MY Favorite Polishes from 2012

I've already shown you YOUR favorite polishes from the past year, based on the views each post received, but now I'm showing you MY Top 12  personal favorite polishes of 2012. I'm only including polishes that I have actually shown on the blog- there are a few that may have been included otherwise, but we'll just have to wait and see if they stand up next year :) Click on the name of each polish to be taken to the original post, which will include buying info. 

12. Love Always Shines by Trelly's MISC Polish. The love for this one may be more for the layering combo- I LOVE the yellow and white over steel grey!

11. Central by U-Neek Polish. This one, again, may be the combo- SOO gorgeous over dark colors!

10. An Honest Puck by Literary Lacquers. I've never been a fan of brown anything, I always prefered black and grey as my go-to neutrals. But this brown is an absolute stunner, and actually gave my a favorite brown polish!

9. Frog Prince by Varnish Vixen. I was at a loss with this color, until I layered it over a neutral grey. Wow!

8. Private School by Pretty & Polished. It's no secret that I love grey polish, and the pops of red in this beauty make it really special.

7. Lady of the Lake by A England. EVERYONE reviewed this polish this year, and EVERYONE loved it. I'm no exception :)

6. Celestial by The Polish Bar. I'm a huge fan of the "galaxy nails" look, without all the extra work, and this is THE polish to achieve that effect.

5. Vanessa by Shimmer Polish. One of the first polishes I reviewed, and still one of my favorites! The almost monochromatic blend of glitter with slight pops of red and aqua is just mind blowing. And talk about versatile!

4. Chandelle by Darling Diva Polish. I'm pretty vocal about my love for Darling Diva, and for nudes, and this glitter just hit it out of the park! An English Rose Garden turned into polish.

3. Crotch Rocket by Wonder Beauty Products. I'm just entranced by this grey creme, and the myriad glitters that speckle it. For everyone who jumped on the white based glitter bandwagon this year, this is my preferred version of it.

2. Master Shake by Daring Digits. I have no idea what it is about this polish that obsesses me, but it does! I stalked it for nearly a month before I was able to get a hold of it, and to date, it is the only indie polish that I own a backup of! This was your number three pick, and one of only two polishes that made both lists. 

1. Space Beetle by Darling Diva. Is anyone surprised by this one? It's the absolutely perfect silvery linear holo, PLUS a pinky-green-y duochrome shift. Stunning! This was your top pick of the year as well, and I can't agree more! 

So how does your favorites list compare? Any overlaps? Anything you really feel I should have included? Until next year, dolls!

YOUR Top 12 of 2012: Polishes

I've already shown you the top 12 nail art posts of the year, as chosen by you. This post is the top 12 POLISHES of the year, as chosen by you via pageviews. Click the link with the polish name to be taken to the original post. 

12. Boo by Tara's Nail Art. 95 views, tied for 11th place. Probably my favorite pink this year. 

11. Jealous Oberon by Literary Lacquers. Tied with Boo for 11th place with 95 views. I put this one higher simply because it was more recent- more views, shorter time span. Beautiful gold with gold holo glitters, and came in quite handy for Christmas manis. 

10. Fiesta by Amy's Nail Boutique. 100 views. This was the first rainbow glitter topcoat I came across, and man did they become the rage over the summer!

9. Sunflower Seeds by Nail'd It. 108 views. I loved this super unique glitter combo! Perfect for summer. 

8. Confetti by Miss March. 110 views. I don't own many white-based glitter polishes, but I did get this one when they were just becoming the hot new thing. 

7. PENNY!!! by DIFFERENT Dimension. 112 views. Who doesn't love Sheldon Cooper, honestly? 

6. Bubble Tea by Pretty & Polished. 121 views. I love this polish. I do. I agree with you on this one. 

5. Pink Penquin by F4 Polish. 122 Views. The very first polish review I ever posted! And the very first indie I ever purchased. This one will always hold a special place in my heart. 

4. Clown Car Exhaust by Trelly's MISC Polish. 129 views. This post also included a half-review of Elmer's Glue as a base coat, within the first week that that phenomenon was storming the blogosphere. 

3. Master Shake by Daring Digits. 131 views. I can't say enough good things about this polish either- it was a killer. 

2. Grade A Honey by Utopia's Polish. 133 views. Perfectly named, and a perfect summery glitter topper. 

1. Space Beetle & Diabla by Darling Diva Polish. 143 views. Space Beetle has quite a cult following, so it's no surprise that this took the top spot! Of course, Diabla is a lovely and interesting topper as well. 

Do any of these match up with your personal favorites? Be sure to check back tomorrow to see how they line up with mine!

TIHNAC: Gradient

I'm baack! And I have another basic tecnique which I have never tried: gradient. At least, I've never done them properly, with a sponge and everything. I have done some fail-gradients by just sponging on with a Qtip, but this was was quicker and easier!

Excuse my horrible cleanup- this red was stubborn as hell!

I started with a base coat of Sally Hansen Ton of Bricks, then using a cosmetic sponge, dabbed on (top to bottom) Ton of Bricks, Sinful Colors Inkwell and Sinful Colors Black on Black. This isn't super strictly Halloweenish, but if I were ever a devil for Halloween, I would definitely come back to this look!

Then, in keeping with my indies, I added a coat of Darling Diva Polish's Diabla over the whole thing. This had the double benefit of an extra layer of devilishness, plus it made my color lines blend together a bit better! I'm overall pretty happy with the way this turned out, and I'm getting scarily into this whole nail art thing! 

Be sure to check out all the lovely other participants!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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NUDE GLITTER!: Chandelle by Darling Diva Polish

It's not any great secret that Darling Diva Polish is one of my absolute favorite polish makers out there, indie or otherwise. She was the very first brand to pop into my mind when I did my birthday favorites giveaway. And this was the very first polish from DDP that I fell head over heels in love with. I can't believe it took me months to actually crack down and purchase it! 

Darling Diva Polish Chandelle. L-R: three coats alone, and one coat over: NYC Carrie'd Away, Love My Nails Iced Copper and Sinful Colors Nirvana. Chandelle's Etsy listing says: "This is crystal glitters in a rosey taupey base with pink, green, gold holographic, and copper glitter." Chandelle is the perfect marriage of nude and glitter, and I didn't want to take it off. Ever.

For my full manicure, I layered three coats of Chandelle over NYC Carrie'd Away. I wanted a basic nude to really play up the colors in the polish itself. I topped it with a coat of Seche Vite. All photos are taken in natural sunlight. 

Blurred to show the iridescent shimmer in the base. 

I couldn't decide, when describing this polish, whether to call it an English Cottage Garden, or a Sweet Girly Camo. I still can't, and I think it would work well if you needed a polish representing either of those things. This polish also looks amazing matted, but I sadly did not capture any photos of it. I can't say enough amazing things about this polish. It's seriously rivaling Space Beetle for my favorite polish of the year. Just writing this up makes me want to put it on again. Why, oh why, must I have such a pile of untrieds?! 

As with every Darling Diva polish that I've tried, this one applied like a dream. The glitter is a bit sparse, allowing you to completely customize the amount of glitter you end up with on each nail. The glitters lay completely flat- I've yet to see even a hint of curling with any DDPs. 

I implore you to stop by the Darling Diva Etsy shop and browse around. I promise that you will find at least a dozen polishes that want to jump into your cart immediately! Offerings range from linear holos to glitter topcoats to color+glitter polishes, many with a deliciously nerdy bent :) Liking DDP on Facebook is also an excellent idea: TONS of swatches, news, occasional discounts, and seriously the sweetest and most personable creator you're likely to come across! 

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

Irate Woodland Mammal!

Today, we experience together the last of my Darling Diva Polishes, and, IMHO, the one with the best name: Angry Beaver! There's no great inspiration behind the name, but there is a fairly amusing story. This polish was created, nameless, and was hence doomed to wander the earth as purpleish-jelly-with-glitter-but-no-name, for all eternity. Then, as chance would have it, a wild commercial appeared, featuring a rather irate woodland mammal with a panchant for wood-gnawing, and a polish name was born! Meet Angry Beaver:

The Etsy listing for this beauty describes it as "multicolored holo and crystal glitters in a bright purple base. It is full of purple, blue, red, pink, holographic and green glitters and just ......... sparkles!" I personally noticed red, gold and green larger hexes, medium aqua hexes, and small gold and purple hexes, plus a lovely shimmer.

I go through TONS of nail wheels when it comes to swatching glitters- I need to makes sure I get the absolute best possible undies! L-R: three coats of Angry Beaver alone, and one coat over Darling Diva Purple Dreams, Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings, creme black and creme white

I've seen swatches of this out on the interwebs where the base is just insanely purple. As you can see from the three-coats swatch, my base really isn't all that purple. But that does give waay more layering options, as purple jelly over green undies doesn't typically yield the best results. There was an amazing purple pearly sheen to the base that only really showed up over dark colors, so I went with black undies for my full mani.

I love how the multi colored glitter really pops over the black as well. But then, I tend to use black as a base for lots of glitters- it's my standby, as it just works with pretty much everything! I go through lots of black polish . . . This is two coats of Angry Beaver over creme black, with Seche Vite to top it all off. 

Forgive the lack of cleanup- no idea what happened there. Must have been late at night. Anyway- check out the lovely purple sheen! Gave this a whole new dimension beyond chunky glitter topper! 

Angry Beaver applied very smoothly, with no glitter fishing at all. I didn't even have to dab it on, which is a bit odd for larger glitters, but I'm all about ease of application! The glitters lay flat all by themselves, and a normal coat of SV kept the whole thing under wraps for the duration of wear. This is not a super glitter bomb, which I like- some indie glitters are so packed that it's hard to achieve the scattered glitter look. But with this one, you can build to get the coverage you want.

I seriously LOVE all of my Darling Diva Polish. And I seriously WANT about 98% of the colors that she offers! And beyond the creativity to come up with all these fantastic colors, this woman is just the sweetest! I convo'd her about some of the polishes, and it turned into an ongoing convo about polish hauls! I love when sellers take time to actually talk to customers about unrealated bits- cause we're all people :) Check out my reviews of Space Beetle/Diabla and Purple Dreams, then go like DDP on Facebook! Then go buy all the colors on Etsy! 

Which Darling Divas are your faves? I think once my No Buy is over, I'm going to have to pick up Reef Fish, Chandelle, Pendragon and Bazinga!

*This product was provided to me for an honest review.

Dreaming in Purple

I never quite understood the "Gotta Have It"-ness of linear holos. They were kind neat, a nice novelty polish, but I couldn't quite understand why I still needed all of them at typically 50% more than other indies. Until I received my first two- Space Beetle and Purple Dreams from Darling Diva Polish. (And if you click that link over there, you'll see just how much I fell in love with Space Beetle- and I've worn it twice since then!)

Darling Diva Polish- Purple Dreams, in full sun. 

Swatches, in full sun. 3 coats of Purple Dreams alone, one coat over creme black, and one coat over Wet N Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer.

The same wheel, indoors, under a desk lamp. I had been under the impression that holos really only gave it their all under full sunlight, but this puppy (and Space Beetle) really looked fabulous in ANY direct lighting.

Same wheel, blurred to show the holo-y goodness.

Darling Diva describes Purple Dreams as a "Purple holo franken . . . This is different than your other holos because I have used both coarse grade holo powder and fine grade holo powder. For me, I enjoy this color shift much better. Its the best of both worlds." Having no other holos to compare to, I can't say whether the dual sized powder has anything to do with it, but both of the DDP holos I have certainly do the job they were meant to! 

Three coats of Purple Dreams, no topcoat, in full sun. 

 

And in sort-of shade. Obviously not shady enough, as you can still see a bit of color shift.

As with Space Beetle, this polish went on like a dream. Three easy coats, fast dry time, completely smooth. The shift in Purple Dreams isn't as strong as Space Beetle, but I wore it alone. Over black, I think this would be out of the park. The purple color was a bit too blue toned for my taste- I have very pale hands, and I think this washed them out a bit. On darker skin though, this would be amazing! 

I have had this on my toes for the last week and a half or so, because I really do enjoy the color, just not by itself, on my fingers. And I hereby promise you, on every bottle of polish that I own, that I will -NEVER- show you my feet on this blog. For all you readers who are squeamish about feet- me too. So no toe pics here, ever! 

Darling Diva has quickly become one of my absolutely favorites, in my small-but-steadily-growing indie collection. A good half of her polishes have earned a place on my wishlist- now to just increase the budget! Do you have any Darling Divas? What are your faves?

Darling Diva Polish can be found on Etsy. Holos are $12 for a full size bottle, glitters and jellies and such are $8. Also, like them on Facebook.

*This polish was provided to me for an honest review.

Darling Diva Polish- Space Beetle and Diabla

Ladies: stop the presses, we may have a winner. I received some polishes last week from Darling Diva, and I think I've found my new favorite color ever!

Meet Space Beetle! It is an absolutely dreamy, multichrome-y, multi-particle sized linear holo. The "main" color I would say is a dark gunmetalish grey with purple/lavender color shifts. PLUS that gorgeous linear holo in the sun. Wow. I really didn't want to take this one off!

Here we see it on the nails: 3 coats over bare nail, in the sun. You can see the strong line of the holo (reminds me of an oil-slick rainbow, but lighter), as well as some of the color shift- the purple really pops on the bottom of the bottle.

Here is the shade photo. You can really see the lavender tendencies here.

This polish really applied like a dream. Smooth, easy, great consistancy. A bit slow drying, but I always use a fast dry topcoat, which you're not supposed to do with holos, since it dulls the linear effect. So I was really only suffering for my lack of Out the Door. On the second day, I did add a topcoat, to maximize wear, and it really didn't dull the effect any. 

And because I'm never content to leave a polish alone for too long (even one like this), I layered Darling Diva's Diabla over the top of Space Beetle. 

Diabla. Multi sized black glitters, plus a smattering of red in a clear base.

This is two coats of Diabla on top of my Space Beetle. The glitter is not super thick, so it took a bit of manipulating to get it placed approximately where I wanted it. The red glitter is also a bit hard to find. I had to fish a bit to make sure I got some on each nail. Nothing unmanageable. 

I also got Purple Dreams, another linear holo in a bright violet purple, and Angry Beaver, a multi glitter in a purple toned translucent base. I'll show those off sometime next week. The shop was JUST restocked, and looking through it, there are about a dozen other polishes added to my wishlist. Beautiful colors, ranging from clear-base glitters, to holos, to cream based glitters- a little something for everyone :) I also spent a bit of time convo-ing back and forth with the creator, and she is very sweet, and very excited about her polishes. She obviously loves what she does and puts a LOT of care and thought into every color and every bottle.

Darling Diva Polishes can be purchased on Etsy, and you can like them on Facebook!

*These polishes were provided to me for an honest review.