Shimmer Polish

Products provided for review.

Ringing in the new year with sparkle and shimmer! Appropriate for a first post of the year, yeah?
I'm so excited to have the opportunity to wear and share Shimmer Polish with you!
My interactions with Cindy from Shimmer have been awesome! She shipped really fast and all of the polishes she chose for me are beautiful, shimmery and super sparkly.

She draws her inspiration from many things and even has an inspiration board on her blog! Cindy describes her inspirations for us in the following quote:

My polishes are named after my wonderful friends and family. Each and every name has an important significance to me. Each shade of Shimmer is inspired by that person, from favorite colors, things that are reminiscent of that person, and even personal requests from these great ladies. Each and everyone of my Shimmers have shaped and influenced me to become who I am today. In a way, this is my tribute and gratitude towards having so many amazing people in my life.

Starting off with my namesake, Jennifer, was a must. Packed with periwinkle, soft blue, copper and black, the glitter floats loftily in a clear base. The listing for this polish says that some bottles also contain black glitter, mine did. I layered one coat of Jennifer over Vivid Lacquer's Bettie Sage for a nice contrast. I love purple and green so how could I resist doing a variation with periwinkle and mint? I am so happy she sent this one to me, it makes my heart smile, and I can say I'm wearing myself. xD




Nichole is a very patriotic glitter mix of red, blue and silver so I wore one coat over Revlon Powder Puff to add white into the mix! Nichole will make a great July 4th and Labor Day polish, don't ya think? How about for the various Flag Days celebrated in the United Kingdom? Or perhaps Norway? Did you know there are 35 flags that contain red, white, and blue? How cool is that!




As soon as I saw the name Jasmine and the seafoamy color of the polish I immediately thought of Princess Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin movie. I almost wore this over black to add in the hair color but then that urge to pair green with purple took over! Jasmine is one coat layered over Revlon Modern Grace. I was surprised at how ethereal and calming these looked when paired together, like they were made for each other!




Celine, ohhh Celine how sexy are you!? Instant jelly glitter sandwich! I was very impressed with how opaque this became in only two coats, and how the glitter looks suspended in the polish on the nail! Its super squishy and has a glass-like shine. This may be my sexy Valentine's day mani!




Wikipedia says, "Cleo is a given name that is short for Cleopatra or Cleophalus and an alternate spelling of Clio. It is a Greek prefix often translated to mean 'pride', 'fame' or 'glory'."

Quite suitable for this spectacular polish! My jaw dropped when I saw it! Stonking gorgeous! Its like Clarins 230's supercharged sister! So much sparkle floating and flittering in there that magical butterflies and fairies MUST have made it! The holographic and iridescent sparkles shift with every movement, its surreal! I wore two coats over Hit Polish Chianti to match the wine tinted base of Cleo.




Bonus photo, how could I not?
I see what you did thar, ring finger!


I am happy to have "Shimmy Shimmer in my life!" Thanks so much to Cindy for allowing me to try these beauties! Every polish went on very easily. No finessing or dabbing, regular swipes of the brush applied the glitter evenly and in abundance.

Find Shimmer Polish:
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Other's swatches on Pinterest

I hope you've all enjoyed reading and will share it with your friends!

Literary Lacquer: Community Collaboration wrap up

Products provided by Literary Lacquer for review.

Going out with a bang from 2013 into 2014! Happy New Year!
My last post of the year wraps up the Community Collection from Literary Lacquer. You can see the other six polishes in the collection here, here and here! They are all excellent and delightful to wear.

Thermodynamics is a sheer cherry red jelly polish with a blue glass fleck and a touch of blue iridescent glitter and was designed by Alex of Sparkly Vernis to represent the course load currently occupying all available space in her brain..

I wore two coats over white and its the most eye-catching, on fire, neon coral I've ever laid eyes on. PLUS + + it has purpley shimmer!!! Heart. Stolen. Its beautiful and super squishy like a fresh cherry jello pop with sun rays beaming through it! Its also a multi-tasking polish, wear it over other colors for a completely different effect or make a glitter sandwich with a glitter topper! Could this polish be any more amazing than this?




Perhaps stamped (Vivid Lacquer plate VL 001) and layered over black?


Sidewalk's End is a semi-sheer grey holographic polish with multicolored glass fleck and was designed by LA Salzy, one of my (Amy's) biggest supporters and also one of my (Amy's) favorite nail polish fanatics! The polish represents Where the Sidewalk Ends, a hysterical and sometimes poignant collection of children's poems by Shel Silverstein.

I read this book a lot as I was growing up and I still love each poem in it. The polish suits the book so well! Its a lovely almost white holographic polish. I wore two coats over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls to try and keep it as close to its true color as possible. Perfect for any occasion and skin tone, definitely one to pick up!




As the Waltz Was Ending is a delicate pinky-purple crelly holographic polish designed by Lacey of My Boyfriend Hates Makeup to represent one of her favorite books, As the Waltz Was Ending by Emma MacAlik Butterworth. The book is a beautifully written autobiography of Emmy's experiences when her career as a ballerina at the Vienna Opera is cut short by the Nazi invasion of Vienna and the Russian occupation during World War II.

I was so happy when Pantone announced that orchid is the color of the year! I'm a purple fiend and this is one of those shades that I can never say no to. Amy has bettered the color of the year by adding a stunning holographic sparkle! Insanely beautiful, opaque in just two coats, perfect formula as usual, need I say more?




Shift of Fate is a green to gold color shifting linear holographic polish designed by Olivia Farr of Morning Nailspiraton to represent one of her favorite books, Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt.

My other favorite color is green and this one is gorgeous! Its opaque in two coats, super vibrant linear holo, gold highlights at some angles and, of course, a perfect formula!




I have to say, I have been very impressed with Amy and her Literary Lacquers this year. I'm so thankful I had the chance to work with her and try out her polishes. I don't typically do top lists, but this one would be up there in the top five if I ranked them. I say top five because I'd have to do some serious side by side comparing of each aspect of polish to decide which one would get the top slot, so in my mind, without doing a comparison of said polishes, its a tie. :)

OH YEAH! Did you want a link to get these and other stunning LL polishes of your very own? And perhaps a discount code for 20% off? Have a peep at her shop and use code: HAPPY2014 Stay in the know via the facebook page.

Happy New Year to you all! Be safe!

Urban Lacquer: Winter Collection phase 2

Products provided by Urban Lacquer for review.

Urban Lacquer's Winter Collection phase 2 is comprised of three polishes, a glitter and two color shifters, one with holo!

Frost Covered Berries is a microglitter polish with white, silver, pink, brown, and red glitter in a clear base. It can be worn without topcoat for a texture polish effect in just two coats! All but the white glitters twinkle like crazy! Application was smooth and if applied a bit heavy, one coat will suffice. The only other polish I can compare to this one is UL's other micro glitter called Board Games from Santa which is an all matte glitter/texture polish. Both are unique in my collection.





Oh gosh, love love LOVE this multichrome called Peace! It shifts from copper to brown to a SMOKEY PURPLE! I am in LOVE love love I say! Peace is definitely unique among other multichrome polishes; at least, I have never seen one like this! Its ridiculously beautiful, I can't even! I wore two coats, but you can do it in one if a heavy coat is used. Instead of the usual three photos, I took two of each pose in different lighting and then the macro. I wanted to show off all the beauty in this polish and hope that you fall in love with it too!







MMXIV is a deep, dark grey multichrome holographic polish. I used Brenda's description because this polish looks a different color every time I look at it! Its got this smokey undertone that sometimes shows as grey, sometimes blue, sometimes green, and even reddish copper and purple in some lights! I took three shots of each pose except for the macro, again to show off the beauty of this polish. The holo is so magnificently vibrant in nearly every light! It even shows in the studio lit photos, which is rare for holos!








If you're not quite convinced, take a look at some nail art I did with Peace, MMXIV and striping tape! Each nail was done in a different desgin, three of which came from other bloggers:
Index nail design from Wink and Blush
Middle nail design from The Nailasaurus
Ring nail design was a simple striped pattern that I'm sure I've seen before, but it came to mind before I began looking online for other designs to do.
Pinky nail design is a variation from Dressed Up Nails

I hope you enjoy it, this was the very first time I've ever used striping tape and I was shocked with how easy it is to use! If nail art eludes you, try this! I know you can do it if I can!




I loved each and every one of these three polishes, but if I had to choose MMXIV would be my pick. It only won over Peace because of its holographic spark! Brenda at Urban Lacquer has really outdone herself with this trio.

Grab yours on Saturday 12/28 at 3:00pm Central from the Urban Lacquer shop and follow the facebook page for updates.