Destash and ILNP Ruby Sky!

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

HEEYYYYYY everybody!! Long time no see!! So I'm pretty embarrassed about not posting since February...I even missed my bloggiversary. :-( I guess this "school" thing is pretty distracting! But here I am, and I've done my nails! Everything is as it should be!

Before I show you my swatch, I just want to link to my destash sale! I realized that I was running out of room in my second Helmer, so I went through my whole collection and culled about 10% of it. (There's some non-nail stuff too.) You can find everything here for super cheap! Enjoy!

OK, on to the swatch! I caved and bought four polishes from the recent ILNP summer collection. My polish purchasing is much slower these days than it used to be, but I couldn't resist these! Here I have Ruby Sky, which is an indigo jelly with purple/red/gold shifting glass flecks! Ooof, just look at it...

ILNP Ruby Sky. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Isn't it delightfully squishy and mysterious? I did need three coats to even out the color, but the formula was great. Love it.

Ruby Sky is available here for $10 (12 ml). I promise to post again soon! I have a lot of untrieds to go through!

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

Swatch: Illamasqua Raindrops

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

Hi gang! How are you doing? We both had a snow day today, although the storm turned out to be much less terrible than expected. Overall, this winter has been so much nicer than last year here in Boston! (That was by far the worst winter I've ever experienced!!)

Today I want to show you the polish I wore last week. Illamasqua Raindrops is, I believe, pretty famous in polish land. I grabbed it when they were having a sale recently (I never would have paid full price, way too expensive!). It's a pale blue-toned grey crelly with white glass flecks. Despite the name, it reminds me more of snow than rain!

Illamasqua Raindrops. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was on the runny, sheer side. I needed three coats for opacity. I also ended up with flooded cuticles, so apply carefully! I have to say that this polish had some pretty great wear time--normally I get chips within a day or two, but this stuff kept plugging along all week with just some tipwear! I don't know if that's typical of Illamasqua's formula, but I like it!

You can get Raindrops at Illamasqua.com (they ship to the US).

Have a great week!

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

Swatch: Starrily Poisoned Apple

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

Long time no talk!! Happy New Year everyone! One of my New Year's resolutions was to make sure to have my nails done for every class session this semester. Last semester I hardly did my nails at all, and I felt very naked. :-P This time around I want to have better time management in general (doesn't everyone say that??) and part of that means doing my nails and BLOGGING! This afternoon is my first class, so here I am with today's mani (and very short nails). Hope you like it!

This is Starrily Poisoned Apple. It's a gorgeous, pigmented dark red (almost cranberry) linear holo with some added holo glitter. So sexy and vampy! I don't often wear red polish, but this type of cool-toned shade is right up my alley.

I had no complaints at all about the formula. The brush is fairly wide, so make sure to wipe it off well before polishing or you'll get messy cuticles. And since this is a red, it can be a pain to clean up. Luckily the polish isn't runny at all.

Right now the Starrily shop is closed, but keep an eye out for this one!

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

Swatch: Zoya Cecilia

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

Hi gang! I wanted to quickly show you the polish I wore on my first day of classes last week! This is Zoya Cecilia, a bright turquoise creme. It's from the latest summer collection, but I think it works great for early fall as well!

Zoya Cecilia. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was unfortunately a bit thick and sticky. (That might have been partly due to the high temperature/humidity in my office.) So make sure not to overload your brush. On the bright side, it was nearly a one-coater.

I'm going to try to do some nail art for class this week. Gotta make a good impression!

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

Swatch: Indigo Bananas Acid Ocean

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

Happy Monday everyone! It's the last day of August, but summer is definitely hanging on here--it's over 90 degrees today. Yuck!

Today I have a swatch from one of my favorite indie brands, Indigo Bananas. Last year she released a bunch of polishes with beautiful color-shifting flakies, and this was my top lemming from the collection. Acid Ocean is a dark teal jelly with green-blue-purple shifting flakies, plus what looks like some Fantasy Fire-type shimmer! So squishy and ethereal!

Indigo Bananas Acid Ocean. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was on the runny side for a jelly, so I needed three coats to build up the color. Otherwise I had no problems with it! The flakies are the classic type that lie perfectly flat.

Yet another gorgeous IB polish! It's available here for $12 for 15 ml, or $7.25 for 8 ml!

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

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.

Quick swatch: Girly Bits Going Bananas

Happy weekend all! Like I mentioned last time, we're in the process of moving to a new apartment. We're in the final phase now, so all my nail polish is at the new place (no broken bottles!). I did my nails one last time to keep my spirits up through this ordeal. This is Girly Bits Going Bananas, which is a really fun shade even though yellow is not my color!

(And yes, I had to pose with a bottle of Nailtek because the polish went off to its new home!)

Girly Bits Going Bananas. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This will be my last post before we get settled into our new place, so I'll see you on the other side!

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

Swatch: Three new Femme Fatales

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Monday everyone!

So after being in the nail polish game for a while now, it takes a lot for a new polish to really wow me, much less an entire collection. But lately I've been absolutely drooling over everything Femme Fatale has released! That's why I had to break my no-buy for Color4Nails' latest restock and grab some of Femme Fatale's newest polishes. I've managed to get three swatched for you, go me!

All of these had a great formula and stayed exactly where you put them. The only negative was that, since they have sheer bases, I got some bald spots on my tips. But honestly I didn't care!

First up is Lantern Waste. This has a dark slate grey base with orange-to-green flakies and red-to-gold shifting shimmer!

Femme Fatale Lantern Waste. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This has such a creepy vibe! Despite the strong shimmer, it wasn't brush-strokey at all.


Next is Heart's Desires. It has a dusty rose base with green-to-blue flakies and lots of copper holo microglitter.

Femme Fatale Heart's Desires. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I love the way this polish takes a "grandma" color and makes it exciting again!


Last but not least, I have Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... I was so happy to get this one because I missed the first two restocks and was terrified that I'd missed it forever. When I first saw the swatches, I wrote that it looked like a polish a unicorn would wear, and I still think that's true! It has a very pale turquoise base with pink-to-gold shifting shimmer and lots of silver holo glitter.

The shimmer was so strong in my normal lighting that it freaked out my camera, so I got some natural light shots. I love how different it looks at various angles!

Femme Fatale Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

There's definitely a touch of magic in that bottle, don't you think? The polish was pretty smooth after one coat of topcoat.


Well, are you as in love with these Femme Fatales as I am? If you want to grab one, keep a close eye on the Femme Fatale shop and/or their stockists, because I'm sure they've been selling out really quickly!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

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.

Swatch: Indigo Bananas Twice as Bright

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

Happy Memorial Day weekend to my fellow USians! I hope you're spending the time with your favorite people! We made some amazing lamb burgers that I posted on Instagram--definitely a fun alternative to the typical cheeseburger!

This weekend I'm wearing a very fun summery color from one of my favorite brands, Indigo Bananas! Twice as Bright is a hot pink crelly with intense glassfleck shimmer that shifts cyan-blue-purple-magenta. Seriously, this shimmer is so bright that it glows even in indoor lighting! The name of the polish is definitely fitting! To me, this is classic Indigo Bananas.

Indigo Bananas Twice as Bright. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was great, as usual--it stays exactly where you put it. It's also pretty chip-resistant compared to most other polish (I usually lose chips off the corners of my nails after a day or so). It was still a little sheer at two coats, but I was too busy staring at that shimmer to notice!

Here I tried to get a pic of the color shift in the shimmer, but I couldn't get it all the way to magenta. I definitely noticed it a lot in real life though!

Seriously, if you like pink--or even if you don't--you need this polish. I got a compliment from a stranger on it yesterday! (It's available here in full and mini sizes.)

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

Quick swatch: Maya Cosmetics Tranquillis

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

Hi all! I meant to post this a couple days ago, whoops! We had a busy week looking for a new apartment with a better commute for the both of us. Moving sucks, but it's kind of exciting to think about living in a brand new place--I don't know about you, but I always like to imagine that I'm going to be so much more organized in a new apartment (and then I never am).

Today I've just got a swatch for you, no review, as Maya Cosmetics is sadly long gone. :-( Maybe you can find this polish in a destash somewhere though! Tranquillis is a dark teal jelly with a mix of shimmer, mainly gold, green and pink to my eye. I fell in love with it at first sight! This mani was already a few days old when I photographed it, so it's lost some of its shininess.

And yes, I lost a corner of my middle fingernail--the perils of square nails!

Maya Cosmetics Tranquillis. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Swatch: OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go?

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

Hi everyone! Wow, the weather here has suddenly gone into high gear, and it feels like summer today! I grabbed a random polish out of my Helmer to swatch, and it turned out to match the weather perfectly.

OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go? is a bright orange creme that, to me, is somewhat red-leaning, not very mango-like at all. (A lot of the swatches I've seen online are inaccurate; I've color-corrected this to be as close as I can get.) I know orange is absolutely awful on me, but it's so pretty in the bottle that I keep getting more orange polish!

Please pardon the tipwear!

OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go? Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I wasn't terribly crazy about the formula; it was thin but really didn't want to go on evenly. It was also still a little patchy at two coats--I'm surprised that's not visible in the pic. In my opinion, if a polish isn't opaque in two coats, it's not a very good creme! Still a great color though.

See ya soon!

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

Quick swatch: KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

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

Hey guys! Just a quick pic of what I'm wearing right now--KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina. It's no surprise that I LOVE this color! Even though there's a lot of blue in the polish, it still feels very cheerful and springlike to me.

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Swatch: Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming

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

Happy Hump Day everyone! (Are your tax returns done??) Today I want to show you a polish that I was really excited to get my hands on, because it's exactly my style!

Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming is a red-brown (mahogany?) jelly with teal shimmer and teal holo microglitter (and I think also tiny silver holo glitter). First, I LOVE the combo of brown and teal. It seems to creep into some of the polishes I make! I also love the Cthulhu reference in the name of the polish. The shimmer definitely gives it a creepy, otherworldly vibe, don't you think?

Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was thick, like most jellies, but went on like butter and was very easy to control. My one criticism would be that I think the base could use more pigmentation. Even at three coats, it still looks a bit patchy (which you can see in my photos), and my tips look naked even though I wrapped them.

Still, I feel like even brown polish haters might be able to get into this one. It's like a galaxy in a bottle!

I bought this polish at Color4Nails, although it's not currently in stock there. You can also check Femme Fatale's site for restocks and other stockists!

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

Swatch: Ninja Polish Pacific Coral

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

Happy Friday everyone! Today I decided to encourage spring to come a little faster by wearing a super cheery polish, Ninja Polish Pacific Coral.

As you probably know, Ninja Polish was both an indie brand and an international stockist, but she closed down a while back. She recently reopened her shop to clear out her old stock, so I took the opportunity to grab a couple polishes off my wishlist while I still could. I was happy to get Pacific Coral in particular, because it's kind of like the platonic ideal of "coral" that I've been questing after for a while! Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Anyway, Pacific Coral is a bright coral crelly with Fantasy-Fire-type shimmer that shifts orange-gold-green. I tried to capture the shift in my photos, but I didn't get the whole range. I just love how in-your-face it is! I don't even care that orange looks bad on me!

Ninja Polish Pacific Coral. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I had no complaints with the formula. You can sort of see my nail line at two coats, but I didn't feel the need to do a third.

As of right now, Pacific Coral is still available at Ninja Polish's site ($12 for 15 ml), so if you want it, now's the time!

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

Swatch: KBShimmer Mauve On Over

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

Happy Hump Day! Recently I grabbed a few glitter crellies from KBShimmer when they were having a sale. KBShimmer does crellies like no other brand, in my opinion--perfect color combos and glitter density! Mauve On Over is no exception. It's a pale warm purple base with dark blue, turquoise and red-orange glitter (some holographic).

KBShimmer Mauve On Over. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Doesn't this have the most amazing speckled-egg-like appearance? I didn't mind needing three coats; since the base is pretty sheer, there is a lot of depth from the lower layers of glitter. Some dabbing was required to get the biggest glitter in place, but as you can see, I got very even glitter coverage. The formula was thin but not too runny.

And of course, it looks great matte too!

KBShimmer Mauve On Over. Three coats with Revlon matte topcoat.

This polish was a winter release, but I think it's totally perfect for spring! It's available here for $8.75!

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

Swatch: MDJ Creations Lilies of the Field

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

Hi gang! So it's officially spring now, although it definitely doesn't feel like it here (it snowed yesterday!). In any case, I celebrated by wearing a pretty polish with a flowery theme. Melissa of MDJ Creations kindly suggested we swap polishes, and one of the ones I picked up was Lilies of the Field.

This is a light red (watermelon?) jelly polish with strong holo shimmer and a variety of holo glitter. (It also glows in the dark, but I didn't capture that.) Definitely put me in the mood for warm weather!

MDJ Creations Lilies of the Field. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was on the thick side, but still spread pretty nicely and self-leveled, and I didn't have to dab at all to get the glitter in place. Definitely a good first impression of the brand for me!

I actually would have posted this yesterday, but I ended up spending the whole day binge-rewatching Once Upon a Time, probably my favorite TV show since Buffy. Any other OUAT fans out there?

(Lilies of the Field is available here for $8.75/15 ml!)

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

Quick swatch: Zoya Chita

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

Happy Sunday! Today I just have a quick pic of what I'm wearing right now! We went to visit my in-laws for a few days this weekend, so I decided to wear a Zoya PixieDust because they tend to last longer on me. I picked Chita, which is a classic PixieDust in dark green. Love it!

Zoya Chita. Two coats.

During our visit, we went to a restaurant in NYC that does a family-style prime rib dinner, and it was AMAZING. Here is our waiter helpfully posing with our giant hunk-o-meat:

I also finally picked up Helmer #2, so I once again have room for my whole collection (for now)! Quite an eventful weekend!

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

Swatch: Smitten Polish Figgy Pudding

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

Hey gang! My nails finally got long enough that I could reshape them into squares again, which makes me very happy! I tried out one of the new polishes I bought myself as a reward for getting into grad school. I am absolutely in LOVE with this shade...check it out!

Smitten Polish Figgy Pudding is a bold indigo jelly with shifty gold-copper-orange flakies and shimmer. I honestly can't keep my eyes off my nails...they are so sparkly and the base color is gorgeous--dark, vibrant and sexy! (It looks a little brighter here than IRL due to my lighting.)

Smitten Polish Figgy Pudding. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Amazing, right? Sort of like fireflies or sparks from a bonfire!

The formula was on the thin and runny side for a jelly, and I still had some visible nail line after three coats (it looks worse in the photo than it actually is). It went on very smoothly and evenly.

Seriously, guys, if you're a purple/indigo lover, you have to go buy this one ASAP! It's available here for $11.50! This was definitely a good introduction to Smitten Polish for me!

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

Swatch: Girly Bits Save Your Scissors

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

Hi gang! Happy Monday! Today I have a polish from my very first Girly Bits purchase! I had this one on my wishlist for a while, then I learned recently that it's been discontinued, so I jumped on it. (It's still available right now!)

Save Your Scissors is a lavender crelly with pink, purple, teal, aqua and white glitter, plus a sprinkling of holo dust. I think this polish is a perfect winter/spring transitional shade--it's overwhelmingly cool-toned, but with floral pops of pink!

Girly Bits Save Your Scissors. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was a bit on the runny side, and I got some pooling in my cuticles, but I had no problem getting even the biggest glitters out. The base color was nicely opaque in two coats. As with most glitter polishes, I had to place some of the glitters on the second coat to get an even distribution. Probably the only real disappointment to me was that the holo dust wasn't as prominent on the nail as it looked in the bottle.

As I said, this polish has been discontinued, but right now it's still available for purchase at the Girly Bits shop ($10.33 USD for 15 ml). Get it while you can! Girly Bits is based in Canada, but I found the shipping process affordable and hassle-free.

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