Monday, September 30, 2013

Pahlish The Great Pumpkin Duo

Hi everyone! Today I have a gorgeous duo from Pahlish for the month of October! The Great Pumpkin Duo consists of a shimmering black jelly base (Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch) and a fun chartreuse and gunmetal glitter topper (Bag of Rocks). I love this combo of colors for Halloween!


Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch is a black jelly with orange, green, and purple shimmer that isn't shy in the least. It is stunning in the sunlight. The formula was good and only required 2 coats for full coverage (or three if you are less careful). I found it leveled well and did not show visible nail line as some jellies do. I did three coats for my swatch, just for good measure.






Bag of Rocks is a gunmetal and chartreuse glitter topper that has various sizes and shapes of glitter, including squares and circle glitter. There is also a fine chartreuse shimmer that runs through this polish that adds a little kick. The formula spread very easily with good glitter payoff. I found 2 coats gave me the perfect amount of glitter with no placing of glitter necessary. This is 2 coats of Bag of Rocks over Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch.





The Great Pumpkin Duo will be available starting on Friday October 4 at 7:00 pm central time in creator Shannon's new Big Cartel Shop. This duo will only be available during the month of October, so be sure to grab it while you can. Be sure to follow Pahlish on Facebook for details about restocks and new polishes. Shannon is hosting a giveaway for this duo on Pahlish's Facebook page right now, so get over there and enter for a chance to win it! Thanks for looking everyone!

*Products in this post were provided for my honest review*

Fun with Pure Ice Heart Breaker

Hi everyone! This past week I decided to pull out one of my favorite polishes ever and play around with some layering. Pure Ice Heart Breaker is a lovely green shimmer in a clear base and it is great for layering over ALL THE THINGS! Now do take note, in the past few years, the formula on this one has changed and it is in a more milky base and the shimmer is just not as gorgeous and sparkly anymore. I have heard rumors that the old formula has been spotted again, so be on the lookout at your local Wal-Mart and grab it if you see the good sparkly version.

This is what the "good" version looks like in the bottle. As I said, the other version has a much milkier look in the bottle and that green shimmer you see on the sides of the bottle just isn't really present. I wish I had a bottle of the other one so I could show you a side-by-side picture of them.


First I did some layering over Pretty and Polished Sea Spray, a gorgeous dark blue scattered holo. This mani absolutely glowed with Heart Breaker on top.





Here is Pretty and Polished Sea Spray on its own as well.


I did some layering over Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie this week as well because the green shimmer in that one was always a bit disappointing to me. With the addition of Heart Breaker, Scrangie was everything I always wanted it to be! Sorry I did not get any good pics of this mani with my real camera, so I will share a few iPhone pics with you. I also intended this to be my Purple Shimmer Sunday post (so be sure to check out what Kathy and Kristy wore!).




So can you all see why I love Heart Breaker so much? It is just divine! I think it is a must have for any green shimmer lover because the layering possibilities are endless! Thanks for looking everyone!

OPI La Boheme

Hi everyone! I had a hankering to wear one of my older shimmer polishes, so I pulled out OPI La Boheme. I've posted pictures of it before and I layered it over black, but this time I decided to see how it looked on its own. I actually prefer it on its own because the glowing shimmer has so much depth. I think a lot of people are disappointed with this polish because they are expecting a dramatic color shift, but really it is a subtle, glowy shift from a vampy raspberry red to a red red to an orangey red. It is hard to capture in pictures, but in real life I was staring at my nails all day. The shift is a little more dramatic when it is layered over black, but like I said, I like it at 3 coats on its own. I also feel like these pictures are a lot more accurate than my older ones.







So what do you think? Do you think La Boheme is worth all the hype? I personally am very glad to have it in my collection because it is wonderful and glowy and I adore the color. Thanks for looking everyone!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Falling for Nail Art Challenge: Crunchy Leaves

Hi everyone! Today's challenge is "Crunchy Leaves" and I chose to pull out some gorgeous metallics for some stamping. Now, I received all of these in swaps so I actually have no idea of their origin or if they are even available anymore (except the Nubar, which I think is still readily available) but they do a beautiful job stamping. I used all of these polishes and stamped using leaf images from Bundle Monster plates BM04, BM221, and BM01. The base for this mani is China Glaze Midtown Magic, which I need to get proper pictures of because it is amazing in its own right. I'm not much for brown polishes, but it is a must have. I wish China Glaze would do more shimmers like it because man...gorgeous!

From L-R: Toma Metallic Illusion Jar of Moonbeams, Nubar Risky Rose, Anne & Florio Copper Metallic (no name on bottle)

 
 

This mani was so gorgeous in real life. I don't feel like my pictures did it any justice. I'm going to be reaching for my metallics more and more for stamping, because I love the way they look when stamped. Thanks for looking everyone!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Colors by Llarowe Zipper

Hi everyone! Today I have another holo from Colors by Llarowe to show you. Zipper is a soft greyish blue holo with a golden flash. The holo is very delicate in this polish, but I really love it. This is 2 coats of Zipper. It had a great formula and very good coverage. I had read that it was sort of sheer in some posts, but I didn't find that to be true. It might be because I tend to use thicker coats.





Colors by Llarowe polishes can be purchased exclusively from Llarowe's website. They are all sold out at the moment, but they will be restocked tomorrow (9-28-13). Thanks for looking everyone!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Falling for Nail Art Challenge: Early Sunsets

Hi everyone! The theme for day 2 of the Falling for Nail Art Challenge was "Early Sunsets" and I tried a sunset gradient using more fallish colors and then added some very abstract trees. My trees did not come out the best, but oh well. Also, I accidentally my paint stripes too wide so the yellow at the bottom got overtaken with the other colors. I used American Apparel Manila (yellow), OPI A Roll in the Hague (orange), American Apparel Downtown LA (Red), and American Apparel Port (Maroon) for the gradient and then American Apparel Hassid (black) for the trees. I used Manila as the base, but as I said, it got mostly covered with the other polishes. My abstract trees turned out looking a little spooky, so we will call them spooky trees. Also, sorry for the lack of pictures...apparently I didn't vary my hand pose at all when I was taking pics and they all looked the same.



It definitely wasn't my best work, but I think it still looks pretty cool. Thanks for looking everyone!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Purple Shimmer Sunday: Shimmer Wendy over Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous

Hi everyone! It's time for Purple Shimmer Sunday again! Please be sure to check out what Kristy at The Polish Haven and Kathy at Pied Polish Piper are wearing today!

I was on the road this weekend and didn't get to take proper pictures of my purple shimmer base, Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous, but let me ease your mind...you aren't missing much. The purple shimmer, while lovely at first application (when the polish was still really wet) it immediately disappeared and was only visible with flash. Even with topcoat it was very meh. It was like Nars Soho all over again. But...the COLOR was very pretty and thus made a lovely base for Shimmer Polish Wendy. I love Wendy so much and I've worn it in the past over a turquoise, but I got the idea to layer it over a dark purple after seeing Kristy's amazing mani with it.




Shimmer Polish is available from creator Cindy's Etsy Shop and you can find a tons of swatches on her blog of all of the Shimmer Polishes. Thanks for looking everyone!

Falling for Nail Art Challenge: Back to School

Hi everyone! I have decided to participate in another nail art challenge, but this time one that isn't every day to make it less stressful. The lovely Ashley from Plump and Polished is hosting a fall themed nail art challenge called "Falling For Nail Art". If you want to participate, please join in! This is just the first day. If you post on Instagram, please use #fallingfornailart so everyone can see your work!


So day one is "Back to School" and I decided to take my Cheeky XL Top of the Class plate to do some notebook paper nails. I loved the cute doodle stamps on that plate, so I tried to make it look like they were doodled on the paper. For the base I used Sinful Wisp (my new favorite white) and then I freehanded the stripes with blue and pink Kiss Nail Art Stripers. After that fully dried, I stamped my doodle images with black. It was a super simple mani that looks quite striking!




Thanks for looking everyone!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Hare Polish Mad Chill and Flight of the Flamingos

Hi everyone! Today I have some gorgeous Hares for you from The Tropics are Calling collection that was released during the latter part of the summer. Formula was good on both of these with excellent glitter payoff. I pretty much always layer my Hare polishes (even the ones with jelly bases) and these were no exception. I just like to keep to two layers of glitter when I'm polishing, but that is a personal preference. You can wear them with no base color if you prefer.

Mad Chill has a shimmering royal blue jelly base with white, ice blue, and neon blue glitter as well as silver microglitter. I used two thin coats of Loreal Miss Pixie as my base and then two coats of Mad Chill. Isn't it magical? I totally didn't expect to be as blown away with this one as I am. Although I was mesmerized with watching Nikole's Instagram video of her mixing this polish, so I should have known I would love it.




Flight of the Flamingos has a whitish grey jelly base with neon pink glitters as well as gold glitter and shimmer. This polish is one of those that is so weird that it just works. I don't know how Nikole's brain came up with the idea of this polish because I would have never thought this combo would even look good much less be elegant and amazing! That's why I don't create things... I used 2 coats of Flight of the Flamingos over 2 thin coats of OPI Care to Danse?.




Hare Polish is available from creator Nikole's Etsy Shop as well as from Llarowe. Be sure to check out Hare's website for updates of new collections and restock info (like the amazing new fall collection that she just released!) Thanks for looking everyone!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Polish Revolution What Alice Found

Hi everyone! I've been saving this Polish Revolution polish for fall because I think the colors are so warm and cozy, especially over the layering choice I picked out. Polish Revolution What Alice Found is from the How Curious collection (inspired by Alice in Wonderland) and it is a mixture of find burgundy and gold glitter with fine pink holographic glitter. The formula is nice and dense and I used 1 coat over American Apparel Berry for my manicure. Doesn't this combo just scream fall?





Polish Revolution polishes can be found at creator Lauryn's Etsy Shop as well as at Shoppe Eclecticco and Edgy Polish. Lauryn is having a sale right now in her Etsy Shop, so be sure to check it out if you are looking to pick up some Polish Revolutions. Thanks for looking everyone!

Jade Mystic Gold over Black + Stamping

Hi everyone! I received Jade Mystic Gold agessss ago as a gift and at the time I remember seeing a swatch of it over black that took my breath away. I had grand intentions of doing it then, but I totally forgot about it and it crossed my mind again yesterday. I remember a specific Bundle Monster plate (201) that I had used back during Christmas last year that I wanted to stamp over it with and I ADORED the result. So this is 1 coat of Jade Mystic Gold over black stamped with black using Bundle Monster plate 201. I think it looks so regal and elegant!






You can purchase Jade holographic polishes from Llarowe and Ninja Polish. Thanks for looking everyone!