Rainbow Honey "Summer of 199X" Tessie Swatch and Review (Bonus: Rainbow Honey Magic Cake, Rainbow Honey The Worst Possible Thing)

Usually Thursdays are Fridays here but I'm continuing the week with more samples from Rainbow Honey's latest and greatest "The Summer of 199X" collection inspired by Earthbound for Super Nintendo. If you haven't been following their Facebook page, just get you to speed, here's a copypasta from the press release:

"Another video game that holds a special place in my heart! I wanted this collection to bring me back into the game, and I think each new lacquer takes me to a special moment or reminds me of a certain boss that resulted in one too many Game Over's... Part I is made up of 5 new glitterbombs bursting with shimmer and color - they all layer to opacity but can be used over other colors as well. Part II is 3 new shimmer-dusted cremes and 2 new glitter toppers that give each creme a bold or sweet look. I am so excited to add these all to our lineup!" – Dee

I'm excited too, so without much further adieu, I bring you Rainbow Honey Tessie!



In Earthbound, Tessie is a "friendly, long-necked monster which lets Jeff Andonuts and the Bubble Monkey ride on her back to cross Lake Tess in Winters; Tessie was inspired by Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster." (Source). From the press release, Rainbow Honey describes Tessie as: "No need to join the Tessie-Watching Club when you can have this dusty and shimmery periwinkle creme at your fingertips." I'm not actually sure if it would describe this polish as dusty, as usually that term means slightly desaturated, but I do think this polish is actually quite vibrant against my skin tone and leans into a pastel purple with a periwinkle shimmer spirit. That's my take on it, anyhoo.

Formula-wise, Tessie follows the same smooth, flat application as Apple Kid. No complaints whatsoever and covers beautifully in two coats. Rainbow Honey Tessie has a natural shine to it too. Here's my swatch in two coats with no top coat:







Rainbow Honey Tessie is beautiful on its own but it definitely is an invitation to play with glitter toppers. Here's the beautiful Rainbow Honey Magic Cake, which is also a part of The Summer of 199X collection. I thought this combination would look odd, but I actually ended up loving it - I am guessing it's due to Tessie lending another colour to the palette and letting the neon really POP! I used one coat of Seche Vite Top coat:







Here's what the combination looks matted with Essie Matte About You. I love it both ways:







And of course, my exploration of Rainbow Honey wouldn't be complete without exploring other past collections, so I decided to head back to where I first discovered Rainbow Honey - the Equestria collection. Here's one coat of The Worst Possible Thing over top of Rainbow Honey Tessie with a layer of Seche Vite top coat:







Here it is matte-fied and I really love it this way. Really gives a highlight to all the glitters, something I think Rarity would love:







Although I think I might already own a polish similar to this one, I really love the shimmer and the great formula is a huge selling feature. That natural shine is great and I'll personally be picking up and am more than happy to add it to my collection. If you're interested in this polish, here's some helpful copypasta information from the press release:

The Summer of 199X Collection will be officially released on 6/21/2013 at 12:01AM EST and it will be available at www.rainbowhoney.com and participating retail partners around the globe!

We’ll have an exclusive 24-hour pre-sale for rainbow honey customers on 6/14/2013, 12:01AM EST.

The Summer of 199X Collection will be available as:
- Complete full-size (15ml, $90) or mini-size (4ml, $40) collection
- Part I or Part II, full-size (15ml, $45ea) or mini-size (4ml, $20ea) sets
- and full-size bottles (15ml, $10ea)

Rainbow Honey will also be offering FREE Shipping and a FREE Limited Edition Lacquer on all orders of $50 or more (US & Canada only).

Isn't Tessie the cutest lochness monster ever? This polish does perfect justice to the source! Also, does anyone know where I can find the goddamn Nintendo 3DS XL Animal Crossing New Leaf bundle? I WANT IT AND IT'S SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE! What glitter topper do you think looks best over Tessie?

Full disclosure: This sample was provided for an unbiased review.

Rainbow Honey "Summer of 199X" Apple Kid Swatch and Review (Bonus: Rainbow Honey Magic Cake, Rainbow Honey Yoshimi)

Sometimes when life hands you lemons... You roll with your new Rainbow Honey new collection samples instead! Well guys, I mentioned yesterday that I just received some samples yesterday from Rainbow Honey's latest and greatest summer collection called The Summer of 199X and I'm starting a Rainbow Honey week today! (Because, let's face it - my excited grabby hands couldn't wait!)

Here's a photo of the sample box and bottles that I received. Always well-packaged, well-presented and well-made. (Well well well!) Similar to the FAB Summer Set box and samples, I also received 3 of 10 of the latest collection: Tessie, Apple Kid, and Magic Cake.



Just when I thought I couldn't love Rainbow Honey anymore, they really have to keep proving that they are really my spirit animal. If you can't recall why the phrase "Summer of 199X" sounds so familiar, let me tell you - it's a whole collection based on SNES RPG nostalgia, Earthbound! Man I played hours upon hours of this game with my cousin when I was a kid!!! I'm absolutely sold. I'll keep gushing, but let's get into some specifics here!



Up on deck, I've got Rainbow Honey Apple Kid today. Apple Kid, you say? In Earthbound, Apple Kid is an inventor that gives the main character all sorts of gadgets for his journey! As an aside trivia, the writers created Apple Kid based on the company Apple, known for all sorts of innovations even back in the 90s. You can read more about the character on the Earthbound wiki here. Here's the description from the press release: This bright and rosy fuchsia creme won’t build you any useful contraptions but it is filled with more shimmer than you can shake a Pencil Eraser at. How cheeky! I love it! Definitely a fuchsia creme jam packed with shimmer, and leans on a warmer tone. Formula wise, this was an ace for me. Easy as pie two coater, and laid smooth on the nail. Gorgeous. Here's my two coat swatch with no top coat:







And I'll go into this polish a little more soon but... Here's Rainbow Honey Magic Cake on Rainbow Honey Apple Kid. This was just one coat of the neon glitter, topped with a coat of Seche Vite. It is one HELL OF A PARTY!:







Last time I did some photo swatches, I kept freaking out over OPI's Matte Top Coat so I wanted to stop that.... So I'm using Essie' Matte About You, haha. It's still hella awesome! Although this highlights every single shimmer detail and neon glitter shape, I think I still favour this combination to be glossy, that way the shimmer gets to play when the light hits it and the neon stays extra bold:







And of course, an overview of a new polish wouldn't be complete without exploring outside the locale... So we're going to take a step back and another step back with some other glitter toppers we're familiar with: Yoshimi from the Robots collection, and a highlight nail with Costa Del Sol from the FAB Summer Set. Rainbow Honey Yoshimi over top of Rainbow Honey Apple Kid gives a perfect touch of the 80s! I am sure I dressed in black, white and fuschia when I revisited my punk phase in high school! Here's one coat of each, with a Seche Vite top coat:







And I am sure all of you know how much I love matte top coats with Costa Del Sol so I had to do it all over again with Essie Matte About You:







Overall, Apple Kid is a super bold colour, perfect for summer vacation and time off. They've matched Apple Kid's shirt perfectly right from the source! Just when you thought 16 bits couldn't come alive, well Rainbow Honey has proved me wrong. If you're interested in this polish, here's some helpful copypasta information from the press release:

The Summer of 199X Collection will be officially released on 6/21/2013 at 12:01AM EST and it will be available at www.rainbowhoney.com and participating retail partners around the globe!

We’ll have an exclusive 24-hour pre-sale for rainbow honey customers on 6/14/2013, 12:01AM EST.

The Summer of 199X Collection will be available as:
- Complete full-size (15ml, $90) or mini-size (4ml, $40) collection
- Part I or Part II, full-size (15ml, $45ea) or mini-size (4ml, $20ea) sets
- and full-size bottles (15ml, $10ea)

Rainbow Honey will also be offering FREE Shipping and a FREE Limited Edition Lacquer on all orders of $50 or more (US & Canada only).

So am I the only one who is just oozing with anticipation over this collection? I played a shit ton of Earthbound when I was a kid, and this is the perfect way to get it into my life! (That is, until I get a WiiU and Nintendo finally freaking releases it on virtual console, COME ON IT'S ABOUT TIME GUYS! Sorry that's my E3 nerd rage coming out.) Any big favourites from The Summer of 199X? I've got two more to show you, so stay tuned.

Full disclosure: This sample was provided for an unbiased review.

Icing by Claire's Mint Choco Chip Swatch and Review

So I thought this was going to be a normal week of polishes from my stash and I was going to continue with that but then I got my samples from Rainbow Honey's latest and greatest "Summer of 199X" collection and I'll be featuring that starting tomorrow! But onwards with today and today is Cheap Polish Tuesday where we explore and discover polishes that are found on sale or regular price for a price of $5 or less! I've got another one from Icing by Claire's much in the same tune as last week's. Again, the price of these guys are $4.50 for my southern US neighbours and $5 on the Cheap Polish Tuesday mark for my fellow Canadian homies. They also sport a regular promotion where if you buy one, you get another for 50% off.

So today I've got Icing By Claire's Mint Choco Chip which might LOOK FAMILIAR? Illamasqua Mottle, sort of right? I'll post the photos after the Mint Choco Chip jump but asides that, it is a mint green creme jelly that has solid black micro glitter and sparse hex glitters. Formula wise, it's awesome! Full coverage in two coats, and a no mess application. Here's my swatch:





I love it. Especially for the price, it was so worth it. Now while I don't own the Illamasqua Mottle to do a direct comparison, I think Mottle maintains a mint tone, but is slightly warmer and yellow tone leaning than Icing by Claire's Mint Choco Chip. So as it turns out - the two aren't dupes! (Just recalling from memory here.) Here's Illamasqua Mottle in case you've forgotten (you can read the full review here):





(Waaah, I miss my long nails, haha!)

And another thing...

I talked about photos in my post yesterday about revealing how the polish compares to my Asian skin tone. (Read more details here.) I am actually going to continue with this for the next little while until I either get sick of it or once I gain a decent consensus on what my readers (if any, har har) think. So again, here's how Mint Choco Chip compares to my Asian skin tone:





And as a bonus, here's Icing by Claire's Matte Top Coat. I think it's not that good:



So far, I am gathering that most people are favouring seeing my skin tone with the polish. I dubbed my regular photos the "dead hand photos" because the skin tone is fairly lifeless and desaturated with my natural yellow skin tones bleached out by a colder biased white balance. Again, please let me know your thoughts of whether or not I should keep the regular first set, the "skin tone" set (wish I had a better name for them), or if I should just go crazy and do both.

Just to clarify - I am not skewing the colours at all, and both sets are actually "colour accurate". The first set is what everything looks like under the purest white light. The second set is what it would look like in more "natural" light conditions. What do you prefer?

What do you think of Icing by Claire's Mint Choco Chip? Now that you've seen both polishes, would you splurge for the Illamasqua? Or will the Icing by Claire's suffice for your ice cream polish cravings? We'll meet again tomorrow with some swatches from Rainbow Honey!

A England Tess d'Ubervilles Swatch and Review (Also: Photo Real Talk)

It's Monday everyone and as per the fact that it is Monday, I am.... groggy! Yay! I've got several things to share with you today, obviously nail polish and then as you know, I am always pushing to improve Claw of Cthulhu and I am contemplating changing the way I do the photos but I need your feedback! Read below and let me know your thoughts; I would love to hear them!

Today I am sharing my first A England! Woooo! My nail polish BFF Caitlin always, always gushes about A England the same way I gush over Rainbow Honey so I decided to take a dive into some A Englands the last time I placed an order with Nail Polish Canada. Here A England Tess d'Urbervilles, which I believe is named after one of Thomas Hardy's novels entitled "Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented". I am not going to pretend that I actually know this novel thoroughly so instead I am going to link you to the Wikipedia page, hehe. A England Tess d'Urbervilles is a vampy seductive deep forest green with hints of radiant green shimmer, peeking out from the dark abyss.





Formula-wise, it applied evenly in two coats. I found that it dried with a very dull finish so I topped it off with some Seche Vite and the glossy touch was needed to bring Tess d'Urbervilles in all her glory. I really, really love the A England bottles and am starting to fall in love myself so I hope I don't feel any weird urge to collect them all just as I do with Rainbow Honey, haha!

OK now for some real talk. About photos.

Typically I've photographed my swatches to showcase the polish. Colour-wise, I don't shoot to flatter, I don't correct the saturation or hue, or change the colour. My goal is to make the polish as colour accurate as possible. On the flip side of things, my skin tone is not colour accurate. I always thought to showcase the polish, but would you find it useful to see how the polish compares against my weird Asian skin tone? Does it matter?

Technically speaking, I shoot my photos with a compact camera - a Panasonic Lumix GF-1 with a 20mm f/1.7 - into a DIY lightbox made with a transparent Rubbermaid storage container, with black posterboard lined on the bottom and back, lit with 4 desktop lamps with white compact fluorescents. (Wow, I totally felt naked for a moment there, haha.) I usually leave my camera set to AWB (automatic white balance), which is fine - but I find the GF-1 to naturally shoot a bit "colder" on the automatic white balance setting. I experimented by "calibrating" my white balance to base itself on a white piece of paper and then well... Here are the results:









And just to compare to some white business cards:



I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE it if you could give me any feedback whatsoever on how you feel about my photos here on the blog. I do have quite a bit of backlog photographed the way I usually have been - but would you rather see how my Asian skin tone stacks up against the polish shade? Also - do you have any A Englands? Are they a "Pokemon" polish company where you gotta catch em all?

Rainbow Honey Kitsune Swatch and Review (Bonus: Rainbow Honey Yoshimi)

Alright guys last post of the week so I hope all of you have something fun for the weekend. Not me though, apparently I am shooting an event that lasts all weekend. I was fine with the full day on Saturday but apparently I'm doing another full day on Sunday. No rest for the wicked? Apparently!

Today I've got Rainbow Honey Kitsune. It's funny because there was a time in my life where I wasn't collecting them all and I let the Yokai collection slip away. Eventually it sold out and nothing could be done of it. However, they released the collection again into their regular line and thus, the need for ALL THE RAINBOW HONEYS! began. Rainbow Honey Kitsune is an albino gold jam packed with glitter and shimmer that reek of autumn colours - red, gold, orange and little solid speckles and shimmer. This polish has a lot without being loud - just the right amount of subtle. Formula was good - it went on smoothly after 2 coats:







I love the polish and will more than likely be wearing it again especially in the fall but I do think this kind of colour would be better suited on someone with a more fair skin tone. (Too bad! I am wearing it despite my weird Asian skin tone! Mwahaha!)

And for funsies, here's Rainbow Honey Yoskimi on top of Rainbow Honey Kitsune. Kind of a weird combination but oh well:







I don't recommend wearing this kind of combination because the little details of Rainbow Honey Kitsune are being overwhelmed by Yoshimi. I think if any nail art were to be done - a full nail stamp might be the winner here. Really gorgeous on its own.

Anyway that's all - did you get on the Yokai ship before it sailed? I just checked their website and it appears to be sold out again. Any big plans for the weekend? Or am I the only one working 12 days in a row again? Haha, oh the double life I lead...

Deborah Lippmann On the Beach vs. China Glaze Sunday Funday: Comparison Swatch Review

So once in a while I like to change things up here. I mean, swatches are swatches but I figure, hey once in a while - let's do one of these things. Also because I have ADD and I need to get this off my chest, does anyone remember Econoline Crush? I heard Home on the radio the other day on the drive to work and I was so into it. How come they don't make music like they used to? Anyway, carrying on.

Today I'm seeing how Deborah Lippmann On The Beach stacks up against China Glaze Sunday Funday. First thing's first - I purchased On The Beach from the Deborah Lippmann clearance sale on Nail Polish Canada. I believe I picked it up for $11 and it was regularly priced at $22. For China Glaze Sunday Funday, I spotted it at Winners for a whopping $5.99. Caitlin mentioned on her blog that she didn't have a light sky blue creme and I realized I didn't either so obviously I went all copy cat on her. So I got these.



Off the superficial bat, I always love Lippmann bottles. I love the name "Sunday Funday" mostly because it sounded close to Day[9]'s "Funday Monday". I have a massive undeniable crush on Day[9] so there's that. But... Crushes and bottle lust aside, how do these actually apply and stack up against each other?

I found that while the shades are super similar (not exact dupes but probably similar enough to fool most people), the formula was completely different. Deborah Lippmann On The Beach was a very very sheer creme-jelly that needed three coats for full opacity. On the flip side, China Glaze Sunday Funday was a near one coater. It applied super thick and needed one and a half coats for full opacity.

Deborah Lippmann On The Beach is on the index and ring finger. China Glaze Sunday Funday is on the middle and pinky finger:







Both colours definitely give me the feel of that blue water you'd see on vacation some place nice and sunny. I would say that China Glaze Sunday Funday is a little more vibrant. I suppose it depends what you like. I could see that Deborah Lippmann On The Beach could even be used for a glitter sandwich, but if you are aiming for a quick application, China Glaze Sunday Funday might be the winner for you.

Well, I hope that was useful. Sorry I'm verbose and talk too much. I am trying to stop (not really). Do you own a sky blue creme like this? How do you like wearing it?

Icing by Claire's Choco Chip Swatch and Review

It's Cheap Polish Tuesday where we discover and explore nail polishes found on sale or regular price for $5 or less! Today I've got a polish from Icing by Claire's, which I believe is available in both Canada and America. I assume this because of the price tag, and as usual the American pricing is lower than the Canadian pricing. Regularly priced at $4.50 for US folks, and right on the Cheap Polish Tuesday mark at $5 for me and my fellow Canadians - and further to that, they have a regular promotion where you can buy one polish, and get the other for 50% off. (I don't know about you but I always get suckered.) Alas, I picked up two of these and spoiler alert - I want another.

So here's Icing by Claire's Choco Chip, which... Reminds you of something, doesn't it? Definitely a polish created in efforts to mimic the Illamasqua speckled polish collection from the I’mperfection spring season line. Choco Chip in particular doesn't resemble any of the Illamasqua line so it's unique in itself - it sports micro and sparse solid black hex glitters in a pale grey crelly. Formula wise, it was pretty cooperative! No streaks, no pulling - two easy coats. I found the larger hex glitter a little more sparse than the Illamasqua but I did get a few on some winning strokes. The only issue I had was that I had a brush hair fall out and apply on my index. Agh. Didn't have any problems asides that, though. Here's my swatch - it's two coats, with no top coat:







A top coat would have given this a more even look but I suppose I was feeling disgruntled due to my broken nail. I had broken my middle finger nail when I was doing some shooting on Friday so I cut them all off. Agh, hate it when that happens.

Here's how Icing by Claire's Choco Chip looks with a matte top coat. I'm using Revlon's Matte Top Coat, to stick to the theme of Cheap Polish Tuesday:







I actually really love the formula (and the price!) of this one. I hope that Mint Choco Chip (the other Icing by Claire's polish that I picked up) follows the same suit, and I'll be on the look out for the third one which is a pastel pink. Icing by Claire's Choco Chip is a little dull, but for some reason I like the subtlety of it. Definitely awesome for a low key look, or some fun when you are sporting shorties like how I am now.

What do you think of Icing by Claire's speckled polishes? Would you rather splurge for the Illamasqua? (Also what the heck is the difference between Claire's and Icing by Claire's? Seems like they have the same inventory!)

Glitter Gradient with Rainbow Honey Pinkie Promise over OPI In The Spot-Light Pink

Whoa, it's Monday. (Ugh, it's Monday.) I'm sitting at my desk with a massive headache so just a quick post today. This one has been sitting in my backlog for about two months now, just before the great nail breakage of 2013.

Nothing will cheer me up more than a little bit of Rainbow Honey so when I was faced with my nails barely held together by nail glue, I tried to cover it up with a glitter gradient. First, I wanted to start with a sheer jelly foundation to give the illusion of clean and healthy nails (which they definitely were not at the time) - so in turn I used OPI In The Spot-Light Pink for a base colour. For the glitter gradient, I used Rainbow Honey Pinkie Promise. It's a really dense glitter so it wasn't so much of a "gradient" as much as I would have liked but glitter tips will suffice!





Anyway, I think that's all for today. I am going to take some Advil and hopefully get some swatches ready for the week! Hope all of you are enjoying this lovely... Monday. Ugh, Monday, haha.