Multichrome Mondays: Ozotic 504 and "Kids"

Hi everyone! Another Monday, another set of multichromes! I sort of hinted last week that the Ozotic 504 family would be the next family that we would explore, and boy, there are a lot in this family! This pigment has become more available in recent times, so there are several fantastic indie options out there if you don't have one of the older ones in your collection. I haven't purchased any of them so far (despite the multichrome hoarder in me trying to convince myself I need them) since I have dupes in my collection already, but I've heard nothing but good things about the options that I've listed below. There are likely other polishes that fit into this category that I'm not aware of, but just drop me a comment if you know of some and I'll add them to the list! I do have a variety of polishes in this finish, some with extra twists!

Elevation Polish and Girly Bits Bamboozled Duo

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! I've got a very special duo to share with you today from Girly Bits Cosmetics and Elevation Polish! With the Bamboozled Duo, Pam and Lulu have represented both the green live state and brown dried state of bamboo. These gorgeous polishes will be available during the month of July exclusively in the Elevation Polish shop. The duo will first be stocked on July 7th at 9 PM CST and then again on July 22nd at 9 AM CST. The price will be $22 plus shipping for the duo. Supplies will be limited, so be sure to grab your set while supplies last.

Press Release: Pretty & Polished Happy Hour Collection

 *Press Release*

Pretty & Polished has a brand new cocktail-inspired collection that is officially coming out on July 10th, but there will be a pre-sale event on July 1 as well! The new products will be put on Pretty & Polished's website at a 5% discounted rate from 1 PM EST to 7 PM EST on July 1 for the pre-sale. After that they will be taken down and then will officially launch on July 10th at their regular price. Let's take a closer look at these glittery beauties!

Pretty & Polished products are available from their website or from these international locations. You can also follow them on Facebook , Instagram, and Twitter to see updates on new releases! Thanks for looking everyone!

Smitten Polish Summer 2015 Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! I'm excited to share Smitten Polish's Summer 2015 Collection with you today! These polishes are a follow-up to the fantastic Opalescent Elements Collection that was released in late spring, so we have four more gorgeous bright jelly bases with flakies! This collection will be available on July 1 for pre-order, and you will NOT REGRET picking them up! I seriously didn't think it could get any better than the Opalescent Elements, but Noelie really outdid herself with these! I was also excited to be able to take these photos in the full sunshine, because I really think it brought out their brightness!

Pahlish June "Through Tulgey Wood" Duo

*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! Sorry for being a bit absent this week, I just took a little blogging breather. I have been swatching a lot this week, so you can expect lots of good stuff coming up! I wanted to share the Pahlish June Duo with you before it is discontinued so that you would have a chance to pick it up if you haven't yet. This is another duo that is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and this one is inspired by the Tulgey Wood. This makes me think a lot of Lewis Carroll's nonsensical "Jabberwocky" poem from his Alice in Wonderland works, which is one of my favorites, so I made sure to grab this duo.

Multichrome Mondays: Ozotic 521 and "Kids"

Hi everyone! Today I have my second addition of Multichrome Mondays. Today's polishes are a bit more diverse than my last group, but I have so many polishes that loosely fall into this "family" that I thought I would include them all in my comparison post so that you can truly see which ones are dupey and which ones aren't even close. As far as I know, this particular family did not have a dupe in the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms range, but instead it originated in the Ozotic range (including Chemistry and Artform brands, which were all part of the Ozotic company). If you are newer to the nail polish world, you might not realize that these three brand names were all from the same Australian company so the corresponding numbered polishes from each company were all dupes. In the case of this polish, there was even another Ozotic polish that was a dupe for it (see More Nail Polish's comparison post here). I've learned a lot about multichrome polishes from More Nail Polish's blog through the years, so you can always check out her full Ozotic/Chemistry/Artform guide because it is an excellent resource.

HPB Presents Beachy Manis: Holo Fish Scales

*Some items in this post were provided previously for review*

Hi everyone! Tonight I have a beach-themed mani to share with you for Hobby Polish Blogger's June Link-Up. One of my favorite beach activities is snorkeling and seeing the pretty reef fishies, so I decided to do a fish scale mani. Throughout the years, I've always seen the most gorgeous fish scale/mermaid manis and for some reason, I've never done one. I figured if I was gonna do it, I might as well go for a blingy, holo fish (because don't we all want to find one of those?) so I started out with a base of Literary Lacquers Megatron. Then, for the pretty scale design I used MoYou London Sailor plate 05 and I stamped with Darling Diva Polish Blue Diamond, which works so fantastically for stamping. I'm pretty sure there are no holo fish, but I wish there were!

Here is Megatron on its own. It's sort of a medium bruise-y purple with silver holo and purple microglitters. I love Literary Lacquers' glittery holos so much and this one is no exception. This is 3 thin coats of Megatron. So pretteh!

So be sure to check out the manis that the other lovely ladies of Hobby Polish Bloggers have put together for this link-up! Thanks for looking everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

CrowsToes Nitty Gritty Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! I have a brand new collection from CrowsToes called the Nitty Gritty Collection and they are TEXTURES! Like...real textures. I'm so excited that Lauri has figured out the secret to making amazing texture polishes using the real texture bits (a la the original Zoya Pixies) instead of just glitter. She released the amazing neon pink Hooker at Heart for Valentine's Day and there are now 3 more neon textures as well as 3 new black-based textures that all have color shifting glassflecks in them (or glitter bits...I'm not sure, but they shift colors!). There is also a gorgeous shimmery polish that is not textured, so it's definitely the oddball of the bunch, but totally gorgeous and you need it! Okay? Keep watch on Llarowe's Facebook page for exact launch dates and times for the Nitty Gritty Collection (it should be soon!)

Zoya Paradise Sun Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have swatches of the shimmery half of Zoya's summer collections, the Paradise Sun Collection. For the most part, these colors pair up really nicely with the creme shades in the Island Fun half of the summer collection, so they would work really nicely for some tone on tone nail art. All of these polishes are packed with shimmery glass flecks which really pop in the shade, so I tried my best to capture them in all their glory in my pictures.

Hare Polish Lana Del Ray Limited Edition Shades

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have a limited edition duo from Hare Polish to share with you. This Lana Del Ray inspired duo is limited to 250 bottles each and Nikole has already released a portion of those in her shop on May 25th and she is sending some to her stockists. Stay tuned to her Facebook Page/Instagram for news on a restock of these shades and be sure to grab them when you have a chance!

I'm Your National Anthem is a cherry red jelly filled with blue/purple ultra chrome flakies, gold flakies, and holographic shimmer. This is a super squishy jelly and the formula starts out sheer, but builds up nicely in 3 coats. The ultra chrome flakies look royal blue most of the time, so it really fits with the patriotic theme and makes this one of the most unique patriotic themed polishes I own! I absolutely adore the way that Nikole has started splashing in some holo sparkle in her polishes because it just creates beautiful depth here.

Pretty When I Cry is a sandy beige crelly filled with metallic silver flakes, iridescent blue mini flakes and blue shimmer. This polish also starts out very sheer, but builds up in 3 coats to nice coverage with just a slight visible nail line. You could do 4 coats for full opacity if you wanted, but I like the slight VNL with this squishy nude. This is a very "office friendly" polish that also has a twist with the blue iridescent bits that pop at when the light hits it. I love the silver flakes with the nude base too...who would have thought that would look so awesome? I was worried this would look weird on me since I typically go for pinky nudes on my skintone, but I actually thought it looked very nice! 

Hare Polish is available from Nikole's Etsy Shop as well as from several other e-tailers around the world (complete list found here). Be sure to check out Hare's website, Instagram, and Facebook for updates on new collections and restock info. Thanks for looking everyone!

Multichrome Mondays: Sally Hansen Burgundy Orchid and "Kids"

Hi everyone! I'm going to start a new series called Multichrome Mondays where I'm going to compare all of the multichromes in my collection. This is a series that I've had in my mind for about a year now and I've finally gotten swatch sticks that I think work well for it, so off we go! I did use some swatch wheels in this particular segment because my sticks hadn't arrived yet, but I like the way that you can line up the swatch sticks better to show the differences. I have a RIDICULOUS number of duochromes/multichromes in my collection so I figured it might be helpful to you guys for me to show comparisons in my collection. I like to think of my multichromes as "families" and each "family" has a "parent polish" (most of them either Sally Hansen Nail Prisms or Ozotic multichromes), which is the first polish (or at least the first polish that I'm aware of) that has that particular multichrome pigment/shift. These "parent polishes" are, for the most part, long discontinued and hard to find, so we are lucky that indies have been able to acquire these elusive pigments so that we have a shot at owning these gorgeous multichromes. I'm very fortunate to have several of these "parent polishes" in my collection, so I can show you how the predecessors stack up against them. My lists will definitely not be all-inclusive, but feel free to let me know in the comments if there are others that you know of that might fit in these categories and I will look into them to add to the post because I would like these posts to be a helpful resource for those trying to avoid buying dupes. 

Hare Polish Femme Fatale Cosmetics Exclusives

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have two Femme Fatale Cosmetics exclusives from Hare Polish to share with you. These two squishy and sparkly Hare creations are even Aussie themed, so they are extra special! They are currently sold out on Femme Fatale's website, but keep watch for restock notifications from them because you don't want to miss out on these pretties!

Mermaid Sighting in the GBR is a tealy-blue jelly filled with pale pink dots and hexes, gold iridescent hexes and flakies, and lots of blue/purple shimmer. There is a ton of glitter in this one, so I took care to wipe one side of my brush with each coat so I would not overload my brush with glitter. I used 3 thin coats for full opacity and 2 coats of a thicker topcoat to smooth out the glitter and give it a glassy smooth surface. I think when Nikole went for a mermaid polish, she really hit it out of the park! Everything about this polish screams "ocean" and it is just gorgeous! The blue/purple shimmer is so glorious in real life and really pushes this polish over the top.

Kracken Vacations on Kangaroo Island is a neon pinky-purple jelly with small black hexes and squares and iridescent blue/purple glitters and iridescent blue shimmer. This one starts out sheer, but builds up nicely to opacity in 3 coats. Formula flowed easily with good glitter load/distribution. Because they are smaller glitters, this one didn't need a ton of topcoat to smooth it out (I used 2 coats of a thinner topcoat, NYC Grand Central Station, but I bet you could get away with one coat of a thicker topcoat). This polish is all sorts of stunning! The blue/violet glitters and shimmers just glimmer and glow in the base and the black adds a nice contrast. I agree with Valesha from Peachy Polish, this is definitely among my favorite Hare Polishes now!

These two polishes are exclusives for Femme Fatale Cosmetics, but other products from Hare Polish are available from Nikole's Etsy Shop as well as from several other e-tailers around the world (complete list found here). Be sure to check out Hare's website, Instagram, and Facebook for updates on new collections and restock info.

Indigo Bananas Spring 2015 Picks

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have a selection of polishes from Indigo Bananas Spring 2015 Collection. This collection consists of 5 pastel cremes full of glassflecks and holo bits and I have 3 of them to show you today. These types of polishes are what orginally made me fall in love with Indigo Bananas (Electric Unicorns is still one of my favorites ever!), so I was very excited to see this collection. Believe it or not, I have actually worn all of these previously and taken terrible pictures of them that didn't show their shimmer at all. Now I've RETAKEN pictures of them in different lighting situations and I still feel like I have totally failed at showing their complexity, but just trust me when I say that they are so gorgeous in person.

Saffron Revolution is a light peachy coral with blue and blue/lavender glass fleck shimmer with scattered holo bits. The flashes of blue/violet were hard to capture in photos, but you can see them in real life when you move your fingers around in the light. The formula of these three is pretty much consistent across the board. These polishes are packed with glassflecks which gives them a nice thickness which prevents them from running and pooling when you polish (which is NOT what you want with glassflecks since they will stick to your skin/cuticles during clean-up) so that is a GREAT thing. They are very easy to work with and go on nicely and smoothly at 3 thin coats. This one leaned really peachy on me since I have a pinker skintone, but I could see the pinker undertones of it coming out more in a neutral/warm skintone. This is a more delicate coral than most in my collection (most of mine are screaming bright!) so it's certainly unique to me and a lovely addition!

Land of Green Ginger is a light mint green with gold/green glass fleck shimmer with scattered holo bits. I would say it t Formula was pretty much identical to Saffron Revolution and reached opacity in 3 thin coats. As with pretty much all minty greens, this really brought out the redness of my skin in pictures and gave me a bit of lobster hands (but it didn't do this in real life). I'm a sucker for mints and mints + gold just can't be beat in my book. The shimmer was the easiest to capture in this one, and it is beautiful!

Jacaranda is a pale lavender with red and pink/gold glass fleck shimmer with scattered holo bits. Formula was just like the other two with full opacity in 3 thin coats. This polish required a ton of color editing to even get it in the ball park (it really wanted to photograph BLUE instead of lavender). It's definitely a cool-toned lavender, but the pink flecks in it make it look a bit warmer in some lights. Trust me when I say, YOU NEED THIS POLISH. This was my favorite of the three that I tried and is now among my favorite Indigo Bananas polishes (right up there with Electric Unicorns). It's so soft and delicate and the pink glassflecks are just divine.

Indigo Bananas products are available from their shop as well as from these distributors. Be sure to follow Indigo Bananas on their official website, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter to see many amazing swatches and keep up-to-date on new collections, restocks, etc. Thanks for looking everyone!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Art of Witchcraft

*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! Today I have one of my recent purchases from Color4Nails to show you and it is a beauty from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. This past year, Femme Fatale did a little revamping of their brand with new bottles and collections and I feel like they are really on their A-game with some of the refined beauties I have been seeing in recent releases. Today I have Art of Witchcraft, which is from their Snow White Collection. This collection, their new White Witch collection and a few other Femme Fatales were actually restocked today at Color4Nails (I MAY have picked up 2 more!). 

Hare Polish Archipelago 2.0

*Press Sample*

Hi everyone! Hare Polish has recently reformulated an old favorite from their very first collection! The original Archipelago was one of the first indies I ever purchased (back when Nikole just had a collection of 4 polish including Bisbee, A Positive, Pegasus, and Archipelago on her Etsy) and now after people have been begging for a reboot of this polish for years, Nikole has made an updated version called Archipelago 2.0. Now just to be clear, this is definitely not a dupe of the original (and I have a comparison at the end of the post), but I feel like it really captures the spirit of the original and puts an updated twist on it.

Arichipelago 2.0 is a navy jelly base filled copper hexes and squares as well as copper flake shimmer. The formula on this one was really nice for a jelly and it reached opacity in 2 medium coats. Application was good with good glitter distribution and I used 1 coat of a thicker topcoat (KBShimmer Clearly On Top) to get a smooth finish. I'm really digging the added interest of the different shaped glitters as well as the shimmer in this one compared to the original. I'm so glad that Nikole decided to re-work this one because I know that the original was always a favorite amongst Hare Polish lovers!

Here are some comparisons of the original version vs the 2.0 version. The base colors are very similar, but the addition of more glitters and the copper flake shimmer make the 2.0 version appear slightly dustier in photos. The base of the new version is more opaque also. As I meantioned above, I really like the glitter density in the new version and the added shimmer. This brings back so many memories...of when I didn't know what Etsy was and I visited it for the first time...and when I had never worn glitter polishes...and had less than 10 indies... :O

Original Archipelago (3 coats)

Archipelago 2.0 (2 coats)

Comparison: Original on pointer and ring finger, v2.0 on middle and pinky finger

Hare Polish is available from Nikole's Etsy Shop as well as from several other e-tailers around the world (complete list found here). Be sure to check out Hare's website, Instagram, and Facebook for updates on new collections and restock info

CrowsToes Last Light for July's A Box, Indied

*Press Sample*

Hi everyone! Today I have CrowsToes' addition to July's A Box, Indied. The theme for July is Summer Daze, and there will be 4 other contributors to the box besides CrowsToes, but I'm unsure who they are at this point, so stay tuned to Llarowe's Facebook page for more details on the other pretties that will be included in the box along with exact launch dates and times (it typically launches on the 26th of each month).

CrowsToes Last Light is a metallic royal purple with heavy blue shimmer and red flecks.  Formula was super easy to work with and it was opaque in 2 easy coats. Because of the blue shimmer, it appears a little more cool toned in pictures than in real life, but I would say it is a true purple, not too warm or cool toned. I've been a purple shimmer fiend since the very beginning of my polish obsession, and this one is a stunner! It really just glows and the blue shimmer almost makes it look like a duochrome polish in certain lights. It's a really bright, saturated purple that is pretty much all that you could ask for if you are a purple shimmer lover. Based on the name, I'm assuming this polish was inspired by the gorgeous purple that the sky turns as the sun is setting in the summer. It's one of nature's glorious marvels, and what a pretty tribute to it!

*Edit: I did go back and color adjust these pictures just a smidge to make the color more true to life. My original pictures were a little more blue-toned than real life.*

(Light Box)

(Natural Light)

 

(Shade) 

A Box, Indied is available from Llarowe for $50 each. Each box contains 5 polishes and/or products that are exclusive to that box and will not be available individually. You can sign up to receive a box each month or you can purchase the boxes individually when they are released. Follow Llarowe's Facebook page for announcements of exact dates and times of releases (the box for the next month is usually released around the end of the previous month.) She will also give previews of the products and makers that will be in the box (there is a rotation of makers that are included, it isn't always the same). Thanks for looking everyone!