Rainbow Honey Sweet Talk

I already wrote a preview post of Rainbow Honey's Sweet Talk Collection.  The collection will start to be sold on Rainbow Honey's website tomorrow, Friday, January 25, 2013, in time for Valentine's Day!  If you click through to my preview post, you can see pictures of the adorable packaging for XOXO and Sweet Talk, and you can see pictures of swatches on my nail wheel of each of the polishes by themselves and in combination with other polishes and with a matte top coat, and you can see a picture of the third polish in the collection, Be Mine, that I don't have right now.  My past few posts before that on my blog have been reviews of Rainbow Honey polishes, too, from the Yokai Collection for Halloween.

If you click through to Rainbow Honey's website right now (Thursday, January 24, 2013), the Sweet Talk Collection polishes show as "sold out."  Don't worry!  That's just a "placeholder"-type message until the official sale begins tomorrow.

I already reviewed XOXO, a gorgeous glitter top coat in Rainbow Honey's Sweet Talk Collection, here.

Now I'm reviewing the namesake of the collection, Sweet Talk.  Sweet Talk has purple, light blue, and dark pink matte hex glitters in medium and small sizes and some stealthy tiny peachy irridescent flakes in a milky white base.  The milky white base is polish formula perfection!  It's not thick or clumpy, nor is it too thin, and it doesn't pool, pond, or flood my cuticles.  It goes on smooth and has a shiny finish, and the glitters lie flat.  The light blue hexes seem to reflect light at some angles, like they have an underlying metallic quality.  The brush is thin and worked well for me, and there is a lot of glitter, so you don't need to fish for it or dab it on.  The polish dried quickly, and I had no smudges or dents. I used one coat of Gelous over the manicure and a coat of Seche Vite over that to make the mani glassy smooth.  I didn't have any shrinkage from quick-dry top coats.

I loved this polish so much that I put it on as a pedicure, too.  It is definitely perfect for Valentine's Day and reminds me of those conversation hearts candies for Valentine's Days.  I think the colors are nice for Easter, too.  And, this polish has completely satisfied my desire for jawbreaker-like polish.  I didn't own a single jawbreaker-looking polish, and I wanted one, and Sweet Talk is the great look with the fantastic formula and the consistently great quality that you get from Rainbow Honey.

I wore Sweet Talk last week as a manicure over Essie Blanc.  The white of Essie Blanc matched the base shade of white in Sweet Talk.  The first coat of Blanc was streaky and balding in spots, but it mostly evened out with my second coat.  It had a glossy finish and gave me a mod look on my nails.  Over Essie Blanc, I used one coat of Sweet Talk on some nails and two coats on some other nails.  It was pretty both ways.  With two coats there were some glitters submerged beneath milky polish.

Here are some pictures of the gorgeous Sweet Talk over two coats of Essie Blanc:

Seldom-seen right hand
Sunlight
In the ring finger nail, at the top, you can see the stealthy tiny flakes in the polish
Top/ring finger, one coat of Sweet Talk
Bottom/pinkie, two coats of Sweet Talk

Still the seldom-seen right hand
Indirect sunlight
You can see how the blue hexes reflect light with an underlying metallic quality
Top/ring finger, one coat of Sweet Talk
Bottom/pinkie, two coats of Sweet Talk

Left hand
Sunlight
From top to bottom:  one coat, two coats, two coats, one coat of Sweet Talk

Left hand
Indirect Sunlight
So shiny and smooth!
From left to right:  one coat, two coats, two coats, one coat of Sweet Talk

The Sweet Talk Collection will be officially released on January 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM EST at rainbowhoney.com and participating Retail Partners around the world. Rainbow Honey generously shared a promo code for $5.00 off a purchase on their website.  PROMO CODE = SWEETTALK$5 (promo code expires 2/28/2013). Promo code RH25%OFF is also still active (also expires 2/28/2013), and free shipping on all orders over $25 has been extended until 1/31/2013.

Also, Rainbow Honey now has two additional very limited edition polishes that they will be giving away. They are "Dearly Beloved" and "My Love." They are glitter top coats with heart-shaped glitter in addition to traditional glitter! Every purchase of $50 or more will receive one of the two special edition polishes. They also have a giveaway that ends when the shop opens and the sale of the collection starts at midnight tonight, so you have until midnight to enter the giveaway here. They are giving away three sets of Dearly Beloved and My Love. If you click through to the giveaway link or to Rainbow Honey's website, you can see more pictures and swatches of Dearly Beloved and My Love in addition to these:

Thank you Rainbow Honey for the promo codes, the giveaways, the free goodies, and for letting me review these lovely polishes!

Note:  I received a free bottle of Sweet Talk polish from Rainbow Honey and was asked for my honest and unpaid review of Sweet Talk.  I am not affiliated in any other way with Rainbow Honey other than as a regular customer because I do buy, love and use their products.

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Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Pride

I wanted Nostalgic Nail Lacquer's Pride polish for months.  It is a top coat with a clear base and white star and bar glitter and blue and red hex metal glitter.  It was a limited edition polish, and I did not get it when it was sold on Nostalgic Nail Lacquer's website store.  When I saw a bottle on a blog sale, I snatched it up!  I love it!  When I received my precious bottle in the mail near the end of October, I was wearing Rainbow Honey's Kawako, a nice dark navy blue polish that I reviewed here.  Once my work week was over, I added a coat of Pride to my Kawako manicure.  Nostalgic Nail Lacquer's polishes are very high quality.  The polish went on easily and smoothly.  I got star glitter easily on every nail.  The bright blue and red metal hex glitter didn't curl or bleed, and it was mirror-like in the way it reflected light.  All the glitter lays flat, even the star glitter, although I did use a coat of Gelous over it and then a coat of Seche Vite just to be sure everything was glassy-smooth.  I have used other red, white and blue-type top coats, but often the glitters are paper-like, or crinkle-paper-like, if that makes any sense, and this is the only glitter top coat I've seen with these gorgeous metal hex glitters.

Here are some pictures (any bubbles are from the top coat):

Sunlight
You can see how the gorgeous hex glitters reflect light so that they're different colors at times.
You can also see the silver flakie-like glitter in the beautiful Kawako base coat.

Indirect Sunlight

Shade
Even in low light, look at how those metal hexes glow!!!

Sunlight
Jeans in the background show how close to denim the color is in Kawako.

Shade
Again, look at how the metal hex glitter glows, even in the shade!

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Cover Band Sticks and Stones Comparison to Candeo Colors Sprouse and Lush Lacquer Salt N Peppa

On Saturday I put a coat of Cover Band's Sticks 'n Stones as an accent on each ring finger nail on top of the Revlon Top Speed Chili that I had been wearing for a week.  On Sunday, before removing the polish, I added Candeo Colors' Sprouse to two different fingernails and Lush Lacquer's Salt N Peppa to another fingernail to compare them to Sticks and Stones.

Sticks 'n Stones is a copy (of sorts) of Lynnderella's Connect the Dots.  Sticks 'n Stones comes in a clear base, which I like.  It doesn't affect the underlying color, and the pattern comes across as very crisp.  The matte glitter is larger in Sticks 'n Stones than in the other two polishes.  Lush Lacquer's Salt N Peppa has a lot of colorful holo glitter large enough to show through and obscure the base color.  Sprouse has very tiny holo glitter that shimmers a little, and it has larger blue glitter.

I didn't have a problem with application, and the glitters dried relatively flat and were even smoother after a coat of Seche Vite.  I didn't have to fish for glitters.

My husband's favorite was the Salt N Peppa because it didn't "have all those 80's" bars and hexes.  My favorites were the other two, of course, *because* they have all those 80s-look bars and hexes.  In terms of getting the look of paint splatters that I like, I think the Sticks 'n Stones does it best with a little more white to it.  I do like the little blue hexes in Sprouse, though.

In each of the pictures below, I have base coat, three coats of Chili, a coat of Seche Vite, about four coats of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat, a coat of each of the glitter top coats, and a coat of Seche Vite, and I had been wearing Chili for a week with no chips and just a little tip wear and shrinkage (from the original Seche Vite but not so much shrinkage from the Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat).

Outdoors in the sunlight (holding my husband's phone)

Top to bottom:  Sprouse, Salt N Peppa, Sticks and Stones, Sprouse.
I asked my husband if he could tell which two were the same, and he figured it out!

Top to bottom:  Sticks and Stones, Salt N Peppa, Sprouse.

Sprouse, Sticks 'N Stones, Salt N Peppa

Sprouse, Sticks 'N Stones, Salt N Peppa

In these last few pictures, you can see that the glitter lies flat.  There's a little piece of black bar glitter on one nail that was outside the polish area (near my cuticle, ring finger, last finger on the right in the photos), and I clipped it off easily later on.

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Candeo Colors Sprouse over L'Oreal Greyt Expectations

I painted my nails with L'Oreal Greyt Expectations on a Sunday, and the following Saturday, 6 days later, I added Candeo Sprouse.  Sprouse is similar to Lynnderella's Connect the Dots, but it has holographic microglitter instead of CtD's shimmer, and it has blue glitter that CtD does not have.  I really like Sprouse.  It was very easy to apply.  I had no problems with getting enough glitter on each brush stroke, and I had no trouble with glitter placement, and the glitter lay flat except for one bar glitter that I put on the most curved part of my nail.  I used cuticle nippers to clip the piece of bar glitter that was sticking out.  I believe I added a coat of Gelous and then a coat of Seche Vite.  The finish was smooth after that.  I like the paint splatter effect of top coats like this one; I think the paint splatter effect would have been even better with a little more white in the mix.  Because I wore the L'Oreal manicure for 6 days before taking these pictures, there is visible tip wear.

Here are some pictures taken in low sunlight on a mostly cloudy day:

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Amy's Nail Boutique Liberty

I have started to add a top coat to my manicure on the 7th day that I wear it, just before I take it off the next day to do a new manicure.  I do my nails on Sundays, so the 7th day is Saturday, and because it is not a work day for me, I don't have to worry about whether the top coat is work-appropriate or not.  So, after wearing Hits Speciallita No Olympo Ares, a red holo, I tried Amy's Nail Boutique's Liberty as an accent nail on each ring finger.  Liberty has red, white and blue matte bar and hex glitter, and it has matte stars, too.  I was trying it out to see if I would like the look for July 4th.  I had wanted Nostalgic Lacquer's Pride, but that was limited edition and is not sold anymore.  Liberty has satisfied my desire for a patriotic top coat, though.

Here are some pictures:

You can't really see the red matte glitter, but it's there.

I wanted to show how thick this many layers of polish gets.  I had base coat, one thin and one thick coat of Ares, six layers of top coat (I add one each day), one coat of Liberty, a coat of Gelous, and a coat or two of Seche Vite.

You can see that the glitter lies pretty flat and smooth.

In indirect sunlight, left hand.

Sunlight, right hand.

Sunlight, left hand.

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Big Lots Nail Polish Purchases

Sorry that I've been absent for a few days.  I had a stomach bug this week, and I missed some time at work, and I wasn't up to blogging.  I'm even behind on reading blogs.  I need about two hours of solid reading to catch up with the over 200 blog posts waiting to be read on my blog reader.

But, back to nail polish.  I went to Big Lots last weekend because I learned they had two-packs of Revlon polish for $2, so $1 per bottle.  Also, the blog post I read where I learned about the Big Lots sale showed a polish, Orange Fizz, that I just *had* to get.  I love orange polish, and Orange Fizz is a dark orange polish filled with shimmer.  The shimmer actually does make it look a little like "fizzy pop" (what I call soda).

Here is a photo of the rainbow created by the four two-packs that I bought:

From top to bottom:  Electric Pink, Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit, and Coconut Crush.

From top to bottom:  Electric Pink, Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit, and Coconut Crush.

From top to bottom:  Electric Pink, Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit, and Coconut Crush.

You can see the pretty golden shimmer in Tangerine (second from the top) here.
From top to bottom:  Electric Pink, Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit, and Coconut Crush.

Here's a closer look at the first four polishes:

From left to right:  Electric Pink, Tangerine, Orange Fizz, and Pineapple Fizz.

And here's a closer look at the last four polishes:

From left to right:  Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit, and Coconut Crush.

I ended up with two bottles of Pineapple Fizz because I wanted the orange fizz, and it didn't come packaged with any other polish, and I wanted the blue polish, Colada Fizz, which also didn't come with any other polish.  I realized one of the benefits of my being a blogger now is that I don't have to feel bad about buying two of one polish.  I can add it to a giveaway or I can swap it!  My husband didn't agree with my reasoning, but at least he didn't stop me from buying the duplicate.  :-)

Once I saw Tangerine in the store, I had to have that one, too.  It has the prettiest golden shimmer in it.  My husband didn't understand why I "needed" another orange polish, especially as I was getting an orange already at the store, but he didn't stop me.  He did try to have me pull out my nail polish wheels to make sure I didn't already have these orange shades at home, but I was pretty sure I did not.  The Tangerine came with Electric Pink which is a dark pink shade.  I would have skipped it if it had been sold on its own.

I saw Colada Fizz at the store, and because my favorite polish colors are orange and blue, I had to have Colada Fizz, too.  Colada Fizz came with an extra bottle of Pineapple Fizz, which I mentioned above.

Finally, I saw Passion Fruit, a purple cream, and I had to have it.  That was the biggest surprise to me.  All this time I thought I didn't like purple polish, and it seems lately I am buying purple polish.  When I gave it some thought, I realized that one of my favorite colors for clothing is purple, especially a reddish purple or pinkish reddish purple.  Passion Fruit came bundled with a pearly white frost, Coconut Crush, and again, I would not have bought Coconut Crush had it been sold on its own, but now I own it, too.

Below are some pictures of the polishes swatched on my nail wheel with two coats of all the colors except the "fizz" colors which needed three coats except for Coconut Fizz that needed SIX (6) coats, and it was still very light and not yet at the bottle color . . . but I called it a day at that point.

From #1 on the Nail Wheel to #7 on the Nail Wheel:  Electric Pink (not color accurate), Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit (not color accurate here--see bottle shot above which is accurate as to color), and Coconut Crush.

From #1 on the Nail Wheel to #7 on the Nail Wheel:  Electric Pink (not color accurate), Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit (not color accurate here--see bottle shot above which is accurate as to color), and Coconut Crush.

From #1 on the Nail Wheel to #7 on the Nail Wheel:  Electric Pink (not color accurate), Tangerine, Orange Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, Colada Fizz, Passion Fruit (not color accurate here--see bottle shot above which is accurate as to color), and Coconut Crush.

Thank you for reading my blog!