Hits Hera

So, it's been a long time since I posted a real entry. . .

A couple of weeks ago I received an incredible package from my nail buddy in Brazil, the loveliest Rafa. She totally spoiled me, and sent 17(!!) amazing polishes in the package. Oh the bottles are so cute! They're all around 7~ ml, which is roughly half of what we get here in the US. But it's totally like getting candy! They look so wonderful together, all in different sizes and shapes. No boring, almost uniform bottles here! (Can you tell I love bottles yet ?)

Interestingly enough, the package took about 10 days to get here, but almost a month for my end to get to Brazil. So Rafa got her end, and while I wait for her to post pictures of the polishes I sent her, I get to try on my new pretties. She sent me five Hits No Olimpo polishes, one of which is Hera. This is the one I've been wanting to try the most, because there just aren't many really green holos out there.

You can see this is almost an emerald green, slightly cooler though. Very jelly-ish, it reminds me of that green gel toothpaste with one coat. It's very saturated, but the holo is somewhat subtle, comparatively speaking, of course!

Formula is somewhat thick.A few drops of thinner will fix it up, though. Drying time is a little long, still dentable after 30 minutes. For these finicky polishes, I tend to do the first coat the night before, that way the next morning I just add one or two coats without worrying about streaking, dragging, or denting.

 

The formula is not B3F; it has toulene and formaldehyde resin. I, however, do not mind, and I believe a lot of us nail boarders do not either.

You only get 6 ml of this stuff. Such a pity.

International Nail Polish Swaps/Exchanges

*If you want to swap, leave me a message on Flickr or send me an email at prwnklii@yahoo.com*

I love exchanges, especially international ones! Most of you will probably be in Brazil, which is wonderful because there are a lot of amazing nail polishes over there that are hard to get. I am also open to swaps from other parts of the world, not just Brazil :D.

The only drawback, of course, is that it's expensive because of shipping :(. So I only do swaps of more than five polishes once in a while, since I also like sending extras for bigger swaps. I also prefer not to send anything that weighs more than 2 lb/32 oz (~1 kg), mostly because I'm worried that customs will get curious and open the package. It's illegal to ship nail polish without a special permit over here :(. I have had one international nail polish exchange package opened recently, but I was the recipient. Nothing happened. However, just as an extra precaution, I would prefer not to send anywhere that is it illegal outside of the US.

If you don't want extras (candy, stickers, etc.), we can just trade for more polishes instead :). I also love doing smaller swaps for four or less polishes with no extras. I can do them more often, as they are cheaper and faster.

For the customs form, I will ask that you please write 'cosmetics', mark the gift option, and set a low value.

I don't mind exchanging for lightly-used polishes (two full manicures or less) if they are hard to find or discontinued. Most of the time, though, our exchange will involve a custom purchase of polishes of your choice.

I'm in the US, and I have access to the following brands:

OPI
China Glaze
Orly
Essie
Zoya
Nubar
Nicole by OPI
Wet n Wild
Revlon
Chi
CQ
Jesse's Girl
Sally Hansen
Sinful
Borghese
Confetti
Finger Paints
Piggy Polish
Nina Pro Ultra
Milani
N.Y.C.
L.A. Colors
NYX
Essence
Ulta
Pixel

Please note that some colors may be discontinued/limited edition. I'll ask that you choose more nail polishes than we will be exchanging just in case I can't find some of them. Adding a variety of brands will ensure I don't have to contact you again with bad news that I was not able to find them.

Here are some nail polishes I would like to get (will be updated):

Panvel Angra
Ludurana Notavel

Rivka Serena
Rivka Jenny
Rivka Carrie
Mohda Topázio
Hits Can Can
Ozotic Pro 531 (Mish Mash)
Ozotic Pro 533 (Mish Mash)
Winmax Alpha Rainbow 2
Winmax Alpha Rainbow 6
Winmax Alpha Rainbow 9
Winmax Alpha Rainbow 10

 

Extas
I love sending/receiving candies, chocolate, and stickers. They're good extras that are generally not too heavy. If you're allergic to something, please let me know. I don't like used make-up besides nail polish, so please do not send me any of that. I also dislike candy with cinnamon or spicy flavors. Besides that, I will probably enjoy anything else lightweight, cheap, and cute that you could possibly send me (notepads, pens, nail stickers, etc.). Just please try not to send anything that makes too much noise when the box is moved. If you want something specific from the US that is not too heavy, expensive, or big, let me know and I'll try to get it for you.

Shipping
Once we both have our packages ready, we will ship on the same date. I will take photos of some of the items I am sending you, as well as the package itself. Packages are to be shipped using First Class, and they tend to take at least two weeks to arrive, so a little patience is required. All packages I send out will be well-wrapped with bubble wrap and crumpled paper. If we're trading less than five polishes, I use a yellow bubble mailer, otherwise a cardboard box will be used as I don't want anything to get damaged.

Blog Sale!

I'm selling the following items to get some funds to purchase other polishes. There's nothing wrong with these polishes, they're actually very lovely colors, but they just aren't what I need right now. As you can see, there are no prices. I'm accepting price offers (in US dollars), or swaps/exchanges for Ludurana, Ellen Gold, and Hits holos. So take a look, and if you find something interesting, send me an email: prwnklii@yahoo.com or a message on MUA (Periwinkle2) or Flickr (prwnkl). I am willing to ship internationally if the offer is right ;D.

Usage is indicated (used x1, or new)

From left to right:




All polishes have a new home now. Thanks for looking anyway :D.

OPI DS Exclusive JP

Last Wednesday I got this in the mail:

 

It's DS Exclusive from the Japanese Designer Series. This is number two, just like the US version. Needless to say, that's where the similarities end. This is a medium pink with those large super holo particles we all love. It cost me quite a bit, so I was crossing my fingers it was worth all the $$$. I have another boxed DS, but that one didn't have all the labels nor the "special gift" advertised in that silver sticker there. So yes, part of the reason I shelled out good money for this was for that. I knew it was a pin but I had to see for myself. . .

It's really cute! Don't be fooled by the close up picture though; this pin is tiny! It's not even the size of the cap. I would have included a picture of the pin out of the bag, but then that would mean I have to rip it open. . .and I'm not going to do that. I love saving wrapping, plus I'm a collector (not the crazy type who doesn't use/open any of their stuff, just the kind that likes to keep everything as close to the original condition as possible).

Anyway, it looked darker in the bottle than what I saw from the few swatches online. But then, such is the case with a lot of these holos. It's much lighter on the nail:

Gorgeous! I generally have a difficult time with pinks, they bring out the worst of my skin. But not this one, it's lovely. I think it's the holo, it's kind of hard to screw it up. Except DS Elegance, bad experience. It looks very lovely on some people, but it doesn't work for me. Such a disappointment. Anyway, this polish works wonderfully with either one or two coats. One coat will get you a lovely soft pink, two will get you closer to bottle color.

All that said, if you can only buy three shades from this DS series, I would highly recommend DS Shimmer, DS Luxury, and this one. They will definitely not disappoint. My biggest regret is DS Divine, which I also paid quite a bit of $$$ for, and though it is lovely, it's not at all what I expected. The holo does this weird effect that's a lot more scattered and reflects a lot of orange and red instead of blue. These three are a lot nicer and true to what you see in photos.

A picture of the whole (or most) of the family.

So there goes my last Japanese DS, as I am not interested in the other shades as much. Although, I would only need four to complete the collection. . .so if I can swap for them, I will probably change my mind. I will just have to forget about these for a bit and look forward to the Hits and Ludurana holos. And I'll probably also have some swatches of those Daiso Winmax Alpha Rainbow polishes in a few weeks if my swap goes through fine.

BK 20

Here's another BK polish, number 20. This is a black holo. It is not an exact dupe to the original MPJ. I could not say for sure, as I do not have a bottle (sadly), but MPJ seems to be more of a brown-based black. BK 20 has a cooler base, much more bluish. I have compared my BK holos (on a nail wheel) and have found that they are stronger than the DSs (will have an upcoming post on that), so my guess is that this is also more holo than MPJ.

Anyway, here are a few pictures:

Like I said last time, the formula is wonderful and shiny. Owning and trying this polish has definitely killed any desires to purchase the original MPJ. I don't know about anyone else, but as gorgeous and wonderful as a black holo is, there is no way I would ever pay more than $40 for a bottle. Ever.

In other news, I signed up for a group order for the upcoming anniversary Hits polish collection Hits no Olimpo along with quite a few other ladies on MUA. Crossing my fingers everything works out in the end so we can all get our hands on some excellent holos from Brazil. I'm especially excited about Hera, a teal holo. A teal linear holo, I don't think I've seen than yet.

BK 14

It's so exciting to try a completely new brand. I don't know very much about it, except that it's only available in Asia (so far, have only heard of Hong Kong), and that they have a regular and a crack line. Got four of these in a swap with Caca, who has given me permission to swatch these before getting her end (if you read this: thank you ♥). Out of them, this one and 20 are the ones I've been dying to try out first.

Enough rambling, here are the pictures. These are all with only one coat over Revlon Barely Peach, no top coat:

(Click to enlarge)

 

Look at the gold flash *_*

   

 

In 14, I think I have found my HG gold holo. It is a bit orangey, but it looks a lot more golden in the sun (meaning, less red than the photos show) than other beige-gold holos. I can't think of any holo that comes even close in color to BK 14.

Anyway, Caca told me the bottles were really tiny, but I didn't think they were this small! They are very cute, though, and the polish is so holo that you really only need one coat. The formula is perfect, comparable to the OPI DSs. Flawless, smooth, very forgiving. No drag, plus I think it may be B3F, at least judging by the smell. The brush is also very small:

However, this allows one to have good control of the bristles, which glide very smoothly. I found it very easy to work with despite the smallness. It would probably be a bit difficult for those with large hands and fingers, though. No accidental cuticle flooding with these babies, that's for sure.

OPI DS Couture JP

So, last time I mentioned I burned my hand. Well, it happened again, before it healed properly from the first time. I also burned a bit of my foot, and one of the side walls of my right index finger. Everything seems to be healing ok, though, so hopefully I will not have to swatch with my left hand for very long.

Anyway, today I finally got to wear DS Couture:

 

Got this polish from a lovely gal on MUA in a swap, along with China Glaze Spin Me Round (which I will be posting later). Color-wise, I don't know. Under certain lighting I love it, under others it's a bit meh. Would I pay $25+ for it? No. It's kind of orangey red, looks more red in the sun. In the bottle, it definitely looks lighter, so it kind of surprised me. I thought it would look way different from the regular US version. It's very holo, though, so that takes away from the dullness of the base color. I'm still wondering why the hell OPI did not make a good sky blue holo for the JP DS line, nor a scattered medium purple and a bright fuchsia. Ozotic Pros and Kaleidoscopes will have to come in and fill that void (which they are doing very nicely, by the way).

Now I just need two polishes to finish up my collection of the Japanese DS line (my biggest lemming for a good while) which I will hopefully get soon.  After that, I will have to move on to collecting the few Kaleidoscopes I want, and try to swap for more of those cute BKs:

Die MPJ holo lemming! Note to self: need more BK 20's.

I hope my end of the swap gets there soon so I can wear the BKs before the month is over :D.

So never fear, there will probably never be a shortage of holos to lust after. I'm still undecided over whether or not I need DS Design/Opening Night Gold, that BK up there seems to be a dupe. I might cave in later if I can get it at somewhat decent price, because I am a collector after all, and not having it will probably eat away at me slowly.