::pretty::tough::nails::: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Enchanted Polish Austin Powers Swatch And Review

I have another out of town friend staying with me this weekend, so you know what that means, I need to stash all my polishes in my kitchen hidey spots again. Hopefully I'll remember where I put them all. I guess it's not a bad thing that I won't be doing any swatching this weekend because I had a big break on my middle finger today so I need to let it grow out a bit.

Tonight I have my first Enchanted Polish for you, and that's Austin Powers, a lovely golden beige flakey holo. I love how delicate this polish looks and it makes a nice palette cleanser. The scattered holo gives this polish a nice kick and the flakes give it some extra sparkle. I used two layers in these pics and found the formula to be very sheer and slightly watery, but still easy to apply. No topcoat because I didn't want the possibility of dimming the holo.

Enchanted Polish Austin Powers

I really adore the flakes in this, it reminds me of the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes but I have to admit that I was disappointed in the shade of it against my skintone. I wonder if it might pop more against a darker base. Have you tried any polishes by Enchanted Polish, and if so, which is your favorite?

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Nerd Lacquer Hyperspace Bypass Swatch and Review

The Nerds have landed!!

And of course I had to swatch one right away, despite having to go to bed early tonight. I decided to go with the prettiest ugly color out of them, and that was Hyperspace Bypass. It's a chartreuse yellow jelly with gold, white, and black multi sized hex glitter. I love me a pretty ugly polish! Application was super easy, and I was stoked that I didn't have to use any undies for this because I had a full bottle to use. I used two layers and found very little dragging or clumping of the polish with each stroke. The glitter is really dense so some dragging is expected. I finished with a layer of Gelous and SH Insta Dr because it did dry bumpy on its own.

Nerd Lacquer Hyperspace Bypass

Wow, what an amazing creation, look at that macro!! I can't even begin to describe what's in that polish other than the few glitters I mentioned earlier. Hyperspace Bypass is such a beautifully complex polish, and I am excited to check out the rest of my order... but not until I get some downtime early next week. Boooooo for having to wait. This Nerd Lacquer order came just in time, especially since I received some really terrible news earlier. These Nerds brightened my day tremendously! And for next time, are there any Nerds that you'd like me to swatch first??

KBShimmer Iris My Case and Get Clover It Swatch And Review

Today was another unexpectedly busy day for me. I forgot I made plans with a coworker for a work dinner and so I worked a full day and then attended the dinner hosted by a company. I think my hubby was a little disappointed to not get any down time from watching LO while I was working all day, but I guess that comes with the territory of being a parent. There's never enough time to yourself anymore once a baby is around.

Yesterday I had two spring KBShimmers, Lottie Dottie and Spring Training, and tonight I have two more spring releases for you called Iris My Case and Get Clover It. As I continue to swatch this collection, I can't help but be impressed at how professional KBShimmer polishes are. One thing that came to my attention are the brushes - they're not too wide or too narrow. They're not as wide as OPI brushes and they don't have a tapered tip, and are in my opinion, a perfect brush. I wish more polishes had brushes like KBShimmers!

First I have is Iris My Case, and lovely pale lavender crelly with pastel multi sized hex glitter. It's very similar to Spring Training in all respects except for the base color. I had no trouble with application so no clumping or dragging and I used two layers for opacity. It dried to a high shine on its own, just like Spring Training which I think is amazing considering its a glitter crelly. To smooth it, I used a layer of SH Insta Dri to finish.

KBShimmer Iris My Case

Lastly I have Get Clover It, a gorgeous emerald green jelly with tons of circle glitter, hooray!! There are different colors of circles too, I think there's gold, teal, and silver if I'm not mistaken. There's also a smattering of microglitter in there too. I used three layers for this, my advice is to let the layers dry thoroughly between application because the circles like to migrate toward the tip so there can be dragging. I used a layer of topcoat to finish. I love that this green polish si just in time for St Patrick's day.

KBShimmer Get Clover It

How pretty is that?? All these KBShimmers are making my heart pitter patter, and I can't decide which one I love more. Everytime I put one on, I think I like it more than the last. I still have one more to post, which I'll hopefully get to this week, but in the meantime, which one is your favorite so far?

Monday, February 25, 2013

KBshimmer Spring Training and Lottie Dottie Swatch And Review

Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed your Monday. I was hoping mine would be an easy day since I didn't have work, but I kept running into problems throughout the day and started to get really frustrated. Not to mention after a trip to get my oil changed, I left with a bill over $260. How does that always happen? I hate how mechanics always try to inflate the bill, but when they start talking about the integrity of the brakes I can't take any chances. There goes my extra spending money this month!

Tonight I have two of KBShimmer's Spring release polishes, and both are exactly what I want to see on my nails for spring. The entire collection are mostly pastel bases and glitters, and most of them have circle glitter for those circle lovers out there.

First I have Spring Training, a lovely mint green crelly base with several multisized pastel hex glitters. No circle glitter, unfortunately. I love the combination of colors, it reminds me of an Easter basket full of colorful eggs. I found the formula to be fairly easy to apply considering the density of glitter and thickness of the polish, and I only needed two to three coats. I used three on some fingers because there was some bald patches here and there. And believe it or not, no topcoat in these pics! It dried really shiny on its own, but I'm sure a layer of topcoat would probably smooth out the texture if that bothers you.

KBshimmer Spring Training

Next I have Lottie Dottie, a white crelly based polish perfect for circle glitter lovers because there are tons of pink and blue circles packed into this polish. There are also a bunch of tiny hex glitters and the surprise for me are tiny bar glitters spread throughout. I'm not usually a fan of bar glitter but these are much smaller and almost threadlike in thickness so are much easier to tolerate. I thought application was going to be difficult because of the white base, but it wasn't streaky at all and took only two coats to become opaque. Winning! I finished with a layer of SH Insta Dri to add shine and smooth down the polish.

KBShimmer Lottie Dottie

Overall, both of these polishes were amazingly easy to apply and so fun to look at. They're unique and perfect for the season, and I'm looking forward to trying out more of KBShimmer's creations for spring. My question today is, with all the circle glitter polishes that are getting released, do you find yourself a fan of circle glitter?

Contrary Polish Love Lyrics 2013 The Way I Am Swatch And Review

I hope everybody had a lovely weekend! As for myself, I was super busy and barely had any downtime except for tonight, but even then I had to put LO to bed twice because she woke up again and wouldn't fall back to sleep. I didn't get a chance to watch the Oscars either, boo!

Tonight I have my favorite pick from Contrary Polish's 2013 line called Love Lyrics. My favorite of the collection is a soft spring green with fuchsia microglitter and shimmer. I love the contrast in colors and think that it's pure to add microglitter along with the shimmer. The formula was easy to apply, I used three coats for these pics but probably would have been ok with only two coats IRL. I finished with a layer of SH Insta Dri for shine because it dried to a satin finish on its own.

Contrary Polish Love Lyrics 2013 The Way I Am

After trying this, I'm am excited to try the rest of the polishes from the Love Lyrics collection, but only if I can get my hands on them! They seem to be selling out as fast as hotcakes! Are you interested in grabbing any of these?

Friday, February 22, 2013

Pahlish Clanking Of Crystal and Little White Candle Swatch And Review

Is everyone gearing up for Oscar weekend? I still have to catch up on some of the movie nominations but unfortunately I have a lot of non Oscar plans jammed into my weekend. Hopefully I'll find time to watch them before Sunday, and if not, I can always drool over the celebrity style on the red carpet! Hopefully they'll have a mani cam like the Grammys did.

Tonight I have the other two Pahlishes that go along with Like Calendars Dying that I swatched this past weekend. These follow the same combination of creamy base and matching glitter. The first one I'll show you is Clanking Of Crystal, a sky blue based cream with black hex, white matte squares, and blue circle glitter mixed with blue microglitter. I love the combination of glitter in this but unfortunately once the polish is on the nail, the glitter gets swallowed up by the blue cream. I had no trouble with application, I used three coats and they all went on smoothly with no clumping or dragging of glitter. It did dry a little matte on its own so I used SH Insta Dri for some extra shine.

Pahlish Clanking Of Crystal

And finally I have Little White Candle, a light grey cream with black and silver mutli sized hex glitter. I again had no trouble with application but it was a little sheer. I used three coats in this mani and you can still see a little VNL. I used topcoat in these pics as well.

Pahlish Little White Candle

Overall I really liked the polishes from this particular line by Pahlish, but I was a little disappointed by Clanking of Crystal. I wish the glitters showed through better, maybe if it's thinned a bit the glitters will pop more. I hope so because the glitters in that shade are really spectacular together. Do you like cream glitters or do you prefer jellies instead?

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Nerdlacquer All Of Time And Space Over Barielle Do Unto Others

I have another Nerdlacquer for you tonight to continue my anticipation of my order that I made during Nerdlacquer's return this past Saturday. This is my favorite of the ones I own, and it is called All Of Time And Space which is a pretty mint green crelly base with pink and satin white hexes and microglitter. I love the combination of colors together because it's not something I'd usually pair together but it works so well! I had trouble finding an accurate matching base, but I think Barielle Do Unto Others was a good match, but maybe Zoya Wednesday could have worked if I could find it, or maybe even OPI Mermaid's Tears which I no longer own.

First I'll show you Barielle's Do Unto Others, a stunning teal leaning green cream. I used two easy coats and had no trouble with application.

Barielle Do Unto Others

And here is the Nerdlacquer over top Do Unto Others. I used two light coats but I probably could have gotten away with one had I made more of an effort to get the sunken larger glitters off the bottom. I didn't get as many larger hexes as a result and dabbed a few of them on. I think All Of Time And Space would have been difficult to wear along because it seemed to sheer, not to mention that I have a mini bottle so I need to preserve what I have of it. I finished with a layer of SH Insta Dri to hasten drying and smooth out any glitters.

Nerdlacquer All Of Time And Space

Isn't it stunning? I have to say it again, I love the combination of colors in this polish!! I don't know if this was re-released, but if it does, you need to grab it! I think it's one of her best creations. Keep updated on her Google + page for more updates and restock info if you want to grab some!

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