NailNation 3000 Mad Money

I think I may have discovered the most perfectly subtle Christmas polish I could have in my stash. It's called Mad Money and it's by NailNation 3000. Mad Money has a medium mossy olive green linear holo base filled with tiny red, green and gold microglitters. 

Now as far as this glitter in the holo polish thing goes, I'm not so into it. I don't think that holo bases for glitters are a BAD thing because they do make for an extraordinarily rich and dimensional base, but with these latest NailNation 3000 creations I've tried, the prismatic display of the holographic pigment is almost completely lost when it's disrupted by the glitters. I'm not so much bothered by it as puzzled. Why use these expensive holo pigments when their ultimate glory is interfered with by other components? Maybe I just don't get it. 

That said, I do like Mad Money. It applies beautifully, as have the other NailNation 3000 polishes that I've experienced. It has a lovely consistency, fluid and creamy, with excellent flow over the nail and good pigmentation with completely opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is pretty straightforward except for the glitters, which will cling to the skin and nail and must be swept or picked off. But it applies so well that little cleanup is necessary. Mad Money dries naturally in good time to a mostly smooth, shiny finish with a little texture from the glitters which can be felt but but only just.

Photos show two coats of Mad Money over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. For those of you who notice such things, I've been doing one handed swatching lately thanks to two nail breaks on my right hand. I've patched them and they're growing out, but my patching isn't the best and the way it looks under polish bothers me. So one handed swatches are par for the course until I can get these breaks above the quick and take down the length over all of my nails.

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

NailNation 3000 Mad Money

It almost feels like blasphemy to say this in April when so many are finally getting to feel the first signs of spring after the huge polar vortex of a winter we just had, but doesn't this look like Christmas to you? It's dainty and doesn't scream Christmas with it's beautiful rich mossy green base but the microglitters are perfect Christmas colors and it has that special holiday feel on the nail. I'm going to remember it for next December's manicures.

love,
Liz

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

4 Ever and Ever Amen by NailNation 3000 has a pretty silvery lilac holo base teeming with pink shimmers. I found it difficult to coax the prismatic display out in this one, but it's lovely all the same. Very soft with a semi-metallic finish and a pink glow in certain lights.

Application was spot on. The consistency is fluid and stable with good flow over the nail and excellent self-leveling qualities. Pigmentation is very good with complete opacity in two coats. Cleanup (such as it was) is straightforward with a little bit of stubbornness on the part of the pink shimmers. 4 Ever and Ever Amen dries naturally in good time to a smooth shiny finish.

Photos show two coats of 4 Ever and Ever Amen over Seche Rebuild treatment and Butter London Nail Foundation Basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

NailNation 3000 4 Ever and Ever Amen

Pale purples like this one never lose their charm with me, especially when they have the sort of foily finish that this one does. 

love,
Liz

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

If you crossed a sea nymph with a ballerina in fairy regalia, you might get something like My Dear Poseidon from indie polish maker NailNation 3000. This amazing polish has a light silvery azure blue linear holo base swimming with tiny iridescent glitters that shift from bright spring green to brilliant aqua blue depending upon how the light hits them. It brings to mind swaths of pale sky blue silk chiffon embroidered with green and blue sequins draped over itself again and again, or a frothy sky blue tulle tutu decorated with sparks of green and blue. 

Application was interesting. My Dear Poseidon has a fluid but somewhat bulky consistency due to all of the glitters, and likes to go on the nail in medium to thick fluffy coats. Pigmentation is a good question. Between the holo rainbow and the color-shifting glitters it's kind of hard to tell how opaque it really is. After two coats I still wasn't satisfied and added a third, which made enough difference for me coverage-wise but did end up a bit bulky-looking on the nail and still revealed a bit of sheerness when I held my nails up to the sun. No matter, there is too much going on in this polish to notice. Cleanup is an exercise in chasing down random glitters and trying to flick them off of the skin, to which they adhere with cheeky determination. I must admit that I was not very successful in dislodging them, myself. My Dear Poseidon dries naturally in good time to a slightly textured finish that can use some extra topcoat care to smooth everything out.

Photos show three coats of My Dear Poseidon over treatment and basecoat with a layer of Gelous and another of Seche Vite for a glossy smooth surface.

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

NailNation 3000 My Dear Poseidon

The last two pics are taken with a shaft of sun hitting the polish so you can see what sort of high jinks this polish can get up to. I was wearing it while running errands and almost drove off the road. The clerk at the grocery store wanted to know where in the world did I get that nail polish. I think that counts as a compliment, no? 

The combination of the strong prismatic flair from the holo pigments and the bright color shifting sparks of light from the glitters is an effervescent incantation to the gods of light and color. It's the kind of polish that makes you stretch out your arms and twirl your hands to view it at length and sends your mind into total visual mode as you try to take it all in.


love,
Liz

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

Capping off this little run of pink polishes I've been on, today I have Amazeballs from indie polish maker NailNation 3000 for you. Amazeballs (with an "s" at the end) is a reformulated version of NailNation's monumental magenta linear holo Amazeballz (ending in "z). Maria, the owner and holo mistress extraordinaire behind NailNation 3000, produces many polishes that are single pour only, and I'm guessing the original Amazeballz was just such an offering. Polish enthusiast clamor arose when it sold out, and Maria brought it back in a reformulated edition, Amazeballs.

Amazeballs is a saturated medium hot magenta linear holographic polish. The color is a deep purply pink, a hollywood cerise. The finely ground holo pigments in this polish produces a strong linear prismatic display in direct light, with red, violet and purple noticeably dominating the rainbow of colors in the flair. I believe there must be some larger holo particles in this lacquer as well, as rainbow sparks issue from within the polish in addition to the holographic bend. The color is brilliant and saturated, not at all silvered as is sometimes the case with polishes using holo pigments.

Application was wonderful. The consistency is fluid, creamy and dense, and lays down in buttery smooth even coats. Amazeballs self-levels extraordinarily well and I had no problems with nail ridges rising up from beneath the polish and disrupting the holo display. Pigmentation is fabulous, for sure you could wear this polish at one coat. I did two just because I could. Ok, and also to flesh out some wimpy edges and correct some wonky lines on the first coat. Amazeballs dries naturally in excellent time to a satin egg shell finish due to neon pigments included in the formula. Maria encourages the use of topcoat for gloss and popping the color. Needless to say, the use of topcoat does not affect the holo dynamic in any way.

Photos show two easy coats of Amazeballs over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. These were taken under extremely overcast skies. I wish I had sunshine pics of this fabulous polish for you, but it just wasn't in the cards.

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

And to give you an idea of what this holographic dynamo can do in direct light, I took some photos under the halogens in the kitchen....

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

NailNation 3000 Amazeballs

Amazeballs! Gorgeous linear holographic goodness, is what! Other than the beautiful prismatic display, which continues to nuance the look of this polish even in very low light, I must praise the glorious creamy magenta base color as well. It is rich, lively and floral fruity, and thanks to the holo pigments, very dimensional. There was a time when I would have avoided orchid-analogous colors such as this. Happily, those days are gone like a sprinkle of spectraflair in the wind.

love,
Liz