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!

12 Days of Christmas: Santa Claus

Merry Christmas, dears! I hope your days is truly joyous, and that you get to spend time with loved ones, fawn over gifts given and received, and eat tons of yummy holiday foods! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then happy Tuesday to you, and I hope that you have a wonderful day as well :)

This is, of course, the final prompt in the 12 Days of Christmas challenge, but I've had so much fun, and met/followed so many new and wonderful people, that I'm already planning my next challenge, beginning January 1st! I want to give a huge thanks to Kristine at Pink & Polished and Lorene at Over Polished for setting this up, and also to every single person who participated! Enough gushiness, and onto my Santas!

I will not take credit for this idea, as I've seen variations of it in several places, but I didn't use a specific manicure as a "tutorial" or thing to copy, so I won't credit a specific person either. Thinking about it now, Santa's Suit doesn't have a red stripe in the MIDDLE Of the white, and that was really a lack of thinking on my part :) But I love the overall turnout of this!

I started with a base of Volcano Burst by Free Hippie, a gorgeous, easy to work with red packed full of gold shimmer. I used the largest dotting tool I had to dot/swirl on the white with Sinful Colors Snow Me White, then used the same dot/swirl method to draw on the belts with Sinful Colors Black on Black. The buttons were dotted on with Black on Black and a smaller dotting tool. 

Once again, to all of you, thank you so much, and Merry Christmas!

Gold Rush by Free Hippie: Gold in Them Thar Hills!

Hello, lovelies! Today's beauty is Gold Rush by Free Hippie, an out-of-the-blue polish maker that I never would have discovered were it not for randomly searching Etsy for "nail polish". Rebecca from Free Hippie specializes in Boho Chic and hippie jewelry, but she also offers a small selection of polish, and I've been very impressed with it! (You can see my review of Phosphorus here.)

Gold Rush is a nice pale gold packed full of shimmer, plus small and micro bright gold hexes.

This is two coats of Gold Rush alone, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken in natural sunlight.

I love how pale this color is compared to most gold polishes: I really don't wear gold polish on a regular basis, and I hate how it looks with my skin, but this is a nice, almost champagne color, and I think I pulled it off rather well! The polish went on very smoothly, and had great coverage. I was afraid it would be kind of sheer, but I only used two coats, and I'm the three-coat Queen. It did dry slightly gritty, as is standard with micro glitters, but a thick coat of Seche Vite completely smoothed the whole thing over. I've tried 6 colors from Free Hippie, and I haven't had a single issue with any of them! This one, in fact, has become my favorite gold (for the rare occasions when I need one!). My only complaint is that polishes are only available in minis- because there are a few that I would like full size!

Free Hippie polishes are available on Etsy.

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. 

8 Spooky Nights Twofer: Spiders & Graveyards

I didn't manage to get either of my challenge manis up yesterday, so today you'll get spiders AND graveyards in one post! Plus a second post with the manis for my other challenge.

I'm not particularly proud of my spider manis. Yes, plural. I really didn't like the first one, so I did another, and I'm still not thrilled with it. But, that could just be because it's a spider. I HATE spiders. I think bats are cute, snakes are badass and I had pet rats and mice as a kid! But anything with more than 4 legs: count me out. 

So my first spider fail: I used an alternating base of Sinful Colors Heavy Metal and Last Chance (both of which I picked up last week at Walgreen's .99c sale!), then freehanded some spider webs onto them in the opposite color. I then dabbed my topcoat brush in just a touch of white. 

I'll call this one my actual submission. I used Last Chance as my base again, then freehanded the spider body/head blob onto my middle and ring fingers, and the legs onto my index and pinkie. I used a large dotting tool and Heavy Metal to draw on the eyes, Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party for the fangs, and Free Hippie Volcano Burst for the blood drips. 

And here's my graveyard! I'm really happy with the way this one turned out, even though I cheated a bit (shh!). I started with a base of my own White Rabbit polish, then used a Sharpie to draw on my headstones and tree and such. It was so much easier to draw on tiny details than to paint them! I don't think I'll make a habit of it, but it sure was an easier time for me!

And there you have my penultimate designs! Be sure to check out all the lovely other challengers, and come back for the finale tomorrow- Only Black & Orange!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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