Smitten Polish: Be Mine
Today I’ll be showing you the stunning Be Mine from Smitten Polish! I actually took these photos for Valentines Day, and then you know… never posted them. Posting fail 😦
This beauty was originally released with Smitten Polish’s Valentines Day Collection- and thankfully it is still available!
Be Mine is a yummy bubblegum pink holographic polish.
Be Mine applied well- smooth and even, no pooling or other issues. I used 2 coats with no topcoat for these pictures.
Look at the cute heart on the label! ❤
You can buy this polish and other beauties from the Smitten Polish storefront. Be Mine is in stock right now, but if you’re interested in any of the out of stock colors, there’s a restock coming on July 26 at 2pm CST!
You can follow Smitten Polish on Facebook and Instagram for upcoming colors, restocks and other information!
Any other Smitten Polishes you’re interested in seeing? Let me know in the comments! I don’t have them all, but I have a good amount- so I may have it!
Above the Curve: Doctor Who Collection Part 2
This is a post I’ve been planning to make for awhile now- so it’s been a long time coming! This is Above the Curve’s Doctor Who Collection Part 2! If you remember, they also have Part 1 of the collection, that I reviewed a few months ago!
Every polish in this collection is just wonderful. I’ve never had any problems with application from any of my Above the Curve polishes, and these are no exception! All of the polishes are shown with a coat of the new Above the Curve fast dry topcoat, which is 5 free! It’s very glossy and dries pretty quickly- definitely check it out! Best of all, it’s only $2.50/$4.50 for a mini/full!
The first polish I’ll be showing in the collection is You Call Me… Sexy.
You Call Me… Sexy is a gorgeous berry red holographic polish with blue shimmer.
This polish is for Idris, who was the human used to store the consciousness of the Doctor’s TARDIS in the episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife’- one of my favorite episodes. I love that this polish isn’t the typical TARDIS blue, which is what I first expected when I heard this name- it makes it a bit unique.
Application was great, I used 2 coats for these photos. The holographic effect on this one is subtle, but very pretty.
The next polish is my favorite of the collection- Don’t Blink!
Any fan of Doctor Who is familiar with the Weeping Angels- the quantum locked aliens that appear as normal angel statues, and can only move when no one is looking at them. The first Angel episode (Blink) scared me half to death- and if you’re unfamiliar with Doctor Who, it’s an easy episode to watch with no background knowledge of the series.
Don’t Blink is a silver holographic polish with a small amount of fine black glitter. This is meant to imitate the stone of the angel statues!
Photos show 2 coats of Don’t Blink- everything applied evenly and smoothly. The holographic effect was very strong outside in the sunlight, and the black glitter made the sparkly silver polish interesting indoors when the holo wasn’t as visible!
Next up is TARDIS!
TARDIS is a bright blue polish with a slight purple duochrome cast, turquoise shimmer and a linear holographic effect. I didn’t really see a lot of the purple duochrome on my nails, but I see it when I look at the bottle 🙂
Application was good, it applied smoothly and evenly without any pooling or issues. I used 2 coats for these photos. The holographic effect was a slight linear- definitely visible, but not blindingly strong.
Next is one of my surprise favorites- Banana To The Party!
I honestly don’t care for yellow polish, but I loved this homage to 10 and ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’ (another favorite, and so sad). I’m glad I got it, because I ended up loving it when I put it on!
Banana To The Party is a squishy yellow jelly polish filled with pink, gold and green glass fleck shimmer, as well as a linear holographic effect. The holo appears a little subtle due to the light polish color, but it’s definitely there! This polish was just so fun and bright outside in the sunlight! Photos show 3 coats- this one is a little more sheer than the others due to being jelly like, but still covers well!
Next we have Pretend It’s A Plan!
‘Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan!’
Pretend It’s A Plan is a gorgeoussss purple holographic polish filled with multicolored glass fleck shimmer! Some of my very favorite ATC polishes are their many purple offerings (there was an amazing purple in Part 1 too!), and this has joined them! Pretend It’s A Plan is just so sparkly and pretty! It’s stunning indoors and out, though of course it really shines outside on a sunny day. Photos show 2 coats.
Last but not least, we have Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey!
‘People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint – it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly… timey wimey… stuff.’
Also inspired by the episode Blink (though 11 uses the phrases a lot afterwards), Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey is a multichrome glitter topper that shift from red to gold to blue to purple.
I first put Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey over TARDIS, to try out a brighter color. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t show off the multichrome quite as well as over black! This shows 1 coat of Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey over 2 coats of TARDIS.
Next, I put 2 coats of Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey over black (I used 1 coat of Cult Nails Nevermore)- and WOW! This glitter is just so stunning. You won’t stop staring at your nails!
So which is your favorite? Any that you need? I love them all, but my favorites are definitely Don’t Blink, Banana to the Party and Pretend It’s A Plan!
You can find Above the Curve polishes in their Etsy Store (please note that they’ve moved back to Etsy from Big Cartel!), and also at Overall Beauty. They are each priced at $8.50 for full size, and $4.50 for mini size (and ATC’s new minis are larger and have a flat brush just like their full sizes, and look like mini versions of their full sizes- I’ll be posting about them soon!). You can follow the ATC Facebook page and ATC on Instagram for news and updates. Don’t forget, $1 from every bottle is donated to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children! Every single time you buy from ATC, you’re not only getting beautiful polish from some amazing sweet people, but you’re donating to a great cause!
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/.
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer: If You’re A Seascape & Ocean Warmed By The Sun
*Press Sample*
I sort of fail at regularly posting, don’t I? I’m sorry guys (for those that still check in!). I always have great intentions to post, and I even take pictures- and then I get distracted and never get farther than that. I have nonstop real life ‘squirrel’ moments combined with procrastination. But I actually do have a lot of pictures ready to go now! I’ve been *taking* pictures- just not cropping/watermarking/posting them. So posts are coming!
Tonight, I have some beautiful polishes that will be for sale TOMORROW (or today, depending on your time zone!). These are 2 polishes from the new Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer collection ‘Far From The Sun’!
First is the beautiful If You’re A Seascape.
If You’re A Seascape is a coral holographic polish with a pink to gold shift.
To me, the shift is more of a shimmer than a flat color shift- you can see the pink sparkles in the photo below! It’s definitely more noticeable indoors- when you’re outside the holographic effect takes over, though the sparkles still shine though!
Seascape applied nice and evenly, and covered well. I used 2 coats with no topcoat for these photos.
The second polish I have tonight is Ocean Warmed By the Sun!
Ocean Warmed By The Sun is a teal holographic polish with a green flash and pink to purple color shift.
Like If You’re A Seascape, the pink to purple shift in this is more of a strong scattered shimmer, and it’s what is creating the pretty pink sparkles in these photos! Again, it’s more noticeable indoors because the holo takes over outside in the sun.
Like If You’re A Seascape, Ocean Warmed By The Sun applied evenly and covered well. It was a little thick, but easy to work with. I used 2 coats with no topcoat for these photos.
The Far From The Sun collection will be available Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 3:30 pm EST. This gorgeous collection has 8 polishes in total- 7 stunning holographic shades and 1 beautiful microglitter. The linear holographics will be $12, the micro glitter will be $8.50, and the full set of 8 polishes will be $98. As it has been with the last few Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer restocks, this could potentially be the only sale for some of these shades. Colors return based on popularity- so if you see any you really want, be sure to grab it immediately! Do not wait!
You can purchase these lovely shades at www.blueeyedgirllacquer.bigcartel.com
Be sure to follow Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer on social media! You can find them at:
www.facebook.com/blueeyedgirllacquer
www.instagram.com/blueeyedlawyer
www.twitter.com/blueeyedlawyer
http://www.pinterest.com/wishesofablueey/beglove/
*Products in this post were provided to me for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Elevation Polish Sample XXH14
Wow, so I haven’t posted in *way* longer than I realized. For those that still check in on me and follow, I’m sorry! I actually have a pretty large backlog of pictures I’ve been taking- I just haven’t been *posting* them. So the good news is- I have a lot of posts almost ready to go! I have a few reviews that are woefully late- thankfully they are for understanding friends- and then just random pretty polishes I’ve been photographing. The end of the year has sort of just flown by so quickly, my kids are finishing school this week, and then it’s just lazy summer.
So today I’ll be showing off some pictures I took in February of Elevation Polish Sample XXH 14! I was SO ecstatic to snag this one during the restock- It’s really hard to get a sample at all, and it’s especially exciting when it’s one of the ones you really wanted. If anyone has been following my lil’ blog since the beginning, you’ll remember I briefly had ‘Flakie Friday’, because I love flakies so much. Well this is a neon purple/pink polish filled with flakies! It’s like Lulu made it for me without even realizing it!
Photos all show 2 coats with KBShimmer topcoat, outdoor lighting.
I originally posted a picture of this sample in some Elevation Polish fan groups on Facebook, and the response was extremely enthusiastic! So much so, that Lulu went back and recreated a very small LE batch of it (not quite identical, but very similar) and dubbed the new version ‘Angels are the Yetis of the Clouds’. <3! Isn’t that name just adorable? While I do not have an extra bottle of my sample or Yeti to give away, Pointless Cafe DOES! You can find her giveaway for Angels are the Yetis of the Clouds HERE. Be sure to check out her beautiful photos of both Angels are the Yetis of the Cloud AND Sample XXH 14 to compare- I sent her a decant of this one back in February, so she’s shown off both!
You can purchase Elevation Polish HERE– restocks are the 7th and 22nd of each month. Samples are available on the 7th- as they are one of a kinds, competition is FIERCE for them, so don’t get discouraged if you never snag one. Sometimes you get lucky!
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Hypothermia!
Good evening everyone! Tonight I have a quick on talking, but heavy on photos post!
This BEAUTIFUL polish is Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Hypothermia! This is a Limited Edition polish- it is ONLY available as a gift to those who buy the entire Winter collection. I know, it’s cruel 🙂 I thought this would be a good time to show this one off, since there WILL be a couple of full winter collections available at the upcoming restock (but not many)! So if you want this polish- you have 1 last shot! I’ll post restock information at the bottom of the post.
Hypothermia is a beautiful deep dusty grape purple holographic polish filled a bright almost neon purple shimmer.
The shimmer is not shy, but it definitely takes a backseat to the linear holo effect!
All photos show 2 coats of Hypothermia with topcoat in sunlight.
Application was wonderful, and the coverage was good- everything went on smooth and evenly without any pooling or cuticle flooding.
As I said before, only a few bottles of this polish will be available at this weekend’s restock, and ONLY when you purchase the entire winter collection. It is not sold on it’s own! But I will say it’s worth the splurge, since all of the winter collection is super gorgeous 🙂
The restock will be on Sunday March 9, 2014 at 3pm EST. You can find a full list of polishes making their last appearance on the Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer’s Facebook page! For more information, you can check out BEGL at the following places:
BEGL’s storefront: http://www.blueeyedgirllacquer.bigcartel.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/blueeyedgirllacquer
Instagram: http://instagram.com/blueeyedlawyer
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/wishesofablueey/beglove/
HARE Polish: Love You To Pieces!
In continuing with my ‘pictures I wanted to post before Valentine’s Day’ promise, today I have a beauty from HARE Polish, Love You To Pieces!
The minute pictures were posted of this polish, I knew I had to have it. It’s a beautiful plum purple jelly polish filled to the brim with different colored flakies! What’s not to love?
Application was great- everything went on smooth and easily. Photos show 2 coats plus topcoat. And since these are flakies and not glitter, removal was a breeze!
You can find this beauty and more amazing colors are Hare Polish on Etsy and also at Llarowe! It took a lot of willpower to walk away with only this shade during her most recent restock- there were other new beautiful colors released! For updates on new colors and restock dates, you can follow Hare Polish on Facebook and also at harepolish.com.
Above the Curve : Doctor Who Collection, Part 1
*Press Sample*
Good evening everyone! Tonight I have another Above the Curve post for you- and it’s an awesome one!
Earlier tonight, the always amazing Above the Curve released Part 1 of their Doctor Who Inspired collection! I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan, so I jumped at the chance to show these beauties off to you all 🙂 And they did not disappoint! Each one applied wonderfully and are just so beautiful! I used KBShimmer Clearly on Top topcoat for each photo (when I just say ‘topcoat’).
The first polish of the collection is Donna.
Donna Noble is one of my very favorite companions featured in the newer shows, and so I just love that she gets her own polish in this collection. This polish definitely reminds me of her bright, red hair as well as her tough, stubborn attitude!
Donna the polish is a reddish orange polish filled with a faint scattered holo. I used 2 coats and topcoat for these photos.
Next up is Slitheen!
The Slitheen are (or were?) a family of criminals from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius that hide their true forms while on Earth by ‘wearing’ the skins of humans- and tend to be very gassy as a result of the compression!
This color is really special, and my photos aren’t really doing it justice. It’s a pretty, evergreen polish with a bit of a gold/brown shift to it, and a green glow. Like Donna, it has a scattered holographic finish. I used 2 coats and topcoat for these pictures.
Next in the set is Relative Dimensions!
The Doctor’s TARDIS, the big blue police box most people see in Who related photos, stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. He is able to travel to any place, and any time in the universe.
Relative Dimensions is really really beautiful out in the sunlight. It appears a bit brighter out in the sun than it does indoors- inside it’s a bit more of a muted purple, but both inside and outside it’s just lovely. It also really brings out the red and purple sparks that are in there! It almost looked like micro-micro glitter 🙂 Like the others in the collection, this also sports a scattered holo effect. Shown is 2 coats with topcoat.
And last but not least, we have my favorite of the collection- The Silence!
The Silence- honestly I can’t really talk much about that without revealing just about any major plot point of the Eleventh Doctor’s first 2 seasons. But I will say- this seems like an incredibly fitting polish for the phrase ‘Silence Will Fall’ 🙂
This is a gorgeous dark polish- in some lights it appears black, but there’s a definite blue to purple shift in there that’s subtle but not hidden. It’s also full of micro flakes and a scattered holo like the rest of the collection. It feels like there’s a galaxy on your nails without doing anything but painting them! That was my first thought when I got outside and stared at this color. A definite must have!
You can find Above the Curve polishes in their Big Cartel store, and also at Overall Beauty. These beauties were launched TONIGHT on the Big Cartel page, so go get them now! They are each priced at $8.50, which is a steal! You can follow the ATC Facebook page and ATC on Instagram for news and updates. 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/.
*Products in this post were provided to me for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Sunday Swatch Spam: Colors by Llarowe
I hope everyone is having a good weekend! Recently I took out all of the Colors By Llarowe I owned, and took pictures on a sunny day. I originally planned to show off the pink shades leading up to Valentines Day, but since I wasn’t able to do that- I decided to just show ALL of them in one go! Be prepared for lots of blindingly beautiful pictures! 🙂
I’m a new convert to CbL’s- I resisted for awhile (I have so many polishes, I usually wait to try new brands until there’s something I just can’t live without)- and that ‘can’t live without’ polish came when I saw pictures of Precious Metal. I got a few- fell in love- got a few more- and now I’m hooked! I don’t have a ton yet, but every single one of these is absolutely amazing.
I don’t say this lightly- these are some of the nicest polishes I own. Not that I’m an expert, but at over 1,000 polishes- that’s saying quite a bit. Every single one has blown my mind with it’s beauty. Every single one applies like an absolute dream. The 2 shimmer polishes were a touch thicker than their holographic sisters, but still applied great. Many of the holographic polishes are opaque in 1 coat. There’s some in the lineup that aren’t quite my cup of tea, but I don’t think I’ve seen anything from Colors by Llarowe that isn’t pretty.
First up is Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, which was (sadly) a Limited Edition polish that came out alongside the Valentine’s Day polishes. It is a simply stunning brown jelly filled with an intense gold to red to green shimmer. I adore this polish on looks alone, but the name really gets me.
I love the Platters- I grew up listening to their music because my mom and my grandma played it constantly. I can’t think of any of their songs without thinking of my Grandma’s house, because I’m fairly confident it’s all she ever played (or rather- I don’t remember anything else!. I miss her so much- so this makes me think of her and therefore I love it :). I saw that one of the upcoming polishes is called The Great Pretender- which I plan on getting regardless of what it looks like!
Next is Sparkles Are a Girls Best Friend!
This is a stunning, bright pink holographic polish filled with purple flash and extra sparkle. It’s SO bright and fun!
The polish that started my collection- Precious Metal.
Precious Metal is a cool, blue toned grey polish filled with an orange shimmer that is noticable even indoors, though never blinding. I find myself staring at my nails every time I use this one!
Next we have Dirty Diana!
I confess, I did buy this one 90% for the name. But I am SO glad I did! Dirty Diana is a beautiful magenta strong holographic polish. When I’ve worn this on ‘normal’ days (and not taking photos), I only use 1 coat! This was beautiful inside, as well as outside in the sun.
This pretty purple polish is Tank Tops and Flip Flops.
I believe Tank Tops and Flip Flops is retired- but keep your eyes open at blog sales, I occasionally see it pop up! This is a beautiful muted violet holographic polish. Just gorgeous!
Next is another of my very favorites- It’s Shocking!
It’s Shocking! is a bright, hot pink holographic polish with a bit of a blurple sheen. SO bright and pretty- my camera had a hard time capturing it!
Now we have Beat It, from the Michael Jackson collection (which Dirty Diana was also part of)!
Beat It is a charcoal holographic polish with a blue flash. I’m not sure if this is retired or not- it may be. If so, I’m sorry for making you drool! Super intense linear holo, and really pretty indoors as well.
Last but not least, we have Rizzo!
Rizzo is a pale baby pink linear holo. It’s a bit more ‘metallic’ than some of the other polishes I showed today- it reminds me a bit of Color Club Halo-Graphic, but more baby-pinkish! But that same kind of metallic feel. This is probably the most intense holographic CbL’s I have!
There you have it- my Colors By Llarowe collection! I can’t wait to get more- if you’re interested, you can keep up to date on pre-sales and new releases by following Colors by Llarowe in the following places:
Store: http://www.llarowe.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Colorsbyllarowe and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Llarowe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/llarowe
Instagram: http://instagram.com/colorsbyllarowe and http://instagram.com/llarowe
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/.
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer: My Indecisive Valentine Collection
*Press Sample*
Hello everyone! Today I have some *gorgeous* colors from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer to show you! The My Indecisive Valentine Collection has 6 beautiful colors in it- and today I’ll be showing 2 of those! I have Flash Forward Fantasy and I Still Adore. This collection, along with Love Makes You Do The Wacky (seen here), Deepest Inquisitions, and All I’ll Ever Need, will be available on February 2, 2014 at 3pm EST! Be sure to grab what you want- it will be the last ever restock for the non-collection polishes, and the Valentines polishes will only make a second appearance if demand is high!
First up is Flash Forward Fantasy. I think Julie managed to nail the exact color of my skin tone with this one 🙂 Flash Forward Fantasy is a nude polish filled with violet flakies and a strong pink to gold shift. This polish dries matte, but I opted to use topcoat to bring out the sparkle!
Coverage was good, I used 3 thin coats for these photos with KBShimmer Clearly on Top topcoat. I ended up bumping my fingers a few times before photos- and I worried that I would have to remove the polish on that nail and start over, but I was able to just add another coat in the bumped area and it smoothed it out nicely and evenly. 
The next polish I received was I Still Adore- an orchid holographic polish!
I Still Adore is simply *stunning* outside in the sunlight. This is a bright, beautiful dusty purple pink/orchid holographic polish with a bit of a pink to gold color shift. You can see the pink flash in some of these photos!
Coverage was wonderful- the polish was thick, but I didn’t find it hard to work with. This was pretty much a 1 coat polish, but I used 2 for good measure. Everything went on smoothly and didn’t need any cleanup- and I didn’t use topcoat! You definitely want this polish in your life!
As I said above- the My Indecisive Valentine collection will be on sale February 2, 2014 at 3pm EST. Be sure to grab the ones you want- there won’t be many of each color, and there will only be a second restock if demand warrants it! It will also be the *last restock ever* before retirement of Love Makes You Do the Wacky, Deepest Inquisitions, and All I’ll Ever Need.
You can find these beauties at Julie’s store: http://www.blueeyedgirllacquer.bigcartel.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/blueeyedgirllacquer
Instagram: http://instagram.com/blueeyedlawyer
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/wishesofablueey/beglove/
*Products in this post were provided to me for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer – Love Makes You Do The Wacky
Ah, nothing like a 2 month break around the holidays! My absence was not planned, but I just got busy and distracted. Sorry about that! I may still show a few of the holiday polishes I bought- I didn’t get many this year, but I do have a few new pretties!
Today I’ll be showing off a GORGEOUS holographic polish- Love Makes You Do The Wacky from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer!
I actually received this polish back in September as part of my birthday present from Julie, the creator. It was part of the Once More With Feeling collection, which was one of her debut lines for Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer! The Once More With Feeling collection is based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and this particular polish is for Willow, Buffy’s best friend and witch extraordinaire. 
Love Makes You Do The Wacky is a light purple holographic polish with a fuchsia flash.
Application was wonderful- the polish went on smoothly and evenly. I didn’t need any cleanup at all! These photos show 3 thin coats with top coat (I believe I used KBShimmer Clearly on Top).
Unfortunately, the Buffy line has been retired (sadface). But, the reason I’m posting this one tonight- is that Julie announced today that Wacky is making a return!
Julie will be re-releasing Love Makes You Do the Wacky for ONE restock- it will be available alongside her Valentines Day polishes on February 2, 2014 at 3pm EST! There will only be a few of each of the polishes stocked this time, and the last chance for Wacky- so if you want it, be sure to be there! I’ve seen pictures, and I can promise you- the Valentines Day collection is BEAUTIFUL! There’ are some definite must-haves there!
You can follow Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer on Facebook and Instagram for news and updates, and you can find her polishes in her Big Cartel store! Be sure to check them out- she has a lot of beautiful core polishes, including the 2 customs she made for me for my birthday that are now available for everyone (Monster’s Tea at Tiffany’s and Jiggery Pokery)!
Silly Bee’s Chickadees Diana’s Nippley Holiday
*Press Sample*
Good Evening Everyone! Tonight I have something EXTRA special for you all!
Awhile back, Melissa of Silly Bee’s Chickadees asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with her for her blogger-inspired Christmas collection. Of course I said yes! We were tasked with deciding what our favorite Christmas movie was- and then deciding what our favorite scene of that movie was.
The BEST part about this collection- is that each blogger was able to pick a charity for proceeds from their polish’s sales to be donated to! 20% of each $10 polish will be donated to the charity of that blogger’s choice.
For the proceeds of my polish, I chose Toys for Tots. It’s Christmastime, and that was the first thing that popped in my head. It’s also one of the charities my family donates to each year. My children (ok- mostly my oldest, my son is still too young to ‘get’ it) help pick out toys and bikes each year for Toys for Tots and our local Bikes or Bust campaign. The holidays are a hard time of year for many families- during December we try and help out where we can.
Along with myself, the bloggers contributing to the Gift of Melly collection are Dulcie of OhThreeOhFour, Mishka of Accio Lacquer, Stephanie of Imperfectly Painted, and Emily of The Lacquerologist! This collage shows their polishes and the scenes that inspired them. Be sure to check out their posts!
For my polish, it was a pretty easy decision. I love a LOT of holiday movies- but National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is probably my very favorite. It reminds me a little of my own family- which is probably why it’s a favorite for all of us 🙂
When asked about a scene that stood out for me- well, there’s plenty of course! But one in particular is always Clark’s dream sequence, where he’s fantasizing about the backyard pool and the stork clerk he met earlier 😉
And so from that scene inspiration- Melissa created Diana’s Nippley Holiday!
If you’re unsure where the name comes from- here’s another movie clip for your enjoyment 🙂
Diana’s Nippley Holiday is a very light blue crelly base, filled with hot pink flowers, red, green, and white circle glitter, white hexes, and gold magic dust.
The blue base is for the pool water, the flowers and green are for the summer aspect of the sequence, and red for the bathing suit! Every polish in the Gift of Melly collection contain the magic gold dust, to tie them all together 🙂
To be totally honest, I did have a little bit of trouble initially with my pretty polish- it got thick quickly after it was opened, so I added a bit of thinner to make things work well. Melissa has fixed the other bottles to ensure they all apply wonderfully, so this shouldn’t even be an issue for you! Once I added a touch of thinner, application went well. I used just over 2 coats for these photos (but not quite 3 full coats), plus topcoat. I didn’t have to do any fishing for the flowers or other glitter- they all came out easily!
These polishes are being released on November 15 at 11am CST. You can buy each individually, and there are also limited amounts of box sets that contain all of the polishes, plus a few surprises!
Here’s all the Silly Bee’s info- be sure to check it out!
Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sillybeeschickadees
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SillyBeesChickadees
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sillybeeschickadees
Twitter: https://twitter.com/melgarza2000
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/sillybees/
Blog: http://www.sillybeeschickadees.com/
Melissa was kind enough to send me 2 bottles of Diana’s Nippley Holiday- one for me, and one for one of you! Just follow the link to the Rafflecopter widget and enter! Giveaway is open internationally, you must be 18 years or older, or have parental permission to enter. The giveaway will run through November 25th at 12:00am!
Silly Bee’s Chickadees Giveaway
*Products in this post were provided to me for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Elevation Polish: Naughty by Nature Collection
*Press Sample*
Hello everyone! Today I have the gorgeous new polishes from Elevation Polish to show you all! The Naughty by Nature collection was just released on Thursday. I *really* wanted to have this post up on release day- but the universe had other plans! My family was super sick the whole week- and by the end of the week of taking care of them, I was down for the count too. But better a little late than never!
There are 6 BEAUTIFUL colors in this collection- and the exciting part is that they’re all water based! I don’t know about you guys, but my experiences with water based polishes in the past haven’t been that great (though they’ve also been limited). I could barely tell a difference between these polishes and other Elevations! I did notice that all 6 got a bit thick when exposed to air more quickly than my ‘normal’ polish does, and a few were thicker in general. I probably will add a few drops of thinner later (I did not for photos). That’s more of a personal preference- as you can see from the pictures, they all apply wonderfully! I could barely smell a polish smell at all (it was very subtle), and the dry time was just fine. Lulu has really impressed me with these- and that’s just the formula, not the beautiful colors!
First is Forest of the Fog- a beautiful teal jelly polish filled with blue and purple shimmer.
This polish is so pretty! I really love the purple shimmer with the teal base- it’s a fun combination. The shimmer is definitely a little shy- it’s noticeable, but it’s not super in-your-face and instead is more subtle. These photos are outside in the sunshine, which is why it’s cooperating! Inside, you have more of a dark teal jelly polish. Photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Then I topped Forest of the Fog with Pitaraq, a gorgeous flake topcoat!
After years of being a polishaholic- my love for flakies of all types has never diminished. So of course, this is one of my favorites of the collection! Pitaraq is a fun topper filled with white, silver, and blue flakies and blue microshimmer! This polish will be PERFECT for the winter months coming up- it feels like I just spread frost over my nails! This is 1 coat (no topcoat) over Forest of the Fog.
Next is a wonderful red cream, Volcanic Dust!
This polish really surprised me and was another favorite in the collection. I’m normally not a fan of creams- I have a good amount of them, but I rarely get excited for them. But Volcanic Dust looked great on, and applied great! Pictures show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Ah, and now for my favorite of the collection- Darkest Storm, a beautiful dark blue holographic stunner!
Darkest Storm is a very dark, almost midnight blue holographic polish. Because of the darker shade, the holographic effect is blinding outside in the sun! Photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Next is Black Ice, a charcoal polish filled with lots of shimmer!
Black Ice dries to a velvet matte finish on it’s own. I ADORE how it looks with topcoat on top though! This beauty sparkled so much in the sun that it almost looks holographic. But it’s not! It’s filled with a silver and white shimmer that is always visible, and also with multicolored shimmer that comes alive with topcoat. This polish applied like a DREAM- I didn’t have to do any cleanup at all! Photos are 2 coats with topcoat.
Last but not least is Naked Night Sky, a brown jelly polish accented with aqua and blue glitters!
I actually ended up liking this polish a bit more than I had anticipated- unlike Lulu, the creator, I don’t love brown nail polish (her blog is http://lovebrownnailpolish.wordpress.com/ lol). But I did really like this! On her store listing, Lulu advises to wait for each coat to dry before applying the next one, and I would agree with this completely. This polish is actually the only one that gave me a bit of trouble, and it was because I was initially not following that advice, and the second coat would pull and ruin the first coat. Once I waited, I had no more issues. Photos are 2 thick coats plus topcoat.
And there you have it, the Naughty by Nature collection! As I said earlier, these polishes were released on Thursday- Darkest Storm is sold out for now, but the rest are still available! Elevation Polish restocks on the 7th and 22nd of the month, so Darkest Storm will be available again then. The collection is also going to be launched at Llarowe.com, though I don’t believe the restock date has been announced yet.
Elevation Polish: http://elevationpolish.bigcartel.com/ and http://www.llarowe.com/
Also, Elevation Polish is now on Instagram! Be sure to go follow- @elevationpolish!
*Some products in this post were provided for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
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*
Different Dimension: Set It Free Collection
Good afternoon everyone! I hope to have another post up this evening, but while I’m waiting on the sun to come back out- I thought I’d post some pictures I recently took of one of my very favorite collections!
Different Dimension’s Set It Free collection was first released last February- though it is still available! This stunning collection is made of 3 polishes- Black Dahlia, Wide Awake, and Stronger. I love everything about this trio of polishes- they’re holo, sparkling, shimmering bottles of beauty!
First up is Black Dahlia.
This is probably my favorite of the collection. While I feel like you should get all 3, if you can only get 1- make it be this one. Black Dahlia is a beautiful black flake polish (the flakes in all 3 build up to opacity in just 2 coats), filled with tons of holographic pigment, blue/pink shimmer, and color shifting glitters.
This polish comes alive outside, but it is just as beautiful indoors too. I used 2 coats with no topcoat for these photos. As with every Different Dimension polish I’ve tried, the formula was perfect and went on wonderfully with no issues.
Next in the trio is Wide Awake.
Although this is a pink, this is probably my least favorite of the bunch. Shocking, right? Wide Awake is absolutely beautiful, but didn’t want to play nice with my skin tone. That’s the only negative thing about it though- because it’s just as stunning as it’s siblings, and applies like a dream.
Wide Awake is a very pale pink holographic polish filled with light pink flecks and a hot pink flash (seen best in the photo below). As I said before- application was wonderful. Photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Last but not least, is Stronger.
This one ALMOST tied with Black Dahlia for the favorite spot- I think Black Dahlia edged it out because of it’s extra color shifting glitters 😉
Stronger is a *stunning* light blue holographic polish filled with blue flecks and a blue/pink flash. Like Black Dahlia, the strong holographic pigment plays very nicely with this shade, and it’s almost always visible- even indoors a bit. The pop of pink is not subtle, and is so beautiful!
Like the others, application on Stronger was amazing. Every polish I own by Different Dimension is like this, so I’m not surprised! Photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Though Missi has been pumping out some AMAZING holographic colors lately- I highly recommend you pick up at least 1 of these beauties! You won’t regret it!
Different Dimension polishes are available at Different Dimension’s Etsy shop and range from $8.50 to $10.00, as well as Llarowe and Mei Mei’s Signatures.
Be sure to follow Different Dimension on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming shades!
Lumina Lacquer Sugar Skulls 2.0
While Halloween is over, Dia de los Muertos is still being celebrated- so I decided to bring out Lumina Lacquer’s Sugar Skulls 2.0!
The original Sugar Skulls was offered last fall, and was very similar to the 2.0 version. Sugar Skulls 2.0 is filled with small matte glitters in white, blue, green, pink, and a hint of color shifting sparkle. I had always wanted the original but never bought it- so I grabbed up this one when it was released!
Photos show 2 coats of Sugar Skulls 2.0 over Different Dimension’s Excelsior (which will have it’s own post in a few days), with a Sugar Skull Nail Thins as on over Excelsior as an accent nail. Application was great, the coverage on Sugar Skulls was wonderful- sometimes with micro matte glitter polishes, it can take a lot of coats to build up a decent opacity- but 2 thin coats was all that was needed.
The Nail Thin was incredibly easy to apply again- but this time, while in a hurry, I didn’t wait for the base polish to completely dry before applying. It still worked well, but I had a bit of smudging- completely user error on my part. I highly recommend giving them a look! You can get 3 packs for $10 on Etsy, and there’s tons of fun things to choose from.
Coming up this weekend I’ll have posts featuring Femme Fatale, the upcoming Elevation Polish collection, and some beautiful colors from Different Dimension- be sure to check back!
Featured Polish Information:
Lumina Lacquer: Store, Facebook Page
Nail Thins: Store, Facebook Page
Different Dimension: Store, Facebook Page
Happy Halloween!
I hope everyone has had a great Halloween! Ours wasn’t super- it’s been pouring rain and storming all night. But we tried to have fun here at home!
Tonight wraps up Halloween inspired manis 😦 I have a couple to show you tonight!
First up is Lumina Lacquer’s Mickey’s Moonlit Masquerade over Takko Lacquer Kiss the Sky (post coming in a week or so)!
I really love this Micky polish- and it looks so lovely over Kiss the Sky! As with most of my Luminas, I applied using the dabbing method. I didn’t have to fish for any glitters- such a fun variety!
Next up is the pumpkin mani I kept talking about!
Like I said- simple, but festive and fun! I never got a chance to take ‘real’ photos of this one before there was so much chipping I couldn’t save it. But I was able to enjoy it for almost a full week! I got a bunch of compliments!
The base color is Sinful Colors Citrine. I picked it up last summer from the Wow! Pop! display, but I’ve heard that it’s part of *this years* Halloween display! So if you want to grab it- hurry! My phone picture is showing this as more red than it actually is- it is a red orange, but a bit more orange leaning. For the jack o lantern face, I used Nail Thins- SUPER easy to apply, just like a sticker- but it’s incredibly thin, so you can’t see a ridge where it’s applied. I’ll provide links at the end of the post!
Last but not least, is my official Halloween mani for this year!
I finished my nails up last night right as the clouds rolled in, so I wasn’t able to get good photos- and then I smudge my ring finger. Still wearable, but not as pretty to photograph 😉
This is a gradient mani using Different Dimension’s Gnarly, Totally, and Tubular (green, yellow and orange). I did 1 coat of Cult Nails Tempest (white), and then sponged the 3 colors on top. This was a super fast, quick gradient- I think it took me 5 minutes. It’s also very messy, and you can probably see a bit of green still on my fingers. After I was finished I did a TON of cleanup! I knew I was going to add glitter though, so I wasn’t worried about it looking good on it’s own. Then I topped it with 1 coat of Lumina Lacquer’s Desfile de Mickey! Such a fun, bright look to compliment my bright pink and purple monster hat 🙂
Information!
Takko Lacquer: Store , Twitter
Lumina Lacquer: Store, Facebook Page
Nail Thins: Store, Facebook Page
Different Dimension: Store, Facebook Page
Sinful Colors: Available at most drug stores (Walgreens, CVS, Walmart) for $1.99
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Discontinued Limited Edition and Lumina Lacquer Mick or Treat
Happy Halloween everyone! I have quite a few posts scheduled for today- hopefully to make up for my couple of missed days 🙂
The first halloween mani of the day features Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer and Lumina Lacquer!
First up is Discontinued Limited Edition- which is a Limited Edition! This polish is part of Julie’s Nail Polish Frights Halloween collection. It’s a beautiful charcoal holographic polish filled with orange sparks and shimmer. A perfect Halloween polish! Application was wonderful- photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Then, I topped Discontinued Limited Edition with Lumina Lacquer’s Mick or Treat!
Mick or Treat is a fun glitter bomb that features holographic Mickey Mouse heads, as well as lots of red, orange, yellow, black and holographic glitters. Photos show 1 coat of Mick or Treat- I applied by dabbing. I was able to get 1 Mickey head out naturally, the others I did fish a little bit for- but Lumina Lacquer glitter bombs are so dense you rarely have to fish for long!
Mick or Treat also has big pumpkins in it- but they completely eluded me this time! I think they’re all hiding in the middle 😉
Both of these polish are Limited Edition- while Mick or Treat is sold out (you can check sales groups and blog sales though!), there are still a few bottles left of Discontinued Limited Edition if you hurry!
Here’s the polish brand info:
Lumina Lacquer: Facebook Page and Big Cartel Store
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer: Facebook Page and Big Cartel Store
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?
China Glaze Riveting and Enchanted Polish To Die For
So I wasn’t able to get good pics of my pumpkin mani today- it’s been super overcast and icky! So I’ll do these pretty colors today instead, and hopefully show my pumpkin mani tomorrow 🙂
I paired up China Glaze Riveting and Enchanted Polish To Die For for a fun halloween-esque mani.
I decided to show Riveting by itself first! China Glaze Riveting is a gorgeous shimmery orange color. This was one of the Hunger Games collection polishes released last year- and one of the first I picked up! It’s incredibly stunning. Photos show 2 coats, no topcoat.
Then I topped Riveting with just 1 coat of Enchanted Polish To Die For
To Die For is a fun glitter topper filled with a very slightly charcoal tinted base filled with charcoal holographic glitters. Application was great- this is just 1 coat with no topcoat, and everything went on super smoothly and evenly.
China Glaze Riveting is no longer available in stores- it was released in Feburary/March of 2012 for the release of the first Hunger Games movie- though you can sometimes still find it online and via blog sales!
Enchanted Polish To Die For is a Halloween Polish from Enchanted Polish. I can honestly say I have no idea if this will return this year- though it never hurts to keep checking!
China Glaze: https://www.facebook.com/chinaglazeofficial and http://chinaglaze.com/
Enchanted Polish: https://www.facebook.com/EnchantedPolishPage and http://enchantedpolish.bigcartel.com/
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Monster’s Tea at Tiffany’s Swatches
Today I’m going to show off a BEAUTIFUL polish- Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Monster’s Tea at Tiffany’s!
Julie made this gorgeous mint polish for me as a surprise birthday present, and then decided to sell it in her store! So though it began as a custom, now everyone can enjoy it!
Monster’s Tea at Tiffany’s is a pretty mint green/Tiffany blue that has a gorgeous bright green shimmer. Simple, gorgeous, and a bit different from a lot of other Tiffany blue polishes out there.
I used 2 coats and Out the Door topcoat for these photos. Application was great, the polish went on smoothly and I didn’t have any issues. While the shimmer is a bit subtle due to the color, it’s also obvious- it doesn’t hide indoors and is always noticeable (does that make sense? It does in my head!).
You can follow Wishes of a Blue Eyed Girl via her blog, her Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram! To follow her polish line, check out Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer page and her Big Cartel page! Prices range from $8.00 to $10.00 per bottle.
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/
Polish Monster 