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.

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!

Maybelline Color Show Navy Narcissist

I picked this one up at a CVS 75% off clearance. I just can't pass up a polish for less than $1. I love the color. It's metallic, not brush-strokey, and my favorite shade of blue. Sadly, the formula is shit. Completely awful. I thought it may be a one-coater, but the balding was so bad I had to use three coats. Wear time wasn't that great either.

This is the only Maybelline Color Show polish I've tried. Anybody have better luck with them?

Alter Ego Beachcomber Too!

Readers, I've got a beauty (and a wound, obviously. Apologies!) to show you today. This is Beachcomber Too! by the lovely Cynthia from Alter Ego Nail Enamel. Cynthia has recently revamped all of her polishes, and let me tell you... This one is beautiful!!

This mani was two (three? Yikes. I can't remember) coats of Beachcomber Too! topped with Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That! top coat. Cynthia was inspired by turquoise ocean waters, and I think she did a beautiful job! I love the scattered holo, but am bummed that there wasn't enough sun to properly showcase it.

Alter Ego Nail Enamels dry to a satiny, matte finish. I used the top coat to showcase the holo shine. I didn't think to get matte shot, but will show it later!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Koi Pondering, and Owls of Outrage

Scofflaw Nail Varnish is one of those indie brands I'd been hearing all sorts of awesome things about and finally happened upon her store when she restocked. I managed to pick up the two polishes I'd been lusting after and another one that caught my eye when I was getting all grabby-handed. :)

First up is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. In real life, I've got a bit of a potty mouth. And my entire family have our ham radio licenses. And my husband honestly tried to get us all to learn Morse Code. How could I not get WTF??  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a teal jelly base with a mixture of white, red, and gold glitters. Excellent application. Above is shown at two coats.

Koi Pondering is one I've wanted ever since I saw Rie's review. Deep blue base with white, orange, and yellow hexes as well as a silver shimmer. You may be amazed to know that this one is inspired by... a Koi pond! Geez. Don't quit my day job.

The last is Owls of Outrage. This one came out more brown/dark mauve than I'd hoped. There's a ton of glitter going on in this one, and it applied beautifully, but I just wasn't feeling it. This is three coats in the waning sun on my in-laws' farm.

Overall, Scofflaw Nail Varnishes are definitely ones I'd recommend. They sell for $10.50 for a full sized bottle and a restock is scheduled for Sept. 15th. The Etsy store can be found here.

Zoya Liberty

As soon as I saw promo pics of Zoya's summer PixieDusts, I knew I had to have Liberty. I'm a sucker for all polishes blue and purple, and the brighter the better!  Zoya's PixieDusts are the only ones of the 40 million textured polishes out there that have appealed to me, so I grabbed it and Destiny (which is my next post).

I think I love these so much because there are both matte texture and glitter. It makes it look sparkly and blingy, not like the ceiling in my grandma's living room. Perfectly opaque in 2 coats. It isn't recommended to use a base coat, but I'd heard this one stained horribly. I used CND Stickey and let it dry really well. It wore wonderfully with two thin coats.

A blurred shot to show the sparkle. Seriously. These are crazy glittery! Have you grabbed any?

China Glaze Strap on Your Moon Boots

Strap on Your Moon Boots is the other polish I picked up from the Chinga Glaze Hologlam collection. Well, I got Infra Red, but immediately shipped it off to Bestie. She's a pink fanatic and they'd sold out everywhere in Chicago.

This picture doesn't fully do this one justice. The holo was a bit more prominent in the sun, but it still wasn't blindingly holo. The formula was a bit tricksy on this one and the wear time wasn't that great on me. Overall, I don't hate it by any means, and it's definitely got a place in my holo collection for those times when I want a subtle holo. Ha ha!

NerdLacquer I Think You Call Me... Sexy

This is one of the NerdLacquers that got me lemming NerdLacquers. It sings to my nerdy, Doctor Who loving heart. Inspired by the TARDIS, this polish gets it's name from Idris, the woman-form of the TARDIS from one of the brilliant episodes written by Neil Gaiman. 

I Think You Call Me... Sexy has a cobalt blue base loaded with varying sizes of silver hex glitters and a warm red/gold shimmer. There are just two coats shown here and all of the glitter lays perfectly flat with just one coat of top coat. I've went through almost a whole bottle of NYC Grand Central Station. A great fast-dry top coat for $1.97 at Meijer!

NerdLacquer The Quantum Bluniverse

The Quantum Bluniverse is the second of five NerdLacquers I got my mitts on, and it's a beauty! TQB has a blue jelly-ish base that is packed with gold and blue hexes in varying sizes, gold flecks, and a bit of a duochrome blue/green shimmer. Super busy glitter bomb of a polish, but I love it to bits! 

I used two coats here, and application was a breeze. No dragging, no need to place or dab the larger glitters, and no need for undies.

And, taking a cue from Mish at Accio Lacquer (you guys have to check her out if you haven't already. She's hilarious and her nerdiness just sings to me!), I mattified this baby with a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love. I love how easy it is to see the details when glitters are matted. And see that tiny bit of tip wear? That's about 3 days in. 

For info on restocks, follow NerdLacquer on Google+. And practice your lightning fast fingers. These polishes are gone before you can blink. ;)

Zoya Nyx

Nyx is the second PixieDust polish I ordered from Zoya's original release. As with London, application was simple. Here, I used 2 thin coats over CND Stickey base coat. The key is to let each coat dry before adding the next to avoid dragging the texture to the end of the nail. Dry time was excellent with both, and they wore really well on me. I believe I got 5 days out of Nyx.

I had a reader ask about removal of the PixieDust polishes. Taking these polishes off was fairly simple. Nowhere near as difficult as with glitter bomb polishes, but only slightly more work than with a shimmer or flakie polish.

China Glaze Fancy Pants

Today I've got one of the two polishes I picked up from China Glaze's Spring collection, called Avant Garden. 

Fancy Pants looks to be a blurple to me (blue/purple), but I've seen it described as both cobalt blue and purple. Either way, I love it. There is a smattering of pink/copper shimmer particles that I think are fairly visible indoors and blatantly obvious in the sun.

The formula was beautiful. Above is two easy coats. I probably could've gotten away with one, but I prefer the look of two. I'm super thrilled with this one. Not so much with the other polish from this set, but that's a post for another day!

Tough As Nails Lacquer The Dregs, part 1 - The Redundant Woman and Magdelene's Laundry Service

Today I have two of the four polishes from Tough As Nails Lacquer's Spring Collection, The Dregs. This collection came together as a result of the creator's "recent obsession with drinking tea, the underbelly of Victorian culture, and a desire for a more calming collection." The Tough As Nails line is filled with brights and glitter bombs, so this collection is a bit of a departure from that.

First up is The Redundant Woman. It is a periwinkle purple/blue shade with fine pink shimmer. The shimmer is fairly evident in the bottle, but has to be coaxed out on the nail. The photo below is as sunny as I could manage, so I've also included a shot taken with flash. 

I used three medium coats of The Redundant Woman for this mani. There is a tad bit of nail line in these shots, but it really wasn't visible at all. I purchased shorty bottles, and they have a fairly short, stiff brush. I had to be careful with application because I got a few bald spots. 

3 coats of The Redundant Woman with top coat and flash.

Magdalene's Laundry Service has a milky, pink jelly base with pink dots and hexes and a pearly finish. A very beautiful polish! The above shot is three coats with top coat. No undies - because I'm usually too lazy for that. I normally don't go for polishes that are this sheer, but I really love this one. Application was great. I used two coats of top coat, but it really wasn't necessary. 

I was unaware of what the name referred to, but there is a nice explanation on the Tough As Nails blog. I've included it here:

"During the 18th-20th centuries, if you were a prostitute, unmarried, too flirtatious, or even too pretty, you may have been sent to a Magdalene Asylum. Magdalene Asylums, or Magdalene Laundries, were institutions for the fallen women of society, located throughout Europe, Canada, and the US. The asylums were originally intended to rehabilitate prostitutes and other women back into society, sustaining themselves by offering laundry services, but became prison-like, where women experienced hard labor, forced periods of silence, and abuse."

A sad thing, to be sure. There have been a few news stories recently about Magdalene Laundries after the Irish Prime Minister issued a formal apology for them. The last one wasn't closed in Ireland until 1996. 

Sorry to end on a sour note, but you have the rest of this collection to look forward to in my next post.

LOFT Eggplant and Nightwatch

Here are the last two of my polishes from my awesome Secret Santa. The first is Eggplant, which is a beautiful, deep purple shimmer polish that applied wonderfully and was nice and even at 2 coats. This photo was taken on day two, so pardon the tip wear on my pinky. And the sheet marks on my ring finger.

Lastly, we have Nightwatch. Oh, Nightwatch. You looked so pretty in the bottle. So pretty. And you look nothing like that on the nail.

The bottle color looked like a deep turquoise version of Eggplant, but it came out much flatter and grey-er. This picture is after four thin coats. I think those four coats is what contributed to the horrid wear. I shot this about four hours into the mani, and we already have tip wear. My right index finger chipped shortly after I got to work. Very disappointing.

So, If you're out at a LOFT and see their polishes, give a couple a go. All were absolutely fabulous but for Nightwatch.

LOFT Methyl Blue and Fuchsia

Happy Sunday! Today I have two of the five polishes my Secret Santa from work gave me. I lucked out. She picked really well! I had no idea LOFT sold polishes. They're not branded at all, so I don't know if they are made another brand and bottled for them. 

Both applied like butter, had excellent wear time (4+ days!), and were super pretty and vibrant. 

Methyl Blue is a perfect cobalt blue foil/metallic shade. The brush on this one was really nice and I only had minimal clean up.

Fuchsia is the, well... fuchsia sister of Methyl Blue. Bright, pink, foil-y goodness. I put this on quickly before heading to the office one morning (hence unevenness near the cuticle) and it wore beautifully. I believe this photo was taken on day three. Fuchsia got a lot of attention from my female patients. Definitely a winner!

I have three others to show you - Teal, Eggplant, and Nightwatch.

A Study In Polish - Polishes Inspired by BBC's Sherlock

Frequenters of this blog and/or my Etsy shop know that I love nail polishes that tie in with my favorite fandoms. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and BBC's Sherlock. The indie polish world now has Harry Potter and Doctor Who collections, but what about Sherlock? 

Enter A Study In Polish, a line hand mixed by a fellow fan and polish fiend. Morgan had posted previews of a line she planned to start selling soon, and I marked the day on my calendar. 

A Study In Polish Consulting Detective, Mind Palace, Let's Have Dinner, and Baker Street Blues.

The first of the four polishes I picked up is Let's Have Dinner. It is a red jelly with Medium and small black hexes, and small blue hexes. This polish is inspired by the intriguing Irene Adler. The above photo is two easy coats.

Baker Street Blues is a shimmery cobalt blue with blue and iridescent square and hex glitter. Perfectly opaque at two coats.

Macro shot of Baker Street Blues

Mind Palace is a beautiful seafoam green with a subtle linear holo finish. Honestly, I bought this one because, 1) It was a holo and I can't resist holos, and 2) It was available in limited quantities due to hard-to-find holo pigment. The polish hoarder in me couldn't resist! I'm glad I didn't resist because this is my favorite of the collection. Mind Palace is a little on the thick side, but nothing unmanageable.

Blurred to show the sparkle

The last of the Sherlock Polishes I picked up is Consulting Detective, a purple shimmery polish with gold and blue hex glitters. Consulting Detective was also a little thick, but it allows the glitter to suspend nicely in the base.

All of Morgan's polishes had excellent wear time. I wore all for 2-3 days with no significant chipping.

There are two polishes I passed on, and Morgan just listed two more polishes yesterday. All polishes are $9.00 each except for 221B, which is a glitter topcoat. A Study In Polish has a shop open here.

ManGlaze ILF - Swatches & Review

ILF is a fantastic matte turquoise, and my second ManGlaze polish (See F**k Off & Dye here). It is just as awesome as the first. I can't help but be drawn to such a fun brand. 

The above photo is two coats of ILF over CND Stickey, without topcoat. As with most matte polishes, dry time is fantastic. I wore ILF for three days before chipping began, and tons of people complimented it. 

ManGlaze is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended. If you've got a good sense of humor and can appreciate a vibrant, smooth matte color, check them out here. 

KBShimmer Snow Way! and Cocoa Nut

Today I have a couple of polishes from indie polish brand KBShimmer. Christy put out an excellent holiday collection this year, and I had a hard time sticking to my self-imposed limit of two polishes. 

My first choice was super easy. Snow Way! is a totally unique polish. I am completely unaware of a polish similar to this one. The base is a squishy, pale blue jelly that reminds me of a clear, sunny winter sky. The glitters in this mix are all matte white and combine with the base to mimic fluffy snowflakes. 

The following mani was three thin coats. I had to be mindful to wait a couple of minutes between coats to avoid dragging. The glitter flowed nicely and no "placing" was necessary. It looks as if there is some balding on the middle finger, but that was not the case in real life.

Cocoa Nut was my second choice. I debated between it, No Whine Left, and Witch Way. I love purples, but in the end, the unique pairing of brown and pink glitter won out.

Application was simple as pie with this one. The base is a warm chocolate brown with small brown glitters. There is a significant smattering of larger, shiny, bright fuchsia glitter. Two coats was all that was needed for opacity and it dried super smooth and glossy.

Maisie Shine Orion's Belt - Swatches and Review

I saw this polish one day while surfing around Etsy and I just had to have it. The name is what drew me in, as Orion is my favorite constellation. Silly? I don't think so. 

Lindsey describes Orion's Belt as follows: "A dark navy and green shimmery base that shifts in the sun. This galactic nail polish is littered with gold glitters that emulate a perfect night sky." It is definitely easy to pick out the navy base and the green shimmer is pretty prominent. It is also packed with small gold shimmers, small gold squares, small gold hexes, and larger gold hexes. Super beautiful in the bottle and on the nail.

Application... Wow. Application wasn't great at all. This polish is very, very thick. It could definitely do with some thinner. It seemed a little off though. I poured some out onto a sheet of waxed paper and found several chunks of navy blue mica that wasn't completely mixed in. The good news is that I didn't have to fish out glitters or place them at all.

I think I'm going to dump out the whole bottle, thin it down and mix it a little more, and see where that gets me. I do think it is a beautiful color. Two coats of polish, one coat of Gelous, and a coat of Seche Vite gave a beautiful, smooth finish.

Orion's Belt and several other beautiful polishes are available at Lindsey's Etsy store, Maisie Shine. She sells full sized, 15 mL polishes for $9.00 each.

Paint Box Polish Winter Collection is live! *Pic Heavy!*

I scrapped so many colors coming up with this collection. Bleeding glitters, sinking glitters, too thick, too thin, etc. In the end, I'm super happy with the five that made the cut. I hope you love them, and if you'd like to buy any, there's a link to my Etsy shop in the left column over there!

Solstice is an opaque purple duochrome polish that shifts to bright blue and features violet flakies. This polish is unique in my Winter Collection as it is the only polish that is completely opaque on its own and the only duochrome.

Northern Lights is a stunning blue jelly polish packed with blue flakies and golden shimmer. Can be worn alone as a jelly, but also able to be layered over a darker shade to make the shimmer really pop!

This shot shows the golden shimmer. Northern Lights is layered over Zoya Natty here.

Ice Cap is a squishy, white, jelly polish packed with multi-colored flakies, gold shimmer, and silver shimmer. A fabulous polish both on its own and layered over other polishes! 

Index and middle fingers show Ice Cap layered over China Glaze White on White.

Son of a Nutcracker is a fun, green jelly polish packed with green flakies and a hint of red ones. The Fraternal twin to Santa's Britches, it looks great both alone and layered over other polishes.

Index and middle fingers show Son of a Nutcracker over OPI Jade is the New Black.

Santa's Britches is a fun, red jelly polish packed with silver, gold, and green shimmer. The Fraternal twin to Son of a Nutcracker, it looks great both alone and layered over other polishes.

Index and middle fingers show Santa's Britches over Zoya Sooki.

L-R: Son of a Nutcracker over OPI Jade is the New Black, Santa's Britches over Zoya Sooki, Northern Lights over Zoya Natty, Ice Cap over China Glaze White on White, and Solstice on its own.

Zoya Natty Swatches - Designer Collection - Fall 2012

Natty is the third polish I grabbed from Zoya's Designer collection. It is a beautiful dusty grey-blue creme and was complete perfection in two coats. One thick coat would do it if you're careful, but I prefer to be less careful and use two coats. So wasteful... :)

I really don't know what to say about the formula that hasn't been said. Zoya's formula is one of my favorites, and their brush is fantastic. Full, flexible, and on a compact stem that's easy to control.