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!

Dance, Baby, Dance: Dance Education by Trelly's MISC Polish

I described in this post my favorite way to extend a mani- when I know I'm going to come home from the gym and be too lazy to redo my nails completely, I'll just top the previous day's manicure with a holo topcoat. This obviously applies to glitter topcoats as well, and I know when my hard workouts are, so I plan ahead.

I've even topped that sneaky two-day trick: I took the manicure shown in that holo post, and topped it with a glitter! Trelly's MISC Polish Dance Education.

Dance Education in a clear based glitter topcoat filled with red, black and white various sized hexes, plus white bars. All glitters are satin/matte.

To recap the entire mani: this is two coats of Sinful Colors Amethyst, topped with one coat of Pretty Polish's Spectraflair topcoat, topped with two coats of Trelly Polish's Dance Education, and finished off with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite. That is a lot of layers! But I didn't have to start from scratch for three whole days :)

As with all Trelly's MISC Polishes, Cassie recommends dabbing on Dance Education for best coverage. With this polish (as with Love Always Shines and Clown Car Exhaust) I didn't find that necessary. I brushed on two coats just like a normal polish, then went back and dabbed in the few bare spots that remained. 

Trelly's MISC Polish can be purchased on Etsy for $9. Be sure to check out Trelly's Got A Blog and the Trelly Polish Facebook page for updates and fun other nail news. Look at my other Trelly reviews as well, including Sunset Boat Ride! 

Have any of you ladies tried Trelly's MISC Polish yet? Which colors caught your eye? I'm totally in love with It's Alive from the Halloween collection :)

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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

I'm on a Boat!: Sunset Boat Ride by Trelly Polish

As I mentioned in this post, this was my very first experience using PVA glue as a basecoat. I've learned a bit since then (like, don't use a base coat under the glue!), and I've become a convert. I love super glittery polishes, so I've been using the PVA pretty much daily, and I have a few more tips. First of all: thin your glue a bit. The first week I was using it, it would start to peel in the shower after about a day. I thinned the glue out with a bit of water, and it's staying just fine since then. I typically change my mani everyday anyway, so it wasn't a huge problem for me, but for those that want to keep their paint on longer, thinner is better.

Some have speculated about damage to the nail bed from pushing the polish up with an orange stick: I don't use an orange stick. I just push/pick at it gently with a nail, and as soon as you get one little bit unstuck, the whole thing will come right off. I've been using PVA almost exclusively for the last two weeks, and have noticed absolutely zero damage to my nail bed. Now: on to the pretty!

This is Sunset Boat Ride by Trelly's MISC Polish. Cassie describes this polish as "a glitter topcoat in a clear base, with all the reds, oranges, yellows of a sunset." I guess the white is the boats? :) Either way, the polish contains tons of satin hexes in red, yellow, orange and white, blue some white bars.

My plan was to layer this over the ONLY gold polish I own: Sinful Colors This Is It. I didn't realize until too late that I grabbed the wrong bottle! And I was too lazy to take off the fingers I already painted, plus get up and search for the color I wanted! Luckily, it turned out better than I think the gold would have. This is one and a half coats of Sunset Boat Ride over Sinful Colors Let's Meet (a shimmery, gold-toned yellow). Topped with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite. Photos taken in full, direct sunlight..

The yellow turned out way better than I thought it would! This polish really is the perfect sunset color combination. Maybe the white are clouds, not boats :)

Obligatory shade photo.

Cassie recommends the dabbing method to apply all of her polishes, and this is the first one that I've done so with. It was a bit thicker than either Love Always Shines or Clown Car Exhaust. I dabbed on one coat, and then went back to fill in a few bare-ish spots. The Etsy listing for Sunset Boat Ride shows swatches on a nail wheel over a light peachy color, and a pale coral and both are stunning! I think I know what I'm wearing this with next! I dark purple would be lovely as well. 

Trelly's MISC Polish can be purchased on Etsy. Full sized bottles are $9, and any color can be made into a mini as well. Be sure to check out the Trelly Polish blog- there are ongoing previews of the Halloween Collection, which comes out mid-September- and Facebook page- more color previews, plus news, updates and other polish related things that catch Cassie's eye!

Support your indies, ladies!

                                                                             Cheers,

-Liz- 

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

PVA Base Coat + Trelly Polish: Clown Car Exhaust

I'm starting off a little different today: I tried PVA glue as a basecoat with my mani today. I didn't take pictures, partially because I was feeling lazy last night, and partially because there are a few blogs out there that have already done a great job at the step by step. (The two that I've read, and can think of off the top of my head, are Nails by Ms. Lizard and Pretty Purple Polish.) I applied a base coat as normal (not a good idea- the base peels up with the glue, but not very well. More on this in a bit.) I then applied Elmer's Glue All- which is pretty much the same as Elmer's School Glue. Usually sold right next to, and a 4 oz bottle cost me under a buck. Divided by a half-ounce polish bottle equals out to about 13 cents per bottle!

I poured the glue into an empty polish bottle, and applied it just like any other polish. Let dry for about 5 minutes (it applies white, but dries clear, so no guess work!). Topped with my color and glitter. (Sinful Colors Let's Meet and Trelly's MISC Polish Sunset Boat Ride- which is just as glittery as every other Trelly I've tried- but those photos are for another day!). Topped with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite.

I was slightly worried about getting the glue wet, as I wash my hands a lot at work, but it really wasn't a problem at all. See Pretty Purple Polish's post about it- she did a 5 day wear test, including doing the dishes gloveless. The hardest part for me was waiting all day to see if it worked! I'm a horrible picker, so I was incredibly excited about the prospect of peeling a whole nail's worth of polish off in one go! Alas, it did not work out so well :( Apparently, this is meant to be used IN PLACE of a base coat, not in conjunction with. The base coat (Palladio Fuse, btw) came up with the polish for the most part, but did stick to my nail in many places, leaving me with a sticky, gummy mess on my nails. But no glitter! I'm telling you, I'm absolutely doing this again tonight when I paint my nails! Without the base coat of course :) It may be too early to tell, but I'm pretty sure I'm a convert.

So, enough of that rant- on to the Trelly Polish I'm actually showing you today!

Clown Car Exhaust! Cassie from Trelly Polish calls CCE "a glitter top coat in a clear base, with a multitude of glitters even including black "tires"!" And so it is. This is absolutely a circus-y polish, with matte and metallic hexes in multiple sizes, squares and bars- in every color of the rainbow!

This is such a happy, summery polish. As much as I'm looking forward to fall, and fall colors, I knew I couldn't let this one slide by! I needed to wear it and get the full effect before the end of summer. 

Photo shows one (!) coat of Clown Car Exhaust over Wet N Wild Dreamy Poppy, topped with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite. All photos taken in full, direct sunlight.

This glitter looked amazing over every single color I tried it over. I thought about layering it over a Skittle mani, but I hate to take away from the glitter by making my base colors too show-stopping :)

You can see the glitter mix a bit better in the closeup- I couldn't even begin to describe all the glitters in here! I absolutely adore a good random glitter mix- I was lusting after a pair of shoes at Deb last fall- this style, but  with more of a platform, and more varied in color. Alas, they clearance before I bought them, and they only had a size 6 left! Damn my waiting! Anyway, the point is, I affectionately took to calling them the "glitter vomit" shoes. And ever since, random multi-colored, absolutely fabulous glittery things are known to me as "glitter vomit". In the best of all possible ways, of course! This polish is definitely glitter vomit!

It applied easily as well. Cassie recommends dabbing the glitter on for the best coverage, but I didn't have to. I painted this on with regular strokes, like any other polish. There was a bit of dragging, but I light touch eliminated any problems with that. Also- that is only one coat on my nails! This is very saturated with glitter! I have loved every Trelly Polish I've tried, and will definitely go back for more.

Trelly's MISC Polish can be purchased on Etsy. Full sized bottles are $9, minis go for $4.50. Be sure to stop by the Trelly Polish Facebook page and pay a like as well- there are previews of her Haloween polish, Spiked Witch's Brew, plus her newest Collection, which is movie themed- love I'm a Mouse, Duh!

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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

Sunshine- On a Cloudy Day: Love Always Shines by Trelly Polish

I've been on this kick lately, where I'm falling in love with anything bright yellow. This is very unusual for me: brights and neons, while lovely, are typically not in my design schemes or wardrobe choices. But yellow has been catching my eye lately! So I was completely drawn to this gorgeous matte yellow and white glitter topper.

Meet Love Always Shines by Trelly's M.I.S.C. Polish. Photos are two coats over A England King Arthur (which I- somehow- did not photograph on its own, so that review will be coming at a later date), topped with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite. Taken in full sun.

As soon as I pulled this polish out of the mail, I knew I needed to layer it over a dark, moody grey. And it turned out amazing! It reminds me of the sun, finally shyly peeking out after an afternoon thunderstorm. 

Look at how bright and sunshine-y this looks in the bottle! How can you look at that and not smile a little bit?

Had to show a shade photo- the white pops out like wow. 

Cassie from Trelly's recommends using the dabbing method to apply her glitter topcoats, but I really didn't need to. I painted it on just like any regular polish, and it applied just fine. Not thick or gloppy at all, but it wasn't so sparse that I needed 6 coats to get good coverage. I'm not usually a big fan of bar glitters, because even the best of them tend to curl (especially on my super-curvy nails), but I really didn't have problems with this one. 

This is one of four polishes I received from Trelly's M.I.S.C., and the second that I've worn. (I don't always post in order.) I've been very impressed so far! Polishes can be purchased on Etsy- full size bottles are $9, and all colors are available as minis for $4.50. Be sure to like Trelly's on Facebook as well: :)

Support your indies, ladies!

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