A girl and her love of nail polish

Archive for the ‘Swatches’ Category

Pretty & Polished Island of Misfit Toys; Love Always, Candy Cain; and Pretty As A Peacock

This morning I’ve got three new shades from indie nail polish maker Pretty & Polished. All of these go on sale today, so feast your eyes and then high-tail it over to Chelsea’s Etsy shop (the restock is scheduled for 10amET today). I’m showing two holiday shades: Island of Misfit Toys and Love Always, Candy Cain, plus another new one called Pretty As A Peacock. Even though some of these are officially “holiday” colors, there’s nothing about them that would keep you from wearing them any time you want.

First up is Island of Misfit Toys, a fantastic multi-color glitter topper in a clear base.There’s too much stuff in here to really describe it all. Hexes, squares, bars … red, green, blue, purple, pink, silver, gold. Pretty! This one is my favorite of the three, and I think it’s easy to see why.

This is two coats of Island of Misfit Toys over three coats of Zoya Jolene, no top coat.

Pretty & Polished Island Of Misfit ToysPretty & Polished Island Of Misfit Toys

Pretty & Polished Island Of Misfit Toys

Pretty & Polished Island Of Misfit Toys

Next is Love Always, Candy Cain, another glitter topper in a clear base. This one has primarily red and white glitter in it, including large white and red hearts, as well as large white hex glitter. I did have a little trouble fishing out the larger pieces, especially the white hearts. There are a ton of them in there, I just couldn’t catch one!

This is two coats of Love Always, Candy Cain over two coats of Sinful Colors Exotic Green, for a classic Christmas look. It’s topped off with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Pretty & Polished Love Always, Candy CainPretty & Polished Love Always, Candy CainPretty & Polished Love Always, Candy Cain

Pretty & Polished Love Always, Candy Cain

Finally I’ve got Pretty As A Peacock, which is kind of hard to describe. It’s got a gray-green shimmer base with purple, green and teal glitter. It’s not really glossy, more of a satin finish. Really lovely.

This is two coats of Pretty As A Peacock plus one coat of Poshe.

Pretty & Polished Pretty As A Peacock

Pretty & Polished Pretty As A Peacock

Pretty & Polished Pretty As A Peacock

Pretty & Polished Pretty As A Peacock

Hope you enjoyed these, they’re all really fun. Happy hunting!

Category:

Holiday, Swatches

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KBShimmer Witch Way?

I tried very hard to make it through this season without buying any indie Halloween-themed polishes, but the swatches I’ve seen of KBShimmer Witch Way? have made it impossible to ignore.

I finally broke down and bought it, and here it is. Amazing. Beautiful. So happy to have it.

KBShimmer Witch Way? indie halloween nail polish

KBShimmer Witch Way? is a dark purple jelly base loaded with holographic small hex and silver micro glitter. It’s just really vampy and fun.

KBShimmer Witch Way? indie halloween nail polish

These pictures are of three coats, plus one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat. It went on easily. The first coat was a little patchy and the second wasn’t quite enough for opacity on every nail, but the third evened everything out.

KBShimmer Witch Way? indie halloween nail polish

I didn’t wait for it to completely dry before adding Poshe, but it seemed to dry with an almost sticky or tacky look to it, not matte or satin by any means, but something just shy of full gloss, so I definitely wanted the top coat. With that, it’s perfect.

KBShimmer Witch Way? Halloween indie nail polish

KBShimmer Witch Way? is currently available at KBShimmer.com.

What Halloween-themed polishes could you not live without?

Category:

Holiday, Swatches

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Lynnderella Mercury’s Rainbow

I know there are a lot of people out there that have written off indie polish maker Lynnderella after a lot of controversial stuff went down (weird blog rants, awkward breakup with Llarowe, nepotism), but I hadn’t gotten ahold of one before all of the nonsense, and I really feel like you can’t call yourself a true collector of indie polish without at least one Lynn in your stash.

So I’ve been semi-stalking the Lynnderella Ebay site, where she occasionally lists single bottles with the buy-it-now option. A few weeks ago I saw that Mercury’s Rainbow was available and decided to pull the trigger.

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

Lynnderella Mercury’s Rainbow has holographic hex glitter and holo micro glitter in a shimmery gray base. I’m showing here one coat over two coats of Sinful Colors Slate, which is a medium gray with frosty silver shimmer. It’s topped of with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

The application was good for me. It went on smoothly and had tons of glitter, no fishing required.

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

It was so fun to wear and was so beautiful and sparkly in different lighting. I must say, I do love it very much. These photos don’t do it justice. I’m not sure it’s worth the $23 price tag, but if this turns out to be the only Lynnderella polish I ever get, I’m ok with it being this one.

Category:

Indies, Swatches

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Polish Us Pink – Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK

Polish Us Pink Breast Cancer AwarenessIt’s the middle of October, which means breast cancer awareness month is in full swing. Several nail polish bloggers have organized the Polish Us Pink campaign, through which they will be posting pink manicures on Mondays throughout the month to help raise awareness. I’m joining in with swatches of Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK.

The polish is inspired by the film Mean Girls, and it’s really cute. It’s got a milky pink base with different shades and sizes of pink glitter.

Different Dimensions On Wednesday's We Wear PINK indie nail polish

This is one coat of Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK over one coat of Ulta Snow White, plus one coat of Gelous top coat. The polish is pretty gritty on it’s own.

Different Dimensions On Wednesday's We Wear PINK indie nail polish

One thing to note, I was expecting it to be more opaque because of other swatches and reviews I had seen, but my bottle is pretty sheer. For comparison, my thumb here has two coats of Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK by itself.

Different Dimensions On Wednesday's We Wear PINK indie nail polish

Polishes from Different Dimension are available via Etsy.

For more about breast cancer, please visit  the breast cancer page on the American Cancer Society’s Web page, which has lots of information about mammograms, treatment and how to get involved with the fight for a cure.

Here’s a look at some of the other bloggers participating in Polish Us Pink. Please click here to see them:



Category:

Indies, Swatches

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Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror

Here’s a look at a lovely holographic polish from one of the indie polish makers that put holos on the map, Enchanted Polish.

Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror holographic indie nail polish

This is Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror, a lavender holographic polish with some shy flakies in it. I’ve seen some photos where it does look gray or almost silver, more like a mirror as indicated by its name, but on the nail it is definitely in the purple family.

Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror holographic indie nail polish

These shots are from the summer, in happy, sunny natural light, which really shows the holographic nature of this polish at its best.

Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror holographic indie nail polish

Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror unfortunately is discontinued, but there are a few Enchanted Polish shades available now from Llarowe. Both Llarowe and Harlow and Co. are slated to get Enchanted Polish restocks within the next week or so.

Category:

Indies, NOTD, Swatches

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OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine! with Berlin There Done That

I’ve got a quick picture-heavy post today to show of a few of the OPI Germany Collection polishes. These are both really great colors for fall.

OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine! with Berlin There Done That

OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine! with Berlin There Done That

I started with two coats of OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, which is a dark greenish-gray creme. It looks almost black in some lighting. It went on very smoothly, so pretty. I don’t have anything like it in my collection but The Daily Varnish says it’s a near-dupe of China Glaze Concrete Catwalk.

OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine! with Berlin There Done That

Then I added two coats of Berlin There Done That, a taupe creme, to my tips. I topped it off with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Here’s a look at Nein! Nein! OK Fine! by itself, two coats, no top coat.

OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine!OPI Nein! Nein! OK Fine!

Category:

NOTD, Swatches

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Amy’s Nail Boutique Woodsie’s Wish

Today I’ve got an indie nail polish for you called Woodsie’s Wish from Amy’s Nail Boutique.

I actually bought this to help satisfy my craving for Pretty & Polished’s Jawbreaker, which I still don’t own. But in the meantime, I’ve got Woodie’s Wish, which is definitely a fun little polish.

Amy's Nail Boutique Woodsie's Wish

Woodsie’s Wish features a white base with bunch of matte hex glitter. The description from Amy’s Nail Boutique lists the colors as turquoise, yellow, blue, pink, orange, hot pink and purple, but I see red in mine too.

In terms of formula, it was a little challenging to apply, in the same way that every other white polish I’ve ever tried is challenging: a little streaky and difficult to get full coverage.

These photos are of three coats. In retrospect I should have started with a few coats of plain old white polish and then just added Woodsie’s Wish from there to save it a little. Although honestly I can’t recall the last time I finished a bottle of nail polish that wasn’t base or top coat, so what am I worried about?

Application aside, this is a very pretty, cute, fun polish to wear. It reminds me of sprinkles on frosted cupcakes.

I’ve seen a lot of white base/multi-color matte polishes crop up on Etsy, so perhaps it’s not the most unique formulation in the world, but I love it. And it’s definitely different enough from Jawbreaker that it hasn’t wiped that lemming off my list.

These photos were taken in August during my vacation in Mystic, Conn. Loved wearing this one in the summer! It’s just taken a while to get them on the blog.

Polishes from Amy’s Nail Boutique are sold on Etsy, and as of press time, Woodsie’s Wish is in stock. There’s also a sale going on now: save 20 percent by using the coupon code “FALL20.”

Category:

Indies, Swatches

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