Friday, June 28, 2013

Upcoming Indie Shops!

I've found a few upcoming Indie Polish Shops that I thought I'd share with you all!
Each one has a facebook page, but their shops aren't set up yet. There are some gorgeous polishes on their pages, have a look!

Chili Bird Co.


Daphine Polish


Lacquer by Lissa



I am also working on updating my Indie Shop links list, it should be up in a few. :)

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Nail Polish Meet Up!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet up with Connie, whom I met through polish groups on facebook! We met once previously when she came to my city, but this time I went to hers. :)
I left on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We were both totally immersed in polish world! Shopping, swatching, talking, stalking, doing spreadsheets, manicures, taking photos, blogging and oohing and ahhhing over each others polishes! I had an absolutely awesome time!

Connie took me to a lake where there were tons of sailboats, restaurants and a lighthouse! Its only the second lighthouse I've ever visited, so that was pretty exciting for me.
I took a photo of it but the sun was kind of in the wrong place so this photo has been edited to brighten it up a little bit.


What good is a lighthouse without polish anyway, amirite?
In these photos I am wearing Dark Cloud from Elevation. It is a custom polish that was created for a group. Because Dark Cloud is a custom creation, it will not be available for sale via the website and cannot be recreated for purchase.


These photos have the sailboats and restaurants in the background, the buildings were interesting to me. The darker looking building had all windows on the side facing us!
Connie is also wearing a custom polish but from Lynnderella. Its called 231 Blessings in a Bottle, which she won in a special giveaway. Because it is custom, it is not available for sale and will not be recreated.


Connie was not only kind enough to let me fondle the bottle of her custom Lynn, but to also wear it!
It is packed full of green, purple and pink glitters in hexes, stars, butterflies, flowers, diamonds, shreds and squares. Its absolutely stunning!
I'm still wearing it, and I don't want to take it off!


I had a wonderful time with Connie, and hope that we can meet again sometime soon!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Urban Lacquer: Red, White & YOU




Brenda at Urban Lacquer has an extra special creation for Independence day. I've copied her description and pasted it below but a neat way to think of these polishes is like they are fireworks - no two are alike. Definitely a must have for me, I love the uniqueness and the holiday - what better way to celebrate it than with a special nail polish?

Here's Brenda's description with more detail:

So, here are the specs/background about Red, White, & YOU: When I was brainstorming different ideas about the type of polish I would offer for Independence Day, I wanted a polish that celebrated the uniqueness, and individuality of American citizens/residents, but still utilized our patriotic colors of red, white, and blue. So, with RW&Y, each polish is made with the same glittery, silver/white translucent base, but each bottle will have a different combination of red & blue glitters. The glitters come in all sizes, shapes, and finishes - circle, matte, hex, square, holo, diamond, etc., and no two polishes are exactly alike. I aimed to keep each polish unique, to honor the individuality of each person in our beautiful country.

This is just one of the many one of a kind bottles of Red White & YOU. I wore one coat over Sally Hansen Whirlwind White.


My bottle was packed with a very fine silvery shimmer, red and blue squares, big blue holo dots, smaller red dots, micro glitter and iridescent glitters. Simply beautiful! I enjoyed wearing it and received complements about how sparkly and unusual it was.

The polish will launch on Sunday, June 23rd, at 7pm at the latest at the Urban Lacquer Etsy Shop and you can check for updates on facebook.
What do you think of Red, White, & YOU?

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

My Ten Friends: Sparkly Cycle of Summer


The upcoming collection from My Ten Friends features three new polishes: Solar Dragon, Space Opera and Starry Night. Each polish represents different parts of a summer day. I've included Mei Lynn's descriptions in italics and then my comments and photos. Let's get started shall we?!

photo courtesy of My Ten Friends

*Solar Dragon represents the heat of the summer afternoon. Based on a NASA photo of a super hot "dragon tail" (plasma) erupting from the sun's surface.
*Space Opera represents the glorious setting of the sun. Inspired by a photo of sunset on a San Diego beach.
*Starry Night represents dreamy summery nights. Inspired by the famous Van Gogh painting "The Starry Night," this polish is dedicated to artists and all those who burn a creative fire inside them.



Solar Dragon has heaps and tons and gobs of holo glitter goodness which lends to its super sparkly-ness! In the bottle it shines like crazy but on the nail? OH MY GOODNESS. I don't think the sparkle in this one can be topped (or captured accurately by my camera). I used Illamasqua Boosh since it's black like the night sky, and then I topped it with two coats of Solar Dragon for double sparkle! Triple sparkle! All the way! I just don't know how she packed so much sparkle in there - she must have space fairy helpers or something!



Next is one coat of Space Opera layered over Wet N Wild's On a Trip. To date, this is my favorite purple glitter topper. yep. Favorite. Mostest. Favorite-est. EVAR.
It's packed with sparkle and contains a variety of different colored glitter, yet its still purple. How'd she do that?! It also has those ginormous holo hex glitters that I love so much! Space Opera is limited edition, so if you like this one definitely get it at launch!



-wistful sigh- Starry Night is the most beautiful shade of blue, jam packed with shimmer, glitter and beauty. Did I mention its beautiful? ;)
Although the Soap Opera polish is my favorite purple glitter topper, Starry Night is my favorite polish in this trio. -gasp!- Yes, Jen chose blue over purple. Yes, I surprised myself with this choice.
Its just the most beautiful, rich shade of blue and the polish has such a likeness to the original artwork. I think its pretty amazing! I wore one coat of Starry Night over OPI's Ogre the Top Blue. Did I mention how beautiful this is? :P



The Sparkly Cycle of Summer collection launches on June 21st at the My Ten Friends Etsy Shop and she is currently taking a poll for the time of day for the launch over on their Facebook page.

You can also have a chance to win two sets of the Sparkly Cycle of Summer collection (one for you and a friend!) AND a $25 My Ten Friends gift certificate by entering the My Ten Friends Giveaway at Rafflecopter. Good luck to you all!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

The Polish Bar: Summer (Part 2)


Welcome to part two of The Polish Bar's Summer collection review. If you missed the first part, head back and see, they're lovely! This entry consists of the remaining four, all of them are stunning and made up of bright beautiful colors. Application for all of these was a combo of dabbing and brushing, it seems to work best to help move some of the larger glitter pieces around the nail.

I've used the shop's description for each polish, its in italics for quick identifying and the name of the polish is bolded too. :)

Together Forever: Together Forever has a variety of black and white matte glitters, neon blue and neon green matte glitters plus neon green stars in a clear base. This looks great layered over many different base colors.

One word: LOVE!
Seriously, this polish is just absolutely gorgeous with the neon lime, blue and black and white. I almost put it over purple then spotted Pink Voltage from China Glaze and knew instantly that had to be the undie! One coat dabbed and brushed was just right! Totally a summer stunner!



I happened to have a blue polish on my thumbnail so I shot this photo because I think it really draws out the blue glitter in Together Forever.




Beach Party: Beach Party is such a fun summer polish! It has various sizes of white matte hex glitters, white micro slices and squares, various sizes of pastel matte hex glitters, various sizes of matte neon pink hex glitters, plus a dash of neon orange micro slices, all in a sparkling, sheer white base. This polish can be layered on its own to be opaque in three coats or can be layered over a base color.

Snowman in summer at a beach party?! That is what this polish brings me to envision and I quite like it! Cause what could be better than making your own icy snow cone from a snowman at the party?
I wore two coats dabbed and brushed over Sally Hansen Whirlwind white. I really need to come up with one word that describes my dab brush method well. Any ideas? ^.^




Girls Rule: Girls Rule features a variety of white matte hex glitters and many different sizes and colors of metallic circle glitters in a sparkling, sheer white base. This polish can be layered on its own to be opaque in three coats or can be layered over a base color.

Such a happy polish! It reminds me of a bowl fruit loops or trix cereal from when I was a kid and it makes me grin. I really should get a box or two of those!
I wore two coats (dabrushed? hmmm that might work!) dabbed and brushed over Sally Hansen Whirlwind white.



Summer of Love: I love purple polishes and wanted to create a super-fun polish packed with purple glitters! This one features more than ten different types of purple glitters, including neon purple hex glitters, iridescent glitters, and lavender flowers and hearts in a shimmery, clear base.

As always, I've saved my very favorite for last. I'm absolutely IN LOVE with Summer of Love.
It totally takes away the sad I had earlier about breaking off the corner of my index nail today! You all know about my passion for purple and I've probably mentioned before how much I love chunky glitters, different shapes and a gradation of sizes; and this polish has it all! It even has iridescent glitter in it! Summer of Love is a polish that makes ya say unf unf and wiggle a little while applying it or looking at it!
I wore one coat "dabrushed" over Lime Crime Lavendairy which complements the glitters quite well. I really really don't want to take this off!



The Polish Bar's summer collection launches June 10th at 5pm CDT and will be available at their Etsy shop. Their shop is in vacation mode while they prepare for the launch but you can stalk follow them on facebook for updates!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Polish Bar Summer Part 1

Products provided for review.

The Polish Bar's Summer collection features eight different polishes; three of them make up the Flower Power Trio and one is a Limited Edition which I've chosen to share in this part one entry. All of these have chunky shaped glitter and so I tried a few different methods of application so I could share with you which worked best. I have to say after trying some different methods, each one could have been applied in any manner of ways that I tried and it would have worked out well for them all. I don't know what Janice is doing to get those huge glitters jumping up on my brush, but I sure LOVE it! Nearly effortless, who wouldn't love that!

I've used the shop's description for each polish, its in italics for quick identifying and the name of the polish is bolded too. :)

Flower Power: Flower Power is like a floral explosion on the nail! It features all matte glitters. It has fine yellow, hot pink, and aqua glitters, winter white hex glitters and yellow, lavender, aqua, hot pink and pastel pink flowers in a clear base.

I did a kind of dab and brush combination for this one so I could move those big pieces around. I ended up with about two coats of the topper over Wet N Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint. I just love all the different pastel colored flowers in this polish, it makes me feel all girly and femme! Super pretty don't ya think?




Secret Garden: Secret Garden also features all matte glitters. It has fine and medium-sized yellow, pastel blue, pastel green and purple hex glitters, plus yellow flowers in a clear base.

For this one, I just brushed it on like I would with any other polish. The photos show two coats of Secret Garden over Butter London Fiver. While I was painting it on, I imagined how versatile this polish is - it would be awesome over just about any shade of blue or green and what about hot pink or some neons? How about a forest green for a more fallish look? I digress, have a look at the yellow blooms on my nails!




Cherry Blossom: Cherry Blossom has various white matte hex glitters, dark brown metallic hex glitters, and pastel pink and hot pink

Ok this polish made me want to eat my nails! It so reminds me of those Cherry Mash candy bars and it made me crave one. I tried the dabbing method with this one, and it worked really well too! I did it twice so its two coats worn over Butter London Fruit Machine. I love the combination of pink and brown and dang, I'm thinking about that Cherry Mash again! I actually got up from writing this blog entry and left to go find one! Four stores later, I returned empty handed and drooled over their webpage instead. I so need to find one, but until then I'll enjoy my Cherry Blossom glitter topper! :)



Independence Day 2013: Independence Day 2013 is a limited-edition July 4th polish. It features fine holographic red glitters, holographic blue hex glitters, white hex glitters, small and large red circle glitters, large blue circle glitters, plus tiny white and silver stars in a shimmery, dark blue jelly base. This polish can be layered on its own to be opaque in three coats or can be layered over a base color.

I chose to layer this over Sinful Colors Most Sinful from the Shine collection and woo boy is Independence Day 2013 GORGEOUS!! My favorite kinds of polishes are jellies, chunky glitters, holos, and shaped glitter and this is packed full of all of those! When I unwrapped the bottle and saw it, I knew immediately it would be one of my favorites! The swatch shows only one coat of the glitter topper - yep just one! I did not dig, double dip or arrange anything for this swatch. We swears, its that precious! I'm a dork, don't mind me....on to the pretty!!



The Polish Bar's summer collection launches June 10th and will be available at their Etsy shop. Their shop is in vacation mode while they prepare for the launch but you can stalk follow them on facebook for updates!