More Like Fire Than Light

Whew! What a ride! I am finally settled in after a very long, very stressful two weeks of moving! My nails took quite a beating, and I have soo much to catch up on in the nail world, but I am SO glad to be back! Luckily, I have several polishes that were swatched before the move, so my poor, torn up nails have a bit of a chance to heal :)

Ladies: I'm coming back with a bang! I have something truly fantastic for you today: Another of the polishes sent to me for review by Literary Lacquer, and it's a stunning linear holo!

I am pleased to introduce you to More Like Fire Than Light, an intense and vivid juicy orange linear holo inspired by Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. I don't really read erotic fiction myself, but even I'm aware of the inspiration behind this one. All photos show three coats of More Like Fire Than Light, topped with Out The Door, taken under natural sunlight.

The holo in More Like Fire Than Light is just . . . wow. Look at those lines!

My absolute favorite thing about this polish? It doesn't look at all dusty or dull out of the sunlight. Look at how vibrant that orange is in the shade! It's like a bright tangerine shimmer with a special surprise when you step outside.

Application was perfect. Three coats give complete opacity and the brightest possible color, and the linear holo is strong enough to stand up to any topcoat. Pretty sure this polish is going to be a staple for me all summer: it might possibly the only polish I use on my toes at all! 

Literary Lacquers can be purchased on Etsy, and liked on Facebook. If you'd like to see two of the other The Good Parts polishes that I've reviewed, they can be found here: Woman of Pleasure and Bionic Mmmm Detector. I have one more polish to show you, and, as always, I saved my favorite for last, so tune back in tomorrow!

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

Dragon Scales by Bubbles N Balms

Today brings us to the last of my Bubbles N Balms polishes, and I've saved the best for last! Quick recap: you can see the other two polishes, Cupid's Kisses and Jubilee, by clicking those links. 

Meet Dragonscales, a polish with "loads of gold, red, orange and yellow glitter with iridescence, all in a sparkly light Tangerine jelly base." This polish can be worn alone in three coats, but I chose to layer it. Twice, actually. First two photos show one coat over Sinful Colors Cloud 9, topped with Seche Vite. All photos are taken under Ott Lite. 

I chose to layer Dragon Scales over an orange, as it has an orange tinted base. Seems logical, no? I was slightly underwhelmed. I think I would have liked the orange base better if I had built the color up on its own. 

But then I decided to punch up the dragon-y-ness of it, and layered it over a murky green, Sinful Colors In the Mist. Just . . . wow! This is one coat over In the Mist, topped with Seche Vite. 

This combo really screams Dragon to me. The orangey-gold shimmer really popped off of the murky green, adn the iridescence of the glitters became much more apparent on a darker background. The glitter in Dragon Scales is a bit sparse, as it is meant to be built up in layers, but I love the scattered impact of it in just one coat. It allowed the orangey shimmer to shine all the more. I has no issues with application, and I'm quite excited to try this polish over other seemingly odd colors.

Bubbles N Balms polishes, plus body butters, soaps and bath bombs, can be purchased on Etsy. Be sure to pay them a like on Facebook as well!

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

NEW 31 Day Challenge: Inspired by Your Favorite Color, featuring Physician's Formula

Today's prompt was to do a manicure inspired by your favorite color. Well, I'm a pink girl, all the way, but we already did a "pink day", way back on the 4th. We also did "Your Favorite Color Family" on the 6th. I wanted to do something completely different from either of those days, and I came across this beauty at Walmart, and thought it fit the bill!

This beauty is the Endless Color trio in California Goddess, by Physician's Formula. I didn't even know Physician's Formula made nail polish! I've always been a fan of their blushes and shadows, so I thought I would give the polish a try out. There is even a nail art guide along one side of the box, showing several different ways the colors can be combined. 

The bottles snap together- how cool is that?! They probably won't fit in a Helmer once they're stacked, but I keep my polish in standard desk drawers, and they fit just fine.  

As you can see from the photos, the California Goddess set that I chose contains dark but bright (does that make sense?) orange jelly, a lighter bright orange creme and a raspberry pink that is somewhere between a creme and a jelly finish. All polishes are shown at three coats, and there is no VNL to be seen from the jelly or the semi-jelly. The lighter orange (unfortunately, there are no individual polish names) was a bit streaky, but the other two went on perfectly. And can I just say how much I'm in love with that pink? I want a full size bottle, but I didn't see any polishes in the PF display, other than the sets. 

Physician's Formula can be purchased at Walmart, Walgreen's, CVS, et cetera. Pretty much: wherever drugstore brand polishes are sold. They were priced at $9.97 at Walmart, with a $2 off coupon on each trio, which I stupidly forgot to use. 

Have you given these a try yet? Will you? 

Be sure to check out the rest of the "favorite color" manis in the links below!

Bootiful by BNVS Nail Color: Swatch & Review

Hello, dears! Today is a special day for me, as it marks my return to indie reviews! When I began the Crumpet's Nail Tarts' New 31 Day Challenge, I was soo sure that I would have NO problem keeping up with both the challenge AND doing polish reviews. And packing, and moving, and painting the new house, and working, and and and. Silly me! But today I am back, with a brand new indie, BNVS Nail Color! (And I promise, I have many more indie, and even some Big Brand posts batched and ready to go, lest I fall behind again.)

Today's color is Bootiful, from BNVS' Fall 2012 color line. Lana, the creator, calls this color a vibrant orange, and says that three coats are probably necessary to get a streak free, truly vibrant color.

If you aren't aware by now, I'm a huge sucker for creme polishes, and obviously I a giant fan and supporter or indie polishes. So when those two things combine, I'm in heaven. I'm also starting to get into a bit of a winter slump, so bright colors have definitely been my go to recently. 

Bootiful is a bright, cheery carrot-y orange creme polish. I did use three coats, as recommended, but if you are a more careful polisher, I think two would be fine. The color was very bright and opaque in two coats, but there were indeed some patchiness issues, so I applied the third. Overall, the application on this polish was wonderful. It's gorgeous on its own, and makes for an excellent base for nail art or glitter toppers. I topped with Seche Vite. Photos are taken under my Ott Lite. 

BNVS Nail colors come in thin square bottles, which I love- 90% of hand poured indie polishes come in the same round bottle with a black cap- myself included! So anything that stands out from the crowd wins in my book. The label, however, is round, and doesn't quite fit. You can see it hanging off the edge ned my thumb in the first photo. This is in no way a deal breaker, but if you're an obsessive picker like me, it will drive you slightly crazy!

This polish also smells odd. It's not super stinky, or any stronger than any other indie polish I've used. In fact, the smell is probably less strong, and doesn't linger very long. But it does smell . . . different. I don't mean this to be a criticism, as it is not a bad thing, but I did think it was worth mentioning. 

I do have several other colors to review from BNVS' Fall 2012 color line, and I couldn't be more excited! I've been very impressed with the quality and application of the polishes I've worn so far, and expect to see the same from those that are sitting in my untried box.

Have you heard of or tried anything from BNVS Nail Color? Polishes can be purchased on Etsy- 1/2 oz bottles are only $3.50!

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

Argyle by Candy Lacquer

Today's polish combo is probably the two oldest untrieds that I've ever had! I purchased Argyle in July, and won Sunset Orange around the same time, and I knew right off the bat that I was going to use them together. I just . . . never got around to it. Until now! 

First up we have some shots of my base color, Rimmel London Sunset Orange. It's a super vibrant, pretty much neon corally red. It definitely has orange tones, but I don't think orange would be the name I would choose for it! 

Check out that glow in the sun! This polish did stain slightly, so double up on your basecoat if you use it!

And here we have the Belle of the Ball: Argyle by Candy Lacquer. I fell in love with the concept of this polish as soon as I saw it, and bought it as soon as I could. Then about a month later, I saw PURPLE argyle, which I totally would have gotten instead, had I known it existed. We all know how fond I am of blue :( But it works with the orange, so . . . 

Argyle is a clear topcoat filled with matte blue, white and black diamonds, plus black and white bars. It totally does give off an argyle vibe on the nails. 

As for the review, I'm really sorry to say . . . this polish was a Pain. In. The. Ass. to apply. Attempting to paint it on resulted in, basically, just a topcoat. I can handle dabbing, and it's to be expected with larger glitters, so I dabbed. I dabbed on four coats to get the coverage you see here. I don't know if I didn't wait long enough between coats, or what the issue may have been, but there is some massive bubbling going on here. Enlarge that closeup pic and you can see it on my ring and pinkie nails. The diamonds wanted to clump together in one spot also, I ended up shoving them around quite a bit with an orange stick. If you don't have a lot of patience when it comes to polish, sadly, this is not the polish for you. I definitely think the end result was worth the struggle I went through, and I WILL wear it again, but probably not very often. 

This is the ONLY polish that I own by Candy Lacquer, so please do not take this mostly negative review as a slam on the brand, as I've heard nothing but good things about them overall. It will not deter me from purchasing Candy Lacquers in the future. I think it's the nature of the beast. 

Candy Lacquer specialized in glitter topcoats, and can be purchased on Etsy. Be sure to Like on Facebook as well for restock information. 

Electric OJ!: Phosphorus by Free Hippie

Today I have the first of several polishes to show you from a relatively unknown polish maker, Free Hippie. 

Today's polish is Phosphorus- a bright orange jelly polish with silver micro and medium glitters, and the occasional bright blue medium hex. 

This is three coats of Phosphorus alone, topped with a coat of Seche Vite. Photos taken in full, natural sunlight.

I really liked this color right out of the gate, and the attraction only grew stronger. The orange is super BRIGHT bright orange, and I think it looked more and more neon every time I looked at it. My best friend called it "Electric Orange Juice orange", and I couldn't agree with him more- it's a fitting description :)

I had zero application issues with this polish- I was quite impressed, overall. Three coats to no VNL. Glitters applied smooth and even. And is lasts! I've had this baby on my toes for a good three weeks, and while they could use a repaint, it's really only because my nails are growing and the gap looks funny!

Electric OJ! featuring a cameo by my favorite shirt :)

Free Hippie polishes- along with Hippie and Boho Chic jewelry- can be purchased on Etsy. 

From The Ashes: Phoenix by Pretty & Polished, plus a BONUS

Here is another beauty from Pretty & Polished that has been sitting in my draft folder for a little while (though not nearly as long as Bubble Tea!): Phoenix. I used Phoenix in my This Is Halloween Jack O Lanterns prompt, then used it all over my left hand (with an accent nail), as I'm barely proficient at nail art using my dominant hand! I'm just not ready to try it using my completely uncoordinated left hand!

Chelsea say that Phoenix is "an orange tiny and it is packed with small orange, yellow and red glitters as well as medium red hexes." This is one and a half coats of Phoenix over Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up, topped with Seche Vite. My accent nail is Sinful Colors Black on Black topped with two coats of Horrible Spray Tan by Absolut Lacquer.* Photos taken in natural sunlight. 

Phoenix is pretty much all matte glitters, except for those random accent hexes, and applies like most matte glitters do. You need a little bit of patience. Make sure each coat is completely dry before doing another, or you will get dragging. Comes with the territory. That said, I had no problems with application at all. The glitter is very densely packed, and the polish could become opaque in three coats, max, but I only bought a mini, so I'm conserving :) It does dry a bit rough (again, comes with the territory with matte and micro glitters both), so a thick topcoat or some Gelous is needed. Phoenix truly is a beautiful, fun polish that is well worth a little bit of patience on application. 

Purchase Pretty & Polished only Etsy, and check it out on Facebook. If you haven't caved and bought any yet, it's only a matter of time! And you won't be sorry :)

*Horrible Spray Tan is from the OLD Absolut Lacquer lineup, and was discontinued when Tisha recently revamped her shop. I did receive a nice package from Absolut in the mail yesterday, so expect to see colors from the NEW lineup very soon!

8 Spooky Nights: ONLY Black & Orange

So tonight is my LAST Halloween challenge for this year! I have to say, I had a blast, doing both challenges, and while my nail art isn't perfect, or even all that good in some cases :), I feel like I have progressed. I'm not afraid of nail art anymore! And I'm looking forward to joining a Christmas challenge- but only one! Without further ado, here is my black & orange design.

First of all: I really wanted to cheat, and add white to this. It's a shade of black, right? But alas, I stuck to my guns, and used only blacks and oranges. And every dotting tool I own.  My bases are Sinful Colors Black on Black and Wet & Wild Sunny Side Up. The dots are the same colors, plus Sinful Colors Cloud 9 and KelBel Cosmetics' Like a G6.

I even did my right hand again! I wanted fun, festive nails at work today, so they had to match :)

Speaking of fun and festive, I did Candy Corn eyes today, too! Please excuse my brows- I usually groom them far better for makeup shots, but this photo was an afterthought. I used Hard Candy Eyeshadow Primer, Cover Girl Perfect Point Eyeliner in Black Onyx on my water line, Rimmel Scandal Eyes Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Black on my upper lash line. Shadows are: Carina Dolci Whipped Cream (white), Makeup Your Face Weekend Getaway (orange) and Jackpot (yellow), both from the What Happens in Vegas stack. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this stack is available anymore, which sucks, because it's amazing! I went for a very simple, unblended look, and I love how it turned out.

*UPDATE: While the stack in not currently listed in the Makeup Your Face Etsy shop, all individual colors appear to be available as samples- I highly recommend them!

Lastly, I had to share this photo: I had a very special visitor while I was painting my nails last night! I have two kitties, and one is just an absolutely lovable, cuddly and overall people-friendly cat. This is not that cat. This is Ash, and he only loves me because I have opposable thumbs :) But he came and hung out with me last night, and even let me take a photo, so enjoy!

Be sure to check out all the other black and orange manis in todays challenge!

Cheers,

-Liz-

Peace Love Lacquer
XO, Noelle
College Polished
PishPosh & Polish
Beauty Dish
Nail By Katie
Jenerally Speaking 
Galactic Lacquer 
Tres' Chic Nails 
charlottes-nails 
Manic Manis
The Life, Time and Lacquers of Lilmoon
Makeup and Nails, Not War
Not Too Polished
Mimi Manicures
Seriously Swatched /> 8 Spooky Nights
Jilltastic Nail Designs

This Is Halloween: Jack O Lanterns

First of all, sorry this is so late! The challenge was due Friday- bad blogger! 

Second: I had the hardest time getting inspired for this challenge. The only thing I could think of was the standard pumpkins with faces that I'm pretty sure everyone else would do. Now that the challenge is up, I see tons of other adorable ideas, of course. So I'm set for inspiration next year! But for this year, I have pumpkins with faces :)

I started with a base of Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up on all fingers. 

Index: one coat of Wet N Wild 9021Orange, stamped with QA 26 stamping plate. Drew the pumpkin shape around it with Sinful Colors Black on Black, added a stem/leaf freehand with Sinful Colors Nirvana and In the Mist. 

Ring: I went for a pumpkin guts kind of look. One coat of Pretty & Polished Phoenix, then stamped with Porcelain Party and a random swirly-heart pattern that came with my Salon Express stamper. 

Index: stamped with Black on Black and QA plate 26

Pinkie: freehanded on a pumpkin seed (the best part of carving pumpkins!) with Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party and NYC Sidewalkers.

Check out all the other talented ladies joining in!

Cheers,

-Liz-

This Is Halloween Nail Art: Watermarble

I decided to join in on this challenge as soon as I came across the graphic. I have been getting more and more interested in nail art, and I'm a huge Halloween fan! This is also the first Halloween nail art challenge I saw that included watermarbling as on of the challenges! I've been wanting to try my hand at watermarbling pretty much forever, but I've always been a little scared to! I've seen so many other bloggers, most of whom are immensely talented, talking about how difficult it is to get it right! So I watched all the tutorials, read all the tips, and never got around to it, because I didn't want to fail at it! 

Having the watermarble as a part of this challenge was exactly what I needed to get off my ass and just try it already :) And it was rather daunting- clean up alone took me forever! I tried about 4 other color combinations before I finally found polishes that looked good together, marbled well (enough) AND fit a Halloween theme! But here is my finished product, and I'm happy to say: It doesn't completely suck. 

I started with a base of Bone from my own Zombie Collection. I wanted to use it in the marble as well, but it didn't really work out. So the marbling on top is: Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Let's Meet (shimmery yellow) and Cloud 9 (shimmery orange). I've heard shimmers aren't the best for watermarbling, but I didn't have creme shades that I liked enough for the candy corn look I ended up going for. They were a bit sheer, but overall I think it turned out alright! I especially like the almost citrus-y look on my middle finger :)

Ignore the few bits of polish that I missed on clean up: I guess I thought I did a better job than I did! Overall, I think I will return to watermarbling. It was a very cool effect, and not too difficult to do. 

Be sure to check out all the amazing other watermarbles for todays challenge!

Cheers, 

-Liz-

U-Neek Polish Part III: Northwest

U-Neek Polish Part Three brings us in a slightly different direction: to a glitter topcoat. 

Meet Northwest. Janet from U-Neek Polish says " Its named after my high school because these are their colors. Its a clear base with jet black and golden orange flakes." As with Autumn, I'd say these are more hex-y than flake-y. This may be named for her high school, but it is a perfect autumn polish! The black and orange are great for Halloween, too!

First, I layered this over U-Neek's Penny, because they seemed great for each other! Three coats of Penny, two coats of Northwest, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken in sunlight (through a window, so pardon the screen shadow!)

The glitter is more noticeable in the closeup. This made a great pair- the orange-y copper base in Penny made a great backdrop for the black glitter, but the orange shades were a bit too close together. You can still see the orange glitter, but it didn't pop enough for me!

Then I went with a completely contrasting color- Sinful Colors Nirvana! Win! I've said before that you'll probably see this color pretty often this fall. It's a great mushroom-y taupe that's the perfect shade. Not too dark, not too light, great for every color. This is two coats of Nirvana, two coats of Northwest, one coat of Seche Vite. 

Northwest was no exception. The orange glitters popped out so much better on this neutral base color. The glitter, just as in Autumn, is not super densely packed. This gives you complete control over how much glitter  you end up with on your fingers, which I love. It would take way too many coats to become opaque, but it does built up nicely, and doesn't dry gritty at all. I probably could have gotten away with Out the Door or another thinner topcoat (rather than SV). Overall, another great shade. Janet shows us that she can do glitter topcoats just as well as Color + Glitter polishes!

Have you checked out U-Neek Polish yet? It's available on Etsy- minis start at $4 and full size is $8. Check out U-Neek on Facebook, too! And check back tomorrow for the last installment of the U-Neek spotlight- I definitely saved the best for last!

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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