Color Club Halo Hues: "Blue Heaven"

Camera settings: automatic with flash. Post-editing: Post-editing: "Auto levels", set to 50% opacity

I stopped by Ricky's on Monday for no reason except I had some time to kill on my lunch break. Much to my surprise, there was a FULL display of the Color Club "Halo Hues" holo collection sitting out on the counter! After snapping some display pictures for Twitter and Facebook (yes, I'm on Facebook finally), I thought about what color holo polishes I was lacking and decided on Blue Heaven.

Blue Heaven is a powder blue hue with a strong linear holo. I love how soft this blue shade looks. The holo is quite intense and it shows up nicely inside. I am wearing (2) coats of Blue Heaven in all pictures in this post over butter LONDON 'Nail Foundation' Flawless Basecoat (received for review - disclosure policy here) and topped with Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.

This is Blue Heaven seen in my light box. My light sources are a mix: I use a direct incandescent light, a diffused incandescent light, and a diffused halogen (because that's what I had around my apartment when my boyfriend built it).

In direct mid-day sunlight, Blue Heaven comes alive and strongly flashes a rainbow. These photos were taken around noon with an iPhone 5.

 

This photo was taken with flash (camera setting: 'automatic'):

What makes Blue Heaven a real winner is the formula. Until now, the most linear holo I owned was Layla Hologram Mercury Twilight. For those who haven't used a Layla holo, the application and formula is notoriously known as something to tolerate. The dense holo pigment has a tendency to clump on the brush, they apply patchy, show all the ridges in your nails, and don't play well with base coats. While this sounds rough, the Layla holos are so pretty in the end I can overlook these application issues :) That in mind, I was thrilled to discover that Blue Heaven applied perfectly- just like a "regular" polish - and is actually almost a one-coater, making it the most opaque holo I own. Blue Heaven is so amazing I'm considering going back to Ricky's and getting more...

A word about the price. The Halo Hues polishes retail for $10. Maybe you disagree, but I think the $10 price point borders on making this a high-end collection. However, these are actually some of the cheapest holo polishes out there. For example the Layla holos are $15.50 (and are smaller), the OPI DS holo polishes are $12, and the China Glaze OMG Collection is going for a ridiculous price on eBay.

The Halo Hues collection is available at Ricky's stores now (Tweet @Rickys_NYC if you want to confirm they are available in your local store) and will also be available on their website soon. Don't live near a Ricky's? You can buy them online now from Color Club and 8ty8 Beauty.

By the way... way to go Ricky's for stocking this collection. I heard that it was because of passionate NYC nail polish lovers that they decided to order this collection!

Bonus video, complete with street noise and a pigeon: