Apparently I forgot how to blog...

So many things are happening here at Paint Box Polish, but to look at the blog, you'd never know! My bad, folks. My bad. I'm going to work on changing that up and am going to put an effort into updating here as well. What will that mean for you? Well, you'll have a better understanding of why I'm not a writer. And you'll have a heads up on what's down the pike.

Since I last posted, Paint Box Polish got a new home! We moved and now there is a dedicated office for the business. Our line has also expanded to include fabulous mani fizzes! We've partnered with a local friend who is fantastic at mani fizzes and we have great scent options that are available now.

We've released new collections! The Dragons Are A Girl's Best Friend collection released and all but one polish are still available. Our summer 2105 set - The North Shore Collection - was inspired by Hawaii's North Shore and is pretty fantastic. Our newest full collection is The Knight Bus. It was released on Black Friday and is still available. It is a nod to my favorite Harry Potter book and film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We also released two limited edition, one pour collections that paired polish and mani fizzes to celebrate New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day. Those are both sold out, and we're looking to do similar sets in the future.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming Spring collection. It's going to be fantastic!

We are also going to be offering luxe minis soon. Bigger than the minis we sold back in the day, these are 8 mL bottles that are the same style as our current bottles, but just a bit smaller. They have full sized brushes and caps, so the polishing experience will be superb! I'll be listing them as soon as their labels arrive from the printer.

What else is on the horizon? Changes. Big ones. Paint Box Polish will have a new name, a new website, and a new shopping platform that'll translate to a better shopping experience for you. The polish will remain the same. The people behind the polishes will remain the same. The bottle shape will be the same. The only difference in what shows up at your door or what you buy in stores will be the name on the label. I'm very excited about these changes and I hope you are too!

If you have any questions, concerns, or want to share a virtual high five, comment here or email me. My email is pam@paintboxpolish.com

Abigail Leigh - Help me work to end ovarian cancer!

September is ovarian cancer awareness month, and it is a cause near and dear to my heart because last year, my sister in law was diagnosed with it. Watching what this fierce, strong, hilarious, wonderful woman became during her chemo and radiation was incredibly sad. And terrifying. And I've never told her that. :) You see someone you love suffering and you put on a brave and happy face and try to be encouraging, no matter how you feel inside. But now I'm all FEEL-y and that's not what this post is about...

Helping! How can we help? Research needs to be done. I hate research, but there are folks out there who love it (thank heavens!). Research takes money. So... I've made Abigail Leigh. It's teal because that's the color for ovarian cancer awareness. It's glittery and shimmery because shimmery glittery polish is pretty. It's named Abigail Leigh because that is my sister-in-law's name. I'm donating $3 for each bottle sold to UnTEAL There Is A Cure, a non-profit organization started by Karen and Mike Collins after Karen was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Their mission is to provide hope for cancer patients and survivors by raising money for ovarian cancer research and in the past two years, they have raised $73,000.00 for the cause.

Here she is, go buy a bottle and help fight ovarian cancer! If you don't love the polish but have a couple of dollars to spare, you can visit the UnTEAL There Is A Cure website and donate directly.

What's happening in the lab...

Long time, no post readers! I've made it clear that I have no great love for writing and would rather be mixing in the lab, but I suppose I'd tease you lovelies with things that you can expect to see in the coming months.

First of all, I'd love to thank everyone for your interest in my cuticle oils! I picked just a couple of scents to offer in the beginning as I didn't know if this oil thing would even take off. I stuck with essential oils, but have just placed quite an order for fragrance oils to play with. Plan on seeing some fall and winter holiday scents, baked goods scents, fresh/floral scents, and some masculine scents as well.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a teaser of my inspiration for the upcoming fall collection. I've been calling it "Them Be Dragons" in jest, but who knows? It may stick!

I'll also throw another idea out at you folks... I'm thinking of branching out further into skin/nail care. Things like hand lotions, hand & foot soaks, and such. Is this something you would be interested in? Are you sick of seeing these on the indie market, or do you think there is room for more? What kinds of things do you look for when purchasing items such as these?

I'm just noodling this stuff around at this point. I'd have to perfect recipes, look into packaging, etc. before expanding into these other products, so we're talking months down the road.

I appreciate your feedback!

Sweet & Treats collection available now!

For real swatches, I steal (lovingly and with permission) photos my talented friends have taken of my polishes.

First up we have Pygmy Puff - complete with a little flocking powder Arnold! - courtesy of Jacki from Adventures in Acetone.

Here is Ashley from Ashley Is Polish Addicted showcasing the violet flakies in Sugar Spun Quills.

Cas from The Mani-Logues used Sugar Spun Quills in a stamped mani.

She also posted this awesome shot of Acid Pops in her review on her blog.

Lastly, Sheila from Pointless Cafe captured the flakies in Fizzing Whizbees (and our others) beautifully in her review!

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll recognize that the series has inspired a Paint Box Polish collection again! I thought Honeydukes' candy shop and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke shop were perfect to draw on for a brightly colored summer collection.

I hope you're a fan! You can find these and all of my other products available here. Paint Box Polish now has cuticle oil and glass nail files as well as polish. Gift sets in a pretty gift bag are also available.

Don't forget you can also stop by the Paint Box Polish booth at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange show in Indianpolis on June 14th. I think I've bribed my sister-in-law to be my minion in exchange for polish and beer. :) We're nice people and would love to say hello!

INDIEana Handicraft Exchange - See us in person!

I'm excited to share with you that Paint Box Polish will be a vendor in this summer's INDIEana Handicraft Exchange show in Indianapolis! There are going to be a ton of vendors there (though I believe PBP is the only polish vendor) with clothing, jewelry, paper goods, toys, etc. It looks to be a real-life Etsy. I'm very excited!

I will have all colors available - oldies plus the Summer Sweets & Treats collection - as well as cuticle oils and nail files. I'd love to see you folks! Swing by and say hello. :)

To find detailed info about the show, click here. It is June 14th from 12-8pm at Harrison Center for the Arts on Delaware Street in Indianapolis. There is also a music festival going on that day and there will be local craft brewers (beer, ciders, wine) and great food. See? Such a good time. I'd love to see you!

And I'll add nail wheel swatches and bottle shots of the upcoming collection, because why not?

Coming Soon - Paint Box Polish Sweets & Treats Collection!

Summer is almost here and so are some bright, new colors! I drew inspiration from all things summer. Flowers, sun, fun, and candy! Here are some quick shots of the new colors. I'll highlight more swatch photos from bloggers after I send out blogger packs and posts start appearing!

The colors in this set are L-R: Acid Pops, Pygmy Puff, Fizzing Whizbees, and Sugar Spun Quills. Yes, fellow Potter nuts. The Harry Potter theme continues! 

Acid Pops is a bright, apple green with green flakies and green/blue shimmer. Pygmy Puff is a matte coral shimmer with gold flakies. Fizzing Whizbees is an orange crelly with tiny rainbow flakies, and Sugar Spun Quills is a deep, berry pink with violet flakies. I. Love. Them. All!

I also have gift sets available now in my Big Cartel store. Your choice of any currently in stock polish, any cuticle oil, and either a cobalt blue or royal purple mini glass nail file for $15. The set comes in a pretty bag, and it is ready for giving.

The Sweets & Treats collection will be available mid-June and gift sets are available now at www.paintboxpolish.bigcartel.com.

Ch-ch-changes...

I've been putting a lot of thought into this blog and the direction I want to take it. It started as a place to post pictures and remind myself what the twenty polishes I had looked like on my hands.

My stash has grown, and I'm now spending most of my polish time creating new stuff for Paint Box Polish. I still love painting my nails, and they are almost never naked. I also love the excitement of creating custom orders for customers. In order to spend more time creating and not always feel the pull of, "You really need to post this mani..." I've decided to change how I use this page...

I am going to post photos of my manis on my Instagram account (link over there --->). This way, I can still spread the love and share polish - both awesome and not so awesome - with my followers. I plan to share inspiration for new polishes and sneak peeks here. If you follow via Bloglovin (also over there --->), you can be alerted when I've published something new.

There is also a new tab up top. I've listed my polishes exclusively through Etsy before, but I'm going to be transitioning over to Big Cartel. I think their set up is much cleaner looking and easier to navigate. Links to both shops are in the "Paint Box Polish Shop" tab.

So, I'll continue to be around, just in a bit of a different way. Obviously, writing is not my strong suit, and I think IG is a more Pam-friendly format. :) Drop me a line at pam@paintboxpolish.com if you have questions, suggestions, or are in need of a custom order - one bottle or one hundred!

Dandy Nails Love Affair

Today I've got my first polish from Dandy Nails! Sandy makes fabulous polishes and is well-established in the indie polish world. She came out with a set of amazing holos (the DandyGraphic collection) in November and I forced myself to buy only one. Because I'm trying to show restraint. :)

Love Affair is a dark pink, burgundy-ish color that is just beautiful. Then throw in that lovely, tightly scattered holo and I'm done. In my cart it went!

Direct sunlight

The formula of this is just perfection! Thick enough to be an easy one coater, but not so thick that it's gloopy and difficult to place. The brush was flat and a bit wide, so there were zero issues. I don't think I did any clean up with this mani at all. 

On a side note, look at that sunshine! Gah, I miss it. The temperature is -20 here in Indiana and I feel like the sun has been hiding for weeks. I love winter, but I'm done with it. :)

Slightly blurred because RAINBOWS!

Dandy Nails are available in her Etsy store here. Love Affair is in stock and available for $10.00. She has several lovely polishes and I'm going to have to indulge in more soon!

Stay warm, folks! Are you in a warm climate? Can I come visit? :)

A Study in Polish I Do Post-Mortems and Not Your Housekeeper

It's just about an hour until the new season of Sherlock airs on PBS (9:58 EST), and in it's honor, I'm back with the newest Sherlock polishes from A Study in Polish.

First up is I Do Post-Mortems, which is inspired by the ever lovely Molly Hooper. A soft, neutral pink with a low-key holographic shimmer. This is like Mind Palace's quiet little sister. (see my review of Mind Palace and my other A Study in Polish polishes here). I'm generally not a muted pink lover, but man! This is easily one of my favorites.

Direct artificial lighting

Direct natural light

 Not Your Housekeeper is Mrs. Hudson's polish. It's a super pretty, squishy plum with blue and pink/purple micro glitters. There may be some gold ones hidden in there as well. I used three coats here and it was just lovely.

Direct natural light

A Study in Polish offers Sherlock, The Hobbit, Teen Wolf, and Hannibal inspired polishes in her store.

The Women Of Harry Potter collection is Live!

The collection is live in my Etsy shop. Link over there in the left column, or here for mobile users!

A Little Bit Different

Slightly Unstable

Glittery Heels

His Chosen One

Brains & Bravery

Mama Lion

Thinning the herd...

I went through my polish stash in an effort to get a bit of Christmas spending money! I've created a board on Pinterest with what I'm letting go, prices, etc. There are indie polishes, main stream polishes, and a few hard to find polishes. Poke around here and let me know if there's anything you'd like!

Coming Black Friday! Paint Box Polish Winter Collection!

I'm excited for today's post, readers!! I've got swatches of my new late fall/winter collection which is inspired by the women of Harry Potter! I've been working on this set for a long time and I'm glad to finally bring them to you.

More photos after the jump!

Zoya Kimber and Zuza - a last nod to summer!

I am cleaning out my drafts folder and I found this mani that I wore at the beginning of the summer. Zoya Kimber with a Zuza accent. I love both of these, shades, they just scream summer and warm weather to me! 

Both shades are shown with two coats and are available at zoya.com.

Digital Nails Expelliarmus!

Even though Expelliarmus is a spell from Harry Potter, this polish is from Digital Nails' Doctor Who Companion Collection. It's basically fangirl Pam in a bottle. Inspired by Martha Jones in one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes (Shakespeare quoting Harry Potter? Yes, please), it's one of my favorite spells, in my favorite color, and one of my very favorite bloggers ever named it. (If you haven't checked out Accio Lacquer, please do do! Fabulous indie polishes and super entertaining style!)

So, Expelliarmus is a squishy purple jelly with a prominent blue shimmer and circle glitter - small, medium, large, purple, silver, purple holographic. Ahh... LOVE it!

Digital Nails Obliviate!

I can't believe I haven't posted this one! Obliviate is from Digital Nails' Harry Potter Spells collection and is all sorts of fabulous. In the first two photos I layered one coat over a black creme (gotta conserve this beautiful polish!) and you can see the green/gold duochrome effect. Oh.  And the holo. Holy smokes that linear holo goodness.

The formula was great. I used CND Stickey as a base coat and Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That quick dry top coat and the holo wasn't dulled at all. In fact, I think it looked even better after the top coat.

Blurred to show the holo.

Here I've shown two thin coats on its own. I prefer the look layered, but I think a third coat would brighten this one up a lot.

Did you pick up any of the Spells polishes? They can be found at the Digital Nails Etsy store here.

Illamasqua Baptiste

I have drooled over Illamasqua Baptiste for ages. I've even had it in my hand twice, but for some reason I never bought it. Then I found her in a blog sale and couldn't resist!

Baptiste is a dark royal purple polish (could it be a more Pam polish? No!) with a dark pink-ish purple shimmer that glows beautifully! It went on in two easy coats. I do wish it was a bit more obviously purple as it looks black in low light. Hence, the flash photo. Still, a great classic Illamasqua.

Urban Outfitters Sea Dust

I was digging through my "To Be Blogged" folder and saw that I still hadn't posted this mani from over the summer! My co-worker and keeper-of-my-8-5-sanity went to a conference in Las Vegas this summer and spent a lot of time shopping. You know, to avoid the heat. Anyway, I wanted to check out Urban Outfitter's polish selection, and was glad to find this Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream dupe on sale!

I don't have a comparison because I've never been compelled enough by her polishes to drop that much money on a bottle. If you search the interwebs, you'll find comparison shots a plenty! 

Sea Dust has a great formula, and I really love the bottles and brushes of Urban Outfitters polish. They're squat and square and feel substantial. The brush was nice and full. This mani was just two coats, and I remember that this polish wore for days without a chip. Definitely a winner!

Sonia Kashuk Tauped

Sometimes you need a good, clean creme polish. DH had training to do at work (an hour away) and I tagged along to squeeze a nice dinner out of him. While he was training, I killed time at Target. The one in my town closed more than ten years ago and I miss it dearly. So, yes dear. I CAN kill two hours in Target!

I cruised through the beauty section and decided to get a Sonia Kashuk polish as I can't pick them up at home. While poking through, I realized I don't have a mushroom creme, and there was Tauped staring me in the face.

Application was absolutely wonderful. In fact, I don't think I had to do any clean up on this mani. The brush was great and the formula buttery. I finished with Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That and got 3-4 days wear out of this one. 

OMG Nail Strips Review

*Press Sample*

Today I've reviewed OMG Nail Strips in Crow. In this kit, you get the standard 16 polish strips in the standard varied sizes. These strips are thicker than Sally Hansen's polish strips, but not quite as thick as China Glaze's. They claim up to ten days wear, but I took them off after just a couple of days. I get bored too easily.

Application was pretty standard. Pick the proper size, and off you go. The instructions did recommend trimming the strips with scissors if you needed to make them more narrow, but I used an orange stick like I do with other strips. They also recommended swiping with polish remover after placing the strip to allow the strip to "melt to your nails" and promote longer wear, and finish with top coat.

I was a bit worried that using remover would blur the image on the strip, but it didn't at all. Again, I can't attest to the wear time as I had them off in two days. You can choose from fifty designs available for $6.89/set on the OMG Nail Strips website.

6 Harts Polish Blow Me... A Raspberry!

Readers, today I've got a beauty for you! This is my first (And not last... Lookin' at you, Bat Crap Crazy!) 6 Harts Polish, and it is a bright berry stunner packed with mildly linear holo particles. It is fairly reminiscent of Orly Miss Conduct, but I absolutely love the formula on this one, so I may have to let Miss Conduct go. Blow me (heh, heh) is shown here with two easy coats and a splash of top coat. 

Indoors with flash

Direct sunlight