River Song by Ador Beauty

Can you feel it, my dears? Excitement is in the air! In just two short days, The Day of the Doctor will air! The 50th anniversary Doctor Who special is airing 50 years to the day since the premier of the original episode! Sadly, I will not be able to watch The Day of the Doctor live, as I don't have cable, or even a TV! My parents will be DVRing for me, and I'll be able to watch at my leisure :) In celebration, I'll be showing off some of my favorite Whovian polishes over the next few days. 

We'll start the whole shebang off with River Song by Ador Beauty. I've had this puppy sitting around for ages, but I never got around to swatching it, for . . . reasons. More on that when I get into the review portion. This is three coats of River Song, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken under Ott Lite. Creator Olivia describes River Song as a "sexy, sassy maroon shade with a holographic purple glitter (inspired by her halucinogenic lipstick) and big golden glitters (to symbolize her beautiful hair)." 

Let me start by saying this: I love the theory behind this polish, and it did turn out beautiful. But I did have some issues. First of all, it is definitely pink, and not even a little bit maroon! The photos in the Etsy listing reflect that, and it is exactly the shade I thought I was getting. I didn't even realize that it was called maroon until I went to add the description to this post! My real issue with this polish, however, was application. This baby was T.H.I.C.K. Like, unusable thick when I first got it. So I let it sit for months without using. Then I finally got my hands on some polish thinner, added a few drops and . . . still too thick to use. So I filled all the empty space in the bottle with thinner, mixed it up with an orange stick, and let it rest a few days. Or so I thought. Then I moved. Twice. When I finally got around to swatching the polish, it was usable, but I still added a few more drops of thinner, just to make application easier. Finally! There was a lot of work to get there, but once I did get there, I love this polish! It's a great color, and I love the holo sparkle. 

I really hate writing negative reviews, especially when I do like the product, so I debated whether or not to post this for a while, but I ultimately decided to go ahead. Most of us hard-core nailistas have plenty of polish thinner on hand (why the hell do those bottles have to be so big? I've barely put a dent in mine!), and if you're prepared to put some work into, I highly recommend the color. Perhaps it was even a fluke- maybe I got a bad bottle! Ador Beauty Products- polish and cosmetics- can be purchased on Etsy. 

Crumpet's 33DC: Something From Pinterest

I, like I'm sure all of you, keep a board on Pinterest specifically for inspiration manis. Lots of goals that are way too lofty for me, but I managed to find one that I love and could easily recreate :) I went with this mani, originally from Nail Polish Society.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. Stamping was done with Sinful Colors Black on Black and Red Angel plate RA-112. I think I need a new stamper- mine has been doing a pretty crappy job of picking up my images lately :(

Check out some more lovely Pinterest-inspired manis in the InLinkz below!

Crumpet's 33DC: Color You Own Most Of

Today was a bit of a toss up. In my stash, purple and green are pretty much always neck and neck. I'm pretty sure purple is winning currently by 2 polishes. With Christmas coming, green will probably edge out soon. Even if it doesn't, I'll be using a lot more green polishes, so I went with purple for today.

I started with a base of A Tree's Love by The Lady Varnishes. This polish is seriously amazing! Want a better look at it? Come back December 7th for the full review! Anyway, I loved the color so much I wanted to keep the design simple, so I just did some dots, first in Ducky by Lyn B Designs, then one top of that with Orly Purple Crush (which is actually a hot fuchsia, but since it's called purple, I went with it :) 

Check out the InLinkz below to see which colors dominate everyone else's stash!

Crumpet's 33DC: A Pattern In Your Wardrobe

Back on Based on a Pattern in your Home day, I was absolutely shocked to discover how many people had no pattern in their homes! Nothing but solid colored draperies and bed linens to be seen! And then we come to today, and . . . I have no pattern in my wardrobe. Of my standard daily wear, I have a few black/white/grey striped shirts and one black and white polka dot shirt. Everything else is solids, with a few graphic tees for good measure. In hindsight, I have some amazing socks I could have used, as I love fun socks. Fun fact: I don't own a single pair of white socks. 

Anyway, the socks idea didn't come to me in time, so I went with jammies! These are one of my favorite pajamas bottoms. There's just cheapie cotton shorts, but they're cute and comfy, so why not do my nails based on them? 

I started out with Wet N Wild Teal Slowly and See. The cherries were dotted on with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Presto Pink, Revlon Spirit and Sinful Colors Exotic Green for the stems. 

Super love these!

Be sure to check out the rest of the wardrobe-inspired manis in the InLinkz below!

Crumpet's 33DC: Geometric

Evening, dears. In the midst of all the kitty-chaos last week, this also happened.

I know it's difficult to see, but that is a ginormous tear, half way up my middle finger. On my swatching hand. Damnit. It's still there, and it's still torn, but I've been babying it and holding it on with superglue and prayers. Hopefully it will hang on long enough to reach my free edge, or else that sumbitch is gonna HURT. 

The actual point of this post is this art. This is for the geometric prompt, and I cannot believe how happy I am with the result. I wish I had done the same stamp on all my fingers, but oh well, next time. I will recreate this one at some point. 

My base is Orly Ingenue, and the stamping was done with Sinful Colors Black on Black. I don't recall the plate number, but both stamps were from the same Red Angel plate. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the geometric manis in the InLinkz below- I'm looking forward to it. Geometric designs are some of my favorites!

Crumpet's 33DC: Europe

Hello, darlings- another catch up post (I'll be doing about 5 tonight- fair warning! I had most of the manis done before kitty got sick, and never had time to post them!). This time the prompt is Europe, and I admit to being a bit stuck on this one. And I think it should have been one of the easier ones for some reason. However, I came across this supercool map on Tumblr that I used for inspiration. 

Source (Where I found it anyway.)

I freehanded all my stripes. Polishes used were: Revlon Speed Dry Spirit, Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby, Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze, Sinful Colors Exotic Green, Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lightning, and a Sinful Colors white striper. My flags (if you can't tell!) are France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. 

Don't forget to check out all the other European inspired manis in the InLinkz below!

Crumpet's 33DC: 3 Color Gradient + Pattern

Hello loves! If you follow me on Facebook, you'll know that I had a Very Sick Kitty last week. Therefore, I was put WAY behind on blogging, both this challenge and just regular swatching. I'm still taking pretty instense care of him, but he's home and is doing far better than he was last week, so I think it's time to play catch up! 

The prompt for whichever day this was was a 3 color gradient plus a pattern. I had this one all batched and ready to draft before kitty got ill, but in all the hubbub, I somehow lost my notes! Damn :( I know that the colors here are Sinful Colors Let's Meet, some orange- probably Wet N Wild 9021Orange, and Sinful Colors Forget Now. The stamping was done with Revlon Spirit, and what is most likely a Red Angel plate. I can sift through my plates and find the number if anyone really wants to know! 

Be sure to check out the rest of the (on time) gradient + pattern manis in the InLinkz below!

Glitter Me This Halloween Polishes: Swatches and Review

I know this is just a touch late, but I absolutely felt horrible for about the last week! So- better late than never! Just before Halloween, I won a great Halloween polish giveaway from Nicole over at Glitter Me This. My package included two Tombstone polishes from Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers and two of Glitter Me This's own polishes! 

First up: The Orange. I couldn't find a name for this polish anywhere, but it's a Halloween staple! It a clear glitter topper packed with orange, yellow, gold and white hexes and squares. This one will take me right through fall and Thanksgiving as well- I can see it looking lovely over a creamy chocolatey brown. Photos show two coats over Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Black, topped with Out the Door. Photos taken under Ott Lite. 

I'm going to switch things up just a bit, and review both polishes right here, as the formulas were identical. And great. As far as glitter topcoats go, these both applied perfectly. Two coats for dense coverage, with no fishing or placement of glitters need. I dabbed a bit to ensure even coverage, but I do that with all glitter toppers. 

And here is the second of the Glitter Me This winnings: I believe it's called Hocus Pocus, and is a part of the Fall 2013 collection. It's another clear topper, this time predominantly purple with a smattering of just about every other colors thrown in. Even with a Halloween inspired name, this one is not Halloween specific, and if you're a purple lover, I think you'll be reaching for it all year. Photos show two coats over Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Vampish Red, topped with Out the Door. 

Glitter Me This polishes can be purchased on Etsy (Hocus Pocus is still available!). You can also follow on Facebook and the Glitter Me This blog. 

Lyn B Designs Smoky Quartz Swatch and Review

I did a swap a while back with the lovely Jenna of Lyn B Designs. I own quite a few of her polishes (probably the largest showing in my indie collection, actually!) and have never been disappointed in any of them! 

 Meet Smoky Quartz, from the Gem Show Collection. It's a "brown jelly base loaded with smoky and dark colored flakies and it's a linear holographic." I didn't really see much holo when I wore it, but I didn't get any sunlight on them either, so . . . However, the flakies were quite apparent! Photos show three coat alone, topped with Out the Door. All photos taken under Ott Lite. 

This is Smoky Quartz, and it's a bonus that Jenna threw in for me, rather than being one of the ones I selected. And honestly, it's not a polish I would have paid any attention to. I probably scrolled right past it when I was browsing her shop. Even Jenna says that "Normally smoky quartz isn't that great of a stone, but if you get it in the light it really pops".  And so does the polish! It's THE perfect fall color: a deep brown base with tons of dark sparkle- mostly in purple-y and copper-y shades to my eyes, but there were flashes of blues and greens and golds as well. 

Jenna: I'm so sorry I overlooked this polish, and it's now one of my absolute favorites! I've worn this polish three times in the past few weeks, and I'm pretty sure it'll come out a few more times before the season is over! 

Ahh, there's some of that holo! The jelly base of Smoky Quartz is pretty sheer, and while I was able to build it to opacity in three coats, I wanted to try it layered to see how it would work as a topper. This is one coat of Smoky Quartz over Essie Smokin Hot, a dark dusty purple, topped with Out the Door. Wowza. I seriously can't say enough good things about this polish. It's a stunner, and it applied wonderfully. Like all jellies, it will drag a bit, so make sure to let each coat dry before adding the next. 

Lyn B Designs polishes (all of which are fabulous, really!) can be purchased on Etsy. You can- and should- like her Facebook page. And, just for good measure, follow along on Jenna's blog. 

*Polish was obtained through a swap. All opinions are my own. 

CNT Halloween Challenge: Your Halloween Mani

Apologies for being so late! I've been under the weather, plus had some internet troubles, but hopefully you're like me and love looking at costumes all year long!

So this is my costume mani, that I wore for the Halloween party my family threw the weekend before Halloween. My actual Halloween mani was boring, and not worth sharing. I did that nifty Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art look, so I went with comic book nails as well. I used Sinful Colors 24/7 and Sally Hansen Lightening as my bases, then did the black outline and white reflection in Sinful Colors stripers. There is a LOT of chipping going on here, but I didn't think to take pics until the night was almost over :( So they got a fair amount of abuse. 

Aand in case you were interested in the makeup as well, that's me on the right. Again, late in the evening, so there's some smudging, but I was super proud of how this turned out! I loved the look so much! I actually want to buy some fun bandanas now, because I loved the hairstyle as well. The hot blond on the left is my bestie by the way, and she's the Sundrop Girl :)

I'm sure you've already seen them, but stop by and check out all the other Halloween manis in the InLinkz below!

CNT 33DC: TWO Patterns

I had a lot of fun with this one. I obviously went with my two favorite patterns :) And one of my recent favorite colors!

I've really been digging yellow lately, maybe because Halloween just passed and it's a fun color both for that and fall in general, or maybe it's because it's been so damned gloomy here lately that I haven't seen the sun! Either way, I've been loving yellows, so I went with a base of Sinful Colors Let's Meet, a super bright and cheery golden yellow shimmer. Then I used a Sinful Colors white striper polish to freehand the lines. The dots were added with a dotting tool and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. 

Love, love LOVE it! So cheerful! What color do you wear on your nails to cheer yourself up?

Be sure to check out more multi-patterned manis in the InLinkz below!

Crumpet's 33DC: Follow a Tutorial

I was a bit pressed for time on this one, but luckily, someone I follow on Pinterest had recently pinned this awesome tutorial by Strawbrie, and I went "What the hell?" I've never done tie-dyed nails before, and I didn't follow the written instructions, only the photo. As a result, my polish was not quite blobby enough and so dried out a bit too quickly. Either way, I enjoy the result. 

My polishes were Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby, Sally Hansen Lightening, Sinful Colors Exotic Green (only used on a few fingers) and Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze. 

Be sure to check out more tutorial-inspired nail art in the InLinks below!