Elevation Polish Echinops Swatch And Review

Purchased

Happy Tuesday!  Did anyone see the season finale of Lost Girl last night?  I'm still trying to process it all!  It definitely leaves the viewers at a cliff hanger, and I can't believe I have to wait until next January to find out what happens.  Ugh, I hate(love) when that happens!

Flowers are blooming and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to pull out Elevation Polish Echinops, a gorgeous lavender holo named after the globe thistle.  The formula on this was buttery smooth and I used an easy two coats here with no topcoat.

As you can see, the holo effect here isn't too strong, and has more of a subtle holo flare.  The light holo gives the overall polish a soft multidimensional effect, making it a perfect representation of the globe thistle and it's delicate flowers.  It seems with the beautiful spring weather , everyone has a bounce in their step.  It's a pleasure to see all the flowers blooming after the bleakness of winter, and this polish is no different with it's beautiful lavender coloring.  Strong holos aren't always the best, and this is a fine example of understated beauty.  Do you have a delicate holo that you're in love with?

Purchased

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple Swatch And Review

Well, if you forgot that yesterday was April Fool's Day like I did, you would have realized that the GlitterDaze news was actually a joke.  I didn't catch on until I saw a post from one of my favorite readers gave me a heads up and later an Instagram post by GlitterDaze apologizing for the hoax.  Apparently some of the buyers were saying that the joke was made in poor taste, because some they felt pressured into buying the last of the stock when that wasn't really the case.  She is offering refunds in the event you feel that way, but hopefully you'll take the joke in stride and accept that you were able to score some of her polishes for 15% off.  Personally, I'm glad to hear that she's not actually closing down because that was worse news for me!

Today's polish is an exquisite lavender purple holo calling Charmingly Purple by I Love Nail Polish.  It's a straightforward pastel purple with medium strong holo flare, and application was a breeze.  I didn't experience any balding or streaking and the formula was thin and easy to control.  I used three coats here with no topcoat.  Look at that wonderful shine!

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple

I Love Nail Polish Charmingly Purple

Isn't that a charming purple holo?  This is purple shade that I don't have in my arsenal of holos and I'm glad to have picked this one up.  I have to also advise that Barbra is a marvelous owner because she easily corrected a shipping mistake that I made when I entered in the wrong address.  The errant package was getting returned by the time I realized my error and when I notified her, she quickly shipped out a replacement package to me.  Talk about amazing customer service!  I'm definitely a huge fan of her and her polishes, and I can see myself being a loyal follower, especially after that minor fiasco.  Who can deny a brand that goes above and beyond for their customers?

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress Swatch And Review

Purchased

Hello lovelies!  Have you ever heard of #ooiaj?  It's the acronym of Overnight Oatmeal In A Jar, one of my favorite breakfast standbys.  I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal, but when I discovered ooiaj I was hooked.  I love the ease and quickness this takes to prepare - all you do is throw some oatmeal, greek yogurt, and your choice of milk into a glass jar and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  Voila, you've got a filling and healthy breakfast for the next day that's portable and easy to eat.  I love adding extras to mine, like berries, nuts, peanut butter, honey, chia seeds, cocoa powder, bananas, and granola.  The combinations are endless!  What's your favorite breakfast on the go?

Today's polish is brought to you by Kunimitsu Nail Potions, and it's named after a fish called the Red Empress.  It's a purple fish with red scales, which inspired this light purple polish with red and rose gold multisized glitters.  It has a beautiful purple shimmer that glows just like the fish too!  I was mesmerized by the bottle and equally mesmerized once it was upon my nails.  The hidden shimmer comes out to play when light hits it at the right angle.  I used two easy coats here, and I had no trouble with clumping or pooling, and the polish had a fluid consistency that leaned perfectly on the thick side. I finished with a layer of topcoat for extra smoothness and shine.

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Red Empress

Look at that shimmer!  I adore the duo tone shades of glitter too, and the total effect comes together as an grown up, sophisticated version of glitter polish.  Unlike a glitter bomb, I can wear this to work and feel like I'm dressing my age, which these days aren't as young as I use to be!   Kunimitsu has several polishes over at her Etsy shop that are equally as fabulous and enchanting as Red Empress.  I dare say you check them out!

Purchased

Cirque Polish Hellebore And Dark Horse Swatch And Review

Nothing To Disclose

Happy Tuesday!  Did you get to have a three day weekend?  I forgot that it was President's Day yesterday because I still had to work as usual.  Unfortunately, bank holidays means that daycare is closed too.  Boo. Hopefully DH didn't mind taking her into his office.  Note to self, update calendar phone to notify me of bank holidays!

Today's post will feature two textures that were released by Cirque Polish in her earlier collections. I think Cirque is incredibly innovative when it comes to finishes and colors, and possibly she was one of the first to release a textured polish before the polish world was ready for one.  I looked up some of the swatches of today's colors and most posts show the colors with topcoat, which is what everyone did with gritty polishes.  I'll have today's posts in their original finishes.

The first polish is Hellebore, a lovely light green texture with yellow undertones and a sprinkling of lavender microglitters.  This was released as part of the Objets d'Art collection and I believe it was the lone texture in that collection.  I used three coats here, and had slight difficulty navigating the brush to reach the towards the cuticles.  That's probably normal for most textures.  It dried in good time, about 15 minutes which is slightly longer than normal polish but not terribly long.  The purple microglitter is hard to see from afar, but they're visible up close.

Cirque Polish Hellebore

Cirque Polish Hellebore

Cirque Polish Hellebore

Cirque Polish Hellebore

Next I have Dark Horse, which was released in the first collection named after it, Dark Horse.  This is a black textured polish with glints of blue and pink.  This particular one was harder to manage than the previous texture. The density of glitter was sparse during application, which means loading up the brush is needed in order to get a decent amount of glitter with each layer.  I used four coats here while allowing time to dry in between coats, but the overall look is still a bit patchy looking.  Not my favorite to apply, that's for sure!

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

I didn't like the patchiness of Dark Horse alone, so I used a layer of Gelous followed with topcoat to see if the glitters would be enhanced.  It does somewhat, but still not enough to make this polish worth the hassle of application and dry time. 

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

Cirque Polish Dark Horse

I do like the charcoal appearance of this texture, but it's not enough for me to want to wear it again. I'm going to chalk up the difficulty of application and end result as a test phase for texture polishes by Cirque.  She may have inadvertently came up with a texture polish, but it may have set the trend for more to follow.  When do you think the first texture polishes were released, and by whom?

Nothing To Disclose

GlitterDaze Poised Swatch And Review

Purchased

TGIF!  I can't wait for the weekend.  It's been a tough week at work.  Recently, I was reading Racked LA and they had an article linked to another fashion site that stated that burgundy nails were going to be trending this season.  I think that shade will be popular for Valentine's Day, but I'm not sure how long afterwards it will trend.  Now that I think about it, burgundy seems to be trending out, especially after oxblood was so popular during the fall.  Let's see how that pans out, shall we?

Today's swatch is going to be short and sweet - I had to choose a color that would be work appropriate for a business meeting and when my eyes landed on GlitterDaze Poised, I knew it would be perfect.  It's a soft lavender purple, shot through copper shimmer.  Poised was released with the fall Era Of Elegance Collection, a collection full of beautiful glitters and soft glamorous shades.  For short nails, I think three coats would have been plenty, but I did four because my nails are getting so long and needed the extra coverage to hide VNL.  The formula was smooth and easy to apply, but I felt that dry time was a little longer than usual.  I finished with a layer of GlitterDaze Super Smooth, which dried it in a snap and hid some of the small indentations I made while waiting for it to dry.

GlitterDaze Poised

GlitterDaze Poised

GlitterDaze Poised

GlitterDaze Poised

GlitterDaze Poised

GlitterDaze Poised

GlitterDaze Poised

Isn't that shimmer fabulous?  I always feel weak in the knees whenever I see a beautiful contrasting shimmer, and this one definitely does the trick.  The soft lavender doesn't quite work with my skintone but I'm willing to overlook that just so I can shift the polish in different lights to reflect the copper.  I think this would be great as a base for another glitter from the Era Of Elegance collection, Exquisite, a neutral gold and silver glitter topper.  Have you explored that collection?  If not, you should check out the lovely colors!

Purchased

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax Swatch And Review

Purchased

Oy vey it's Black Friday!  Did you enjoy your holiday and have lots of yummy foods?  My dinner worked out really well overall and everyone was happily stuffed afterwards.  I did manage to sneak off after putting LO to bed to look at the shopping deals.  Have you done any shopping damage?  I think I've been pretty good so far, but I still managed to put a decent dent into my wallet.  Luckily I have to work today so I won't be able to partake in any of the in store or online sales.  The weekend, however, is a different matter! 

For your eyes today I have a new to me indie called Polish Me Silly, formerly known as Lush Lacquer.  It's created by a mother and daughter team and their polishes are whimsical, bright, and fun.  This particular one, Lilac And Relax, is a fabulous representation of them.  It's a light lilac cream base with multi sized hexes in purple, pink, and blue.  Being my first experience with this brand, I was a little disheartened with the formula.  On the nicely bushy brush,  the polish appeared opaque and thick, so I was hoping for easy and quick application.  However, the first layer applied really sheer with little glitter, and it took me four coats to get the opacity below.  I guess the upside was the sparse glitter because four coats built up the density of the glitter nicely on the nail, and there was no dragging or clumping of the glitter during application.  It dried bumpy and needed a thick layer of topcoat to finish.

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax

Polish Me Silly Lilac And Relax

This isn't a typical fall shade but I needed something to brighten up my jewel tone streak of colors this past season.  This works as a nice palette cleanser, so to say, and is easy on the eyes.  It's also been a while since I've worn a glitter polish and I'm glad it's not a glitter bomb.  Subtle glitter polishes like this are much more up my alley.  Despite the formula, I'm willing to give this indie another try - it's not uncommon that there's a bad batch here and there, and Polish Me Silly polishes are just too pretty to ignore.  Have you given a brand another chance and did it work out for you?

Purchased

KBShimmer The Square Over Zoya Malia Swatch And Review

PurchasedSwapped

I can't help but always be grateful when Friday rolls around, and today is no different, despite me having to work o Saturday.  My brother is flying into town for the weekend and he'll be spending some fun time with LO.  He's a great father and I'm always happy to have him around now that I have LO.  We'll probably be eating lots of good food this weekend too, which the thought will help bring a spring in my step after an otherwise stressful work week.

To help bring some sparkle into my life, I started with a nice calming lavender cream purple by way of Zoya Malia.  This applied like butter onto my nails and I had no streaking upon application.  I used two easy coats here with no topcoat.

Zoya Malia

Zoya Malia

Zoya Malia

Zoya Malia

Zoya Malia

Next I used the dab and smooth technique to apply a coat and half of KBShimmer The Square.  This appeared to have a slightly tinted purple base, so I thought Malia would be a good match.  I'm not entirely sure if it's suppose to be tinted purple or if some of the purple glitters bled... I'll have to research that some more.  The Square, true to its name, has a multitude of large and small metallic square glitters in a rainbow of colors.  I finished with a layer of my Poshe/GCS mix topcoat.

KBShimmer The Square

KBShimmer The Square

KBShimmer The Square

KBShimmer The Square

KBShimmer The Square

KBShimmer The Square

With the flooding of indies onto the market and the abundance of glitter toppers, I'm happy to find a unique take on it with the square glitters in this topcoat. My favorites are the white and gold squares - hmm... anyone want to do a white and gold square glitter topcoat?  It seems like the possibilities are endless!  KBShimmer released a ginormous collection recently, and I'm super impressed with the creativity behind all the polishes that were created.  Will you be picking any of them up?

PurchasedSwapped