*Daphine Polish products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products purchased by me*
Good evening, friends! I hope you've had a good start to your weeks. It's a bit slow going here, but I'm getting back in the grove. Of course, I'm heading home on Wednesday for the holidays so it'll be a short week for me. Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather cooperates!
On to the polish! Today I have 2 polishes from Daphine Polish, a new-to-me indie brand out of New York state. Both of these polishes are part of DP's Holiday Collection currently available for purchase on Etsy.
Golden Ring is a bright yellow gold polish with a scattered holographic effect. Inspired by the five golden rings in the Twelve Days of Christmas carol, this polish really needs to be worn to truly appreciate it. In the bottle, it looked a bit green to me but once I got it on it became a gorgeous honey-gold color with not a trance of green to be found.
The formula on GR was nice; smooth and opaque in 2-3 coats. I'm wearing 3 coats here topped with one coat of Seche Vite. The scattered holographic was another thing I didn't notice in the bottle, but when it was on my nails, it added a really nice shimmer to the polish.
If you're looking for a lovely gold polish with a little extra flair for the holidays or any day, I'd suggest Golden Ring. You won't regret it!
Midnight Snowfall is a navy blue base with a scattered holographic effect. I'm always a fan of blue, especially with holographic as a bonus and MS is no exception. It is definitely reminiscent of a late night snowfall in the quiet country woods.
Another nice formula here, opaque in 2-3 coats. And again, I'm wearing 3 coats topped by one coat of Seche Vite. MS is just such a beautiful color and that holographic sparkle is gorgeous! I tend to opt for strong linear holographics so often that I forget that a good scattered holo is just as pretty, if a bit on the subtler side. I wouldn't wait on this one folks!
*Daphine Polish products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products purchased by me*
As I mentioned before, both of these polishes (as well as many other lovelies) are currently available on DP's Etsy site and both retail for $10 for a full size 15ml bottle. Be sure to like Daphine Polish's Facebook page for updates on new releases, sales, and other important info!
Thanks so much for reading!
*Spellbound Nails nail polish provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchase by me*
Hello, hello! I'm so, so sorry to have been away for so long! I hope I still have a few of you reading after such an absence. Last week was absolutely insane and I'm thrilled that it's over. The One of a Kind Show was fantastic but very time-consuming and tiring and I'm just glad it's all over. Because now I can get back to painting my nails...yay! Of course, I'm still working with my nubbin middle nail after a really bad break last week. It's growing out, but so, so slowly! I scaled back the rest of my nails, but my quicks have grown out so far I wasn't able to get all of them even so I apologize for that.
Today I have 2 polishes from Spellbound Nails' 12-polish 'Twas the Night Before Christmas collection. Ashley has come up with some beautiful polishes for this collection which consists entirely of glitter toppers, jelly glitter bombs and crelly glitter bombs. You had me at sparkly!
And To All A Good-Night is a deep navy blue jelly with navy hexes, holographic micro glitters, and baby blue holographic moons (the Etsy listing states that there are also stars in this glitter mix, but I didn't seem to find any in my bottle. I have a mini bottle though so it's possible that the pour just missed them).
This polish is just lovely, dark and deep...which is completely the wrong poem, I know, but that's what I thought of whilst applying it. The formula is opaque in 2-3 coats, with a little extra fishing for the larger glitters. I used 2 coats of Seche Vite on this and had no issues with any glitters sticking up or causing bumps. I also had no staining issues upon removal, which is always good with a darker polish.
ATAAG-N is a beautiful addition to your holiday polish stash, especially if you're a fan of jellies in general. Gotta love the squishy!
Ashes and Soot was a hard polish to photograph! A black jelly base packed with navy blue and lavender holographic glitters, AAS has sparkle to spare! The base is photographing with a brown tone, which I did not notice in person. If anything, the base has more of a purple tone than brown, but that's most likely because of all the glitter in it.
Another good formula, this was opaque in 2 coats and the glitters flowed evenly over the nail. You will want a top coat on this polish because it dries to a semi-matte finish. A good top coat will help all that squishy jelliness shine, shine, shine! I used Seche Vite again here.
There are several other polishes from this collection that I can't wait to get my hands on, particularly Eight Tiny Reindeer and Happy Christmas To All, but the entire collection is gorgeous! They are currently listed on Etsy and Storenvy for $8 for a full-size 15ml bottle AND Ashley offers them in several yummy scents! If you don't dig the smells, you can always opt for unscented. You'll want to follow Spellbound Nails on Facebook to keep up with new releases and other important info (for instance, the several giveaways Ashley is currently involved in).
*Spellbound Nails nail polish provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchase by me*
Thanks so much for reading!
*All products provided for unbiased and honest review*
Hey there! I've got the second part of Glitzy Glazes' holiday collection up for review today, plus a bonus polish. I'm going to start with the bonus and then talk about the rest of the A Glitzy Christmastime Collection. Let's get a move on, shall we?
The Castle Started Spinning is the bonus polish today. It's not actually part of the holiday collection, but it's just so pretty I had to talk about it a bit!
TCSS is a dusky purple jelly base packed with holographic bars and teeny glitters. The sparkle here is so pretty...truly a celebration! Purple is my favorite color, so it wasn't hard to convince me about this polish.
The formula is smooth but sheer. I'm showing 4 coats in these photos which doesn't bother me, but you may want to use undies. I think TCSS would look lovely layered over white, so I may have to give that a shot soon!
Next up, Hickory Honey Ham and what a honey she is! A cherry red metallic base with a bright red glass-fleck glitter, HHH screams "Happy Holidays!" It's cheery and warm and pretty...quite lovely all over.
I love this red! The formula was smooth and opaque in 2 coats, no balding or dragging. Just a nice, pretty red that is perfect for all sorts of holiday nail art!
If you're looking for a gorgeous, shiny red for holiday, or any occasion, HHH is your girl!
Tree Tops Glisten is the second glitter topper in this collection and features those adorable snowflakes again. This time, Kathi has paired them with gold holographic hexes for a sophisticated sparkle.
I chose a darker base to go with TTG because I wanted to show off the glitter as much as possible. The macro photo shows 2 coats of TTG over 2 coats of Sinful Colors Last Chance, while the other two photos show 2 coats of TTG over 2 coats of I Love Nail Polish Absolute Zero. This topper would look gorgeous over any base and I can't wait to try it over white and silver!
The formula was good, not gloppy or too thick. There will be a bit of fishing for the snowflakes, but that's par for the course with chunky glitter. Turning the bottle upside down a few minutes before application helps. This is a nice winter glitter topper that will work past the holidays to add glitz to your mani!
And now, for my absolute favorite of this collection (and maybe of all of Kathi's polishes ever), Deck the Halls! DTH is an evergreen jelly packed with hexes, dots, and square glitters in every color of the rainbow. This polish nails (excuse the pun) the feel of a lit Christmas tree with bunches of presents underneath. It. Is. Gorgeous.
I mean, look at that macro....LOOK AT IT!!! So many colors, textures, and shapes...I can't stand how much I love this polish! That said, I have a distinct feeling that this is one of those that you love or hate on sight...well, judging from my bf's reaction. But what do boys know about polish anyway?
The formula was lovely; I'm showing 3 coats of DTH with no undies here. The larger blue squares were the only glitters I had to fish for even a little, most of them popped right onto the brush with no issue. I hope Kathi will run with this idea and do a few more like this for future collections.
*All products provided for unbiased and honest review*
All of these polishes plus the first half of the collection (you can see my review here) are currently available on Glitzy Glazes' Storenvy site. All full size bottles (15ml) retail for $7.50 and this time around, Kathi is offering A Glitzy Christmastime polishes in a 5ml mini size for $3 as well. My personal favorites of the collection are In Your Dreams, Sleigh Boy, King of the Chill, and Deck the Halls but you really can't go wrong with any of the A Glitzy Christmastime polishes.
I've now swatched Kathi's whole collection including all her core polishes and, I have to say, she's knocked it out of the park here. This collection has the best formulas, finishes, and creativity I've seen from her yet. The coolest part about getting to swatch for a newer indie brand like Glitzy Glazes is watching the evolution of the brand. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next! Be sure to swing by her Facebook page and give her a "like" to keep up with new releases and other important info.
Thanks so much for reading!
Hiya folks! How excited are we all about the fantastical holiday collections all the indie brands are coming out with this season? I always love the Halloween collections, but there's something about the glistening, sparkling glitters and rich colors of the holiday collections that just gets me in the mood to wrap presents and light the tree! That's figurative, of course, my small apartment does not have room for a tree but, fortunately my polish shelves always have room for a few more bottles ;)
Anyway, the latest holiday collection I have to show you is from Glitzy Glazes, a New Jersey-based brand concocted by Kathi. A Glitzy Christmastime Collection (inspired by Kathi's favorite holiday movies) contains 7 polishes (2 glitter toppers, 2 crelly glitters, 2 jelly glitters, and 1 metallic) and will release on Sat. Nov. 23rd. I'll be showing you 4 of the collection in this post and the other 3 (plus a bonus polish!) in a couple of days. Let's get to it, shall we?
Bumble is a white crelly polish with silver holographic hexes, iridescent hexes and white bar glitters. This is going to be a kind of difficult review because Kathi is currently running a contest to guess the movie inspiration for each polish. So, while I don't know the exact inspiration, guessing kind of messes up the game and I don't wanna be a spoiler! However, you should all give it a go and enter the contest (rules and such can be found here) because the prize is getting to pick 3 full size bottles from this collection! Ok, back to the polish!
Bumble is pretty and soft, fairly sheer so you may want to use undies if you full coverage. I personally like the subtle gradation effect you get without undies...and, of course, the depth of the glitter is always nice.
Bumble reminds me of sunlight hitting freshly fallen snow on a clear winter's day. The sparkle is understated but lovely...perfect for a winter polish!
King of the Chill is one of the 2 glitter toppers in this collection. Packed with silvery blue hexes, large white snowflakes, and large translucent light blue hexes, KotC has a sheer blue base that will build up to opacity in 4-5 coats. You can always layer it over a base polish if you're not into that many layers of polish. I'm showing it here with no undies and I like the look!
Brrr! Doesn't KotC just give you a wintertime chill? All that icy blue and the cuter than cute snowflakes...I love it! This is a polish that you can wear all winter long, not just for the holidays, which is nice. Red and green are great but sometimes I like the option to wear a polish longer than just a few weeks :)
The formula on KotC was good, there will be a bit of fishing for the larger glitters, but that's just the nature of these kinds of polishes. You'll also need a good top coat to smooth out the glitters, some of the larger glitters may want to stick up a bit, but everything laid pretty flat on my nails. If you're looking for a glitter topper that says "holiday" but doesn't scream it, King of the Chill is a great option!
Next we have In Your Dreams, Sleigh Boy. A candy cane-themed crelly, IYDSB is a sheer white crelly with red and holographic micro glitters, red and white diamond glitter, red squares and red dots. This is one of my personal favorites of the collection. The colors are perfect for holiday and the glitter mix is just so much fun!
Again, you could definitely layer this over a base polish if you like a more opaque look, but I think that kind of defeats the purpose of a crelly. All that squishy depth! I didn't have any fishing issues with this one, even though there are some larger glitters. Overall, the formula was good. I'm wearing 3 coats of IYDSB here with one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri as a top coat to smooth things out a bit.
Peppermint-y, candy-swirled goodness here, folks!
The last polish for today is Cindy Lou Who. Like her namesake, this polish is sweet and girly with a little bit of sparkle. Large pink holographic dots, pink and white bar glitters, and iridescent hexes float serenely in a baby pink jelly base.
I'm showing 3 coats of CLW with one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri here, so you can see she's more opaque than she looks in the bottle. And those dots! We all know I'm a sucker for the circles and CLW is no exception! There is a bit of fishing involved for the dots, but turning the bottle upside down for a few minutes before application helps with that issue. No other application issues to report.
Alrighty, that's it for the first part of A Glitzy Christmastime Collection! I'd love to hear what you guys think of it so far and I'm excited to show you the rest of the polishes! As I mentioned earlier, the release date for this collection is Sat., Nov. 23rd. They will all be available on Glitzy Glazes' Storenvey site and will retail for $7.50 for a full size bottle.
Thanks so much for reading!
*All products provided for honest and unbiased review*
Hello and welcome! I've got the second half of Philly Loves Lacquer's holiday collection, Holo-Day on Broad, for you all to check out today! I kinda just want to get straight to it tonight, so let's do this!
Fancy Brigade is a teal to green holographic polish. I'm so impressed with PhLL's holos, across the board they're just lovely and FB is no exception. The color is gorgeous and the holographic finish in sunlight is wowza!
Named after a division of the annual New Year's Day Mummer's Parade in Philadelphia, FB does create a joyous feel reminiscent of New Year's poppers and firecrackers. In all truth, I don't really understand how the Fancy Brigade functions within the parade, but after checking out the photos I'm pretty sure it's something I'd love to see!
FB has a smooth formula, opaque in 2-3 coats. I had no issues with anything on this one, all around fabulousness!
River Rink is a light blue holographic polish. Out of the whole collection, RR is the only one I had any issues with as my bottle was a little on the thick side. The first time I swatched, it looked kind of lumpy which was a bumper because the color is so pretty. However, I added a few drops of nail polish thinner and had no further issues. Despite its thickness, I needed 3 coats of RR for full coverage because of its light, delicate blue color.
See? Isn't that a gorgeous color?? Sigh-worthy, indeed. The inspiration for this polish is the Blue Cross Riverrink in Philadelphia. This ice-skating attraction is the only Olympic-sized rink in Philly and is located on the Delaware Riverfront. It makes the color of this polish all the more fitting; you can almost feel the icy chill of the air and see the lights reflecting off of the ice!
As I mentioned before, all of PhLL's holos in this collection are gorgeous. The colors are lovely and the finish is beautiful. I'd highly recommend any of them for anyone who loves holos!
Chag Urim Sameach! is the only crelly in this bunch. The name means something like "Happy Holiday of Lights" in Hebrew (as near as I can tell from Google...if there are any Jewish readers who could enlighten me, I'd be most appreciative!) and is, obviously, in reference to the Jewish religious holiday of Hanukkah. The symbolic colors for this holiday are traditionally blue and white, so you can see CUS! has really fit the bill here.
Large white dots, hexes in bright blue and white, tiny blue squares, shreds in both white and blue, and little bits of silver are suspended in a sheer white crelly base. You know I love these types of polishes because of the depth they create on the nail. It's simply magical to see through the layers of polish to all the glitters underneath. I'm showing 4 coats in these photos, with a topper of Seche Vite, but you could definitely layer this over a white polish if you wanted a faster opaqueness.
CUS! was definitely a favorite for me from this collection.
Finally, we come to the last polish and last glitter topper of the bunch. "Meet Me at the Eagle" is a reference to a large bronze eagle statue located at Wannamaker's department store in Philadelphia. Though Wannamaker's is no longer in business, Macy's has taken over the annual holiday light show that attracts many visitors each year. As a polish, MMatE is a clear-based topper packed with red and green glitters in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
This is the most "Christmas" polish of the whole collection, in my opinion. You don't get much more Christmas-y than red and green and sparkly ;) I've chosen to show it here in 2 coats over Essie's Blanc to show off the different glitters. This was a surprise favorite for me, I ended up loving the combination of glitters and am stoked to use MMatE in a few holiday manis this season!
As with the other 2 toppers in this collection, the base was great...not too thick or gloppy. The glitters applied smoothly and were easy to get out of the bottle. In short, an all around nice holiday polish!
*All products provided for honest and unbiased review*
This was my first experience with Philly Loves Lacquer and I have to say, I'm pretty much in love! The smoothness of the formulas and just the prettiness of everything...yeah, my budget is gonna take another hit with this brand lol If you're interested in purchasing any of these polishes, they go on pre-order on Nov. 15th and are available then for full purchase on Dec. 1st over on PhLL's Etsy site. Full sized holos are $12 and the full size glitters are $11. If you just love the whole collection (and who could blame you?), a full sized set can be purchased for $85 and a mini set for $42.50. Keep abreast of future collections, updates and everything else of import over at PhLL's facebook page...trust me, you'll want to keep an eye on this one, folks!
If you're interested in seeing the other half of the collection, my review can be found here. As always, thank you so much for reading!
*All products provided for honest and unbiased review*
Howdy everyone! OMG, I am so excited about today's post I can hardly stand it! I was lucky enough to be selected to review Philly Loves Lacquer's holiday collection, Holo-Day on Broad. This collection is a real stunner made up of four holographics, three glitter toppers, and one glitter crelly. Esther, the creative genius behind PhLL, looks to the city of Philadelphia for inspiration in creating her polishes and this collection is no different. She's done a wonderful job with this collection and I'm genuinely honored that I was given the chance to review them. Since there are 8 polishes in the collection, I'm going to show them in 2 posts. Let's get going with the first half!
Christmas Village is a yummy, berry-hued holographic. It's hard to define the exact shade as it looks more like a cranberry color in certain lights and more raspberry in others. Either way, the color is as bright and joyous as the season its meant to represent.
The inspiration for this polish comes from Philadelphia's annual Christmas Village market. Based on the traditional Christkindlmarket in Nuremberg, Germany, the Christmas Village is a place for people to shop for unique gifts, meet neighbors and friends, and enjoy the holiday season together.
As you can see from the above macro, CV's holographic is subtle indoors. It'll knock your socks right off in direct sunlight though! I tried to snap a photo of it outdoors, but my camera was uncooperative. Trust me, it's glorious!
The formula of CV was great, opaque in 2-3 coats and smooth as silk. Christmas Village would be a beautiful addition to your holiday stash and the color is so pretty, I can see it being worn for other occasions as well.
The second holographic polish I have to show you today is Festivus For the Rest of Us. With its gorgeous lilac base and holographic flash, Festivus is definitely a celebration. Defined by wikipedia as, "a well-celebrated parody, [Festivus] has become a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 which serves as an alternative to participating in the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas and holiday season." Fun, right?
I love this polish. There, I've said it. It's just so beautiful! The color, the holographic, the smooth as butter finish...all of it! There is nothing to complain about here. It is easily the least "Christmas" or "holiday" of the collection, as I wouldn't consider lavender a traditional holiday color, but given its inspiration that seems fitting. And, again, it's just so pretty...who cares??
Festivus is opaque in about 3 coats and I am showing it here with a top coat for extra shine. If you do not own a light purple holographic, or heck! even if you do, you should definitely consider Festivus For the Rest of Us!
Now it's time for some glitter toppers! Snow on Broad St. (shown here over Festivus For the Rest of Us) is a clear-based topper with iridescent flakies, iridescent glitters in several sizes and adorable white snowflakes. Broad St. is a major thoroughfare in Philadelphia, home to several cultural and historical landmarks and gives us the inspiration for this polish.
Oh! the flakies! Oh! the iridescence! SoBS definitely captures the feeling of falling snow, and the iridescent bits remind me of the sunlight reflecting off of the snow on the ground after the storm has passed.
Great formula here! Not too thick and no gloppiness at all. You will want a good top coat to smooth out the edges of those snowflakes, but they do lay fairly flat on the nail. Initially I was worried the snowflakes would be too large and catch on things but I didn't have any trouble with that. I do have a feeling we'll probably be seeing these snowflakes in a few holiday collections this season, they're just so cute! But I love what Esther has done here pairing them with the iridescent flakies and glitters...it's a lovely polish.
Lastly for today, we have Star Barn. This one was by far my favorite of the glitter toppers, I hope you can see why! I'm showing SB here over Wet 'n' Wild Megalast 2% Milk because I just wanted a nude base to show of all this gorgeous gold glitter! Aside from the gold holo and white stars, SB has gold dots, gold and holographic hexes in a few sizes, and gold micro flakies. This is luxe, folks!
I keep gazing adoringly at this macro shot...I can't help myself! All that sparkly! The Star Barn is an actual barn located in Middleton, PA, decorated with a large, five-pointed star on each side. It's a beautiful building and worthy of this gorgeous homage of a polish!
Again, a beautiful formula. Neither SB nor SoBS required an excessive amount of fishing for the larger glitters, which is always a plus. I did use a top coat here as well, just to smooth things out a bit. You really want to consider grabbing this one, folks!
*All products provided for honest and unbiased review*
The Holo-Day on Broad Collection will be available for pre-order on November 15th and then for regular sale on December 1st over on Etsy. Full size holos will be $12 and full size glitters are $11. If you're interested in purchasing the whole collection, a full size set will be $85 and a mini set is $42.50. You can keep up with release dates, new polishes, and other pertinent info on PhLL's facebook page.
I'll have the second half of the collection review up tomorrow so be sure to check back, there's more pretty pretties on the way! Thanks so much for reading!
