Swatch: Dollish Polish You Know Nothing, Jon Snow

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi everyone! I've got a fun polish on today: Dollish Polish You Know Nothing, Jon Snow. Obviously this is a Game of Thrones-themed polish! I decided to wear it because the current season is ending this weekend, but I can't do a mani for the finale because I'll be at my sister-in-law's wedding. (My mani for that is gonna be cute--I'll show you later!)

So this is a white (or slightly off-white, I can't tell) crelly with black microglitter and blue-green iridescent glitter. The iridescent stuff reminds me of the White Walkers for sure!

Dollish Polish You Know Nothing, Jon Snow. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was OK--not thick at all, but it dried quickly, so you have to work fast or it will clump up. I needed three coats for opacity (although I only have a mini bottle, so with a full size brush it might only need two). It was very smooth after one coat of topcoat.


This polish is in stock at the Dollish Polish shop in both sizes!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: Starry night (For the Love of Polish box)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm wearing a mani featuring the polishes from May's For the Love of Polish box! This is a new indie box by Illyrian Polish and Polished For Days, plus a different guest brand each month, and some nail vinyls to match the theme. The theme for May's box was "galaxy", and when I saw swatches, I fell in love with all three polishes!

So the polishes in the box were: Starrily Gravity (index and pinky), Illyrian Polish Orion Nebula (middle and ring fingers) and Polished For Days Out of This World (stars). The box also came with a sheet of star-shaped vinyls that I used on my ring finger. Love how all three polishes are holos, but they got such different effects for each one!

Unfortunately this box is now sold out, but definitely keep your eye out for the next one!

More pics from vacation

Happy New Year everyone!! 2014 sure went by quickly, didn't it?

We got back from our long trip yesterday after driving 5.5 hours through the big storm that was all over the eastern U.S. Now it's time to get back to life (and start eating better again!), but first I'll show you some more manis I wore over the holidays, and a couple other photos!


This was what I wore on Christmas: Happy Hands Metal Heart.

Then for my 10-year high school reunion, I wore Powder Perfect Maneater with an accent of Indigo Bananas Moonlight:

You can't see it in the sun, but Maneater actually has a lot of blue-green iridescent glitter, so I took another pic that shows it better:

Finally, I have a few photos from our visit to the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. I used to go there for field trips all the time, but I hadn't been back in many years. As you might guess, the museum mainly focuses on the history of technology, especially cars, trains and planes, but they have a lot of other exhibits too, such as the chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in. It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.

Here's the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile:

Rosa Parks' bus:

FDR's presidential limo (they also have JFK's limo, which was actually used by other presidents after JFK was assassinated in it. Kinda morbid, don't you think?):

One of their special exhibits was a Lego display with some models of Detroit skyscrapers:

I'll be back soon with a roundup of some of my favorite manis from 2014!

Swatch: Marbles for Polish Legend of Zelda collection

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Happy Thursday! Today I'm bringing you a lovely upcoming collection from indie brand Marbles for Polish! It's inspired by Legend of Zelda, which is a game series I somehow never got into as a kid (I was too busy with Mario, I think). But I probably would have liked it.

All four polishes are linear holos with a metallic sheen. Since the formula was the same for each, I'll talk about that first. I found the application to be exactly to my taste, even with the mini brush. Not runny, thick or draggy! You could get away with either two or three coats, depending on how heavy-handed you are (I used two for the swatches here). The holographic particles are very fine, so the holo isn't the most prominent, especially in low lighting. But in the sun you see a strong rainbow arc!

OK, on to the photos! The weather here has been almost uniformly gross for the past week, so I couldn't get outdoor shots. But I think you can get an idea of how strong the holo is, especially by looking at the bottles.

Marbles for Polish Courage. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Courage is a light green holo with a gold metallic sheen. I probably could have used one more coat here, but if you have short nails, two would be fine. I really really love this particular shade of green.

Marbles for Polish Power. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Power is a black (or very very dark grey) holo with a gold metallic sheen. It's not the most original color, true, but the formula is great. So if you're lacking a black holo, I think this would be a good choice.

Marbles for Polish Trinity. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Trinity is a gold holo with strong yellow tones. (It even seems a bit green to me, but that might be the holo.) Not the most flattering shade on me, but definitely a showstopper!

Marbles for Polish Wisdom. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Wisdom is a warm lavender (dare I say orchid??) holo with a purple metallic sheen. This is probably my favorite color of the bunch, because hey, purple! Girly but in-your-face at the same time.


A beautiful set of polishes, no? I'd say these would all make great foundation shades in your holo collection! Some of the colors are new for me actually!

The Marbles for Polish Legend of Zelda collection will be coming out on November 14th on Etsy. They will retail for $10 each for a 15 ml bottle!

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: Gruesome gradient

Happy Hump Day! October is almost over, can you believe it?? I hate how fast time goes by!

Well, you might have noticed that I haven't really gotten into the Halloween spirit as far as my nails go. Halloween just doesn't interest me now that I'm too old to get free candy. Plus, orange doesn't look very good on me. But I figured I should do at least a couple manis before the holiday passes.

Instead of orange, I decided to use a slime green color, which is equally creepy to me! I did a gradient with Essie Shake Your $$ Maker and Revlon Stiletto. When I was done, I decided it needed something more, so I did a little stamp with Winstonia plate W116 and Julep Harley (my go-to stamping silver). What do you think--is it ghastly enough?

I'll probably do one more Halloween mani, since I doubt this one will last until Friday (I'm going to be deep-cleaning our apartment for the next few days). See you then, boys and ghouls!

FingerFood's Theme Buffet: Gradient cartoon nails

Happy Summer Solstice! The sun woke us up around 5 AM today (the downside of living on the eastern side of the time zone), so yeah, it's definitely summer! Make sure to enjoy the sun before the days get short again (don't forget your sunscreen)!

For this week's FingerFood challenge, we did cartoon/comic manis. I knew I had to try out the famous cartoon look--it's one of those classics that every nail artist should do at least once! I made it a little more exciting by starting with a neon gradient using China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy and Orly Tropical Pop. As usual, my camera couldn't really capture the neons accurately, but they are definitely eye-searing in real life!

For the black outline I used a Sally Hansen nail art pen, which was much easier than using a brush, although the paint tends to crack when it dries, so I had to go over some spots several times. I added the "glare" with Maybelline Porcelain Party. Then I mattified everything using Revlon matte topcoat. I'm really happy with how this turned out!

FingerFood's Theme Buffet: Yet another galaxy mani

Good morning! For this week's FingerFood's Theme Buffet we're doing galaxies. I think this is my third attempt at a galaxy mani. My previous efforts were mediocre; I think this one is the best I've managed so far.

I'm actually most proud of the fact that my star placement is pretty random--I really have to struggle not to make everything symmetric! I used Zoya Storm for the base (because really, how could I not?) and Maybelline Porcelain Party, Color Club Age of Aquarius, Julep Bea and Revlon Passionate Pink for the rest.

This mani reminds me--have you been watching Cosmos? I think it's great to have some real science on TV again, since all the "educational" channels have switched to reality shows now. I think the show does a great job communicating the mindblowing-ness of nature! If you like it, you should definitely read some of Carl Sagan's books--he was an all-around amazing human being.

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Indigo Bananas Medusa Transducer

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Happy Friday! I think my interview this morning went well! I still need to take a little test so they can make sure I know how to use Excel...I think I should be fine. :-P

Anyway, today's Neverending Pile Challenge prompt is glow-in-the-dark. As far as I know, I only have one glow-in-the-dark polish, and luckily it's an untried! Indigo Bananas Medusa Transducer is a very sheer charcoal grey jelly with orange-green iridescent glitter and little silvery flecks. Plus it glows teal in the dark!

Indigo Bananas Medusa Transducer. Four coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This is a super spooooky polish! I'll need to wear it again in October! It is very very sheer--I needed four coats to get it opaque--so next time I'll definitely layer it over something else. The formula was excellent as per usual with Indigo Bananas, although I would have liked more glitter payoff per coat. I don't think it took too long to dry.

Here's the teal glow! I charged my nails under my lamp for a while and then in the sun for just a few minutes, and the sun definitely charged them more quickly.

Total untrieds tried: 32

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Vampy gradient

Happy Monday! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge prompt is vampy. This wasn't hard for me, since I'm constantly buying dark polishes (I think I'm a goth at heart).

I started with a base of China Glaze Lubu Heels (a beautiful black with red microglitter) and sponged on Revlon Saucy at the tips. This would make a spooky Halloween mani!

Total untrieds tried: 30

He Picks My Polish: Orange and blue dots (plus a nail fail)

Double post today! I had to squeeze in a round of He Picks My Polish before the deadline! You may remember that for last time, my husband picked colors to match the superhero Jean Grey. This time he went for his other favorite female character: Dr. Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Do you think he has a thing for redheads?)

The polishes Mr. ALIQUID chose were Zoya Robyn, Zoya Amy, Revlon Stiletto and Revlon Trendy. I actually ended up doing two manis, just like last time. I'll show you the second one first:

This mani was loosely inspired by this dots-and-stripes mani by My Adventures in Nail Art. My stripes aren't even, and I think I made the middle finger a little too busy, but overall I like the result. It kinda reminds me of a circuit board--very sci-fi!

OK, here's my slight "nail fail" first attempt. It started out fine at first, although the lines aren't as clean as I would like, but then I added matte topcoat too soon and it got all bubbly. Don't you hate it when the last thing you do to a mani kind of wrecks it?

Oh well. I like the pattern, so I'll probably attempt this mani again sometime.

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Least expensive

How are you today? I got to see some old college friends yesterday--it was really great to catch up!

Today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme is least expensive. I didn't do price checks or anything, but some of my cheapest polish is by Love & Beauty (Forever 21's brand), which retails for $2.80 for 14 ml. I got two textured polishes from this brand in a secret santa swap, and they are every bit as gorgeous as the more expensive textured polishes I own!

I used Love & Beauty Blue Jewel, a teal polish with green and gold flecks, and Black Glam, a blackened purple with magenta and gold flecks (this is the one that's a dupe of Julep Glam Roc). I added some dots using clear topcoat for a little extra excitement!

Both of these polishes had very nice application and were opaque in two coats, but they were a little slow to dry, which isn't ideal for a textured polish.

Total untrieds tried: 22

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Hi! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend! We went to a department potluck for my husband's work and I made my famous mac and cheese, which was completely devoured! (Too bad--we were hoping for leftovers.)

Today's prompt for the Neverending Pile Challenge is most expensive. I'm not 100% sure (and too lazy to check), but I think my most expensive polishes are my Deborah Lippmanns. I only have a few untried DLs, and in fact they're some of my oldest untrieds; my mom gave me a bunch for my birthday in 2012, right after I started collecting polish. I decided to do a swatch of Cleopatra in New York, and man, I really should have worn this polish earlier! It's gorgeous!

Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York. Two coats with Gelous and Out the Door topcoats.

As you can see, Cleopatra in New York is a black jelly with two sizes of gold glitter. Black glitter jellies are a real balancing act because you want them to be dark enough without hiding the glitter too much, and I think Deborah Lippmann totally nailed it. This polish just oozes glam! (I always know a polish is really amazing when it makes my husband go "ooooh".)

The formula was equally awesome--not thick or goopy, and the glitter cooperated very well. The brush picked up a ton of glitter every time, so it was easy to get good coverage in two coats. I went with two layers of topcoat to get my nails nice and smooth.

Cleopatra in New York retails for $20 (15 ml) at Deborah Lippmann's site!

Total untrieds tried: 20

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Hard Candy Gummy Green

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Good evening everyone! I thought it would be nice to kick off my second year of blogging by starting a new challenge! The Neverending Pile Challenge was created by Missy of Gnarly Gnails and is designed to help those of us with enormous stashes get through some of our untrieds. I went through my stash list and discovered that nearly half (almost 200!) of my polishes have never been worn. This is clearly unacceptable!

If you'd like to join in, simply join the Facebook group! You can do as many challenges as you like (nail art and just swatches are fine), so long as you try the untrieds!

For today's prompt, glitter, I only had time to do a swatch (I was actually off making money tutoring, so that's a good thing!). I tried on Hard Candy Gummy Green, which I've owned for at least six months.

Hard Candy Gummy Green. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Gummy Green has a minty green crelly base with small black and silver glitters. It's similar to the speckled style of glitter polish, but definitely not the same! I needed three coats for opacity. The polish dried quickly and was easy to smooth with one coat of topcoat.

Hard Candy is a Walmart exclusive brand, and I can't find this polish on the Walmart site but it might be available in stores! ($4 for 7.8 ml)

Don't forget to follow along with the other challenge participants!

Quick swatch: Sinister Benediction Spearmint or Fruit

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon here, the perfect time to free a polish from Mount Untried! Today I'm wearing a cute glitter polish from indie brand Sinister Benediction called Spearmint or Fruit. It's a sheer, shimmery pale green base with black, yellow, pink and translucent white glitter.

Sinister Benediction Spearmint or Fruit. Two coats with Gelous and Out the Door topcoats.

Unfortunately Sinister Benediction's Etsy shop is closed at the moment--I hope she comes back!

Any fun plans this weekend?

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: Marbles for Polish Lust, Envy and Milky Way

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Hi all! I have had such a busy few days! My new polish collection got a great reception, which is awesome, plus I've been doing a lot of tutoring, AND we had a nice visit from my dad! Whew! Hopefully now I can get back to blogging regularly.

Recently I got the chance to review a new indie polish brand called Marbles for Polish (from the blogger of the same name)! I have three polishes to show you: Lust, Envy and Milky Way.

Let's start with my favorite! Lust is a steely dark blue scattered holographic polish.

Marbles for Polish Lust. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

At first I wasn't sure why a polish called "Lust" would be blue...but once I put it on, I understood completely! This is a super sexy color! It was nearly a one-coater, and the holo shimmer was visible indoors and out. I had no problems with the formula. It seemed to chip pretty quickly, but I've had that happen to a lot of holo polishes, so I won't fault this particular one. My only nitpick (and this applies to all three polishes) is that the brush is kind of wide and floppy, and it picks up a lot more polish than you need for one coat. So be sure to wipe it off well!


Envy is a medium green shimmer with tiny gold sparks. The shade of green varies depending on the light--sometimes it's closer to forest green, other times more like olive. (I noticed while looking at the bottle just now that the gold sparks actually shift to aqua at some angles--this may be the source of the color differences I noticed.) The photo below shows the "average" color I saw.

Marbles for Polish Envy. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This one had a formula very similar to Lust--thick but spreadable. No complaints!


Finally we have Milky Way, a black jelly filled with silver and iridescent blue-to-purple shreds.

Marbles for Polish Milky Way. Two coats with Gelous and Out the Door topcoats.

This one's so mysterious! I like that it manages to be opaque in two coats while still allowing the glitter to shine through. The formula was average for a glitter jelly; the base itself wasn't too thick, but the glitters required some dabbing to place evenly. While I was able to get my nails generally smooth with two layers of topcoat, some of the shreds didn't want to lie flat, and the edges were sticking out. I kept picking at them all day! That's my only grump about this polish.


I really enjoyed this first taste of Marbles for Polish, and I'm looking forward to what she'll come up with next! Milky Way is available at the brand's Etsy shop ($9 for 15 ml) and Lust and Envy will be released on March 28! You can also follow the brand on Facebook!

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #8: Cute

Hey all! I can't believe we're eight weeks into FingerFood's Theme Buffet challenge already! Where did the time go??

This week's theme is "cute", and as everyone knows, the cutest thing in the universe is a pile of puppies. So here's my doggie manicure!

Hee hee, this makes me smile every time I look at it! I like how the dog on the far right looks kind of skeptical. I started with a base of Zoya Sweet, then added the dog heads, spots and ears with Revlon Stiletto, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Revlon Stormy Night, Julep Otte and Sephora by OPI Leotard Optional. I added a layer of Revlon Matte topcoat and did the eyes and noses afterwards so they kept a little shine.

I asked Trudy if she approved of my mani, but she was still recovering from her busy day yesterday (busy =  going for a walk):

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #7: Abstract

Hey all, it's time once again for FingerFood's Theme Buffet! This week's theme is abstract nail art. I decided to make a second try at one-stroke art; I based my pattern on this golden veil design by Lucy's Stash. I'm not sure if I like the result--I had a hard time getting the colors to blend properly.

I started with a base of Indigo Bananas Wise Up, Janet!, a lovely lavender holographic glass fleck. I did the one-stroke parts with acrylic paint. Finally I added Revlon matte top coat.

I need to keep practicing one-stroke art! There are so many beautiful designs you can do with it (many at Lucy's Stash!).

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #1: Animal Print

Happy Sunday! Today I'm starting another nail art challenge, FingerFood's Theme Buffet. This is a weekly thing, so it shouldn't be as stressful as the 31-Day Challenge was! The first prompt is animal print. I had to do leopard print again because I love it so much, plus it's incredibly simple to do!

I decided to make things a little more interesting by starting out with a gradient background. I used two DIFFERENTdimension polishes, Totally and Gnarly, which are super bright neons with holographic shimmer. This mani is a nice antidote to the horrible winter weather we've been having here (not so bad today luckily)!

I did the leopard spots using a dotting tool and my favorite black and white polishes, Revlon Stiletto and Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

Here are the upcoming prompts for the rest of the challenge:

If you're interested in joining in, you can request to be added to the Facebook group. This is a really low-key challenge--you don't even have to do all the weeks if you don't want to! You can also follow the Pinterest board to see everyone's manis!

Here are the rest of today's animal print nails!

Today's mani: Quick and dirty holiday nails

Merry Christmas Eve! I've been enjoying my vacation so far, visiting with various relatives and eating lots of food, and tonight I'm looking forward to presents and Christmas cookies! (We even got my Jewish husband to help put ornaments on the tree!) I didn't really bring any nail polish on our trip, but of course I ended up buying some new stuff the other day...just can't help myself. I thought the two polishes I picked would be good for a general Christmas/New Years mani.

These polishes are both from the Sally Hansen Satin Glam collection, which must be new because I'd never seen it before. They're matte with lots of sparkle. I used Go Gold and added a freehand stripe of Silk Onyx over about 1/3 of each nail. They were both opaque in one coat!

My freehand skills aren't perfect (and you should see my other hand!) but I really like the matte finish on these polishes--I think they're really classy.

I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful Christmas...and to those who don't celebrate, go eat some Chinese food for me!

Today's mani: dots and flowers

Today I tried out a mani inspired by one I saw at Waki Laki--she did a dotted background and then stamped on top of it. Here's my attempt!

For the base color I used OPI My Vampire is Buff, and then I added dots using Revlon Eclectic and Essie First Timer, Play Date and Neo Whimsical. Finally I stamped some floral patterns from MoYou Pro 09 using Revlon Stiletto. I love the way the dots show through the stamping!