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.

Zoya Destiny

Destiny is the other Zoya Summer PixieDust polish I picked up. The bottle shots looked great, but man oh man! I saw swatches and I knew it had to be mine! 

This mani is the blingiest one I've worn in ages. I swear if the sun hit it right, you could see the sparkle across a parking lot. I've got two coats of matte coral and gold glitter summer on my nails here. Love it!

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?

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. 

Manglaze F*** Off & Dye!

I have such a fun polish for you guys today! I've eyed Manglaze polishes for a long time, but never actually "checked out" with one. Manglaze specializes in matte polishes, and does them fabulously.

In the interest of not offending any of my readers, I will post bottle pictures after a jump. It depicts violence and has a swear word. It is very cool, comic-book style art work. I would encourage you to check it out if it sounds like something you may appreciate.

Below is a shot of my nails only. I did use butter LONDON Nail Foundation for this manicure, but I gave it a good long time to dry. The brush was nice and full with a rounded edge and was nicely flexible. The formula was very smooth and super opaque. I used two thin coats and the polish dried very quickly.

Bottle shot after the jump...

Zoya Savita and Posh - Christmas Haul Continues

These are more the last of my haul from Bestie. Zoya announced awhile ago that they were going to implement a wish list feature on their site. This would make me oh-so-excited because when they have a promo, I get very preoccupied with which polishes I want to order. I went through one of the booklets they have and marked the ones I want so that I don't have to agonize over which ones I want for free. What two were on the list? Savita and Posh. Bestie rocks so hard.

2 coats of Savita

2 coats of Posh

Bestie shared with me months ago that it is not advisable to use a base coat or top coat (obviously) with matte polishes. I was kind of saddened by this as I can see both of these colors staining like a mother... But!! She told me that she read that you could use base coats if you allowed them to dry completely before using the color. The photo of Posh was taken very shortly after being swatched, and you can see that the tips of the nail are shinier than the base. I think this is caused by a not-dry-enough base coat.

I think both of these colors would look excellent with a shiny top coat. I'll add that next time I wear them and post pics.

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.

China Glaze First Mate and Doctor Who geek out

God bless Netflix for showing me the wonders of Doctor Who. I am a straight up nerd when it comes to a few things... Harry Potter (I display the highest level of geek here), Lord of the Rings, Twilight (sort of, but not really)... I knew of Doctor Who and I knew the show had quite a following, but had never seen an episode until I looked for something to occupy my brain a little while I work on my husband's giant (but yet unfinished) knitted blanket.

I promise there is nail polish after the jump!

OPI DS Mystery Matte-ified

I was talking with Bestie last night about matte polishes and decided to see what Mystery looked like with a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love. I love it! This is a pretty accurate representation of the color and the shimmer.

Hard Candy Sky

Newbie blog chick fail. I've tried uploading them differently 3 times, and my photos keep flipping around backwards. So, first shot is of Hard Candy Sky with a coat of Matte-ly in Love. MiL dries super fast. I've always put it on after 2-3 days when I'm getting bored with what's on my nails. Usually does the trick.

I saw this on kelliegonzo.com, then noticed it at Walmart this weekend. She was totally right about the formula. She called it chalky and thick, and I would agree. I can't find the post now, but someone else recommended 2 thin coats and 1 thick one. I think this worked well.

It is a robin egg blue with a very fine shimmer. It is said all over the internets that this is a dupe for Chanel Riva. From pics I've seen, I would agree. So, that would be 2 Chanel dupes in my collection. This is Orly Bonder, 3 coats of Sky, and Seche Vite.