Swatch: F.U.N Lacquer Reunion (H)

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

Hi gang! Sorry for the radio silence--we took a little trip to visit my in-laws. We ate a TON of barbecue, and I'm pretty sure I gained a few pounds...

Anyway, today I'm showing you a polish I got in a swap recently! This is F.U.N Lacquer Reunion (H) (my first from this brand!), which came out around New Year's. It has a multichrome base that shifts blue-purple-red-orange, as well as LOTS of gold holo microglitter, so it's incredibly sparkly!

F.U.N Lacquer Reunion (H). Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I did my best to capture some of the color shift! Look at how strong the holo is, even in artificial light!

The formula was pretty much perfect--barely any cleanup required. It was on the sheer side, so I used three coats to make sure the color showed up well.

This polish is so eye-catching and definitely a great intro to F.U.N Lacquer for me!

Reunion (H) is available here at $12.90 for 12 ml.

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

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Two discontinued polishes

Good morning! Hope everyone's survived the week! Yesterday after I finished tutoring, my husband and I walked around Boston and got some really good burgers. We don't eat out very often so it was a special treat!

Today's Neverending Pile Challenge prompt is discontinued. I started with a base of a very old untried, Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous (a dark purple shimmer). I got this polish around Christmas 2012 in that Tinsel Town set of minis. I thought Sephora by OPI was completely gone, but apparently they still make gel polish!

Then I added a coat of Hot Mess Lacquers Fuego. If you've been familiar with indie brands for a while, you might remember Hot Mess--I think she was pretty popular, but she closed up shop suddenly about a year ago and vanished off the face of the earth. She was also a member of the forums I frequent, but I wasn't really into indies yet when she left. This winter, someone at the forums kindly gifted me a bottle of Hot Mess Fuego for a Secret Santa swap.

Fuego is a topper with beautiful orange-yellow-green color-shifting particles--I think it's the same color shift as in the famous Max Factor Fantasy Fire! Check out my photos!

Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous, two coats, plus Hot Mess Lacquers Fuego, one coat. Out the Door topcoat.

Beautiful, no? I'm really glad I have a bottle of this stuff! Must Fuego-ize everything!!

Total untrieds tried: 37


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Spell Polish Troll

I won the product in this post in a giveaway. All opinions are my own.

Good morning everyone! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme is giveaway/blog sale polish. I've only won a couple giveaways (but I keep on trying!), but here's one I won but haven't worn yet: Spell Polish Troll.

Troll is a clear base with lots of teal/green/gold shimmer that shifts in the light (almost a frost/metallic finish), plus a smattering of holo glitter.

Spell Polish Troll. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Very pretty and ethereal--magical even (hey, it's Spell Polish after all)! This is supposed to look good over black too. Since there's no base color backing up the shimmer, it's a fairly sheer polish. Application was fine.

I did have a couple problems with the formula though. First of all, it was very slow drying. By that I mean it took forever to reach the point of "tacky but non-liquid" that most polishes hit pretty quickly; while I was cleaning up my cuticles I kept accidentally making the polish slide around on my nails. Once I got my topcoat on, it seemed to dry normally.

The second issue I had was the smell: this polish has a very strong, unusual smell (not due to any of the "big 5" chemicals, just a characteristic of the particular suspension base used). It was so strong I had to breathe through my mouth while I was applying the polish. For someone who plays with nail polish all day, that's saying a lot! The smell kind of hangs around until the polish is dry. If you are very sensitive to smells you might have a problem with this brand.

On the bright side, the bottle is beautiful, and I got a free sticker along with the polish.

Troll is available at Spell Polish's shop ($17 for 15 ml).

Total untrieds tried: 35

I won the product in this post in a giveaway. All opinions are my own. 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Zoya Adina

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

Hello and Happy Passover to all who celebrate! Right now I'm probably enjoying a lovely breakfast of matzoh and cream cheese. (I wrote this post on Friday, shhhh!)

Today's Neverending Challenge prompt is everyone's least favorite finish, the frost. I don't have too many frosty polishes, since they were already out of style when I started collecting. The polish I decided to try does have some frosty shimmer, but I think it pulls it off.

Zoya Adina is a sheer purple polish with strong green shimmer that shifts to red!

Zoya Adina. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I think Zoya made a great discovery here: if you make your polish so funky it looks like a Star Trek alien should be wearing it, people will probably ignore that brush-stroke-y shimmer! I actually love this color combination. The sheerness of the base makes the polish look eerie. I didn't have any issues with the formula (other than the aforementioned brushstrokes).

Adina is available at zoya.com ($9 for 15 ml)!

Total number of untrieds tried: 8

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

The Neverending Pile Challenge: ILNP Washing Ashore

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

Happy Friday! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme is a random untried. I took this prompt literally and told Excel to pick a random number in my stash list, then I wore the polish it picked. Luckily it picked a really gorgeous one for me!

I Love Nail Polish Washing Ashore is a multichrome metallic that shifts from steel blue to a sort of mermaid teal to blue/indigo and even a little to purple at extreme angles. It also has some tiny blue and gold sparks! Mr. ALIQUID proclaimed, "It looks like a fly's eye." Wall of pictures incoming!

ILNP Washing Ashore. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Here are some sunlight pictures:

The formula was easy to use, as usual for this brand. I haven't tried a single ILNP yet that I haven't loved! Since this is a metallic, I did get some brushstrokes, but not enough to make me grumpy. (I was too busy staring at the color shift!) I would also make sure to use a ridge-filling basecoat if you have deep ridges like I do.

Washing Ashore is available at I Love Nail Polish's shop ($12.50 for 12 ml). I have to agree with some of the reviews there that the bottle shots and swatch on that page are misleading--the polish is darker in real life than it appears there.

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

Swatch: Pretty & Polished Life is a Bowl of Cranberries

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

Happy Sunday! Last week I got my second Pretty & Polished subscription box! This box contained two exclusive polishes, a mini thermal polish, a mini nail file, samples of handmade soap and cuticle butter, and some little nail studs! I decided to try on one of the exclusive polishes, just to give you an idea of what you might receive if you buy a subscription box.

Life is a Bowl of Cranberries is a metallic polish that shifts from purple to burgundy to red and orange. It looks different in every light--love it!

Pretty & Polished Life is a Bowl of Cranberries. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula on this polish was pretty typical for a metallic. I had to be careful not to use too many strokes for each coat to prevent dragging. I got some brushstrokes, but not too bad. Three coats were needed for opacity.

This last photo is in indirect sunlight, where you can see the polish looks way different than under my lamp! Reminds me of a sunset!

Since Life is a Bowl of Cranberries was exclusive to this month's beauty box, it's not available for sale, but you can sign up for the next beauty box and see what surprises you get!

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

Swatch: Zoya Monet

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

So if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you might have seen that I got a haul of Zoyas and Essies in yesterday! The lovely Kirby of The Mercurial Magpie wanted to see Zoya Monet first, so here it is!

Monet is a brand new polish from Zoya's spring collection. It's a glitter topper with what looks like three types of translucent iridescent hex: pink/orange/yellow, yellow/green and blue/purple. The polish base actually has a pink tint, but it doesn't really show up on the nail (unless you wear it over white I guess). I wore it over a dark and a light color to show how different the glitter can look with different bases.

Zoya Monet. One coat over Revlon Stiletto and Essie Warm & Toasty Turtleneck. Out the Door topcoat.

This next picture is kinda funny: I was taking a shower and noticed that my nails looked especially fabulous, so after I got dressed I hopped back in the shower stall to take some pictures! (Sorry about the dry skin.)

Gorgeous, no? The glitters have the same vividness as a nice flakie, always a plus. The formula was just OK; it was kind of sticky and didn't want to level out. I had to dab at times to get the glitter evenly distributed. And as you can see, I got a lot of bubbling--I don't know if that's due to the thickness of the polish, or if I put topcoat on too soon. Either way, try to use thin coats if you can.

Finally here's an intentionally-blurry sparkle pic:

Monet is available at zoya.com for $10 (15 ml).

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

Swatch: Indigo Bananas We Are the Music Makers

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

OK, so I promised I'd show off one of the color-changing glitters I used in my sparkly chevron manicure. Here goes! This is Indigo Bananas We Are the Music Makers, a teal-tinted polish filled with tiny glitter that shifts from green to blue to purple to red and even to orange and yellow! Whew, we nearly made it all the way around the color wheel!

Check out the beauty:

You can see the shift in the bottle already!

Indigo Bananas We Are the Music Makers. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

At normal light angles the polish looks mainly blue-green (even greener in indoor light) though you can see some sparks of other colors!

Shifting...

Shifting... (Do you like my artsy camera angles??)

This is about as far as I could get it, but in person you can see the orange shift at some angles too. Absolutely stunning!!

And of course the formula was a dream too! Not at all thick like you might expect a glitterbomb to be, but not runny either. I got sufficient coverage in two coats alone (although Andrea notes that this polish looks great layered over a solid color too!). It was a tad slow to dry--but I didn't care!

Indigo Bananas hits it out of the park again! You can buy We Are the Music Makers at the Etsy shop ($12 for 15 ml or $7.25 for 8 ml). Oh, and did I mention there are two other polishes just like this one but with different color shifts?!

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

Swatch: Ellagee Fame

The product in this post was purchased with a blogger discount. All opinions are my own.

Today I have for you the second of three Ellagee polishes that I bought recently. Fame is a metallic multichrome that shifts from purple to copper to gold and even a little green. It also has lots of silver and copper sparks. You know I love my multichrome polishes, so let's jump in!

I started with two coats of Ellagee's Grip basecoat, since, as we discovered yesterday, one coat wasn't quite enough to fill all my ridges. This time I think my nails came out really smooth!

Now here's a shot of the "base" color of Fame, a silvery purple with hints of copper.

Ellagee Fame. Two coats with two coats Ellagee Grip basecoat. Out the Door topcoat.

Instead of fiddling with angles and lighting to capture the color shift, I decided to try the hand-in-water trick. It took me several shots to get it right, but I think I captured the shift pretty well! (And look how pale I am, geez...)

"Fame" is definitely a perfect name for this polish. It has a very high-fashion, rich look with a bit of a sinister side!

The formula was just about the right thickness for me, although it didn't want to self-level, so I had to manipulate it a bit. I did get slightly visible brushstrokes on some nails. Two coats was just barely opaque. (I wonder how this would look layered over black?) Dry time was good. [Update 1/30: We discovered that the polish I received came from a bad batch that was thickening up in the cold weather. The new batch is much easier to apply!]

Fame is available at ellagee.com ($11 for 15 ml). Grip basecoat is $6.50 for 15 ml. Check out the company's Facebook page too! Ellagee polishes are 5-free!

 The product in this post was purchased with a blogger discount. All opinions are my own.

Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light, then and now

Rather than just doing a regular swatch post today, I thought I'd do something a little more fun. I wanted to wear Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light because it's so gorgeous, and then I remembered that the last time I wore it was almost exactly a year ago. I got it as a birthday present from my parents (cool parents, huh??) last year, when I was just starting out collecting nail polish. And it just so happens I took a picture of that mani!

Let's start with the pics I took today. Ray of Light is a beautiful indigo jelly with flakies that shift from pink through yellow to green. This is two coats, but I probably could have done with a third. (I'm just too impatient, heh.)

Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I love that I was able to capture the color shift in one shot! Here's another for good measure:

This polish is so drool-worthy. Can't stop looking at those flakies!

Now let's take a look at my picture from one year ago:

Ignoring the fact that I used horrible indoor lighting, you can see how much my manicure skills have improved in a year! I knew enough to clean up my cuticles, but left a mess around the edges of my fingers. And I didn't bother to shape or grow out my nails. And obviously my ability to pose has improved since I've started blogging!

I really enjoyed looking through my pictures of manicures I did last year. I think it would be a lot of fun to re-create (and improve upon) more of them!

Feel free to share any old, embarrassing mani pics with me in the comments!

Swatch: Julep Jillian

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

Hey! Just a reminder that you can get 10% off at my Etsy shop using the coupon code PARTYTIME...but it expires on December 8, so hurry!

Today I got my Julep Maven box for the first time in several months--the last few haven't excited me enough to spend the money. I really wanted the eyeshadow palette in this month's box, but I ended up getting a pretty cool polish too.

Julep Jillian is described as "deep eggplant with bronze molten". What it looks like to me is a blackened base with shimmer that shifts from burgundy to bronze. Details, details! It's really quite lovely and kinda sexy!

For my photos, I decided not to do plain old swatches, and I hadn't used striping tape in a while, so I added some embellishment! The gold polish is another one I received in the Maven box (Mia).

Julep Jillian. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Here's my best shot of the color shift. You can see it better in the bottle.

The formula was fine, although as with all Julep polishes I've tried, it took a while to dry.

Jillian is available at Julep's site for $14 (8 ml) or $11.20 if you're a Maven. If you'd like to become a Maven (it's free!) click here--if I refer new Mavens I get points to spend on the site. ;-)

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

Swatch: I Love Nail Polish Birefringence (H)

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

It feels good to have a nice mani again! My nails have been acting as guinea pigs for my own polishes a lot lately, so I've had two or three different polishes on at once for the past few days. I trimmed my nails since they're starting to be affected by the dry weather. And I got to try on another new polish!

This is I Love Nail Polish Birefringence (H). It's the same as the earlier Birefringence from the Ultra Chrome collection except it's holographic! It's a metallic that shifts from orange-gold through purple to blue. Soooo mesmerizing... (Note: the blue shift is more green than my camera picked up.)

I Love Nail Polish Birefringence (H). Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Are you as dazzled as I am? This definitely matches Mutagen for color-shifting amazingness. The holo effect is linear, but the particles are relatively diffuse. I loved the formula as usual--no bubbles or streaks, and it was thin but not runny.

Grab Birefringence (H) at ilnp.com for $12.50 (12 ml)!


(Psst...have you checked out my shop yet??)

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

Swatch: I Love Nail Polish Indie Go

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

Yay new polish! I preordered some new releases from I Love Nail Polish a little while ago, and they arrived yesterday. Right now I'm wearing Indie Go, which is an indigo/purple-shifting linear holo with blue shimmer.

I Love Nail Polish Indie Go. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Beautiful, right? The color is super saturated. (Note: as usual with blue polishes, the color here isn't completely accurate--it actually leans a bit more purple, like dark blue jeans.) The holo effect in Indie Go isn't the strongest I've ever seen, but it is stronger than it appears in my photos. I tried a sunlight shot but didn't get much better results:

In indoor light, you get more of the cyan shimmer which isn't apparent here. The color shift is more visible in the bottle than on the nail, but you can still catch it now and then (just not on camera, apparently!).

The formula on Indie Go was pretty much perfect; I didn't have any problems with dragging. You can see my nail ridges a little in the second picture, but they're no worse than with any other polish. Oh, and it dried quickly too! The one issue I had was cuticle staining, but that's normal with such a deep blue.

This is one of those polishes I keep staring at. My collection of blues keeps growing and growing, but I just can't stop! (I also have to thank ILNP for choosing not to use the word "blurple" in the name of this polish, as that word is an abomination that needs to be cast into a fiery chasm.)

Indie Go is available at www.ilnp.com for $10 (12 ml).

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

Swatch: L'Oreal The Muse's Attitude

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

(Psst--have you entered the giveaway? It ends tomorrow night!)

Oh man, I've been a bad blogger this week, haven't I? I've actually been spending a lot of time on a super duper top secret project that I can't tell you about yet. ;-)

Here's a few pics of my current nails; I'm wearing L'Oreal The Muse's Attitude, which I also picked up at Rite Aid last week. It has a blackened base with a pretty green-to-teal shifting shimmer.

L'Oreal The Muse's Attitude. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Pretty, no? This could be a nice Halloween polish if you're dressing as a witch maybe! I actually couldn't capture the full spectrum of the color shift--in normal indoor light this polish looks fully green with no blue undertones. I had no problems with application.

I grabbed The Muse's Attitude for $5.99 (11.7 ml) at Rite Aid!

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