Let me start out by saying this: I love this polish. But I had a hell of a time with it. It's been sitting in my draft folder forever, in hopes that the perfect underwear would magically come my way. It sat so long I forgot that it never got posted- so sorry! I'm not sure I've ever had this problem before! So in addition to the review today, I have a request for your opinions: what the hell should I wear this over?
Meet Vinyl Junkie by All That Glitters. Kristen from All That Glitters calls this a "dark grey pearly base with black glitters in various colors, shapes and sizes. Despite just being a dark grey/black polish the pearly base really has a shine and sparkles!" This is absolutely correct- the base is gorgeous and shimmery, and there are tons of black bars and multiple sizes of black hexes. It seems to be Spotty Dotty Dark with a colored base. You can just see the touches of shimmer and chunks of black glitter in that bottle shot.
This is three coats of Vinyl Junkie on its own (except index finger, which is two coats), topped with a coat of Seche Vite. Photos were taken indoors under a "natural" light bulb, sans flash.
The base is beautiful, the black shows up nicely against the grey . . . but I really felt like this needed a coat of color underneath. Or something. The shimmery grey base isn't quite opaque enough that I really enjoyed it on its own. So I swatched on a nail wheel. And swatched, and swatched. Here are some of my trials:
L-R: two coats of Vinyl Junkie alone, and two coats over: creme black (rejected- black glitter got lost), Wet N Wild Metallica (I may have to revisit this one) and LA Colors BCC (seemed kinda blah).
So then I had the idea: NEONS! L-R: one coat of Vinyl Junkie over: Sinful Colors Fusion Neon, Sinful Colors Happy Ending, Sinful Colors Cloud 9, Sinful Colors Neon Melon and Sinful Colors Dream On. The Purple got too dark, and the green, orange and yellow just became an odd colors with the grey topper. I love the pink on the wheel, but I didn't even take pics of the mani, because one coat of Vinyl Junkie was too streaky on my nails (I'm way better at painting a wheel than my own nails!), but two coats became way too dark. Hrm.
As far as application goes, this went on nicely. It is a bit thick, but nothing a careful hand (or drop of thinner) won't cure. The first coat (as mentioned above) is a bit sheer and streaky, but it evens out with two or three coats. It does not become completely opaque, however. There was no glitter fishing, and no clumping together.
I have seen swatches of this polish that were beautiful- and they all seem to be of Vinyl Junkie on its own. Kristen also says that this is All That Glitters' best selling and most favorited polish! (As of early this year.) It, along with Very Peacock-ish and other glitter-tastic polishes, can be purchased on Etsy. Full sized bottles are $8 Be sure to like All That Glitters on Facebook as well for restock information and some beautiful swatches of All That Glitters polishes.
I really, really love this polish in theory, I just haven't found the best possible way to wear it. I promise you, you will see this polish again once I conquer it and bend it to my will. And find appropriate undies. My next attempts will probably feature a dark red, another shot at the silver, and possibly a more subdued purple? As well as all of your ideas!
So what do you think, ladies? What color is this polish destined for?
As always, Support your indies!
Cheers,
-Liz-
