Butter London- Fairy Lights

Here is the second of the three 3-free polishes I got from Butter London for my birthday. This one is a true metallic, using glass or mica instead of glitter to create the texture. It is a light pink, similar to Essie's mirror metallics, but Fairy Lights is a very unique color, so it is not a dupe for anything in that collection.
The formula is thin, but extremely pigmented, so the formula is almost opaque in one coat. Unlike many metallics, this one is almost like a duochrome, flashing a little bit gold in some light. Wear is perhaps not the best, but I also work a lot with my hands and perhaps other activities would be more polish-friendly.

L'Oreal- How Romantic

This is my first and only L'Oreal polish. It retails at most places where nail polish is sold at about $4-5 USD. I do like the colors offered, but I was skeptical because L'Oreal products are so very hit or miss for me. I needed a new YNBB (your nails but better) color to replace my dying Revlon one, and this is what I got.
There are aspects to the formula I like, and aspects of the formula I do not like. First, the most immediate thing I noticed was the streaking and brushstrokes. No matter how many coats I applied, application was not even and smooth. However, the color is very pretty and true to nail color, and the formula is quite long lasting with no chips or tip wear.
Because a previous post featured white french tips, I decided to do purple on this one to keep things a little bit different. The purple is Kleancolor in Neon Purple.

Love and Beauty by Forever 21- ???

Love and Beauty is the cosmetic and cosmetic accessories line from Forever 21. The polishes retail for $2.80 USD each, and come in a variety of colors and finishes. The bottle shape changes quite a bit, and this season's is more cylindrical than mine, the 2009 model. The thing is, I have no idea what the color is called, as the colors aren't labeled on the bottom, and this drives me crazy!
The polish is a nice thin dark blue creme that applies without running and is easy to control. It is opaque in two to three coats. The photos make it look like more of a jelly polish, but in natural light is a deep blue.
Dry time was satisfactorily quickly, but the most disappointing aspect is the short lifespan on the nails. Even with a high quality top and basecoat, I had actual chips, not just tip wear on a few fingers two hours into the work day.
For the price, I think it's an okay polish, but there are so many higher quality dupes available, so it is not like you are missing an opportunity to buy a unique color if you pass this by. It is a lovely color, but the integrity is less than desirable.

Urban Outfitters- Afterhours

Yes, Urban Outfitters has their clothing house brands like BCG and Miss Sixty, and now instead of just carrying Stila and the occasional glittery Nyx palette, have their own polishes. The polishes retail for $5 USD each, but they often have 2/ $8 sales. I bought two of them to round out a gift card I was given for Christmas last year.
Afterhours is a mixture of silver and rainbow/holo glitters in a clear base. As with all glitters in a clear base, apply a coat of a similar creme or shimmer polish beforehand so get more opacity more quickly. The base layer I used was one thin coat of Ulta brand polish in "High Roller." The effect is extremely pretty, but just blurs with a camera flash, so I really had to experiment with exposures to get this polish to look like the color of my nails in the pictures.
The texture is very similar to OPI/Nicole's "liquid sand" polishes. If you like that effect, you can leave this polish as is, but if you want a lot of shine, you are going to have to apply 4 or 5 coats of a topcoat because this finely milled glitter is a topcoat eater.

Maybelline Color Show- Tenacious Teal

And here is another one of these little Color Show Polishes. For $2 USD you would think they could get the label on the cap applied straight... meh.
Anyways, one thing I like about the polish is the color. It's really more of a dusty green than a teal, which is good because there are so many mint/teal colors circulating around right now.
That being said, unless you don't feel like spending more than two dollars on a bottle of polish, I recommend something with a different formula. This one has a really thin, watery formula and a really long dry time. Because it is so thin, it requires a few coats for opacity, and this means that there will be unevenness in tint and shade across the nail once it has been applied. Take a look at the first picture for an example.

If you feel like spending a little bit more for a similar color, try Sally Hansen's "Mint Sprint" or Essie's "Naughty Nautical."

Butter London- Fizzy Pop

Fizzy Pop is one of the 3 (DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde) free nail polishes by Butter London, which I believe is the only nail line they have. They recently switched from doing exclusively polish to color cosmetics too, which are really cool. I have to say purple mascara is not my thing, but I digress.
Fizzy Pop caught my eye at first because of the beautiful color visible in the bottle. It is a mixture of very fine gold and hologram glitters in a clear base. Because it is so sheer, I thought it needed a base that wouldn't detract from the color, such as black or white. Because a radically different (unless it is glitter) accent nail is so tacky, I chose to do a base layer nail in both black and white and layered fizzy pop on top of both polishes. I personally think it looks best over black. What do you think?

taken before I added Fizzy Pop.

After Fizzy Pop.

Orly FX- Space Cadet

This polish was originally from the cosmic FX line that Orly released in early 2010. Since, this one has made it into the lineup of Orly FX that are sold at retailers like Ulta today. There have been many iterations of the bottle and cap, and mine is the 2013 version.
Orly's FX polishes are at an elevated price from the regular collections, about $12 USD per bottle. Orly explains this difference as adding muscovite micas and finely ground glass to achieve the unique optical properties of these polishes. The finished product is not really a duochrome, but a ceramic-like finish that flashes a few different colors using the glass, mica and colored base.
Space Cadet is a gray-green base with (we'll call them particles) that flash pink and gold in the light. The overall effect is not exactly like a duochrome, but is pretty cool nonetheless. The formula is just the right viscosity, which makes application very smooth and even. My biggest gripe with the polish, however, is the long dry time involved. Anyways, this is a very unique polish that would be a great compliment to any collection.