6/8 StrangeBeautifuls Volume 3

I never posted swatches of this volume! Here's 6 of 8. I did some

Sadly I don't remember coats. These are super rough swatches. Sorry!












(UNF this one UNF)

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Skittling

I'm a chronic skittler. I find it helps me work through my untrieds quicker. But ever since I saw this awesome post from Asami, I've been feeling the skittle shame.


(Strangebeautiful Vol 3 colors)

I tried to tone down my skittling by going with similar color tones - all very dusty. I like!

Any frequent skittlers in the house?

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NOTD: SB2 Purple + Matte Top Coat

Have you seen a less summer-y manicure in your life?

Ah well. Idk - I was in the mood.


(2 coats color - 1 coat Matte Top)

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StrangeBeautiful Volume 4 the multi-coaters

This post is Part 2 of two posts (Part 1) featuring the latest StrangeBeautiful volume.

Red

(2 coats)

This volume's red is very orange-y. Finish on this one was jellyish.

Chartreuse

(3 coats)

The photo is weird for this one. Bottle color is much more yellow in person. However, the nail color in the photo matches my reality. I have nothing even close to a dupe for this one. It's a fun color, but I think it's for the pale, Nicole-Kidman-See-Through women of the world (actually it very much reminds me of that rockin dress she wore a million years ago to the Oscars). Anyway, white ladies, enjoy this one on my behalf please.

Finish on this one was even more jellyish.

Putty 1 and 2

(2 coats each)

I put these on and my jaw dropped. Not one but TWO taupes that look good on me? GTFO of here. Awesome.

What makes these different? They strike that perfect balance of not being too brown (i.e. not clashing with my skin like Chanel's Particulière) but not being too grey either (i.e. not making me look yellow like Lippmann's Waking Up in Vegas). In fact, I put them on and noted that they both have a touch of yellow (maybe it's green) in them. Whatever it is, it works. And I'm thrilled. I even got several compliments when I rocked the lighter one.

I thought the wear was great but both could have leveled a little bit better. (I'm pretty much looking for perfection when you force me to pay $80 for nail polish.)

Now, I have to say, clearly Jane (creator of StrangeBeautiful) thinks this color point is the strangest, most beautifullest of them all because, with these two, that makes 5 across the 3 latest volumes. Kinda pushing it imo.

One Note: With every volume released, there seems to be confusion with the colors. People pop up on the NB frequently, saying that their volume's colors don't match those promo'd on other blogs (or even pr pictures), that some bottles in a volume have stickers on the bottom and some do not, and so on. I have been lucky enough that all my packages have been correct. All of my bottles have labels, and there are no repeats among my 4 volumes. This does not, however, seem to be the case for everyone. I would be pissed beyond measure to plunk down $80 bucks and find that the volume I was expecting was not as advertised. StrangeBeautiful would do well to either get its quality control in order or start naming (or at least numbering) their colors so we can all have an easier time keeping track of our collections.

That's it! Can't wait for vol 5!

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StrangeBeautiful Volume 4 the 1 coaters

I am a weak SOB and I bought StrangeBeautiful's latest volume. Full price.

Thankfully I was rewarded with an improved formula and great, though a little less strange than expected, color selection.

I thought SB's latest effort was especially impressive because there were so many 1 coaters (unlike the past 3 volumes where there was 1 or maybe 2). I also thought that dry time was much improved.

I've worn every one of these as a NOTD; the staying power is pretty good. The only draw back is that I find the polishes don't level as well as I would like. But all in all I'm happy.

As usual, I'm breaking this up into 2 posts. In this one I feature the 1 coaters.

Blue

(1 coat)

This is a very true blue in person. I find that on my mac (firefox) there is the slightest, slightest hint of green. That is absolutely not the case in person.

Teal

(1 coat)

Slightly dusty, this teal leans green (in photos and in person - heh).

Orange

(1 coat)

I did not enjoy how this one looked on me. I quickly konaded it with white houndstooth. I wore it 3 days in a row with no chipping.

Pink

(1 coat)

This one ended up reddening a touch once it dried, which made it quite a bit more boring.

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STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Volume 1, Part II of II

The rest of the STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 polishes...

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 tyrian purple

Nice even red-leaning purple. For those who have been following this blog for awhile, you'll probably know that I'm not a fan of this color generally. I have a ton of clothing in it -- and quite a few polishes -- but I just find it a really boring color to wear (possibly because I've overdosed on it). But I really liked this polish: it applied really well and has sort of a squishy jelly feel to it. Three coats.

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 Dartmouth green

This looks a lot like Dartmouth College's signature green: dark forest green that's got a bit of blue in it. I don't have a pic of it but it's a bit more blue and right in between Orly Enchanted Forest and Orly Wandering Vine in terms of lightness (luminosity? Not sure what the right term is here). It's worth keeping to me because I love dark greens but those who have either Orly might not care to have this polish. Not that it matters after you buy the whole set. Three coats.

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 sapphire blue with Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal (ring finger)

In the bad lighting in my apartment at night, I thought these might be sort of dupey. Yeah, not even close. It's also not dupey to American Apparel Passport Blue, which is darker and dustier. I did three coats here, but it is probably passable at two coats. I really enjoy the glossiness of these polishes!

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 candy apple red with American Apparel Downtown LA (ring finger)

Yup, they are pretty dupey except that the AA is more opaque in three coats than the SB. (It is also slightly less glossy.) I saw on some blog (forgetting which one) that RBL Chinoise is a dupe to AA Downtown LA so we can assume that this candy apple red SB is probably a near-dupe for Chinoise. (Yeah, just get the American Apparel polish.)

I was hoping that of the three SB sets I got, I'd want to keep an entire one intact. This might be the set to keep. :) Anyway, two sets down, one left to go. Though I swear I heard something about a new one coming out soon...

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STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Volume 1, Part I of II

I know Piff's already posted these awhile ago but I swatched them and it seemed a waste not to post them, especially since I really liked these particular polishes. I still think the STRANGEBEAUTIFUL brushes are a little long (which then retains too much polish and makes a mess out of application) but the actual formula on these were very nice.

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 deep chocolate brown

Two coats, very glossy dark brown creme. Two coats, perfect application and I love the color. I think it's so dignified.

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 army green

A smidge darker than RBL No More War, which looked kind of sickly on me. I had better application with this one than with the RBL (dunno why but the mani I did with it was pretty miserable, which is why I haven't posted it yet). I adore this shade of green. Another two-coater.

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 pumpkin orange

Three-coater, a little sheer and thick. I think this is a great orange for my skin -- a lot of oranges and corals make my skin look dirty -- so I'm happy to overlook the minor application problems I had with it.

STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Vol 1 pink

Another three-coater, again, a bit thick and sheer. A pretty glossy purple-leaning pink. It's sort of a "meh" color, in my opinion. Pretty but "meh".

Looking at these photos, now I really want to hurry up and swatch the rest. I really am enjoying this SB volume much more than I did the last one I swatched.

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NOTD: My 3rd attempt at water marbling

My first 2 attempts yielded unsightly results.

• Attempt 1 was done before MSLP's AMAZING video tutorials. It was awful plus I chose red and white. It looked like I had peppermint candies on my nails.
• Attempt 2 didn't work because I thought when you marble a light and dark color. Use the light color as the base so it pops. But that's not necessarily true. I found that I should have used the less pigmented color as the base. I swirled a well-pigmented but light pink $OPI w/ YDKJ (which needs 3 coats). I put the light pink on bottom and the effect was muddied b/c the YDKJ was translucent against the pink.
  

Attempt 3.


I used Zoya's Trixie and a Strangebeautiful. I did a base w/ 1 coat Trixie because it was the less pigmented of the two polishes.

Now I have to work on my swirl technique.

• Don't smudge your polish (see pinky)
• Make sure you get enough color swirl on the nail (see ring)
• Choose one swirl technique and do that for every nail otherwise it doesn't match (compare thumb with any of the others)
  

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RBL polish comparisons - Square Pants & Teal

I'm finishing up all the RBLs I own today.

Square Pants

(4-5 coats - I can't quite remember)

This one actually has a very slight shimmer to it. Unfortunately, for any fans of this one out there - Square Pants got discontinued recently. I wore this as a mani quite some time ago (last summer) and, like the other RBLs from this mini-collection, it would not dry. But never mind all that, check the streakiness! 4 coats (at least) in and still?? Biissssh plz.


Kokomo

(3 coats)

I like this one more. 3 coats and it's much less streaky. And I think the yellow is a little more flattering. It's just really hard to pull off see through yellow w/out the mind going to places.


***

Teal

(2 coats)

OK. This is color win; it deserves all the praise it gets. But, ugh, I found it to be a chippy SOB. Still, I'm taken w/ this one because the color is so gorgeous. I found the coverage to be almost as good as Dead Calm but not quite. It needs two coats but you can almost get there w/ 1.


I'm surprised there aren't a ton of dark teals out there. Here are mine.

Nfu-Oh 570

(3 coats, middle finger is Teal)

Look at that bottle color! 3 coats and I'm no where near it. Plus this is a jelly, which Teal is most definitely not. Moving on.

StrangeBeautiful Vol1 and Vol3

(Index Vol 1 - 2 coats, Ring Vol 3 - 2 coats)

I think your favorite here comes down to a question of taste. All those colors are awesome. If you like a little more green to your turquoises go w/ Vol1, a little bluer go Teal, a little dusty go Vol3. And the application is universally decent w/ all three. Although, Teal is decidedly less thick. So Teal probably wins the application contest.

I'm ashamed to admit I haven't worn either of the SB teals as a NOTD yet. So I can't speak on that.

Kokomo and Teal win.

FINISHED!

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RBL polish comparisons - Underwear & No More War

When I factor in price, I just am not feelin the RBL love save a couple colors.

I picked up 3 @ retail price last summer (the Spongebob Collex) and I picked up another 5 during the December sale.

I'm going to do a few posts featuring popular RBL colors and various alternatives.

Underwear

(2 coats)

I hate this polish. It is thick as hell and doesn't level out. While you can achieve almost full coverage at 1 coat, it is totally ugly and uneven, necessitating 2. I can't decide if it's more like applying actual white out or a Konad Special Polish (which, my guess is, Underwear would rock as).

P.S. When I wore it as a NOTD, it chipped badly on 2 nails within 4-5 hours and then started peeling off in sheets as though it were born to do so. Whoever likes this polish can go to hell. *grump* *:P*


White Out - Wet 'n Wild

(2 coats)

The formula is definitely inferior to Underwear but it's 1 buck and the brush is easier to control IMO.

White Out - Orly

(2 coats)

My preferred stark white. It can't achieve opacity at 1 coat (unlike Underwear), but it retails for less than a third the price of an RBL and is actually better. It's shinier, thinner, and levels out fairly well for a stark white.

Anybody else have any holy grail stark whites? I hear decent things about OPI's Alpine Snow

***

No More War

(middle 2 coats, rest 1 coat)

This is one of the two polishes I *really* liked. I find that the contrast with my skin makes NMW a bit greener, which is great in my books! I don't have anything in my collection like it.

In terms of staying power, I found that the RBL colors that need 2 coats for opacity last way longer. This needed at least 2 coats and it still looked really good after 24 hours. Fan!

Dirty Green StrangeBeautiful Vol. 1

(No More War in the center)

StrangeBeautiful isn't a viable alternative to an RBL (or really any polish for that matter) since you have to spend 80 bucks to get a specific color you want. But hey, I have what I have.

Nfu-Oh #565

(Middle & Pinky #565 3 coats, Ring NMW 2 coats)

I searched my stash for a second alternative and this was the second closest color I found. And it's also not close at all. But it dried way darker on the nail than it looked in the bottle so I wasn't quite as off as it seems.

NMW applies way better and dries much faster than #565.

No More War wins battle of the dirty greens. Underwear loses (badly) in my battle of the stark whites.

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StrangeBeautiful Volume 2 - The Rest

***THE POLISH OR PERISH BANNER CONTEST ENDS IN 2 DAYS! GET YOUR ENTRIES IN!***

This is the second part of a 2 part post on StrangeBeautiful Volume 2.

Now that the freaky-deaky browns and repetitive putties are out of the way, the rest of the Volume is oh... so nice.


Green

(2 coats)

This green is my shizz. Application was great in 2 even coats. Dry time was quick. And I love this color so much. This will get worn many times. This is my hands down favorite of both this volume and Volume 1. It is definitely my favorite light green I own.

However, some of you may struggle w/ the color and your skin tone. I imagine those with lots of red in your skin may not like this one as much.

Blue

(2 coats)

A greyed-out blue. Dry time is OK. There is something so relaxing about this color.

Red

(1 coat)

Just like in Volume 1, the formula on the red one is best. This took 1 coat and it was quite shiny. There's been some confusion regarding ALU's Volume 3 red. This one could be it. Who knows! Dry time was quick like Green's.

Purple

(1 coat - I mucked around w/ the color in photoshop to get it a bit more accurate)

*Shock* - this color was impossible to photograph. As I was applying this one, I started laughing because I knew that my camera wasn't gonna handle it well. The color is purple; it's very close to, or perhaps exactly, eggplant.

This was one impressive coat as well! Wowie. Dry time is slower than Red. Also my brush was frayed :(

Volume 2 finished!

***THE POLISH OR PERISH BANNER CONTEST ENDS IN 2 DAYS! GET YOUR ENTRIES IN!***

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StrangeBeautiful Volume 2 - Yellows & Browns

I, like Flint, went a little SB happy when Bergdorf offered them up on 30% discount. You may recall that my bff gifted me with Volume 1; I rounded out my collection with 2 and 3.

Like w/ my Volume 1 swatches, I've broken this set up into 2 groups of four each.

I'm not as happy with the colors in Volume compared to the other 2. It's certainly on the strange side of things (which I like) but there isn't enough variety.

Yellow

(2 coats)

Formula is a wee bit thick on this one. This isn't sunshine, banana, or even egg yolk yellow. This yellow seems to have a touch of orange and brown in it. I'd describe it as the yellow in the center of a daisy.

Brown

(2 coats, 1 coat ring)

Omg, I'm loling forever at the color of this. Whyyyyy. Honestly, who would wear this? I imagine this would look even worse on white people. It's a shame really because this has a formula I really like on it; thin, but controllable. It dries shiny, but unfortunately slowly.


Putty 1

(2 coats)

I was sort of annoyed by the next two. They are just. Soclose. Having swatched it, I quite like this color however.

Putty 2

(2 coats)

The formula on this one was shockingly different. Where 1 was thick (like Yellow), 2 is thin (like Brown). This one takes forever to dry. 2 is certainly more chic than 1, but I actually think I like 1 on me a little better. Am I wrong?

I've done a comparison swatch of the 2 Putties from Volume 2 and the putty from Volume 3.

(Index Volume 3 putty, Middle Putty 2, Ring Putty 1)

Lol I think it looks like I've done a very careful ombre mani.

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STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Volume 3, Part II of II

Alrighty then... the second half of Volume 3. I liked these polishes a LOT more than I liked the first four that I swatched. They were better suited to my skintone and they applied a lot easier, despite the floppy brush that I already discussed in my previous STRANGEBEAUTIFUL post.

Army green. Or maybe a dusty moss green. Three coats, glossy green perfection. I just love this type of green. (I love most types of greens.) I have a lot of greens but I don't think I have a dupe for this one.

Arsenic grey. Slightly blue-leaning dark grey color. A two coater and very lovely. This one was super easy to apply.

Dusty teal. I think this is the one that looks dupish to American Apparel Hunter. This is slightly more blue and is dustier than Hunter. Three coats and a little harder to apply than the above two, but not by much.

Eggplant. This is what I wanted OPI Lincoln Park After Dark to be (both times I bought it, I was sorely disappointed). Something that was very dark but still obviously a color that doesn't appear black in lower light situations. I can't remember if this was two or three coats.

Hmm... I really loved these four and I only sort of liked the other four. I'm not sure these four make the total eight worth it but I'm definitely glad I bought these while on sale (even if they did still come to quite a lot). I hear from Jane, the owner of STRANGEBEAUTIFUL, that they will be coming out with another Volume in the near future! I'm curious to see what comes next...

In the meanwhile, I am a nervous wreck. Today, I'm running the first experiment of the year (...academic year, yes, I hang my head in SHAME). I've run many experiments before but I actually feel out of practice, especially when putting together working memory tasks; I haven't done working memory research in four, five years. I am not confident at all that I'm using the right measures, I'm not confident at all I'll get any non-null results. After my last experiment was one big null fail -- don't kill me for saying this but it was the first experiment I've done that yielded absolutely nothing -- I'm just terrified that it's going to happen again. I hate feeling like I've wasted my time... :(

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