Archive | March 2015

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers Review and Swatches

Mar30

Nothing to Disclose

Hello my lovely readers!  I’m delighted to share a quick review and post of a recent release of Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers.  A couple of weeks ago there was a huge collaboration box available that had a bunch of different makers involved.  I was able to snag a couple of the items that were in the box and since not all of the polishes were exclusive to the box one of the ones I snagged has also been released for everyone by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers!  Since it is available now I decided to share it with you so you can plan your Spring Polish Budget accordingly (Pro-tip:  Throw away the budget).  Enough of my rambling onto the polish!

This lovely lady is Kaffir Lily:

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers - Kaffir Lily

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers – Kaffir Lily

 

Kaffir Lily is a perfect creamy pastel, lavender-leaning, pink linear holographic polish.  As if that weren’t enough there is a strong pink glassfleck shimmer throughout.  The holographic arc is perfectly balanced to the creme base and gives you plenty of bang without getting overwhelming the way that some mega-holos can.  There’s a time and place for all of them but for Spring I like something a little more subtle, a little fresher, and yet still interesting.  The glassfleck shimmer adds a lot of depth and dimension.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers - Kaffir Lily

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers – Kaffir Lily

I really can’t say enough about the formula on this.  I expected a pastel holographic polish to be a bit tricky.  Sometimes pastels can be streaky, holographic polishes tend to dry a bit faster on me, not to mention lighter colors for me tends to mean that I’ll be doing no less than two coats and usually three.  Yeah, so, I was worried for NOTHING.  This polish was a dream to apply, I got excellent coverage, and it didn’t streak or drag.  Wait until I tell you this because you’re NOT going to believe it…ONE COAT WONDER!  I haven’t used that phrase in a long time it seems.  These photos show ONE coat plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers – Kaffir Lily; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

You know the drill this isn’t the only great thing available at the Blue-Eyed Girl Website so you should definitely go and check it out.  While you’re there snag a bottle of Kaffir Lily, you won’t regret it.  You can also follow Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers on Facebook and Instagram.

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Manufactory – Swatches and Review

Mar24

Nothing to Disclose

Nothing quite makes my heart go pitter patter like the words “Scofflaw Restock.”  Whenever I see them flash across my Facebook feed I immediately start counting my pennies and checking to see what is going to be restocked that time!  Today, I thought I would share some of my Scofflaw collection with you.  Without any more muss and fuss here we go!  Also, I guess that you’re going to really get an idea of what my favorite color family is!

First up is Love Letter to Mr. Rogers:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Love Letter to Mr. Rogers is a deep rich dark emerald-leaning teal cream that has copper and gold microshimmer with golden iridescent flakies scattered throughout.  It’s a gorgeous vampy color and I *loved* the way it looked on me.  Plus this polish gives me all of the sentimental good feels because I recall all the times I watched and adored Mr. Rogers even when I was well past the age of the target audience!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Oh yeah, totally in love with this one.  It’s a lovely formula though the first coat does have some sheerness to it the second coat fully evens out any issues with the first coat and levels things out so that it’s left with a perfect creamy finish.  Pictures show two coats plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Mr. Rogers; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Next up is Arcane Sugar:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Arcane Sugar

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Arcane Sugar

Ha!  Ha!  I love a good punny name for polish.  It makes me happy.  Plus I live in the south – sugar cane is a big deal around these parts.  Arcane Sugar is a shimmery seafoam green crelly that is packed with so much goodness in the form of glitter and shimmer that it’s going to take a minute for me to get that out for you.  I see:  Matte cream-colored hexes in multiple sizes, metallic dark copper microglitter, teensie tiny iridescent glitter, metallic dark copper hexes, and honestly I’m pretty sure that there’s more in there but there’s only so much that my eyes can pick out!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Arcane Sugar

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Arcane Sugar

Formula was great on this.  Good glitter spread and coverage without manipulation and while it’s a crelly base it was opaque in two coats.  Also the smaller gauge glitter insured that it wasn’t topcoat hungry either.  Pictures show two coats plus topcoat!

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Arcane Sugar; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Now we have the only duo that I’m going to share with you today!  Love Letter to Bob Ross and Happy Little Trees (obviously they go together)

Love Letter to Bob Ross first:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Bob Ross

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Bob Ross

Love Letter to Bob Ross is a dark teal creme polish that has much more blue in it than LL to Mr. Rogers.  The shimmers in it are totally different as well.  There aren’t any flakies in this one but it is packed to the brim with red, blue, and green microshimmer (I think possibly copper too but it’s so small they all just mingle together like a happy shimmery mass).  This is another one that I found supremely flattering on me and I could see this being useful for so much nail art!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Happy Little Trees

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Happy Little Trees

Here is Love Letter to Bob Ross topped with Happy Little Trees!  Happy Little Trees is a magnificent glitter-fest of a topper and is so perfect for LL to Bob Ross.  There are matte cream, satin dark aqua, matte spring green, and metallic gold glitter in a multitude of shapes and sizes.  It is extremely dense with glitter!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Happy Little Trees

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Happy Little Trees

LL to Bob Ross self-leveled beautifully and went on in two easy coats.  I actually liked the formula very slightly better on this one than LL to Mr. Rogers.  I then LIGHTLY (yes, LIGHTLY) dabbed Happy Little Trees over the top.  Pictures show two coats of LL to Bob Ross with topcoat and one LIGHTLY dabbed coat of Happy Little Trees plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Bob Ross and Happy Little Trees; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Last but not least is the lone non-green Scofflaw for today – Maxwell Demon:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Maxwell Demon

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Maxwell Demon

It’s almost like a shock to your system after all that glorious green right?  But I have so much love for this polish that I can barely contain it.  First, it’s utterly perfect for Spring.  Second, it’s like a PERFECT nude pink for me!  Third, it’s a crelly-based glitter…seriously you cannot go wrong with this polish!  Maxwell Demon is a soft pink crelly packed with glitter.  There are metallic raspberry hexes, metallic aqua micro-glitter, matte red microglitter, and an iridescent microshimmery microflakie type thing that I can’t quite sort out with my terrible eyesight!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Maxwell Demon

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Maxwell Demon

Yes!  Love love love!  Ok, so formula on this was amazing.  I had no trouble getting glitter on the nail or having it spread evenly.  I did not fuss with this polish at all not even a little bit.  It is a light base so it’s a touch sheer and I needed an extra coat but really that just gave it more squishiness and depth so that didn’t bother me in the least.  Pictures show three coats plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Maxwell Demon; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Oh are you excited about the words “Scofflaw Restock” the way that I am?  If so you’re IN LUCK!  There is going to be a Scofflaw restock TOMORROW Wednesday, March 25th at 8PM Central and EVERY one of the polishes that I have in this post are going to be available.  So if you’ve been passing up on the Bob Ross Duo or Arcane Sugar or any of the others now is the time to snag them because you never know when they’ll be gone!  You’ll also want to be ready for the restock as Scofflaw Restocks are extremely popular and sell out fast so definitely go and scope out what you’re wanting and prep your restock plan!  You can see everything that is going to be restocked on the Scofflaw Website.  In between restocks you can get your fix of Scofflaw pictures and upcoming stuff on their Facebook and Instagram pages!

 

Pretty & Polished – Swatches and Review

Mar21

Nothing to Disclose

A couple of weeks ago, or last week, it’s so hard to keep track Pretty & Polished had a pretty awesome sale to “celebrate” Daylight Savings Time.  I chose this opportunity to snag up a couple of polishes I’ve been eyeing!  It’s been awhile since I had some Pretty & Polished polishes so I was definitely due to add some more to my collection!  I wanted to share them with you as they are both still available at Pretty & Polished along with a whole host of other amazing polishes as well as some hand care items!  Not to keep you waiting any longer allow me to start this review!

First up is Maleficium:

Pretty & Polished - Maleficium

Pretty & Polished – Maleficium

Palest gray – check!  Flakies – check!  Wait…Multi-Chrome Flakies??? – check…Check…CHECK!  Oh I’m sorry I was just checking off all the ways that you could tell that this was an amazing polish!  This stunner is a super pale gray crelly (I initially thought it was white but I really think it’s super pale gray, either that or the flakies are shifting the white a bit gray) with a slew of multi-chrome flakies in all different color shifting colors.

Pretty & Polished - Maleficium

Pretty & Polished – Maleficium

The formula on this is really impeccable.  It is a crelly so it is sheer but it builds up to opacity quite nicely.  It’s squishy and packed to the brim with the color-shifting flakies.  I didn’t have any problems with application such as streaking or dragging and the pictures show three thin coats plus topcoat!

Pretty & Polished - Maleficium

Pretty & Polished – Maleficium

Bonus Macro Shot!  I’m working on getting better at these you’ll have to tell me if you like them – I might make it part of my repertoire.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Pretty & Polished – Maleficium; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Next up is May Flowers:

Pretty & Polished - May Flowers (Cold)

Pretty & Polished – May Flowers (Cold)

Now ya’ll know me and how I’m surprised to find polishes to be thermal when I’m not expecting it well..it happened again!  I bought this because of the pretty turquoise color and all the fun springy glitter.  So I start swiping it on and realized that the tips were staying turquoise but the polish over the nailbeds was getting decidedly lighter!  May Flowers is a turquoise to white thermal crelly polish filled with raspberry and peach metallic dots, lavender matte hexes, green and gold microglitter, and light pink flower glitter.  Whew that’s a lot of glitter!

Pretty & Polished - May Flowers (Warm)

Pretty & Polished – May Flowers (Warm)

Pretty & Polished - May Flowers (Transition)

Pretty & Polished – May Flowers (Transition)

Here are some pictures of it in the warm and transitional states.

Pretty & Polished - May Flowers (Transition)

Pretty & Polished – May Flowers (Transition)

Application was really nice…I’ve been pleased with the Pretty & Polished crelly polishes that I’ve tried in the past.  Even the jumbo flowers didn’t need a lot of work to come out of the bottle or get on the nail.  The glitter spread is very nice and I didn’t have to fish, manipulate, stand on my head, or employ any other drastic measures to get a good coverage of glitter!  Pictures show three thin coats plus topcoat!

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Pretty & Polished – May Flowers; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Pretty & Polished actually just launched their 2015 Spring Line as well as a limited run of some of their most popular retired polishes.  You’ll definitely want to get in on the action of those because who knows when they might come back again…if EVER!  You can follow Pretty & Polished on Facebook and Instagram and make sure to head on over to their Shop to pick up some gorgeous polishes and lovely handcare products!

 

 

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – Spring In Your Step Collection part 2 of 2

Mar16

Provided for Honest Review

I am no less excited today than I was when I posted part one of this collection!  Seriously I love the mixing and matching capabilities.  This one is going to be heavy on the pictures even though I only have two polishes left to show you today.  Don’t forget this collection releases NEXT SATURDAY.  Set your clocks, set an alarm, send yourself an email, tell your friends…ok ok ok so maybe that’s just slightly overboard (but do tell your friends!).  Let’s get on with the show and tell portion of this post and not waste anymore time on my ramblings!

First up is Eat Me:

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - Eat Me

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – Eat Me

First…I LOVE the name of this polish I literally cannot wait to tell people the name of it next time I wear it.  I love names that are a bit off-color or a little risque because I have the sense of humor of a teenaged boy and I can’t help but giggle like crazy.  Now this beauty is a gorgeous milk chocolate crelly packed with matte pastel pink, peach, and blue glitters.  The inspiration for this one was chocolate bunnies for Easter and I think that the inspiration is very clear here!

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - Eat Me

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – Eat Me

This is a great formula glitter crelly polish.  Took two coats and I didn’t have to manipulate glitter at all.  There is a nice spread and a good density to the glitter part of this polish and because it’s all smaller gauged glitter it’s not topcoat hungry or overwhelming!  Oh and did I mention it smells like chocolate?  Through TOPCOAT?  Oh yeah.

Polishes used:  Tip Top – Toughen Up Basecoat; Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – Eat Me; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Next up is She Works Hard for the Honey:

Ok – I’m going to break my pattern a little here because this is a glitter topper.  Not only that it’s a topper that works perfectly with three of the other polishes in the collection so naturally I swatched it over all three of those colors.  She Works Hard for the Honey is a honey scented matte black and satin gold glitter topper.  There is a variety of sizes of glitter and it’s a super fun topper over a multitude of colors.  I swatched over Quite Contrary, Peachy Keen, and Lilac Festival and loved it with all three.  The formula is perfect I just lightly dabbed it over the polish, it wasn’t overly topcoat hungry, and I didn’t have to manipulate the glitter.  So you wanna see it?  Ok!

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - She Works Hard for the Honey over Quite Contrary

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – She Works Hard for the Honey over Quite Contrary

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - She Works Hard for the Honey over Quite Contrary

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – She Works Hard for the Honey over Quite Contrary

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - She Works Hard for the Honey over Lilac Festival

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – She Works Hard for the Honey over Lilac Festival

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - She Works Hard for the Honey over Lilac Festival

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – She Works Hard for the Honey over Lilac Festival

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - She Works Hard for the Honey over Peachy Keen

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – She Works Hard for the Honey over Peachy Keen

Finger Lickin' Lacquer - She Works Hard for the Honey over Peachy Keen

Finger Lickin’ Lacquer – She Works Hard for the Honey over Peachy Keen

 

Well that’s it for this collection.  Be sure to check out the stalker links below so that you can get your own Spring in Your Step collection polishes next weekend when they are released!

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