Polish Monster’s Big Birthday Blogiversary Giveaway!
Well, it’s unsurprisingly a little later than I planned- but it’s finally here! My giveaway!
My big 3-0 birthday was at the end of August, and my blog turned 1 year old at the end of June. My blog’s birthday sort of snuck past me, and so I decided to celebrate it alongside my birthday!
I’ve always loved the movie 13 Going on 30, so for my 30th I decided to run with that as the theme. You’ll notice a few of the prizes are inspired by it!
Enough talking- on to the prizes you could win!
Prize #1 contains the Above the Curve duo Arrivederci and Au Revoir, Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES! and a custom Little Lazy called Cutie Beebee!
Prize #2 Contains Above the Curve Darling Diana, Takko Lacquer Muse, Contrary Polish Anniversary Monster, Lucky 13 Lacquer Softening the Bad Things, and Nailz Craze stamping plate NC01!
Prize #3 contains Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Oh, We’re Not Together, Lucky 13 Lacquer Fight Like a Girl, Takko Lacquer Heads Will Roll, Contrary Polish Gift Wrap, and Peita’s Polish Miss Dixie!
And last but not least- each prize pack gets these! A custom For Goodness Grape lip shimmer in Razzle Red (it’s a red, shimmery lip tint with a razzleberry flavor), and 2 Monster Polishes (that’s what my own polishes are called, for those that didn’t know!) made specifically for these events. Please excuse the lack of labels in the photo- I just ordered some new ones that will arrive before the giveaway ends!
The first is Razzle Red, which I created for my birthday. It’s a glitter topcoat filled with every shape, shade and size of red and pink glitter I had in my glitter tub with a pink shimmer. The second is Monster’s Ball, which I created for my blog’s anniversary. It’s a frosty holographic purple polish filled with color shifting glitters and flakes. Swatches of both of these will be on the blog in the next few days!
And now onto the official stuff.
I will be verifying winning entries, so please don’t lie. I’ve had to throw out winning entries with every giveaway in the past because people have lied about finishing tasks- it makes me sad. Please don’t do it!
If you cannot enter using Rafflecopter, please leave me a comment and/or email with your information and I can enter it manually for you.
Please follow the link RIGHT BELOW THIS to enter!!! And GOOD LUCK!!!
Polish Monster’s Big Birthday Blogiversary Rafflecopter Giveaway
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/.
Mentality Polish Fervor
The other day I wore Mentality Nail Polish in Fervor for the first time- though I’ve had it for awhile. I’m not sure why I waited so long to put it on (other than just being lazy)- talk about stunning in the sun!
Fervor is part of Mentality’s Brilliant Holo collection- all of the Brilliant polishes are over the top shimmering, sparkling holographic beauties. Fervor is a light purple holographic shade with a splash of blue sparks.
Fervor went on great, smooth and even and fully opaque in 2 coats.
Mentality Polish has a lot of pretty shades, but I really feel like the Brilliant Holos are must haves- everyone should have at least one. With 9 shades to choose from, you’re sure to find a favorite! I also have Bliss, which is just as beautiful.
You can follow Mentality Nail Polish on Facebook, and buy from their Big Cartel store. Be sure to check out and follow them- they currently have a Birthday Sale going on!
Jindie Nails Olive You Swatches
Today I’m going to show off one of my more recent purchases- Jindie Nails Olive You.
Olive You is an olive green linear holographic polish filled with small green/gold color shifting glitters.
Pictures show 2 coats with no topcoat. Because of the glitters, Olive You shimmered and sparkled inside in the shade, and burst to life outside in the sun. Application was great, everything went on smooth and well.
Isn’t it gorgeous? This will be a great shade for fall!
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/
Lumina Lacquer Homesick at Space Camp Swatches
Quick post today! For my Takko Lacquer Get Lucky swatches, I mentioned that I was wearing Lumina Lacquer’s Homesick at Space Camp under it- I wanted to show this beauty off on it’s own!
I ADORE this polish! It went on immediately when I got my latest order delivered and I wore it for just over 2 days- which is a lot for me. I took these photos on the second day, so there’s a tiny bit of tip wear. I’m also out of 100% acetone, so there’s a tiny bit of blue around my cuticles that I couldn’t get rid of with the brush. There was no staining on my nails though when I removed it!
Homesick at Space Camp is a beautiful royal blue holographic polish with subtle blue flakies and holographic glitter. Neither of these are very obvious, but it gives the polish a bit of extra ‘oomph’!
Application was great, I used 2 coats plus topcoat. If I’d taken my time, clean up wouldn’t have been necessary- it wasn’t with the first coat. Then I went and did the second coat too fast and had to then take forever cleaning up. You’d think I’d learn 😉
You can buy Lumina Lacquers from Big Cartel, and follow Lumina Lacquer on Facebook and Instagram for updates on restocks and new colors! Homesick at Space Camp was a new color just released a few weeks ago- it is currently sold out, but keep checking to find out when it will return!
Contrary Polish: Gift Wrap and Anniversary Monster (custom)
Good morning everyone! Three posts in a row? This must be a new recent record for me 🙂 I told you all having the kids in school now would help me get back on track! *knocks on wood*
In keeping with this week’s trend of showing off giveaway polishes, today I bring you Contrary Polish!
Contrary Polish is one of my favorite indie brands. Since around fall I’ve been really drawn to non-glitter bomb polishes (with a few exceptions of course!), and Contrary Polish is one of the best at amazing shimmers. I own a good chunk of her creations (you can check my stash list, though it’s not up to date- I also have the new colors and a few more older ones), so if there’s any you’ve been wanting to see- let me know in the comments and I’ll try and post them next week if I have them!
A few months ago I contacted Carrie about creating a custom polish, and I LOVE what she came up with! We decided to name it ‘Anniversary Monster’ in celebration of my 1 year blogging anniversary (which was in June, but I’m slow) 🙂 A second bottle of Anniversary Monster will be a prize in my upcoming giveaway!
Along with Anniversary Monster, I decided to swatch Gift Wrap, which was created to celebrate Contrary Polish’s one year anniversary! It seems fitting 🙂
First up, I’ll show off Gift Wrap!
Gift Wrap is a beautiful dark purple polish filled with very noticeable blue green shimmer. Application was good, I used 2 coats plus topcoat for the photos. Gift Wrap dries to a semi-matte finish without topcoat- also pretty, but I prefer shiny 🙂
When I first bought this polish I thought it might look a bit of RBL Scrangie (one of my favorites), but in person it didn’t. The colors are a bit different, but the major difference is the shimmer. Gift Wrap’s is much more noticeable, and it’s also more of a scattered, larger particle shimmer rather than a smooth shimmer (does that make any sense? I can’t figure out a better way to describe it!). This alone makes it appear completely different. If you like that color combination you will adore Gift Wrap!
Agh, the sparkle. This polish was so gorgeous and stunning outside in the sun- though it was beautiful indoors as well!
And now for Anniversary Monster!
When Carrie asked what I would like for my polish, I just gave her a list of colors I loved and let her have free reign. I said that I love pink (of course!), grey, tiffany blue, green and purple- so whatever she thought would look great and use some of those colors would be awesome.
What I got was this beautiful blue-grey polish filled with bright pink shimmer. The base is almost green-leaning in some lights, and a bit blue in others. Definitely something unique, and very ‘me’, and it even seems to fit the ‘Anniversary Monster’ name perfectly!
Again the application was great- I used 2 coats and topcoat for these photos. Like Gift Wrap, Anniversary Monster dries to a bit of a satin finish without topcoat.
So what do you think? I love it! If you’d like to try and win a bottle, be sure to be watching my blog- I’m hoping to start the giveaway early next week!
Be sure to follow Contrary Polish on Facebook to stay up to date on new releases and information!
You can purchase Contrary Polish from the Contrary Polish website (via email on Fridays) for mini sizes and certain full sizes, and also through a number of international stockists: Llarowe, Femme Fatale Cosmetics, Shoppe Eclecticco and Norway Nails. Bottles are $5 for mini sizes and $10 for full size via Contrary Polish’s website, and full size prices vary for international stockists.
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 2: Polish Addiction Set!
*Press Sample*
Time for the second half of my Above the Curve review! This time I have the Polish Addiction set. These are some BEAUTIFUL polishes! If you follow my Facebook page, you may have already seen my pictures there 😉
As I said last time- ATC is an amazing indie company run by the super sweet Angel and Shawn. $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 Hospitals, and for scoliosis. See, more reason to buy polish (and be polish addicted)- you’re donating to a good cause!
This collection is made up of Husbands Just Don’t Understand, Dusty Huntin’, What No Buy?!?!, and Lemming Have It!
All 4 polishes are incredibly stunning holographic polishes. What No Buy?!?! has gold holographic glitter, while the other 3 all have a subtle bit of color shifting sparkle to them. All 4 apply absolutely beautifully- smooth, no cleanup needed.
First up is Husbands Just Don’t Understand- which is true, they don’t! Mine tends to just smile and nod 😉 This is a beautiful dark teal holographic polish with a bit of a green flash to it.
I used 2 coats with no topcoat. Like I said before- applied beautifully! This polish is really stunning, especially outside in the sunlight where all 4 really shine.
The second polish in this collection is Dusty Huntin’! If you’re unfamiliar with what Dusty Huntin’ is, it’s when you visit older salons to try and find valuable older polishes sitting ‘gathering dust’ on the shelves and buy them from the salon. Often they’ll sell them to you (used) for relatively cheap- they think they’re getting a great deal, while you, the polish addict, are overjoyed at snagging a hard to find beauty.
This is a beautiful pink leaning red holographic polish with a beautiful purple flash. The holographic effect is a bit more faint on this one than the others, but it ‘s still a shining stunner! I used 2 coats with no topcoat.
Next is What No Buy?!?!- a beautiful golden holographic polish with scattered gold holographic glitter. I tried to go on a no-buy one time- I’m not sure I even made it through the week. Instead I (attempt) to go on low-buys- but even then I usually fail 😉
I don’t normally care for gold polish, but this one is super pretty, and worked well with my skin tone. And even though it’s filled with holographic glitter, it came off just as easily as the other holo polishes- no need for the foil method or excessive scrubbing! This is 3 coats with no topcoat.
And last but certainly not least, is Lemming Have It!- my personal favorite, and seems to be a lot of people’s favorite. Lemming Have It is a drop dead gorgeous blurple holographic with a blue shimmering shift to it. The blue shimmer really comes out to play in sunlight- I couldn’t stop staring at my nails!
The pigmentation is great across the board with this collection, but is especially great in Lemming Have It!. I could almost get away with 1 coat, but for pictures I was sure to use 2 coats (no topcoat). Applied like a dream. I think I gushed enough in my last post about how well ATC polishes apply, so I’ll spare you this time 😉 (they apply wonderfully!)
This polish is easily tied for my very favorite ATC polish with Fallen Angel- both are must have polishes (unless you don’t like holographic polishes of course- but not many people dislike holos!). The extra shimmer flash in these is what really sets them apart and makes them shine.
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. You can also follow the ATC Facebook page for news and updates. Polishes range from $7 to $9 (for holos)- and don’t forget, $1 from every bottle is donated to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children!
If you didn’t see it the other day, be sure to check out Part 1 of my Above the Curve polish review HERE!
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.*
A Rainy Day Duo: Lumina Lacquer Polishes
I am a little behind (I know this is terribly shocking, right?)- but my second part of my Above the Curve review is set and ready to go for this evening. But in the meantime, I thought I’d post a quick mani I wore a few days ago. I’m up late writing this because it’s storming pretty heavily, and these polishes felt appropriate to show off! I chose to pair up I’m Only Happy When It Rains and Purple Rain- LOVE the result!
Also- Lumina Lacquer is restocking tomorrow at 11:oo am PST (2EST/1CST/12MST)- so maybe this can add something to your wish list!
First up is I’m Only Happy When It Rains, a beautiful light gray with a gorgeous blue-green sparkle. Sadly, this one isn’t being restocked today and may not return. (You definitely have to grab Lumina Lacquers you love when you can- there’s never a guarantee they’ll be back!) This polish began as a custom for a friend, and I’m so glad Tatiana opted to make a larger batch for all of us to enjoy!
I’m Only Happy When It Rains has great coverage- this is 2 coats. The shimmer is really obvious in person! It’s such a delicate, pretty gray color- and I’m definitely a sucker for gray polish!
Then I added 1 coat of Purple Rain on top! Yes, ya’ll- that’s just 1 coat.
This is one tightly packed glitter bomb- which is what Lumina Lacquer does best in my opinion! You’ll find just about every type of purple glitter in this polish- large, small, shapes, holos, even shards- all in there. There’s even some beautiful iridescent glitters that peek through in the sun!
I used the dabbing method to apply the glitters- if you’re wondering how to do that, you can follow this link to an amazing video by More Nail Polish showing exactly how! It’s a great way to apply glitter bombs like this one.
Remember, Lumina Lacquer restocks tomorrow at 11am PST! You can visit her Big Cartel store to see the polishes being sold- Purple Rain is included, along with a lot of other amazing colors! And be sure to follow on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date on new colors and restocks!
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.*
Different Dimension Thermal Collection Review
*Press Sample*
Today I have another review for you all- and be warned, this is going to be picture heavy!
What you’re about to see is the entire set of the absolutely beautiful new thermal polishes from Different Dimension! Missi, the awesome genius behind Different Dimension, hopes to be releasing these sometime next week- though there isn’t a specific date right now. Each polish name is inspired by one of the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters!
Every polish performed and applied the same, so I’ll review them all here before jumping into photos. All 5 are beautiful, shimmery, glass fleck filled beauties. Each shifts between 2 colors depending on temperature- hot vs. cold. Like with most thermals, if you have longer nails you’ll be able to achieve a small bit of a gradient with any free edge. Application was beautiful- each went on well with great coverage. They appear very sheer with the first coat, but build up well- all photos show 3 coats with no topcoat. Now on to photo spam!
Little Miss Stubborn is a gorgeous purple thermal polish. At room temperature, it’s a pretty purple polish with a gold duochrome shift.
After putting my hand in cold water, the color was a bit darker though still similar to the room temperature shade:
And after putting my hands in hot water, Little Miss Stubborn turns to a very light shade of pink-purple:
As the polish slowly cooled back down, of course my tips were the first to go. Eventually the whole nail returned to the room temperature shade.
Next up is…
Of all of the polishes in this collection, I really feel like this one is the *most* perfectly named. Look at Mr. Silly’s hat and body next to each other compared to the swatch photo! It’s a match made in heaven!
Mr. Silly is a beautiful shimmery light orange glass fleck with a gorgeous yellow green shimmer. At room temperature:
When warm, Mr. Silly turns into a light pastel yellow with a green-gold flash:
As the nail slowly started cooling down again, it made for some stunning transitions! The 2 yellow/orange polishes are my favorite of the bunch for this effect- it looks like a sunrise!
The third polish of the bunch is…
Mr. Grumble is another beautiful duochrome purple shade. At room temperature, the glass flecks in this one shift between blue, purple and a green-gold with a bit of a pink flash!
And then warmed up, it turns to a light green with a pink flash!
And then my nails transitioning back to room temperature- this was a much more ‘obvious’ transition than the previous ones!
The 4th polish in the group is…
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you- Mr. Noisy is very very similar to Mr. Silly! The major difference is that Mr. Noisy is a much darker shade of orange at room temperature. This one is my very favorite for the transitioned look- it’s just SO pretty!
At room temperature Mr. Noisy is a beautiful glass fleck coral red-orange with a yellow flash:
Then in warm water, it turns to a beautiful shimmery pastel yellow:
My nails transitioning back to room temperature- LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!
And one more, because something this pretty deserves photo spam:
And last but not least, the final polish in this collection is…
Little Miss Naughty is probably my favorite ‘room temperture’ polish of the collection- and it doesn’t hurt that it shifts to pink!
At room temperature, Little Miss Naughty is an incredibly beautiful purple with a green-gold glass fleck shimmer.
And here it is cold (it did appear darker cold- some didn’t have a drastic difference cold vs. room temperature):
This one actually reminds me a little bit of a glass-fleck version of Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie- one of my very favorite polishes. So it’s no wonder I adore it!
When warm, Little Miss Naughty turns into a light pink with a golden shimmer!
And here’s the transition!
Isn’t it stunning?
As I said earlier, I had absolutely no issues with these polishes. All applied like a dream, and it was easy to produce the color changing effect. And they’re all SO beautiful! I would buy all 5 in a heartbeat even without the color changing effect- I view that as an added bonus!
These colors should be available sometime next week! 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 (for international ladies!).
Be sure to follow Different Dimension on Facebook for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming shades!
Mr. Men and Little Miss photo credit: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
*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*
I’m Back! Above the Curve Caty Perrywinkle and Lynnderella Blue Rouge Gradient
Hi guys! I never really updated officially on the blog, but I’m sure you were able to guess that I took an extended break from blogging. I still update on my Facebook page occasionally- which I think most people follow- but I apologize for never explaining that here as well. But I’m back now! I’ve missed blogging more than I thought I would. I actually planned to return almost a month ago, but my camera cord went missing- so the pictures in this post are about a month old now!
I’m planning on taking things slow initially- I’m going to make an effort to post regularly to keep myself on track, but I won’t be posting daily like many bloggers are able to do. I have a few reviews I’ve been incredibly late about posting (not polish, but polish/beauty related), so I’m going to do those this week, and then try and jump back in! Let me know what you’d like to see- right now my plan is to mainly do small, quick posts on whatever I’m wearing, but I’m open to suggestions and requests for sure!
This mani uses 2 of my very favorite polishes, Above the Curve Caty Perrywinkle and Lynnderella Blue Rouge. Even though both are recent purchases, they’re towards the top of my favorite list. I happened to have them sitting on my desk together and realized how perfect they would look as a pairing!
First is 2 coats of Above the Curve’s Caty Perrywinkle alone. Periwinkle is one of my favorite colors, so I was SUPER excited when Shaun and Angel debuted this gorgeous polish a few months ago. Caty Perrywinkle is a holographic periwinkle polish. It applied wonderfully, and outside in the sun it was much more holographic than my picture is showing. It’s definitely not an in-your-face holo, but it adds a gorgeous sparkle to a beautiful color.
Lynnderella’s Blue Rouge is actually a lot more opaque than people realize- you can have full coverage in 2 coats easily. Because of this I opted to do a glitter gradiant with Caty Perrywinkle, so that it wouldn’t be completely covered. I dabbed Blue Rouge around the cuticle area of my nails towards the middle, and then added a second coat and drug a tiny bit downward on each side. This is one of my very favorite Lynnderella polishes ever- it’s absolutely worth the splurge! It filled with smaller periwinkle and lilac glitters, and very fine pink glitter. Gorgeous!
I highly recommend both of these beauties! Here’s where you can find both:
Above the Curve: Follow their Facebook Page for updates, and purchase via their Etsy Store or Big Cartel Store– $9 (right now Caty Perrywinkle is only available via Big Cartel)
Lynnderella: Follow the Love Lynnderella Facebook page for polish updates, and buy via Lynnderella’s Ebay Store– $20
I’m excited to be back! I hope you guys liked my first return post as much as I did- I STILL love this mani! ❤
Takko Lacquer: Wanderlust
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers here in the US, and to anyone else that may be celebrating today! One of the many things I am thankful for is all of YOU! My husband pushed me and pushed me to just start a blog to have a fun way to show off my collection, and I never thought so many people would be even remotely interested in looking at my chubby nubbin’ nails 🙂 So thank you!
Speaking of nubbin’ nails… mine have made a reappearance again 😦 I had finally recovered from my last break, when I got a small tear at my nail bed line on my swatching hand’s index finger. I tried to repair it, but I had waited too late (it happened when I was out) so the nail just had to be cut. Back to square one! You’ll probably notice for about a week that particular finger is uneven- I refused to cut the entire nail that far down, so one edge is a bit shorter than the other (that’s where the break happened). Truth be told, I prefer my nails this short in terms of function- with how much running around and housework I do, maintaining longer nails is hard. But I love LOOKING at my nails when they’re long!
Anyways, on to my swatches! Today I decided to wear a long lemming that I finally purchased- Takko Lacquer’s Wanderlust! Takko Lacquer is a newer brand on the indie scene, and all of her polishes are just absolutely stunning. I now own 5! You’ll be seeing the others soon 🙂
This is described on the Etsy listing as ‘a smokey lilac jelly creme hybrid lacquer with vibrant teal shimmer’. And I can’t resist quoting the inspiration of the polish from it’s listing as well- all of Takko Lacquers have *amazing* descriptions and inspiration photos. ‘Toes in the sand, taking over the world’s concrete jungles, tea with the Queen, climbing up mountains, shopping in the Champs Elysee. Watching the sunrise, and racing it to watch it set on the other coast. This one is for all of those whose heart is always wanderlust, ready for adventure and chasing unknown lands, the world is your playground.’ *swoon*
‘Vibrant teal shimmer’ is a VERY good description here. This shimmer is very, very noticeable. It’s not one that only comes out to play in sunlight- it’s just as beautiful and visible in the shade and indoors.
Application was amazing. I rarely use the phrase ‘applied like butter’, but that’s really how this applied. The polish is a bit on the thicker side, but it goes exactly where you want it to- no flooding, no other issues. It even appeared to self level a bit!
This is 2 coats of Wanderlust followed by 1 coat of Color Club topcoat. I could have gotten away with 1 coat, but I did 2 since I was going to photograph.
Close up photo of one of my nails!
I could probably rave forever about these polishes. Though I didn’t photograph it, I wore ‘We’re All Mad Here’, one of her holiday colors, just yesterday and it took my breath away.
All Takko Lacquer polishes are 3-Free, made in the USA (all the ingredients, pigments, base, bottles, labels, from the boxes and bubble wrap are USA made), vegan, cruelty free, and mineral based.
You can follow Takko Lacquer’s blog here to keep up to date on new polishes and news, and follow them on Twitter here (@takkolacquer).
You can buy these beautiful colors at Takko Lacquer’s Etsy store here. Polishes sell for $15. I know that’s a bit higher than a lot of girls are comfortable spending- but trust me, they are worth every penny. They’re worth saving for! Restocks typically happen on Fridays at 1pm EST. If you want something, though, be sure to be there when she opens! There’s usually only a few of each color and things move pretty quickly (though not so fast you want to throw your computer out a window).
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Pams & Kin Swatches!
As promised yesterday, I have a few Pams & Kin polishes to show off! I took advantage of their recent sale and bought my very first colors from this line. I’ve been really interested in exploring the less glittery side of indies lately, and these did not disappoint!
I chose Audrey, Start the Revolution and Only Ashes, and was surprised with Bruised when I got my package! All 3 of these are just lovely. Application was a tiny bit thick with Audrey, but absolutely perfect with the other two. All were opaque in 2 coats and didn’t require much cleanup.
First up is Audrey, Start the Revolution!
This is a gorgeous shade of Tiffany blue. The bottle is filled with a stunning blue and pink shimmer, but sadly they weren’t as noticeable on the nail. They were still there, though! Just not quite as prominent and really didn’t want to show up for my camera.
This is 2 coats of Audrey with 1 coat of Poshe topcoat. The application was a little tricky because this one was a bit thicker than the others, but it wasn’t anything difficult to work with.
Next I have Only Ashes!
This was my favorite of the trio! I am in love with greys this fall, and this is a beautiful one! It’s a smoky grey color filled with a strong pink and blue shimmer. This was very noticeable on the nail, as you can see in the pictures!
Application was great and everything went on smoothly and easily. The photos show 2 coats with 1 coat of Poshe topcoat.
Finally, I have Bruised!
This is a beautiful dark blurple shade filled with a strong pink-purple shimmer.
Like Only Ashes, this one went on beautifully. I would highly reccomend a base coat though! I always use a base coat so I had no staining, but in the areas of skin that required a bit of cleanup, there was some residual blue. Better safe than sorry with these super dark colors! Photos show 2 coats with Poshe topcoat.
You can find Pams & Kin on Facebook here, and check out their Etsy store here. Be sure to look at all their lovely creations!
Full size bottles are typically $10.00 USD, though they can sometimes be higher (if the polish is a holo, for instance).
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*
Jindie Nails: Part 1!
As promised on Saturday, I have a lot of colors from Jindie Nails to show you all! Rather than spam you with a ton of colors, I’m dividing this up into 2 posts- I’ll be posting the second on Wednesday. On Tuesday and Thursday, I’ll be showing off a few photos of the ‘underwear’ colors I wore with all of these- lots of drugstore polish love!
Today, I’ll be showing off Water 4 Elephants, Neonderthal, and Strung Out on Compliments.
First up, we have Neonderthal!
Neonderthal is a pretty glitter topcoat full of white, blue, green, and purple matte glitter and just the hint of sparkle here and there. The photos are shown with 1 coat over Spoiled’s Are Mermaids Real?.
The application on this was fine- no painting issues and the glitter was fairly evenly distrubuted in just 1 coat. You could get much heavier coverage with 1-2 more coats, but I think this is a ton of fun just with 1 coat!
Next we have Strung Out On Compliments!
Strung Out on Compliments is a mix of ultrafine black, green and blue matte glitter. I LOVE matte glitter polishes!
This one is denser than Neonderthal, so it could easily be worn on it’s own in a few coats. My index finger (top of the photo) shows 2 quick coats, while the rest of the nails are sporting 1 thin (believe it or not) coat over Sinful Color’s Sweet Dreams.
And finally, we have my very favorite: Water 4 Elephants!
This color is a beautiful brownish grey filled with various sizes of blue, green, and color shifting glitter!
This polish was incredibly easy to apply- though not perfect, I didn’t have to do any cleanup for these photos. The photos show 2 coats of Water 4 Elephants on it’s own- no undercoat. The first coat was a little thin, but the second coat filled it out beautifully!
You can find Jindie Nails on Facebook, Instagram, and on Etsy! Full size bottles cost $7.75. Be sure to check them out! Jennifer (the awesome lady behind Jindie Nails) offers a TON of polishes, and if you like matte glitter or neon you’ll fall in love with her creations! (Though if you don’t like either of those, she has goodies for you as well!)
Be sure to check back on Wednesday for the second half of this review!
*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.
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*
Polish Monster 