Polish Pickup April 2018: Pahlish Twisting Nether

*Press Sample*

Hi everyone! Today I have Pahlish's offering for April's Polish Pickup for you to check out. The theme for April is "Across the Universe: Planets & Galaxies" so makers used intergalactic inspiration for their polishes. This month, Shannon was inspired by The Twisting Nether from World of Warcraft (which I admittedly known nothing about, but if it inspired this polish I'm a fan!). April's Polish Pickup will start on April 6th and will run until April 9th.

Polish Pickup January 2018: Lemming Lacquer Ghosts of the Vault

*Press Sample*

Hi everyone! I've got 4 gorgeous polishes from 4 amazing makers to share with you for January's Polish Pickup, and tonight I have the last one to share with you from Lemming Lacquer. The theme for January is "Crystals & Gemstones" and Cassie had a little creativity with her inspiration choice and chose a crystal from the game Borderlands called the Elemental Artifact to use as her inspiration. This month's Polish Pickup will start on January 5th and will run until January 8th.

KBShimmer Unicorn Pee Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the super limited KBShimmer Unicorn Pee Collection to share with you! This collection consists of a color shifting shimmer topper (with the famous/infamous red/green shifting unicorn pee pigment) as well as 3 jewel-toned jellies filled with the unicorn pee pigment. I mentioned, this collection is very limited and currently all shades but Goal Digger are sold out on KBShimmer's website, but all are still in stock at Color4Nails and at Harlow & Co. Grab them while you can, supplies are limited!

Indigo Bananas Summer Rains Collection

*Some items in this post were press samples, some were purchased by me*

Hi everyone! Today I have more swatches from Indigo Bananas' Summer Rains Collection. I've previously shared two awesome polishes from this collection, Molten Universe and Rainbow in the Dark. I am a flakie, holo, and color-shifting shimmer lover and this collection combines all of those things. I can honestly say this is one of my favorite indie collections from this year! I included pictures of all of them in the collage so that you could see all of the pretties together! The only one I'm missing from the collection is Storm Drops (and you can see a gorgeous swatch of it over on Ida Nails It!).

Countdown to Extinction has a green jelly base with green/gold and red/green flakies as well as holo. This one was the most holo of all of the polishes with holo finishes in the collection. Formula was nice and was good at 3 thin coats. I'm obsessed with green, so this was one of my favorites!

Reign is a garnet red jelly that leans slightly purple. It is filled with red/green color shifting flakes and shimmer. Formula was good and I used 3 thin coats for this mani. For some reason (I guess the jelly-ness) in pictures this one looked like it was thinner closer to my cuticles, but it didn't look like that at all in real life. Such a strange thing! This reminded me of an amped up version of Barielle Elle's Spell.

Acid Ocean is a deep inky blue jelly with aqua/green/blue color shifting flakes and bronze/green color shifting shimmer. This combination gives the polish an overall teal look instead of blue. Great jelly formula and perfect at 3 thin coats. Such a gorgeous, murky polish (and the name fits perfectly!).

Hole in the Sky is a blue-leaning violet jelly filled with red/green color shifting shimmer and flakes as well as holo.  If I had to pick a favorite, this would be it because it literally has everything I love all rolled up into one polish. I feel like some pictures make it look lighter than it is, so I tried to adjust them to compensate. Formula was great and I used 3 thin coats for this mani. This entire collection is seriously winning, but if you get only one...get this one!

Indigo Bananas polishes are available from their shop as well as from Edgy Polish (Sweden) and Mei Mei's Signatures (Singapore). 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!

Layering with Essie, Girly Bits, and Illamasqua

Today I have a layered look to share. I have been wanting to wear flakies lately, so this is what I came up with. I started off with a base of Illamasqua Rampage (the BEST dark green jelly I know) and then layered on one thin coat of Girly Bits Street Magic, which is a gold/green color shifting topcoat. Now that was magical on its own, but then I decided to make it EVEN BETTER and added one coat of Essie Shine of the Times. Manis that change in every light are my favorite sort of manis and this one really fits the bill.

Super macro fun again!

Now here are a few pics of Girly Bits Street Magic over Illamasqua Rampage before the flakies were added. Still a magical combination!

I purchased Illamasqua Rampage from Sephora.com. Essie Shine of the Times is unfortunately discontined, but there are several dupe of this polish around. 

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!

Ninja Polish Shillelagh

Hi everyone! I thought I would kick off March with a green mani! I'm usually bad about sticking with themes, but for the past 3 years I've been pretty consistent with wearing lots of greens in March. It's my birth month and green is one of my favorite colors, so it's pretty easy to do.

I thought a really appropriate polish to start with would be Ninja Polish Shillelagh. I had to look up the meaning of the name of this polish, but it is a wooden club walking stick that is strongly associated with Ireland. Apparently, Leprechauns are often depicted carrying them in folklore. So as for the polish, it is a gorgeous green jelly base densely packed with green/gold color shifting shimmer. It is quite opaque, only requiring 2 coats for full coverage. The formula is a bit thick, but not problematic to apply (this contributes to its opacity). It is wonderful and glowy.

Shillelagh was released last year as part of Ninja Polish's Enigma Collection and does appear to still be in stock on Ninja Polish's website. I have had good experiences with Ninja Polish in the past, but I have heard from a few people that shipping has been pretty slow at Ninja Polish lately, so I just wanted to give everyone a heads up in case you were thinking about ordering. Thanks for looking everyone!

Contrary Polish Desert Fruit + BeYu 209

Hi everyone! I wore one of my Contrary Polish favorites again a few days ago. Desert Fruit is a red leaning purple with lots of red and bronze shimmer. It is very reminiscent of a much sought after cult favorite OPI, Peel Me a Gobi Grape. The formula is perfection, just needing 2 easy coats for coverage. I love this polish, it's so classy!

I was feeling a bit lazy after wearing Desert Fruit for a day and didn't feel like completely redoing my mani, so I added a coat of BeYu 209 on top. BeYu 209 has a sheer red jelly base with red/green/gold color shifting shimmer. The flash isn't as strong as in some polishes (like Girly Bits Shift Happens, Clarins 230, etc) but the red shimmer is truly stunning in the red base creating a really glowy and amazing polish.

Contrary Polish can be purchased direct from creator Carrie (details are on her blog) or they are available from several e-tailers including Llarowe (US), Femme Fatale Cosmetics (Australia), Mei Mei's Signatures (Singapore), Norway Nails (Norway), and Rainbow Connection (UK).

BeYu polishes are available in Germany (here is their website). As far as I know, 209 isn't being produced anymore and is relatively hard to find. I got mine in a swap last year. 

Thanks for looking everyone!

Darling Diva Polish Dangerous Driver over Elevation Polish Pic de Sottlo

Hi everyone! Today I'm revisiting an old favorite, Darling Diva Polish Dangerous Driver. Dangerous Driver is a mixture of red/green color morphing pigment and holographic pigment in a clear base, so it's meant to be layered over other colors. I've previously posted a mani wearing it over a dark purple creme, which was amazing. This time I decided to layer 1 coat of Dangerous Driver over Elevation Polish Pic de Sottlo, a royal blue crelly. This combo rocked!

Darling Diva Polish is available in creator Carrie's Big Cartel Shop. Darling Diva Polish is also available from Llarowe. Follow Darling Diva Polish on Facebook and Instagram for updates on new collections and restock news.

Smitten Polish A Wedding Dress That Isn't Bright Turquoise

Hi everyone! I have my third polish from Smitten Polish's Love Actually Collection to share with you today called A Wedding Dress That Isn't Bright Turquoise. This polish has a turquoise jelly base with red/green/gold color shifting shimmer. SO PRETTY! I used 3 coats for this mani. It does still leave a bit of visible nail line (which I don't mind) but I just wanted to point that out for you out there that might not like that. You could either use more coats or layer it over a coordinating base color (I would suggest OPI Fly, as the base reminds me very much of that color).

 

 

Smitten Polish can be purchased from creator Noelie's Etsy 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!

Smitten Polish You Saucy Minx

Hi everyone! Today I have a stunner from Smitten Polish's new Love Actually Collection for Winter 2013. You Saucy Minx is a bright blurple jelly (it really leans purple in most lights, but some it definitely looks blue) with red/green/gold color shifting shimmer. Since it is a jelly you can either choose to layer it over a darker color to make the shimmer pop or it was great at 3 coats on its own, which is how I wore it for this mani. As you can see, it is perfectly wonderful and shifty without layering.

 

 

 

 And here it is outdoors. You can see how vibrant the base color is much better here.

 

Smitten Polish can be purchased from creator Noelie's Etsy 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. Noelie announced on Facebook that the Love Actually Collection is due to restock next week sometime on Etsy, so be sure to check in for exact dates and times. Thanks for looking everyone!

Ninja Polish Mystic Glacier

Ninja Polish has been killing it with their Enigma Collection and I just had to pick up one of the most recent additions: Mystic Glacier. This polish is SO gorgeous! It is my favorite from the collection so far (I still have to try Shillelagh and it looks pretty darn amazing too). What is so fantastic about these polishes is that they can be worn on their own with no need for layering and you still get the fantastic multichrome effect from the color morphing pigment.

Mystic Glacier has a medium blue jelly base (I have determined it is very close to New York Summer Hot Sky Blue) with red/green/gold color morphing shimmer. As I said, this one you can wear on its own without wearing a base color, but you can if you desire. For my mani I did 2 coats on its own.

If you like color shifting polishes, I really recommend picking this one up. It is a stunner. The colors shift looks just this vivid in person. Ninja Polish's Enigma Collection is available from their website and while a lot of the polishes in this collection are out of stock right now, you can sign up for stock notifications, and Ninja Polish will e-mail you when they are restocked. Thanks for looking everyone!