#31DC2013 Inspired By A Color: You're Turning Violet, Violet by Smitten Polish

Purchased

Today's challenge is one of those open ended challenges that you can interpret in any way you want.  I decided to go the purple route, and use Smitten Polish You're Turning Violet, Violet as inspiration and a focal point.  I used it on my ring finger and then did a glitter gradient with it on my pinky over Sinful Colors Enchanted.  I then did a gradient with Enchanted and Color Club Puccilicious and Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing on my middle and index finger.  Finally, I used some striping tape with Enchanted and Color Club Eternal Beauty on my thumb.

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Color

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Color

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Color

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Color

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Color

I really like this mani - I don't often get the opportunity to do skittlettes but they're fun to do and always look great.  It's a shame I have to remove it for the next challenge tomorrow!

I'm testing a new lens and I'm realizing that some of my photos are coming out a little blurry so I apologize for that.  Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon!

Let's see how the other ladies interpreted today's challenge, shall we?

Purchased

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green Swatch And Review

Happy Friday!  I am really looking forward to Sunday because I need a morning to sleep in.  Those mornings are so far and few between now with the baby and it will be really appreciated after a week of jetlag and recovery from work and vacation.  There's definitely truth when I say that I need a vacation from my vacation!

I love contrasting colors and when I heard that Smitten Polish released a color called Pink Goes Good With Green, my interested was piqued.  It doesn't hurt that the base color is green, one of my favorite colors.  It's a lovely light mint green crelly with varying sizes of pink and gold hex glitters and a smattering of gold squares.  The formula was a little tricky - slightly thick with a tendency to streak and develop bald patches.  I used two thin coats followed with a thick third coat and finished with a layer of Poshe.

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

I wish the green was a tiny bit darker, less pastel-ly, and I think next time I'll try swatching it over a darker green cream to see if I can get that effect.  Overall though, it's a soft and feminine color that is fun to wear any time of the year.  The formula was a little disappointing, but still workable and it won't deter me from trying out more Smittens in the future.

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False Swatch And Review

It's going to be Monday and I'm hoping that it will fly by quickly.  Mondays are always the hardest to get through when you're at work.  Hopefully I'll get a little time during my lunch break to take a nice walk and enjoy the outdoors.

I was in the mood for some purple tonight and pulled out one of my untrieds by Smitten Polish.  This is Wicked, Tricksy, False, a release from last year's Halloween collection that is now a core polish color.  It's a sheer grey jelly with multisized hexes and squares of purple and red suspended within.  Formula was slightly thick but workable, and I had no issues with balding or dragging of the glitters.  I used three coats in these pics topped with a layer of Essence Gel Look Nails.

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False

Hmmm... I wasn't in love with the charcoal jelly base so I decided to layer it over Sinful Colors Shock And Awe, in hopes that it would tone down the brightness of the blurple and give it more of a purple hue.  This is two coats of Wicked, Tricksy, False over two coats of Shock And Awe.

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False Over Sinful Colors Shock And Awe

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False Over Sinful Colors Shock And Awe

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False Over Sinful Colors Shock And Awe

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False Over Sinful Colors Shock And Awe

Smitten Polish Wicked, Tricksy, False Over Sinful Colors Shock And Awe

Yum!  I love that layering combination, Wicked, Tricksy, False totally turns that blurple base into a dark purple and it makes the red glitters pop against the purple.  Don't get me wrong, I totally love Wicked, Tricksy, False alone - the charcoal jelly base is a great smokey base for the glitters.  Tonight, however, I really was in the mood for purple and this combination hit the spot.  Which way do you like Wicked, Tricksy, False?

Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky Swatch And Review

I have my BFF visiting me this week so I might not have as much time to post my usual posts.  It's my birthday weekend and I hope to celebrate with friends, family, and good food.  I'll let you know how it goes!

I have Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky for you tonight, and it's a gorgeous deeply saturated purple jelly with multi-colored hex glitters suspended in it.  I love the vibrant colors of the glitter and the how they contrast against the purple base.  I used three coats and had no trouble with glitter dragging or dispersion, and the density of glitter was perfect.  My only complaint is that this dried semi matte instead of glossy like other jellies I've tried.  I finished with a topcoat, but I can't remember which one - I wish I did because I can see it dried a little streaky.  Hmm... Perhaps it's Orly's Sec N Dry, the newest topcoat that I'm trying out.  Sec N Dry hasn't impressed me so far because the formula is really thin and it doesn't seem to dry the layers underneath quickly at all.

Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky

Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky

Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky

Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky

Smitten Polish Look To The Western Sky

Ignore the topcoat streaks and look at the gorgeous polish!  Look at that purple jelly!  Look at those awesome gold, red, and pink hex and square glitters.  If this is what the Western Sky looks like, I don't ever want to look away.  Have you tried any Smittens lately?

Smitten Polish The One On The Right Swatch And Review

LO passed her cold to me so I've been really lagging these past couple days.  Hopefully I can get over it by the end of the week because I have my brother and his family visiting me for the weekend.  I'd hate to be rundown while they're here and then pass a cold onto them as well.

Argh, it's been a long long time since I've worn a blue glitter that I really like, and it's a Smitten Polish called The One On The Right.  I don't know on the right of what, but it's definitely right.  It's a lovely bright blue cream base with large silver and fuchsia glitters mixed with tiny blue and pink glitter.  I used two coats in these pics, the first one was thin and the second layer was thick.  I had no trouble with application and easily controlled the formula which I found to my liking, just a touch thick to prevent pooling.  I finished with a layer of SH Insta Dri but it appeared to dry fairly smooth and shiny on its own.

Smitten Polish The One On The Right

Smitten Polish The One On The Right

Smitten Polish The One On The Right

Smitten Polish The One On The Right

Smitten Polish The One On The Right

I love how the pink glitter plays off the bright blue in this polish and it's really fun to look at all day.  I'm very impressed so far with Smitten polish's creations and I look forward to trying more.  Have you had a chance to try Smitten, and which is your favorite?

Smitten Polish Flurry Swatch and Review

Hi everyone, I hope you had a fantastic weekend!  This marks the beginning of my first work week back from maternity leave, but luckily I have Monday off to enjoy.  Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!  We had to go to four stores on Saturday before we finally found candles - how ridiculous that in the city the size and diversity of Los Angeles, none of the stores we went to had Hanukkah candles?  We finally found them at a Walgreens in the middle of the Jewish area, which is probably where we should have started to begin with.  Well, at least the candles have been lit and our first Hanukkah gift to LO was a stuffed dradle that plays "I Have A Little Dradle" when squeezed.  Imagine her look of surprise when the music started! 

I have another Smitten Polish today for you, and this one is called Flurry.  It's a light grey sheer crelly base that contains white matte squares, iridexcent hex, and teal microglitter.  I love the color combination of this and who can resist square glitter?  The formula was easy to apply except I kept getting polish drag from some of the glitter which made the mani appear uneven.  I would have been happy at three coats but because of the glitter drag, I used four which I think makes the mani look too thick and chunky.  Some of the glitter gets lost in the mani as well, so it's not as glittery as I'd like.  It dried a little matte so it definitely needs topcoat for shine.

Smitten Polish Flurry

Smitten Polish Flurry

Smitten Polish Flurry

Smitten Polish Flurry

Smitten Polish Flurry

 

Smitten Polish Flurry

This is another beautiful creation by Smitten Polish, but this time I wasn't as happy with the formula as I was with Merry & Bright.  Maybe if I can keep the layers down to three, I might like it better.  I'm not going to give up on Smitten though, the colors and combinations are just too pretty!

Smitten Polish Merry & Bright Swatch and Review

Happy Weekend everyone!  This is my final weekend before going back to work and I'm trying my best to enjoy it thoroughly.  So far it's been a really nice week.  On Thursday we finally settled on a crib and my MIL footed the bill as promised.  We ended up choosing the Munire Capri Curve Crib in white because it really looked like a crib for a princess, and will later convert into a bed for one too.  We got her a super luxe expensive mattress as well, thank you MIL for your CC!  Early Friday I got my Secret Santa gift package that consisted of some drugstore favorites, Ulta exclusive OPI minis, China Glaze holiday minis, and a bunch of pampering products.  What a wonderful Secret Santa I had!!  I love participating in these exchanges because it's so nice to spoil someone who has a similar love for polish.  I finished off the week with a wonderful Italian lunch with DH and LO.  I couldn't have asked for more.

To match my content and happy mood, today I have Smitten Polish Merry & Bright to show you.  This is my first time using this indie line and I was really drawn to the color combination of this holiday polish - it's a strawberry pink jelly base infused with gold microglitter and larger hex glitter.  I found the formula to be excellent and easy to apply despite having so much glitter in it.  The glitter spread out evenly on the nail and I didn't need to fish or dab it on at all.  I used two coats in these pictures but being a jelly, I probably should have used three to get more opacity.  I think I stopped at two because I was worried that there would be too much glitter.  I finished the mani with a layer of topcoat to smooth it down.  I could have used some Gelous to get an even smoother finish.

Smitten Polish Merry & Bright

Smitten Polish Merry & Bright

Smitten Polish Merry & Bright

Smitten Polish Merry & Bright

Smitten Polish Merry & Bright

I sort of wish that the new reformulated Hare A Positive and Smitten Merry & Bright had a baby, because I think that would be a HG polish for me.  Still, I really enjoyed wearing this polish and I'm excited about trying more polishes from this line.

Smitten Polish Nerds Swatch and Review

Hooray for the weekend!  I hope you're enjoying yours.   I have a photo session planned with LO so we can get our holiday cards done.  Luckily our friend that is visiting is an excellent photographer so I'm confident the pictures will turn out well - the only question is what is she going to wear?  We have to make holiday cards that are not specific for Christmas because her father's side is Jewish.  Hmm, what to do?  Maybe I'll do something with snowflakes.  My friends are also foodies to an extent so we get to go out and have some good food with them.  I love friends like that!

I always love a purple polish and Smitten Polish's Nerds is no exception.  This is a lovely lavender crelly base with small fuchsia and blue hex glitter and truly does remind me of Nerds candy.  I like that this polish doesn't have large glitter pieces that a lot of other glitter polishes feel compelled to add to their glitter mixes.  The tiny glitter creates a subtle sparkle effect that gives off a pleasant flash of color when worn.  As a result, I think it would a really nice office appropriate polish.  Application was lovely albeit sheer so it required four layers to achieve the opacity in these pictures.  I had no trouble with clumping or uneven glitter dispersion.  For added shine, I used a layer of Poshe in these pictures.

Smitten Polish Nerds

Smitten Polish Nerds

Smitten Polish Nerds

Smitten Polish Nerds

Smitten Polish Nerds

 

I adore the tiny glitters in this polish and looking at it makes my mouth water, just as if it was really Nerds candy.  What about you, do you know of any polishes that have small glitter suspended in a color base?