Thursday 22 May 2014

Rainbow Honey Birdcage Swatch and Review

I am currently on my last overtime day for the week, hooray! I've been shooting event photos after each 11 hour day though so really I have been working 16 hour days this week. It's worth it though - I've been shooting some very cool artists this week and hope I get approved for some more tonight and the weekend. After that, I swear: Couch. No pants. Oversized Slytherin t-shirt. It's what the doctor ordered! So with that said, I've just got a swatch today - no bonus glitter, no nail art. For one thing, it doesn't need it!

This is Rainbow Honey Birdcage from the Clover Trio set, which was made as an ode to all-female manga artist group Clamp. On the site, the polish is described as one that holds black and holographic glitters and stars, with sparks of iridescence hiding in a shimmery gray base". Formula wise, this polish is finicky. I found it very hard to work with - the star glitter is very thick and heavy and had to be fished out. The inside neck of my bottle was starting to get a bit crusty since I was trying to reserve some glitters there. (The idea of pouring polish out to fish for it makes me sad, what a waste!) Because I was trying to get an even balance of glitters and the grey crelly base, I found it very hard to make it look even. I was successful after about three (and a half, give or take, there was a lot of patching to do) but it was also in dire need of a top coat since the glitters were gave a lot of bumps. I used two coats of Seche Vite to accomplish a smooth look. Despite the hard application, I think it was a huge pay off:

Rainbow Honey Birdcage Swatch

Rainbow Honey Birdcage Swatch

Rainbow Honey Birdcage Swatch

Rainbow Honey Birdcage Swatch

Rainbow Honey Birdcage Swatch

I think overall I could have done without the black circle glitter but I do love this polish. Applied with patience and finished correctly, it looks great. I'm a sucker for slate, grey colours and the black star glitters made for a very beautiful look. I would recommend this if you have the patience and aren't in a hurry to polish your nails.

Do you have any polishes that are terrible to apply but give a decent pay off? Do you think "pay off" polishes are worth it?

10 comments:

  1. This was not my favorite Rainbow Honey polish. I had a very similar experience to yours, and I couldn't even fish out the larger glitters. Also on their website, the color reads white and not gray. I was so surprised (and not in a good way) when I got the polish. I usually love Rainbow Honey, but this polish was a miss for me. I could get over it if the formula was great, but ehh. I guess since I've loved everything else RH this was bound to happen some time. Thanks for the honest review.

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    1. I find this very common with Rainbow Honey product photos but I find their website photos to be strongly "flattering" and not true to colour - everything is post-processed to *look good* as opposed to *look correct*. It's not a slam on them and I understand that photos have to sell but I think it does read a bit whiter like you said. I can see why you were disappointed! :( I was expecting something similar to this - I am somehow used to downplaying the colours that I see on the website. What I wasn't expecting was the awful formula. This one was not fun at all. I would really love to see RH make a specialized top coat that evens out glitter - since they make the best glitterbombs, they need to make something that flatters it! I love Rainbow Honey as much as you do (haha I make it obvious enough) but my let down was Poffin Party - it does happen, but for what it's worth, they kill it the rest of the time! ;)

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    2. That's why I tend to rely on blogger photos to know which ones I have to buy. They tend to be more true to life, even if I won't be able to get the exact same effect. I first found your blog based on your RH photos posted on Facebook! They absolutely should make that top coat. They have so many other specialized products that hopefully it makes the list some time soon. I actually didn't get Poffin Party. It's pretty, but I have a hard time with big chunky glitters.

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    3. Awwwww thank you! I am happy you checked out the blog here after finding me from RH. I've been a long time fan of RH but I am having a hard time keeping up with their releases lately. Too many polishes, so little time!

      I definitely aim to have colour correct photos here. While I try my best to flatter, I can't fake what looks good!

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  2. I liked this one. It was slightly disappointing that I couldn't get but one or two stars for my entire set of nails, but I still thought it was an interesting enough polish. I figure it will get better the more I use it. Each time I should in theory pick up more glitter, right?

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    1. Haha! I like your logic! I never thought of it but it's totally true - the more you use up the crelly, the more available the big glitters *should be*. SHALL WE TEST THIS THEORY?! ;)

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  3. That's right, top coat that baby! ;)
    Crappy formulas definitely suck, but if the end result looks fab then I say it was all worth it.

    So jealous of all the events you've been to lately!!!

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    1. Hahah you are the top coat queen. But seriously glitterbombs REQUIRE that shit!

      I've been able to go to some very cool concerts! But with that said, there's nothing in the next few weeks for me - when it rains, it pours!

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  4. I am so, so in love with this. And to be honest I do sometimes swipe some polish on paper to fish for extra glitter. I want mah glitter!

    Maybe this one would work better with a grey base so that you only need one coat of pesky crelly? :o

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    1. I should probably try putting on some grey base coat - but I think I didn't have anything similar enough - with white confections like this, it's easy because white is white - but when it's a specific tone of grey - I am not sure if my collection is well equipped enough!

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