Polish Pick Up: April 2020

PR Sample

The theme this month for Polish Pickup is Aquatic Wonder! Launch is April 3 at 10am Central through April 6th, 11pm Central. All the brands have fantastic offerings this month, and I have some of them to share with you!




Blush The Black Pearl
Inspiration: Tahitian Black Pearls
A smokey dark grey nail polish with a shifting pink-orange-gold-green shimmer.
Cap: None

I wore two coats with topcoat, and then also topped it with Blush's Matterial Girl Matte topcoat. The formula was fantastic and super easy to apply with their original fan shaped, super soft brush!







Kathleen & Co Water Goddess
An aqua to blue to purple shimmer in a blue base with colorshifting iridescent flakies
Cap: 200

Such a vibrant blue! The aqua shift is brilliant while the purple sneaks out in dimmer lighting angles. Shown is three thin coats with topcoat.







KBShimmer Seems Fishy
Inspired by: Boesemani Tropical Rainbowfish
Starts with a deep indigo base boldly accented with a shimmer that shifts in a rainbow of hues. In the shade, see pops of red, pink, orange, lime, green, and blue. The golds and greens really shine through in brighter lighting, and the more extreme angles reveal a pop of deep navy. A scattering of holo micro flakes completes this stunning multichrome polish.
Cap: None

If you love multichrome polishes, be sure to get this one! It is simply beautiful. Two coats with topcoat shown here.







KBShimmer Wild Orchid sugar scrub
Inspired by: How Christy imagines a beautifully tropical, floral, aquatic scene would smell!
Starts with a sensual orchid note. Sweet amber is supported by notes of ripe peach and verbena and is completed with a subtle note of wood. This off-white sugar scrub is swirled with aqua and pink.

I enjoyed using this scrub. The floral is soft, not too heady and definitely reminded me of aromas from my trips to Hawaii.








Lollipop Posse The Source of All Magic
Inspired by: The Wellspring, from "The Magicians"
A black jelly base filled with blue to purple to green shifting Aurora shimmer, blue to purple shifting iridescent flakes, and holographic microflakes.
Cap: None

You know that crazy vibrant shade of blue that seems to be lit and glowing? Those flakes are that! Karen has totally nailed this polish. And! When I first saw this polish, it reminded me of the bio-luminescent glow from blooming red algae, like in the photograph from Doug Perrine during a visit to Vaadhoo. Photos do not do this justice.







Nail Hoot Jelectro
Inspired by the black electric jellyfish from Super Mario Bros, this polish sports an invicibly dark base laced with glowing purple shimmer and a strong linear holographic finish.
Cap: None

Zap! This is one Jelectro that you will want to be near! What a dark mysterious and electrifying polish! Shown is two coats with topcoat.






What are you picking up this month?

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Blush Lacquer: Regina George Is Flawless

PR Sample

Blush's fifth installment of their Mean Girls series for HHC is this dusty pink beauty!

Regina George Is Flawless
A muted blush nail polish with a shifting pink to orange shimmer, holographic microflakes and small holographic glitters.

Shown is two coats with topcoat. As always, Blush's fan brush allows perfect control of where the polish lands which, for me, means very little if any clean up! The formula is fantastic as well.





Available Saturday, March 14th at 12:01am EST to Saturday, March 21st at 11:59pm Hawaiian time at hellahandmadecreations.com

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How I Load My Nail Polish Brush

I saw the cutest photo of a young girl whose Dad is helping her learn to polish. He was asking for tips and after I gave mine, I thought to myself, why not share it on my blog too?

So here it is - the thing I wish I knew when I was first learning to paint:



1. Uncap and lift the brush from the bottle, pressing one side of the brush against the bottleneck so the paint runs back down into the bottle and the brush is left 'clean' on that side.
This side of the brush won't be touching the nail when painting.



2. Press and wipe the top half of the other side of the brush against the inside of the bottle neck, leaving a bead/drop on the side of the brush that will be touching the nail.



3. Get painting!

A few more notes:
Dipping the brush this way allows good control over where the polish ends up on the nail.

Re-dip the same way as needed for larger nails that need extra polish.

If there is a lot of paint on the plastic stem, it too can be wiped on the bottle neck to reduce what runs down onto the brush. I do this on the first lift from the bottle by sort of drawing circles against the bottle neck. It makes a sort of spiral on the stem of the brush which takes about half off of what was on there.

Model for photos was a gift with my purchase: Tonic Grateful

I hope you enjoyed this quick tip! What is your 'thing you wish you knew' about painting when you were just starting out?

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