Sephora Formula X "Moon Glow" + Ciaté "Risky Business"

You know how sometimes a color is so beautiful and entrancing that all reason is eclipsed by lust and, despite what anyone says about how terrible it actually is, you just can't resist?  I should have just left the word "color" as a blank, and let that paradigm apply itself to every single situation in life.  Heels.  You know you'll hate yourself in three hours, but damn don't your calves look good.  Ice Cream. [That's all.]  Cute little fluffy dogs.  You think you can live with the yapping; by 3am you mean murder; then you look into their sweet poofy face... and it starts again.  Similarly with love interests, minus the barking (unless perhaps you have a particularly hoarse-voiced honey).  "Moon Glow" was like this for me; a siren song.  But I mean, can't you see the temptation?? 

Sephora Formula X "Moon Glow" & Ciaté "Risky Business"

Moon Glow

"Moon Glow" is part of the Liquid Crystals line, which are described by Sephora as "brilliant, light-reflecting nail lacquer made from crushed micro-crystalline and pigmented mica that captivates the eye with vivid color."  Which sounds totally great.  I had such I hopes for this polish after I saw this picture below on the Sephora site, but the reality was a complete letdown in comparison.  I was imagining this ice queen flakie shimmer, perhaps with a satin finish for a diffuse frosted glow.  Crystalline, wintry, frozen, spectacular.  My dream polish.  Yeah... no.

"Moon Glow" is an aquamarine micro mica-flecked shimmer that shifts sapphire and winks with ultraviolet/golden edges.  It is desperately sheer; the swatches below are five coats.  FIVE.  And you can STILL see my nail line.  I don't even want to know how many it would take to be completely opaque.  The swatch above makes it appear as though it is intended to be worn solo, and yet there is no way it will ever look like that (which is bitterly disappointing, because whatever that polish is above it is GORGEOUS.  But it is definitely not "Moon Glow").  And unfortunately, I also found it to have a lazy dry time, which inevitably leads to dents and apparently in this case, as you can see below, bubbles.  Yuck. 

Sephora Formula X "Moon Glow"

Sephora Formula X "Moon Glow"

Sephora Formula X "Moon Glow"

 

Risky Business

"Risky Business"is a sparkling sea of iridescent shimmers shifting aqua-magenta-blonde, dappled with sapphire glitters that flash teal at oblique angles.  I first saw this polish in a little swatch bubble at Sephora, and it seriously stopped me dead in my tracks; a genuine show-stopper.  I would have called this one "Lucid Dream", I think the kaleidoscope shimmer and gemstone glitter have a surreal effect.  And of course, it matches "Moon Glow" perfectly, so here I was thinking that they would be a great layering duo but only if you feel like painting your nails for like three hours.  This is two coats of "Risky Business" over the five of "Moon Glow", and it was finally opaque... then it smudged.  I had been about to do a full manicure (I'd gotten this far, right?!) but the still not dry "Moon Glow" ruined everything.  So I'd find something else to layer "Risky Business" over, because it has the same sheerness factor as "Moon Glow".  Stunningly beautiful, the pair of them, but total high-maintenance divas.  On the plus side, there is tons of glitter in this, so at least the application is headache-free.

"Risky Business" only comes as a mini, which is kind of poopy, especially because if you were bound and determined to paint to opacity you'd probably use over half of the 5mL bottle.  They retail for $8 a piece (which is disgustingly expensive, IMHO), or three for $18 at Sephora.  That deal doesn't seem to work at Ciaté.com.  I actually bought mine from cosmeticunivese, an eBay vendor who sells 6 for $10 (and free shipping!).  "Moon Glow" and the other Liquid Crystal polishes retail for $12.50 exclusively at Sephora.


Have you ever bought a nail polish, cosmetic product, etc that you knew was probably going to be bad news but just could not resist??  Please tell me I'm not the only one with negligible willpower :)