Neener Neener Nails Ice Princess

I've got a new indie brand to show you guys today: Neener Neener Nails! Although they are a newer brand, they already have a big and beautiful selection to choose from. You can purchase Neener Neener Nails at the brand's Etsy shop

I've got three of Neener Neener Nail's creations to share with you over the next few days and today we'll kick things off with Ice Princess! Ice Princess is a mint green jelly base with round and star-shaped turquoise holographic glitter. Blue and green are my two favorite polish colors, so naturally I love when they're combined into one gorgeous polish!

Even though it's a light-colored jelly, you can still build Ice Princess up to opacity alone with no trace of VNL. I would recommend giving this polish adequate drying time between coats though if you are going for a totally opaque look like I did here. I used three coats, but I think Ice Princess would look just as lovely with a more sheer application or layered over a nice pastel mint green. I really love the soft, hazy sort of look you get by wearing it alone though--very pretty and perfect for winter!


Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Rainbow Honey Holiday Collection: Swatches & Review

I am an enormous Rainbow Honey fan. They have very professional presentation and customer service, coupled with some beautifully inventive polishes--what's not to love? I was hoping we'd see a holiday collection from them and sure enough, they're rolling out some gorgeous new creations next month! Their holiday collection consists of four new polishes, which will be available in both mini and full sizes. The collection will be released December 5 and is currently available for pre-order on Rainbow Honey's official website. Let's take a look at what's in store!

First up is Annual Emotion. I can't remember the last time a polish surprised me as much as this one did. In the bottle, it looks like a gleaming silver chrome. But then when I put it on, that's when some unexpected magic happened...that's when holo happened! Yes, Annual Emotion is a silver chrome with subtle holo! I fell hard for this polish and wore it for three days, which is about as long as I can go without painting my nails. (These pictures are on day three, so you can see it held up really well too.) It's really a polish you have to see in person to appreciate how cool it is.

If you like the idea of Annual Emotion but silver isn't quire your thing (or you just want this gorgeous look in other colors), then Gilded Angel is for you! It's a warm gold version of Annual Emotion and equally as lovely. I love how Gilded Angel and Annual Emotion don't accentuate ridges like a lot of chrome polishes do. They are smooth, molten metal perfection and the holo is a fabulous touch.

Of course, no Rainbow Honey collection would be complete without glitter and their holiday collection has two. Glittering Rapture is a sparkling explosion of red and gold glitter and flakes. The inclusion of flakes and different sizes of glitter gives this polish a unique texture and depth, setting it apart from your typical red and gold holiday glitterbomb. This polish has a great holiday "glow" to it. The gold tone is not too warm and not too cool, so it should look fabulous on just about anyone.

Spirit of Wonder is a white base with blue shimmer, sprinkled with blue and silver glitter. I absolutely fell in love with this one. It looks so crisp and wintery, like freshly fallen snow. Or it also reminds me of Jawbreaker candy--take your pick. :) Either way, it's very festive and fun.

All four polishes apply wonderfully and cover in three coats. I would have a really hard time picking a favorite from this collection. Each polish is beautiful and unique, so I honestly think you can't go wrong with any of them. Spirit of Wonder is maybe--maybe--my favorite but it is such a difficult choice!

I also have to add that each full size collection order comes beautifully giftwrapped--perfect for giving to the (other) polish addict in your life or unwrapping as a fun treat for yourself! Christimas came early for me when these beauties arrived in their adorable box!


Disclosure: These polishes were sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: Rimmel Zeitgeist

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is oldest polish. I started buying polish casually in high school, but somewhere along the line I threw a lot of my old bottles away, because 1) I was dumb and thought nail polish "went bad" after a few years and 2) I didn't collect polish at the time. But a few bottles survived the purges and are still in my stash today.

For me, it was a toss-up between Rimmel Zeitgeist and an old metallic Covergirl polish I have called Perfect Penny. I honestly can't remember which one I got first, but I have a hunch it's Zeitgeist, plus I like that one better anyways.

Zeitgeist is like an oil slick in a bottle. It's a deep purple with gold and green duochrome. This was my favorite polish back in high school and I wore it all the time. I guess it's the polish that made me fall in love with duochrome, even if I didn't know what that was then.

Please excuse the iPhone pics; my camera's battery was dead. Anyways, Zeitgeist comes from Rimmel's old Vinyl Shine line, which they claim dries in 60 seconds. I'd say that's actually pretty accurate. It dries super fast and is almost a one-coater, but I used two to cover up any stray patches. Zeitgeist is definitely one of the coolest drugstore polishes in my collection and I still love it today.

Sadly, Rimmel doesn't make Zeitgeist anymore, so my bottle has become pretty precious to me. It's an awesome polish and one that has a lot of personal nostalgia attached to it. If you can find it online somewhere, I suggest checking Zeitgeist out.

I'm very excited to see what everyone else's oldest polishes are! What's the oldest polish in YOUR stash?

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

China Glaze Winter Holly

I picked up two polishes from China Glaze's holiday collection: Winter Holly and Glitter All The Way. (Are we at all surprised that I went for the glitters?) First up I'll be showing you Winter Holly, a mix of light green, dark green and gold glitter. I'd seen swatches of this polish where I wasn't too impressed by it and others where my only reaction was "MUST. HAVE." so I wasn't quite sure what to expect once I actually wore it. Thankfully, I fell in love!

 

This is three coats. I love that it's opaque enough to easily wear alone and the mix of light and dark green glitter gives Winter Holly added depth. If you like greens, I think this one is worthy of a spot on your holiday wishlist. It has a very wintery, pine forest kind of look to it. 

My Ten Friends Planetary Romance

Like any good addict, one of my favorite pastimes is trolling Etsy for polish. I always love finding new (or at least new to me) brands there and recently picked up a few polishes from a new indie brand I came across called My Ten Friends. You can purchase My Ten Friends at the brand's Etsy shop. I couldn't resist all the colorful glitters and sci-fi themed names! :)

Today we'll be checking out Planetary Romance, a shimmering purple base filled with various shapes and sizes of red, gold and gold holo glitter. You could build up opacity to wear Planetary Romance alone, but I think it really pops and looks just like it does in the bottle with a good base underneath it. This is one coat over Butter London Brummie.

Planetary Romance applies flawlessly. The thickness is just right and the glitter pieces distribute evenly and easily. I love how the red glitter pops and of course having some holo glitter in the mix as well doesn't hurt! Planetary Romance is really cool and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on My Ten Friends.

I picked up several My Ten Friends polishes and I'm really impressed with the brand so far. The polishes themselves are awesome and the customer service is outstanding. I received both an Etsy message notifying me that my order had shipped and a post-delivery message making sure I was completely happy with my purchase. Aside from all the unique sparkles and colors, I think one-on-one customer service is what really sets indies apart from the mass market brands, so it's always nice to see a maker that really goes the extra mile.

Butter London Brummie

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! My mom made the best turkey EVER this year and I have been enjoying the leftovers today.

Ready to look at some polish? I thought so! ;)

Butter London Brummie is a purple creme. This polish is a Macy's exclusive or you can also buy it on BL's official website, which I where I got it. Brummie actually photographs pretty accurately. It's maybe just a touch more red-based in real life.

Brummie's formula is decent. Brummie covers in three coats and dries to a semi-matte finish, so topcoat is a must if you want that glossy smooth creme look. I did get some shrinkage with my Seche topcoat though.

Based on pictures I'd seen, I expected Brummie to be brighter than it actually is. I think I was expecting something like an amped-up neon version of say, China Glaze Grape Pop for some reason. Oh well; it's still pretty. It's a nice, happy purple and would make a good layering base too. In fact, Brummie went perfectly with an awesome glitter from a new indie polish maker I came across on Etsy. Stay tuned... ;)

Essie Repstyle Preview

New Essie collections kind of come out of nowhere sometimes, as is the case with their newest collection: Repstyle. The Repstyle Collection features six polishes with snakeskin pattern magnets. They retail for $11.25 each and they've already been spotted on store shelves. Take a look!

 Lil Boa Peep

 Crocadilly

 Snake It Up

 Ssssssexy

Repstyle

Looks like a cute bunch of polishes and I like the concept, but I think $11.25 is a bit steep for me. Plus I've got a couple magnetic polishes sitting around in my untrieds so I'm not hurting for more. Still, it's always good to see Essie branching out!

Will you be picking anything up from this collection? Are you over magnetic polish?

Twinsie Tuesday: China Glaze Harvest Moon

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme was a Thanksgiving mani. I must confess to feeling completely stumped and uninspired for this challenge--and desperate to avoid nail art--so I'm sure my take on it will look really ho-hum compared to everyone else's. Other than turkeys and pilgrims (and you don't want to see me try to draw either of those, trust me), Thanksgiving makes me think of rich fall colors.

I thought China Glaze Harvest Moon has a kind of holiday-ish name since the first Thanksgiving was to celebrate the harvest, plus it's a vibrant bronze which is very autumnal. Either way, it's a really gorgeous polish so if nothing else, this is a good excuse to show it off again!

Harvest Moon's formula is excellent. It's opaque in three effortless coats. I love what a bright, gleaming bronze this is--one of my favorites for sure. The whole Hunger Games collection is really tailor made for fall.

Truth be told, this polish makes me think of this...

...more than anything else. The Harvest Moon games were a huge part of my childhood. Isn't it fun when a polish reminds you of something you love?

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? I always love whatever potato dish my mom or my aunt makes! Mmmm.... Hungry for more? ;) Then check out the other TT Thanksgiving manis!

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Elle Dancing Queen

I was excited to try Elle Dancing Queen when I saw it in the bottle. I literally ooh'd and ahh'd over the flash of teal duochrome pulsing through its silver base. But once I got Dancing Queen on my nails, this turned out to be a very short-lived love affair.

Inside, it looks like a plain ol' frosty metallic silver. It's brushstroke-y and looks pretty blah.

Outdoors, you can see a subtle teal and pink duochrome, like a diluted, frostier version of OPI Not Like The Movies. Granted, it's more noticeable than the hint my camera picked up, but it's still not super strong.

The formula on this polish is okay. It's on the brushstroke-y side, as I mentioned, and covers in three coats. It's not too runny or too thick, but you do have to be mindful of where you place your brush. The brushstrokes are less noticeable in outdoor lighting, but are easily visible indoors.

Overall, I'm pretty "meh" on Dancing Queen. It looks really cool in the bottle, but falls flat on the nail. The teal duochrome is pretty but I wish it was more prominent. It doesn't show up at all indoors and outdoors, it's more subtle than your average duochrome polish. So most of the time, it just looks like a frosty silver, which I can't honestly say I'm a fan of.


Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

OPI Movin' Out

One of my longtime lemmings is OPI Movin' Out. Movin' Out is a fairly HTF multichrome polish that was part of the 2003 Holiday on Broadway Collection and was named for the Billy Joel musical. My boyfriend and I are both huge Billy Joel fans and he surprised me with this polish. Sweet, right? :) Check this baby out!

You can tell by the formula (and the multichromatic amazingness) that Movin' Out definitely comes from OPI's pre-three-free era. It's got a thinner, lighter texture to it than your modern-day OPI polishes do. Movin' Out is quite sheer on its own, so this is three coats over Rimmel Black Satin. You could use fewer coats if you like and still get that gorgeous shimmering color shift, but I wanted to really amp up the base color as much as possible by using extra coats.

There are a ton of colors in Movin' Out: mauve, gold, green, blue, pink, red...plus a glistening iridescent shimmer that is positively to die for! They just don't make 'em like this anymore. It seems that now that most brands are three-free (which I totally understand), we don't see these crazy color-shifting polishes. Luckily we still have vintage gems like Movin' Out around!

Shimmer Tammy

Shimmer Tammy is a mix of gold, silver and purple glitter. She's the first Shimmer polish I've ever tried and I have to say, I'm impressed. The mix of glitters and colors here is very complex and Tammy has a beautifully textured look to her. This is two coats of Tammy over OPI Tomorrow Never Dies.

I absolutely adore this combo. Purple and gold always say royalty to me! You know me, I gotta have my glitz, glitter and glamour. ;) I'd love to try Tammy over a red shimmer next so I can bring out the purple glitter a bit more. I'm thinking OPI The Spy Who Loved Me.

You can purchase Shimmer from the brand's Etsy shop. 

Butter London Scuppered

Fall is definitely my least favorite season (mostly because of the yucky weather we get here during fall), but I do love a good fall polish! The one I have for you today, Butter London Scuppered, is practically autumn in a bottle. Scuppered is a rich copper with yellow and pink duochrome and flecks of green glitter. I love how complex it is!

I used three coats for this mani. Scuppered applies smoothly and wears well--no chips or tipwear after almost three days.

Scuppered really is quite unique, partly because of those little green flecks. I'd say maybe the closest thing I can think of to the base color is OPI Warm and Fozzie, but the green gives this polish a bit of extra dimension. It reminds me of crunchy autumn leaves!

What are some of your favorite fall polishes?

OPI Goldeneye

OPI Goldeneye is a clear base densely packed with vibrant gold shimmer. This is an extremely bright, flashy gold. The overall effect looks like gilded gold on your nails.

 

 



I didn't have any formula issues with Goldeneye and it wore really well. I took these photos on day three and there were no signs of tipwear or chipping. I guess theoretically you could use Goldeneye as a layering polish, but the shimmer is so dense I think it works best alone. What you see here is three coats of Goldeneye.

 

This is one of the standouts from the Skyfall Collection for me and definitely one of my favorite golds now!