Butter London Stroppy

It's been a while since I've featured a BL polish on here. I used to be obsessed with the brand but they seem to be emphasizing their foray into makeup much more than their polish lately. But I had an urge to wear some purple polish over the weekend, so I pulled this one out of my untrieds.

Stroppy is a purple shimmer with a slight pink color shift. The shift looks very intense in the bottle (you can even see some gold in there too) but is considerably more subtle on the nail. I won't lie, it was super disappointing, but when you consider Stroppy for what it actually is instead of what the bottle teases, it's still very pretty. It has beautiful red flecks that helps make up for the lack of shifty goodness.

The formula was average--nothing much to report. I used three coats here.

Would this polish be even prettier with that fantastic color shift? Of course! I hate vanishing shimmers and shifters. But it's still a lovely purple, so long as you know what to expect.

Deborah Lippmann Miss Independent

Meet one of my new absolute favorite vamps: Deborah Lippmann Miss Independent! This is the perfect shade of blackened plum. I have a lot of really deep burgundy and red polishes, but I haven't gotten into dark purples too much in the past and man, have I been missing out! I'm just a little bit obsessed with this color.

The formula is top-notch. What you see above is two effortless coats.

This mani was also my first time trying the re-formulated version of Deborah Lippmann's Gel Lab base and top coat duo, which is now known as Gel Lab Pro. The original Gel Lab is my HG (you can read my full review HERE) but I gotta say, the Pro version improved on an already-fantastic formula even more. It's super, super shiny and the consistency is just perfect. Gel Lab is one of those products that you kinda hate to love, because it's pricey, but it's so damn good that I keep coming back to it!

Lynnderella New Year's Eve Eve

It wouldn't be a New Year's mani without glitter and I figure there's no better choice than Lynderella New Year's Eve Eve! This is a rainbow explosion of glitter in all shapes and sizes that brings to mind the gallons of confetti that will be falling in Times Square tonight.

I layered two coats over Wet N Wild Break The Ice, a pearly white shimmer. I thought it was the perfect base because it lets the colorful glitters stand out while still adding some sparkle of its own.

New Year's Eve Eve didn't have any notable formula issues. Like any glitter polish of this type, you'll get some large pieces that need to be guided away from the free edge of the nail, but otherwise this has a nice 'n easy formula.

I absolutely love this mani and how it looks like a little party on my nails! A big thanks to my buddy (and one-time Twinsie Tuesday member) Tara for gifting it to me!

What's on your nails tonight? Any fun New Year's plans? I'm eating tacos and watching "Archer" with my boyfriend. My kind of night. :)

Nubar Holiday Gala Collection: Review & Swatches

Hey guys! I wanted to start the weekend off right with some holiday swatches for you, so today we'll be checking out Nubar's Holiday Gala Collection! We've got four sparklies to talk about, so let's get to it.

Violet Sparkle is a violet glitterbomb. I like wearing polishes like this alone for a full-on glitter explosion, so I layered Violet Sparkle up to full opacity with four coats. Again, sorry for the cuts on my index finger. Most of these swatches were taken when the cuts were still healing. :-/

Petunia Sparkle is a magenta version of Violet Sparkle. I got soooo many compliments on this one. When the girl working the drive-thru window asks to see your nails, you know it's good. ;) This is four coats again.

Red Ruby Glitz is a classic holiday red shimmer, very much in the vein of China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Since this has a tinted base, it's much more opaque than the previous two glitters and only needed two coats.

The last polish is my favorite of the collection: Celebration Sparkles! This has rainbow hex and micro glitters. This is such a fun polish and would be perfect for a New Year's party! This is two coats over Sally Hansen Celeb City, a silver foil.

You can purchase the Holiday Gala Collection on Nubar's website. Which shade is your favorite? Do you have a holiday nail look planned out yet?


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

Zoya Savita

Savita is one of the most beloved of Zoya's Matte Velvet shades. This rich, regal purple satin is definitely one of my favorites! I love the color itself and the shimmer is to die for. There's just the right amount!

Something happened when I was painting with Savita that I've never experienced with a nail polish before. It smelled. And not just a strong nail polish/chemical smell, but almost...skunky or sour? I really can't describe it, but it was weird. It was noticeable until the polish dried, then after that I couldn't smell it. But it was such a random irregularity that I thought it was worth mentioning.

Other than some stank, Savita had a nice enough formula. Like a lot of mattes, you have to watch your brushstrokes so you don't wind up with lines, but the opacity and consistency are both great. What you see above is two coats.

What's your favorite Matte Velvet? And have you ever had an especially smelly polish? I'm curious if I'm the only one!

LOOK Nail Color Fall Collection: Review & Swatches

 

 Hey guys! I hope you all had a good weekend! Yesterday was the boyfriend and I's three-year anniversary, so we went out for a nice dinner. I actually wore one of the polishes from LOOK's fall collection that I'm going to show you all today. Let's get to it!

Black is just that: a black creme. Since there are so many black polishes out there, for me it all comes down to formula--and this has a really great one! This was two easy coats. I use black a lot for nail art and glitter bases, so I'll be reaching for this one a lot in the future.

Lavender is a purple creme. I love rich purples like this, although I wouldn't classify this shade as lavender. The color is too saturated for that. I used two coats here. Oh, and this is the polish I wore to our dinner, in case you were wondering. Of course I wore some glitter on top though! Stay tuned for that mani in another post...

Pistachio is far and away my favorite polish of the collection. Y'all know I liiiivvveee for bright greens and slightly yellow-tinged ones like Pistachio will always have a special place in my heart. What you see below is three coats.

Orange is a bright orange with almost neon levels of intensity. But for how bright it is, it is surprisingly sheer going on. I used three coats, but I probably could have done with a fourth.

This would make a nice set of Halloween colors, don't you think? It's a nice little collection overall. You can purchase LOOK from their website.


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

Color Club Eternal Beauty

Color Club's Halo Hues are widely beloved as some of the greatest holographic polishes ever and I can't say I disagree. They're richly pigmented, buttery smooth and fast-drying. I really can't say enough positive things about them. You need to own at least one of these beauties!

I had a hard time finding the Halo Hues in my neck of the woods, so I've relied on friends for most of the ones in my collection. One of my very favorite Halo Hues is Eternal Beauty, a purple stunner that I received in one of our Twinsie Tuesday holiday swaps from Amanda. I could have easily taken dozens pictures of this polish basking in the sun like this. But as happy as I am with these photos, they still don't hold a candle to how mesmerizing Eternal Beauty looks in person.

 And a final parting shot in less direct sun:

The formula, as is the case with all the Halo Hues, is fantastic. You don't need a special base to get smooth application with intense holo pay-off, although I do skip the top coat with these to get the most out of the holo. What you see above is two coats.

Which brands make your favorite holos? Aside from Halo Hues, which really take the cake for me, I also love a-England's. I really want to try some of the holos in the Colors by Llarowe line!

Seche Not Easily Swept Away

Seche Vite top coat is legendary, but did you know Seche makes polish too? I was gifted a bottle a while back: a pink-based lavender creme called Not Easily Swept Away. The name is kinda weird, but the polish itself is a nice spring pastel.

Sorry if my edges are a little messy. I used this polish as a glitter base, so I didn't do any real clean-up.

The formula here is pretty much your typical pastel: a little patchy, but ultimately opaque in three coats. There was some noticeable drag with this one too. The brush is virtually identical to Seche Vite's.

Is this a unique color? Nope. Most of the major polish lines will have something close, if not exactly like Not Easily Swept Away. But it's pretty enough and it's a good go-to type of shade to have in your arsenal if you don't have something like it already. I'm kind of a whore for lavender polish, so I personally can never have too many (admittedly subtle) variations of it!

Essie Hubby For Dessert

The name of this polish irks me so much. I don't even know why, but it does. I felt like I had to get that out of the way before I say anything else about Essie Hubby For Dessert. (*shudders*) As for the polish itself, it's a lovely pale lavender jelly from this year's bridal collection.

As expected with jellies--especially a pastel jelly like this one--Hubby For Dessert is on the sheer side, but overall it's not too bad. I started with a coat of Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage underneath to help disguise any VNL and I was able to get away with just three coats of polish! The consistency is nice and this is a polish that also self-levels very well. It's also super shiny! I used Hubby For Dessert as a base for a jelly sandwich for this week's Twinsie Tuesday, so what you see here is just Hubby For Dessert by itself, sans topcoat. Just look how sleek it is!

I wasn't planning on picking up anything from Essie's 2015 bridal collection, but something about this polish called to me when I saw it in person. I'm really glad I did decide to get it, because it's adorable! I'd even consider wearing it on my own wedding day. :)

Twinsie Tuesday: Jelly Sandwich

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is easy enough: a jelly sandwich. Yet I still screwed something up with it, which I'll get to in a minute. Let's start with the basics here. My base was Essie Hubby For Dessert, a light lavender jelly from this year's bridal collection. Then in the middle part of my sandwich, I used Butter London Doily, a milky pink base filled with matte white bar and hex glitters.

So I dunno if it was the fault of Doily or my OPI Infinite Shine top coat, but I had some pretty noticeable bubbling here. It's not as visible in pictures, but it's there. So I think I put one of those two on a little too thick, but what can ya do?

Other than the bubbling issues, I'm pretty pleased with this mani. It looks light and airy--perfect for spring! I know it's supposed to be summer, but with the rainy weather we have here in Michigan today it sure doesn't feel like it!

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

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

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

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.

Lumina Lacquer All Tied Up

Lumina Lacquer All Tied Up is a pink, purple and white explosion of circle and hex glitters. Usually the mere presence of circle glitter (let alone holographic circle glitter, as is the case with All Tied Up) is enough to earn my stamp of approval, but what's really magical about All Tied Up is the inclusion of bow-shaped glitters!

All Tied Up was originally a holiday polish from Lumina, but with the right base, I think it makes an awesome spring glitter topper too! My choice here was Deborah Lippmann Build Me Up Buttercup. I was tempted to use a baby pink creme, but I thought the pastel yellow gave the glitters more of a chance to pop.

All Tied Up was a little tricky to apply. It took some maneuvering to keep the glitters from bunching all together. The dabbling method of application is your best bet to ensure even distribution across the nail. I used two coats here.

All Tied Up is a discontinued polish (sorry y'all), but there are plenty of other goodies to be found at Lumina Lacquer's website.

Happy Hands Motherboy

Let's take a moment to pour some out for Happy Hands. They closed up shop last year, but I still love wearing their awesome polish...while mourning the lack of future additions to their Arrested Development-themed collection. :-/ One of my favorites from that set is Motherboy, a matte pastel glitterbomb(!) with  pops of pink, purple and green in a clear base. The temperature has been below zero for the past couple days, so I needed some spring color in my life! I paired Motherboy with OPI That's Hula-rious! and together, they're like a little garden party on my nails. :)

I love this combo! It's so cute and colorful! Pastels are some of my favorite shades to wear, so to have them all together like this in one mani is perfect for me!

What is your favorite defunct polish brand?

a-england Crown of Thistles

Have you ever looked at a polish collection and thought, "Yeah, I'm-a need all of that"? Well that was my reaction to a-england's newest collection, Elizabeth & Mary. I was lucky enough to receive two polishes from this glorious collection as a holiday gift from the wonderful Tiffany and the one I'll be sharing with you guys today is called Crown of Thistles.

It's a regal shade of amethyst with a stunning finish. I hesitate to call it a scattered holo; a-england's official description refers to it as "prismatic," which I think is more accurate. Whatever you want to call it, this polish is very glow-y (to use a technical term, haha) and it pulses when the light hits it. a-england Briar Rose has a similar finish and it's just as mouth-wateringly gorgeous with Crown of Thistles' lush purple as it is with Briar Rose's rich cranberry.

Crown of Thistles has a lovely formula that's actually almost a one-coater! I used two here. I wore it sans topcoat and I had some visible tipwear after one day, but no chips.

Born Pretty BP-05 Stamping Plate: Review & Swatches

My stamping mini-adventure has come to an end, 'cause today I'm reviewing the last of my Born Pretty stamping plates! These reviews were my first foray into the world of stamping. It's been fun and it's been frustrating. I can't say I'll ever be a stamping fanatic--I lack the patience and precision to really pull off anything impressive--but the plates themselves are nice quality and it was cool to try something new.

Anywho, the last plate I chose to review was plate BP-05:




I really liked the vine-like design (the one on the left) on this plate, so I decided to do a little accent manicure with it, using a-england Crown of Thistles as my base and then stamping with Essie No Place Like Chrome.

I tried to just do it so the vines were only on portions of my nail, almost like they were growing across the nail. It's nothing that'll wow a stamping aficionado, but I think it came out kinda cute!

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.