Barielle Hawaiian Sunset

Barielle Hawaiin Sunset is a metallic orange with gold shimmer. This is definitely a warm-toned orange with a red lean to it, warmed up even more by the addition of the gold shimmer. Speaking of which, the gold shimmer is not as intense as it looks in the bottle, so I was a little bummed by that, but that doesn't mean it's not still pretty!

The formula is excellent and didn't give me any hassle. I used three coats here.

Hawaiian Sunset is a great summer orange that perfectly captures the lazy summer vibe of lying on the beach with a cold drink in your hand. (Although I haven't made it out to the beach or even the pool yet this summer. That's pretty shameful for a Michigan girl, where we have lakes galore, but it's on my to-do list!) Personally, orange is a color that I wear almost exclusively in the summertime, so shades like this one always get me excited for warm weather!


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

Zoya Binx

The name Binx instantly makes me think of this:

What can I say, "Hocus Pocus" was one of my very favorite movies as a kid! But today, we're talking about Zoya Binx, a purple-pink jelly with a rich gold shimmer and iridescent glitter pieces. I'm really loving Zoya's new Bubbly Collection. Shimmers with glitter in them are such an amazing idea that I'm surprosed we haven't seen it more often! Straight away, several of them made my lemming list and I was lucky enough to snag Binx as a birthday present from Cordia! I love how shiny and complex this polish is.

Binx applies marvelously and reaches opacity in three coats. I haven't taken this mani off yet, but here's hoping that removing all the glitter goes as smoothly as the application did!

Zoya makes some of the best shimmers in the business so sprinkling a little glittery fairy dust into them can only be considered more of a good thing! If you're a fan of all things sparkly, definitely check out Binx and the rest of the Bubbly Collection!

Review: Essie Feet In The Clouds Leg & Foot Creme

Over the past two weeks or so, I've been sharing my thoughts about the different items from the new Essie Spa Collection, a series of at-home manicure and pedicure treatments that's sold only at Target stores. (If you missed my reviews of the Nourishing Treatment Oil and Exfoliating Foot Scrub, you can read them HERE and HERE.) Today we'll be taking a look at the Feet In The Clouds Leg & Foot Creme!

This lotion contains royal jelly extract and shea butter to moisturize and nourish the skin. It has the same light, citrus-y scent to it that the other Essie Spa products do. Feet In The Clouds truly is more of a creme than a lotion, with a creamy, luxurious texture to it that feels thick and rich but never greasy or heavy. You'd be able to slip into some sandals shortly after applying this creme to your feet, without worrying about your feet sliding out of your shoes. Your skin is left feeling soft, smooth and protected.

As the name mentions, you can also use this creme on your legs--or really, anywhere you'd like a little extra moisture. I tried it as a post-shaving treatment and it worked fabulously! My legs felt super smooth to the touch and they had a nice healthy sheen to them too.

I'm extremely impressed by the whole Spa Collection and I really, really hope Essie will expand it as time goes on! The products are wonderful quality at affordable price points. I definitely want to check out the one item I didn't get from this line, the hand cream, because I am so happy with what I've already purchased.

Have you tried anything from the Essie Spa line yet? I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Barielle Barefoot In Bermuda

Barielle Barefoot In Bermuda is a warm-toned hot pink shade from Barielle's new Keys Collection. There's a ton of great colors for summer in this collection and I look forward to sharing them with you guys! Barefoot In Bermuda is technically a creme, but it has a juicy, jelly-esque shine to it. The closest thing I can compare it to is the creme glosses we saw with OPI's Gwen Stefani Collection earlier this year. Together, the color and the finish make me think of watermelon!

Like I said, crazy shiny! The formula is fantastic and covers completely in two coats. 

I was surprised how much I liked this polish. Not that it's a bad color, but I didn't expect to take to it as much as I did. The finish is just so darn gorgeous--really, it looks like a gel manicure--and the color is perfect for warm weather!



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

Twinsie Tuesday: Lynnderella Spumoni

Before we get things rolling for this week's Twinsie Tuesday, please welcome our newest Twinsie: Lisa from The Polish Playground! As for our theme, we're hopping into the kitchen for this week's TT with manicures inspired by a food or beverage! I was hoping I'd have my hands on the OPI Coca-Cola Collection by the time this theme rolled around, so I could celebrate the merger of two of my greatest addictions, but no biggie! I went with a dessert-inspired look instead!

 I apparently have a weakness for ice cream-themed polishes, because I own quite a few of them (could be because my first job was at an ice cream place). The one I decided to showcase for this theme is one of the newest additions to my stash: Lynnderella Spumoni! Spumoni is a sheer mint green base filled with pearly mint glitters, as well as red, white and black accent pieces. It was also a birthday gift from my fellow Twinsie Tiffany, so all the more reason to show it off this week!

This is two coats over Deborah Lippmann Flowers In Her Hair, a mint creme. I think it makes the perfect companion for Spumoni!

This polish does a great job capturing the look of the real deal! I actually don't care for Spumoni ice cream (Give me something with chocolate or peanut butter instead!), but this polish looks so good it almost makes me forget that. ;)

​

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Butter London Trustafarian

Something happened today that never happens: My boyfriend asked if he could pick out what polish I was going to wear. *gasp* So I let him go through my untrieds and he chose Butter London Trustafarian. (Butter London is one of the few brands he can name, so he jokingly calls it his "favorite.") Trustafarian is a light golden green scattered holo.

I had some issues with this polish balding, so it took four coats to make everything totally even and opaque. Other than some balding here and there though, overall Trustafarian has a nice consistency to it. I skipped both base and topcoat. As you can see, the holo is not super strong, but I honestly don't mind because the base color is so lovely!

Pacifica Dark Desert Highway

You might know Pacifica for their fragrance and body products, but now the brand is coming out with their own line of 7-free, 100% vegan nail polish! Their launch collection has over 25 polishes to choose from and the one I'll be sharing with you today is a creamy taupe shade called Dark Desert Highway.

The formula here was excellent, with a nice, workable consistency. I used two coats. Sometimes taupes can look a little funky on my skintone, but this one is a neutral, chocolately taupe that I think will flatter just about anyone!

I should also mention that I really love the presentation with Pacifica's new polish line. The caps are decorated with this cute, retro pool party-esque seashell design...

...and the colors all have fun names like Blushing Bunnies, Unicorn Horn and Turquoise Tiara.

You can purchase Pacifica from their website.


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

Born Pretty Rose Petal Water Decals: Review & Swatches

Water decals are some of my very favorite nail art products and today I've got a new set of them from Born Pretty Store to share! If you've never used water decals before, they're super easy. You cut them out, dunk them in water for a few seconds, peel off the paper backing, place them on the nail, then seal with topcoat. Voila, instant nail art! They're basically like temporary tattoos for your nails and I love the intricate, eye-catching designs you can create with them!

This particular decal set features rose petal designs. The sheet has designs in both black and white, so you've got enough for 2-3 manis total. I used the white decals over Barielle Miami Heat to create a classic, romantic look.

I very rarely have any issues with Born Pretty's water decals and these worked fantastically. They're excellent quality and very easy to apply. I love how elegant they look on the nail. The design possibilities are endless!

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

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

Orly Smoky Preview

I think Orly's Smoky Collection is one of the coolest-looking Orly collections we've seen in a while! As the name implies, this six-piece collection is heavy on darker shades for fall.

 

Source

I'm looking forward to Darkest Shadow, Brush It On and Smoked Out. The official launch is early August, so we won't be waiting too long!

What shades are you looking forward to from this collection?

Twinsie Tuesday: Whimsical Ideas By Pam Super Hero

Before we get down to business with this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme, I want to welcome our two newest Twinsies: Bridget from A Painted Nail and Jessica from Blue Velvet Lacquer! If you get a chance, do drop by their blogs to say hello! :)

So this week's theme is "summer lovin'." Other than making me think of the song from "Grease," I wasn't sure what we were supposed to do with this theme--and based on the chatter in our TT group, it seems I wasn't alone! So we decided you could just interpret the theme however you like.

Now, I don't talk very much about my personal life on here, but my boyfriend just returned from a study abroad trip a week or so ago after being gone for ten months! So this theme makes me think about how happy I am to be able to spend the summer with him and do the things we love. 

One of our biggest shared interests is comics, so I thought it'd be fun to pay homage to that with Whimsical Ideas By Pam Super Hero. I got this polish as part of my birthday gift from the wonderful ChiChi and it is so much fun! Super Hero is a yellow jelly with small gold glitter, large blue and yellow hexes and red stars. It's very Wonder Woman, no? 

If a yellow jelly isn't your thing, you could always layer Super Hero over a white or yellow creme, but I think it looks perfectly pretty all on its own! I used two coats for this mani. The formula is fabulous. You don't have to fish at all for the larger glitter pieces, although you might have to use the dabbling method a bit to disperse them evenly across the nail.

You can purchase Whimsical Ideas through Pam's Facebook page. And be sure to take a look at what my fellow Twinsies did for their "summer lovin'" manis!

 

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Zoya Lux

I've been dying to try the new Magic PixieDusts from Zoya! I mean, textures with holo and more glitter? Count me in! I wasn't 100% sure I'd love the chunkier texture, but I can forgive a multitude of sins for glitter (and really, the extra grit barely bothered me).

Amanda gifted the original trio of Magic PixieDusts to me as part of our Twinsie Tuesday birthday swap (Thank you!!) and the first one I'll be sharing with you is Lux! Lux is a sparkling light pink textured polish with large silver holo glitter pieces. It reminds me of a textured versions of one of my all-time favorite OPI's, Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry Collection, so of course I'm going to love it!

Considering how dense the glitter is in the Magic PixieDusts, I thought Lux actually applied pretty well. It was a smidge thick but not to the point of difficulty. Like the regular PixieDusts, Lux wore flawlessly on me and my mani felt virtually indestructible. I wore Lux for three days before taking it off and I had no chips or tipwear.

I am loving the Magic PixieDusts so far, but I understand that these likely won't be for everybody. There is an added grittiness with the addition of the holo glitter, but as I mentioned above, it honestly didn't bother me. However, if you hate the feel of textured finishes on your nail, these won't change your mind. But if you're loving the textured trend, then the Magic versions give you even more of a good thing! A dash of holo glitter makes everything better, if you ask me!

Review: Essie So Sole Good Foot Scrub

Essie recently released a new collection of skin products called Essie Spa. (If you missed my review of the Nourishing Treatment Oil from this collection, you can check it out HERE.) Today we'll be taking a look at the Essie Spa item I was most excited to try: the So Sole Good Exfoliating Foot Scrub!

Although Essie has labelled this as a pedicure product, like I mentioned in my review for the Nourishing Treatment Oil, I don't see why you couldn't use this on your arms, legs, etc.

This is a nice, thick scrub that feels very dense. There are tons of little round microbeads in it to slough away dead skin, leaving your feet clean and smooth. You don't need a ton of product to get the job done. I used an amount about the size of a half dollar piece for each foot. I started by scrubbing it on dry feet for a while, then added a little water afterwards and continued scrubbing. The scrub foams up a bit when you add water to it and the little beads gradually dissolve.

My feet didn't feel rough or dry at all after I rinsed off the scrub. In fact, they felt nicely hydrated and soft, even more so after I followed up with the Nourishing Treatment Oil. Like the oil, the scrub has a light, citrus-y scent to it that I didn't find cloying or overpowering.

So far I am very impressed by the Essie Spa Collection overall and I really enjoyed this scrub! It did a great job resurfacing my skin and feels very luxurious for the price ($10.99 at Target). If you have some serious calluses or severely dry, cracked skin on your feet, I don't think So Sole Good would quite do the job, but if you want a nice scrub to resurface and refresh your feet, give this one a try!

OPI Hotter Than You Pink

Most pink polish doesn't excite me all that much, but OPI Hotter Than You Pink is not most pinks. It's a crazy bright neon pink with a ridiculously pretty blue shimmer that makes the pink look even more vibrant and bright! There was a lot of buzz about OPI's first big foray into neon polish this summer and Hotter Than You Pink is proof positive that they can do neons right!

Like most true neons, Hotter Than You Pink dries down to a semi-matte finish, so topcoat is a must if you want to get the most out of this polish's insane pigment--not to mention that beautiful blue glow. I used two coats of Put A Coat On!, the white basecoat from this collection, as my base. Then I followed with two coats of Hotter Than You Pink. I think Put A Coat On! really does make a difference in how intense this polish is. With a white base, this is one of the brightest pinks I've ever seen!

Hotter Than You Pink is a surprise standout from this collection for me. I've worn it twice now and both times I've had a ton of people ask me what I had on my nails. It's a real eye-catcher and much more than just another pink! Dare I say it might be my new favorite pink?

Nail Nation 3000 Max-A-Million

I bought Max-A-Million on a whim while exploring Llarowe a few months ago, without ever having heard of the Nail Nation 3000 brand before. But I can't resist a good silver holo, especially a linear one! This particular holo has a blue undertone to it that I think gives it a little extra something and makes it unique.

Max-A-Million looked pretty sheer with the first layer, but then it built up nicely in three coats. It applied very smoothly, even without base coat. I also skipped top coat, so as not to diminish that gorgeous holo!

You can purchase Nail Nation 3000 from their website. If you want amazing holos in virtually every color of the rainbow, then definitely check them out!

Twinsie Tuesday: 3D Mani

These last several days have been crazy busy, so unfortunately I don't have a Twinsie Tuesday post up for today. Sorry, everyone! :( I'm going to try my best to get one up soon, but in the meantime, take a look at what my other Twinsies have going on today!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

Review: Essie Swept Off My Feet Nourishing Treatment Oil

I told you guys last week how thrilled I was to spot the new Essie Spa Collection at my local Target. The collection has four new items, three of which I purchased. Today I'll be sharing my thoughts on the first one, Swept Off My Feet Nourishing Treatment Oil.

This oil promises to protect and hydrate skin, leaving it soft, supple and healthy. While this is marketed as a pedicure product (and that's how I tested it), you could really use it anywhere you have dry, rough skin. While the Essie Spa Collection is exclusive to Target, I did notice Nordstrom sells an Essie massage oil with the same name and what appear to be the same ingredients, so this can apparently work as a massage oil too! (I should note too that the Nordstrom version is a whopping $40 for an 8 oz bottle, while the Target version is $10.99 for a 5.75 oz bottle. Bargain!)

So what exactly is in this stuff? Let's take a look at some of the key ingredients and what they do!

First up you have pro-Vitamin E, to help protect your skin. Then you have apricot oil. Apricot oil has a lipid content similar to your own skin's, allowing it to penetrate easily and start healing your skin quickly. Next up is Passion flower oil, said to have soothing properties. And last but not least is rose musk oil to hydrate and repair.

This is an extremely rich oil, so a little bit goes a lonnnngggg way! Even a dime-sized amount was almost too much to slather on one foot. It felt a little great going on and it took a couple minutes to soak in, but it didn't leave a residue behind afterwards. There is a light, fruity scent to it (smells like apricots or oranges to me) but it is not overpowering or fake-smelling.

I was really impressed how much smoother and softer my skin felt once the oil soaked in! It did a fantastic job of hydrating my feet and I could feel the hydrating and smoothing benefits both immediately and long-term. I gave myself a pedicure using this, the So Sole Good Exfoliating Scrub and the Feet In The Clouds Leg & Foot Creme (reviews coming up for the other two products!) a few days ago and my feet still feel extremely smooth and supple! 

I was very pleased with how quickly and effectively Swept Off My Feet worked! Whether you're getting your feet into sandal-ready shape or you've got some stray patches of dry skin you want to get rid of, give this a shot! 

Have you tried anything from the Essie Spa Collection yet?

OPI Put A Coat On!

While it's marketed as a base for their new neon polishes, I think OPI Put A Coat On! deserves some attention all its own! This is, quite simply, the best pure white creme I've ever used. Right away, I fell in love with the consistency and application. It's surprisingly non-streaky and has just the right amount of thickness to its formula. Everyone needs a good white polish and I think this one is practically perfect!

I used two coats for this mani. In addition to its wonderful application, Put A Coat On! also dries very quickly--makes sense, considering this is technically part of OPI's base coat line.

Put A Coat On! makes a fantastic companion to OPI's neon polishes, but it's also a great workhorse shade that would make an excellent base for nail art, layering, you name it! I believe the neon polishes are being added to OPI's core collection and I really hope Put A Coat On! is made permanent as well, because for me, it's backup-worthy! White polish really doesn't get any better than this.

Review: Butter London Rock Off Glycolic Callus Peel

Now that we're FINALLY on the verge of sandal weather, I figured it was time to try and whip my feet back into shape! My feet don't get extremely dry or cracked, but they can get a little rough and I do develop calluses on my heels and big toes. With it's promises to make hard skin simply "melt away," Butter London's Rock Off Glycolic Callus Peel sounded like just the thing I needed! I was really excited and chrious to try this, but I've used it a couple times now and well...the results were less than spectacular.

The premise is a pretty ingenius one: a roll-on Glycolic peel that you just apply to the areas you want to target, let it soak for a few minutes, then just buff the hard skin away with a file. The applicator tip is just like what you'd find on a perfume rollerball, so it's really easy to apply the peel liquid right where you want it.

Once it's on, you let the liquid soak for 3-5 minutes, then file away. I had visions of all the hard skin practically molting off my feet, leaving behind baby soft skin, but that didn't exactly happen. While I did see some dead skin coming off with the file, my calluses weren't going anywhere and my feet only felt marginally smoother afterwards. It didn't seem to be penetrating into the deeper layers of my skin at all, like it was just sitting on top. I didn't really notice any difference between applying the peel and them filing versus just using the file alone. I've tried this peel several times now, hoping to somehow achieve better results, but I was always left feeling underwhelmed.

So overall, I unfortunately was not too impressed with this. Rock Off is normally priced at $30 and while I got it on sale for half off, I still don't think it's worth that price. I say save your money and skip this.

Have you tried Rock Off before? What were your results like? I'm holding on to hope that there is some kind if weird trick with this product that I am just not getting!

Milani 3D Cyberspace

Milani 3D Cyberspace is a scattered light blue holo. One of the things that's interesting to me about these Milani holos is that while they're definitely scattered holos, you can see these little individual holographic flakes in them. So it's kind of like they're holographic flakies! (Does that make any sense? I'm not sure how else to describe it.) I'm assuming that's what Milani means when they call these "3D." I love the base color of this polish and I think it works really well as a holo!

The formula is on the sheer side, so I needed three thicker coats to reach opacity. But other than the sheerness, Cyberspace applied very nicely. I didn't use any base or top coat with this mani.

The holographic effect isn't super strong, seeing as this is a scattered holo. The almost shattered look of this holo where you can see the little holographic foil pieces is really cool though and visually, it sets the Milani's holos apart from others like them. It also makes it so the holo effect is still apparent in low/indoor lighting, whereas other holos can look more like plain metallics when they're not exposed to direct sunlight.

If you are a fan of holos, Milani's are worth checking out! I've only ever seen them at CVS (although this particular polish came from the wonderful Amanda) so I'm not sure if they're exclusive to that chain or not. But they're some of the most affordable holos you'll find and they're pretty unique too!

Twinsie Tuesday: Rainbow Honey Hanami

This week's Twinsie Tuesday has us choosing our favorite indie brand! Trolling Etsy for new indie discoveries is one of my favorite pastimes and I love all of the individuality and creativity that the indie polish community has to offer.

It was really hard to pick just one brand, but I decided on my first (and probably still greatest) indie love: Rainbow Honey! I was feeling like something super feminine, so I reached for Hanami, a complex pink and white glitterbomb, with glitter pieces that are holo, matte, pearl and iridescent. It's a very cute, romantic polish that makes me think of flower petals and fancy desserts!

The cherry on top of this perfectly girly confection is a fine gold microshimmer that warms up the polish and makes it look like it's bathed in glowing light. It's subtle (and frustratingly difficult for me to capture on camera), but so gorgeous that I have to mention it. RH has used this type of microshimmer in some of their other polishes and I always feel like it adds just a little extra magic!

The formula on Hanami is excellent. I used two coats, with Essie Ballet Slippers as my base. I wanted to keep the base soft and neutral, to let the glitter really pop and Ballet Slippers is such a perfect shade for when you want to add just a little hint of color, but still keep that clean, blank canvas look.

What's YOUR favorite indie brand? Do share in the comments--positive word of mouth is such a great way to find new indies! :) Plus don't forget to see what my Twinsies picked as their favorites this week!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra