Swatch Time!

Today I've got some swatches of a few random colours to show you; one Essie and two Sally Hansen.  At the moment I'm on a break between rehearsals.  I'm in the middle of our busy season, with rehearsals, competitions, and shows nearly every weekend.  Best time to start a blog, right?  Anyways, on to the nails. 

First I've got Essie 'Super Bossa Nova' from the Braziliant Collection; this colour is a hot fuchsia pink with blue undertones.  This is three coats; you could make do with two but I could see a little nail line in certain lights and it bothered me. 

You might be able to see in the bottle, there appears to be some blue-ish and silver shimmer, but unfortunately that doesn't come out on the nail at all unless under direct light. 

Pardon the background in those two pictures, this was before I realized the importance of having a solid backdrop.  Below is 'Super Bossa Nova' with one coat of Essie 'Shine of the Times' on the accent nail. Unfortunately 'Super Bossa Nova' isn't very smooth, even with the two coats of Seche Vite you see in the pictures.  'Shine of the Times' is a flakie that shifts between orange, red, and green, and is unfortunately top-coat hungry. 

Next is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Lacey Lilac'.  This is a pure creme, opaque in two smooth coats.  I love this colour, and will definitely be wearing it a lot this spring/summer.  This is the colour I used as a base in the mani in my previous post.  This is with one coat of Seche Vite. 

 Lastly, I have Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'White On', by far the best white I've tried.  Whites often have a tendency to be streaky or require multiple coats to be opaque, but this went on very smoothly with no problems.  I could have done with one coat, but I have a compulsive need to apply at least two coats of any polish.  This is with one coat of Seche Vite, since I was doing nail art on top of it.

All of these pictures were taken in artificial light, because the weather where I live is cloudy and rainy almost every day.  

Tomorrow I have dance competitions all day, but hopefully I'll find a few minutes to post some more pictures. Wish me luck!