Madam Glam Color-Changing Gel Polish in Hot Hot Hot

I've been hardcore crushing on Hot Hot Hot after seeing it on Amber from Nails Like Lace, so when Madam Glam reached out to ask if I'd like to try some of their gel polishes, this one was at the tippy top of my wish list! It's been a while since I did some gel nails, but I was feeling the itch again. It's nice to mix it up every now and then and I love how invincible my nails feel with gel polish on--no worrying about chips or cracks!

Hot Hot Hot is a very unique shade: a thermal polish that goes from a poppy red shade to a warm orange when you expose it to heat. And the best part? It's got lots of silver glitter in it too! Because everything is better with extra sparkle!

Here's how the polish looks normally...

...and then here's what it changes to with heat. Please excuse the complete change in lighting here. I took these pictures at my bathroom sink so I could photograph my hands fresh out of warm water.

 

 

For the sake of completion, I wanted to throw in a shot of Hot Hot Hot mid-change too.

I could not stop staring at this polish. It's so much fun and I can't help but feel a teensy bit happier when I look at it. It's like a little dose of summer on my nails in the midst of all this terrible wind and snow.

I paired this shade with all Red Carpet Manicure products (base coat, top coat, lamp, etc.) and it worked great. I applied two coats of Hot Hot Hot for this mani. I was definitely impressed with how it went on. Gel polishes in general have thicker consistencies, but this one was still nice and workable. It even self-levels, which is super helpful when you're dealing with gels, as the thickness can sometimes result in bumpy, uneven application.

You can purchase Madam Glam from their website.


Disclosure: This polish was provided for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns

Hey all, sorry I haven't been around for a couple days. I have been crazy busy over the past few days (I'm supposed to be on vacation, ironically enough) and I just haven't had the time to paint my nails. However, I have advantaged that opportunity to test out the new long-wearing OPI Infinite Shine system, so I'm excited to share my thoughts about that with you all--hopefully very soon!

As for TT today, I wanted to at least have something for to show, even if it's a re-post. But it's from a while ago, so I hope you all will forgive me! Our theme this week was scented polish and my pick from the archives, Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns, is not only a scented polish but a color-changing one too! Cinnamon Buns is one of my favorite Ruby Wing's. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of scented polish (strong fragrances give me headaches), but the cinnamon and vanilla scent on this one is not too overpowering.

Indoors and in low light, Cinnamon Buns is a beautiful bronze with rose and gold duochrome.

Then in direct sunlight, Cinnamon Buns becomes a deep gunmetal shade with hits of burgundy shimmer--super pretty!

I apologize again for the re-post. I should be back in proper swatching action soon!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Disclosure: This polish was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Week: Ruby Wing Rose

I apologize for the lack of BCA post yesterday. I had a mani all lined up for yesterday's post, but the pictures I took turned out terribly, so I decided to wait and do something that you guys would, y'know, actually enjoy looking at. To make up for it, I'll be doing double BCA posts today!

First up is Ruby Wing Rose, a color-changing pink glitter. Indoors and in low light, it's a sheer pink base filled to the brim with holographic glitter. Outdoors, that base changes to a deep rose shade.

Since the base is so sheer, I prefer this polish layered. I did take a few quick snaps of Rose on its own though, so you could see the color change better. Here is two coats of Rose over OPI Pink Friday.

Then here's one coat of Rose all by itself indoors...

...and in sunlight.

The formula is a little goopy, but still manageable. I do have to say though that the scent of this polish gives me a bit of a headache. It has a rose fragrance to it and it's probably the most intense scented polish I've ever tried, which is bad news for someone like me who can't handle strong florals. Even when my hands were down by my waist, I could still smell it! It's not a bad scent necessarily, just one I am sensitive to, so heads-up if you are the same way with floral fragrances. The fragrance does diminish after a day or so though, so then I was free to enjoy Rose's glittering goodness in peace. :)

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns

I've got a beautiful, color-changing metallic shade to show you today from Ruby Wing called Cinnamon Buns! Indoors and in shade, Cinnamon Buns is a shimmering, rose-tinted shade of bronze with a gleaming yellow gold duochrome. The duochrome on this polish is very strong, which I love! There is a light cinnamon sugar scent to this polish--not too overpowering, but enough to be noticeable when your hands are near your face. I wore this manicure for several days without topcoat and found the scent faded after about a day.

The color shift on this polish is pretty dramatic. In direct sunlight, it transforms into a deep gunmetal shade with pops burgundy shimmer. Gorgeous!

Both colors are stunning, but unfortunately, there's some room for improvement with the formula. It went on pretty goopy and even with extra time between coats, it would start to glob together as I tried to apply the next layer. I recommend applying thin coats with some added downtime between layers. Ruby Wing's polishes will change colors even when worn with topcoat. Without topcoat, the shift is pretty instantaneous as soon as you hit sunlight, while with topcoat is still quick but takes a little bit longer.

Although the formula needed a little work, both shades of this polish are still absolutely stunning. I'm really impressed with how dramatically different the indoor and outdoor versions are! Which one do you like best?

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Ruby Wing Electric Firefly

There is no more quintessentially summer shade to me than neon yellow. I wouldn't think to wear this shade during any other season, but I love trying it out when I have some sunshine to match my nails! And Ruby Wing Electric Firefly may just be the prettiest one of these highlighter-inspired shades that I've tried yet!

Indoors and in low light, Electric Firefly is a screaming neon yellow with iridescent green shimmer. I really love this shimmer! It's incredibly gorgeous and helps set Electric Firefly apart from all the other neon yellow shades out there. This color is so fun for summer and I got a bunch of people asking me about what polish I was wearing. Here's two coasts over a white base of Illamasqua Scorch.

Outdoors, Electric Firefly seems to change colors more slowly than the previous Ruby Wing polishes I've tried. Normally, the color shift is pretty quick. It is supposed to change to an orange color outdoors and maybe I just didn't have enough sunlight to get it to change? I walked around for about 15 minutes outside, trying to find some good light (it was a touch overcast but still fairly sunny out) and this was as much as I could get it to change: a golden yellow with orange undertones. I could see some orange veining creep up but it just wouldn't shift all the way!

I'm bummed that I didn't get to see a complete color change. I didn't notice it changing during the day when I was running some errands and going to work either and it was very sunny then. The slow-working formula was a let-down, but I mostly view the color-changing aspect of the Ruby Wing polishes as a fun novelty. I tend to judge the polishes primarily on what I think of their "indoor" shades, since that's the way they'll look most of the time while I'm wearing them. So if you have your heart set on a color-changing polish, you might need some extra patience (not to mention sunlight) with this one, but if you're just looking for a fun neon yellow, I think you'll be pleased with Electric Firefly.

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Jior Couture Polishes: Review & Swatches

I've got a fairly new indie brand called Jior Couture to show you today. They have all kinds of different polishes, from glitter to thermal to blacklight-reactive to shimmers, and they take custom orders too. I got a chance to try out four different polishes that really show off the variety of the brand, so let's get started, shall we? :)

Jior 2013 is an explosion of gold and rainbow glitters in a clear base. This one is a lot of fun and I got a bunch of compliments on it at work. It's very glitzy; definitely one of those "party on your nails" polishes. This is one coat over OPI Suzi Skis In the Pyrenees.

Rojo Brillo is a bright red shimmer. This baby really is bright--as in, practically neon. It dries down to a satin-y finish, so topcoat is essential to really bring out that beautiful shimmer. The formula is on the thick side, but that also means that this polish is a one-coater!

Next I've got two thermal polishes. These polishes change color when exposed to heat or cold. I apologize in advance if my hands look wet in these swatches. I was running them under hot and cold water to get the best possible pictures of the color-changing effect!

First up is Flowered Fields.  When it's cold, it's a deep purple jelly with red hex glitter. Here's how it looks with three coats. (Tip: Since these thermals are jellies, it helps to dabble a bit with the first coat to build a more opaque base.)

When it heats up, the base color shifts to pink.

Then there's Greener. When exposed to cold, Greener is a dark green jelly (less blue than it appears here) with silver hexes. I used two coats here.

It changes to a chartreuse shade when it's exposed to heat.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that I had some formula issues with the bottles of Flowered Fields and Greener that I received in my original sample kit, but I contacted the owner just to make her aware and she shipped me some replacements that worked perfectly! They shift colors very quickly after a temperature change and topcoat does not affect that ability at all. If my hands aren't being directly exposed to hot or cold (which is most of the time) the polishes look closer to their "hot" shades--probably just due to body heat--but they'll shift back and forth if I'm, say, sitting in my apartment with the air conditioner blasting.

Speaking of topcoat, I also received bottles of Jior's Cover Me Top Coat and Stick To Me Base Coat. I was impressed by both and used them for the manis that you see here (minus Jior 2013, where I used a peel-off basecoat). They're super quick-drying and have the perfect consistency to them--not too watery, not too thick.

Of the polishes, Rojo Brillo was my favorite, although Jior 2013 is a close second! You can purchase Jior Couture at the brand's website.


Disclosure: These polishes were sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Ruby Wing Crowd Surf

Hope you all had a fun weekend! My boyfriend and I went to see the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes" yesterday. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but it was a super fun, high-energy show! We have tickets to see "Billy Elliot" in June and I'm very excited for that.

Anyways, ready to look at some polish? I thought so! ;) Let's check out some new Ruby Wing, shall we? Today I'll be showing off Crowd Surf, a color-changing purple that would look right at home soaking up some rays on the beach or rocking out at a summer music festival.

Indoors and in the shade, Crowd Surf is a very red-based (almost fuchsia-looking) neon purple. It was really tough to capture how this polish looks indoors, which is frustrating because it's my favorite of the two shades Crowd Surf shifts between. In real life, it's much more neon and not quite as pink-leaning as what you see in this picture.

In direct sunlight, it morphs into a deeper shade of purple. Unlike the indoors shade, this shot is color-accurate.

The formula on Crowd Surf is a touch streaky, but solid overall. I used two coats here. Unlike Ruby Wing's spring polishes, Crowd Surf is not scented. But, like many neons, it dries to a semi-matte finish, so you'll need topcoat to give it that glossy, vibrant look.

Overall, this is a really fun summer purple. I love how it looks indoors especially. In fact, I liked it so much I used it for my current pedi too! You can purchase Ruby Wing from the brand's website.

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Ruby Wing Sunflower

Ruby Wing Sunflower is a color-changing gold glitter from the brand's spring collection. Ruby Wing polishes change color when exposed to sunlight. Indoors, Sunflower is a sparkling gold. It's opaque enough to be worn alone but could also be layered if desired. I used three coats of Sunflower alone here.

Outdoors, Sunflower changes to a more yellow-based, warm-toned shade of gold. The color shift is more subtle than that of its collection mate, Poppy, but it's still noticeable.

I didn't really notice much of a scent with this polish like I did with Poppy, which was a bit of a plus in my book since Poppy's scent was sometimes a bit too much for me. Admittedly I am not a huge fan of scented polish though.

I have to confess that I was pretty indifferent towards this in the bottle, but once it was on, I really liked it. It has this almost gilded look to it that's very rich and ornate. Sunflower definitely wouldn't be out of place on a fancy night out but it's a perfect fun, summer-y polish too.

You can purchase Ruby Wing at the brand's official website.

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Ruby Wing Poppy

A while back, I received some polishes from Ruby Wing to try. Ruby Wing is Color Club's sister brand and all of their polishes are color-changing. I have been trying to get swatches of my Ruby Wing polishes up forever but it has been all rainy gloom and doom here lately (Oh, the wonderful world of Michigan weather...), making it hard to really show off the color-changing effect. We finally got some sunshine yesterday, so I managed to snap some shots of Poppy.

Indoors and in the shade, Poppy is a vivid magenta creme. It's so bright and squishy!

In direct sunlight, it shifts to a deep red. It still has that jelly shine to it, but it's not quite as squishy-looking.

Topcoat doesn't seem to affect the polish's color-changing abilities at all. The shift happens quickly (no weird, in-between-colors period) and as you can see, there's a pretty dramatic difference between the two shades. This is so close to being a one-coater but I needed two just to cover up some VNL. I also wanted to mention that there is a strong floral scent to this polish. It's not an unpleasant scent, but it's definitely the most noticeable scented polish I've ever tried, so that's something to keep in mind if you're sensitive to fragrances.

It's been years since I've used a color changing polish, but I gotta say, they are pretty cool and I had fun playing around with Poppy. The whole color change thing can be kind of gimmicky but both shades of Poppy are beautiful to look at it and the concept is very well-executed.

You can purchase Ruby Wing at the brand's official website.

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.