Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp Swatch And Review

Purchased

Wowsers it's Christmas Eve and the elves are still at work!  Are you still doing last minute preparations, or are you just going to ride it out for the rest of the season?  I still don't know what we're going to do for Christmas Day - we plan on making a nice feast for Christmas Eve but I think we decided to go out to dinner for Christmas Day.  The question is, where?  What's your Christmas tradition?

I have a lovely mint green that I've been wanted to swatch for you today, and it's by Avon called Honeydew Sparkle.  This was part of the Forbidden Fruits collection, all of which were juicy bright colors with tons of glass flecks embedded within.  This is a light mint green shade with the aforementioned glass flecks, and the formula unfortunately was a bit disappointing.  It did not want to go on evenly during application and so I used three coats to hide the streaks in this mani.  This was the type of application to make the most seasoned nail polisher feel like a clumsy oaf.  No topcoat in these pics, because at least it redeemed itself with a bit of its own inherent shine.

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle

Well, true to its name, it really does look like a glistening piece of honeydew.  I wish the glass flecks were easier to see, but I guess that's due to the nature of the lighter color base.   Next, to quench that thirst for sparkle, I used a Lynnderella that's been gathering dust in my polish drawers, She Livedina Swamp.  This has varying shades of gold thru green multisized and shaped glitters with microsparkle in a clear base.  I used two surprisingly easy to apply light coats(think super dusty, with evaporation and minimal shaking despite glitter sinkage) followed with a generous coat of NYC GCS. 

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp

 Avon Honeydew Sparkle With Lynnderella She Livedina Swamp

I think this turned out to be a Christmas Eve appropriate mani with the festive green glitters, and I love how the gold ties it all together and gives it a holiday feel.  And as a heads up, I might not be posting as regularly as I like as I've been banned from my polish workspace for the rest of the week by the deluge of family members that are here to visit for the holidays.  I hope that you're having a wonderful holiday and celebrating it with your loved ones in your own special way.  Merry Christmas! 

Purchased

Lynnderella Nosegay Over Color Mates Meet Me In Paris Swatch And Review

If you haven't yet, make sure you enter my giveaway!  It ends tonight and it's your chance to win a bottle of OPI Spotted, as well as three of my favorite polishes from the OPI San Francisco collection that is brand spanking new for fall.

I finally got around to swatching one of the polishes from the three pack that I bought a Big Lots from the east coast.  The lucky polish that caught my eye was the light lavender purple with iridescent flakes, called Meet Me In Paris.  Application was a little difficult but it turned out well after three coats.  I had trouble with the slightly thick consistency and some mild patchiness in the first two coats.  No topcoat in these pics.  It's worth it though, the iridescent shimmer is utterly gorgeous and makes this polish look really heavenly.

Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

While I was browsing my polish drawers, I noticed a Lynnderella that I hadn't used in a while.  Nosegay, with it's blue tinted lavender base has a similar base color as Meet Me In Paris, and contains some iridescent shimmer and light and dark purple hex and square glitters.   Application was a breeze, especially with a fluid formula and no clumping of the glitters, and I only needed two coats over Meet Me In Paris for full coverage(boo, I covered up the iridescent flakes!). I used a layer of Essence Gel Look Nails to smooth out the mani and add shine.

Lynnderella Nosegay Over Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Lynnderella Nosegay Over Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Lynnderella Nosegay Over Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Lynnderella Nosegay Over Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

Lynnderella Nosegay Over Color Mates Meet Me In Paris

What a super feminine mani this turned out to be!  I think it's the perfect mani to celebrate LO's birthday today.  I don't use my Lynderellas as much as I should, and this mani reminds me how glorious those polishes can be.  It's pricey, but I think there are some definite must haves from her collection.  Are there any that Lynns that you love?

Fourth of July Skittles Featuring Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Hare A Positive

Happy Fourth Of July to all of those who celebrate!  I think we decided to have a little BBQ on our roof top patio for dinner so that we'll be in the perfect spot for the citywide fireworks.  Although we won't be directly in the middle of the fireworks, we'll be able to see all the fireworks around LA, including the beachside, downtown, Hollywood Bowl, and Exposition Park fireworks.  It's quite a show!  Will you be watching any fireworks and where?

To celebrate, I did a skittles mani of glitters and stamping.  Here's the breakdown:
On my index I have Hare A Positive, a great red jelly with silver hex glitters.
Middle is Zoya Purity with stars that I fished out of a Love & Beauty glitter topper.
Ring finger is Zoya Purity stamped with a Born Pretty marble plate design using Pop Beauty Red Tomato and Sinful Colors Endless Blue.  The red didn't stamp as well.
Pinky and Thumb are Sinful Colors Endless blue topped with Lynnderella Snow Angel.  On my thumb I added a few more stars.
Whew, that's quite a lot of polishes!!

Fourth of July Skittles Featuring Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Hare A Positive

Fourth of July Skittles Featuring Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Hare A Positive

Fourth of July Skittles Featuring Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Hare A Positive

Fourth of July Skittles Featuring Sinful Colors Endless Blue and Hare A Positive

Well, not so bad I guess, although I need to work on my stamping technique!!  I have yet to find a good red cream in my collection.  It seems that most of my reds are jellies, strangely enough.  Do you have any recommendations?  I really love how the stars turned out though - I will have to try that out in another mani sometime.

Color Club Abyss Swatch And Review with Lynnderella Connect The Dots

Thank goodness it's the weekend!  I'm exhausted from my first full time week back at work.  I fell asleep early each night this week and didn't get a chance to post as much as I wanted to.  This weekend there's a million and one things I want to do again - there's a food truck festival at the Rose Bowl, a sample sale, and then my mother wants to take another trip down to OC.  I'm not sure that I'll get to do all of what I want to do, but there's always another weekend I suppose!  Is your weekend jam packed?

I visited my favorite nail supply with my BFF when she was in town, and she convinced me I needed to pick up Abyss from Color Club's Kaleidoscope Spring collection.  It didn't take much convincing because it's a gorgeous green leaning teal cream that simple pops with color.  I found application to be a dream, nearly opaque in one coat but two to even it out.  This is with a layer of Poshe.

Color Club Abyss

Color Club Abyss

Color Club Abyss

Color Club Abyss

Color Club Abyss

I hope I captured how gorgeous this color this is, teals are always wonky on the camera.  I thought it would be the perfect shade to go with Lynnderella Connect The Dots, an oldie but goodie.  I forgot that there was shimmer in the clear base.

Color Club Abyss With Lynnderella Connect The Dots

Color Club Abyss With Lynnderella Connect The Dots

Color Club Abyss With Lynnderella Connect The Dots

Color Club Abyss With Lynnderella Connect The Dots

It's no wonder that Lynnderella revolutionized the polish world with this amazing mix of matte white and black glitters with squares(!), hexes, and bars.  There's been several similar dupes released since, but nothing compares to the simple awesomeness of this glitter topper.  Is there a glitter topper that you'll never get tired of?

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains Swatch And Review

I seem to have caught the cold that LO brought home from NC, so I called out sick yesterday and then had today off to recuperate.  Being sick is no fun, but I enjoyed spending more time with LO.  The only thing that I can say that was a pain was having to bend over all day thanks to LO... I couldn't help but think of this video every time.  My advice is hope that your baby is not a hipster.


I've got an oldie but goodie for you tonight, it's a polish that's been sitting in my swatch pile forever but I never found the time to swatch it because there was always a new one arriving.  This forgotten polish is Lynnderella's Gotta Love Brains, and I believe it's the last one that I've purchased from her after the other indie polishes exploded onto the market.  It's an ethereal pale greyish white crelly base(think grey matter) with a hodgepodge of squares, bars, hexes glitters and silver shimmer.  The glitters range in colors from black, silver, fuchsia, purple, pearlescent white, and teal blue, all of which I love to see together.  The base was really sheer and took me four coats to get this opacity, and during those four coats, only one large hex glitter came out onto my ring finger.  I hate polishes over three coats, but I might have to make an exception for this one.  This dried relatively smooth after a coat of SH Insta Dri, except for the large hex glitter that stuck out a little bit.

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

I haven't seen such a pretty feminine glitter in a while, and this certainly fits the bill.  Unfortunately, I probably won't be buying for Lynn anytime soon because her price tag is just too expensive compared to the others on the market, not to mention her quality has decreased as well.  Have you bought any Lynns lately, and do you think they're worth the price tag?

Elevation Polish Alphubel topped with Lynnderella Snow Angel

Whew, we made it to another weekend!  I'm looking forward to enjoying another three day weekend with my LO and BFF who is visiting for the weekend.  She's here on business but it's actually fun business - we have to visit hotels and event sites to scope them out for future events that she will be planning.  For example, we're having dinner at the SLS hotel's highly acclaimed and super expensive Bazaar restaurant on Sunday night so she can discuss details with their event manager.  I wish my job had perks like this!

Tonight I have another Elevation polish to share with you, and that's Alphubel, a light blue cream with a glowing teal shimmer.  Well, there's a shimmer in the bottle at least, the shimmer on the nail is very difficult to see but it's there.  I'm not terribly upset about it because it was gifted to me.  I used two coats in these pictures with no topcoat so you can see the finish.  It dried with a slight shine on its own.

Elevation Polish Alphubel

Elevation Polish Alphubel

Elevation Polish Alphubel

Elevation Polish Alphubel

I topped this with Lynnderella's Snow Angel.  There's something about light blue creams and white glitter that I can't resist.  I think that it reminds me of looking out upon a snow covered field below a cloudless sky.  Snow Angel's application was a little disappointing, surprisingly there glitter wasn't as dense as I would have liked and I didn't get as many large glitters with each stroke.  I used a layer of SH Insta Dri to smooth it down. 

Elevation Polish Alphubel topped with Lynnderella Snow Angel

Elevation Polish Alphubel topped with Lynnderella Snow Angel

Elevation Polish Alphubel topped with Lynnderella Snow Angel

It still turned out as a very pretty mani but I'm disappointed with both brands overall.  The shimmer in Alphubel was very slight once on the nail - I guess you can say I'm not a fan of hidden shimmers.  I like shimmers to be a little more visible than this.  I have denser white glitter toppers than Snow Angel but maybe that's the beauty of it, maybe it's suppose to look delicate.  For $23 a pop, I expect an amazing polish and this wasn't IMO.  What do you think, do indie polishes warrant the higher price tag if they don't perform as well as you'd expect?

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust-Mint over Butter London Sloane Ranger

Sorry for the missed post yesterday!  It was the evening of Black Friday and although I didn't do any shopping in the malls, I did manage to take advantage of the indie polish sales.  Otherwise, the past couple days have been spent shopping for cribs with my MIL.  Who knew choosing a crib could be so exhausting?  My MIL wants to me to choose what I want, but every time I think I find something, she finds something wrong with it so it's back to the drawing board.  I can't argue with her either, because she's the one that is paying for it. It's a lose-lose situation for me and at this point I'd be happy with her choosing a baby cage without my help.

On a positive note, I realized when I was wearing Butter London Sloane Ranger that it would make an excellent base color for Lynnderella's Attitude Adjust-Mint, a pale mint green glitter that I'd been having trouble matching with other polishes.  I figured I'd give it a go and below are the results.  I think it turned out pretty well, because of the dustiness of Sloane Ranger, it didn't over power the sheer green of the Lynn.  I've tried it over other mint greens and found them to be too green so the Lynn ends up geting swallowed up by the base, if that makes any sense.  Attitude Adjust-Mint is a sheer mint green crelly base that is way too sheer to wear on its own but in this combo you can see the iridescent green hex and microglitter clearly against the base color. 

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust Mint

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust Mint

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust Mint

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust Mint

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust Mint

Do you like this combo or do you prefer it over a more traditional mint green base?  If so, what color do you recommend?  Thanks for looking!