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.

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!

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. 

Zoya Charisma

I decided to continue the Zoya trend with Charisma. Charisma is a searing neon fuchsia cream. Super shiny, super neon, perfect for summer. 

This is two coats in indirect outdoor lighting.

Two coats in direct sun. The formula is very squishy. The first coat is a streaky mess, and if you're a little bit careful, a second coat is all that's needed. This color is much, much brighter in person. It's definitely one of my favorites for summer!

Summer Heat! Paint Box Polish's summer collection

Today is the launch date for my newest collection, Summer Heat! Hot neon colors with circle glitters and shimmery micro flakes. I took my inspiration from my Zumba classes. The bright colors of the clothing, thumping music, having a good time while sweating like a crazy person! I tried to embody all of that in polish bottles. And, a TARDIS blue one snuck in there. Sorry, kids. I'm a Whovian. :)

I've been in Las Vegas for a week and the desert air trashed my cuticles. Rie and Ashley reviewed the polishes and they are kind enough to let me snag their photos. :) Check out Rie's review on nailsandnoms.com here. Ashley's review can be found here at ashleyispolishaddicted.com.

Behold!

Everybody's Doing It - 3 coats

Sweat It Off - 3 coats

Booty Pop - 3 coats

In The Groove - 3 coats. 2 coats over white on ring finger

Did I mention they are UV light reactive? Hey! They are!

Two Right Feet - TARDIS blue awesomeness!!

What do you think? I'm so excited about them. If you want to grab any, head over to my Etsy store. These will be limited edition. Once my supplies for them are gone, they are as well.

Sinful Shine Rendevous

Sinful Colors recently released a line exclusive to Walgreens called Sinful Shine that is supposed to mimic gel nail polish in shine and wear time. I completely forgot about Zoya Neely (though the colors are different) and picked up the mint green-est color they had. :)

Application was nice. The polish itself is rather thick, but it covers well and isn't bad to work with. Dry time was a bit slow. I didn't need top coat for the shine, but used NYC Grand Central Station to speed dry time. 

Zoya Neely and my dog, Joules.

I can't recall if I've had Joules on the blog before, but hey. There she is. Freaking adorable Dutch Shepherd who was bought for my husband (because I'm certainly not a dog person) but has grown on me. We got her in December when she was six weeks old and my goodness was she a hellion. She's settled a bit in her 8 months, which is good as she's sixty pounds now. But, this isn't a dog blog, is it? :)

Neely... Neely is one I waffled about since it came out with the special Fashion Week Peter Som group. But I held off. Then there was a buy two, get Sharon free promo and mint greens were popping up everywhere, and look what I got!

Two coats of non-chalky mint green creme shown above. The first coat is super streaky, and you need a thick-ish second coat. Three thins ones would probably be perfect, but I have this odd thing about three coats. I don't leave polish on long enough for wear time to be an issue, so a thicker coat that lessens wear time is okay with me!

Valentine's Day Mani - A Quickie



Revlon Colorstay Nail Color in Ripe Raspberry with a Stiletto accent nail. Accent nail stamped with Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty, other nails stamped with Color Club Halo Hues Kismet.

I can't remember the names and numbers of the stamping plates, so I'll add those later. Accent nail from Cheeky CH15 from the Vibrant Collection, and others are from Vivid Lacquer plate VL001

I wish it were better, but it's only the 2nd or 3rd stamping mani I've done.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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. 

Zoya Monica Designer Collection - Swatches and Review

I have a ton of purple polishes, but purple is my color. Can a girl have too much of her color? Nope. I debated picking up Monica because it seemed similar to Mira. When I have them side-by-side, I see that Monica is much deeper and bluer. I haven't actually blogged Mira, so I'll put that and a comparison on my to-do list.

Above are two coats of Monica swatched without top coat. It is a very opaque, deep plum creme. A very rich tone that is perfect for fall. It wears wonderfully as I wore it as a full mani this weekend and still hasn't chipped despite handwashings at work on Friday, and cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. yesterday and today.

I'm really glad I picked this one up! Have you gotten any from Zoya's Fall collections?

Stamping with Vivid Lacquer, Zoya, and Essie!

I've been spending money like I have it lately, and I've come home to a mailbox with bubble envelopes and a box by my door almost every day for the last week! I got my Vivid Lacquer nail plates (VL001 & VL002) earlier in the week, but haven't gotten my stamper and scraper yet. I patiently waited, but couldn't take it any more, so I went to Sally's and picked up the Salon Express As Seen on TV kit-thingy so that I could use the tools with it. :) 

Two coats of Zoya Evvie

A couple of days ago, I got my BOGO polishes from the Zoya promo and had picked up Penny Talk and No Place Like Chrome from the Essie Mirror Metallics collection for stamping. I decided on a base of Zoya Evvie from the Fall 2012 Designer collection (beautiful dusty, murky grey-green that's opaque and perfect in two coats) and topped it with a honey comb pattern and Essie Penny Talk.

Obviously there are some wonky spots and some not-completely-covered spaces, but I don't think it's too bad for a first try. This pattern is on Vivid Lacquer's VL002 plate. There are so many cute designs on her stamping plates. She sells them in her Etsy store here. Anni also sells some awesome polishes. I've got two of those coming up for review soon.

I hope to have some better stamping nail art for you soon!

Happy 4th of July Gradient Dots Manicure

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! I got home from the gym yesterday with a butter LONDON box tucked into my storm door. Gotta love 30% off sales! So there I sit with the beautiful cobalt blue Blagger in my hand on July 3rd, and am hit with a patriotic nail art idea. 

Sarah from Chalkboard Nails posted an awesome gradient dot mani over on her blog. (check out her post here) It is beautiful, dramatic, and above all simple. At least she made it seem simple. Since I am not a gifted nail artist, I decided to give it a go.

I started with 2 coats of the fabulous butter LONDON Blagger, then dotted on large white dots with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls near the tips of my nails with the flat end of a bamboo kabob stick. (Working with what I've got!) Next, I used a small dotting tool to add some white dots near the base of the nail. Lastly, I repeated the dotting process with Zoya Sooki. 

Look at that! Nail art! And I think it looks pretty decent. Happy 4th of July guys!!

China Glaze On Safari Kalahari Kiss and I'm Not Lion

Posting this one via email while hanging out at the hospital for my mom's heart cath, so formatting might be weird.

I went into Sally Beauty for a new shampoo and my friend/hookup/enabler runs up and asked, "Do you want to see the new China Glazes??" Uh, what? My brain doesn't think about fall polishes being available in June. But there they were!

I tried to show restraint since I'd just bought several new bottles, and I think I did okay with the two I got. Kalahari Kiss is a yellow/brown/beige cream and I'm Not Lion is a very fine gold, silver, red, and holographic glitter polish. Above is two coats of each. I was very pleased the the smoothness and opacity of I'm Not Lion. There were a few others that caught my eye, but I have others that are similar. We'll see if I cave and get any others.

Essie Bikini So Teeny

This would be the first of several polishes I acquired during my time with Tropical Storm Debby... er... in Orlando for my annual nurse practitioner conference. Between Walgreens, blog sales, butter LONDON promos, and Sephora, I think I bought seven polishes while I was there. (And I'm totally not ashamed!)

Twinkle Bell had worn out her welcome, so I stopped in Walgreens on my way to the conference center. The Essie summer collection was front and center, and Bikini So Teeny is really the only polish from this set that has caught my eye. I hadn't brought remover, Seche Vite, nada, so I bought Essie Good to Go and cheap remover as well. 

Behold! My between-sessions-at-a-conference mani

This polish is a periwinkle blue that has a beautiful silver shimmer. Sadly, this shimmer is only visible in the bottle and in very bright light. This photo is a tad bit bluer than the polish really is, but it was really tricky to photograph. Formula wise, this one was thin and required three coats, but I think wear is much better with 3 thin coats than 1-2 thick ones. 

Good to Go worked pretty well too. I think it dried almost as fast as my beloved Seche Vite. It also had a very hard finish, but I love that thick glassiness I get with SV. It'll be handy to keep around as a back up.

Zoya Bela Swatches and Review

I got this polish about a year ago or so ago. It was after Black Swan came out and there was some hullabaloo because it had a cameo in the film. Last time I wore it, I had issues with visible nail line (VBL), so I piled on coats until it was pretty much opaque. I’ve made peace with VNL since, and decided to wear it again as a palate cleanser after all the neons, holos, and foils I’ve been wearing.

This formula isn't horrible, but my brush seemed a little… Solid? I was able to work with it. The above shots are in sunlight with 2 coats. Bela looked a little streaky before a coat of Seche Vite, but good ol’ SV leveled it out nicely. I noticed the dings after I took the picture. Sorry! That’s what happens when one does a mani in the morning before work. J

China Glaze For Audrey and Black Poppy Gold Foil

I had seen swatches of For Audrey popping up all over Instagram and realized I had this beautiful polish and hadn’t used it in over a year. I had my Black Poppy mani on, so I decided to do a gold accent nail. I love the look of this mani! But…

Man, on man is application a nightmare!! I was hoping I just had an off bottle and not every For Audrey was thick but runny and very streaky. Sadly, it doesn’t seem the case based on Instagram comments and the blogosphere.

Like I said, great results, but you’ve gotta work for them!

Pretty & Polished Tart

I was totally stoked to get Tart and Party on my Yacht in my cart after Pretty & Polished had been open for 5 minutes a few weeks ago! Then I got greedy and went back to the store to make sure there wasn't anything else I wanted and POOF! Party on my Yacht was gone. :( I was pretty bummed, but I've since gotten over it because Tart is so amazing!

First of all, Tart was perfectly opaque in 2 coats and super smooth with just one coat of Seche Vite. The base is a true lavender creme that has large white and purple hex glitter; medium pink hex glitter; small white, blue, and yellow hex glitter; and blue and purple micro shimmer. Whew! I think I got all of it. Despite being packed with all that glitter, application is smooth like butter. 

The shop owner, Chelsea, posts on Facebook and Twitter when she's going to open Pretty & Polished again. Keep an eye out! 

*And, in a bit of irony, when I went to her store to grab the correct address for the link, she had just listed some polishes. Head on over! Party on my Yacht is on its way to me!!

Revlon Royal Cloak

This is the second polish of the set I picked up at Big Lots for $2. I was Googling like a mad woman in the aisle and saw all sorts of rave reviews online about this polish, so I snatched it up with a quickness. Then I put it on. Blech. Well, maybe not blech, but it wasn't as impressive as I'd hoped.

Royal Cloak is an opaque purple creme with small, clear-ish flakies. The formula wasn't bad at all, but the thing that made this polish stand out in the bottle was the flakies, and they lost their oomph on the nail and ended up looking like shimmer particles. Boo! Was it worth $1? Absolutely, but I still wish it were just a bit more fabulous.

2 coats Royal Cloak

My Boyfriend Scales Walls - OPI The Amazing Spiderman Collection swatch

I can't remember where I first saw swatches of this collection, but I remember being drawn to this shade. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of stark polishes, but I kept coming back to this one. I chose three from this collection (MBSW, Just Spotted The Lizard, and Number One Nemesis) but this was the first I wore.

MBSW is white, but it's a little bit dulled. Maybe more of a very, very light grey rather than a white. This keeps it from looking like your standard middle school White-Out manicure. :) I have been looking at these nails all day, and I find that it's like looking at a blank canvas. I keep thinking of all of the nail art things I can try on it.

The above photo is two coats over a ridge-filling base coat with a layer of Seche Vite thrown over. The first coat was a little thin, but the second coat leveled nicely and gave great coverage. It took a little bit longer to dry than I'm used to. I dented my thumb a tiny bit about 2 hours after I finished the mani.

Revlon Devil's Candy

Revlon Devil's Candy is a bright red jelly from their Fall 2011 Masquerade Collection. It isn't anything special or unique, but is a very classic, warm-toned red. Below are 2 coats over Orly Bonder and under Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

So why did I buy it if it's nothing special? I mean, I do own several reds. Several red jellies, in fact. I got it because I happened to read over on Nouveau Cheap that there were $3 philosophy cosmetics and $2 Revlon 2-packs of polish at Big Lots. Big Lots? What? Yep. If you have one near you, don't discount it for cheap beauty supplies.

I went to check it out and found a rack of $3 philosophy powders, eye shadows, blushes, lip glosses, and brighteners. Also, several Revlon polishes. This one came with Royal Cloak, which is a totally cool purple with clear-ish/silver flakies. I'm stoked to try it.