Indie Spotlight: No Blank Paper

*Nothing to disclose*
 
Hi there!  I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend.  It's been kind of a lay-around-the-house sort of weekend for me, which was much needed.  I did manage to get some swatching done and I've got a new-to-me brand to show you all.  I first heard of this brand through The Good Witch of the Midwest and I knew I had to try them out for myself!  No Blank Paper is run by a lovely gal named Erin who frankens up a pretty mean set of pretties!  I'll be showing off these polishes in two posts, three polishes a piece.

First up is Dashwood Sensibilities.  I have to mention that Erin does a fabulous job naming her polishes...I just think they're so fitting!  Anyway back to the polish at hand (if you'll pardon the pun),  DS is salmon-y coral creme with a hint of golden shimmer.   This polish is just perfect for summer, the color and shimmer capture warm breezes and sand between your toes.

DS has a great formula, I'm showing three easy coats here with no top coat.  I did have a little tip wear on this after a day, but I'm chalking that up to no top coat.  I had no issues with gloppiness or streaking, just an overall nice polish.

I'm very pleased with the cremes from No Blank Paper that I've tried so far, Dashwood Sensibilities is no exception.  Sometimes with a newer brand, you'll run into opacity issues with cremes but I can say that Erin seems to have no issue with that at all. 

Next I've got a lovely crelly called Blonde With a Union Jack (remember what I said about the names?).   This barely-there baby pink beauty is chock full of metallic pink, white, and blue hexes with a sprinkling of fine holographic glitter thrown in for sparkle.  Colors like this always remind me of Soft Kitty from Big Bang Theory for some reason :)

I layered up 4 coats (no top coat) of BWAUJ for these photos and still had a little visible nail line.  This isn't an issue for me, but if you dislike the sheerness you can always wear it over a base polish.  Good formula, no application issues, and I didn't have to fish for the glitter.

BWAUJ might be a great work polish.  The soft color and sheerness give it a conservative feel but the glitter and holographic sparkle keep it from seeming boring.

From a sheer softy we're heading into uncharted territory!  This is Captain's Log, a sheer gold shimmer with multi-colored stars and holographic bars, squares, and hexes.  If you're looking for a polish to boldly go places with, Captain's Log might be for you ;)
 

Since the stars are a bit heavier, you may have to fish a little and do some placing.  You can also turn the bottle upside down for a few minutes before application to help distribute them a bit more evenly.  I'm showing 3 coats of Captain's Log with no top coat here.  I knew from looking at the bottle that this would be sheer, so I didn't bother trying to cover up any VNL.  Again, a base polish will help in the opacity department if you don't like the look.  The only application issue I had was the aforementioned heavy stars, everything else was great!
 

Overall, I'm really impressed with Erin's polishes.  She's got some unique color combinations and her formulas are fantastic!  I have yet to mention the prices, as they're so jaw-droppingly great I thought I should save them for last.  Since she makes small batches of frankens, Erin currently offers only 5ml mini bottles which will set you back a measly $3 a piece!  Even better than that, she's offering a 15% discount to my readers here for a couple of weeks with code: TOPCOAT15.  Let's run through the fabulousity one more time.  Great colors, wonderful formulas, fantastic prices, plus a discount?!  You should run to her Etsy store immediately and grab yourself somethin' purdy!

If you're interested in seeing more swatches before you buy, be sure to check back on Wednesday, as I'll have the second set of three polishes from No Blank Paper to show you!  Thank you for reading!

Indie Spotlight: Northern Star Polish Glittering Charade & Yummy Plummy plus Super Elf Cuticle Oil

*Products received for honest and unbiased review.*

Hello all!  We're back around to Sunday already...I hope everyone remembered the time change.  That extra hour is always nice, but the flip side is that it's not even 6 PM here in Chicago and it's practically night out.  Oh well, to everything its season, right?  

On to the goodies I have today!  I've got a new-to-me brand, though I've been stalking their etsy store for awhile.  Northern Star Polish is an indie brand made in St. Paul, MN by the lovely Kristin.  I was lucky enough to receive a cuticle oil and 2 polishes from her upcoming winter collection to review, so let's get started!

First up, I'd like to talk about the Super Elf cuticle oil.  I'm always in the market for a good oil that will keep my cuticles looking nice, especially during the fall and winter months.  I've been using Super Elf for about a week now and I've definitely noticed a different, especially when it comes to editing photos.  Seriously, if you take pics of your nails often you'll know that while everything looks nice and smooth to your eye, the second that macro shot comes up on your screen, your cuticles look like sandpaper! Super Elf has done a great job moisturizing and smoothing out my rough edges.

Not only does Super Elf do the trick as a moisturizing agent, the scent is amazing!  It's Christmas in a bottle, people!  Kristin describes it as "a special seasonal scent of candy canes & bubbly sugar sweetness".  The second I got a whiff of it, I was transported back to sitting in front of our tree at my Mom's house, with sugar cookies baking in the oven...watching those twinkling lights blink on the tree.  The only complaint I have about this oil is that my tube is a little leaky.  It's entirely possible that it's just my bottle but I felt I should mention it anyway.  As far as the product itself goes though, I'm definitely digging Super Elf!

Now for the polish!  Glittering Charade is the perfect complement to the scent of Super Elf, because it looks like a Christmas tree in a bottle!  A green jelly packed with bright green and teal matte glitters in different sizes and a healthy sprinkling of holographic micro glitter, GC blinks, twinkles, and winks on your nails like holiday lights!  For some reason my camera picked up more of the blue tones in this polish,  so in real life it's more of a true green.

GC is quite sheer (I'm showing 5 coats here with no top coat) so you may want to use undies with it, but if you have the patience to let several coats dry, the final result is stunning!  Sparkle, sparkle and crazy depth!

You can see in the macro shot above that I still had a bit of visible nail line, but the sparkly nature of GC made me not really mind it.  I also think this has got some great jelly sandwich possibilities, maybe with some silver or gold glitter sandwiched between layers?  I love versatility in a polish!
 

Yummy Plummy is the second polish I have to show you today.  YP is purple-leaning-toward-fuchsia jelly with a linear holographic effect.  The color is just lovely.  I mean, purple with holographic?  You had me at hello!

Like Glittering Charade, YP is very sheer.  I'm showing 5 coats again with no top coat so, if you're not into patiently waiting on drying layers of polish, undies would be a good call.  That said, the dry is time quick with thin layers, so I didn't mind the wait.  The formula is good, a little spotty on the first coat but filled in with the next layers. 

  
Mmm...macro!  Seriously gorgeous polish here, folks!  The linear holographic is subtle in indoor lighting but really takes off in sunlight which is typical.  Again, I can't wait to layer this with some glitter for a sandwich cuz I imagine it'll look awesome!

Overall, I'm loving Northern Star Polish.  The formulas are great and the finish is super shiny even with no top coat.  Kristin has done some great work here and I look forward to seeing the rest of her winter collection!  The collection releases on 11/4 (which I just realized is tomorrow!) and will be available on etsy.  I don't have specific pricing on these products, but currently her cuticle oils retail for $3 for a 10ml bottle and the polishes are listed at $5.50 for a 9ml bottle and $8.50 for a 15ml.  You can follow Northern Star Polish on Facebook to keep up with new releases and updates!


*Products received for honest and unbiased review.*

Thanks so much for reading!

Indie Spotlight: Naild'It Unique Nail Polish

Hello everyone!  I've got so much goodness to share in this post, Imma just get right to it!  A few weeks ago, I saw on Facebook that Naild'It Unique Nail Polish was looking for a few bloggers to do some reviews.  I responded as soon as I saw the request but really, in the nail blogger community, you have to be glued to Facebook 24/7 to get in on those types of offers...usually.  Somehow, amid the flurry of responses, she managed to find mine and contacted me expressing interest in having me review a few polishes and so I have four for you guys today!  On to the lovelies!

Coral Cameo is a sweet peachy-pinky-coral-y shimmer with a pretty gold flash.  This color is so very lady-like and would be great for work, if they frown on crazy polishes where you work.  I'll be honest and say that this is not my favorite color for me, but the gold shimmer does set it apart from being just another pink polish.

CC is fairly sheer, I'm showing 4 coats in these photos, so you may want undies (as a proper lady would, I'm neither proper nor a lady so I like to go au natural with my polish).  Aside from the sheerness, which I don't count as a disadvantage, I had no issues.  CC's formula was nice, flowed well and didn't drag or bald on the nail.  I think there are some great layering possibilities with this one because of its sheerness and I'm wondering what it would look like over a darker color as undies. 

As I said earlier, Coral Cameo would be a great work polish for your conservative-type jobs and I'm very interested in checking out layering possibilities so be on the look out for that in the future ;)

Next up is a gorgeous crelly glitter bomb named Late Bloomer.  LB is actually part of Naild'It's Fall collection.  She included it as a reminder that though the season is turning cooler and leaves are falling, late-blooming flowers remind us that Spring will come again!  It's a great inspiration and she captured it perfectly!

LB has a peachy-beige base packed with tons of hexes and dots in peach, marigold, mint, pale pink and rose with holographic squares, hexes and shimmer.  You guys know how much I love these crelly bombs and LB is no exception.

These photos show 2 coats of Late Bloomer over the aforementioned 4 coats of Coral Cameo.  Normally, I wouldn't use so many coats for an undercoat, but I already had it on and when you're swatching sometimes, you take shortcuts to save time.  Additionally, these two go really well together so I figured, why not?  I'm certain LB will build up nicely on its own as well in 3-4 coats if you're looking for a little more depth with the glitter.  You will most likely need a good top coat to even things out a bit, but LB is no bumpier than other polishes of this type.  Fishing for the larger glitters was minimal and the formula overall was great.

Silver Dollar Hollar is up next (doncha just love the name?!).  SDH is a silvery grey metallic polish with a scattered holographic effect.  This polish dries to a matte finish, but I've used top coat in these photos because it brings out the holographic effect a bit better.  I'll be doing a comparison post with SDH in a bit, because it strongly reminds me of Julep's Rebel and I'd love to see them side by side.

SDH was a suprise favorite for me.  I know, I know, how could anything holographic be a "surprise" favorite, but it's true.  I thought this was pretty in the bottle but really fell in love with it on my nails.  The formula was fantastic, this is 3 thin coats and I probably didn't need the third coat, but I do so like to overdo.  The holographic effect is subtle, but it works really well with the color.  

Definitely, SDH is a worthy addition to your collection so don't wait to snap it up if it's caught your eye ;)

And finally we come to my favorite of the four, Hocus Bogus.  Aside from the fabulous name, it's a glitter bomb topper with tons of purples and blues, my two favorite colors!  I literally gasped when I unwrapped this one, shortly followed by squeals of "IT'S SO PRETTY!" and much happy dancing.  I've shown one coat of Hocus Bogus over Silver Dollar Hollar here because, again, it was convenient whilst swatching AND I just thought SDH helped show off the awesomeness of HB so well.

HB has multi-sized hexes in many shades of purple, fuchsia, teal, blue, black and periwinkle, some of which are holographic with some holographic blue stars thrown in for good measure.  I'm so in love with this glitter mix, I can't even tell you!  As I mentioned before, this is one coat, so you can tell how packed this bomb is!

You'll notice the huge black hex piece on my index finger in the above photo.  I'm not sure if he's supposed to be in there or not, as I fished for awhile and couldn't find any more in the bottle.  I actually love it when that happens, it makes it one of a kind and is one of the many things I love about indies.  Other than fishing for another (possibly non-existent) large black hex, there was minimal fishing for anything else.  You'll need a top coat to smooth things out but I didn't have any issues with curling or excessive bumps.  

Naild'It Unique Nail Polish certainly lives up to her name, both in the accuracy and the unique factor.  Her glitter combinations in particular are quite unique and definitely gorgeous!  These polishes are currently stock on MeiMei's Signatures and she will also offer them on Llarowe  and Etsy, but you'll have to follow Naild'It Unique on Facebook for release dates.  Her polishes retail for $9-11 on Etsy and Llarowe, but are a little bit higher on Mei Mei's due to the Singapore to U.S. dollar translation.

Thanks so much for reading!

Try It On Tuesday: Rainbow Honey's Hoof Wrassle

Good evening!  I'm in on the 11th hour (quite literally) with getting my Try It On Tuesday post up, but I'm gonna get it done!  If you'd like to join in the Tuesday fun, all you need to do is "like" SassyPaints on Facebook and every Tuesday, post one photo to her wall of your TIOT polish pick with a link to your post/instagram/facebook/etc. and the name of your pick.  Super simple, yes?  

My TIOT this week is Hoof Wrassle by Rainbow Honey.  I actually won this lovely in a giveaway a few weeks ago hosted by Esther's Nail Center.  I was pretty excited about winning it, since I don't own many RH polishes and this will actually be the first one I've tried.

Part of RH's The Equestria Collection, Hoof Wrassle (aside from having that awesome name!) is a sheer warm orange base with a golden shimmer.  It's got a gorgeous, perfect-for-Fall, glitter mix of copper, orange, and gold hexes and squares and some holographic bits thrown in for good measure.

HF is very sheer, I'm wearing 3 coats here over 2 coats of Sinful Color's Skylark as undies.  You *might* be able to build this up to opacity, but I'd expect it to take at least 5 coats.  I'm totally in love with this polish!  It makes me think of autumn leaves crunching underfoot and warm, cozy sweaters.  Can you tell that I'm jonesin' for fall like nobody's business?  Temperatures are in the 90's for most of the week here in Chicago, but it's looking like we might get a breath of autumn come Friday or so...yay!

Anyway, I'd highly recommend grabbing Hoof Wrassle if you'd like a fun, glittery autumn layering polish.  You can find it on the Rainbow Honey website retailing at $5 for a 10ml bottle and $10 for a 15ml bottle.  

Be sure to check back in tomorrow to see what the Mish Mash Challengers have up our sleeves for this week!  Thanks so much for reading!

Born Pretty Store Review: Nail Art Water Decals

*Nothing to disclose.*

Evening everyone!  I know most of you are probably out doing fun things with your Saturday night but I have a quick review for you. While checking out  Born Pretty Store's $0.99 sale a few weeks ago, I found these fun water decals and, even though they weren't on sale, they were just so pretty I had to give 'em a try!

The set I purchased (G074)  contained 15 decals, with 6 different designs.  In person, the designs were just as pretty as they looked online, always a good thing! 

I used one decal on my thumb and middle fingers.  I wanted to do a sort of skittle manicure, so I didn't end up using a decal on each nail.  These decals are really easy to use.  You trim the design you want to apply from the decal sheet and float it in water for 10-15 seconds.  While the decal is soaking, drip a little water onto the nail you're applying the decal to as well.  Then (I used tweezers) pick up the wet decal and place it, decal side down, onto the surface of your nail.  Press firmly and slide the backing off the decal.  On my first try, which is the middle finger on the above photo, I did have a little placement issue, but on the whole I didn't have any issues with these decals.
 

This shot is my middle finger on my right hand, which came out a lot better than my left so I wanted to show it off a bit :)  I am considering purchasing the XF1265 set as well.  The designs look the same but seem like they have a bit more contrast, which would be the only problem I had with these designs.  The colors didn't come across as dark as I'd hoped.

These decals retail for $2.86 on bornprettystore.com.  Shipping might take awhile, depending on where you live, but in my experience, bps usually gets to my door faster than expected.  Has anyone else tried these or other decals from bps?  What did you think of them?

Thanks so much for reading!

Polishes Used:
Sinful Colors~Tutu, Over It, Song of Spring, Southern Belle, Bombshell, and In the Spotlight
Wet 'n' Wild fastdry~Can-Can You Hang the Mistletoe

ABC Challenge: Y is for Yellow and You're Such A Square

Hi, everyone!  I'm starting with a public service announcement here.  As many of you know, Google Reader is leaving us as of July 1st...which, believe it or not, is next week!!  I'm really not sure what this means for everyone who follows my blog via GFC, but if you want to make sure you're updated when I post, you can follow me via Bloglovin'.  The easiest way to do that is to click on the "Follow this blog with bloglovin'" button to the right of this post, or you can go here and click "Follow" as well.  I hope you all will continue to follow me!  And now, on to my ABC Challenge post!

OMG!  We only have one letter left after this week!  I can't believe this challenge is almost over.  Makes me a little sad, I've had so much fun with this.  Anyway, this week's ABC Challenge letter is 'Y'.  I kind of went for the obvious here, but I do like how it turned out.  Take a peek:

'Y' here mostly stands for yellow, although I did use Hit Polish's You're Such a Square, so I managed to get 2 in there!  I started with 2 (ish) coats of Barielle's Lemondrops, a bright, true yellow creme.  My intention was to do a chevron french manicure, so I taped of the chevrons on the tips of my nails and then applied 2-3 coats of YSAS.

YSAS is pretty magical as far as I'm concerned.  It has bunches and bunches of several sizes of squares in every color of the rainbow, including holographic, all packed into a clear base.  Y'all know I love my dots, but these squares are adorable!   You'll also notice that my chevron tips didn't really work out too well.  The idea is there, but the glitter doesn't give enough definition to the line, in my opinion.  That said, I'm really diggin' this manicure.  It's cheery and fun and from a distance, it just looks like a glitter gradient.

Hit Polish (formerly D&R Apothecary) can be found on their etsy store and Rachel currently has a 20% off sale going.  There are some real beauties up there, including YSAS, so be sure to check her out!

I'm looking forward to checking out the other ladies' nails this week.  I'm certain there are more creative creations than mine!  You can find those manis via the thumbnails below.  As always, thanks so much for reading!

Different Dimension's Money

Hiya, folks!  How's your day?  It's been pretty good for me.  It's amazing how a really good, hard work day can make you feel accomplished...especially when it means you get a 3-day weekend!  Yep, today turned out to be my Friday, yay!

Anyway, I have a fun polish to show you!  Different Dimension had a sale a couple of weeks ago to celebrate her impending (and, I'm positive, much deserved) vacation.  I couldn't resist grabbing a few polishes, so here's a swatch of one of the ones I picked up!

Meet Money.  Money is part of DD's Echoes collection, inspired by Pink Floyd songs.  I pretty much love everything in the collection and once I saw Money's dots, I knew she would be mine!  A white crelly chock full of holographic squares, gold and neon green hexes, small teal dots, and large teal, black AND holographic dots, this beauty made my heart go pitter-pat at first glance.

Look at all that dotty goodness!  I love the color combination and the formula was flawless.  Missi Barry, DD's maker, warns that the large dots might give some difficulty but I had no issues at all.  I turned the bottle upside down between coats and those larger dots just jumped right to the brush and from there to my nails.  I used 3-4 coats here, but you could definitely wear it over a white base for a faster payoff.  I love the depth in these types of polishes, so I'm usually happy to work up the opacity.
 

If you get a chance, you should definitely give Different Dimension polishes a try.  I've loved everything I've tried so far!

Thanks so much for reading!

Daring Digits: Holy Fire & Blueberry Blues

Howdy, everyone!  Last day of the weekend, but to be honest, it hasn't been a great one for me (with the exception of sushi and Blizzards last night) so I'm kind of ready for the work week to start.  I have a couple of swatches to show from an indie brand I first heard about via Kimber from Kimber's Laquer Korner.   Daring Digits is an indie brand produces in Albuquerque, NM by a lovely young lady named Ashley.  These two polishes were part of my first order with DD and I'm pretty darn impressed!  On to the swatches!

First up is Blueberry Blues, a white crelly base with bright blue hexes and little tiny glitters in the same shade.  

BB is such a great polish, I absolutely love everything about it!  The formula is wonderful.  I've actually used 5 coats for this swatch to get the opacity I wanted, as it's very sheer.  That said, you could easily layer a couple of coats over a white base if you wanted to. 

 
Personally, I love the depth the glitter gives to these crellies with a lot of coats.  There was no balding or dragging, I didn't have to dig for the glitter and it dried fairly quickly.  Altogether, I give it 5 stars! 

Next up, we have my favorite of polishes I ordered.  Kimber had swatched this a few weeks ago and I knew I had to have it!

Holy Fire contains copper hexes and flakes in a milky peach crelly base.  Ashley actually has it described as a white base, but my bottle looks quite peachy (and I love it!) so that's what I'm going with.

This is another where I used 5 coats because the depth of DD's polishes is so fantastic!  HF is aptly named, as my nails looked like they were lit from within!  Again, no problems with application or dry time.

If you're interested in Daring Digits, you can currently order them via Big Cartel, though I urge you to follow Ashley's blog or facebook page for updates.  As she works a full-time job as well as turning out her polish as fast as she can, Ashley is changing things up a bit to make her life a little less stressful (more power to you, girl!). So, you may want to order quickly as many of her current collection will be unavailable after she starts her restock schedule.  Additionally, she's currently running a sale; most of her polishes are only $6.50!  Get 'em while they're hot!

Thanks so much for reading!

Sinful Colors Diamond Lust Collection

Howdy, everyone!  How was everyone's Monday?  Mine was decent, got some very exciting nail mail to show you all later in the week.  Today's post, however, came about because I was strolling through my not-so-local Walgreen's the other evening and came upon this display:

I couldn't resist, I bought 6!  Shown above from left to right are: Queen of Deco, Crystal Clear, Gemtastic, Scene Stealer, Shine on Me, I Dream in Jewels, Rags to Riches, and Watch It Shine.  The whole collection consists of colorful glitters in clear bases, though the glitters do vary from polish to polish.

I have one whole manicure to show you, featuring my favorite from the collection and then a single nail swatch of the other shades I purchased.  Let's get started, shall we?

For my full manicure, I've topped 2 coats of China Glaze's Mahogany Magic with 2 coats of SC's I Dream in Jewels.  IDIJ is a gorgeous gold and red micro glitter with larger diamond-shaped holographic glitter in a clear base.  I have to say, on the whole, I'm really pleased with the amount of glitter in this collection.  Most of the polishes had good coverage in 2 coats.  IDIJ is totally packed with glitter and I love the color combo!  My boyfriend said, "Wow!  It looks like the Solid Gold Dancers!" and then proceeded to ask me if I knew who they were lol (note to my younger audience: do not ask me who they are, you'll make me feel old.  That's what they invented Google for!)

I tried my best to get a good macro shot of each polish, I hope you can at least get the idea of what they look like!

 Now on to the rest of the collection!  (All SC Diamond Lust polishes shown in 2 coats)

 

 Crystal Clear (shown over 2 coats of Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory) is chock full of holographic glitters in hexes, diamonds and bars.  I didn't even see the bars until I got it on my nails.  Application was good, although I did have to fish a bit for the diamond glitters.  CC is a real show stopper; super sparkly and very interesting to look at.

 Shine On Me (shown over 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Tickled Pink) contains pink holographic diamond-shaped glitter, pink holographic and fuchsia micro glitter, and larger pink hexes.  The color and glitter are great, but the formula on this one was a little gloppy for me.  Maybe it's just my bottle, but I was less impressed with this one than some of the others in the collection.  The smaller glitter is sparser than IDIJ, for instance, and the diamonds and larger hexes didn't want to spread nicely over my nail.  It's still a lovely polish, but  not my favorite.

Rags To Riches (shown over 3 coats of NYC's Tudor City Teal) is my second favorite of the collection.  It's basically a green version of Shine On Me, with green holographic diamonds and hexes and green and gold micro glitter.   The holographic finish on these glitters really pops!  Application was good on this one and it spread out nicely over my nail.

Scene Stealer (shown over 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild's Tickled Pink) seems to be the front runner as favorite of the collection judging from the blog posts I've seen so far.  SS has pink holographic diamond-shaped glitters, small pink holographic hexes, and fuchsia micro glitter.  It really is a pretty polish with plenty of sparkle.  Coverage was good in 2 coats and application was great.

  

Watch It Shine (shown over 2 coats of Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory) is the second silver holographic topper of the bunch.  Silver holographic diamonds and silver holographic micro glitter packed into a clear base, WIS is another stunner.  The tiny glitters really look like diamond dust and I can see this one working over a lot of different base colors.  Again, easy application and good coverage in 2 coats.

Sinful Colors Diamond Lust polishes retail for $2.99, which is $1 more than the regular collection.  If you love glitter, these are totally worth it.  I'm excited to have them all in my stash and am hoping to try out a few jelly sandwiches with them soon!

What do you guys think?  Have you purchased any of these yet?  I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks so much for reading!