The Box of Shame: BB Couture: Sea Of Cortez

The Box of Shame: BB Couture: Sea Of Cortez

Seablue jelly base with glitter

There are many reasons for a polish to end up in my Big Box of Shame. Either the colour doesn't quite wow me, the finish isn't quite right or perhaps the formula isn't amazing. When you've got as many polishes as I've got, then you only want to hold on to the amazing ones.

"Sea Of Cortez" looks amazing in the bottle. It's blue and has got some really gorgeous microglitter in it. So why is it in the Box of Shame? It's seven years ago that I actually wore it, so I can't quite remember. Looking back on the blog post I wrote back then, it sounds as if it was the formula that was the problem. The formula is both thin and sheer - not a great combination for me.

I used three coats for my nails today, which brought me full coverage. The drying time is on the slow side.

I added blue and white heart nail stickers and finished it all with topcoat.

Here's the final result.

BB Couture: Sea Of Cortez

I must admit that this polish is absolutely gorgeous.

BB Couture: Sea Of Cortez

Here's "Sea Of Cortez" alone, three coats and a layer of fast drying top coat to help with the slow drying time.

BB Couture: Sea Of Cortez

Here it is alone, with the stickers almost invisible in the background.

BB Couture: Sea Of Cortez

Okay, I admit, the polish itself is gorgeous. I love the glitter and the colour. I am not crazy about the three coats and especially not because the drying time isn't amazing.

I'm not sure, so please help me: Should "Sea Of Cortez" go back into the Box of Shame or not?

Number of coats: 3
Drying time: Slow

Finish: Jelly with microglitter
Overall impression: Great colour and finish, formula not so great

Buy again: No

LynBDesigns ~ White Fang

LynBDesigns ~ White Fang

White crelly

“White Fang” has been sitting in the infamous box of untrieds for quite a while. I bought it around that time where I bought a lot of white polishes to find one that would cover perfectly in two easy coats. I thought that White Fang was practically a one coater – I don’t know where I got that impression from. It’s a crelly, and therefore not anything like a one coater.

I used three coats for my mani and I honestly think that I would have preferred it with a fourth coat if I should have worn it on its own. I had no plans about wearing a white polish on its own though.

Instead I used it as a base for a dry brush manicure. I found a nice magenta and a nice looking blue, both from BB Couture. I haven’t seen BB Couture around since when Norway Nails started selling them, but a simple google search revealed that they’re still around.

The magenta is called “Sexual Space” and the blue is called “Junk in the Trunk”.

There’s a layer of “Out the Door’s” holo glitter topcoat “Northern Lights” over it all. I love that topper!

Here’s the final manicure:

These pictures are taken in ordinary daylight, no sun.

This is three coats of “White Fang” plus a layer of topcoat. It’s not a chalk white, it’s more easy on the eyes. But like I said, I would have worn a fourth coat if I was to wear this alone. The drying time is pretty good.

Here are the four polishes I used for my manicure.

I think I may donate White Fang to a more patient and crelly loving home.

Number of coats: 3, but I recommend 4 if worn alone
Drying time: Pretty good

Finish: Crelly
Overall impression: Nice “shade” of white

Buy again: No

Morgan Taylor ~ All Dolled Up

Morgan Taylor ~ All Dolled Up

Hot pink with shimmer

Today I’m going to show you a really hot hot pink polish: Morgan Taylor’s All Dolled Up.

The formula is great and the polish almost applies itself. It covers well and I used two coats for this mani. Drying time is really good too.

I had no sun (damnit!) so here’s a picture taken with flash. It’s two coats and a layer of topcoat:

This is a lightbox picture. I love this colour!

I made white and blue dots on it. I used BB Couture’s Anger and Savina’s Fantasy Files. When it was dry I applied another layer of topcoat.

The colours reminded me of a sweater of mine that I really love. I call it my cookie monster sweater :D
Here’s my final mani and the sleeve of my sweater (taken with flash):

The mandatory low light picture: 

The pretties: 

I love this, no less.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Finish: Shimmer
Overall impression: Fantastic colour, great quality, yes please to this polish

Buy again: Yes

B B Couture ~ Junk in the Trunk & Carrie

B B Couture ~ Junk in the Trunk & Carrie

Blue shimmer polishes

I snatched these two beauties in a swap event I went to, and since the two blues compliment each other, I decided to use them together.

I applied two easy coats of each polish, and I’m pleased to report that the drying time between the coats was good, for both polishes. The coverage is also great, no worries there.

Here’s what Carrie (the dark blue) and Junk in the Trunk (the lighter blue) look like:

Aren’t they just a pretty couple? I holofied them! I applied a layer of Dance Legend’s holo topcoat. It’s a great holofier, even though it does grey out the underlaying colour some. Here’s that step – flash picture:

Then I stamped on it. I found a random motif on a Fauxnad plate called H21 and I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Whirlwind White”. Here’s the final result:

And here’s a low light picture:

You can still see rainbows underneath the stamp, and the obvious greying of the blues. In this case I don’t mind so much.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Durability: Good

Finish: Shimmer
Overall impression: I really like both of these blues!

Buy again: Yes – or in this case: Swap again :D

BB Couture ~ Briquette and CrowsToes ~ Absolum - Your Potions Master

BB Couture ~ Briquette

Dark grey with silver shimmer

So, here’s another BB Couture polish I bought. I’ve had mixed experiences with the two I’ve already got, so let’s see how this third one manages.

Briquette is a lovely charcoal with silver shimmer, and it’s from the “6 shades of Grey” collection.

The formula was really cool, and I had no problems with application. I applied two coats to reach desired opacity, and the drying time was pretty good too. I applied a layer of H K Girl topcoat, for the pictures:

See that shimmer? It’s subtle but it still adds so much to the polish!

And the grey is really lovely; I never thought I should say that about a grey, but it really is! 

You know that I was probably a peacock in a previous life; I love bling and glitter, so what would I need such a colour for? It’s an easy question to answer! I shall use this for nail art, and mainly as underwear for other polishes. Lots of polishes need underwear, and you know I’m not that crazy about black, so this is perfect!

Let me show you an example! I also bought CrowsToes “Absolum – Your Potions Master”. That’s a multicoloured glitter. I see orange, two shades of blues, silver and black, and what colour would you possibly layer this glitter over if not black? I can tell you that: A dark grey :D

The glitter is dense, and I actually think I could make this opaque in two coats! I applied one, and it was easy to spread the glitter out. The amount of glitter you see on each nail is one dip in the polish! When I had done all the nails, I applied one coat of gelous to even out the bumpiness and then one layer of H K Girl topcoat.

 

I think the grey underneath suits the glitter perfectly! It doesn’t take away the attention from all the bling. Nice!

The glitter also contains long black bar glitters. I don’t usually like bar glitters because they remind me of bits of hair, but here they just seem to fit in perfectly!

One last shot because I really like this!

Ahh... I love my glitter! ♥
 

I bought these polishes from norwaynails.com.

Norway Nails have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount code. Just use the code RAINBOWIFYME10 at checkout, and you'll be getting 10% off your purchase.

BB Couture ~ Sexual Space

BB Couture ~ Sexual Space

Magenta packed with holographic microglitter

This is the other BB Couture polish I bought. Yesterday I tried Sea of Cortez on, and was a bit disappointed, so I thought I might as well try this too and get it out of the way. You can read my Sea of Cortez post here 

Sexual Space is from the L  I  P Collection (Ladies In Polish) from autumn 2012.

I was surprised over how nice the formula was on this polish compared to the other BB polish. It was easy to apply and much more opaque too. It took two easy, fast drying coats to make this look fantastic!

Here’s a pic of two coats and one coat of BK topcoat to make this even shinier:

And a picture from another angle:

Do you understand why I really love this?

The holo made this baby come alive in the nicest possible way:

It smells as if it’s scented! I haven’t seen anybody else state that fact in their blog posts, but it definitely smells like sweet berries of some kind. Sugared strawberries perhaps. If anyone can verify that I’ll be very grateful, thanks!

I stamped on it. I used the plate Apipila Mix and a black no name stamping polish. And then I sealed it all up with my all time favourite top coat Poshé. Here’s a picture in the shadow:

And here’s a sunshine picture. Oh how I love when the sun shines on me!

The mandatory blurry pic so the hologlitter can show off :D

I am so satisfied with this polish, it’s totally worth the price!

Now I wonder: Which one of the two polishes is the “typical” BB polish? Is it the blue, sheer and averagely drying polish or is it this magenta, opaque and fast drying polish? Please enlighten me so I don’t have to buy a third one to find out :D

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Buy again: Yes