Essie Watermelon + Heart Stamping

Hi everyone! So for the very last day of February, I decided to do one more heart mani. I have really been in a creme mood lately, so I decided to bust out an oldie but goodie. Essie Watermelon is part of Essie's core line and is a very wearable warm reddish pink creme. The formula is excellent, with even opaque coverage at 2 coats. This is a very good polish to have as a staple in every polish collection.

For a little last-minute Valentine's theme, I stamped using Bundle Monster plate H18 and Konad White. The stamping was kind of rushed and imperfect, but it looked ok in real life. 

Now onto ALL THE GREENS for March!! Thanks for looking everyone!

Emily de Molly Head Over Heels

Hi everyone! Today I have my only holographic polish from Emily de Molly to share with you. Head Over Heels is a pale purple holographic polish with pink shimmer. There is a pink flash that the polish has as well as some chunkier pink shimmer (which is hard to pick up in pictures). It is really soft and gorgeous! The holographic effect is very nice, requiring no special base or topcoat. The formula was great too, only needing 2 coats for full opacity.

Emily de Molly polishes are available from their Big Cartel Shop (for shipping within Australian). A list of retailers that carry Emily de Molly that offer international shipping is located here.  Thanks for looking everyone!

Pahlish Lullaby Without End

Hi everyone! In continuing with my Pahlish theme, here is one from the recent All of Time and Space Collection. Lullaby Without End is a vibrant corally red jelly base with orange, light blue, and dark blue glitter and pink shimmer. The base is pretty opaque with fantastic coverage at 2 coats. In lower lights, I even felt like this polish took on a rusty hue. The shimmer is to die for and I love the color combination here.

Here it is with matte topcoat (as suggested by someone on Facebook...it was a GREAT idea!). I think that the matte topcoat gives it a different and equally fantastic look!

Pahlish is available from Pahlish's Big Cartel Shop. Be sure to follow Pahlish on Facebook and on their blog for details about restocks and new polishes.  Pahlish is also available from Llarowe, Overall Beauty, Rainbow Connection, and Edgy Polish. Thanks for looking everyone!

Pahlish Armor Falling Down

Hi everyone! I guess I've sort of gotten on a Pahlish kick this week (I'm wearing another one now!). Today I have Armor Falling Down to share with you, which was part of the Winter 2013 release. It has a dusty plum base filled with large flecks of golden shimmer throughout. The formula was excellent with great coverage at 2 coats. It is such a refined and sophisticated polish. I did see on Pahlish's website that this one is being discontinued, so be sure to grab it while you can!

Pahlish is available from Pahlish's Big Cartel Shop. Be sure to follow Pahlish on Facebook and on their blog for details about restocks and new polishes.  Pahlish is also available from Llarowe, Overall Beauty, Rainbow Connection, and Edgy Polish. Thanks for looking everyone!

Pahlish Black Lace Elderberry

Hi everyone! Today I have a polish from Pahlish's Fall 2013 collection to share with you. Black Lace Elderberry has a deep wine purple jelly base with red microflakes throughout as well as smaller orange metallic and holographic glitter. The formula was great and spread easily. I used 3 thin coats for this mani. This polish is vampy and gorgeous with tons of depth.

I will say, I'm a bit puzzled by most pictures I've seen of this polish on the internet because the base looks like a bright purple. I can't figure out if the formula has changed since the initial launch (which is when I bought it) or if people are applying 2 coats and then overexposing their pictures which makes the base look much lighter and brighter than it really is. I want to say that the color that it appears in my pictures is exactly how it looks in real life on my nails at 3 coats. I have no visible nail line either, which I've also noticed in a lot of pictures. Anywho...mysteries...

 

  

Pahlish is available from Pahlish's Big Cartel Shop. Be sure to follow Pahlish on Facebook and on their blog for details about restocks and new polishes.  Pahlish is also available from Llarowe, Overall Beauty, Rainbow Connection, and Edgy Polish. Thanks for looking everyone!

*Product purchased by me*

CrowsToes My Favorite Amazon

Hi everyone! I have been enjoying the Winter Olympics so much the past two weeks, so I decided to do a patriotic mani for Team USA! What better polish is there than CrowsToes My Favorite Amazon to make that happen! It has everything you need for a US Olympic mani: red, white, blue, stars, and even GOLD! Per usual, CrowsToes does her glitter bombs WELL. I used 1 coat over American Apparel Passport Blue for this mani (plus a small amount of dabbing in a few spots). I was careful to avoid the stars when applying the polish because I wanted to add them as an accent at the base of each nail. I thought it turned out perfectly!

 

 

CrowsToes polishes are available at Llarowe (US), Overall Beauty (US), Atouts Charme (France),Maria Gastadeira (Brazil), Norway Nails (Norway), Femme Fatale Cosmetics (Australia), and Rainbow Connnection (UK). Be sure to follow CrowsToes on Facebook and Instagram as well as on creator Lauri's Blog for all updates and details about new collections. Thanks for looking everyone!

*Product was a gift*

Smitten Polish Out of the Blue and Zelda's Fall-y

Hi everyone! I have some Smitten Polish holos to share with you. I actually wore these ages ago but never got any pictures of them for some reason.

Out of the Blue is a very saturated blue holographic polish. The formula is great, almost a one coater (I used 2 coats for my swatches). It isn't the most holographic of Smitten's holos, but it is more holo in real life than my picture. The color of this one is divine...I just love how vibrant it is! Out of the Blue is one of Smitten's "core" holos now, so it is still available for purchase.

Zelda's Fall-y is a deep, slightly rusty, red holographic polish. This polish has a more jelly-like finish than Out of the Blue but it still has great opacity at 2 coats. This polish was only released for a limited time in a 3 piece set from Smitten Polish this past fall, so it is no longer available. Such a perfect fall polish! 

Smitten Polish can be purchased from creator Noelie's Big Cartel Shop as well as from Femme Fatale Cosmetics, Edgy Polish, and Shoppe Eclecticco. Be sure to follow Smitten Polish on Facebook for updates on restocks and new collections. Thanks for looking everyone!

*Products purchased by me*

Elevation Polish Marmolada Matted

Hi everyone! Today I have a gorgeous polish from Elevation Polish for you that I've had for ages. Marmolada was released early last year (it was discontinued in the fall). It has a grey-blue jelly base with a mixture of silver, blue, and purple glitters including some large silver and light blue circles. It's a very muted and soothing mix of colors. I layered 2 coats over a dusty blue base.

I saw the lovely Ida Nails It matte this polish when she wore it and it was just fabulous, so I had to copy of course! So here I added 1 coat of Essie Matte About You. 

Elevation Polish is available from creator Lulu's Big Cartel Store. She has a lot of info on restock dates and availability on the Big Cartel site as well as on her blog. Her shop is restocked on the 7th and 22nd each month unless otherwise noted. Elevation Polish is also stocked at Llarowe. Thanks for looking everyone!

*Products purchased by me*

Nail Art Featuring Girly Bits and Nail Vinyls

Hi everyone! Today I have two amazing Girly Bits polishes to show you as well as my first adventure with Nail Vinyls. If you haven't heard about Nail Vinyls, they are pre-cut vinyl stickers that can be used to make different nail designs. Take a look in their shop for all of the designs that are offered to get an idea of what all can be done with them. Also, there is a very detailed guide on how to use Nail Vinyls in their FAQs.

For this mani, I used the original chevron design. I started with a base of Girly Bits What the Deuce? and let it dry completely. Then I placed 2 of the chevron Nail Vinyls across both my middle and ring finger nails and applied Girly Bits Ho-Ho-Hope. I used tweezers to pull off the Nail Vinyls while the polish was still wet and viola, awesome chevron nails! You want to let the polish dry completely before adding topcoat to avoid smearing. To finish off my mani, I used my dotting tool to place random large and small dots on all of my other nails for a fun look. Everyone keeps telling me my nails look like Easter eggs, and I guess I can see that. I'm definitely going to do a similar look in pastels for Easter.

Here is What the Deuce? on its own. It is SO AWESOME!! I've been wanting this polish for ages and I'm so glad I finally ordered it. The color is so bright and fun. Formula is amazing (perfect in 2 coats) and the subtle glowing holographic effect is gorgeous.

And here is Ho-Ho-Hope on its own. It is described as a violet/magenta holo and it definitely toes the line between pink and purple. I would say it is a tiny bit more pink in real life than it wants to appear in pictures. The color is rich and beautiful though.  Formula was fantastic just like What the Deuce? on this one. I used 2 coats of Ho-Ho-Hope for my swatch here.

You can purchase Nail Vinyls in their StoreEnvy shop. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and follow @teismom on Instagram for updates on shop restocks and new design releases.

Girly Bits Cosmetics' polishes are available from creator Pam's online shop as well as from 

e-tailers around the world including: Llarowe (US), Overall Beauty (US), Mei Mei's Signatures (Singapore),Harlow and Co. (Canada), Femme Fatale Cosmetics (Australia), Foxy Fingertips (Denmark), and Maria Gastadeira (Brazil). Be sure to follow Girly Bits on Facebook and Instagram for news about restocks and new collections. Thanks for looking everyone!

*Products purchased by me*

Nail Art Featuring Zoya Rue and Born Pretty Store Rose Water Decals

Hi everyone! I saw these rose water decals from Born Pretty Store ages ago on The Nailasaurus and I finally got them. They are so elegant. What is really nice about them is that a portion of the petals is colored and the rest is clear so your base color shines through and really helps these decals to seamlessly blend into your mani. I started off with a base of Zoya Rue (from the recent Naturel release) and added decals to two fingers. On the other two fingers, I used a make-up sponge to create an simple distressed look by sponging on a bit of Zoya Odette (also from the Naturel collection) and China Glaze Purr-fect Plum over my base color. And if you notice what looks like a bit of shimmer on the roses, it is from some shimmery gunk that I guess was on my topcoat brush. It wasn't very noticable in real life, but it showed up in pictures.

Here is Zoya Rue on its own. It is very flattering with my skintone and my kind of "nude" because pinky nudes are pretty much what work for me. I love its description from Zoya as a "boudoir blush creme". I would call it a rose toned nude. The formula was very nice and provided full, even coverage at 2 coats.

You can find the Rose decals at Born Pretty Store here. It appears that they are on sale right now for $0.88 so that is a deal! They offer free worldwide shipping, so if you are on the hunt for some nail art supplies, check them out.

I purchased Zoya Rue from Zoya.com and I was excited to receive a full-sized Zoya Odette in my Ipsy Glam bag this month. I'm really enjoying my Ipsy subscription much more than Birchbox so far. More full-sized and more useful items have been coming, so I think that it's a better deal.

Thanks for looking everyone!

*Products purchased by me*

Valentine's Nails

Hi everyone! I have been a big failure at doing Valentine's manis this year so far besides a few pinks and reds. I decided to go all out with some nail art to (try to) make up for it!

I did some crazy skittles which all started with a base of OPI Sparrow Me the Drama (pink). For the water marbled nails, I used Sinful Colors Wisp (white), OPI Sparrow Me the Drama (pink), OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock (red), and OPI Funky Dunkey (purple). The glitter accents were L.A. Girl Sputtered from the Splatter collection. Finally for the hearts, I used water decals from Born Pretty Store. It was my first experience using water decals, and they are very idiot-proof I think. I used tweezers to place them (the three hearts were one decal) and it was easy to readjust them on the nail if needed. I went back with my dotting tool and added a few dots of the different colors for accents to pull the whole mani together.

I have heard some people haven't seen the L.A. Girl Splatter Collection around at their Rite Aids, but they are available at Cherry Culture for those of you who can't find them.

I'm really pleased with the water decals and I've ordered a few more from Born Pretty Store. I've always had great experiences with ordering from them at very reasonable prices. Also, you can't beat free worldwide shipping!

Thanks for looking everyone and have a Happy Valentine's Day!

*Products purchased by me*

Colors by Llarowe Monkey See, Monkey Do

Hi everyone! Today I have a polish from Colors by Llarowe to share that I was able to snag at her most recent pre-order. I really do enjoy her holos so much!

Monkey See, Monkey Do is a bright blue holo with added fine blue holographic glitter. The overall effect is very eye catching and blingy. The formula was nice and I used 2 coats for this mani. The glitter makes it not have as strong of a linear holo effect as some of her other polishes, but it has the added benefit of making this polish sparkly in all lights.

Colors by Llarowe polishes are available from Llarowe as well as Harlow & Co. They are restocked regularly (they sell out pretty quickly) and Leah Ann also opens up for pre-orders sometimes to make acquiring them easier. There is now a Facebook page for Colors by Llarowe, so check there for lots of swatches and updates on Colors by Llarowe happenings as well as on Llarowe's main Facebook page. Thanks for looking!

Liquid Sky Lacquer Just Lucky

Hi everyone! Today I have a thermal polish for you from Liquid Sky Lacquer. This was my first foray into thermal polish and I really enjoyed playing with it! I think I had it really warm in my house that day (or I am really warm?) but when I was indoors the "warm" color prevailed. Only when I washed my hands with cold water or went outside did I get the "cold" effect, which would linger for a bit and then fade back to "warm". I wanted the cool "french mani effect" at my tips, but I think my nails are just too short for that to last long. It would last for a minute or so when I came in from outside and then it would fade back to the "warm" color. Liquid Sky Lacquer has some other really nice looking thermal polishes and I look forward to trying a few more of them!

Just Lucky was released for Chinese New Year and it shifts from gold (warm) to red (cold) and it has a wonderful golden shimmer. The formula was very nice. This was 3 coats of Just Lucky. I loved the red (cold) and I loved it when it was transitioning but I didn't love the gold (warm) look on my skintone especially. I think I will stamp over it next time for a cool effect.

Warm

Cold

Liquid Sky Lacquer is available from creator Carolyn's Big Cartel Shop as well as from Llarowe (US),Color4Nails (US), Mei Mei's Signatures (Singapore),  Norway Nails (Norway), Atouts Charme(France), Rainbow Connection (UK), Femme Fatale Cosmetics (Australia), and Harlow & Co.(Cananda).  Follow Liquid Sky Lacquer on Facebook and Instagram for swatches and info on restocks and new collections. Thanks for looking everyone!