*Paint Shop Polish products provided for honest and unbiased review*
Hello, everyone! I hope you're all having a great weekend so far! Any baseball fans out there? There's a heck of a World Series going on and, though I'm much more of a football fan, I'm pretty excited that the Royals are in it. I'm from Kansas and this is the first time they've made it to the WS in 29 years! That's something to be excited about, right? Anyway, on to the polish!!
Paint Shop Polish is an indie brand based out of Pittsburgh who's been making polish for about a year and a half. I was lucky enough to swatch for Candi in the past (here's a link to that post) so when she asked me to swatch a few polishes from her Fall 2014 LE collection, I was thrilled to accept. I've got 4 polishes from that collection to show you today, so let's get to it!
Cherry Berry is first up. A raspberry colored jelly with a satin, semi-matte finish, Cherry Berry is a great fall color! And since it's a jelly, the squishy factor is high and would be fun to play with in a jelly sandwich.
This is a fairly sheer polish and I'm showing 5 (!) coats to get the opacity you see in these photos. Of course, it could be easily layered over another polish if you don't want to deal with that many coats. The formula was smooth and easy to apply, no real issues to report.
As I said before, Cherry Berry has a semi-matte finish, as do all of the polishes I'll be showing you today. You can choose to keep that finish or add a matte top coat to bump up the effect or even a regular top coat to make everything all shiny. Be careful if you choose to leave the natural finish of the polish, as they do take a while to dry without top coat.
Next up is Bad Romance. This is a hard color to describe and it's showing up much more neutral in these photos than it actually is...my camera fails yet again :( A heather grey base with pink to lavender shimmer, Bad Romance is just plain pretty. It's one of my favorite colors of the 4 and I don't think I have anything else quite like it.
Bad Romance is opaque in 2-3 coats and I'm showing 3 with no top coat here. Another nice formula with no streaking or dragging issues. I wish I would have used a matte top coat on this because I think it would have looked spectacular, but I'll have to save that for another time.
Bad Romance is a great, soft polish that would transition well from work to whatever you have planned after. The color is unique but not in-your-face...I think you'll catch yourself staring at your nails a lot with this one ;)
No Plain Jane is an orchid metallic with a bit of blue shimmer. You know I love a purple polish, so this one is a bit of a no-brainer for me.
Opaque in 3-4 coats (I'm showing 4 here), No Plain Jane has a smooth application and I experienced no issues at all with the formula. Of the 4, NPJ has the least satin finish I thought so I'd definitely recommend a matte top coat if you want to emphasize that.
A pretty color and a good formula, what more could you ask for?
Last but not least (especially since it's my favorite of this post) is Blue Steel. The name of this polish makes me giggle because all I can think about is Zoolander...I'm not sure if that's what Candi intended when she named it, but there it is nonetheless. Blue Steel is a gunmetal grey with shimmery bits throughout...love, love, love this color! Especially for fall!
This is the most opaque polish of the bunch, almost a one coater though I'm showing 2 coats in these photos. The formula was near perfect with no streaking or dragging and a beautiful finish. If you're tempted to pick up only one of these polishes, Blue Steel is a must-have!
All of these polishes are currently available on the Paint Shop Polish Etsy site for $5.50 for a 5ml mini bottle and $10 for a full size 15ml bottle. This is a Limited Edition collection so don't wait to grab any you may like, they won't be around forever! Be sure to follow Paint Shop Polish on Facebook to keep updated on new releases and other important info!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post!
*Pretty & Polished products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchased by me*
Hello all! I'm excited to bring you my first Halloween polish swatch of the season! Halloween is my favorite holiday and therefore, I'm always excited to see what the indie makers come up with for the season. Pretty & Polished has recently released their Halloween 2014 trio and I've got one of the set to show you today!
Little Miss Scare-All is comprised of tiny bright pink, copper, and red glitters swimming in a gorgeous purple jelly base. I wasn't sure how I'd like this one when I saw it in the bottle. But once I got it on my nails, I was blown away by the depth in this polish; it's stunning! I love the way all the little glitters catch the light and the colors are perfect for Halloween and autumn in general.
LMSA is also fully opaque in 2-3 coats. I'm showing just 2 coats here with a coat of Seche Vite on top to smooth out any bumpy bits. The formula is great, very smooth and easy to apply. My bottle is a little on the thick side, but not enough to be a problem. Durability is good as well. I wore this one for about 2 days with little to no tip wear and no major chips.
Pretty & Polished has quickly become one of my favorite indie brands. The polishes are always flawless with gorgeous and unique colors and finishes. You really can't go wrong!
Little Miss Scare-All is currently available on the Pretty & Polished site for $8.50 for a full-size, 15ml bottle. You can also purchase it as part of the Halloween 2014 Trio which is listed for $26 (plus you'll get a free LE bottle if you buy the set during October. I have it, trust me, you want it!). I'm definitely eying Black is the New Orange from this set as well...I love thermals and this one just screams Halloween! Be sure to follow P&P on Facebook for updates on new releases, swatch photos, and any other important info!
Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post!
*LynBDesigns products supplied for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchased by me*
Hello, hello! I hope everyone has had a great weekend! My Wildcats pulled out a heart-stopping (I don't call them the Cardiac 'Cats for nothing) win over Iowa State on Saturday so all is well in my world :) But we're here to talk about nail polish so I shan't bore you with football any more!
A few weeks ago, Jenna from LynBDesigns asked me to swatch her September collection which is inspired by The Fault in Our Stars. Jenna consistently puts out a quality polish and hers are some of my all time favorite indie polishes so of course I said "yes!" immediately. Even though I've neither read the book nor seen the movie, I feel like polish transcends its inspiration often enough that you don't really need to have intimate knowledge of that inspiration to appreciate it. However, I imagine that many of you will love this one for the connection to the book. I'll be showing you 3 polishes out of the 6-polish collection today.
First up is Time Slut. I love the name of this polish even though I have no idea what the reference is lol Time Slut is a pale lavender metallic polish with a subtle bit of electric blue to violet flash that grabs the light beautifully. I must have autumn on the brain because this polish just reminds me of a cashmere sweater...something about the color is so cozy!
I'm wearing 3 coats of Time Slut with one coat of Seche Vite in these photos. This polish has a great formula and I had no troubles with it at all. Since Jenna sent these to me with plenty of testing time, I am also able to tell you that I wore this polish for 3 days with just a touch of tip wear so durability is also great!
Metallics typically aren't my favorite finish for a polish; they tend to be finicky to apply and can look streaky and uneven. Time Slut does not fall into that category. Easy application and a gorgeous color make it stand out from the pack.
Zeno's Tortoise Paradox is the only crelly glitter polish in the bunch and the next up for review. A pistachio-leaning green crelly base chock full of blue, white, green, and pink glitters in hexes and squares, ZTP is colorful and eye-catching. ZTP reads as a springtime polish to me, the green base and pastel glitters feel appropriate to the growing season and I can definitely see myself pulling it out of the stash come April for a fresh Spring mani.
Again I'm showing 3 coats here and you'll most likely need a top coat (1 coat of Seche Vite shown here) just to smooth the larger glitters out a bit. The opacity is good here and I probably could have gotten away with 2 coats. No dragging or streaking and very little glitter-fishing at all. Just a great formula!
I always love a good crelly polish and Jenna really has a knack for coming up with unique color combos. Zeno's Tortoise Paradox is a fun polish and, if you're a fan of the crelly, you'll definitely want to grab it for your stash!
Okay? Okay is the only holographic polish in the collection and is one of my favorites of the set. Seriously, you add anything holographic to anything blue and you've got a winner! A sky-blue creme scattered holographic with a subtle pink shimmer, Okay? Okay is breath-taking! This one reminds me of crisp autumn skies and that little nip in the air that tells you some glorious fall days are on their way.
Opaque in 2-3 flawlessly smooth coats, I had no issues with application. Durability was also an A+ with almost no tip wear after 3 days (with 1 coat of Seche Vite). If you're looking for stunning blue polish to add to your collection, Okay? Okay is just the ticket!
The Fault in Our Stars collection will be available on the LynBDesigns Etsy site on Friday, Sept. 19. Okay? Okay will retail for $10 for a full size bottle with Time Slut and Zeno's Tortoise Paradox at $8 each. I highly recommend following LynBDesigns on Facebook to keep updated on new releases, sales, and giveaways. Jenna recently started a fan group on Facebook as well called LynB Loves. Joining it will gain you access to sneak peeks and other great perks (like pre-order discounts!), so you might want to consider that, too.
I hope you've enjoyed this post and that you'll tune in later this week for swatches of the second half of The Fault in Our Stars collection...there's a polish in the second bunch that will blow your mind, especially if you love purple, and duochromes, and holographic glitter...you won't want to miss it! Thanks so much for reading!
*Spellbound Nails products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchased by me.*
Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you're having a nice holiday if you're in the States. It's been a relaxing long weekend for me and I'm really not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow lol I've got some fun polishes to show today from Spellbound Nails. Ashley, the mastermind behind the brand, created and is donating some polishes to the Chicago English Bulldog Rescue's Bully Bash, which is scheduled for October 4, 2014 from 11 AM to 6 PM (CST). These polishes will be put up for silent auction to help raise some fund for the rescue and the wonderful work they do. Additionally, Ashely will be donating $2 per each bottle of these polishes sold to CEBR...it's always great to get a lovely polish whilst doing good for the dogs!
There are three polishes included in this fundraiser and I have swatches of all of them to show you guys so let's get to it!
Bully For You is a bright, lime green jelly with a unique fuchsia shimmer and flakie shards. This polish is on the sheer side, so I've shown it alone in 4 coats on my thumb, index and pinky nails, in 1 coat over 2 coats of Sinful Colors Olympia, and in 2 coats over Sinful Colors Black on Black. Bully For You is a very versatile polish with tons of layering possibilities!
I chose to show you a macro of this over black so you could really see the interesting shimmer this polish. It just adds something a little extra...and really, who doesn't dig a little flakie action?! The formula was great here, easy to apply and no dragging or streaking.
Even if a lime green polish isn't your favorite, you may want to give Bully For You a shot. That shimmer is just such a great touch and the layering possibilities will give you more options than just plain green.
Up next is the first half of the Bear Down Duo, #1 Fan. Bear Down is the name of the Chicago Bears fight song...which surprised me when I moved here because I didn't realize NFL teams even had fight songs lol I've always liked the Bears (which is a huge accomplishment for them because I despise many, many NFL teams for various reasons) but since moving here, I've become a fan. I'll clam up on the football speak and get back to polish!
#1 Fan is a dark navy with a beautiful blue shimmer. Navy can sometimes be a bit drab, but the base of this not only matches the Bears' navy perfectly, it's the perfect background for the shimmer! I'm showing 3 coats here with a coat of Seche Vite. The formula was a little tricky on this one for me as it was kind of thick out of the bottle. I added a few drops of polish thinner and that really helped. It was a bit streaky on the first coat for me, but evened out nicely by the second coat. I should also mention that it was fairly warm out when Ashley shipped these to me, so that may have more to do with the thickness than anything. Summer is just not a great time for shipping polish :(
Even with my bottle being tricky, I love the color! I'm sucker for a beautiful blue and #1 Fan certainly fits the bill!
Da Bears is the second half of the Bear Down Duo. A glitter topper comprised of different sizes of orange and white glitter, Da Bears is easily my favorite of these three. The color is perfect not only for the Bears, but for summer, fall, and would make a great addition to a manicure themed by my favorite holiday, Halloween!
I decided to apply Da Bears over a gradient of Sinful Colors Snow Me White and NYC Times Square Tangerine Creme. Isn't it just divine?! I wore this combo for 3 days with no chips and virtually no tip wear. Durability test passed with flying colors! Additionally, the formula was smooth and easy to work with. I did a little specific placement of the glitters but, on the whole, they applied easily right off the brush.
These polishes release today (Monday, Sept. 1) and are available on the Spellbound Nails store page, Etsy and Storenvy. Each polish is $10 for a full size, 15ml bottle with $2 going to the CEBR. You also have the option of purchasing the Bear Down Duo at $20 for the set, with $4 going to CEBR.
You are also welcome to participate in the Bully Bash's silent auction. This year, attendance to the Bash is not required to bid in the auction. If you'd like to see a catalog of auction items, please take a trip on over to the auction page. Some items are already up for bid and they'll be adding more up to and during the Bully Bash!
I hope you enjoyed this post and, should you decide to order any of Spellbound Nails charity polishes, I'd love to hear what you think of them! Feel free to leave me a comment :) 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 Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products purchased by me*
Happy Thanksgiving! As this post will end up going out after midnight CST, it's technically the day of thanks here in the States. I hope everyone has a fantastic time with family and friends today :) I've got a few more lovely polishes from Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer to show you this evening. Each of these polishes are from Cherish's holiday collection and they are certainly festive.
When the Ball Drops is a glitter topper chock full of pink and blue micro glitters, gold hexes, and a colorful holographic sparkle. I've layered WtBD over 2 coats of Deborah Lippman's Edge of Glory. I did a glitter gradient on all but my accent nail, which is showing 3 coats of WtBD. This polish is nearly full-coverage at 3 coats because the glitter is so densely packed in. Even with that, the formula was great! Not too thick and no gloppiness or pooling weirdness.
I did use a coat of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri to smooth out the glitters, but it probably wasn't necessary as this topper is pretty smooth all on its own.
WtBD definitely speaks of late night fireworks, kisses at midnight and champagne toasts...a perfect party polish!
Fluffy Stuff is a clear based topper with silver holographic and bright blue micro glitters, icy silver hexes and snow white bar glitters. This is another one of those holiday polishes that will serve you long after Christmas has come and gone. The combination of glitters and the color do lean toward the winter season, but definitely don't scream "Happy Holidays!"
I've layered 2 coats of FS over 3 coats of Essie's Bouncer, It's Me. This turned out to be a pretty pairing, I was worried the blue glitters in FS would get lost in the blue of the Essie, but it actually made them pop right out.
I love the colors and the formula is great on this topper (again, you'll possibly want a top coat; Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in one coat shown here). My only issue is the bar glitter. I just don't like bars. They never want to play nice with me for some reason...most likely operator error lol Overall though, FS is a pretty topper and has so much sparkle, I can look past the bars.
Not Your Mama's Cranberry Sauce is my favorite of this bunch. A glitter jelly sandwich in a bottle! NYMCS has a deep red (cranberry, if you will) jelly base packed with gold and holographic hexes in several sizes. Definitely nothing ordinary here...squishy and yummy!
I've used 3 coats of NYMCS all by its lonesome, this lady does not need anything but herself to shine! You could use a base polish if you like a more opaque look, but she's definitely opaque enough for me at 3 coats. NYMCS is super shiny on its own, but I did top it with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for extra durability.
I love everything about this polish, from the name to the squishiness to the finish! Gorgeous and a must have as far as I'm concerned!
Finally we come to Rudolph Ralphed (feel free to giggle, I did!). RR is another glitter topper, this time with bright red and gold hexes in various sizes and Christmas tree green squares. I'm not sure you could wear this without thinking of the holiday season, but it's very festive for that occassion.
I've layered one coat of RR over 2 coats of Julep's Rebel...I thought the silver would add a little more holiday cheer, as if that was necessary! I had no issues with fishing and the formula was fantastic! I did use a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, but everything was pretty flat on my nails without it.
All of these polishes are listed on Etsy for $6 for a full size bottle. If you have not tried out Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer, this Black Friday weekend is a perfect time to do so! Cherish is having an awesome sale, BOGO on up to 3 polishes with free shipping on orders over $15! I *think* she's also planning some flash sales and other fun stuff, so be sure to like her Facebook page to keep updated.
Thanks so much for reading!
