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!

Zoya Vega

I want to apologize that I haven't been around as much this past week or so. In fairness, I've been watching my boyfriend's cat while his family is out of town and really, how can I be expected to concentrate when this adorable face wants to cuddle and play?

But I did manage to tear myself away for some nail time. I was in the mood for some serious glitter and they don't come much glitzier than Zoya's Magic PixieDusts! It's been a while since I wore a textured polish but I was itching to wear one again.

Vega is an icy blue textured polish with chunky silver holo glitter. I know a lot of people were divided on the Magic PixieDusts but I really like them! Amanda was kind enough to hook me up with the first batch of them for my birthday last year and Vega might just be my favorite of the trio. The base color is beautiful and all that extra glitter and holo on top certainly doesn't hurt! It's like an uber version of one of my other favorite textures, OPI Tiffany Case.

Vega is more opaque than most of the other Magic PixieDusts. I probably could have stopped at two coats but I applied three for good measure. I find thinner coats work best with PixieDust polishes, as some of them can be a little slow to dry.

I know textured polish isn't "on trend" anymore, but I still like to bust out my favorite textures. They're pretty, so that's all I care about. :) Do you still wear textures or have they gone the way of crackle?

Twinsie Tuesday: Julie G Hot Cinnamon

This week, we're showcasing polishes we received in a swap. One of my most frequent swapping partners is my fellow Twinsie Amanda and I chose this beautiful Julie G textured polish, Hot Cinnamon, to show you guys today! Hot Cinnamon is a warm, rich red texture with bits of gold shimmer. This originally came out as part of a holiday collection and you can see how it would be a natural fit for that aesthetic. I love how bright and luxurious it looks!

Hot Cinnamon has a stellar formula--super smooth to apply and the consistency is just right. It is almost a one-coater, but I used two here.

A huge thanks goes out to Amanda for hooking me up with this polish! There's only one, super sketchy Rite Aid in my area, so I can never find the new Julie G collections anywhere by me. But she was kind enough to be my Julie G connection!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

KBShimmer Dressed To Gild

KBShimmer Dressed To Gild just might be the most sparkly polish in my entire collection. This holographic gold textured polish with splashes of lime green and lavender glitter is ridiculously vibrant. Pictures don't even begin to do it justice; it's too hard to capture how pretty Dressed To Gild looks as the light hits it. And you know something? This has quickly become one of my favorite polishes...well, ever!

 Slightly blurry shot to show off dat shimmer...

Considering how dense this polish is, I thought it'd be really chunky and thick to apply. But I was pleasantly surprised by how wonderful the formula is. There's no drag at all and the consistency is spot-on. I only needed two coats. Dressed To Gild is meant to be worn as a textured polish, so I skipped the top coat here. Dry time was very quick.

So yeah, absolutely loooooveeee this. It has so many of my favorite things: holo, glitter, gold, bright colors... Seriously y'all: buy this polish. You'll thank yourself later.

You can purchase KBShimmer from their website.

Zoya Cosmo

Zoya Cosmo is a silver textured polish with holographic silver glitter pieces. This is one of the original Magical PixieDusts, which featured a denser, chunkier look. People seemed less enthusiastic about the latest round of Magic PixieDusts, released this summer, but Zoya did a fantastic job with the first installment. They took everything awesome about the original PixieDusts and threw on some extra sparkly holo goodness! What's not to love?

A big thank you to the ever-wonderful Amanda for hooking me up with this beauty! :)

The most common complaint I read against the summer Magic PixieDusts was that they weren't fully opaque. But the originals are much denser, so you can easily build them up to full coverage. I used three coats here. You do have to guide the larger glitter pieces away from the free edge of the nail and be careful not to overload your brush, but otherwise, application was pretty good. 

Are you a fan of the Magic PixieDusts? They can be somewhat polarizing, but you know where I stand on them! ;)

Dermelect Gilded

Ever wonder what would happen if someone took Chanel Peridot (aka possibly my favorite polish ever) and turned it into an awesome metallic textured polish? Well then I gotta introduce you to Dermelect Gilded! This rich gold from Dermelect's new Bejeweled Collection has the teal color shift of a duochrome, the gleaming metallic finish of a foil and the finish of a texture. Basically, there's a lotta stuff going on here and it's all awesome!

This was my first time trying one of Dermelect's polishes and I was very impressed not only by how beautiful Gilded itself is, but by the excellent formula too. It applied very smoothly and covered in three coats.

I'm surprised we don't see more metallic textures; I like them a lot! Gilded is not only a great textured polish, but also a perfect fall metallic. As I mentioned above, there's a lot of different elements to this polish, yet they all work marvelously together!

You can purchase Dermelect from their website. Also, a quick note that they are currently hosting a fun contest through their Instagram account (@dermelect) where if you post a picture of your favorite Dermelect mani with your favorite piece of jewelery, you could win all four polishes from the Bejeweled Collection! Stay tuned for more photos of the Bejeweled beauties in the days to come... ;)


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

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!

Zoya Carter

Zoya Carter is a black-based texture with purple glitter. Second to Liquid Sand, Pixie Dusts are my favorite textured polishes and Carter is a prime example of why. It has a dense, vibrant sparkle that really stands out, especially against the black base. This would be a great polish for a night out!

I've had a major lemming for Carter for a while now, so I was thrilled to find it on clearance a few weeks back! Score!

The formula was great and reached opacity in three coats. Pixie Dusts always wear like iron on me, which is one of the things I love about them--and really, textured polishes in general.

Twinsie Tuesday: Julie G Crushed Candy

Just when I thought spring was finally coming, it decided to snow here yesterday! Ugh! I feel like all this snow is never going to melt... But with spring (allegedly) on its way, this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme has us showcasing winter to spring transition polishes!

I like to wear something sparkly on my nails...well, all year, really, but especially during winter time. Come spring, I tend to favor pastels. So I picked a polish that had a little something of both: Julie G Crushed Candy! This glittering pink textured polish (part of Julie G's "Gumdrop" line) reminds me of cotton candy you might get at the fair. It's so cute!

The formula is excellent and covers in two coats. The only place I know of to buy Julie G is Rite Aid and the Rite Aid by me is super jank (It's like stepping into a dirty, early 90s timewarp) but my fellow Twinsie, the always helpful Amanda, was kind enough to hook me up with some of these Gumdrop polishes! So a big thanks goes out to her!

I haven't worn a textured polish in a while now so Crushed Candy was a nice reminder of just how much I love them. Plus I've got an extra busy day at work today, so I need a polish that will wear like iron on me and textures never let me down!

Be sure to take a look at what my fellow Twinsies picked as their transitional polishes!

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

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

Twinsie Tuesday: Holiday Gift

Nothing says "holiday season" like torturing your friends with nail art challenges. At least, that was our rationale for this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme, holiday gift. This week, we were paired up with a fellow Twinsie and gave each other "gifts" of assignments that would stretch their talents and challenge them. My partner was Lakeisha, who had me do a gradient mani. (Be sure to head over to Lakeisha's blog to see what I challenged her to do. Warning: I was pretty evil. Muahahahaha... Sorry, Lakeisha!)

I've never tried a gradient before, so I kept mine pretty simple with two colors. I love the way textured gradients in particular look and I thought that might be fun to try. So my two polishes were OPI Solitaire and Julie G Blueberry Fizz. I think they look nice and winter-y together!

I wasn't sure if I'd be any good at a gradient (with me and nail art, complete and utter failure is always a potential outcome) but I'm actually really proud of how this mani turned out! I've dubbed them my "ice princess" nails. :)

I had accidentally posted this manicure a week early, so whether this is your first or second time seeing it, I hope you like it! Be sure to check out what my other Twinsies have gifted each other this week!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Traci at DrinkCitra

Zoya Dhara

Zoya Dhara is a bright orange PixieDust polish with gold glitter. This would work great as both a citrus-y orange for summer or as companion to the changing leaves for fall. Maybe it's because everything is so grey and somber here this time of year in Michigan, but I find that Dhara's cheery orange is a nice little pick-me-up.

The formula is excellent and covers in three coats. Like Liquid Sand, PixieDust polishes are virtually bulletproof on me and Dhara is no exception. I find myself reaching for textured polishes on days when I know I'm going to be hard on my hands and I don't want to worry about chips or breaks. I've been wearing Dhara for more than four days now (this is an ETERNITY for me, but my schedule's been too crazy lately for me to re-paint my nails) and it still looks good as new!

OPI Jinx

I have worn many a textured polish this year and I don't think it would be hyperbole to say that OPI Jinx is the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous of them all. This intensely vibrant red with glimmers of gold is, quite simply, perfect. It's not only perhaps my favorite textured polish ever (OPI Tiffany Case and Zoya Stevie would be the other contenders) but one of my all-time favorite OPIs, period.

Jinx applies as marvelously as she looks. She's pretty much opaque in two coats, but I wound up applying three, because I'm super anal retentive about VNL. I love how the second pic came out a little blurred, as it helps show off that amazing gold shimmer that makes Jinx so special. It's insane how much this polish glows! I really cannot say enough about how beautiful Jinx is.

If you're still on the fence about the whole texture thing, give Jinx a try. I think she'll win you over! The wonderful formula and gorgeous mix of red and gold are a prime example of textured polish done right. Or if you're already a convert, then Jinx needs to have a place in your collection, plain and simple!

Do you love Jinx as much as I do? What's YOUR favorite textured polish?

OPI Honey Ryder

I had come to regret missing out on OPI Honey Ryder from this summer's Bond Girls Collection, so when I happened across a lone bottle at the store this past weekend, I snatched it up! Honey Ryder is named for the original Bond girl, portrayed by Ursula Andress in Dr. No. Due to her heavy accent, Andress' voice was actually dubbed over in the film. But she still managed to earn her place in cinematic history by making one hell of an entrance in the film. Get it, gurl.

With Honey embodying all things sun and sand, it makes perfect sense that the polish that bears her name is a gleaming shade of gold.

The formula here is outstanding; one of the nicest I've encountered in a textured polish, OPI or otherwise. It goes on flawlessly and is very nearly a one-coater, although I used two here. I'm pretty finicky about golds on me. I don't think they are the most flattering on my skin tone and I try to avoid any golds with too much yellow in them. But Honey Ryder is a perfect true gold and I absolutely love it! Not only does it make for a great summer shade, it also works well as a holiday metallic. I'm so glad I picked this one up!

China Glaze Unrefined

I have been on the fence about non-sparkly textured polishes, but last time I was at Sally, they had some of China Glaze's textured polishes on clearance, so I decided to try one out. My friend Cordia shared some beautiful pictures of Unrefined, a textured bubblegum pink, on Facebook the other day and I'd had that polish in the back of my mind ever since, making it the natural choice. Once I got over the fact that creme textured polishes totally remind me of popcorn ceilings (just like the ones in my own apartment), I was kind of surprised how much I actually like this polish.

Unlike sparkly textured polishes, which look mostly like regular polish when you're first applying them, I could see and feel the little textured granules in this polish as I was spreading it across my nail. You'd think this would cause some application difficulties, but it was surprisingly easy and Unrefined was opaque in just two coats.

I am not a total convert to non-glittery textures yet, but I must admit I really enjoyed Unrefined. It's such a fun shade of bubble gum pink and the textured finish gives it a trendy twist. What do you think of China Glaze's textured polishes?

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks is, hands down, one of the most beautiful textured polishes I have ever seen. The lush indigo base with gleams of royal purple and gold is absolutely to die for! But could someone please enlighten me on the reasoning behind the ellipses in the name here? I feel like I'm missing something. Odd grammar aside, well done, OPI! I think their Liquid Sands get prettier and prettier with each new collection!

The formula is fabulous and is completely opaque in two coats. As much as I love Zoya PixieDust, I think Liquid Sand has a bit of an edge, because they don't have the weird dry down that some of the PixieDust polishes do, where the polish doesn't "crystallize" all at once as it dries.

If you are a fan of textured polishes, Alcatraz...Rocks is a must-have! It's got a fantastic formula and I love the depth it has; those glints of purple and gold add tremendously to this polish. I only picked up two polishes from the San Francisco Collection (this and Peace & Love & OPI) but I think they're both beautiful! Have you bought anything from this collection yet?

Zoya Miranda

Zoya Miranda is a raspberry-colored textured polish with silver glitter bits. It's a gorgeous shade--not quite red, not quite pink--that the texture lends a fun, modern twist to.

The formula applies well and covers in two coats. One thing I will say about the PixieDust polishes though is they dry a bit funny. I feel like with OPI Liquid Sand, the polish "crystallizes" all at once, whereas PixieDust is a little slower; some areas solidify, while others still have a soft surface. (Does this make sense?) It doesn't really detract from the polish itself, I just find it sort of odd. Overall though, I really like the PixieDust polishes and can't wait to check out some of the new ones coming out for fall!

Twinsie Tuesday: Mish Mosh

This week's Twinsie Tuesday, a theme dubbed "mish mosh," has us doing a new technique/idea on each nail. The nature of this challenge allows for a lot of creative freedom, so I decided to take my Essie Using My Maiden Name mani from the other day and have a little fun experimenting with it; y'know, see where my mind and my stash would take me. :) It's definitely not my favorite mani I've done, but it was interesting to play around with some different ideas and combinations.

On my thumb, I layered Finger Paints Motley, a blue and green flakie, over Using My Maiden Name. The supremely gorgeous Zoya Stevie, a birthday gift from my Twinsie Maribeth, is on my index finger. My middle finger is a dry marble with Using My Maiden Name, Essie Bikini So Teeny and Essie Navigate Her. Another Twinsie, ChiChi, actually introduced me to the dry marbling technique for one of our marching orders challenges and I think it's pretty ingenious! You get effects similar to a water marbling, but without all the hassle. I probably could have used a bolder color in the mix to break things up, because it kind of came out like a watery-looking mess. I wanted the colors in the dry marble to sort of match up to the colors of the flakies in Motley. My ring finger is a caviar mani using beads from a Born Pretty set. For my pinkie, I did a simple glitter layering with OPI Pirouette My Whistle. (Phew! So much hyperlinking going on in this paragraph!)

So there you have it: my mish mosh mani! Some nails turned out well, others not so much, but it was a fun experiment and I like that I got to incorporate some techniques and polishes from some of my Twinsies!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

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

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Traci at DrinkCitra

Born Pretty 3D Nail Art Patch Nail Foil Decal Stickers: Review & Swatches

Hope you all are having a good weekend so far! Mine has been quite exciting! My boyfriend and I caught a Tigers game yesterday, then my parents surprised us with some tickets to see Bob Dylan tonight! I am a huge Dylan fan, both of his current and classic material, so seeing him live is definitely on my bucket list. I haven't been to a concert in a loonnggg time, so this is going to be fun!

On the nail news front, I'll be showing you a set of decals from Born Pretty Store today. Unlike Born Pretty's water and sticker decals--which are absolutely fabulous, by the way--these decals function more like nail wraps, where they cover your entire nail and then you file off the excess. There are several different designs to choose from (see them all HERE) and I went with #7, a design with black stripes and silver rhinestones.

Here's a mani I did with one of the wraps on my ring finger and OPI Solitaire on the rest of my hand.

The reason I did an accent nail is that when I tried to do a full mani with these, it wound up turning into a hot, crinkly mess. It's a shame because the design is very pretty and I would like how it looks on my nails if I only I could get it to flatten out. The adhesive on these decals is so strong that it is nearly impossible to get them to lie completely taut across the nail. They stick to your nail with even the slightest bit of pressure, which makes for great wear time but frustrating application. I figure that every time you're trying a new brand of nail wraps or decals, there is a bit of a learning curve to get a feel for texture and application, but no matter what I tried with these, I could not get the decals to lie completely flat without any wrinkling or creasing. Once a crease formed, I was unable to smooth it out much. I tried these both over polish and on bare nails with no real luck.

If you've got the magic touch when it comes to nail wraps and have more deft fingers than mine, you might be able to make these work. But based on my personal experience, I honestly can't recommend these. Application is not very forgiving and the end result looks noticeably crinkled on the nail. I was pretty disappointed, because Born Pretty has so many outstanding nail art products, but these just were not up to par. I have completely adored almost every product from Born Pretty I've ever tried. Unfortunately, these decals are the reason I have to add that "almost." If you want a better representation of the quality and variety the store has to offer, feel free to check out some of the reviews I've done in the past.

If there is anything you'd like to order from Born Pretty, they have been kind enough to offer a 10% off code for Nailed readers:

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

Zoya Solange

I have had a crazy busy week so far and while that doesn't leave me with as much time to play around with my nails as I would like, I have been able to squeeze in a new mani here and there. My latest is Zoya Solange: a warm, yellow gold from the most recent batch of PixieDust polishes.

I wasn't sure if this would be a very flattering shade on me, but I must admit I took quite a liking to it. It reminds me of sandy beaches and sunshine! The formula is a bit odd, as I've found some PixieDust polishes tend to dry unevenly. The polish appears to "crystalize," if you will, but it'll still have some wet patches too, which can make layering on the next coat something of a guessing game. I originally used two coats of Solange, but after it dried completely, I noticed some bald spots had appeared and went back to do a third coat.

Despite a few formula hiccups, the combination of a textured finish with such a radiant yellow is incredibly beautiful. It looks just like coating your nails in gold foil!