Swatch & Review / Nail Art

   This was one of the items provided for review in my Violet VoxBox from Influenster. They would like us to share a "shining moment" we had while wearing the polish.  I didn't actually get to wear this for very long, but I did dress Sparkling Water up with some pearl-chain nail stickers.  As I was finishing my manicure, I had a realization...

   Are nail stickers "cheating" when it comes to nail art?  Should they even count?  Yes.  Just because you make a cake using a box mix instead of from scratch, will someone claim that you didn't bake a cake: you cheated?  No, you just made what you currently had time and ability to do.  We all admire the hand-piped frosting flowers, the mind-blowing 3D fondant creations that make their way to Pinterest collections... but sometimes you have to be content with sprinkles.  In the end it's tasty, you did make cake.
    With nail stickers and decals... they are quick and easy to master, but do take skill to apply in a creative, eye-pleasing way.  So what if I didn't sit down with a tiny brush and make each dot myself.  I still chose where I wanted the design, carefully cut them to the proper length, and carefully applied them with tweezers.  That's all I had time for.  And you know what?  It was pretty, I enjoyed the look - I did nail art.

   Now, let's get to what we're really after: a proper swatch and review of Sally Hansen Sparkling Water!

NotD

   While digging through old pictures I found a few from a manicure in July.  Nothing too fancy, just simple layering, but I couldn't waste pictures of multichrome-and-flakie goodness!

   Both of these polishes change color at different angles, so it was a neat manicure.  Nfu-Oh #60 is a black jelly filled with orange-to-green shifting flakes.  Orly Space Cadet is a sort of foil finish polish with a copper red-to-green shift and a teal base.  Here they are sitting next to each other:

   I think it is worth noting that Nfu-Oh is a 17ml bottle of polish, and Orly is 18ml.  My two "biggest" bottles next to one another!  I appreciate the generous portion of polish when both of these brands tend to be pricey.  Now have a couple angled nail shots to show off the color shift they have together!

   So pretty!  Pictures don't do justice to these polishes!  I put #60 in my blog sale but after being reminded of these pictures it is tempting to pull it back out!  I have enough flakies, though... someone grab it before I change my mind!  =P

Swatch & Review

   Second to last Different Dimension nail polish!  This one is a rainbow flakie named Iris.  I wanted something like this in my collection, and after using it I'm very happy that I chose this particular polish!  Also, I snagged Orly After Party from a blog sale.  Once I had it in my hands I knew I couldn't swatch Iris over a plain black creme as I originally planned...

   I used two coats of After Party and two coats of Iris topped with one coat of Poshe.  Both polishes contain flakies, which are tricky to capture, so I took several pictures.  Read on to find out what I though of each one!

   Ever come up with something that you know is really pretty but you're just not sure if you love it on yourself?  That's how it is for me with this mani.  It looks beautiful, but I just wasn't feeling it the way I thought I would.  At any rate, here are what I call my "deep sea mermaid" nails:

   Gorgeous, right?  That is two coats of LA Girl Deep Sea Mica topped with one coat of Zoya Charla.  There are a few more pictures after the jump, including Deep Sea Mica by itself.

   Hello everyone!  I'm taking a break to type this up with gloves on my hands.  My cuticles are turning scary because I haven't been giving them enough love.  Trying to make up for lost time with oil soaking on them right now.  Please ignore the dried skin, but enjoy the polish!

   I wanted something light, and I had a new polish to try.  I picked up Starry Silver Glitter by NYC and these are the two polishes I used along with it:

Sally Hansen Xtremewear Lacey Lilac, Nfu-Oh "Firefly Bums" #39, NYC Starry Silver Glitter

   Earlier this week I tried Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "No Chip Nail Color" nail polish in Glass Slipper.  This is her pink-hued sister, Princess Cut.  The polishes contain the same clear/white flakies and microshimmer particles, I do believe the only real difference is the color the flakes are floating in.  If you are interested in this polish be sure to read on!

   My base was Zoya nail polish in June, but I accidentally stained the polish with pink dye.  Just lightly but keep in mind that this may be a little pinker than it would be otherwise.  ;)  I used one coat of Sally Hansen Princess Cut on each nail.  Princess Cut did add slightly more pink to my nails, but nothing overpowering.  In fact, I think this may be perfect for topping a french manicure.  Take a look at the pics!

   I wanted to play with one of my new flakies for my last manicure!  I picked Glass Slipper since it is a clear polish and I didn't want to alter the color of Nyx Dusty Pink - one of my untrieds.  Actually... this entire manicure was made of untrieds!

   I used Nyx Girls in Dusty Pink (2 coats), Sally Hansen Glass Slipper (1-2 coats), China Glaze Frosty (2 thin coats), and Zoya Purity (1 coat).  I had intended on decorating each nail with some sort of design but never got around to it...

   So last week I finally got to try my treasured Cult Nails Clairvoyant nail polish.  Unicorn Puke, Clairvoyant, call it what you may, it really is a great nail polish.  Mine is the Clairvoyant version bottle from the Super Powers collection.  I actually prefer this as I adore the silver writing on the "regular edition" bottle!  I'm leaving just two pictures out and the rest will be after the jump since they are pretty similar, but I couldn't narrow them down.

   The sun was out really bright when I took these pictures and my camera could barely handle the sparkling rainbow of flake glitter.  It captured the color very well, but it couldn't focus sharply.  Bummer!  These are the colors on my nails:

L.A. Colors Morning Glory, Essie Licorice, Cult Nails Clairvoyant

   First off I have to say that Essie's Licorice surprised me.  In the past I've used it and been fairly "meh" about it's coverage, it took two coats and even then it didn't seen quite perfect.  This time it was a one-coat wonder.  I did apply it carefully, but I don't think my skills have changed that much, so I wonder if it is from using the Orly Bonder basecoat.  Seems to be good stuff.

   Anyway, now I have to give L.A. Colors Morning Glory some love.  This is a color that I picked up on a whim based on the name - after all, it's just another blue-toned purple.  The truth is morning glory flowers are one of my favorites, so when I saw the name I had to buy it (it was cheap!).  But I'm really glad I did because it turns out it's a lovely color.  I chose it for this mani because it seemed to perfectly match the "juice" of Clairvoyant.  When I was painting my nails I almost couldn't cover it with Clairvoyant, though, because it's so deep and shimmery and pretty!  Definitely one I will revisit to wear on it's own.  I will say that it had a slightly runny and watery consistency but I got away with two coats.

   I'm at the point where I have so many new polishes that I can hardly decide what to put on my nails next!  I made my first Cult Nails order last month and finally decided to ignore all the other new things and try a full mani in the color My Kind of Cool Aid.

   It is definitely My Kind of Color!  In most lights it looks a little darker than this.  A muted, greyed-out lavender with silver shimmer.  The shimmer shows more in the bottle than on the nails, but it gives the creamy polish some character.  Also this doesn't dry very shiny on it's own, but a top coat glossed it right up.

   I added a few star paillettes to some of my nails!  And there is my thumbnail, steadily growing back out...

   Even though it has a big round cap it was still pretty easy to paint with.  Not the most comfortable, but not bad like I expected.  I really loved the formula on this.  It was easy to work with and didn't destroy itself or create bald spots.  Also, the coverage on this polish is awesome.  Here it is at just one coat:

   Isn't this gorgeous?  My of my Cult Nails polishes were.  I picked up Time Traveler for my Mom so I don't have that one to show you (though I've seen it on her nails and can tell you that it is the prettiest deep navy-sapphire-blue).  I have Feel Me Up, Clairvoyant and My Kind of Cool Aid.

   Sadly I shouldn't have risked buying Feel Me Up.  It is not a yellow I will wear, so I'm leaving it brand-new and hopefully I can swap it.  (Anyone interested in this color?  It is currently not available from Cult Nails.)  Clairvoyant is awesome, of course.  Mom got a bottle of that, too.  I might have to do a full flakie manicure next!

   Anyone else use Cult Nails?  I guess I'm late to the party, but I am really impressed!

  This manicure was inspired by my favorite gemstone: the opal.  I picked up the two Nyx Ave polishes that came back in stock on CherryCulture (more from that haul later) even though I wasn't expecting much.  I had heard them described as sparse with difficult to work with flake glitter.  I was pleasantly surprised.

   Sure, this was three coats of the glitters and my nails aren't loaded with flakes, but they are spread evenly and never stuck up off my nail.  The polishes had the same great consistency of all my other Nyx nail polishes and I really liked the brush.  Blue Ave has multi-colored flakies, Purple Ave has just cool-toned flakies.  Their jelly bases are very sheer and didn't effect my white nail polish at all other than to add more shine.  I used 2 coats of Essie Blanc and 1 coat of Marshmallow to give my nails a milky white base.  I also added two peach heart paillettes to my ring fingers.


   I also did one picture before clean-up which shows the colors quite well.  I really like this look, it's subtle but pretty.  So, do you mainly use your flakie nail polishes over dark colors, or have you tried them on white like this?

   Last week was the week of glitter nail polish on my blog.  I tried out the lovely piCture pOlish Pink Shimmer and really wanted to include it but I simply ran out of days!  I won this nail polish from piCture pOlish and chose the color because it sounded really pretty but there weren't swatches of it anywhere to be found.  I am here to fix that!  =D

   Isn't that just lovely?  The bottle description of "soft & delicate with a silver sparkle!" is spot on, but here's what they don't tell you:  That not just silver sparkle, it's holographic silver sparkle!  Of course the glitter is too sparse to be anything linear, but it reflects a rainbow of colors under all lighting.  My camera couldn't really capture the super-fine microshimmer, but it does show the microflakies pretty well.

   The pink color itself is a perfect pale pink.  It doesn't lean peach, it's not overly blue or purple, it's just pink like pink should be.  I loved it on my pale skin but couldn't help thinking how awesome it would be on dark-skinned ladies!  It's a very wearable color, appropriate for any age and pretty much any occasion.  It's feminine and beautiful.  I really can't believe this isn't a more popular color from piCture pOlish!

   Now here's the bad part: this was 4 coats - four!  And it wasn't even completely opaque; you can see the visible nail line in my pictures.  While it was wearable it didn't feel "finished" to me.  Of course, this isn't a terrible problem.  I'm planning to revisit this color layered over a similar pale pink.  If I can get the look I want with only 1 or 2 coats of Pink Shimmer layered then I'm fine with that, as it will save my little bottle of piCture pOlish, which is precious to me and rather costly to replace.

   More good news:  This was very easy to work with.  The formula wasn't as thick as their color Twinkle, and dried shiny.  Also, I wore this without top coat for a few days.  It stayed shiny, only had one chip and very minor tip wear on the other nails.  I can only imagine it would have been fabulous with a top coat.  Also, clean-up was great.  I'm a messy painter, always getting polish on my fingers alongside my nails.  After this had dried for awhile it came right off my skin, no hassles.  And my nails were perfect!

   Alright, I know I've said a lot about this polish but I couldn't contain all my love and adoration!  I definitely recommend this polish.  Please let me know what you think of it!  =)

   A picture is worth 1,000 words!  You can even click this one to see the flake-glitter goodness up close.  That would be Nyx Girls nail polish in Gilded Glitter.  Now that you're drooling, here are the details.

   First off, wait, a giveaway already?  Yes, already.  For one, I was invited to join Rafflecopter, which is the bestest way to run a giveaway on a blog EVER.  (Prepare to be blown away if you have not used it before.)   For another, I was searching for a silver glitter nail polish *just like Nyx Girls Gilded Glitter* in silver.  It is my dream polish, but I can't find one!  So I'm hoping someone will notice what I have in gold, and point out a silver version to me.  =D

  This might not be the biggest giveaway ever but I hope you all enjoy it because I am psyched about it!  More details, a swatch of the polish, and the amazing Rafflecopter Giveaway Entry System after the jump!

   In the interest of organizing my blog better I'm creating more specific tags, or labels.  These are so you can find a certain type of polish quickly.  Brand name tags have already been put in use.  All nail polish tags will begin with "np-", and the types will be defined as follows:

   ~ Finishes ~

Creme - also known as cream, but hey, that's a color!  Creme polishes are pigmented, opaque, shiny colors.  True cremes contain no shimmer or glitter.  Think of shiny enamel paint.
Effect - what I'm dubbing the crackle, shatter, and graffiti colors.  Also includes color-changing, glowing, and magnetic polishes.
Flake - contain larger, odd-shaped and usually iridescent reflective pieces.  Think of fish scales.
Frost - or pearl, these polishes can usually be identified by their brush-stroked look.
Glitter - polish containing glitter!  Often meant for use as a topcoat.  Sparkly!
Iridescent - polishes that change color in different lighting, or have "flashes" of a color in them.  Other terms can be lustre or duochrome.  Think of soap bubbles, insect wings and oil slicks.
Jelly - these polishes are sheer, yet have depth and look almost squishy or wet.  Very shiny, good for layering.
Matte - flat color with no shine after it dries, which is quickly.
Metals - polishes with a metallic, mirror, foil or chrome quality.
Prism - or holographic nail polishes contain special glitters that reflect a whole rainbow of color.
Satin - polishes that dry to a sheen somewhere between a creme and a matte.
Shimmer - these have smaller, fine microglitters or "glass fleck" particles that sparkle faintly.  May only show in strong light.

   ~ Colors ~

Bright -  vibrant colors, and neons.
Dark - deep, dark colors of any hue.
Light - all pale or pastel shades.
Mid - any mid-range color that doesn't fall in with bright, dark or light.

   ~ Other ~

B3F - stands for "Big 3 Free".  Polishes that do not contain Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, or Toluene.  Besides those chemicals posing potential health risks, polishes that do and don't contain them often don't work together well.
B3+ - my term "Big 3 Plus".  Not only are they b3f, they also exclude other risky ingredients.

   This is my list, made up according to how I describe things myself and usually see things described as.  It may be updated or added to from time to time.  I do try to be accurate, so if anyone would like to offer corrections, suggestions or refinement please comment below.  I really hope that these tags can be of benefit in the future for anyone searching for specific types of polish I have posted about.  If anyone else wants to use a similar tagging post on their blog go right ahead, but if I inspired you a link back here would be great!