Hello there! Yes, I know it's been ages and ages since I've posted. There are tons of excuses I could make, but what it boils down to is just feeling burnt out on blogging. There just came a point where all the swatching, photo editing, and writing just wasn't fun for a bit and I was all like "Blogging is hard!" so I took a break. But I'm dipping my toes back in the water, just to test it out. I can't promise regularity with posting but be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram (user name is @vashtiaa). I tend to post quick shots of current manicures on those accounts.
Alright, back to the point of today's post! Paint Shop Polish has a new spring collection coming out on Monday, March 23 and I was lucky enough to get to swatch a couple of pretties and I have some photos of those to show you today!
First up is In Bloom, an appropriately named floral glitter topper. Large iridescent lavender flower-shaped glitter swim in a clear base with smaller petal pink, daffodil yellow, and violet hexes, lilac squares, and a healthy sprinkle of holographic micro glitter. This is just a perfectly pretty spring mix!
I applied In Bloom first in one thin coat to spread out the holographic sparkle and then by dabbing the larger glitters on. The gradient underneath was created using Sinful Colors Unicorn and Out of Bounds. In Bloom was fairly easy to work with, the base is a good consistency; not too thick or gloppy. I did have to fish a bit for the larger flower glitters, but that's pretty much par for the course when it comes to big glitters. You'll also want a good top coat to smooth out any bumpiness from the glitter.
If you're a glitter topper fan, In Bloom is definitely worth a look. So pretty!
May Flowers is the second polish I have to show you today. We all know what a sucker I am for a good crelly and this one fits the bill! Icy blue iridescent flower glitters are accompanied by small hexes in the same shade and periwinkle hexes in a squishy white crelly base. This was my favorite of these two polishes...love the glitter mix and the base is beautiful!
No application issues to report, beyond the necessity to fish a bit for the larger glitters. I'm showing 3 coats here with one coat of Seche Vite on top. Really just a lovely polish!
May Flowers and In Bloom will both be available this Monday, March 23 on the Paint Shop Polish Etsy site. A 5ml mini bottle retails for $5.50 and a full size 15ml bottle is $10. Also, Candi is currently offering 15% off $15 with code PADDYS15 or free US
shipping with a $25 order with code FREESHIP25. Both codes will expire
on March 31st so don't wait!. Be sure to follow PSP on Facebook to keep updated on new products, sales, and other important info!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post and I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below!
*Barielle products provided for honest and unbiased review*
Good morning, afternoon, evening or whatever time it may be in your neck of the woods! We're well into autumn weather here in Chicago and the shorter days and brisk temperatures have me setting aside my bright polishes for deeper and more muted tones. Today's post is all about two such polishes. Barielle is a brand I've loved for awhile now. As if dependable quality and great selection were not enough, Barielle's low prices and great sales endeared me to the brand long before they approached me to review for them. Both of the polishes I have to show you today are from their Fall 2014 Jetsetter collection and they're definitely right on trend for the season!
Gondola Ride is a sage creme with a touch of grey. This is definitely more of an earthy, fall color than a spring green and I can see it being a great neutral for a semi-progressive work environment. I'm fortunate to have a job that doesn't dictate my nail color, but I'd feel comfortable wearing Gondola Ride just about anywhere.
Gondola Ride is opaque in 2-3 coats and I'm showing 3 coats here with one coat of Barielle's No Chip Speed Dry top coat (review to follow in a few days). Easy application with no dragging. It was a touch streaky for the first coat, but evened out nicely with the second and third coats.
If you're looking for a great way to transition green polish into the fall season, Gondola Ride is a perfect way to start!
Midnight in Paris is pretty much just as beautiful as its name. A deep blurple metallic with a subtl shimmer, Midnight in Paris adds a touch of dramatic sophistication to your mani. I had a hard time photographing this one, and it actually has quite a bit more purple in than is shown. It will also vary depending on the light.
Midnight in Paris is opaque in 1-2 coats and I'm wearing 2 coats here with one coat of the No Chip Speed Dry on top. This is almost a one coater, but the formula is not overly thick. I have no application issues to report.
If you're a blurple fanatic or just looking for a dramatic fall color, Midnight in Paris is a great addition to your collection!
Both Gondola Ride and Midnight in Paris are currently available on Barielle's website for $8 for a full size 13.3 ml bottle. To keep up with special offers and new releases, you can sign up for Barielle's emails on their website or follow them on Facebook.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post!
*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!
*Born Pretty Store products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products mentioned were purchased by me.*
Hello there, everyone! You may remember me mentioning how much I love stamping at the moment, so when Born Pretty Store asked me to review some items, I knew right away I wanted to give some stamping items a try!
Whilst perusing their site, which if you haven't been has tons of great nail art items at really reasonable prices, I came across some fun plates. I decide to try out plate QA88 with a pattern they called "Quirky Arabesque". Fitting, no? The swirly patterns and "infinity" style appealed to me right away. (Infinity plates are ones with designs that cover the whole plate so you can stamp anywhere and get an "infinite" number of patterns.) This is a smaller plate at just over 2 inches across so it's a little more limited than, say, the Pueen Encore plates or MoYou's...but it's still a pretty pattern with lots of great looks.
I began this manicure with 3 coats of Sinful Colors Easy Going, a barely there, pink creme. Initially when I saw this plate, I thought it might be good for leadlighting so I wanted to start with a light base to try that out. The stamping polish I used is part of a set from Born Pretty Store and I'll be reviewing that set in a few days. Overall, QA88 is a good plate. I had no issues getting it to stamp and I received it in perfect condition with no scratches or dents. You can see a few spots on the tips of my nails where the pattern "skipped", but that is more likely due to my own stamping skills (or lack thereof; I'm getting better, but not perfect!) or the fact that a few of my nails curve under when they get to a certain length. So that's nothing I can point to as a product issue.
And, as I thought when I saw it, QA88 is great for leadlighting! The pattern is open enough to allow you to fill in the design with whatever colors you choose. I went with a multicolored design created with Zoya's Frida, Wet 'n' Wild's Trippin' on the Boardwalk, Simply Sweet in pink neon, and a random yellow. Kind of has a circus vibe, but I love it!
If you're looking for an inexpensive infinity plate with a fun pattern, this one might just be for you! Plate QA88 retails for $2.09 and shipping is free with non-registered airmail or minimal with airmail tracking (depending on where you live). I always find their shipping to be faster than I think it will be though their site does say it can take up to 20 days for delivery. If you decide to purchase this or any other items from Born Pretty Store, feel free to use my referral code, YFL91, to save yourself 10%!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post!
*LynBDesigns products provided for honest and unbiased review. All other products were purchased by me*
Hello, everyone! We've had a lovely cool shift in weather and it's starting to really feel like fall in Chicago. I know I should be worried that it means winter is just around the corner, but I love autumn so much I just can't care at the moment :)
On to the polish! I promised earlier in the week that I'd have the second half of LynBDesigns The Fault in Our Stars collection to share with you and here they are! (If you'd like a refresher over the first 3 gorgeous shades in this collection, you can see my swatches here.)
An olive-toned antique gold with a hint of pink shimmer, Tasting the Stars kind of snuck up on me. I wasn't expecting to love it so much just looking at it in the bottle, but once I got it on my nails I didn't want to take it off! I won't lie; this color is probably not for everyone but to me, it's a gorgeous, sophisticated color (and perfect for fall as well!).
Tasting the Stars was easy to apply and is opaque on its own in 2-3 coats (I'm showing 3 coats with 1 coat of Seche Vite here). Jenna (LynBDesigns creator) mentioned that this would also look great over black, and I'm pretty sure she's right. I'll definitely be giving it a try! No application issues here, just a smooth easy finish.
If you're a sucker for fall colors, be sure to snag Tasting the Stars for your stash. You won't regret it (I hear crunchy leaves in my head every time I look at it)!
Wish Granting Factory is up next. In the bottle, this polish looked bronze-y orange but, once I applied it, I discovered a lovely plummy jelly brimming with holographic flash and golden shimmer.
Opaque in 2-3 coats (I'm wearing 3 with 1 coat of Seche Vite), Wish Granting Factory has a smooth, easy to apply formula. I wore this polish for about 3 days with little to no tip wear, so durability isn't an issue.
Wish Granting Factory is another shade that will be perfect for fall, the wine-hued base practically screams autumn. It's another favorite of mine from this set (I seem to have a lot of those)!
Ok, I'm going to gush a bit. Our Little Infinity is by far and away my absolute favorite in this collection and is definitely in my Top 5 favorites of all time. Not only is it purple, it's a shifter with holographic glitter...it's like Jenna reached into my brain and made this one just for me! A royal blue to rich plum multichrome with flashes of gold and pink, Our Little Infinity is nothing short of spectacular. It's like a purple disco ball when the sunlight hits it and the shift in lower light is a vision. Our Little Infinity seems to glow and its distractability factor is off the charts! I'm thankful I don't drive when I wear this one...I can barely tear my eyes away from it!
*sigh*...I mean, just LOOK. AT. IT! In addition to her spellbinding good looks, Our Little Infinity has a beautifully smooth formula, though you might need an extra coat for full opacity. I'm showing 4 thin coats with a coat of Seche Vite in these photos. I wore this for 3 days on 2 separate occasions and had almost no visible wear. It's the perfect polish, I swear!
I did my best to capture the gorgeousness of Our Little Infinity, I hope you'll realize how special this one is because if you love purple and sparkly and shifty...you NEED this polish!
The Fault in Our Stars collection will be available on the LynBDesigns Etsy site
on Friday, Sept. 19. Tasting the Stars and Wish Granting Factory will each retail for $8 for a full size
bottle with Our Little Infinity at $12. 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 enjoyed this post and 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!
Hi there, folks! If you're fairly new to my blog, you may not know that I'm a football nut. In particular, a Kansas State University Wildcat football nut. Today is the first game of the year and I'm super excited to watch my 'Cats play again...it's been too long! I know you're asking yourself what this has to do with nails or polish. Well, just like any fan I like to display my team's colors and fortunately, nail polish comes in many colors including the regal purple and white of the Wildcats! So without further ado, here's my game day mani to cheer on the 'Cats!
I used bunches of polishes to create this look (I'll include a list at the end of the post if you're interested) and some fun PowerCat (my team's icon) decals I found online. I'm trepidatious about the decals, as my team seems to do better when I handpaint them. Yes, I'm a crazy superstitious fan to boot lol But, I'm chancing it because the decals are just so darn cute!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this manicure (even though I know not every one is into sports). I know I can't be the only fan out there who paints her nails for game days. I'd love to see your team manicures as well! Feel free to link them in the comments section! Thanks so much for reading!
Polish list:
Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer~Donatello
Sinful Colors~Snow Me White
Zoya~Carter
China Glaze~Creative Fantasy
O.P.I.~Solitaire
Sally Hansen Striper~White & Purple
Wet 'n' Wild~2% Milk
Hi there, all! As I mentioned recently, I'm all about the stamping lately. I love the looks that you can create with it and once you get the hang of it, it's so easy! I know if you're just starting out stamping that you won't believe me, but I swear it's true. Continuing with my stamping obsession, I decided it was high time I tried leadlighting. Leadlighting is a technique which gives a finished look reminiscent of stained glass, which is were the name comes from.
I started with 3 coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff and then stamped on top with Sinful Colors Black on Black and Pueen's Encore plate SE04B. I topped everything with a coat of Seche Vite before I started the leadlighting part.
Basically, the premise of leadlighting is pretty simple. It's like a coloring book, using sheer jelly polishes to fill in the stamped outlines. I used Sally Hansen's Triple Shine in Grape Jelly mixed with a bit of Wet 'n' Wild's Trippin' on the Boardwalk to up the opacity a bit. The SH is a great polish for leadlighting but it's very, very sheer. I wanted a touch more opacity for this look. After filling in a few random flowers, I decided I wanted another punch of color so I used SH's Triple Shine in Play Koi mixed with a homemade jelly polish (which you can learn how to do here). I just dabbed it onto the center of the non-purple flowers with a dotting tool.
I'm happy with this for my first attempt at a new technique. My main issue is that I loved the mani so much before I added the color that I'm a bit disappointed that I tried it at all. But it does have a lot of possibilities, which I'm pretty excited about.
Have you tried leadlighting? I'd love to see your manicures! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post :)
Hey there, folks! The other day whilst perusing Facebook, I saw Manicure Addict's swatch of Elevation Polish's Haleakala and immediately fell in love. I jumped right over to Elevation's site and they had it in stock. Because of unbelievably fast shipping, I received my bottle yesterday! When I opened the package, my first thought was that Haleakala reminded me quite a bit of Colors by Llarowe's Dirty Diana. So I figured it would make for a great Sunday Similarities post!
At first glance, you can tell just from the bottles that these ladies are not dupes. But I really wanted to compare them on the nail so I swatched them both.
As you can see on the nail, there are some obvious differences. Haleakala is much more purple whereas Dirty Diana is a vibrant pink. Aside from the color, however, these two share a knock-your-socks-off linear holographic effect and a perfect formula! I'm showing two coats of each here with no top coat.
Since these are not really dupes at all, I highly suggest both or either for your collection. Haleakala is currently available on Elevation's site for $12.50 for a full size bottle and Llarowe does have Dirty Diana up on their page as I write this, but only one full size bottle left at $12. I do believe mention has been made of Llarowe re-releasing the Michael Jackson tribute collection, of which Dirty Diana is part, so don't despair if you miss it this time!
As always, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post!
