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!

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.

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.

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

St Patty's Day mani - butter London British Racing Green

Way to go, Pam. Looking at the blog today, I realized I talked about my St Patrick's Day mani but hadn't posted it! I saw Jacqui's post on The Scholarly Nail and was inspired by her green & gold mani. Hers was a total glitter bomb, you should definitely check it out. I decided to go for a little more subtlety.

I used butter London British Racing Green as my base color and topped it with a coat of Essie As Gold As It gets. I loved the combo! It has a pot o' gold look to it. I have yet to find anything this top coat looks bad with.

China Glaze Foie Gras with Essie As Gold As It Gets

I recently used Foie Gras from the China Glaze Hunger Games collection (Capitol Colours) for my NOTD. I got bored with it after 2 days and decided to throw on As Gold As It Gets. I loved the effect! One coat of AGAIG leaves a very dense spattering of tiny gold flakies that is shiny, but also very subtle over a neutral like Foie Gras. It dries very quickly, so I didn't use a top coat. Look at that shine! It wore so well I was begging for a chip so that I could change it. I get so bored so quickly!

Fingerpaints Special Effects Flakies and I am a Lucky Aunt!

I was absolutely thrilled when I wandered into Sally's and found the display for the Fingerpaints flakie polishes. I had completely forgotten that they were out and was surprised to find they hadn't completely sold out! I couldn't remember which ones I wanted, so I pulled up Jen's post on my phone in the store and decided to go for Twisted. I also decided not to do plain old black under it, so I threw on China Glaze First Mate, and was so happy with the result! This reminds me of a party way more than Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday and the many dupes of that polish.

This was 2 coats of Twisted over 2 coats of First Mate. I don't know that there are any colors that aren't part of Twisted. You will find red, blue, green, yellow, and purple depending on how the light hits your fingers.

2 coats Twisted over 2 coats First Mate

Last week I got a random (so I thought) text from Abbie because my niece (see Sarah's pretty nails here) wanted to know who my favorite Disney princess was. I decided Ariel had the best songs and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty, for those if you who aren't in the know) had the best dress. Later on, Abbie texted me from Sally's to ask my opinion on the new flakie top coats.

A few days later, a package from Sarah with the following, picked by her and Abbie. Not such a random princesses question, after all! :)

Aurora and Ariel with Asylum, Brushstroke Blush, Motley, and  Artist's Inspiration

Sarah was sick a couple of weeks ago, and like any good Aunt who happens to be a Nurse Practitioner would, gave her mom some advice. So, they sent me polishes and a super cute card!

I had just chopped my nails down and did a mani with China Glaze Loft-y Ambitions (I love the Metro Collection! Found Trendsetter in a clearance bin yesterday!) so I decided to see how Asylum would look under it. Here's the standard view...

2 coats China Glaze Loft-y Ambitions and 2 coats Fingerpaints Asylum

 And here's what it looks like with my fun new Photojojo macro lens!

The red/orange flakies are the most dominant, and flash yellow/green at extreme angles, but I think the blue flakies look really awesome over the red/purple of Loft-y Ambitions.

Many thanks to Abbie and Sarah for being such awesome ladies! 

Christmas Top Coats - Essie, Nails Inc, Fingerpaints

As I've said before, I have some serious polish fairies for friends/family. These three polishes came from fabulous ladies whom I consider both. :) 

I came into the polish world after the wonder that was Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (I'm not a fan of the new one that just came out). I'm talking about the fabulous flakie HT. Word quickly spread that Essie Shine of the Times was a dupe, and I had to have it. Sadly, the stores here that carry Essie didn't have this one, but Bestie lives in Chicago and she loves me enough to have gotten me a bottle. 

The pic below is just one coat of SotT over Hot Topic black creme. It covers really well. It has an odd consistency... Thick but runny, maybe a little jelly-ish. You get used to how it works quickly. I imagine you need a thicker base to properly suspend the small red/yellow flakies that reflect green at certain angles. Is it a HT dupe? I have no idea, but do I love it? yes!

Essie Shine of the Times over black creme

I have a serious weakness for flakies and a Bestie who feeds that weakness. I'm okay with this. In fact, I'm trying my hardest to turn Abbie! This pic is 2 coats of Nails Inc Donmar Overglaze Top Coat over Chelsea, which is a very blackened plum. The flakies in Donmar are much larger than in Shine of the Times, but they are much sparser. It is very easy to see both the green and yellow flashes at the same time in this polish.

Nails Inc Donmar Overglaze over Nails Inc Chelsea

 Abbie gifted me my very first Fingerpaints polish this Christmas. Fingerpaints has the most comfortable handle I've ever polished with. It's long and tapered with a fairly long stem and flexible brush. There was no squinting or holding my head/hands at an awkward angle to see what was going on. Sparkle Top Coat is very pearlescent. I applied it over Hot Topic black creme and it flashed purple. Abbie says it flashes green at times, so I'll definitely need to do some experimenting with this one!

Fingerpaints Sparkle Top Coat over black creme

Merry Christmas to me!!

Bestie came into town and we are currently at Steak n' Shake exchanging Christmas gifts and this is what I got! How much does she rock? Tons, I tell ya! Tons!

ETA: I had Christmas with DH's side of the family, and got some fab polishes from them too. Abbie got one of the HITS No Olimpio polishes I wanted, so that one will be showing up here soon.

Essie As Gold As It Gets over OPI DS Mystery

I first saw the Essie Luxeffects swatches over at The PolishAholic and thus began the drooling over As Gold as it Gets and Shine of the Times. Out of the six, those are the only two that caught my eye. I've been on a no-buy for a while now, but happened across a display at Meijer and there were only 2 AGAIG bottles left. Um, see ya no-buy! 

I got so excited about having it, I threw a coat on over my DS Mystery in the parking lot. This polish has an odd consistency to it. It's like a thin gel packed with gold flakies. It went on a little thick to my index and middle fingers, but dry time was great. The above shot is one I posted on Instagram, and I used the Brannan filter. There is so much shine (without a top coat!), it was difficult to capture without the filter. The polish color is still very accurate.

I absolutely love this combo. It wore like iron for 5 days without a chip. I only took it off because I got another polish (for free, so it was still no-buy legal) and was excited to try it out. I am also very anxious to try out Shine of the Times because Bestie picked it up for me in Chicago! My bestie is the best bestie.

Nails Inc Wyndham Duo

Nails Inc Wyndham Overcoat over Kensington

Oh my heavens, I love flakies! I saw The Polishaholic tweet that the Nails Inc Limited Edition flakies were available on Sephora and the next thing I know (almost literally) I had a basketful of goodies on its way to my door. :)

Nails Inc Kensington (applied sloppily)

I've never used Nails Inc polishes, but had heard great things about them on others' blogs. The formula of the Kensington blackened teal was wonderful. Super smooth and pigmented. I used just one coat on the manicure you see, but I'll do two next time. The Wyndham overcoat is a clear base with green/blue duochrome flakies. It was rather thick, but that's okay because that meant it dried pretty smooth. I used 1 coat of Seche Vite, but I don't know that it's really necessary. The caps are fat and round, and the stem on the short side. The brushes are firm and very full, and hold a ton of polish. It takes some getting used to.

I've also got to mention the wear. I used Seche Vite Rebuild (hoping to fix my horribly peeling nails) as a base coat and Seche Vite Rapid Dry top coat. This manicure wore for four days before it showed any tipwear. I got my first chip today, five days later. That was only because I grabbed my doorknob wrong in the dark and chipped the nail as well. This is unheard of for me. I have to wash my hands 20-40 times a day and usually start seeing wear within a day or two. I'm taking it off, but because I've got growth and the Nails Inc Autumn collection to dig in to!

I also have to share the excitement of blogging on something other than my iPhone! I got an early birthday gift from DH in the form of the netbook I really, really wanted. He wanted to buy me a new MacBook Pro, but Practical Pam spoke with Apple Lover Pam and I decided to go for the $275 option that works wonderfully over the fabulous $1000 one. I'm very happy with it!

Orly Fowl Play

This is from Orly's Birds of a Feather collection. It's the only one I had my eye on, and my lovely friend at Sally's called me when she saw it in their shipment. It came in a set with Lucky Duck (which is very similar to Jade is the New Black) and Peacock Blue (which is similar to Bluey). Those two may find new homes, but this one isn't going anywhere! *ETA: Looking back, Lucky Duck is lighter than JITNB.

Fowl Play has tiny silver/gold shimmer, larger pink/purple glitter, and warm-toned flakies suspended in a very pretty purple jelly base. It's rather sheer, but three coats gives it very nice depth. I tried to choose a picture that showed all of those elements. It does not do this polish justice. It reminds me of a galaxy manicure. You should definitely snatch it up if you see it in the wild!