John Thomas/Lady Jane by Literary Lacquer

Today brings us to the last of the polishes sent to me by the lovely Amy of Literary Lacquer, and it's definitely my favorite! (Although More Like Fire Than Light gave it a run for its money :)

Meet John Thomas/Lady Jane, from The Good Parts collection, inspired by the erotic novel Lady Chatterly's Lover. Creator Amy describes it as "a deep forest green glitter polish with accents of many shades of green glitter and shimmer and a touch of white glitter."

I decided to layer this one, as it is super glitter-dense. I used two thin coats over Fingerpaints Tough Art To Follow, topped with Seche Vite. All photos are taken in natural sunlight.

I love the little pops of white glitter (it reminds me of daisies in a meadow), and- as you can see- some of the larger green glitters are holographic!

I love green polish, so it's no surprise that I LOVED this one! It is VERY heavy on the glitter, and could become completely opaque in three-ish coats, or layered over a variety of greens, changing up the look slightly. With all the glitter in this puppy, it did take a bit of patience to apply: make sure each coat is dry before doing the next, or you will drag it around. 

John Thomas/Lady Jane, along with the rest of The Good Parts collection (and many other gorgeous colors) can be purchased on Etsy. Be sure to like Literary Lacquer on Facebook as well!

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

Gideon by Glitter Me This

We've reached the last green post of the day, dears! 

Gideon is a clear based glitter topcoat packed with neon green hexes, white hexes and squares, green bars and a smattering of pink and blue stars. Glitter topcoats, and even more so shaped glitters, are not usually my thing, but this one is very fun and unique! 

Shown is two coats of Gideon over NYC Water Street Blue, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken under Ott Lite. Glitter Me This is a new-to-me brand- I hadn't heard of it before I received this polish as a gift from a friend! Shocking, as I try to keep up with the indie brands that are available :) The glitter applied super easily, and I didn't fish for or place any of it. If you want more stars, you will have to fish, but the two that I got came out and placed with no trouble. 

Glitter Me This polishes are available on Etsy. Colors appear to be OOAK, and are listed in batches: each listing has a grouping of several polishes to choose from. Creator Nicole is also on Facebook, where she shows not only her own polishes, but many other swatches and some very cute nail art!

Ring Toss by Lyn B Designs

Continuing on our quest for hard-to-get greens is Ring Toss by Lyn B Designs. Ring Toss was a part of a Circus themed collection that was available last summer and was discontinued in the early fall. 

This is three coats of Ring Toss, topped with Seche Vite. All photos taken in natural sunlight. 

Ring Toss is a slightly murky grass green creme peppered with micro glitters in red, gold and aqua. 

Lyn B Designs does creme-y glitters very well, and Ring Toss is no exception! You can check out the current polish lineup on Etsy, like Lyn B on Facebook, and check out my previous Lyn B Designs reviews: Chocolate & Chai, Angels Have the Phonebox, Four Things and a Lizard. 

Rubidium Cube by Elemental Styles

WARNING: The following pictures are old and, quite frankly, pretty horrible. This is another puppy that has been sitting in my draft folder for far too long! I bought Rubidium Cube the day that Whitney announced she was getting out of the polish business, and put off posting it because, well . . . I hate to show you polishes that aren't readily available anymore! But with today being Green Day, and I'm really feeling neons as I wait for winter to end, it seemed the time was finally right. 

Three coats of Rubidium Cube alone, topped with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite. 

Rubidium Cube is a clear based polish filled with micro neon yellow-green and white glitters. I wore it alone, attempting to build it up to a Floam-like consistency, but it is probably more suited to be a topper. 

You can see here that, even at three coats, full coverage was not achieved. I don't personally own Floam, and don't know how many coats it takes to get the look.

I do love the look of micro glitter polishes, this one included! It gives the appearance of textured nails (which are all the rage right now!), without me actually having to have anything other than a glassy smooth nail bed. I don't even care for matte polishes, as the texture bugs me, so this is a great alternative. 

Elemental Styles is no longer making polish, however some colors are still available on the Elemental Styles Blog Sale. 

Deadly Attraction by 365 Days of Color

Top o' marnin'! We're up to out second green post of the day, and sadly, it's one of two that is no longer available :( I hate to do this to you, but, due to my love of green polish- I have so many sitting in my drafts folder that didn't get posted while they were still readily available (for one reason or another). I hate to just drop them on you for no reason, but for a theme? Why not! 

Deadly Attraction by 365 Days of Color, L-R: Two coats alone, one coat over LA Colors Color Craze Flicker, Sinful Colors Happy Ending. Deadly Attraction was a part of Sunny's Toxic Love Collection, a set of super sheer neons that was released last summer. 

Here I've shown three coats over Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party. Deadly Attraction is a very sheer neon yellow-green base with black shreds.

Over white, Deadly Attraction appears far more yellow than green, but it's green in the bottle, so that still counts, right?

 

And here we have two coats over Sinful Colors Happy Ending. 

Deadly Attraction was a bit light on glitter, requiring some fishing and/or a few coats to build up a sizeable amount. It's a great accent polish, rather than the star of the show. 365 Days of Color polishes are consistently amazing, and I can't recommend them enough! You can see Sunny's current lineup here, or check out my previous 365 Days of Color reviews: Boouk!, Trimming the Tree, Santa Baby, and Gimme Some Bubbly. Sunny is also an amazing blogger, whom you should definitely follow, and is active with 365 DoC on Facebook. 

Bog of Eternal Stench by The Lady Varnishes

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my Irish and Irish-for-the-day lasses! My family is third generation removed from the Mother Country, and we do St. Pat's in a big, and very stereotypically American, way: classic corn beef and cabbage boil, homemade soda bread, Guinness and whiskey, the wearin' o the green, all the goodies :) So, of course, I have a few green polishes to show you today!

The first green of the day continues my The Lady Varnishes series, and starts the collection I'm most excited about: the You Have No Power Over Me Collection, inspired by the movie Labyrinth! The Lady Varnishes has a Doctor Who inspired collection, which of course I'm excited about, but everyone- including me!- has a Doctor Who collection. This is the first ever Labryinth Collection that I've come across, and the colors are simply stunning! This gorgeous green is Bog of Eternal Stench.

Creator Kirsten calls Bog of Eternal Stench "a murky green jelly varnish with brown microglitter, iridescent glitter and green and copper hexes." If ever a color screamed "bog", this is it. Photos show three coats alone, topped with Seche Vite, all (except the first) taken in natural sunlight. 

The charm that came with Bog of Eternal Stench is copper, with green and gold-yellow beads. The scent on this one was bright and citrus-y Sweet Orange. Again, the scent doesn't linger the way many scented polishes do, but it covers the "polish" smell very effectively, making the whole painting experience quite pleasant. 

I love the depth of this polish- it really is reminiscent of icky things floating just beneath the surface of a hideous, stagnant body of water. This is not the most flattering description for a beauty product, of course, but it is apt, and it is done in a very stunning way. This is one of my two favorites from The Lady Varnishes, and I can't decide if it's number 1 or 2! It's also on my short list of favorites of the year so far!

Bog of Eternal Stench applied very well: very sheer on the first coat, but built to complete opacity in three. The dark green jelly base provides wonderful depth to the glitter, but doesn't hide or bury any of it. Kirsten does iridescent glitter very well, adding just enough to catch the eye, without overpowering any of the colored glitter in the mix.

The Lady Varnishes is offered on Etsy, $8.50 per full size bottle. Follow along on her blog, and Like her on Facebook as well! 

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

Witches Brew by BNVS Nail Polish

Hello, dahlings! I have one last polish to show you today from BNVS Nail Polish, and that is Witches Brew.

Witches Brew is a murky-ish green shimmer. This is two coats, topped with Out the Door.

This polish is- by FAR- my favorite polish from the BNVS Fall 2012 color collection! It's no secret that I love green, but wow. This color reminds me very much of one of the first nail polishes that I owned, waay back in middle school (circa 1997ish). I'm pretty sure it was called Toad, but I have no idea what brand it was :( It was something urban and edgy, and I remember it being advertised in Seventeen Magazine a lot though. 

Despite being named for witches, and being part of a fall color line, I will be rocking this color all summer long. Know why? Because Witches Brew is the EXACT color of a fresh, juicy grass stain on white pants or shoes :) Not a happy thing as an adult, but as a kid? Grass stains just happened, and it meant you were playing right. 

Last photo is taken in full sunlight. While this is by far my favorite of the bunch, I loved all 5 polishes, and can see me wearing all of them repeatedly. The cremes (Bootiful, Candy Craze) went on smooth, opaque in three coats, and dried super shiny. The shimmers (Bobbing for Apples, Alien Invasion, Witches Brew) went on just as smoothly, needing only two coats. I mentioned in several other posts that the smell of these polishes is different. It's no stronger or worse smelling than any other polish, but it is different. I also mentioned the labels on my bottles, which didn't quite square up on the edges, and creator Lana has taken that under advisement. 

BNVS Nail Polish can be purchased on Etsy and liked on Facebook. 

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

Freida Love by Flash Your Tips

Before we get into the meat of this review, a quick recap: I've already posted about the other three colors in Flash Your Tip's All My Sisters line, and they can be seen here: Cupid Stunt, Daisy Chain and Hellena Handbasket. 

The final polish in the line up is Fredia Love, twin sister to Daisy Chain, but with hot pink and green glitters replacing the yellow and white. This is three coats over Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lightening, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken under Ott Lite. 

I had a bit of trouble finding a layering combo I liked with this polish. I tried several different pairings before I came up with this combo, that I loved! This polish was a little trick on application, as the glitter applied sparser than any of the others. My pinkie nail is only sporting two coats, and you can see the difference in coverage. I also dabbed this one on, more than painted it, to achieve more even coverage. Otherwise, no issues! I love the fun color combo and the squares, and the full sized bottles (mine is a mini) are just too cute! 

Flash Your Tips polishes are available on Etsy in both full and mini sizes. Be sure to stop by and like on Facebook as well!

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

Alien Invasion by BNVS Nail Color

Today's lovely is my second-to-last BNVS color, and the one I THOUGHT would be my favorite. As you'll see tomorrow, I was very, very wrong :)

Meet Alien Invasion, a pale spring green with silver shimmer. This is two coats, topped with Out the Door, photographed under Ott Lite. 

Alien Invasion is a part of the Fall 2012 color line. Check out the shimmer! 

As with the other BNVS polishes I've used, I had no issues with this one. It was smooth applying, and quick drying. It smells different, but no stronger or worse than any other polish in the world. I can see myself pulling this puppy out as a base for nail art throughout the spring! 

BNVS Nail Colors can be purchased on Etsy, and liked on Facebook. Please, please go show Lana some love- I'm so impressed with this brand, and I can't wait for new colors!

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

Swamp Creature by Free Hippie

Have you ever gone through your polish stash, and been completely surprised by which color you actually own the most of? My favorite color for polish is grey, but as it turns out, I have almost four times as many green polishes as I do greys! I really do like green as well, but I didn't realize I liked it that much :) I suppose there is much more variation possible in greens than there is in grey. That said, today's polish is a stunner of a green!

Meet Swamp Creature, by Free Hippie. Creator Rebecca says that "Green micro glitter adds a mysterious sparkle to this deep, luscious green shimmer polish." I would call the base a jungle green, leaning slightly toward jade, with emerald shimmer. This is two coats, topped with Seche Vite. First photo taken indoors, remaining photos taken in natural sunlight. 

My love for indies is no secret, but neither is my love for a palette cleanser from all the glitter bombs! Free Hippie excels at creating beautiful and interesting polishes that are not loaded up with glitter. I've got several of her polishes sitting in my draft folder, and I feel horrible for not showing them off before now, but I'm definitely working on remedying that! Swamp Creature went on smoothly in two fuss-free coats, and wore like iron. I actually wore this color for three days straight, and there wasn't a chip in sight, which is quite a feat for me! 

Free Hippie polishes- along with Hippie and Boho Chic jewelry- can be purchased on Etsy. If you haven't checked her out yet, I recommend it!

NEW 31 Day Challenge: New Technique

Late post, sorry dears! Today's challenge was to use a technique that is new to you. I've done so many new techniques throughout this challenge (Saran Wrap, The Crumpet's Splodgerama, Watercolor . . .) that I thought I would have a difficult time coming up with a technique that I've never used. Pinterest to the recue! (Hey- follow me- I Pin tons of nail stuff :) I finally settled on drymarbling.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Mint Sprint (bad move- don't use fast dry polish!), then randomly added some drops of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Limestone and Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze. Then I used a toothpick to create swirly patterns in the wet polish. 

I'm undecided on this mani. I'm not a huge fan of blue polish, but I do have some, and in the interest of color variety, I decided to go outside my comfort zone for today. My only two attempts at watermarbling have been moderately successful, and I prefer the look of a watermarble to that of the dry marbling. I don't hate this mani, but it is kind of . . . meh.

Be sure to check out all the links below- I'm excited to see what "new" things some of these mavens have come up with!

New 31DC: Color Opposites

Today's nail art was super quick and simple, and overall quite striking! The prompt was Color Opposites, and I went with a simple gradient (I always forget how much I love the gradient effect, especially in smooth creme colors!) in pink and green. 

I started with a base of creme white. I own about 10 of them, and I don't really like any of them, so I don't usually keep track of which one I use :(

I used China Glaze Surreal Appeal and Def Defying (my two picks from the Cirque du Soleil Collection), along with the white creme to help them blend in the middle. 

Here's my sponge: Thin stripe of Def Defying, thin stripe of white, slightly larger stripe of Surreal Appeal. I sponged this on over the white, and it took about 3 layers to get a color saturation that I was happy with. Though Def Defying still shows as yellowish on the nail. I actually did this mani a few days ago, and just looking at the photos makes me want to put it right back on! I think I'll have to brainstorm to include gradients in some of the rest of the challenges :)

Be sure to check out the rest of the "clashing" colors in the links below!