger Paints' new collection for Winter, Twisted is a bottle of awesome. There are flakies of every color in this clear base, making it the Queen of Flakies in this girl's humble opinion. There are a number of great flake-filled polishes out there, with more to come, I'm sure, but until now to get such a rainbow-tastic look, you'd have to layer several different polishes to get this much fabulous on a nail. I applied two coats of Twisted over a plain black creme in these photos. I also took a few photos of this look mattified with Essie Matte About You which I've included in this post. It looks insanely beautiful either way, and whethere you're in the sun or in indirect light, these are traffic accident worthy nails. Each of the five polishes retail at $4.99 at Sally Beauty Supply and are on the shelves at some locations now. I've got a couple more to show you later in the week. They are AWESOME.

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The China Glaze Eye Candy collection for Winter '11 is a group of gorgeous and interesting "3D" glitters. The 3D refers to how the glitters vary in size and type making the surface of the polish look like it's several layers of glitter, one on top of the next. Some use varying sizes of similarly colored glitter and others use glitter of different finishes, effects and colors to accomplish the complex look of these polishes. Each polish individually can look very different depending on the light source and strength you view the polish in, so really they're very interesting to wear.

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GOSH Holographic

So how long have I wanted GOSH Holographic? Hmmm... a looooong time. I can't even remember, it's been so long. Way back when I was still pretty active on the MakeupAlley board I desperately wanted this polish. I've never seen a GOSH product in person, so I never had a chance. I was so incredibly happy with Holographic was hiding in my swap package from Michelle (from The Lacquer Files). Whoooopeeee! I've never tried a more awesome silver holo before. It's everything that I imagined it would be and more, lol. Up till now Nfu-Oh 61 was my favorite silver holo with China Glaze OMG running a close second but Holographic has something no holo silver I've tried has, a beautiful finish when in dim light. In low lighting it isn't super holo, but the wide linear effect does show up a bit, but Nfu Oh 61 for instance looks cakey and a bit streaky when viewed in low light even though it's just BAM in sunlight. I love the soft, even and delicate silver finish in low light and the amazing linear holo in the sun. It's amazing!!!

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Petites Color Fever in Black DIamond - $3.99 at Rite Aid

I've previously reviewed a Petites Color Fever polish in Vintage Grey, and though i loved the color I was a bit put off at the price based on the small size of the polish and pretty much vowed never to buy another of them again, but here I am. Black Diamond is in the same family as Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm, OPI My Private Jet, and Color Club Revvvolution, and though I own all of those, I leaped at this bottle like the nail junkie I am. I was happy to find that it was a bit different from all the others in some way. It's not quite a jelly base like Chainmail Charm, or even MPJ and it's also not as dense and small-particled as Revvvolution. The particles of holo remind me more of the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes; sort of larger and shard-like. This holo is liner and scattered at the same time. You get that clean line of rainbow color but because the shards of holo are a little larger you get random rainbow flakes popping up all over the nail sort of outside that linear holo line. This is the most complex of the charcoal holo choices out there, and it's a big favorite for me, though the mother in me can't just choose one. They're all wonderful.

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DS Exclusive is a highly holographic polish with a magenta base color in the same family as DS Extravagance, but a little more vibrant and slightly more sheer. This is one of my favorite OPI Designer Series polishes, and I got in the mood to swatch this because I'm on vacation in Clearwater, Florida, and the first time I came here I wore Exclusive. It brings back such awesome memories. There's not much to say other than what I already have and that it's got a super vibrant and holo-ey :D

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OPI DS Amethyst is really more of a lilac. It would fit in perfectly this Spring with all the lovely lilacs we've seen by everyone from OPI and Essie to China Glaze to Essence. The best thing about this polish is that unless you're in bright light and looking right at it, this polish is super work-friendly. It's a very neutral shade and the holographic shimmer is very delicate and understated. I don't know if this is still available, but it's worth a treasure hunt if you can find it for sale in a salon or beauty supply. It applies beautifully in two coats, which is rare in the world of holographic polishes.

For vacation, I had originally recreated the French mani with pink and white hibiscus flowers that I did earlier this month , but in the cleaning frenzy that usually leads up to a vacation for me, I totally ruined them :( So I decided to do something more travel-friendly, and more, well... me! So I took China Glaze 2NITE from the OMG collection and used Konad plate m79 to stamp metallic silver China Glaze Millennium clouds over it. The result of the chrome on holo is amazing in person. The silver clouds seem to be 3D. The almost float on the blue holographic background and as I move my hands the clouds seem sort of like they're moving against the background.

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China Glaze Octa-Gone Wild is from the now discontinued (CRY!) Kaleidoscopes collection. Some of these are still available on the sites of the distributors, like transdesign, 8ty8beauty, and head2toebeauty, but I don't know which site has which right now, so don't quote me. The weird thing about these polishes is that the holographic pieces of whatever the shimmer is made of is huge and the shapes are seemingly random. I wish I had a microscope but I think I'd feel mildly ridiculous analyzing nail polish with one. Don't act like you don't want one for the same reason. Wait. It's just me? Dernit.

I loved Octa-Gone Wild because of the soft purple color to it. It's not over the top, it's just right. It's beautiful when layered as well! I remember when these first came out. Up till then the OPI Designer Series original launch were about the only holo game in town and I counted down the hours till the Kaleidoscopes arrived then proceeded to buy almost every one. It was a field day on the Makeup Alley nail board when these things arrived. If you were there, you're probably nostalgic about it. China Glaze made dreams come true.