Fun with Glow-in-the-Dark American Apparel Polishes!

I finally decided to jump aboard the glow-in-the-dark train that's been tootling around lately.  Sure, it's a gimmick but who doesn't like glow-in-the-dark stuff?  I recently came across two new American Apparel polishes - Moon and Neptune - and just had to find the right way to use them.

To start, I applied three coats of Orly Dayglow, my go-to white polish.  These two polishes are quite sheer so I wanted to give them the best shot possible with a white base.  Next, I applied two coats of the white glower, Moon and the blue, Neptune, to alternating fingers.  Application was fine with both these polishes, not to mention interesting to look at the polish itself on the brush.  The glowing particles almost look velvety, never seen that before.  Once done with the two coats, I added the black glitter.  I wanted some kind of pattern for the glow test, what better than large hex glitter.  I used my usual technique and it didn't take much time at all to get the pattern on.

Keep going, nearly time for glowing!

Ta-da!  Glowing!  This was after charging my fingers under a lamp for half a minute - so glowing!

The Verdict:  I like these polishes.  They'll always have to go over a base but they glow brightly enough for me and don't do something silly like take forever to dry.  Will certainly keep me entertained when I go to bed!  Yep, that's a thing.

Review: THE ENTIRE CHINA GLAZE HALLOWEEN COLLECTION 2013

I'm not normally big on the "normal" style of swatches but I found the China Glaze Halloween Collection 2013 in TBBS yesterday and I couldn't resist getting them.  Then actually using them. Because they're ALL AMAZING.  Let's take a look, shall we?  I have about three million pictures, so get comfy!

Let's start with Howl You Doin', without commenting on the name because it's pretty terrible.  The polish, on the other hand, is kinda amazing.  I don't have anything like it in my collection, that's for sure.  It's a dark reddish purple jelly, filled with the typical purple and orange glitter but what's not usual is the orange flakies.  The combination is amazing, so complex to look at.  This is three coats, topped with a top coat. 

 

Next, Bat My Eyes, a black jelly packed to the gills with gold and copper glitter and a smattering of bar glitter.  LOOK AT IT.  It's stunning on the nail and only needs two coats to be opaque.  It has that wonderful depth you get with glitter-packed jellies.  I didn't even notice the bar glitter before I applied it, and it just makes it that much more interesting and unique.

Next, Boo-gie Down, a polish a lot like Whirled Away but with large and small copper hex glitter added.  This is one coat over Urban Outfitters Cherry Tomato and it just looks great.  You have to do a little fishing to get the larger pieces of glitter, but not too much.  The metallic glitter is nice with the matte black and white hexes and large bars. 

Fang-Tastic is a real glitter bomb, filled with purple, pink, green and blue glitter of all sizes.  This is one coat over Urban Outfitters Sunshine.  You have to dab the glitter around a bit to get an even coverage, but it's not a real problem.  This polish would work great in a gradient.

I'm so into texture and taping right now and I can't stop touching it on my nails as the combination of smooth and rough feels cool.  Bump In the Night has the same texture as the other China Glaze texture polishes - that sandy finish with no glitter.  It makes a nice change from all the other matte glitter polishes around right now.  It isn't as versatile though as the finish is lost under a top coat.  Here, I applied two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, added a coat of Seche Vite then taped off my stripes with scotch tape and applied one coat of BITN.  Beetlejuice-y :D

SURPRISE TWIST: Under the stripes but over the OPI is a coat of the glow-in-the-dark polish Ghoulish Glow!  This polish is not only super glowy, but is also pretty much invisible on the nail so you could theoretically use it over just about anything.  LOOK, GLOWY.

The Verdict:  Hot damn this swatching process takes forever but it's worth it when you get an awesome collection like this one.  I'm not normally into the Halloween polishes but China Glaze has done a great job here.  You could totally use all of these year-round.  I need a nap now.