June Polish ReVamped Group Customs from Lollipop Posse Lacquer

*Press Sample* 

Hi everyone! Today I have Lollipop Posse Lacquer's group custom polishes for the Polish ReVamped Facebook group. This lovely trio of polishes will be available beginning June 1st to Polish ReVamped members (request to join here). 

Here is what Karen had to say about the collab:

Lollipop Posse Lacquer is honored to be the guest custom creator for the month of June in the Facebook Group, Polish ReVamped! We worked closely with the group's admin, Elena, to create an amazing trio of Summer Playlist faves intended to bring to mind the heat of a summer night... That slow, easy feeling. Neon lights on wet cement. Sensuality and that midnight buzz in the air.

Lollipop Posse Lacquer Kiki Vol. 2 Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have Lollipop Posse Lacquer's newest release and it is an addition to the gorgeous Christmas Kiki Collection. I'm so excited to see additions to the beautiful shimmering matte collection which all look fantastic with or without topcoat. The Kiki Vol. 2 Collection (as well as the original Christmas Kiki Collection) are available now in the Lollipop Posse Lacquer shop.

Zoya Holiday 2015 Matte Velvet Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have Zoya's Holiday 2015 Collection to share with you and it includes 6 additions to the popular Matte Velvet line. These are gorgeous wintry shades that look gorgeous both in their intended matte form as well as with a coat of topcoat. These are available now on Zoya's website and at retail locations where Zoya is sold.

Elevation Polish Street Graffiti Collection + When the Cherry Met the Spoon

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the new Street Graffiti Collection for June 2015 from Elevation Polish to share with you. This is a super cool collection that is a bit unexpected, but welcomed this time of the year with all of the brights around. These are very posh polishes (just like their namesakes) that can be worn year-round and I feel like that's what makes this collection so awesome. There is also a new addition to the core line that is a former SBP (When the Cherry Met the Spoon), and it is a stunner! These all go on sale on June 7th at 9 PM CST.

Elevation Polish Streets of Japan Collection + Baby Yeti and Stay Behind, Catch a Wave 2

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have Elevation Polish's new polishes for May, the Streets of Japan Collection. This collection consists of 5 brand new polishes inspired by Lulu's adventures in Japan. There are a few other polishes releasing on May 7th along with the Streets of Japan Collection, including a limited edition Yeti (Baby Yeti), and an old favorite making a comeback (Stay Behind, Catch a Wave 2). There is also a limited edition polish for charity that I will discuss more next.

Yeti's Healing Vibes is a polish that Team Elevation has created to benefit the American Himalayan Foundation following the devastating earthquake in Nepal. This polish will be available from May 7th until May 27th and $10 from each bottle will be donated to the AHF to help aid in recovery efforts in Nepal. Please see Lulu's blog post here for pictures and more information about Yeti's Healing Vibes and you will also see Team Elevation's personal ties to this cause. You can also read more information about the American Himalayan Foundation here.

Now, let's get on to swatches of the new collection!

Smitten Polish St. Patrick's Day Duo

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today have two gorgeous greens from Smitten Polish! Noelie is always making the most fabulous greens (one of my favorite polish colors) and these are no exception. For St. Patrick's Day she has released one linear holo and one shimmery matte (a newer finish that she is doing is completely FAB!). Both of these are available now in Smitten Polish's shop.

Smitten Polish Valentine's 2015 Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have Smitten Polish's Valentine's 2015 Collection to share with you! This collection consists of 2 holos and 2 shimmery mattes in beautiful Valentine appropriate shades. This collection launched this past week in Smitten Polish's shop so go check them out!

Pretty & Polished Dark Arts Collection (Partial)

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have four polishes to share with you from Pretty & Polished's Dark Arts Collection. I love this collection so much and one of the things that I find the most fun about it is that it really feels like Chels got out her secret potions and pigments in her lab to create this mysterious and magical set of polishes because they all have one or more special properties (color changings, glow-in-the-dark, matte, duochrome flakes). Well let's check them out!

CANVAS Lacquer Fall/Winter 2014 Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have CANVAS Lacquer's Fall/Winter 2014 Collection to share with you! This collection contains 4 complex and beautiful shades. I love that creators Alana and Lan took inspiration from things that are very personal to their fall/winter experience in and around Toronto, so they have a very unique collection.

Zoya Veruschka and Posh

*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! Since Zoya announced that they are going to re-release their Matte Velvet Collection in a few weeks, I thought I would swatch the two that I do own for you guys. These polishes are really stunning, and I'm very excited to have the chance to complete my collection! As you can see, the pair that I have would be ideal for a Christmas mani!

Falling Into Fall: Vamp + Matte Featuring Pahlish An Caisteal Ruadh and Born Pretty Store French Tip Guides

*French tip guides sent for review, polishes purchased by me*

Hi everyone! It's officially fall now and it's finally starting to cool off just a teensy bit here in the deep South. Well...at night at least. Vampy colors are classic for fall and I really look forward to this time of year when I can dust off all of my vampy polishes (although I have been known to wear them pretty much whenever). Another thing I LOVE to do with a vampy polish is matte it...especially if it has some sort of amazing shimmer or flakies in it. This mani pretty much encompasses all of these things.

FingerPaints Film Noir Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have FingerPaints limited edition Film Noir Collection for August 2014 to share with you. This collection consists of 4 new shades with a porcelain/matte finish. There are 3 matte creme shades and 1 matte glitter shade. Aside from the glitter, these are very classic shades and the porcelain finish is a modern twist on these classics.

Hollywood Decadence consists of  pink, blue, gold, silver, and green glitter in a matte base. I really love this combination of glitters and the matte base softens them and makes for a very elegant finished look. Because it is in a matte base, this glitter polish dries a little faster than most and you have to work quickly with it and perhaps dab a little with the second coat for even distribution. This does dry with a textured finish, but you can add matte topcoat if you want to smooth it out and retain its matte look. This is two coats of Hollywood Decadence alone. I think this is a pretty cool concept! I don't think I've ever seen a glitter with the matte element built into the polish, so kudos to FingerPaints for forward thinking since so many people love to matte their glitter manis.

Beautiful Mystery is a pale blue matte creme polish. Formula on this was thick and quick drying, so it was prone to balding it was not applied quickly. I used 3 coats to get it smoothed out. It is really pretty when dry and reminded me of an eggshell.

Film Noir is a vampy plum matte creme. This polish is so sexy! I can see myself wearing it a lot in the fall. It has a similar formula to the other matte cremes in the collection, but I found it was the easiest of the 3 to work with. I used 3 coats for this mani.

Petal Obsession is a soft pink matte creme. Again, formula was similar to the other matte cremes in the collection but I found that it caused me the most issue with application. Working quickly and applying thickish coats aided a lot in smoothing it out and preventing streaking. I used 3 coats for this mani.

Overall, I really like this collection. The colors all compliment each other so well and look nice with the porcelain finish. As with most matte polishes I have encountered, the formulas are not going to be as easy to work with as your average polish since they dry so quickly, but working fast really helped with application. I haven't seen a lot of matte polishes released lately, so this is a nice collection to get your hands on if you are looking to add some matte shades to your own collection.

FingerPaints Film Noir Collection is exclusively available from Sally Beauty and will be released in August. It is a limited edition collection, so be sure to get them while they last! Thanks for looking everyone!

NYC Top of the Gold Topcoat

Hi everyone! Today I have a drugstore beauty for you from NYC. NYC's Top of the Gold topcoat consists of gold flakies in a clear base. These flakies are very sparkly but do not have any sort of color shift like traditional flakies. Amanda from Pretty Girl Science did a comparison, and Top of the Gold is pretty much an exact dupe of Maria Luisa from Zoya's Fall collection. The formula was great and the flakes spread very evenly. I used 2 thin coats of Top of the Gold over OPI Memaid Tears for this mani.

Then I added some matte topcoat to the mani because I loved the way it looked in Amanda's post. I really liked it this way. It reminded me of some sort of tumbled stone. Such a cool mani!

I have seen NYC's Top of the Gold topcoat on current displays in a few drugstores, but I bought mine at Rite Aid. Thanks for looking everyone!

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*

Misa Eye Candy

Hi everyone! I'm planning on wearing some lovely reds this February since it is the month of love. Today I have an amazing red from Misa that looks fantastic with or without topcoat. Misa Eye Candy is a recent release and it has a rubbery matte finish that looks nice, but with a little topcoat the glowy shimmer comes to life. I definitely prefer it with topcoat, but it looks nice either way. The formula was nice and opaque, barely requiring a second coat. This polish is a must have for red lovers.

With topcoat

Without topcoat

Misa polishes are available from their website. I purchased mine from Nailsupplies.us. Thanks for looking everyone!

Cupcake Frosting Nails. Just Because.

Ever get in the mood to do something super girly...and perhaps fit for a birthday party...for absolutely no reason? Happened to me. I rarely ever do stuff like this, but I was like...ooh...pastel pink and rainbow glitter...YES! I think I was longing for that OPI Breast Cancer Awareness polish from this year that I never found anywhere, so this idea was born. I used a base of American Apparel Coney Island (which is pretty, but the formula was streaky) and then I used Sephora by OPI Spark-tacular Topcoat on top. I will have to say...of the plethora of rainbow glitters that I have seen, Spark-tacular Topcoat is my absolute favorite. I think that the glitters are all perfectly sized (I like that a lot are smaller glitters) and there is also just enough silver glitter mixed in which I think tones it down enough that it looks lovely with pastels.

And then...I had to matte it...

Really though, if you are still looking for that perfect rainbow glitter, I highly suggest snapping up Sephora by OPI Spark-tacular Topcoat before it disappears forever. My second favorite is Confetti Tasmanian Devil so if you see that one at Rite Aid, it is also a good choice. I think the extra silver in those polishes is what makes me like them more than others. Do you have a favorite rainbow glitter? 

Thanks for looking everyone!

Fun with Matte Topcoat: Matte Glitter Mani

Hi everyone! I have had the idea to use the polishes in this mani together for awhile now. I've had them pulled out and sitting in my "to do" pile, and I finally got around to using them. It was only after I got them on, however, that the idea to use matte topcoat came to me. I loved the resulting mani SO much! I started off with a base of China Glaze Aquadelic and then layered on 2 coats of Model's Own Ibiza Mix from their Hed Kandi collection. The colors are so fresh and springy! Then, I topped with Essie Matte About You. I am in love!

I don't know why I'm always so hesitant to use matte topcoat on things...I always end up LOVING the manis that I use it with. I see many more matte manis in my future! Thanks for looking!