Essie DJ Play That Song Neon Collection Summer 2013 Swatches and Review

Essie always does really pretty neons and this year's neon collection is no exception.  It's a little different this time around- they're jelly neons, not opaque cremes and they're not quite as fluorescent-bright as usual, but that's not a bad thing.  They look like candy!

Essie Neon Collection 2013 

(press samples)

 Essie Boom Boom Room.

Pale yet vibrant baby pink creme.  This is a true opaque creme, not a jelly. I wonder if the Boom Boom Room is on top of Boom Boom Mountain?

 Essie Bottle Service. 

Bright neon fuchsia jelly. Super saturated and glowy. 

 Essie Bouncer, It's Me!

Vibrant blue jelly-creme.  Stunning.  Dries darker than bottle color.

Essie DJ Play That Song.

Neon plum jelly-creme. 

Essie Saturday Disco Fever. 

Blazing bright dark neon orange jelly. 

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker.

I don't know if I'd call this one neon, but it is bright.  Grassy, yellow-toned green jelly.  The most sheer color in the collection.  Makes me think of lime Jell-O!

The formula on these was lovely.  On the thicker side, but not gooey-thick. Just smooth, slower-flowing thick.  Since these are jelly-finish polishes, they're sheer and need three coats for evenness and opacity.  I still have some visible nail line at three coats.  Four coats made these nearly entirely opaque, but I preferred the more translucent look of three coats.

If you prefer a more opaque look, Essie recommends layering these neons over white.  Layering over white can also brighten the color, but I'm just not a fan of this technique. 

Essie Blanc.

Bright white creme.  Three-coater.  

Two coats of neon over three coats of Blanc.

 

 I think this looks sloppy and doesn't actually save any time unless you can manage to apply them completely evenly with only one coat each.  Blanc is rather streaky and needs three coats to look even, so that's three coats of polish right there.  Then the neons also look streaky applied over bright white, and that's another two to three coats.  Five to six coats of polish, not even counting base coat or topcoat, and they still don't look as good as just applying the polish alone. 

   

I love these.  All of them.  They're bright and beautiful and the jelly finish makes them extra pretty.  The downside is that they're pretty sheer, but they dry fast enough that it makes up for it.  I wouldn't bother with the white layering thing, though. It's an extra time-consuming step and, if you ask me, completely unnecessary.  

These are available now on essie.com!

(Collection was provided for review.)

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetic Lip Tar in Yaoi and Clockwork

Currently digging these two new(ish) shades of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar (sent for review):

OCC Lip Tar in Clockwork.  OCC calls it a "burnished orange creme," but I think it leans a little bright against my skin tone for me to think of it as burnished.  On me it looks like a pink-toned, white-base orange, almost more of a salmon or coral color. 

OCC Lip Tar in Yaoi.  I'll admit it, I mostly like this one for the name.  Doesn't hurt that it's also a wicked cool color, though.  It's a bright neon fuchsia, and since it's one of their "metallic" shades, it has a silvery shimmer overlay.  It's not really sparkly; the shimmer texture is like the shimmer in a foil nail polish, but it's not reflective or metallic either.  More like a frost. 

Yaoi does bleed and feather on me after a while so I try to remember to carry lipliner with me when I wear it.  I like clear lip liners like Urban Decay Ozone, that way I don't have to try to find a matching color.  I don't seem to have a bleeding problem with Clockwork.

Like all the other Lip Tars, these are insanely pigmented.  If you try to apply one like you'd apply a normal lipgloss, you'll be in for a shock.  You only need a tiny, tiny amount for complete coverage.  I have the best results when applying them with a lip brush, but you can apply straight from the tube if you're careful and don't mind getting your fingers dirty.

These are available directly from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, $18 for a 0.33 oz tube. 

(Sent for review.)

Little bit of everything

Here's some of the stuff I'm into this month:

 Green Eyeliner

Brown eyes and green just go together. This one is Milani Shadow Eyez in Green Safari.  The name "Shadow Eyez" still makes me cringe, but the product itself is really good.  And yes, you can get a precise line with it despite how thick the pencil is. 

Textured Polish

I've been wearing the heck out of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes (I have Honey Ryder on right now), but the Softouch Effect polishes from Layla are also really nice.  This color is 01(sent for review) and it's a silver sparkle with a velvety, semi-matte finish.  It's not lumpy like the Liquid Sand finish, and it's not a smooth surface like other matte polishes. 

Neon-colored Anything 

I've accumulated an embarrassing amount of neon things.  Neon tights (Target's are awesome and dirt cheap), neon tank tops, neon jackets, a neon dress, neon eyeshadow and nail polish, and, most importantly, neon hair.  I've been using Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink for the better part of a year, but I switched to Special Effects Atomic Pink this week.  It's essentially the same color as Hot Hot Pink, but extra strong.

This is not even an accurate picture of it.  My camera makes it glow like it does with neon polish pictures and it washes out the color, and when I uploaded the picture it lost another layer of vibrancy.  This picture is after three washes and it's still a little too dark for my tastes, but the color is intense and vivid.  There's actually a stripe of Napalm (bright orange) in there, but I can't tell where it starts and ends because of the Atomic Pink.  I'm hoping it'll lighten more as I wash it, but so far it's resisting fading way more than my usual.

Random Nail Spam

While I'm working on getting back to swatching, I thought I'd post a little spam of random, old, un-posted stuff to make it a little less lonely over here!

 Clarins 230 over Orlane 90

 Orly Bubbly Bombshell

 Orly Coquette Cutie

 Butter London Disco Biscuit

 Nicole Texture Coat in Opal over China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Orly Flirty

 Orly Fresh

 Nicole Texture Coat in Gold over neon pink

 Orly Here Comes Trouble

 Milani One Coat Glitter in Lavender Fizz

 Jordana Glitter in Lunar Lights

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

 Finger Paints Motley over Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Ghostly

  

L'oreal Owl's Night

 Nicole Texture Coat in Quartz over a magnetic polish

 Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Ring My Shell over Essie A Crewed Interest

 Jordana Glitter in Sequins

 China Glaze Ulta-mate Holiday