The Neverending Pile Challenge: The Lady Varnishes Lothlorien

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

Happy Friday! I have another pretty swatch for you today from an indie I've been admiring for a long time. For today's Neverending Pile prompt, green, I wore The Lady Varnishes Lothlorien. I mean, Galadriel is one of my favorite characters from The Lord of the Rings, so I basically HAD to buy this polish, right?

(Apologies for the lobster hands!)

The Lady Varnishes Lothlorien. Three coats with no topcoat.

Lothlorien is a minty/seafoamy green matte polish with silver and gold microglitter and green shimmer. This color is exactly up my alley--very dreamy and magical, just like the elves! As you can see, it's fairly sheer, as my nail lines are still visible under three coats. The formula was thick but manageable, but not 100% self-leveling. The polish dried slightly gritty due to the tiny particles in it. Dry time was nice and fast, always great for a matte.

I wore this polish with a topcoat too, and I think I actually prefer it this way because it lets the shimmer really pop!

The Lady Varnishes Lothlorien. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Lothlorien is available at The Lady Varnishes' Etsy shop ($11 for 15 ml)!


Total untrieds tried: 63 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Emily de Molly Turbulence

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

Hey kids! Today's polish is a brand new one in my stash, but I just couldn't wait to wear it! The Neverending Pile Challenge theme for today is blue (my other favorite color), and I had to try the bottle of Emily de Molly Turbulence that I just received in a polish swap! I actually included this polish in my first edition of Gimme That Polish back in February (and look at that amazing swatch--can you blame me?) and my swap buddy very wisely bought it for me.

Turbulence is a deep blue jelly with loads of different glitters--diamonds, hexes and dots, blue, green, pink, and silver, lots of it holographic. Sadly I couldn't capture the true majesty of this polish with my crappy camera, so please go look at some better swatches as soon as you're done here!

Emily de Molly Turbulence. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was quite lovely--thick but not gummy, and I had no problem getting the largest glitters on my brush. I had to do some dabbing to get an even glitter distribution. I used one thinner coat with a thicker, glitter-packed coat on top.

Please visit Emily de Molly's shop to buy Turbulence (they ship within Australia) or find their list of international stockists!

Total untrieds tried: 62 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: KBShimmer Sugar Plum Faerie

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

Good morning kiddies! I'm super excited because today's Neverending Pile Challenge prompt is my favorite color, PURPLE!! I had a bunch of fun untried purples to choose from; in the end I went for KBShimmer Sugar Plum Faerie. This color isn't showing up on their site, so I'm guessing it's been discontinued. That means I'm gonna be hoarding this bottle like crazy!

KBShimmer Sugar Plum Faerie. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Sugar Plum Faerie is a red-toned purple jelly with various sizes of pink, purple and green glitter. This is, of course, right up my alley! It was thin for a jelly and very easy to apply, with only a little dabbing needed to keep the larger glitters in place. I used three coats for even coverage.

The girl I tutor likes to look at my nails, and I'm betting on some compliments with this mani! (Her final Latin exam is this week, so wish her luck!)


Total untrieds tried: 61 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Red tips

Hi! I hope all the dads and their families out there had a great weekend! We just got back from a short trip to visit my in-laws and celebrate my sister-in-law's engagement! I did this mani before we left but didn't have time to post it then.

The theme for Friday's Neverending Pile Challenge was red. Red is another of my not-so-favorite polish colors, so I decided to mix it up by pairing red with a nice complementary polish. I used Nina Candi Apple on my index and pinky and the French tips, and Happy Revolution Flip Flip Flipadelphia on the two middle fingers (this was a collaboration between Happy Hands and Polish Revolution and is currently for sale at Polish Revolution). I like the way the red glitter ties everything together!

I loved wearing this mani! There's a reason the French tip is such a classic look!

Total untrieds tried: 60 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

FingerFood's Theme Buffet: Boozy nails

Hey there! This week's FingerFood theme is cocktails! Yummm, I haven't had a good cocktail in a while...anyway. I decided to try to make my nails look like little glasses of fizzy champagne! Although I think they turned out more like light beer. :-D

I started with a base of Revlon Gold Coin and then mixed some Gold Coin with white polish to make the fizz color. I added that with a dotting tool. Very simple!


Check out the rest of this week's manis!

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Barry M Birthday

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

Happy Hump Day! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme is pink. Now, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you might have noticed that I'm not really a pink person. Around age 14 I stopped liking pink and started wearing moodier colors, and I'm still basically the same way. So my collection of pink polish isn't huge. But I do have a couple fabulous untried pink glitter jellies, and here's one of them!

Barry M Birthday was made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK drugstore Superdrug. It's pretty hard to get Barry M in the US thanks to the UK's draconian shipping rules, but luckily I got a British friend to smuggle a bottle out for me! It's a vivid pink jelly with a purple shimmer (less blue than it appears here) and white and silver glitter. Very in-your-face!

Barry M Birthday. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This is my first time trying Barry M, but I already understand why they're so popular! This is an awesome summer polish. The formula was great too--thin and easily spreadable, without much need for dabbing to get the glitter in place.

I have no idea if this guy is still available, so you UK folks will have to check your local Superdrug!


Total untrieds tried: 58 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Two cremes with stamping decal

Hey, what's up? The theme for today's Neverending Pile Challenge is two cremes. I'm running short on untried cremes since I always use cremes for nail art, but I found two that went together perfectly for a nice summery mani!

I started with a base of China Glaze Be More Pacific (a new one!) and made a stamping decal with Revlon Stiletto (the black) and Revlon Optimistic for the accent nail. The cherry stamp comes from an untried plate, Winstonia W118. Last time I did a stamping decal, I put it on after the base color was dry; this time, I did it while it was still wet. It was easier to stick on, but I got hella bubbles under it. So I'm still not sure which way is best for decals!

For my other nails I tried out another untried stamping plate, Cheeky CH22, which is all French tip patterns. I'm not sure how to get the tip even when you can't see the stamp as you apply it...oh well. I really like the way my decal came out!

Total untrieds tried: 57 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates