Virago Varnish - Enchanting Sirens picks

Hi all!

Press Sample

I have some stunners to share with you today!  I have been ogling over Virago Varnish for months now.  My pal, Holly, has been posting rave reviews on her YouTube channel and making me NEED these sparkly babies.  I resisted for a while, but then the Enchanting Sirens collection launched and I couldn't help myself.  Luckily for me, the creator of Virago Varnish, Adrienne, saw my gushings on Instagram and sent me my faves for swatching and review.  Yippee!!  So...I have four polishes from the collection to share.  Are you ready?!?


First, let's talk about "Entice".  She is a eggplant purple jelly that is jam packed full of golden/coppery holographic microglitter.  This was pretty opaque in one coat but I did two to even it all out for this swatch.  It does dry a little matte and gritty, so a good thick top coat really makes the holo glitter pop.  I love pairing purple and gold together!

Next, is "Temptress" which is a fiery orange.  This polish was less opaque than the others I tried but was still good with only two coats for me.  The jelly base is definitely orange with a strong red tint but it looks much more red in my photos that it did in real life.  Again, this was packed with gold holographic microglitter and needed a glossy top coat to smooth it out.  On fire!

"Melody" is awesome!  This has a clear base overflowing with gold holographic microglitter.  I only used two coats to get it fully opaque.  I found this tone of gold to be quite unique.  It's not too yellow.  It's not really a champagne.  I would call it dirty gold :)  Again, a good glossy top coat makes all the difference with bringing out the holo.

I saved the best for last.  "Harmony" is just...gah...stunning!  I don't have anything quite like this polish in my collection (and that is a feat!).  When I first saw swatches of this, I thought it was a dark brown microglitter.  But no.  It is actually a black jelly base stuffed to the brim with that same golden/coppery holographic microglitter.  I feel my photos pale in comparison to the actual beauty of this polish in real life.  I used two coats with a glossy top coat for these swatches.

What do you think?  Gorgeous, right?  There are 3 other polishes in this collection and Virago Varnish has many other holographic microglitters in their catalog.  Make sure to check them out and let me know if you end up trying any of these beauties yourself.

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Thanks for stopping by!

- Amy McG (McPolish)

*products provided for honest review*

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KBShimmer I've Got A Crush On Blue

My Stash

Today I have an absolutely gorgeous combination to share with you! This is KBShimmer I've Got A Crush On Blue layered over piCture pOlish Cosmos.

I've Got A Crush On Blue is a beautiful combination of sparkly holographic glitters in a blue jelly base. While I decided to layer I've Got A Crush On Blue, it definitely wasn't necessary and this polish is opaque in 3 coats on its own. The glitter is a mix of small and large hexagonal glitters and absolutely gorgeous. I did have to do a bit of fishing for the large hex glitters, but that was easily solved by setting the bottle upside down for about 10 minutes prior to polishing.

I'm usually not a fan of massive hex glitter like this, but I was so in love with this combination. The blue is so gorgeous and the holographic glitter suspended in jelly base was so deep and pretty.

Wow my nails were short, I can't believe this was just a week ago!

It's just too cool! It's always just when I think I'm over indie glitters (the blasphemy!) a polish like this totally inspires me. What do you think? Are the hexes like this too big for you or perfectly awesome?

*KBShimmer polishes available from kbshimmer.com/ and retail for $8.75

piCture pOlish Kryptonite Swatch and Review

I don't know what to say about this polish other than: "wow!"

 Kryptonite is a stunner. I've been trying to do more nail art lately rather than just plain old swatches, but Kryptonite deserves a post to itself.

Kryptonite is a dark green jelly polish with scattered holographic particles. The particles have a definite linear quality to them, but they're large and irregularly shaped. The jelly base gives it incredible depth. Just. Gorgeous.

Formula was fantastic, as piCture pOlishes all seem to be. I used two coats for full opacity over a very tempramental nail hardener that always causes bald patches, but it applied smoothly and perfectly.  It dries incredibly shiny and smooth, the photos are without any top coat.

piCture pOlish Kryptonite

piCture pOlish Kryptonite

Tons more photos after the break!

OPI California Raspberry

OPI California Raspberry is an older OPI that I picked up from a blog sale. I'm not sure when it became available, but I never heard of it before I saw it on the blog sale. This one sat around in my untrieds pile for a fairly long time before I actually pulled it out, and I'm sad I waited so long!

California Raspberry is a gorgeous dark berry pink with subtle shimmer and tiny holographic glitter. The glitter is the type that are barely visible in the bottle, but just pop in direct sunlight. The formula is fantastic, two easy coats. 

Some people consider this a red polish, but it's just too pink for me to call it a red. I think everyone has a very different perception of every color. I tend to want to distinguish between every tiny difference in color. For example OPI A Roll In The Hague is considered a red on their website, while I would definitely consider it an orange.

X-Rite, an organization heavily involved in the science and technology of color has a 100-hue test where you attempt to arrange 100 little squares of color into a spectrum. All of the colors seem similar so it helps to determine how well you distinguish colors. I scored a 4 (which means I got 4 wrong out of 100). How well can you distinguish colors? Visit the test at: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?pageid=77&lang=en

(I in no way endorse X-Rite Incorporated nor claim any right to the 100 hue test. It is merely a fun activity for those of us who actively collect colorful polishes)

OPI Save Me Swatch and Review.

OPI Save Me is part of the Nicki Menaj collection. It has small silver glitter and large bar-shaped holographic glitter in a clear base. This one is intended as an awesome top coat but here I'm reviewing the polish solo.

This is four coats of OPI Save Me. I had to be very careful with this one because the bar-shaped glitter pieces like to stick out at strange angles. I used thick coats and did a lot of maneuvering of the glitter around my nails. While I was painting I noticed that most of the bar glitter was aligning in the same direction so with the last coat I painted it horizontally across my nails. After every coat I did a gentle swipe at the end of each nail to remove the bar glitter that was poking over the tips. When I finished and while the polish was still soft and tacky (but before top coat!) I used an orange stick to gently poke the glitter down flat, to level the glitter with the rest of the polish. I used 3 coats of my old thickened Seche Vite to smooth this one out, and it definitely eats top coat.

The final effect? Absolutely breathtaking. The bar glitter catches light in all different angles and looks like little holographic fireworks. Every sparkle caught the light, I could only imagine what a great party polish this would be. However, with the difficulty of reaching opacity with what is clearly intended to be a layering polish I probably won't do this as a solo mani again.

I love how both the bottle and the nails here capture the crazy glitter.

(If you click the image above it's easier to see how the shapes of the glitter look in this mani.)

My First Franken

I'm back after a great spring break!

First, I would like to report that China Glaze Ruby Pumps lasted amazingly this spring break. After four days on the beach there was only slight tip wear!

After removing Ruby Pumps I gazed at my Polish collection looking for a color to wear for the next few days. I can usually tell with one glance at my calendar how much time I'm going to have for nail polish and this week doesn't look very promising.

I wanted something pink, since spring is in the air... but lately I've been attracted gorgeous glitter polishes with jelly bases. Shockingly I don't own a decent pink jelly glitter! (This must be remedied). After a bit of contemplation I decided to try a franken. For a base I used my mini OPI Do you think I'm Tex-y that had about 2/3 remaining. I added a combination of OPI Crown Me Already and OPI Serving up Sparkle with a few drops of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Kaleidoscope and two drops of Color Club Worth the Risque for some glitter variety. The result? A gorgeous glittery pink jelly.

Three coats and it was opaque.

(I apologize for how rough my cuticles look, the camera always makes them look so much worse!)

The big hex glitter seemed to stick to the sides of the bottle so I didn't end up with very many on the nail but I'm very happy with the color I ended up with.