Indie Spotlight: Mod Lacquer Alien Encounter and Zero Point

*Mod Lacquer products provided for honest and unbiased review.  All other products mentioned were purchased by me*

Hi everyone!  A couple of weeks ago, Jennifer from Mod Lacquer put out the call for reviewers and I was lucky enough to snag a spot this go-round.  I've had the pleasure of wearing Jennifer's creations before (as you might remember from this post) so I've been on pins and needles to get my paws on this shipment!  I was not disappointed, her polishes are superb and without further ado, let's get down to it!

Both polishes I'm reviewing today are from the Above Top Secret collection, a UFO/Alien-inspired set of holographic loveliness.  Alien Encounter is a grassy spring green linear holo.  The effect on these polishes is insane and will thrill you to no end in sunlight!  Seriously, these babies should come with a warning label about their highly effective distractability (and yes, I know that's not a word but I'm using it anyway).

Alien Encounter applied like a dream.  I'm showing 3 smooth coats here with no top coat.  I totally could have gotten away with just 2 coats but I never like to skimp when it comes to holo.  Pile it on, I say!  Rainbows for everyone!  

I decided to do something a little special with these swatches because it's such a fun theme for a collection.  My Alien Encounter swatches come complete with their own "little green man", created with AE itself and the addition of some black striping polish.  I may have to recreate this with a bit more detail in the future...he's so cute!  I shall name him "George"!

Next up is Zero Point.  Zero Point is listed on Etsy as a pink linear holographic polish but it really leans more silver on me.  There is the barest blush of pink in certain lights but it's not showing up in my photos unfortunately. (If you're looking for a pinker holo, I'd suggest Aerial Phenomenon from the same collection.)

Again, the formula was nearly flawless and applied easily, no flooding or dragging.  2-3 coats for opacity (I'm wearing 3 here) and no top coat needed for shine.  I can't say enough nice things about Jennifer's polishes!  They're just stunning!

Zero Point, as near as I can understand it, is named after a technology used to power UFOs (and I'm probably completely wrong on that lol).  For my accent nail, I used a stamp (I'm sorry that I don't have a brand for you to refer to, but it was a random that I picked up off of Ebay I think) that looks a bit like a planet or an atom...either way, kinda spacey so I thought it fit with the theme.  I double stamped with a gold and then a black striping polish.  

Alien Encounter and Zero Point are currently available on Mod Lacquer's Etsy shop for $11 per each full size, 15ml bottle.   If you're interested in keeping up to date on new products, sales, and other important info, be sure to follow Mod Lacquer on Facebook.

I hope you've enjoyed this post and thank you so much for reading!

Indie Spotlight: Spellbound Nails, The Darks plus Holo Back Girl

*Spellbound Nails products provided for honest and unbiased review.  All other products mentioned were purchased by me.*

Hello, everyone!  I've got a collection of cremes plus a holo topper to show you all today from Spellbound Nails.  Ashely, the owner and creator of Spellbound Nails, has just opened up a new website to sell her lovely wares and has released some beautiful new collections to go with the fabulous new site.  I was lucky enough to get to try out one of these collections and wanted to share them with you!

The collection I received to swatch is called The Darks, a witchcraft-inspired set of 5 cremes.  I have to mention upfront that the bottles I received were testers, so the bottles you decide to purchase will possibly be a touch different (as far as any formula issues go).  All of Ashley's finished products I've tried have had great formulas, so I never worry about quality issues.  Just felt I should make you guys aware that you'll be getting a fully tested, 100% finished product if you choose to buy!

First up is Velvet, a deep, eggplant purple.  As purples are always my favorites, I was excited to try this color in particular.   The color is beautiful with a smoky edge, very fitting for the witchy theme! I'm wearing 3 coats of Velvet here with one coat of Seche Vite.  My bottle was a little streaky up until the third coat but evened out quite nicely in the end.   If you're in need of a dark-but-not-black polish for your stash, Velvet is a great option!

Witching Hour is a blackened teal and one of my favorites of this collection.  The color is touch less green than my photo in real life, absolutely gorgeous!  Witching Hour reminds me of the swatches I've seen of O.P.I.'s Amazon Amazoff and now I'll just have to grab a bottle so I can do a comparison.  Oh no! :)  No formula issues with this one at all, opaque in 2-3 coats (2 coats shown here with one coat of Seche Vite) and a smooth, easy application. 

Next we have Bewitched, a deep, rusty burgundy.  This was my least favorite of the colors as I just don't think it goes with my skin tone very well.  The color itself is lovely, just not for me!  I had no trouble with the formula here, this is an easy 2 coats with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Salamander is greyed, camouflage-y green; the perfect match for slimy, salamander skin!  That said, it's actually a very lovely color.  I'm a big fan of green polishes right now, I think it's because we had such a long winter and I'm just thrilled to see anything that looks like growing things lol   I'm showing 3 coats of Salamander here with one coat of Seche Vite.  Again, easy application with no dragging or streaking, just a great polish!

Hearthstone, a mid-tone grey with a touch of earthiness, completes the collection.  This color was my top fave of the bunch!  Something about the perfect grey polish gets to me every time, what can I say?  I'm showing 3 coats of Hearthstone here with one coat of Seche Vite.  Like Velvet, my bottle of Hearthstone gave me a little streaky trouble, but did even out just fine with the third coat. 

The Darks are currently available on the Spellbound Nails website and retail for $8 for a full-size, 15ml bottle.  Should you decide to purchase the entire full-size collection ($40), Ashley is currently offering a free full-size bottle of her scattered holographic topper, Holo Back Girl! which I was also lucky enough to swatch :)

This is one coat of Holo Back Girl! over 2 coats of Witching Hour.  The sparkle on this beauty is incredible!  A great holo topper is an easy way to freshen up a days-old mani that's still in good shape or revitalize the boring polish colors.  Holo Back Girl! essentially doubles the polishes in your stash by giving you the option to make each one a holographic!  I love the versatility with this one.  

I wanted to show you a blurry photo so you could get a better idea of the sparkle factor going on here.  So many rainbows!  And one coat will do ya, easy application and a great payoff!

If you want to keep apprised of new releases, sales, and other important information be sure to follow the Spellbound Nails Facebook page.  I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks so much for reading!

Indie Spotlight: Mod Lacquer Men In Black & Majic Eyes Only

*Nothing to disclose*

Hello, hello!  Do I have some gorgeousity to show you today!  Mod Lacquer LLC is a new-to-me brand and when I saw her latest collection, I knew I had to snag a few!  Above Top Secret is an all holo, UFO-themed, 7 polish collection.  I would have loved to buy the whole set, but since my budget isn't unlimited I picked my two favorites and I have those to show you today.

Majic Eyes Only is a silvery, lavender linear holographic polish.  As far as I can tell from the two I purchased, Mod Lacquer does not skimp on the holo...rainbows everywhere!  This color is so beautiful!  It's actually a lighter purple than I thought it would be from the listing photos, but I don't care at all.  

Seriously, look at that holo halo!  This polish will wow you in the sunshine, but the effect is also strong enough to be seen in regular indoor lighting.  The formula was easy and smooth, opaque in 2-3 coats.  I didn't not top coat this so all the shine is just Majic Eyes Only.  After I took these photos, I top coated Majic Eyes Only and wore it for 3 days and noticed only a small amount of tip wear, no chips.  Definitely passes for durability!  And the top coat did not dull the holographic effect at all.
 

If you're looking for a purple holographic polish that will knock your socks off, I'd highly recommend Majic Eyes Only.  And if you're saying to yourself, "Well, I already have 4 purple holos..." then you're probably in the wrong place ;)

Next up is Men In Black.  This gunmetal linear holographic polish is a stunner!  I had a hard time describing the base color of this polish.  I was expecting black, the listing says charcoal, and my boyfriend thought it was gold lol  Whatever you chose to call her, she's mysterious and dark...just like her classified namesake. 

Another beautiful formula here, again opaque in 2-3 coats and shown without top coat.   And again, the holo effect was easily noticeable in regular indoor lighting, though you'll get the strongest effect in sunlight.  I did top coat Men In Black after I took photos and noticed no dulling of the holo.

Overall, I have no complaints to report about either of these polishes and I'm hoping to grab a couple other polishes from this collection in the very near future!

Majic Eyes Only, Men In Black, and the rest of the Above Top Secret collection are currently available on the Mod Lacquer Etsy store for $11 for a full-size, 15ml bottle.  Please follow her Facebook page as well, to keep up with new releases, sales and other important info!

Thanks so much for reading!

Silver and Gold Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  Ah, Friday...the beautiful beginning to the weekend.  That is, if you have a job wherein you aren't required to work weekends...I have such a job.  But, at least it's a fun job!

I've got another holiday manicure for you today.  This one is super sparkly and packed with holo goodness.  Take a peek:

Silver and gold and glitter and holo, oh my!  I started this manicure by just swatching 3 coats of China Glaze Angel Wings and Glistening Snow.  These two polishes are part of China Glaze's 2012 Holiday Joy Collection and both are micro-glitters with a holographic punch.  Angel Wings is the gold and Glistening Snow is the silver.  Both of these applied easily with decent coverage on the second coat.  Initially, I was going to leave this manicure as just the two polishes on alternating nails, but why stop there?  I ended up doing glitter gradients on each nail.  I paired O.P.I.'s Servin' Up Sparkle, a silver micro and hex holographic glitter in a clear base, with Angel Wings while Glistening Snow matched up with e.l.f.'s Gold Star, a large hex glitter in a clear base.  

Here's another view:

I may have a holiday party to go to Saturday night, so I'll be sporting this glitter-fest because I think it's just perfect!  What do you guys think?

Thanks so much for reading!

Kleancolor Chunky Holographic Teal

I have been a very bad blogger.  I think it's been over 3 days since my last post!  I can't believe anyone is still hanging around to read this.  Have you ever just needed a technology break?  Sometimes, I feel like I spend all my free time on the computer and I just needed a little time to get out of the house.  In any case, I'm back on track and I have a new manicure for you today.

Sorry for the wear along the edge of my nails, I've been wearing this one for a couple of days.  And I haven't been taking care of my cuticles again, so they look a little rough.  I'll get 'em back in shape in no time!  I started with one coat of Sinful Colors Why Not, a beautiful ocean blue creme.  On top of that, I applied 3 coats of Kleancolor Chunky Holographic Teal; tons of small holographic glitter in a clear teal base.  This was such a simple manicure, but I've gotten a lot of compliments on it.  Just goes to show that sometimes, simplicity is best.

I hope that there are some folks out there still reading my posts and that you enjoyed this one.  Have a great evening!

Kleancolor Bluebell

Howdy all!  Just a quick post this evening, cuz it's Friday and I know most people have better things to do that sit around and read nail blogs :)

I have another Kleancolor swatch for you today.  Post-swatching, I decided to add a little something extra on top.  Here it is:

 

This is 3 coats of Kleancolor  Chunky Holographic Bluebell over 2ish coats of China Glaze First Mate.  Bluebell is a small, green to orange holographic glitter in a clear blue tinged base.  I love the colors in this one!  I decided to go back over top of the glitter and add some stripes of First Mate to finish this manicure off.  I've got vertical, horizontal and diagonal stripes going here, lots of fun!

Once again, I'll try to snag some daylight shots of this so you can see the color better.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the post!

Purple Hex

Hello, everyone! It's been a few days since I posted, sorry about that.  Everything I've put on my nails the last few days just made me very unhappy and I didn't even want to take pictures of those failed manis.  Yesterday, however, I stopped by my local Sally's Beauty Supply to pick up some new pretty, sparkly things!  Yes, yes, I know I said I wasn't buying any more until I'd tried everything I had, but I've gotten through most of it and I was jonesin' for a fix lol

So, today I have a fun, purple-y, sparkly manicure that I'm a little bit in love with.  Here it is (in the shade)!

The base color here is actually four(!) layers of Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition in DVD alternated with Nina Ultra Pro Nail Lacquer in Purple-Xing, with an extra layer of Purple-Xing on top.  I got a little impatient waiting for all of that to dry, but I LOVE the color!.  DVD is a turquoise to lilac semi-duochrome with lots of glittery flecks.  Purple-Xing is small holographic, round glitter set in dark blue to purple base.  Both are gorgeous alone, but I dig the way they look layered.  On top of all that, Sally had a BOGO coupon for Cina Nail Art products so, of course, I had to buy a couple of those!  The large hexagonal holographic glitter you're seeing on top of my nails is from their Midsummer Dream kit.

Purple-Xing is my very first bottle of Ultra Pro and I love the formula!  It has a nice consistency and goes on very smoothly.  And the color was such a knock-out in the bottle, I had to have it!  My Sally's is having a sale this week ($3.49 per bottle) so I may have to go back and purchase a few more bottles!

 

Here's a sunlit shot:

I'm so glad this manicure worked out well...I was getting worried, after several "meh" manis that I was losing my touch!

Thanks so much for stopping by and leave a comment if you liked what you saw!  :)

Glittery Gradient

Good evening!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Mine has been a bit up and down, but it's starting to look a bit brighter.  Especially with today's manicure!  Check out this lovely, sparkly beauty!

Isn't it purdy?  I was perusing my nail polish collection looking for a color I hadn't used in awhile and came across my bottle of Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms in Turquoise Opal.  This polish is so lovely.  I can't even remember when I purchased this line, but I know it's been several years; possibly close to 10 years!  Despite that, the formula is holding up quite well.  Turquoise Opal is a duochrome polish that changes from a vibrant green to an almost lapis blue to fucshia with golden undertones throughout.  Do not ask me how one polish can do all that, just believe me that it does :) 

For this manicure, I started with two coats of Milani Nail Lacquer 3D Holographic in 3D 510.  In the case of 3D 510, I think "holographic" is a bit of a misnomer unless I'm misunderstanding the term.  This polish has a lovely glittery finish with a lot of gold flecks accompanied by iridescent bits that flash blue to green to pink.  However, there is no holo halo (as I like to think of it) and it looks to me just like a glitter polish albeit a very sparkly one.  On top of those two coats, I sponged on Turquoise Opal again using the gradient technique by The Nailasaurus.  I think I'm getting the hang of it and I really liked the result this time.

Here's another look.  You can start to see the duochrome effect in this one.  Try as I might this morning I couldn't get a good capture of the color here.  I wanted to try again this evening but it's been stormy and dark here so it was a no-go.  In any case, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings this evening and that you have a great one yourself!