Cell Shot: Essie - Naughty Nautical w/ Orly - Sparkling Garbage

Hello! Just a super quick post to show you this manicure that I wore last week & fell in love with!

This mani is 2 coats of Essie's Naughty Nautical with a coat of Orly's Sparkling Garbage on the accent nail. I used NYC Grand Central Station for a top coat.

Like I said above, I totally fell in love with this combo. It's like these colors were meant for each other! Also, I'm pretty obsessed with Sparkling Garbage & can't wait to try it out over pretty much every color ever. =]

Jindie Nails - Rave

Oh man, you guys. I'm the worst. Sorry that I've been absent for so long. Motivation has been severely lacking lately but I'm back on the train & I've got a great polish to show you today!

Jindie Nails Rave is a beautiful white crelly (creme/jelly) base filled with a ton of different types of neon glitter. There's circular, hex, large, small & medium glitters, some of which are semi-transparent. It all makes for a very pretty polish with a ton of depth & interest.

Jindie Nails Rave

Jindie Nails Rave

The formula on this polish was spot on. The glitter came out evenly & easily & it was opaque in 3 coats. The only ones that I felt I was kind of fishing for were the large magenta circular glitters, but as you can see I managed to get out quite a few of them. Dry time for this was pretty good. I used a quick dry topcoat for the manicure pictured above.

I'm a huge fan of indie polishes, so I was super excited to get to try out Jindie Nails. I'd read so many good things about the brand online & now I can say that I definitely agree! This polish is a stunner & I'm happy that it's part of my collection.

Have you tried anything by Jindie Nails? What's your favorite indie brand? Share in the comments below!

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaids Collection

From the moment I saw the announcement, I was SO excited for Deborah Lippmann's Summer 2013 Mermaids Collection! Mermaid's Dream is easily one of my most favorite polishes, so of course a collection inspired by that beautiful color would catch my eye.

The colors that I have to show you today are Do The Mermaid (lilac base with gold shimmer & larger purple glitter), Million Dollar Mermaid (creamsicle orange base with gold shimmer & larger coppery orange glitter) & Mermaid's Kiss (light pink base with gold shimmer & larger light pink & dark pink glitter).

Do The Mermaid - Million Dollar Mermaid - Mermaid's Kiss
(photo taken with no flash)

Do The Mermaid - Million Dollar Mermaid - Mermaid's Kiss
(photo taken with flash)

Do The Mermaid - Million Dollar Mermaid - Mermaid's Kiss

Since I already showed you Do The Mermaid as a manicure HERE, below is a photo of when I wore Million Dollar Mermaid as a manicure.

Deborah Lippmann's Million Dollar Mermaid

I can't even tell you how much I love these polishes. They're so soft and shimmery with the perfect amount of glitter. Formula-wise, they were all pretty good. The nail wheel swatches are 3 coats, but on my actual nails I only used 2. Million Dollar Mermaid appeared the sheerest, followed by Mermaid's Kiss & then Do The Mermaid but they all built up to opaque quickly & easily. Dry time is super fast on all of these. They do dry slightly bumpy, but a good coat of a thick topcoat takes care of that.

These colors are perfect for summer, don't you think? Deborah Lippmann definitely knocked it out of the park with this collection as far as I'm concerned!

What do you think of the Mermaids Collection? Have you seen any dupes?? Let me know in the comments!

Cell Shot: Deborah Lippmann - Do The Mermaid

Hi everyone! Someday soon I promise I will be able to stop apologizing for not posting as often, but for today...I'm sorry! I do have a quick post for you today though because I just couldn't wait to show off this polish. Deborah Lippmann's Do The Mermaid is part of her Summer 2013 Mermaids collection which was created due to the popularity of Mermaid's Dream (easily one of my favorite polishes of all time). Here's a quick photo that I took on my phone (pardon the nubbin nails...stress = nail biting relapse):

Deborah Lippmann - Do The Mermaid

Does it live up to the beauty of the original Mermaid's Dream? I'd say...yes! I love this polish. I scooped up 3 out of the 4 Mermaids & I wasn't going to post any of them until I could put together a full post on all of them together, but I just couldn't wait. I think that this is the perfect summer polish & I'm so excited to see if the others are equally as pretty. I mean, look at it! Shimmer, glitter, pastels, oh my!

The formula was a breeze. The photo above is 2 coats with topcoat. Dry time was super fast & glitter payoff was perfection (as Lippmann's usually are). There will definitely be a full post coming soon that includes the other 2 Mermaids that I picked up, Mermaid's Kiss & Million Dollar Mermaid. I skipped out on Mermaid's Eyes because I thought it might be just a little TOO similar to Mermaid's Dream...but who knows, maybe I'll add that one to the collection someday, too.

Last but certainly not least, I want to remind everyone that Google Reader is going to be gone soon. Head over to BlogLovin to follow Keep Your Nail Game Fresh!

Have a great Sunday! <3

Orly Melodious Utopia and Dollish Polish BAZINGA!

Hello! Just a super quick post today since it's been a few days. Here's a mani that I did a while back that I thought was fun but never posted...Orly Melodious Utopia (from the Hope & Freedom Fest collection) with a Dollish Polish BAZINGA! (from the Big Bang Theory collection) accent nail.

So bright & fun! I really like the contrast of BAZINGA! over the sunny yellow of Melodious Utopia. It's hard to tell in this picture, but Melodious Utopia has a great pink shimmer running through it that really adds to the depth & interest. As with any yellow it takes a little work, but overall the formula was good. BAZINGA! has great glitter payoff & I didn't have any issues with getting the glitter pieces where I wanted them to be. I did have a little bit of bubbling, but that's mostly user error because I was trying to rush. Yellow polish always gives me slight lobster hands, but the mani was cute so it doesn't bother me too much. It's much worse in photos than in real life anyways.

What do you think of this bright & cheerful mani? Are you a yellow polish fan? Want to see BAZINGA! paired with a different color? I always welcome comments/suggestions/etc!

Orly - High On Hope and Elation Generation

Hi everyone! What I have to show you today is a manicure that I wore recently using 2 polishes from Orly's Spring 2013 Hope & Freedom Fest collection. I picked up a Mani Mini kit that includes .18oz bottles of 4 out of the 6 polishes in the collection. I chose High On Hope & Elation Generation to use for this manicure because as soon as I saw them I knew they would go great together!

High On Hope is a navy blue creme with amazing pink shimmer that has a bit of a yellow/orange multichrome to it & Elation Generation is a bright pink jelly filled with holo glitter.

Orly High On Hope with an Elation Generation accent (flash)

Orly High On Hope with an Elation Generation accent (no flash)

The photos above are 2 coats of each polish with Orly Sec'n Dry over top. My camera was having some difficulty capturing the true color of Elation Generation. I would say that the actual color is somewhere in between how it looks in the photos. The holo glitter is also much more pronounced in real life, as is the shimmer in High On Hope.

Formula-wise, High On Hope was good. The first coat went on a bit streaky, but the second coat evened it out & made it opaque. Elation Generation was a tad bit thick but not unmanageable. Dry time was average.

I just love the look of these 2 polishes next to each other! Elation Generation really brings out the pink shimmer in High On Hope & I love the juxtaposition of the holo glitter polish as an accent to a polish with a very strong shimmer. So pretty!

What do you think of Orly's Hope & Freedom Fest collection? Do you love these 2 polishes as much as I do? Let me know in the comments!

Zoya - Neely & Vespa

Happy Mani Monday! I've had this combo on my nails since yesterday morning & I'm loving how fresh & Spring-y it is. I don't think that Zoya did it on purpose, but these 2 colors are made for each other. Neely is a dusty, soft mint green creme from the Spring 2013 Lovely collection & Vespa is a deeper, mossy matte mint with small silver "sugared" glitter from the PixieDust textured matte glitter collection (similar to OPI's Liquid Sand polishes but, in my opinion, much better). A match made in monochromatic, multi-textured heaven!

Zoya Neely w/ a Vespa accent nail

First of all, I apologize for the sorry state of my cuticles. My hands have been so dry lately that there's just not much I can do about it. Also, this color didn't make my hands nearly as lobster-y as they appear in the photo. Anyways, the photo above is 3 coats of each polish w/ a coat of Orly Sec'N Dry (my latest quick dry top coat experiment...so far, so good) over all but the accent nail. Formula-wise, Vespa was a dream. Each coat went on smooth & even & dried very quickly. Neely was a bit of a different story. The formula was thick & had a sort of glue-like texture, which made it go on streaky & uneven. The first 2 coats were a bit of a nightmare until I had the sense to add some polish thinner before the 3rd coat & that greatly improved the situation. I would definitely recommend thinning this polish if you have the same problems, it seems to have solved the issue.

Did you pick up any of Zoya's Spring or PixieDust offerings? What are your thoughts? All of these pastel shades have me seriously wishing it was Springtime!

Deborah Lippmann - Jessa and CrowsToes - Hell Hath No Fury

After the hot pink glitter bomb that was my Valentine's Day mani, I needed to wear something a little less glitzy for a job interview that I had this morning. I've been wanting to wear Deborah Lippmann's Jessa from the Girls collection & as soon as I pulled it out I knew that CrowsToes Hell Hath No Fury would be the perfect glitter for an accent nail. I was also super excited to try out my new digital camera that the boy got me for V-Day! I'd had the same Sony cam for years, so it was time for a bit of an upgrade. Nothing crazy, but hopefully it will make for better pics once I fully learn how to use it properly. These were the first pics that I took with it, so my apologies if they look strange. As always, click to enlarge!

Deborah Lippmann Jessa with a
CrowsToes Hell Hath No Fury accent nail.

Deborah Lippmann Jessa with a
CrowsToes Hell Hath No Fury accent nail.

Jessa is a vampy, burgundy crelly (creme/jelly)...I wouldn't call it a jelly completely, but it does have a squishy look to it that makes it not quite a creme. Either way, it's gorgeous! The photos above are 3 coats with top coat, but it dried so shiny that it probably didn't even need it.

Hell Hath No Fury is one heck of a glitter bomb. As far as I can tell it has large red glitter, medium red glitter, medium orange glitter, orange bar glitter, small orange glitter, small opalescent violet glitter & some shimmer all packed in a clear base. The base is thick & the glitter payoff is great, so I only needed 1 coat on the accent nail pictured above. I used 1 coat of Gelous & 1 coat of Julep's Fast Dry Top Coat to smooth out the glitter.

Jessa is available as part of Deborah Lippmann's Girls collection, which can be purchased from Lippmann's website. Hell Hath No Fury is currently in stock on Llarowe.

All That Glitters - Bitter Hearts Collection (Heart Burn & Dream On)

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays, if for no other reason than everything is pink & sparkly. These 2 polishes from All That Glitters are no exception! They are part of the Bitter Hearts collection, which consists of 12 limited edition glitter polishes with cheeky names like C U Never, Go Away, I Luv Me & Just Lust. The 2 that I have for you today are Heart Burn (bright pink jelly base with black, white, iridescent, silver bar & black & white heart glitter) & Dream On (pastel pink creme base with gold & gunmetal glitter). The swatches below are 3 coats of polish, 1 coat of Gelous & 1 coat of Julep's Fast Dry Top Coat.

Heart Burn - Dream On

Heart Burn - Dream On

All That Glitters Dream On

All That Glitters Dream On

The base color of Dream On is something that I probably wouldn't wear on its own, but the addition of the gold & gunmetal glitter make this polish sweet, classic & interesting. I can definitely see myself turning to this polish when I need something with subtle flash. I had a little bit of a bubbling issue, but I think that was the topcoat's fault. Womp.

All That Glitters Heart Burn

All That Glitters Heart Burn

Heart Burn is such a complex, beautiful polish that I keep catching myself staring at my nails trying to fully figure it out. My camera was having a heart attack trying to capture the color & glitter correctly, so these pictures don't quite do it justice. The jelly base gives it a great depth & I love the flash of the iridescent & tiny silver bar glitters. The hearts took a little bit of digging to get on the brush, but the extra time was totally worth it! (TIP: Turn this polish upside down for a few hours before use, it helps the heart glitters sink to the top so you can reach them!)

These polishes are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to flashiness, but I love them both equally! The formulas were both good for being so glitter-heavy & dry time was pretty quick. I didn't have any application problems other than having to fish out the heart glitter in Heart Burn, but that's to be expected with large, shaped glitter. Eggnog Wasted was my first All That Glitters polish & I really loved it...now that I'm equally as impressed with these 2, I plan on picking up many more in the future!

Dream On & Heart Burn, as well as the rest of the Bitter Hearts collection, are currently still available on the All That Glitters Etsy page. If you are interested in any of these polishes, I would hurry over & place your order...since they are LE they will not be restocked when they sell out!

Do you love Valentine's Day as much as I do? What about these polishes? Let me know in the comments!

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Cell Shot: Weird Indeed - Troy And Abed

Tonight is the return of one of my favorite shows - NBC's Community! To celebrate, I busted out Troy & Abed by Weird Indeed (a now defunct indie brand). Here's a quick cell shot of this great polish...enjoy!

Cell Shot: OPI - Get Your Number

I had just purchased Get Your Number at Ulta & was super anxious to try out the new Liquid Sand formula. Luckily for me, the bright blue color was perfect for the baby shower I was attending over the weekend (it's a boy)!

Unluckily for me, I now have what I'm assuming is some strain of the flu so that's why this post includes a cell phone pic instead of a camera pic. Either way, this polish is gorgeous...enjoy!

JAN '13 SquareHue - Arctic Collection

I signed up for SquareHue the day I heard about it & I've been patiently waiting to receive my first box ever since! Yesterday was my lucky day I guess, because this little box of goodness was waiting for me in the mail.

SquareHue is a new polish-centric subscription service that has internet lacquerheads all atwitter, especially those of us who may have grown weary of certain other monthly polish boxes (tiny bottles, too many repeats, often poor customer service...bleh). The polishes included are 3-Free, Camphor Free, Cruelty Free & made in the USA. A subscription will run you $21/month with free shipping, which I think is totally worth it for 3 full .5oz bottles of polish! The subscription can also be paused & cancelled as you see fit. You can sign up on SquareHue's website now to secure your February box & you should probably move quickly since the January collection sold out!

The January box contains SquareHue's Arctic Collection. The polishes included are Midnight Flurries (a dusty medium blue with scattered holo glitter), Arctic Frost (a sheer white flake-ish glitter/shimmer) & Glacier Skies (a light sky blue creme). In the interest of getting these pics up as soon as I could, I swatched these on a nail wheel instead of on my own nails. My apologies, I was just SO anxious! Click any of the photos to enlarge.

Welcome to the SquareHue family!

PICS AFTER THE JUMP!

Merry Christmas!

Quick cell phone post to say Merry Christmas Eve & Happy Holidays!

Nails are Orly Ignite with an All That Glitters Eggnog Wasted accent!

Julep - Harper

As I mentioned before, I cancelled my Julep Maven membership to sign up for SquareHue instead. That means that the December box was my last & today I have one of the December It Girl polishes for you - Harper!

Julep's website describes Harper as a "full-coverage opalescent mermaid blue multi-dimensional glitter" & I'd say that sounds about right. This aqua jelly polish is packed full of iridescent glitter! 

The photos below are 2 coats of Harper with 2 coats of Duri Miracote topcoat.

As you might be able to see, after 2 coats there is still some very slight VNL but it's much more obvious in the photos than it is in real life. The formula on this one was very thick. By the end of the manicure the polish was completely gooped up around the bottle opening. Adding some thinner would help Harper out a lot, I'm sure.

Despite the formula issues, this is a nice, bright, sparkly polish that's great to wear to holiday parties!

Nicole by OPI - Kardashing Through The Snow

Today I have a polish from the Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor Holiday 2012 collection - Kardashing Through The Snow! This polish consists of small, multi-colored glitter in a clear base. The colors that I see are gold, red, blue, green and silver.

This is two coats of Kardashing over Zoya Ginessa with a couple coats of Duri Miracote to make it perfectly smooth. The glitter wasn't too hungry, so two coats of regular top coat did the job! The formula was good, a little on the thick side but not unmanageable and the glitter payoff was great.

In my opinion, NOPI has been hitting it out of the park with some of their polishes lately (Just Busta Mauve, All Is Glam All Is Bright, Kardashing, to name a few). I'm pretty excited for their upcoming collections so keep an eye out for some of those polishes here!