Nation! It's good to be back. I'm going to dive right in to this awesome and (I think) rather beautiful review of Starlight and Sparkles polishes. Brace yourselves!
What you've seen above is two coats of Shadow Sapphire. For all of these swatches I've used the Butter London Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat and I've topped everything with one coat of Starlight and Sparkles Crystal top coat (unless otherwise specified). Shadow Sapphire applied quite easily and is really opaque. It looks like smoky dark gray with a hint of glowy sapphire blue.
Above, you've just seen two easy coats of Shadow Emerald. I would call it a smoky gray with a hint of glowy emerald. Application was also a breeze on this one.
This is two coats of Shadow Ruby. Again, absolutely great application and opacity. The brushes are very nice and easy to use as well, if anyone is wondering. I'd say they are a medium, standard sort of size and thickness. Shadow Ruby is a beautiful mix of smokiness and a touch of ruby. It would sometimes lean a bit brown, and other times seem to show a sort of mauve tone. I like this one quite a lot! That concludes the Shadow Gem trio portion. These all make lovely bases for layering, as you soon will see!
Here is two coats of Obsidian. This polish is a near-black. And you all probably know by now I sure love me some almost-blacks! This is no exception. It has some delicate, fine blue shimmers that aren't showing too well in my photos. This would be a great option if you want to wear a softer black or even if you love wearing plain black cremes but loathe the application process where you have to be so careful and tidy near the cuticles! Obsidian is a delight to apply and didn't require the nerve-wracking holding of the breath that sometimes pure blacks do. The little bit of clean up I had to do was a breeze, as well. Good stuff!
I had to include pictures of Obsidian without any top coat because, well, just look at it. It's got this amazing and lovely smooth texture all to its own. I was rather mesmerized by it. It definitely reminds me of...something...which I can't seem to verbalize. But I really dig it. Very smooth. Obsidian is not currently available for sale, but it could be soon! What do you think? Would you want to add it to your collection?
Onto a different grouping! These next ones are shimmer top coats called the Bespell set. Above, I have one coat of Spellbind over top of a coat of Cult Nails Nevermore (black creme). I've put Crystal top coat on all these as well for extra glossiness. Spellbind gives a beautiful cobalt blue to violet purple duochrome sparkle.
Here's where I started to have fun. Instead of continuing the trend of my usual and boring layering over the standard black creme, I've deviated! Above is a coat of Charm layered over top of two coats of Shadow Sapphire. Hello, Gorgeous! I absolutely love this. The smoky yet sufficiently dark base gives a really neat quality to the overall look. I feel like it's more forgiving, too, versus standard pure black. I love the mix of pinky-purple shimmer with the grayish blue base.
This is a coat of Bewitch over two coats of Shadow Emerald. It's super mega glowy and sparkly. I don't think it would look too different over black, but again, I am sure that the smoky base here is providing a bit of a forgiving softness (and an additional hint of green).
Above is a coat of Enchant over two coats of Shadow Ruby. It's a softer blue-pink-purple shimmer. This is just too beautiful!
And because I love me some blue iridescent shimmer over a nude, above I have layered a coat of Ensorcell over top of my favorite nude, Sephora by OPI XOX, Betsey (two coats). It's really glowy and pearly looking.
Every single one of these Starlight polishes applied just perfectly. Crystal top coat provides excellent shine, dries really quickly, does not bubble (hello, I think I love you), and is generally a wonderful top coat. I know I liked it a lot before when I tried it out, so I am looking forward to testing it again for manicures to see how long it wears on me. I have the memory of a flea. But I'm excited to use it again and have a big ol' bottle of it now. :)
You can find Issa's stellar creations at her Etsy shop HERE. These are without a doubt some of my most beloved indies because, well, they are just so dang awesome! I'm pretty picky, too, so I don't say that lightly. I hope you get a chance to fall in love with them like I have.
Thank you, Issa, for sending these to me for review. My opinions are honest and my own.
Also, I've changed the settings on my comments just slightly because I was getting absolutely pummeled with spam comments and it was becoming disheartening for me. I hope that it doesn't negatively affect any of you and I assure you that I would be ecstatic to get a comment from a real, live reader! (And I'm hoping and praying that I still have a few of those!)