Above The Curve Valentine’s Day 2014
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays- though it has nothing to do with the romance part. One of the main colors for Valentine’s Day is PINK- how could I NOT love it?! All of the wonderful Valentine’s Day nail polish collections always contain glorious shades of pink, and it’s totally awesome!
I actually have like- a TON of pink related posts to show you all. I had a box full of polishes to post throughout this past week- but we’ve had nothing but dreary weather. Yesterday, even though we had 5″ of snow (which down here in Alabama is a ton!)- we had a bright, sunny day made even brighter by the white snow! So I went on a swatching spree while I could- so be on the lookout for a lot of pink themed posts even though Valentine’s will be over 🙂 I’ll posted my Valentine’s mani on Instagram (@polish_monster)- it’s nothing too exciting, but I did dabble in nail art (which is to say, I used a dotting tool in it’s most basic capacity). 🙂
Today I’m going to be showing off one of the only ‘sets’ I have for Valentine’s Day this year- I bought plenty of individual polishes from indie brands though, which you’ll see over the next week. These beauties are the Valentine’s Day offerings from Above the Curve! I LOVE Above the Curve- their polishes are always amazing, and Angel and Shawn (owners) are both such amazing people that I’m lucky enough to consider friends.
Anywho, enough rambling- onto the pretty pictures!
First we have Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Truly, Madly, Deeply is a beautiful orchid holographic polish. Orchid seems to be quite the trend this year for Valentine’s Day collections- at least that I’ve seen! It has a pretty pink shimmer and a more subdued holographic finish. Almost metallic feeling, though it’s certainly not a metallic polish.
As I expect with Above the Curve polishes, application was wonderful. I used 2 coats with KBShimmer Clearly on Top topcoat for the photos shown.
And because this song reminds me of my high school prom, I’m going to include the Truly, Madly, Deeply video. I can’t resist! You can listen to it as you look at the rest of the pictures 🙂
Next I have Circle of Love!
Circle of Love is a fun glitter topper, filled with TONS of circle glitter and hearts in every shade and finish of red, pink and white! This is definitely Valentine’s Day in a bottle!
I didn’t have any issues with this one- I chose to dab the glitter on where I wanted it rather than paint it on, but I had no trouble at all getting hearts or circles onto the brush. I had to fish a little when I wanted something specific though 😉 Photos show 1 ‘coat’ of Circle of Love with KBShimmer Clearly On Top topcoat.
Last but not least, my favorite- All You Need Is Love! WINE!!!
*Swoons* what a simply stunning polish. I adore the name, too- you can probably tell from the picture just under this, that in reality the Love part of the name is X’d out, with Wine ‘handwritten’ over! I love my kids- but man, I definitely feel that way a lot of the time 🙂
All You Need Is Love! Wine!!! is a breathtaking polish filled with- well, TONS of things. It’s a brown/wine holographic base, filled with purple, red, copper, brown glitters, holographic glitter- it’s really amazing. The base polish is actually quite opaque, so the glitters in it peek through but aren’t super obvious. This is one of those polishes that sparkles like crazy in the sun- but is equally beautiful inside as well.
You can find Above the Curve polishes in their Big Cartel store, and also at Overall Beauty. You can follow the ATC Facebook page and ATC on Instagram for news and updates. Polishes range from $7 to $9- and don’t forget, $1 from every bottle is donated to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children!
For further information on what Above the Curve is supporting, please visit these websites to learn more: http://www.shrinershq.org/ and http://www.scoliosis.org/.
Femme Fatale Cosmetics Swatches and Review!
*Press Sample*
Good evening everyone! Today was the last day of Blizzcon, the annual convention for all fans of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo! I’ve mentioned before that I’m a very long-term World of Warcraft player- I’ve been playing since just slightly after launch (so *gulp* over 8 years now)- and still actively play. So of course, this weekend was full of excitement as I watched the events on my computer via a virtual ticket (traveling to Anaheim is just not in the cards right now!)- and I decided there wasn’t a better way to celebrate than to do a subtle World of Warcraft post!
While not created specifically for World of Warcraft- if you’re familiar with Femme Fatale Cosmetics and play World of Warcraft, some of the names and themes may seem very familiar. The owners play, and often let the beautiful places and things within the game inspire the creations!
First up tonight we have Aqueous- a beautiful blue crelly polish filled with teal, navy, blue, magenta and pink glitters.
LOVE this polish! I’m a sucker for crelly and jelly polishes- seeing the glitters suspended through different levels makes me smile 🙂
Application was wonderful. I got plenty of extra large pink glitters with absolutely no fishing- I even had to put a few back! I didn’t have to worry about dabbing, I applied like I would a normal cream polish and got wonderful glitter placement. My photos show 2 coats with topcoat.
Next is a long favorite of mine- Spring Fling!
Spring Fling has been a favorite Femme Fatale color of mine for awhile now- I love mint greens! And adding pink? Must be meant for me 🙂 There’s also plenty of white glitters, diamonds, and micro neon green glitter!
Application was wonderful again- the only issue I had (if this is even an issue?) is that I had so much luck with the larger glitters, I had to start putting diamonds back into the bottle. My photos show 2 coats with topcoat.
Next is Witchful Thinking, a beautiful glitter topper filled with grey, silver, black, glitters and shimmer!
Witchful Thinking is part of the 2013 Halloween Trio. My first and last picture show 1 coat of Witchful Thinking over Elevation Polish Darkest Storm, and the middle photo shows 1 coat of Witchful Thinking over Cult Nails Nevermore (plain black).
Witchful Thinking sparkled like MAD outside in the sun! Application was great- these photos show only 1 coat! I did have to do a bit of dabbing to fill in a few holes, but for the most part it went on as shown- which is crazy to me, since it looks like I placed each large glitter purposefully! It sort of reminds me a bit of fish scales (in a good way) 🙂
Last but not least is Lime Thief, a beautiful lime green jelly polish filled with green and orange glitters!
This polish was my surprise favorite of the bunch. Honestly, this is one I probably wouldn’t have given a second look to- I didn’t even love it looking at the bottle in person. And then I put it on- and WOW! Lime Thief is incredibly juicy looking, and so bright and happy! I wore Lime Thief for a few days before I was forced to take it off 🙂
Pictures show 2 1/2 coats with topcoat (I added a thin 3rd layer just around my nail line, but not a full coat). Application was amazing- no fishing, no dabbing, no cleanup- just normal application. Perfection!
Femme Fatale Cosmetics not only sells their own beautiful nail polishes, they also offer an amazing line of mineral based cosmetics (I own about 15 of their beautiful eye shadows, they’re wonderful!), and they’re also now a nail polish stockist for Australia! They offer local and imported nail polish to Australian customers, including Emily de Molly, Enchanted Polish, HARE, and Girly Bits among many others!
Femme Fatale nail polish is available via http://femmefatalecosmetics.com.au/ for $10 AUD, and they’re now able to ship overseas! For nail polish lovers outside of Australia though, sometimes shipping can be a bit prohibitive- so Femme Fatale polish is also available through the following international stockists:
Ninja Polish (coming soon)
Color4Nails
Norway Nails
Mei Mei Signatures
Beauty So Fly
Harlow & Co.
To keep up to date on Femme Fatale, you can follow them on these platforms:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
So what do you think? Any favorites from Femme Fatale? I’m also really loving their beautiful holos that they’ve recently released!
*Products in this review were provided for review. Thoughts and opinions are my own*
365 Days of Color After All This Time? Swatches
I managed to miss posting my pumpkin mani *again* last night- I’ll try and get that up tomorrow! It’s a pretty basic, simplistic mani, but I still love it 🙂
Tonight I’m going to be showing off a new favorite- 365 Days of Color’s After All This Time?. For Halloween this year, Sunny released The Horcrux collection- an amazing set of 7 polishes inspired by the horcruxes of the Harry Potter series. To tie in with the Harry Potter theme, the October polish of the month is After All This Time?, a *gorgeous* polish in honor of Snape’s love for Lily Potter. *sniffle* I don’t know many fans that don’t get seriously emotional over this scene in the book/movie.
After All This Time? is a light grey crelly base filled with holographic silver glitters. It is reminiscent of a pantronus- which is featured in the scene. Application was good- I needed 3 coats for opacity, and it was still a bit see through in some spots. I think the sheerness works well for the polish’s inspiration though!
After All This Time? also glows in the dark!!! It has a beautiful blue glow, just like a patronus. The glow is very sensitive- I went outside for photos, and next picture is what the polish looked like without a flash *in my hallway* in the middle of the day. Darkness is not needed for this baby to shine bright!
After All This Time? is sold out at the moment, but I know it will return! Be sure to check it and the other Horcrux collection polishes at the 365 Days of Color store!
Store: http://www.365daysofcolorpolishes.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/365daysofcolor
This is honestly my favorite book/movie moment of all time- I LOVE that so many amazing indie polish makers are letting it inspire such gorgeous creations! What are some of your favorite book/movie moments that you’d love to see in a nail polish?
Elevation Polish Grotte et Cascade, Trift, and Rapa Nui Swatches
Happy Thursday everyone! Have you entered my Blogiversary/Birthday giveaway yet? If not, it ends TONIGHT! Be sure to get your entries in!
I apologize for the lack of posts this past week- I’ve actually been contemplating a blog move from WordPress to Blogger (I’ve already imported all of my posts, so PolishMonster.blogspot.com IS me- I’m just not active over there yet). A more ideal time to make that move would have been *before* my giveaway, but hopefully a lot of you will follow me there! I didn’t want to keep waiting to post until I finalized everything though.
Today’s post I’m going to be showing off Elevation Polish Grotte et Cascade, Trift, and Rapa Nui. I received these 3 polishes as a birthday gift, and decided I had to show them off!
First is Grotte et Cascade.
This is a gorgeous dark brown polish filled with beautiful pink and blue shimmer. The shimmer is subtle- it’s very obvious out in the sun, but when you’re indoors it tends to hide a bit.
Application was great- it went on smoothly and I used 2 coats and Out The Door topcoat for photos. 1 coat gave good coverage, and 2 coats evened everything out.
Then I added 1 coat of Trift on top of Grotte et Cascade!
I’ll be honest- I probably would have never bought Trift on my own. I thought it was pretty, but it didn’t grab my attention like some of the others did. But I am SO GLAD I got this as a present- because I would’ve been missing out on a gorgeous topper!
Trift is a color shifting glitter topper- simple, pretty, and very versatile. This is one of those polishes you can grab to add some ‘oompf’ to any color you own- I can’t think of anything it wouldn’t look good over! Sadly, Trift has been discontinued- BUT there are still some bottles left on the Elevation Polish website- AND it’s only $6.50!
Last but not least is Rapa Nui!
Rapa Nui is one of those Elevations that I never really noticed for a long time- but when I did, I couldn’t understand what took me so long.
It is a gorgeous steel blue grey color with a very strong purple/red shimmer. The shimmer is incredibly strong outside in the sun, it’s a bit more subdued (but still there) inside. When outside, it almost appears to be a duochrome- the shimmer is that noticeable. Very, very pretty.
You can find these beauties at the Elevation Polish Big Cartel Store and also at Llarowe. As I said before, Trift is discontinued, but is still available until it sells out- there just won’t be more once it’s gone. You can also keep up with Elevation Polish updates by following Lulu’s blog, I Dig Brown Nail Polish. Restocks are on the 7th and 22nd of each month, though no restocks are planned for October (be sure to check out Lulu’s Auction site this next week!)
Jindie Nails Halloween and Fall Chic 2013 Swatches and Review
Good morning everyone! I have a few of the new Jindie Nails colors to show off today! During the presale I grabbed a few of the Fall Chic colors and 1 of the Halloween colors- they were just listed for sale yesterday, so it seemed like a good time to show them off!
Even though my nails are short again- I’ve been suffering from MORE breaks. Thankfully the worst ones were on my non-swatching hand, but still! After going so long with no casualties, it’s been hard. It feels like maybe my nails are TOO strong now- the breaks happen whenever I bump something and a side part just chips off. Not a problem I ever expected to have 😉 I actually like my nails shorter just fine- but I’d like them just a tiny bit longer, for reasons I’ll explain in a minute.
First, I’ll show off the 4 colors from the Fall Chic 2013 collection I have. All of these polishes are packed *full* of circle glitter in various sizes and colors. This is true for all 4, so I’ll talk about it here versus repeating over and over- I didn’t have to fish for any of these glitters. What you see is minimal effort for glitter- even on Midnight Rainbows. So the glitter payoff is excellent. The only issue I had with any of these wasn’t really the fault of the polish- but I struggled a bit more with them due to the length of my nails. Larger glitters take up more available space when your nails are smaller (I know, thank you Captain Obvious), and I had to be sure to stick to thinner coats than I would normally do to avoid a big mess. It wasn’t too hard, but it was a bit more challenging on short nails to get things looking nice. Just me adjusting to the new length- you wouldn’t think it would impact the way I paint, but it does.
Also, Jen just introduced her new medium size 9mL bottles, which is what you’ll see in this post. I really prefer these so much to the previous mini bottles. I don’t mind most mini bottles (and sometimes prefer them due to the sheer size of my collection), but the issue with the old Jindie ones was that the brush wasn’t able to reach almost any polish unless it was fully twisted in. It was a pain to use, especially with the glitter based polishes (though they were very cute bottles!). But now, you’re able to reach plenty of polish and the brush is very long. And it also holds a bit more polish!
The first polish from Fall Chic is What Are You Smokin’ Mirrors!
This is a medium grey crelly polish filled with tons of gold and silver dots and flake shimmer. I used 2 coats with topcoat for these photos.
The coverage was good- I did have to brush off a bit of excess grey base from some of the circles so that they would show, but other than that I had no issues.
Next is Midnight Rainbow.
This polish is something else! It’s a black jelly polish filled to the brim with rainbow shimmer and metallic circle glitter in tons of sizes and colors. And when I say to the brim- like I said at the beginning of this post, I didn’t fish for glitters. What you see here is 2 coats with topcoat- with no fishing. I’m sure if I actually tried there could be MORE circles on my nails!
This polish went on well- I had to do a bit of dabbing to get circles the way I wanted them to be. There’s so many in the polish that sometimes they can clump up a bit, so you just need to spread them around once they’re on the nail.
Now we have Breakfast at Tiffany’s Cousins.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s Cousins is a teal crelly polish filled with maroon, lime green, blue and silver glitters. Plenty of large circles and hexes in here, and I didn’t have to fish for any of them! Pictures show 2 coats with topcoat.
And the last polish from the Fall Chic collection I have to show off is Shimmer Me Timbers. The only one of the 5 I don’t own is Rhythm and Blue- but I didn’t exclude it purposely, I actually didn’t originally buy Shimmer Me Timbers either. Jen sent it as a surprise with my order- now I feel bad I’m only missing 1! 🙂
I’m glad she sent it though- this was my surprise favorite of the bunch, and I would’ve missed out on it otherwise!
Shimmer Me Timbers is a bright, juicy emerald green jelly polish filled with a bright gold shimmer and lots of green and gold glitters (along with a few blue, maroon, copper and purple too!). I think what surprised me is that this polish is a lot ‘brighter’ than I realized- it’s still a deep emerald, but since it’s a jelly it still retains that squishy feel, and the shimmer brightens it up a lot. The pictures show 2 coats with topcoat. Application was great, this one went on the most smoothly of the bunch!
Last but not least, we have Be-Wear the Polish, my only purchase from the Halloween colors. There’s a lot of *gorgeous* colors in that collection- but I was trying to be good!
Be-Wear the Polish is a fun glitter topper (glitter in a clear base, meant to be layered) filled with green, grey, black, and purple glitters in various shapes and sizes, TONS of fine glitter and shimmer- and also glow in the dark glitter! I tried desperately to get a picture of the little flecks glowing, but my camera didn’t want to cooperate.
Application was great- this is so overflowing with glitter, I didn’t have to make an effort to have my nails covered. In fact, I usually ended up with a bit too much on my smaller nails and had to decide which to put back in the bottle!
Photos show 1.5 coats (I did 1 full coat on each nail, and then filled the brush and dabbed a little extra here and there to fill in some empty slots) with topcoat over Wet N Wild’s Sea Ya Soon (post on that later today).
I think overall my very favorite was Be-Wear the Polish- this is a must have! Between the fun bright colors, variety of shapes and sizes, and glow in the dark glitters, you have something very fun for Halloween. I might be a bit partial though- Halloween is my favorite holiday and I love the green/purple/black/orange color combinations associated with it!
These colors launched yesterday- grab them while they’re in stock! You can find Jindie Nails here:
Store: http://jindienails.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JindieNails
International Stockists: http://shop.llarowe.com/, http://meimeisignatures.com,
http://www.harlowandco.org, http://www.ninjapolish.com, http://femmefatalecosmetics.com.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JindieNails
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/JindieNails/nails/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jindienails/
Peita’s Polish Miss Dixie and Enchanted Polish Seven Nation Army
Nothing like a giveaway to see a crazy spike in traffic- welcome to all my new friends and followers! If you didn’t already enter, go check out my Big Birthday Bloviversary Giveaway!
Speaking of friends, this is one of my very favorite aspects of being part of the nail polish community. I’ve made so many wonderful, close friends over the past year and a half. And the polishes in this post came from 2 of them!
My awesome friend Peita is super sweet, and is also the genius behind Peita’s Polish. I have a few of her creations now, including the original Miss Dixie, and now the reformulated version that is part of the giveaway! We’ve been sending each other enormous swap packages back and forth for over a year now- if you love swapping, I really encourage girls (or guys!) to find ‘polish pen pals’ in other countries! Enchanted Polish Seven Nation Army was a birthday gift from my friend Jen of Jen’s Nail Files- who is also incredibly sweet and generous (and also loves to swap- if you’re new to swapping, Jen tends to find you! If you love candy, she’s your girl for sure!).
Anywho- first up is Peita’s Polish Miss Dixie!
Miss Dixie is a neon pink holographic polish with a faint blue flash. The holo effect is subtle, but it adds a beautiful shimmery sparkle throughout.
Application was great- it was almost fully opaque at just 1 coat, but 2 made it perfect. Photos show 2 coats plus topcoat.
Then I added 1 coat of Enchanted Polish Seven Nation Army on top of Miss Dixie!
Seven Nation Army is a holographic topcoat filled with itty bitty black and white hex glitters. All of the glitters are very small, which makes it a bit different than most black and white glitter offerings.
Application was good, as you can see I got a good amount of glitter with just 1 coat. I did a tiny bit of dabbing to ensure I didn’t have a large empty spot, but otherwise the glitter went on with regular brush strokes.
I LOVE this mani- I keep staring at my nails! Of course it’s pink and sparkly and fun- it’s impossible that I wouldn’t love it 🙂
There’s only one downside to these polishes- neither are the easiest to get! I know, I’m sorry for that.
Peita’s Polish is an Australian indie brand- though she DOES ship internationally! You’ll just be paying a bit more (if you’re in the US) for shipping and have to wait patiently a bit longer. Enchanted Polish- well, I think most of us know how challenging Enchanted Polishes can be to snag 🙂 Monthly restocks are fast and furious, and there’s not always a guarantee a particular color will be restocked. I feel it’s worth it- but it can be stressful and intimidating if it’s your first time (or 50th time).
Peita’s Polish: https://www.facebook.com/PeitasPolish & http://www.etsy.com/shop/peitaspolish
Enchanted Polish: https://www.facebook.com/EnchantedPolishPage & http://www.enchantedpolish.com/
Above the Curve: Arrivederci, Au Revoir Swatches
Next to last post before my Blogiversary/Birthday giveaway goes LIVE tomorrow!!! I’ll be posting again to show off the very last polish included in the giveaway (that isn’t one of my own), but I won’t make everyone wait any longer!
These 2 beauties are custom polishes Angel and Shaun at Above the Curve came up with for me special for this occasion!
My favorite colors are pink (which is obvious to most people I’m sure), grey, mint, and tiffany blue. I especially wanted a mint/tiffany blue holo, since I adore holos from ATC. These are the two matching polishes they came up with!
Coming up with names stumped me for a bit. But I already have some of my own polishes/other prizes that I’ve made for this giveaway that revolve around the movie 13 Going on 30, so I ran with that idea! (It was my 30th birthday, and I love the movie). This is the goodbye greeting used by the main character with her best friend- which seemed perfect for a matching pair of polishes that were connected but different 🙂
First up is Arrivederci- a minty cream filled with neon pink, white and grey glitters. This is just 1 coat over Au Revoir (shown below).
And second we have Au Revoir, a minty holographic polish!
Subtle and gorgeous!
These two will come together as a pair for one of the prizes 🙂 Check back tomorrow to see everything and enter!
You can find Above the Curve polishes in their Big Cartel store, their Etsy store, and also at Overall Beauty. You can also follow the ATC Facebook page for news and updates. These polishes were customs, but they have TONS of beautiful polishes to pick from!
For further information on what Above the Curve is supporting, please visit these websites to learn more: http://www.shrinershq.org/ and http://www.scoliosis.org/.
Above the Curve: Galactic Party, Party Polish Pink, Darling Diana, and Risen Angel 2.0 Swatch and Review
*Press Sample*
Hey guys! I have a lot of beautiful Above the Curve polishes to show you today!
If you didn’t already know- $1 from every single bottle of Above the Curve polish purchased is donated to Shriner’s Hospitals! Their mission with Above the Curve is to raise awareness for Shriner’s Hospitals, and for scoliosis. Even when they’re on sale- they still donate $1 from each bottle! Just another thing that makes ATC so awesome.
First up is Galactic Party!
Galactic Party is a beautiful dark blackened purple/maroon holographic polish. Application was wonderful, as I always expect from Above the Curve polishes- the pictures show 2 coats with topcoat.
Next is Party Polish Pink- one of my new favorites!
Party Polish Pink is a bright reddish pink holographic polish filled with small holographic pink glitter. Application was wonderful, pictures show 2 coats plus topcoat.
Next is a fun polish called Darling Diana! I don’t believe ATC will be producing this- Angel showed me a picture to get my opinion because she didn’t think she liked it. When I mentioned that I loved it, she decided to send me it with my package!
Darling Diana is a grey polish filled with pink, yellow, blue and white glitters, some blue iridescent glitters and neon green stars. Application was good- I opted to thin this a little (I now have 2 bottles- and one will be part of the giveaway along with other ATC customs!), so it took 3 coats instead of the original 2 for opacity.
The last polish for today is Risen Angel 2.0!
I actually bought this polish and swatched it a month or so ago, so my nails are a little different in these photos. Risen Angel 2.0 is a beautiful dark plum linear holographic polish. I used 2 coats for these photos with no topcoat.
I don’t own the original Risen Angel to compare to, but the 2.0 Angels are a LOT more holographic! I’ll have a Fallen Angel vs. Fallen Angel 2.0 comparison post in a few days.
Just look at that holo!
You can find Above the Curve polishes in their Big Cartel store, their Etsy store, and also at Overall Beauty. You can also follow the ATC Facebook page for news and updates. Polishes range from $7 to $9 (for holos- though sometimes you can get them for $7 on sale!)- and don’t forget, $1 from every bottle is donated to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children!
For further information on what Above the Curve is supporting, please visit these websites to learn more: http://www.shrinershq.org/ and http://www.scoliosis.org/.
*Some products in this post were provided for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Silly Bee’s Chickadees: Mini Monster Review
Press Sample
If you follow my blog on Facebook, you may have already heard about this. A month or so ago, Melissa of Silly Bee’s Chickadees asked if my oldest kiddo, Syd, would be interested in doing kid swatches of some of her colors. Syd loves polishes almost as much as I do, so of course she wanted to do it- and having a chance to ‘be like mommy’ was exciting too. I thought it might be fun to let her show off her pictures on the blog- but no hard feelings if you aren’t interested in looking at a 5 year old’s swatch photos and you skip this post 🙂
This was the cute collage that was posted on Silly Bee’s Chickadee’s Facebook page when she was ‘announced’- everything on there is from her ‘interview’ about her favorite things. Yes, Dr. Who is actually one of her favorite things- her favorite is 11, and Amy Pond. She’s pretty crushed he won’t be around much longer. She even has her own talking Dalek she plays with.
Melissa was sweet enough to send out 2 mini polishes addressed specifically to her, all wrapped up in pink paper and bubble wrap. She felt like quite the princess!
I let Syd paint her own nails, and then I went behind her and cleaned up with my normal polish remover/concealer brush. We didn’t do any prep work/cleanup beforehand on her nails- the only thing she does use semi-regularly is her own container of Sunny’s Hand Cream (she chose Strawberry Buttercream- which is a scent I don’t like, so she never has to worry about me touching hers). It’s the only lotion/cream we were able to find last winter that helped the severely dry, cracking skin on her hands. I’ve said it before, but I highly recommend it!
First, we swatched Silly Bee’s Chickadee’s Raspberry Sorbet. Pictures are 2 coats with no topcoat (she didn’t want to use the ‘shiny polish’).
This was Syd’s favorite- because it’s pink. Could you guess from the picture above that her favorite color is pink? 🙂 I asked her what her favorite part of this polish was, and she said ‘It’s pink and sparkly’. Then I asked what it reminded her of- she said ‘bubble gum’.
Melissa also sent Everything Nice- another pink themed polish!
I think Syd had a little trouble putting this polish because it had more glitter, but she got the hang of it. Her favorite part- surprise surprise- was the ‘big pink glitters and birdie (label) because it’s so cuteeeee’. When I asked her what this polish reminded her of, her answer was ‘a sprinkle cookie like we get from the store (Publix)’.
So there you have it, my kiddo’s blogging debut. This won’t be a recurring thing, though I may post more of her photos in a Facebook album specifically for her pictures. She’s definitely had a lot of fun doing this- thank you so much Silly Bee’s Chickadees!
You can keep up with Silly Bee’s Chickadees on Facebook, and buy these pretty polishes on Etsy (though the store is closed through Sept 15). Melissa mentioned that mini bottles will be joining her store at some point in the future- perfect time to think about getting that little chickadee in your life some pretty indies for stocking stuffers! It’s never too early to start a mini stash 😉
*Some products in this post were provided for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots: Pretty in Polka
Quick swatch post! I spotted the Maybelline Color Show Polka Dot display at my Target last week, and of course couldn’t leave without one. I’ve been *trying* to be better about not buying ALL THE THINGS, so I limited myself to just 1. Being an indie nut, I already have a few great black and white toppers- so I grabbed the pink color, Pretty in Polka. If you don’t already have a black and white glitter topper, I think Maybelline’s version looks to be a pretty good one (only hexes in different sizes, no bar glitter) and best of all, it’s cheap!
I initially thought this polish would be really sheer and need a lot of coats, but it didn’t- these pictures show just 2 coats with no topcoat. I didn’t have to do too much in the way of glitter placement, but I did do a bit of dabbing for the occasional empty spot.
Application was pretty good- like I said, it built up very well, and the glitter went on smoothly and without any issue. There’s a lot of glitter payoff with minimal effort- no fishing required. Very pretty! I also thought the teal color was very beautiful- I may break my rule and go back for it 🙂
Maybelline Color Show Polka Dot polishes can be found at various drug stores in a display (Walgreens, CVS, Target) though as always not all stores will have them. You can also buy them online now at Target.com for $2.99 each!
Elevation Polish: Tools of the Trade and an August Sneak Peak!
One of my very favorite indie brands is Elevation Polish- I adore Lulu’s beautiful shimmers and cream polishes. This month, Elevation Polish released the Tools of the Trade collection, which consists of 5 beautiful polishes. I opted to buy 2 of them for now- These Boots Were… and Prusik or Loop it. I also have Echniops, a polish from August’s Wildflowers collection, to show you tonight 🙂
The first I’m going to show off is Prusik or Loop It!
Prusik or Loop It is an absolutely gorgeous deep blue jelly polish filled with strong blue shimmer and white flakes. While it wasn’t the inspiration (that I know of), I can’t help but think of water when looking at my nails with this color on- maybe an ocean, or a beautiful swimming pool.
I used 3 coats or these photos with no topcoat, and though there appears to be a bit of visible nail line I couldn’t see that in person. It applied wonderfully and smoothly.
Next up is These Boots Were…, which were inspired by Lulu’s hiking books!
Oh boy, where to even begin with this color? (which funny enough, Lulu said almost the exact same thing on her own write up of this color) It is really complex and really beautiful. It’s almost a duochrome but not quite- it’s like the polish can’t quite decide if it’s red or purple. There’s red flakes that flash a bit gold. There’s also a strong blue-tinged shimmer that really comes to life outside in the sunlight. My photos can’t quite capture how beautiful this was outdoors.
Though I adore Prusik or Loop It, I really think if you can only buy 1 polish from the Tools of the Trade collection it should be this one. It’s totally different from anything I own! And of course, I’m partial to flakes 😉 I used 3 coats again, but did use topcoat for these photos. On it’s own, These Boots Were… dries slightly matte.
And last but CERTAINLY not least, we have the sneak peek I promised! This beauty is Echinops, from the August Wild Flowers collection!
While this wasn’t sent for the purpose of a review, Lulu sent this as a gift because of a slight issue I had with another polish. Needless to say- I was SO excited! I had seen some sneak peek photos previously and have been anxiously awaiting this collection, and especially this color.
Echinops is a BEAUTIFUL light purple holographic polish. This particular shade of purple is one of my favorite colors, and the holographic effect isn’t blinding but very obvious and pretty. The formula is wonderful and everything goes on smoothly and perfectly- which is pretty typical of Elevation polishes, but worth noting regardless 🙂 This was 2 coats with no topcoat.
In case you’re like me, you may not be instantly familiar with the Echinops flower that served as the inspiration for this polish:
This beautiful polish and the other colors in the collection, Passion Flower and Pea Flower, will be available on August 7th!
You can find these beauties at the Elevation Polish Big Cartel Store. Right now both Prusik or Loop It and These Boots Were… are sold out, but they (and most others) will be restocked on July 22nd. Echinops will be available with the first August restock on August 7th. You can also keep up with Elevation Polish updates by following Lulu’s blog, I Dig Brown Nail Polish.
Saturday Swatch Spam
I hope everyone’s having a great 4th of July weekend! We’ve had MASSIVE amounts of rain since Thursday- last I heard as of yesterday we were at 8 inches, though it’s rained a little since then and doesn’t look to be done until next week. So it’s been a soggy 4th of July weekend for us, spent inside because of local road flooding. But it’s also been relaxing!
I figured today would be a good day to post a bunch of swatches I’ve done here and there over the past few months. Some of these were taken back in May- you can probably guess based on the length and shape of my nails. I tend to take photos when I wear polishes, and so some of these were just normal manis, some were intended for posts that I never did, and some I just wasn’t happy enough with to post. I’ll try to give links to most stores at the end of the post.
First up! My patriotic offering for the weekend 😉 This is Different Dimension’s Right to Vote- which was my Memorial Day mani.
Missi offered this pretty polish back in the fall to celebrate the US elections. A milky white crelly polish filled with red, white, and blue glitters. This is 2 coats of Right to Vote, no topcoat.
Last week, I did some quick photos of Hare Bisbee and Bisbee 2.0 to show people the differences between the two. Nikole sent me Bisbee 2.0 as a surprise in a package I received that week, so I couldn’t wait to show everyone how it compared. The first photo is Bisbee 2.0 (note the new Hare bottle), and the second photo is the original Bisbee.
I’m glad the new formula is called ‘Bisbee 2.0’, because there are definitely quite a few differences- though you still have the same overall ‘feel’. The color is different- Bisbee 2.0 is a more blue-leaning teal than the original. Both are packed with gold glitters, but Bisbee 2.0 has squares, and lacks the large hexes the original was known for. Bisbee 2.0 also has a lot of shimmer that the original does not have- it was a bit stubborn showing up in my pictures, but it’s quite obvious in person.
Next up is Sephora by OPI’s Metro Too Chic. This is a pretty taupe polish with a ton of shimmer. I did find the polish to be a bit on the thick side and had a bit of trouble with application.
This is one of the polishes I picked up at Sephora recently- if you haven’t already heard, Sephora is discontinuing the OPI line and expanding their own line of polishes. Because of this, all Sephora by OPI polishes are discounted quite a bit. Definitely time to grab any you may want!
This beautiful blue is Pivot! by Weird Indeed. Weird Indeed was an awesome indie line last spring/summer, and she closed her doors when she went back to school (or I’m pretty sure that was why- it’s been awhile!) I feel thankful I was able to grab a handful of her awesome polishes while she was open!
This color was part of the Friends inspired polishes- if you’re unfamiliar with the show, this is the inspiration:
Pivot gif credit: http://wallflwr.tumblr.com/
I used Pivot! as the undie polish for Above The Curve’s You’re Turning Ne-On– they look great together!
This next blue is Wet N’ Wild’s Cabo Cruise, which is a new polish in the Fergie line. I found mine on the Summer display, but I have since seen it on other Fergie polish displays (which makes me think it could be permanent and not an LE shade). I had a hard time getting it to show in pictures, but it has a beautiful blue-green shimmer. I used this underneath Lynnderella’s The Bride Turned Blue (which I posted to IG and my Facebook page feed).
Different Dimension Ditz- which is part of her 80’s Baby Collection. This is a beautiful neon pink jelly with a scattered holo effect. SUPER beautiful on a sunny day! I’ll be showing the whole collection soon.
Enchanted Polish May 2013. This was really pretty, though sadly I wore it on a slightly cloudy day so I wasn’t able to enjoy it at it’s fullest 🙂
My mediocre nail art attempt for Jen’s Nail Files 2000 likes contest! The theme was to interpret any Darling Diva Polish into art- I chose Uncharted Space, which was part of her Battlestar Galactica line. I did a base of Chanel Taboo with a bit of my own polish, The ‘Verse, on top. I can’t remember the specific polishes I used for the art. For those unfamiliar with the show- my index finger is a Cylon Raider (‘bad guy’ space ship), and my ring finger is a Colonial Viper (‘good guy’ space ship). I originally attempted to paint the Galactica on my middle finger but it just wasn’t working out, so it got painted over. No BSG art is complete without ‘So Say We All’ 🙂 (ignore my wonky cuticle areas- I had the last bit of a spray tan hanging on and it had dried me out as well)
I have so.much.respect. for girls that are able to do amazing nail art- especially when you’re limited to only nail polish. It’s HARD!
Pretty & Polished’s Popples, which is part of their Summer in the City collection. I was lucky enough to win this collection from a mani contest on their Facebook page! All the colors are beautiful and I was holding off for a sunny day to swatch them all. I’ve worn these 2 so far!
Popples is a pretty white crelly polish filled with large neon pink and green hexes and small blue, green and pink hex glitters. Perfect for summer!
Also from the Summer in the City collection, I Want Candy is a beautiful bright pink holographic polish.
I had a hard time getting the holo to show up inside, but it shines outside 🙂
Roundup of where to find most of the polishes:
Different Dimension: Etsy and Facebook
Hare Polish: Etsy and Facebook
Sephora by OPI: In stores and Sephore website
Wet N Wild Fergies: most drugstores (I got mine at Walgreens)
Enchanted Polish: Big Cartel Store and Facebook
Pretty and Polished: Website and Facebook
Above the Curve Review: Part 1!
*Press Sample*
Hi guys! I have a BUNCH of awesome polishes to show off today and tomorrow from Above the Curve!
If you haven’t already heard of Above the Curve, they’re an amazing indie nail polish brand headed up by an awesome husband and wife duo! Angel and Shawn are some of the sweetest people you will ever meet- and on top of having amazing polishes, $1 from every single bottle is donated to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children! Their mission with Above the Curve is to raise awareness for Shriner’s Hospital’s for Children, and for scoliosis. You can read more about their story here on their Big Cartel site!
Today I’ll be showing some of their more recent additions to the ATC lineup: Kiss My Asteroid, Sugar Rush, Ceclia, and You’re Turning Ne-On! Tomorrow I’ll have the new Polish Addiction Collection, so be sure to come back- those are all AMAZING!
As a note: every single Above the Curve polish I own applies perfectly (I’ve purchased a large number on my own in addition to review polishes). I didn’t have to do any cleanup for any of these photos with the exception of 1 nail on Kiss My Asteroid! The holos all went on beautifully, right where I placed the polish- no pooling, no dragging, no bald spots. Many times, ATC polishes can be 1 coaters! I’m not sure that any indie brand I own applies as well as most of my Above the Curve polishes- which is high praise, because I am a self-admitted indie-aholic and adore many brands. Anywho- onward with the review!
First up is Kiss My Asteroid!, a beautiful black holo filled with smaller black holographic glitters. This is 2 coats with no topcoat.
I first took photos of all of these polishes inside in my lightbox, but I opted not to post those and waited patiently for a sunny day (we normally only have sunny days here in the summer- but of course when I want one, we get storms!). It was worth the wait- look at that sparkle!
The larger sparkles you see are the black glitters peaking through. This looks mostly like a black linear holo polish, and those glitters give it a nice interesting pop that is a bit unexpected, but not overwhelming.
Second up is Sugar Rush. This polish is full of different glitters in a white crelly base- I spy blue, navy, yellow, dark pink, lilac, and green hexes, and pink circles! I used 2 coats with no topcoat.
This polish went on wonderfully- I sometimes run into issues with crelly glitter polishes with dragging, but the glitters went on well and didn’t require any special placement from me. I just love when I can see the different layers of glitter!
Next time, I do think I would use a topcoat with this one. Like many times with glitter polishes, the glitters poked out a teensy bit from the base- a topcoat would smooth that out.
Cecilia is an absolutely STUNNING teal/turquoise linear holo. I did 2 coats for photos (no topcoat), but this is one of those ‘could be a 1 coat’ polishes I mentioned- coverage was amazing.
UGH, I die. If there is one thing ATC does very, very well- it is polishes like this (and tomorrow’s post is more of polishes like this!). The coverage is FANTASTIC, it applies like a dream, the colors are always slightly different than things I already have and oh-so-pretty, and the holo effect is always linear and gorgeous. I may sound like I’m gushing, but I really can’t say enough good things about ATC holos. Everyone should own at least 1!
And last but not least, I have You’re Turning Ne-On! You’re Turning Ne-On is a mix of white and black hexes, squares, and rectangles, along with blue, pink and green neon hexes in a clear base. I used 1 coat of You’re Turning Ne-On! over 2 coats of Weird Indeed’s PIVOT!. (And since someone may ask- sadly, you can no longer buy Weird Indeeds other than a lucky blog sale find. The creator quit selling last fall and I rarely see people parting with them).
Ahhh, I love this polish! I will admit, since a majority of the shapes are larger, I had to do some fishing and the glitters were a bit stubborn. I also had to place them a bit (though not completely dabbing). It was worth it though, isn’t this fun?
My favorite thing about this polish is exactly what makes it slightly challenging to apply- the really big shapes. Most of my glitter toppers are filled with a lot of micro glitter, or a wider variety of sizes- everything just looks ‘jumbo’ with this one and I love it! I really love the squares and rectangles too- its like bar glitter I can support 🙂
So that’s it for tonight! I’ll have my second post up tomorrow, so be sure to check back- they’re gorgeous too!
Interested in grabbing any Above the Curve beauties? You can find them in their Big Cartel store, their Etsy store, and also at Overall Beauty (which I HIGHLY recommend- amazing service!). You can also follow the ATC Facebook page for news and updates! Polishes range anywhere from $7 to $9 (for holos)- which is a deal, especially considering $1 from every bottle goes directly to Shriner’s Hospital!
Interested in seeing other colors? You can check out my past reviews of Caty Perrywinkle and Fallen Angel (both are MUST HAVES. For real.)
For further information on what Above the Curve is supporting, please visit these websites to learn more: http://www.shrinershq.org/ and http://www.scoliosis.org/.
*Some products in this post were provided for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Fantasy Nail Lacquer: Camillia, Magic, and Sapphire Rose
*Press Sample*
Today I have a new indie brand to show off- Fantasy Nail Lacquer! I love getting a chance to try out new lines that I’ve never used before 🙂 I received 3 shades to review- Camillia, Magic, and Sapphire Rose. Magic is available now, but Camillia and Sapphire Rose are new shades due to be released later this week!
First up is Camillia, a beautiful pink! You all know how I love my pinks!
Camillia is a pretty rose pink filed with fine silver holographic glitter. The picture above shows Camillia inside in my light box, the second 2 photos show it outside on a sunny day. All 3 of these colors were beautiful inside, but they popped outside in the sun! My camera wasn’t able to pick up all the sparkles these were showing off.
The lightbox photos were taken this weekend, and used 2 coats of Camillia. The outdoor photos were taken yesterday, and used 3 coats. I trimmed my nails down a tiny bit in between (*squee!* my first time in awhile cutting my nails shorter by CHOICE!). Camillia dried a tiny bit matte (maybe a bit of a suede finish?), so I chose to add a coat of Essence Gel-Look topcoat to really bring out the shine.
Application was smooth and easy. I did add a few drops of thinner to all 3 polishes, but that’s not a necessity- I just prefer to do multiple thin coats rather than 2 thick coats.
Next up is Magic!
Magic is a gorgeous grey jelly polish filled with ultrafine silver glitter and fine holographic purple, pink and blue glitters. Like with Camillia, the first photo is inside in my lightbox and the next 2 are outside in the sun. The first photo shows 2 coats of Magic, the second 2 photos are both of 2 coats.
Coverage was really really outstanding for a glitter/jelly polish. You get pretty good coverage with just 1 coat, but things are completely opaque with 2. My nails were sparkling like crazy outside! This reminds me a little of OPI’s Excuse Moi! and other polishes that are filled to the brim with microglitter and cover so well. Because of how much glitter there was, this polish was a little thicker but nothing hard to work with.
Last but not least, we have Sapphire Rose!
This is just like Camillia, only in a bright beautiful blue. Sapphire Rose is a pretty sapphire blue filled with fine silver holographic glitter. Like the other two (no surprise by now I’m sure), the first photo is 2 coats in my lightbox, and the second 2 photos are 3 coats outside.
Like Camillia, Sapphire Rose dried a tiny bit matte (more like a suede), so I used 1 coat of Essence Gel-Look topcoat to bring out the shimmer. Application was great, and went on wonderfully.
Aren’t these colors so pretty? If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Sapphire Rose (I didn’t pick the pink, what?!)- the blue is just so bright and pretty and really pops with all the sparkles in the sunlight.
You can grab Magic along with other gorgeous colors right now in Fantasy Lacquer’s Etsy Shop for $8/full size and $4/mini size- Camillia and Sapphire Rose are going to be released this Saturday, June 15.
Be sure to follow the Fantasy Lacquer Facebook page to keep up to date on news and new releases!
*Press Sample*
Too Cute-icle: Swatches and Review!
Woo look at me, 3 days in a row! Maybe I’m finally back in my groove?
Tonight I have some fun polishes to show off from a new indie line launching this weekend! My sweet friend Jess of the blog Too Cute-icle is venturing into the land of polish making. I was sent Frosty the Penguin and Pretty Pretty Princess to review, and they’re both so pretty!
First up is Frosty the Penguin!
This pretty glitter topcoat was named for an adorable mani Jess did with this polish- originally called Frostbite- that featured a cute penguin! This is a fun mixture of iridescent, blue and white glitters. Perfect for winter!
For these first 2 photos, I layered 1 coat of Frosty the Penguin over 3 coats of OPI’s My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I opted to use a bit of dabbing to get the glitter exactly where I wanted it, but it went on fairly smoothly and evenly without it
In this photo, I layered 1 coat of Frosty the Penguin over 2 coats of Girly Bits Arctic Sunrise. What a gorgeous combo! I’ll have pictures of Arctic Sunrise this weekend (though I’ve featured it briefly here).
The second polish I got to try out was Pretty Pretty Princess!
Pretty Pretty Princess is a girly glitter mix of various shades of pinks, purples, and blues. It’s super sparkly and pretty!
In the first 2 photos, I layered 1 coat of Pretty Pretty Princess over 2 coats of Sinful Colors Flutter. I did a bit of dabbing to ensure things were photo ready, but for the most part the glitter went on nice and evenly!
This is 2 coats of Pretty Pretty Princess over Sinful Colors Flutter. Almost full coverage! My nails were SUPER sparkly, I love it!
Too Cute-icle is opening shop on December 2nd. You’ll be able to find these polishes and others at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on Facebook, as well as her blog. Be sure to keep an eye out!
*These polishes were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own*
Go Pink Wednesday: Zoya Lara and Lynnderella Boy-Girl Party
Hi guys! It’s time for another Go Pink Wendesday!
Today I started off with 1 coat of Zoya Lara, one of my very favorite pink creams, and added 1 coat of Lynnderella’s Boy-Girl Party on top.
Now, those of you familiar with Lynnderella colors may be questioning my sanity about now- since Boy-Girl Party is a mix of primarily pink and blue glitter. But no, I haven’t lost my mind, this was intentional. Aside from just being very pretty, I decided to add the touch of blue this week as a reminder that not just women are affected by breast cancer. Yes, it predominately affects women- but it’s easy to forget men do suffer from this as well. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2012 just over 2,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 400 will die from it.
So while we’re surrounded by pink this month, this is my nod to all the men affected by this terrible disease as well as women.
Both polishes applied wonderfully. I ADORE Zoya’s polishes, especially their creams- they’re almost always 1 coat and apply like a dream. Boy-Girl Party is a little tricky- it’s a very thick, full glitter, so I used a bit of the dabbing method for placement.
1 coat Zoya Lara, 1 coat Lynnderella Boy-Girl Party, topped with 1 coat Gelous.
You can find Zoya at ULTA as well as on their website at http://www.zoya.com. Lynnderella can be found on Ebay at http://myworld.ebay.com/lynnderella-lynnderella.
Interested in a free Zoya? If you haven’t signed up for their Share the Love program yet, you can use my referral link here– once you sign up, you’ll get a coupon code (in your ‘My Promotion Codes’ section of your account page) for a free polish! Just pay shipping! If you add 2 more polishes to your order with this coupon, you’ll get free shipping (so 3 Zoyas for $16 even). Not bad!
Tomorrow I’ll be showing off a few colors by Pams & Kin, so be sure to check back!
Want to see the other lovely manis for Go Pink Wednesday! Look no further! Click the link below!
Go Pink Wednesday: International Brands and Indies!
Good afternoon everyone! I couldn’t decide which mani to use for today’s Go Pink Wednesday- so I decided to show off both!
My first look is using 2 international polishes- Tip Top Nails Popsicle that you saw in yesterday’s post, topped with Passe Nati Sabrina Sato- Quero Amor.
How fun! Quero Amor is a gorgeous green-shift flakie in a light pink jelly base, filled with glitter!
Of course flakes don’t show up as well over colors that aren’t black or dark, but when I put my hand in the shade it was easy to spot them!
And now for my second mani- This one is a gorgeous color from Fanchromatic Nails!
It’s called Layer Cake- and I knew I needed it just for the name! This polish is inspired by Kaylee from the amazing show Firefly- which was sadly only on for 1 season.
Inara: I see Kaylee’s here.
Mal: Yeah, crying Cinderella tears. You should have seen her when I told her she could have that layer cake she’s wearing.
Inara: I think she looks adorable.
So this polish is a homage to Kaylee’s completely over the top, adorable, so ‘her’ dress that she had to wear to the big shindig. I love Kaylee 🙂
This polish is so beautiful! It’s an amazing light pink linear holo, spotted with holographic pink glitter.
For these photos I wore 2 coats of Layer Cake over 1 coat of Zoya’s Rory, but it can easily be worn on it’s own. I previously wore 3 coats of Layer Cake alone just fine! It was just too cloudy for photos that day 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the different looks!
Sadly- Tip Top Nails can only be purchased in South Africa, and Passe Nati can be found in Brazil (Llarowe does carry some of the brand, but not this particular polish).
Fanchromatic Nails can be found here on Etsy, and you can follow their Facebook Page for news and updates! I’ll be showing off a few other beautiful colors from Lynae at Fanchromatic tomorrow, so be sure to check back!
Check out all the other awesome Go Pink Wednesday posts here:
Jindie Nails: Part 2
And here’s the second part of my Jindie Nails review! Sorry it’s coming a bit late tonight- lots of stuff going on, and as you guys know if you were reading last week- the World of Warcraft expansion pack just came out, which I do play 🙂 I tried to have all week’s posts written in advance… which didn’t happen!
So anywho, the rest of my gorgeous Jindie Nails photos! Today I have Halloween colors to show off- Bite Me, Frankenstein Spit, and Tainted Love.
Tainted Love isn’t REALLY a Halloween polish, but I think it looks like it could be! I was lucky enough to win a full size bottle of this pretty polish, because I picked the winning name! How fun is that?
Onto the polish!
First up is Bite Me.
Bite Me is a beautiful glitter mix filled with black, purple, and orange glitters in different shapes and sizes. I used this as a glitter topcoat, but it could easily be layered multiple times for fuller coverage.
For this mani, I used 1 coat of Bite Me over 2 coats of Finger Paint’s Circus Peanuts.
Next up we have the second color in the Halloween collection, Frankenstein Spit!
Frankenstein Spit is a super fun mix of tiny matte glitters in green, purple, and black. I love tiny matte glitters!
This is only 1 coat of Frankenstein Spit over 2 coats of Wet N Wild’s Nerd Alert: Screech. You can’t see the green glitter as well with this undie coat, but I thought that it really brought home the ‘Frankenstein’ idea!
This color could easily have full glitter coverage in just 2-3 coats!
And last but (definitely) not least, we have Tainted Love, my personal favorite!
Tainted Love is a milky white polish filled up with neon yellow, neon pink, and black matte glitters, along with black hearts.
This is 2 coats of Tainted Love on it’s own. Full coverage with a white in only 2 coats AND still be sheer enough to see glitter in it? Awesome!
I had to fish a tiny bit for the hearts, but they weren’t overly difficult to get out. And the tiny glitters are always a bit stubborn- seems I missed a few on cleanup 😉
Right now, Tainted Love is out of stock- but it will be making a return in the future!
You can find Jindie Nails on Facebook, Instagram, and on Etsy! Full size bottles cost $7.75, and they’ve now introduced mini sizes in the most popular colors.
If you’d like to see Part 1 of my review on Jindie Nail polishes, check it out here!
On Friday I’ll be showing off a few shots of the underwear polishes all on their own 🙂
*These polishes were provided to me for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Roll Tide: Crimson Pride by Jindie Nails and Stamping
Happy Game Day! If you didn’t already know, I live in the overly-hot state of Alabama. Down here, people live and breathe college football- most of the SEC states do. And in Alabama, you choose between Alabama and Auburn (though there’s always the random few that will cheer for a neighboring SEC team). A good chunk of the country hates us- our state boasts the last 3 consecutive National Champions (Alabama, Auburn, Alabama) and the SEC overall has held the title for 6 years.
I’m not originally from Alabama- I moved here just in time for college. So my pro-football loyalties lie with the Steelers, since I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. You may see a post for them at some point in the future. Never fear though, this isn’t a regular thing- it’ll just be one each during the regular season.
Anywho, on to nails!
If you’re interested in WHY I chose the specific colors and prints (I’ve had people from outside of the SEC/Alabama are inquire about houndstooth), just keep reading after the nail photos. If you don’t care, then you can stop after the nails!
For this look, I opted to do my first ever accent nail! I’m not really a huge fan of accent nails, but I think it worked this time.
I started off with a coat of Sinful Colors Slate on all but my index finger, and painted my index finger with Sinful Colors Snow Me White.
Then, I topped off each grey finger with 2 coats of Jindie Nails Crimson Pride– a glitter topcoat inspired by Alabama Football, filled with various shapes and sizes of red and white glitter as well as silver shimmer.
Finally, I pulled out my stamping plates, and used the houndstooth print on Cheeky’s CH8 from their spring collection on my index finger.
Now, for the ‘why’ of all the colors.
For the grey- you may have noticed the first photo in this post, our mascot the elephant posing the the big red A. Our mascot is Big Al, an elephant- so grey is for him! Don’t ask me why an elephant, I’m not even sure Alabama itself knows the REAL reason. There’s a few rumors- one involves the team running out and sounding like a herd of elephants.
Our colors are crimson red and white. However, you’ll almost always see Alabama fans sporting some sort of houndstooth- and this is why:
Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant is the legendary and well loved coach of Alabama football from 1958-1982. He was known for wearing a houndstooth hat, and so we wear houndstooth 🙂
You can find Jindie Nails here– she offers other football colors if you aren’t cool enough to cheer for Alabama (I kid! I kid! <3), among a lot of other awesome colors. Be sure to check back early next week- I have a big review coming on Jindie Nails!
Cheeky stamping plates can be found on Amazon here– they’re very affordable and there’s a ton of great designs! You can see my other stamping post using a Cheeky plate here.
LynBDesigns: Jarvis and Five Orange Pips
I have 2 beautiful colors from LynBDesigns to show off today- Jarvis and Five Orange Pips!
Pretty neat bottles, right?
LynBDesigns has a TON of colors to choose from on her etsy site– there’s 95 polish listings! She also has a lot of other fun things to check out.
So first up: Jarvis!
Jarvis is part of LynBDesigns’ Gender-Benders collection- 14 colors that all share men’s names. From etsy: ‘It’s hot pink, it’s color shifting; what’s not to love? Jarvis has a sheer hot pink base and is loaded with color shifting awesomeness. It changes from pink to blue to purple, and on occasion even a little orange.’
You all know I love pink, especially the bright variety- so I was sold!
This is 4 coats of Jarvis alone. 3 would have been sufficient, but without a base coat I had a tiny bit of VNL.
This color is SO gorgeous! There’s a beautiful light color shift and the application is great. Even with 4 coats, the polish wasn’t too thick and was very wearable.
This is 2 coats of Jarvis over Cult Nails Nevermore (my go-to black). WOW! Look at how pretty! I love a color-shifting topcoat that can be worn on its own- it makes it very versatile!
The second polish I have to show off from LynBDesigns is Five Orange Pips!
Five Orange Pips is from the Baker Street Collection, which is inspired by Sherlock Holmes. The description from the store sums up this color perfectly: ‘It’s a collection of orange glitters in a sheer orange base. It has orange holographic glitter, orange hearts, fine orange matte, and glitter that look black in some light, orange in others.’
Even though it’s not part of LynBDesigns’ Halloween collection, this color is absolutely perfect for a holiday look.
This is 2 coats of Five Orange Pips over Sally Hansen’s Ivory Skull (one of the new Fall Complete Manicure colors; a plain white).
This was an easy color to work with- the only hard part was (as expected) the cute orange hearts- but they didn’t require too much effort to get them to come out and play! The white in these photos really shows off the orange jelly of Five Orange Pips.
This is my favorite combo- 2 coats of Five Orange Pips over Cult Nails Nevermore. Does this scream Halloween or what?!
I really, really loved these 2 polishes. Both were super easy to work with and covered nicely- and most importantly, they both looked so very beautiful! I play on getting a lot of use out of Five Orange Pips this fall!
LynBDesigns is currently offering a Buy Two, Get One Free sale (as of 9/19)! Just write a note requesting which color you would like as your free choice.
These polishes and more can be found on LynBDesign’s Etsy store for $8.50 each and unless my eyes deceive me- shipping is free! Which makes these a great deal for some beautiful indie polishes 🙂
Be sure to check out LynBDesign’s Facebook page for new colors and updates. She has a pretty Nightmare Before Christmas-inspired Halloween collection just released!
*The polishes featured in this post were sent to me for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
365 Days of Color Hocus Pocus Collection: Black Flame Candle and I Smell… Children!
Hi all! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Today I have some gorgeousssss Halloween colors to show you- 365 Days of Color’s Black Flame Candle and I Smell… Children! from the Hocus Pocus Collection!
Hocus Pocus is my very favorite Halloween movie, so when Sunny said she was going to be creating her Halloween shades based on themes from the movie, I couldn’t wait to see what she came up with! The collection consists of 5 colors: I Smell… Children!, Black Flame Candle, Come Little Children, Boouk!, and I Put A Spell On You.
First up, we have Black Flame Candle!
In the movie, the Sanderson sisters (seen above) are hanged in Salem during the late 1600s. Before their death, Winnie (Bette Midler) casts a spell allowing them to come back to life if a virgin lights the black flame candle on Halloween. Fast forward 300 years… and Max, who recently moved to Salem, lights the candle to impress a girl. ‘Come on, it’s just a bunch of hocus pocus!’
Like it’s namesake, Black Flame Candle is well… black! This is a gorgeous black polish with silver shimmer throughout.
The consistency is on the thinner and more jelly-like side, and it builds beautifully. These photos are 3 coats on their own, with Poshe topcoat.
While writing out this post, I thought that Black Flame Candle may work well for a jelly sandwich, so I quickly tried one out. It works great!
This is 3 coats of Black Flame Candle and 2 coats of a franken of mine (it’s a white glitter mix), alternated. Very pretty!
Next, I have I Smell… Children!
This color is inspired by Mary (played by Kathy Najimy), who can ‘smell’ children- this helps her sister Sarah lure them in with her hypnotic singing, in order to steal their life essence to keep them young.
I Smell… Children! is a beautiful black base filled with purple glitter and shimmer.
This is 3 coats of I Smell… Children! on it’s own, with Poshe topcoat. While this is gorgeous indoors- outside in the sun, it’s even prettier!
Application on both was wonderful. These polishes are on this thinner side, but that was a very good thing- it allowed me to build them up to full opacity without having a giant polish bubble on my nail! Even my jelly sandwich with 6 coats wasn’t too thick, which I loved!
I’d also like to take just a second to RAVE about 365 Days of Color’s Miracle Balms and Cuticle Oils.
I’ve purchased 7 Miracle Balms, and 3 Cuticle Oils (not all at once, but over the past few months). These are all amazing! If you stop into the store to buy anything, be SURE to check these out! Sunny has 5 million scents (ok, not really, but I would bet she has around 100), and they are wonderful! The balm goes on nicely and absorbs quickly, and the new oils are really awesome- I love being able to roll the oil right over my fingers! Every scent I own is amazing- my very favorites so far are Lilac & Lilies, Candy Corn, and Orange Sorbet!
The photos are all *sample sizes*, if you can believe that! You can get a full size of a single scent- $4 for a 10mL oil, or $3 for a .5 oz balm; or you can get sampler trios (pick 3 scents)- Oils are in 5mL containers for $6, and the balms are in .25 oz containers for $5.
The Hocus Pocus collection is going to be released on September 21, at 365 Days of Color’s Big Cartel store. You can follow 365 Days of Color on Facebook, as well as Sunny’s blog! Right now the store is in maintenance mode, but it will open on the 21st when this collection is available!
*The polishes in this post were sent to me for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Different Dimension: The Expansion Set
I’ll warn you- this is a VERY picture heavy post!
Some of you already know, but I play World of Warcraft. I have since shortly after it was released- just over 7 years. So when Missi of Different Dimension put out a call for bloggers that also play WoW to show off her new collection- I jumped at the chance!
World of Warcraft has it’s 4th expansion pack, Mists of Pandaria, coming out in just over a week. The theme of this expansion is Pandaria- ie, panda people (for those who aren’t familiar with the game). Much of the backbone of WoW centers around conflict between two warring factions- The Alliance and The Horde (which when playing, you play for the faction of your choice).
Of course, you certainly don’t have to play- or even like- World of Warcraft to love these polishes!
Be sure to grab any you want NOW- Once the Expansion is released on September 25, these will be gone for good!
I’m going to start off tonight with Murloc!
So that green guy is a murloc! Murlocs are (usually) hostile creatures found… well… all OVER the place in WoW. They’re sort of like fish people. There’s a lot of color variations with them, but this particular one shows off the polish colors the best!
Murloc is a pretty glitter polish filled with green, blue and red sparkling hexes. This could be opaque in multiple coats, but I chose to use it as a layering polish.
This is 2 coats of Murloc over Spoiled’s I’m So Jaded. The glitters were so beautiful and sparkly- there is a bit of a holo shine to the them, especially the blue and green!
Next, we have Spectral Tiger!
The Spectral Tiger is a very rare, very coveted mount in the game. It’s only available via the WoW Trading Card Game, so it costs a lot of real-life money to acquire (think many hundreds of dollars). It’s a ghostly, slightly transparent tiger. I do not have this mount 😦
But I DO have this beautiful polish of the same name! (yeah, cheesy, I know)
Spectral Tiger is GORGEOUS. Just absolutely gorgeous. It’s a very subtle polish; a light baby blue shade filled with baby blue, white, and holographic glitters. I chose to layer 2 coats over Sinful Color’s Snow Me White.
But the BEST part about Spectral Tiger? It GLOWS! I took this picture in my hall bathroom with the door shut.
Next up, we have Bad Ass Panda!
Bad Ass Panda is a pretty black and white topcoat. It’s filled with black and white hexes of various sizes, black diamonds, and holographic glitter- so there’s a lot of sparkle!
As a reference- here is a Pandaren, the new race that’s being introduced in Mists. To be specific- this is MY Pandaren. This is my main character (Sunni) as she looks on the beta servers- since you can change your character’s race over there. I plan on doing this the day the expansion comes out, so this is exactly how she’ll look again in a few weeks 🙂 She’s also hanging out with my very favorite companion pet, Bananas- he was a birthday present from my husband about 4 years ago.
For those interested- I’m an enhancement shaman, and I play Horde side!
Now you’ll understand why I chose this undercoat for Bad Ass Panda…
This is 2 coats of Bad Ass Panda over 2 coats of Zoya Lola. I did do a tiny bit of glitter placing for these photos, just to ensure that every nail had a diamond, but it’s not necessary for normal wear!
And now, we just have the last 2 polishes- Alliance and Horde. I happen to have faction-specific stuffed animals (yes, I do, and I won’t allow my kids to play with them), and they’ll be making appearances alongside their faction’s colors! You already know I play Horde side, so I’m leaving the best for last.
(One of the Alliance’s war cries is ‘For The Alliance’, and their main aerial mount is a gryphon- this is a stuffed baby gryphon)
Alliance is filled with blue, lilac, and holographic gold glitter. Like the ones before it, this is best used over another polish!
I chose to layer 2 coats of Alliance over Love My Nails Electric Blue. It’s not quite the right shade of blue, but that’s ok.
Here’s my nails posing with the Alliance crest, which is the inspiration for the polish!
And last (but certainly not least), we have Horde!
(One of the Horde’s war cries is ‘Lok’tar Ogar’, which means Victory or Death in orcish. Their main mode of aerial transportation is a wryvern- and the stuffed animal is a baby wryvern).
This polish is the best in the collection for using with no polish underneath. It’s a jelly finish, but it’s almost opaque in 2 coats and completely covers in 3. Horde is filled with silver and red hex glitter and fine silver holographic glitter in a black jelly base.
This is 3 coats of Horde with no basecoat. If the second coat was thick, a 3rd coat wouldn’t be needed! These photos truly don’t show off the holo sparkle of this polish well- it REALLY shines!
Posing with the Horde crest- like with Alliance, this is the inspiration for this polish!
Overall, I was blown away by this entire collection. I thought they looked pretty and awesome before I recieved them, but once I put them on, they were all just so very gorgeous. I’m partial to them all of course, but if you have to be good and just grab 1 or 2- I’d say Spectral Tiger is a must-have, and if you lack a nice black and white topcoat Bad Ass Panda is as well.
You can follow Different Dimension on Facebook, and be sure to check out her Etsy Store! In addition to the new WoW collection, there are a TON of gorgeous polishes. Each color in this collection sells for $10 and Spectral Tiger sells for $12.50, or you can get the whole set of 5 for $45 (a discount of $7.50!). Other polishes are $8.50, and Glow in the Darks are $10. She also now offers mini sets!
*These polishes were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.*
Monster Mixers and Elixirs Review!
Hello again all! I hope everyone had a great long weekend (for those in the US). I had planned to post on Monday, but I realized a little late last night that ‘Sunday’ was actually Monday. Three day weekends always mess with my head! So you may see 2 posts before the day is over!
Today I have a review for you all: Monster Mixers and Elixirs! This is a new franken polish store run by Melissa of Be Someone Cute. They’re offering quite a few beautiful glitters, which can be purchased on their own, and some beautiful pre-made glitter topcoats. You can even buy a few mini bottles filled with polish base and sample sizes of glitters to make your own combos!
I have 3 of their glitter topcoats to show off, as well as my own franken using glitter purchased from the store.
I recieved Stratosphere, King’s Cup, and Lunar Lake glitter topcoats. All 3 are very pretty!
First up, I’ll show off Stratosphere.
Stratosphere is a beautiful holo blue glitter. I layered this color over 2 coats of Orly Preamp. This glitter applied wonderfully, though I did have to dab a tiny bit to get it everywhere I wanted.
I have 1 coat of Stratosphere on my pinky and ring fingers, 2 coats on my middle finger, and 3 coats on my index finger.
Next up: King’s Cup!
King’s Cup is a beautiful, finer grade gold holo glitter topcoat. I layered this over 2 coats of Maybelline’s Downtown Brown. Application with this one was wonderful- smooth and pretty full coverage.
Like the first shot, I have 1 coat on my pinky and ring finger, 2 coats on my middle finger, and 3 coats on my index finger. This is a finer grade glitter than Stratosphere and Lunar Lake, so the coverage is a bit fuller- it’s not as easy to distinguish between the different numbers of coats!
Last but not least, we have Lunar Lake.
Lunar Lake is a beautiful green holo glitter that is actually a bit more teal than my photos are showing. I layered this one over 2 coats of Wet N’ Wild’s Fergalicious- I love green and pink combos!
Like the other 2 colors, this one is 1 coat on my pinky and ring fingers, 2 coats on the middle finger, and 3 on the index finger. The glitter went on smoothly and nicely, and built up well. It was a nice little pop of color contrast!
Now I’ll show off one of my personal frankens I made the other night using glitter from Monster Mixers & Elixirs. I purchased a few different sample sizes of glitter to play with- for this, I decided to add the entire sample of Nebula to a bottle of base (I used a full size, which is why the glitter is a little less dense than the above topcoats- the sample sizes are perfect for mini size glitter topcoats on their own). I also added some of my new black stars and green moons that I recently bought from Glitter Unique. Named by and created for my friend Jen of Jen’s Nail Files, this one is called Vat of Bats.
Nebula is a beautiful fine holo black glitter! This was 2 coats of Vat of Bats over 2 coats of Essence Grey-T To Be Here (which Jen actually gave me for my birthday- we like to swap gifts!). All I did was add the packet of glitter into my base- which I already own, but you can purchase in bottles from Monster Mixers & Elixirs. A scoop of the moons and stars were the only other things added.
If you’re new to polish making, just want a glitter topcoat, or are an experienced creator looking for a few new glitters, be sure to check out Monster Mixers & Elixirs! You can also find Melissa at her Facebook page Be Someone Cute!
*Some of the products shown in this post were provided to me without cost for an honest review. All opinions are my own*
Indie Wednesday: Darling Diva Polish, Take 1
Hello All! I have a TON of Darling Diva Polishes to show off, so I’ve decided to split them into 2 posts. Today I will feature Cotton Candy, Sophia, and Princess Luna! Friday I’ll be showing off Ringer and Dangerous Driver.
Earlier this week, I had a big swatch-a-thon with all of these beautiful colors. Everything looked nice in person, however, I’m not entirely happy with the photos for this particular post (I think Friday’s pictures look great though). I already promised this write up for today, and I won’t be home tomorrow, so I wanted to go forward with posting. But I think I’m going to retake some photos this weekend and add them in.
First up, we have Cotton Candy!
Cotton Candy is a pretty shade of pink, with various sizes and shapes of white glitter- but not a ton of glitter, so it gives the polish a dainty feel. These photos were taken with 2 coats of polish.
I only used Cotton Candy for the photos, but I think next time I’ll try layering over a very similar pink (maybe Zoya Lara?)- since the second layer does cover up the first layer’s glitter almost completely. Either way, you’ll have a beautiful look!
Next up, we have Sophia!
For Sophia, I opted to use an underwear coat of Love My Nails Electric Blue, with 2 coats of Sophia.
Sophia is a beautiful periwinkle blue fine glitter, sprinkled with the occasional gold holographic hex glitter. I had to work to get the ones I did on my nail! I’d say average use would be closer to 1-2 on each nail without any fishing. This color would look beautiful over black or white, and I bet it would look pretty over a red for a patriotic look.
And last but certainly not least, we have Princess Luna!
Princess Luna is inspired by the lovely Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I’ve said it before, but I actually recommend MLP even for grownups. Seasons 1 and 2 are available for streaming on Netflix, and they’re awesome. Princess Luna is the sister to Princess Celestia, who is inspiration for another polish by Darling Diva Polish!
Much like her inspiration, the polish version of Princess Luna is a beautiful blue, full of sparkles, accented by deep purple and teal glitter, with a bit of white thrown in.
Like Sophia, I layered 2 coats over Love My Nails Electric Blue.
I placed some of the larger glitters, but I didn’t have to fish for any of these, they came right out to play! I think this is my favorite of tonight’s colors 🙂 But I may be partial due to the reference!
You can find Darling Diva Polish on Facebook, and you can buy her beautiful colors at her Etsy shop. All of her colors are $8.00 with the exception of holo colors, like Dangerous Driver, which are $12.00. And she ships internationally for a reasonable rate!
Be sure to check her out, and also check back on Friday for Part 2! Ringer and Dangerous Driver are SO GORGEOUS- I’m definitely saving the best for last. You won’t want to miss it!
*Some of the products shown in this post were provided to me without cost for an honest review*
Polish Monster 