Twinsie Tuesday: Grey and Gold

Kudos to whoever came up with this theme, because gold and grey is one of my favorite color combos! I kept this one pretty simple. I started with a grey base of Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements and added a sprinkling of holographic gold glitter with Nubar Gold Celebration.

I loooooove Chasing Pavements. Such a perfect grey! Not too much more to say on this one--like I said, it's simple, but hopefully pretty too. :)

Be sure to check out my fellow Twinsies' grey and gold manis today! I like these colors so much that I'm sure I'll be borrowing an idea or two of theirs for future manis!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Disclosure: The Nubar polish in this post was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Barielle Mirror, Mirror Collection: Review & Swatches

Hey guys! Today I've got some swatches from Barielle's fall/winter collection, which is called Mirror, Mirror. This is a set of five cremes with some nice shades to bridge the fall-to-winter transitional months. (That may seem far off now, but trust me, it's coming!!) Anywho, let's take a look at 'em!

Feathered Slippers is a dark grey creme. It almost looks like it has a bit of green in it...? Not sure if that's just my imagination, but I dig it. Do you see the green or am I nuts?

Pretty Woman is far and away my favorite shade from this set! My bottle actually says "Pretty Women," but Barielle's website and the little promotional booklet for the collection both say "Woman," so I'm guessing that's just a typo. But whatever it's actually called, it's a very rich shade of Prussian blue. I love how elegant it looks on the nail.

Blushing Beauty is a bright red jelly. It's a very pretty representation of this type of color, even if it's not too unique. Look how squishy and shiny it is--and this is without top coat even!

Ribbon & Lace is a dusty teal creme. This is a perfect example of an autumn-tinged teal. It's got just the right amount of duskiness to it, if that makes sense to anyone other than me!

Silk Stockings was a surprise favorite. It's a nude--and one that I didn't think would go very well with my undertones, at that--but once I put it on, I really liked the taupe-y color it was on my nails. It doesn't go on as dark as it looks in the bottle and it isn't too cool-toned, so I think lots of different skin tones could rock this one.

All of these are two-coaters with nice formulas. No issues to report here--just nice, creamy application!

If you get one shade from this collection, make it Pretty Woman. There is something so chic about that color to me and it netted me quite a few compliments. :) I've got a lot of blue polish and this one is definitely shooting up my list of favorites!

You can purchase Barielle from their website. What's your favorite shade from Mirror, Mirror?


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

Jamberry Accent Nails: Review & Swatches

I've got a couple different manis to share with you guys today, all of them incorporating Jamberry nail appliques. Nine times out of ten, if I'm wearing nail wraps and someone comments on them, they will ask me if they're Jamberry, so they seem to be pretty well known. But if you're not familiar with Jamberry, they're kinda different from other nail wraps, so here's a quick crash course for you!

Jamberry is sold through individual consultants. This time around, mine was Maureen. She was super sweet and willing to help troubleshoot if I had any questions or application issues. Consultants offer their appliques through their own websites, which feature a TON of designs. Click HERE if you want to check out Maureen's.

The biggest difference between Jamberry and other nail wraps in that you have to heat the appliques.  After you peel them off the sheet, you have to expose them to heat for 3-5 seconds to make them more flexible. I always use my blow dryer and that works perfectly. Next, apply the wrap to your nail, trim and file the excess, then hit them with a little heat again to fully bond the wraps to the nail.

These are a little more time consuming to apply than traditional wraps, since you have to involve a heat source, but I've found them to be extremely sturdy on the nail so taking a little extra time with them typically equates to long, worry-free wear. I also like that if you get a crease or a bubble when applying, you can smooth it out with a little patience and an extra blast from the blow dryer. To remove, soak them in acetone for 30 seconds to break down the adhesive, then gently peel them off.

Maureen sent me a selection of different Jamberry accent nails to play around with. These little sheets feature six different wraps, each with a different design, so that you can see what patterns you like and get a feel for how Jamberry wears and applies. I'm obsessed with nail wraps, but I've never tried them as accent nails. Here's a couple quick and easy combinations I came up with using these designs!

Grey: Barielle Feathered Slippers

Green: Essie Chillato

Red: Barielle Blushing Beauty

There's a bit of a learning curve with Jamberry, but I've found I can get the hang of it pretty quickly. It's been a while since I used any Jamberry wraps, so my first attempt (the flower wrap with Barielle Feathered Slippers) wasn't perfectly smooth, but this was due to user error rather than a flaw with the product. After that though, I got back in the groove and didn't have any issues applying the rest of the wraps.

My favorite of these was the overlay wrap I wore over Essie Chillato. I believe the name of this design is Island Energy. It adhered really well to the polish already on my nail and added a fun bit of depth to my existing manicure.

Have you tried anything from Jamberry before? I'd love to hear how what your experience with them was like in the comments!


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

Butter London Gobsmacked

Hello all! I hope the week is treating you well so far. I've got a quick NOTD to share with you today. I was in the mood for a fall color, so I put on Butter London Gobsmacked, a charcoal glitter. It's a great fashion-forward shade for autumn! This polish dries to a textured finish on its own, but I put on some top coat to bring out the silver sparkles more.

Gobsmacked has a nice, easy formula. What you see above is three coats. Removal was pretty typical for a textured polish--easier than glitter but harder than a creme. I think this is actually the only textured polish that I prefer to wear with top coat. It's still pretty without, it pops more with a little shine on top!

Barielle Glitter Mania Collection: Review & Swatches

Fellow glitter groupies, you've come to the right place, because today I've got five awesome new glitters from the Barielle Glitter Mania Collection to show you!

Up first we have Orange Flame, a clear base with medium metallic orange hexes. This one's really eye-catching and pops especially well over darker bases. This is one coat over OPI Road House Blues.

 

Confetti has medium matte hexes in a variety of colors: off-white, grey, black, blue and magenta. I have to say, I got a ton of compliments on this mani! Even strangers would comment on it and it seemed like everyone wanted to know "how I did it," so it was cool to be able to tell them it was just a glitter topper. My co-workers said my nails looked like a little garden. :) This is one coat of Confetti over Butter London Slapper. (As an aside, this is probably the closest I've ever come to a color-accurate photo of Slapper, which is a serious pain in the ass to capture on camera.)

Mermaid Fin is a mix of pastel blue hexes and silver holo micro-glitter. This is one of my favorites from the collection! It's very unique and that extra touch of sparkle from the holo is everything! Here's one coat over OPI I Vant To Be A-Lone Star.

Princess Pink is a mix of small and medium metallic pink hexes. This is sooo cute! I have to admit I wasn't too intrigued by it in the bottle, but it's so shamelessly girly on the nails that I couldn't help but love it. I thought it'd be fun to do a pink-on-pink layering for this one, so here is one coat over one of my very favorite pink cremes, Essie French Affair.

Gemstones is probably the most complex glitter of the bunch. It's got steel grey microglitter with small purple hexes and medium silver holo hexes. To give you a really obscure polish reference, this reminds me of a less opaque version of Studio M Firecracker. This is one coat over Essie Spun In Luxe.

Overall, this is a really solid collection. The formulas are all wonderful and as for the polishes themselves, I don't think there's a single clunker in the bunch! My favorites are Confetti and Mermaid Fin. What about you? :)

You can purchase Barielle from their website.


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

Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements

I can't ever turn down a good grey; it's my absolute favorite neutral shade! Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements is a beautiful cement grey. It's really crisp and clean-looking--something you might not expect with a cement-colored polish, but there you have it. It's got the chic, fresh look of a perfect palette cleanser shade!

As you can see on my ring finger in the pictures above, Chasing Pavements doesn't completely self-level. Other than that, I didn't really have any problems with the formula on this one. This swatch is from a little while ago, so unfortunately I can't remember if this was two of three coats. :-/

Lumina Lacquer Social Meteor

Lumina Lacquer Social Meteor is a clear-based glitterbomb with grey, baby pink and pastel yellow in a variety of shapes, like circles, crescent moons, stars, hearts and hexes. These are colors you wouldn't necessarily think to put together, but I love the combination and all the different shapes are super fun!

The formula is just okay. I had to fish a lot to get the larger glitter pieces on my brush (seems like they tended to sink toward the bottom of the bottle) and it took some extra guidance to make the glitter distribute the way I wanted it to on the nail. Dabbling and placing are ideal application strategies here. What you see above is two coats of Social Meteor over Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements.

While the formula was alright, I still fell in love with the look of this polish. It's so cute and the pops of pastel are very pretty and feminine-looking. I had my eye on this polish for a long time before I finally pulled the trigger and I'm definitely glad I indulged!

You can purchase Lumina Lacquer from their website.

Essie Coat Couture

Essie Coat Couture is a purple-leaning grey satin with soft iridescent blue shimmer. I love how effortlessly chic this shade is! I can see myself wearing this a lot come fall. The finish and the color together bring to mind a luxurious leather hand bag--you know, a classic one that goes with everything? I absolutely adore grey polish and I am really living for this one!

Coat Couture looks stunning all on its own, but I couldn't resist popping on some topcoat to see that gorgeous shimmer come to life. Look how pretty and twinkly it is!

The formula is one of the best I've seen from a matte/satin. It's very creamy--no streaking or dragging. I used two coats here.

I thought I'd be hard pressed to find a shade from the Cashmere Matte Collection that I liked more than Just Stitched, but Coat Couture is giving it a run for its money! Both are wonderful, classic shades that benefit even more from the understatedly chic look of the satin finish.

Born Pretty BP-03 Stamping Plate: Review & Swatches

I've got another Born Pretty stamping plate for you today! Now, I want to start by saying this is only my second time doing any stamping, ever. But it already felt worlds easier than my first attempt and I even felt confident enough to try a full mani! I'm not saying I'm good at stamping--far from it--but I'm getting better, so I guess that's something at least.

Anyways, on the the actual plate! This design, BP-03, doesn't really have a unifying theme to it. There are roses, kitties, stars...so, cute stuff, I guess?

 

The whole reason I wanted to try this plate was for the little kitty on the bottom right. So I was super bummed when I couldn't get him to stamp on my nails. I could easily pick up the whole design on my stamper, but when I tried to stamp it onto my nails, I couldn't get it to transfer right. I would either get just half of the design or if I did get the entire cat, it came out super light. I tried stamping it with three different polishes and none of them worked. I felt like maybe that particular design was almost engraved into the plate too shallow, if that makes sense? Or it could just be good ol' user error due to my inexperience. If any of you stamping aficionados would be able to share some insight in the comments, I'd love it! :)

So that mini-rant aside, I did have good luck with the rose designs on this plate and I did a whole mani theme around that. It's not going to be the best stamping you've ever seen, but I think it's not awful for a second attempt!

My base here was Sally Hansen Wet Cement and then I used Essie No Place Like Chrome for the stamping. I probably should have used a color other than silver, since it doesn't really pop over the grey, especially in photos. :-/

I was disappointed in my lack of cat nail art, but my overall exprience with this plate was more good than bad. I want to try something with the stars next!

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.

OPI I'll Tinsel You In

OPI definitely borrowed a few pages out of the indie polish playbook for this one--and that's totally fine by me! I love my indie glitterbombs for how unique and creative all the independent polish makers out there are, but it is still fun to see more mainstream brands incorporate some popular indie elements into their polishes as well.

I'll Tinsel You In is a matte black, white and white glitterbomb with hexes, bars and squares that brings to mind indie classics like Lynnderella Connect The Dots. (They aren't dupes, mind you, but they do play in the same sandbox.) Here it is over another OPI holiday shade, Rollin' In Cashmere.

Very nice formula here. I didn't even have to guide the bar pieces away from the edge of the nail, which is usually a concern for me. I used to hate bar glitter (I thought it was weird-looking, I dunno) but I've really come around to it. Application is hassle-free and the glitter payoff is great, no shaking or fishing required. This is one coat.

While I wasn't too impressed with the main part of OPI's holiday collection this year, I'll Tinsel You In was an instant must-buy for me. It's a super fun glitter and the fact that it's mostly black and white means you can layer it over anything!

OPI My Voice Is A Little Norse

OPI My Voice Is A Little Norse is the last of the four polishes I'll be showing you from the OPI Nordic Collection minis set. This is a grey jelly base packed with silver holo glitter pieces. I've got a few sparkles similar to this one in my collection already, but what I can I say? I'm powerless against a good glitter!

 Intentionally blurry shot to show off the holo better...

Up until this polish, none of the minis in this set have given me any issues, formula-wise. But My Voice Is A Little Norse was really thick and goopy. It reminded me of why I generally don't like minis: difficult formulas that you have little control over due to the teeny tiny brush. However, the one nice thing about such a thick formula is that this polish was nice and opaque. I only needed two coats.

Plus I gotta say that I love that this has a tinted base rather than a clear one. It not only helps distinguish My Voice Is a Little Norse from all the other silver holo bombs out there, it also makes it easier to cover up any VNL.

Barielle Slate Of Affairs

I was going through my swatch folder the other day and found a couple of polishes I'd worn that I never posted the pictures of, so I'll be doing a bit of housekeeping on the blog today. One of the ones that got away was Barielle Slate Of Affairs, a blue-tinged steel grey with a flash of pearly blue shimmer. If you're a fan of greys, then you'll love the twist Slate Of Affairs puts on a classic neutral shade.

 Damn I miss those nails! *sobs quietly in corner* Ahem. Anyways, the shimmer is on the subtle side, so it's more the type where you see it gleam here and there when the light hits it just right. But it's not so elusive that it's practically invisible (what I like to call "Essie disappearing shimmer syndrome"). The formula is solid and I used three coats here.

You can purchase Barielle from their website.


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

Barielle Spring Vibrants: Review & Swatches - Part Two

Last week, I showed you the first half of the Barielle Spring Vibrants Collection and today I've got the second half to share! The first half had more warm-toned shades so we'll be looking at some of the cooler shades this time around. :)

Money Talks is a mint green creme. I love the color itself but the formula was a pain in the ass! It was chalky, had a ton of drag to it and didn't self-level well (as you can see by my kinda wonky-looking paint job on my middle finger). Such a shame, because it's a lovely shade!

I also wanted to note that Seche Vite had a weird effect on this polish. What you see here is Money Talks sans topcoat, but when I applied Seche Vite on top of this polish for my Lumina Lacquer Mint Chocolate Chip manicure, it visibly changed the color of Money Talks, which took on a bit more of a blue tinge. It's not a huge difference, but it was noticeable. So if Seche is your go-to, you've been warned!

My City Apartment is a blue-based grey creme. The name is appropriate, as this shade reminds me of freshly mixed cement. Greys are my favorite neutrals and this one is simply perfect! The formula was thankfully worlds better than Money Talks'. This is two easy coats.

First Class Ticket is a sky blue creme. Another buttery smooth formula here and I was especially impressed with how well it self-leveled. This is two coats.

Overall, this is a fabulous collection of cremes in a fun variety of spring colors. My favorites are Take Me Shopping (featured in part one) and My City Apartment. Money Talks would be on that list as well if it weren't for the crappy formula. :-/ But the rest of the collection is an absolute joy to apply!

You can purchase Barielle from their website.

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

Twinsie Tuesday: Favorite Color Combination

This is an especially exciting week for us TT girls, as we have five new Twinsies joining us: Alaina, Casey, Erin, Stephanie and Tiffany! I hope you'll swing by their blogs to check out their first-ever Twinsie Tuesday posts! :)

So for this first post with our new members, we were asked to show off our favorite color combination! I had a really hard time deciding on mine, so ultimately I went with a combination I saw a while back that instantly captured my attention and still stuck out in my mind months later. It's not necessarily an all-time favorite, but definitely one that made an impression on me!

Last fall, Deborah Lippmann released her Punk Rock Collection, a trio of badass textured polishes.
I Wanna Be Sedated is a swampy yellow--one of those colors you either love or hate. I Fought The Law is a deep navy with blue glitter sparks. Then there's Pretty Vacant, a blue-based grey. I fell in love with all three shades, especially how they looked together. They're not colors I would ever think to wear in the same mani, yet somehow they worked. I recently managed to track down Pretty Vacant, completing my quest for all three Punk Rock polishes, so I decided to celebrate by wearing them together for a skittles mani!

I Wanna Be Sedated: Pinky, Middle Finger & Thumb; I Fought The Law: Ring Finger; Pretty Vacant: Index Finger

Again, not the most conventional combo here, but it's one I really like! The make-or-break aspect of this mani is probably the ugly/pretty I Wanna Be Sedated. Personally, I love it and think it's different and fun but I know it's not a color for everyone. It reminds me of another "fugly" favorite, China Glaze Trendsetter.

I Fought The Law and Pretty Vacant (which may be my favorite of the three) are both very unique shades as well, albeit not as polarizingly so as I Wanna Be Sedated. The sparkle in I Fought The Law is on the subtle side, but it does help add some depth to this very deep shade of blue. Pretty Vacant is an absolutely perfect grey. The color and the texture together remind me of half-mixed concrete. I can't seem to recall any other grey textured polishes out there, so this is definitely a special one to have in your collection if you're a fan of the textured finish.


Do you have a go-to color combination for your nails? What's the most unusual combination of colors you've tried that actually "worked"?

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

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

Lumina Lacquer Mick Or Treat

My pal Jenna has been telling me that I had to try out some Lumina Lacquer polishes, so I finally snapped up two polishes from the brand earlier this month, one of which was the Halloween glitterbomb, Mick Or Treat. This glittering grab bag of a polish has it all: circle glitter, crescent moon-shaped glitter, star glitter and even holographic Mickey Mouse-shaped glitter, along with festive pops of orange, yellow and red. I think there is even supposed to be some pumpkin-shaped glitter in here somewhere, although I didn't find any this time around. This is two coats over MiniLuxe Lynnfield.

I absolutely love this polish and the Mickey Mouse glitter is such a fun touch! It makes an already kick-ass polish something special. I had to fish a lot to grab one of the Mickeys (you can see it on my ring finger), but I was determined to get one on my brush! Even without the Mickeys though, there is plenty of glittery fall goodness here to keep you happy. It was a lot of fun applying this polish because I couldn't wait to see what type of glitter would come out of the bottle next--and the excellent formula certainly didn't hurt either!

I'm planning on wearing Mick Or Treat as my Halloween mani and I can't wait to wear it again. I'll probably do it over a light base next time, just to see how it compares. As for Lumina Lacquer, I'm totally hooked!

You can purchase Lumina Lacquer from their website.