Swatch & Review

   It's no secret that I looove Nyx products.  I have a whole slew of their eyeshadows, lipglosses, and of course nail polish.  When it comes to the polish I mainly have bottles from their cheaper Nyx Girls line.  I don't often see anything about these Advanced Salon Formula polishes.  So, I've been really curious about their quality.  Finally I decided to just go for it and try all of the pastel colors.  That is, the colors that have "pastel" in their name, and happen to go in sequential numerical order...

   I present to you swatches of Nyx Advanced Salon Formula: Pastel Yellow, Pastel Pink, Pastel Blue, Pastel Coral, Pastel Pistachio, Pastel Mint, and Pastel Lavender.  Let me start off by saying that I added a bit of nail polish thinner to all of the polishes because they were slightly thick, and I wanted them to be flowing a little better!  Not sure if this was because of sitting around or if these are all normally thick polishes.

Pastel Yellow

3 coats, plus topcoat

   This buttery yellow wanted to photograph a bit more vivid than it looks in person.  I had to use 3 coats for opacity, it looked streaky otherwise.  My topcoat helped to level the color out better.  I can't fault a pastel yellow for being a 3-coater, they usually are.  The color is very nice (a bit warmer than China Glaze Lemon Fizz).

Pastel Pink

4 coats alone

   This polish stands out as the lone shimmer in this group of pastels.  I could tell from the Online swatch that it wasn't going to be a plain creme finish, and was hoping for a hidden-shimmer creme instead.  This is more of a pink jelly with ultra fine pinky-purple shimmer.  I was surprised by how much I ended up liking the shimmer and even the color (I'm picky about pink polish), but the formula leaves much to be desired.  This wasn't as thick as the other pastels, but it was super sheer.  It went on streaky, patchy, blah...  Took 3 coats to look decent and 4 for me to be happy with the effect on my nails.  Shorter nails could be okay with 3.  I'm torn about this one. The squishy jelly effect is pretty, and the shimmer is brushstroke free... but I don't have patience for 4 coats of one polish!

Pastel Blue

2 coats, plus topcoat

   This is one of the colors I was most hopeful about, and I wasn't let down.  It is the best polish out of this pastel bunch.  Despite how pale a blue it is I only needed 2 coats, and it was the most willing to self-level out of all these colors.  I added topcoat and that only made it look more perfect!  I really love this light powder blue, and I think it will be a great base color for nail art.

Pastel Coral

2 coats, plus topcoat

   I don't often go for coral, but I did want to add a not-too-bright shade to my stash for nail art.  This color fits the bill nicely.  It's a pigmented true coral without being an eye-searingly bright shade or too warm for my skin.  On the note of pigmentation, this one did want to stick to my cuticles at removal time.  It took a little more remover than the other shades did to completely rid myself of its coral tinge.  This polish was thick and didn't want to self-level, so topcoat is a must.

Pastel Pistachio

2 coats, plus topcoat

   This really is pistachio green!  While the color names aren't super creative at least they are spot-on...  The coverage was good for a light green, good at 2 and surely better with 3 coats.  It is also on the thick side and needed topcoat to level it out more.  So, not the perfect polish but fully tolerable for a shade that is usually finicky.

Pastel Mint

2 coats, plus topcoat

   Nyx gave us blue, green, and blue-green here!  Sitting next to Pastel Blue this definitely has a minty green cast, so it isn't too confusing.  I like the shade but can't say that is the most spectacular mint ever.  It did have good coverage, though.  It also leveled out with topcoat.

Pastel Lavender

2 coats, plus topcoat

   This is a red-toned (but not pink-y) pastel purple.  I have several lavender shades but can't think of an exact dupe for this one.  I really like the color and I think it would work for most skin tones.  Once again this polish was quite pigmented and only needed 2 coats, but needed topcoat to level it out better.

   Here is what I can say about all the polishes:  They have very low odor; I hardly noticed any polish smell at all.  They remove easily.  I love the square bottles which are sturdy and store wonderfully.  The wide, flat brushes are easy to work with.  (Pastel Pistachio and Pastel Mint each had a stray long bristle, but I didn't need to trim it before use.)  And yes, they all had to be thinned.  (Pastel Pink was the least thick of all, but it was also a shimmery jelly instead of a creme.)  Rather than be watery pastels these seem to be so loaded with pigment that they are thick and not really good at leveling themselves out.  I can't really be upset about needing topcoat with most of these when I always use it anyway, but of course I'd prefer for these to have a smoother finish.  I am most impressed by the fact that I couldn't find dupes for any of these in all the pastel polishes I already own!

   They are pastels, though, and it probably isn't good to judge an entire line by just these.  Am I inspired to buy the rest of the Advanced Salon Formula line?  No.  But I will pick a color up if I'm curious about it... and it doesn't have a dupe for half the price in the Nyx Girls line.  What do you think?  If you own any Advance Salon Formula polishes let me know which ones they are and what you think of them, thanks!

Swatch & Review / NotD

   My town is currently experiencing a heat wave, with temperatures hitting 90 every day this week.  (In our little arctic suburb, this is a big deal.)  I don't complain about the weather, but I will admit that it has sapped my creativity the past few days!  I come home from work and crash; it's too warm to get up and do things until 8pm when the sun is going down.  So rather than paint my nails last night, I waited and did them this morning.

   I used I♥NP Angel Burp and Essie Sweet Talker.  I looove this easy-on-the-eyes cotton candy combination!  My nails feel so delicate and pretty.  Both of these polishes were untrieds for me, so let me tell you about them~

   Story time!  Essie Sweet Talker is from their 2010 foray into retail sales.  (In fact, it was an exclusive color, so all bottles of Sweet Talker should have a white printed "Essie" on the side, and a sticker with the name on top.)  This color landed on my wishlist right away when I was first getting into polish, and I managed to track down a bottle (along with a bunch of other colors) on eBay.  Then it was put away in a box, where it sat, and sat... and sat.  I have a few Essie polishes I love, but I learned that more often than not I don't like the brand's formula, so I allowed myself to be distracted by other polishes for quite awhile.  I was afraid Sweet Talker would be sheer, pool-y and need at least 3 coats.  Today I'm happy to say that it exceeded my expectations.  I used 2 careful coats, giving it time to dry in between.  It is actually a bit on the thick side - I'll add a bit of polish thinner to my bottle.  The aqua microshimmer in the bottle isn't as visible on the nail, but it doesn't disappear, either.  And I love the pastel blue.  I want a straight-up creme in exactly this color!

   I♥NP Angel Burp is a really pretty glitter in a shimmery clear base.  On my thumb I'm wearing 2 coats, the other nails had 1 coat.  The formula was a bit thick and I did get some teeny bubbles when I was squishing glitter around with my brush - these really only show in pictures.  I topped it off with 1 coat of Poshe and don't have any texture from the glitters; they are thin and lay very flat!

   And what pretty glitters they are.  Satin pink squares and hexes mixed with iridescent squares!  (I'll definitely be combining this with Nyx Girls Dreamy Glitter sometime for a manicure filled with pink pastel shape goodness.)  The iridescent squares shine with a whole rainbow of soft hues, not just the peachy-pink that you see in the bottle!  If you don't already have this glitter and you love it as much as I do, be quick!  This is another discontinued I Love Nail Polish shade, but I saw it is still available at http://www.ilnp.com/ as of today!

Nail Art

   Quite often when I do nail art my hands don't match.  Partly from "creativity", partly from getting to experiment more per manicure!  So after finishing my right hand in a rainbow gradient I decided to use a mix of all those colors for my left hand.  In case you missed all the water marble fun in my last post, here is the right hand design:

  I'm getting a little better at making the designs and figuring out placement on my nails.  I'm really happy with how my thumb turned out as I didn't think I'd get that much of the design on my nail.  =)  The colors I used were China Glaze Light As Air, Something Sweet, Peachy Keen, Lemon Fizz, Re-fresh Mint, and Bahamian Escape.  I had already painted my nails with two coats of Zoya Purity to give them a nice blank canvas, so they came out true to bottle color.

   Anyway, back to my left hand!

   It was pretty easy deciding which colors to pair up on my nails.  Index finger got the secondaries: purple, orange, green.  Middle finger had pink, yellow, and blue, though yellow and blue tried to create green.  My pinky was done in green, purple, yellow and pink.  Love it!  I was brave and tried to use all the colors on my thumb.

   All the colors are there, but sadly Bahamian Escape blurred into an odd dusty color between Lemon Fizz and Peachy Keen.  Also, a piece of fuzz stuck into my nail!  Bummer!  Six colors in one marbled nail is a bit much, four or less works better.

   As an accent nail I used my new unnamed Claire's polish over the white base.  (See swatches of the collection it came from.)  I did two coats and this ultra-cheap glitter did not disappoint!  It has a perfect rainbowy mix of colors over white.  I'll definitely be using this glitter polish again.  Anyone know of a dupe for it?

   This is my favorite water marble so far, and I really enjoyed wearing it this week!

Swatch & Review

   This is the lovely Yours, Mine, and Flowers by Different Dimension.  I can take credit for the name but I had nothing to do with the blend of glitters.  I loved this polish so much I wore it twice in a row!  Partly because I wanted my swatches to really show off the pastel glitters, and black was better for that.  So here is one coat of Yours, Mine, and Flowers over Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

   Yes, this really is one coat, and yes, you really do get that many flowers in one coat.  Missi knows what she is doing with her polishes!  No skimpy glitters here.  Also, do you see the bright blue sparks on my nails here?  Those are color-shifting glitters.  They look more purple in the bottle but they show up blue on my black base.

   This is how I first wore Yours, Mine, and Flowers - one coat over China Glaze Sea Spray.  This winter-sky colored polish gave my nails a much softer and more subtle look.  The color shifting glitters only faintly flashed purple.  The colors in this clear-based polish are satin finish baby pink, lavender, pale green, powder blue and white, as well as matte white in the tiny glitters.  It's a really pretty blend.

   The formula on this was very good, though it is a little more slippery than some of the other Different Dimension glitters.  I had to use a light hand so I wouldn't drag the glitter around, and give it a moment to set.  It is packed with glitter, but here is my tip for super-easy flower catching: leave the bottle upside down for a half hour before you use it.  Yours, Mine, and Flowers was just added to the Different Dimension etsy shop over the weekend, so you can go pick up your bottle there!

Swatch & Review

   I hope you're in the mood for adorable glitter, because that is what I'm bringing you today.  I was sent a mini bottle of Laquerlicious Rainbow Sugar to try out and review, and for starters I'm wearing it over two coats of China Glaze Sweet Hook, one of my favorite pastel cremes.

   As far as I could tell Sweet Hook was the closest color to the jelly in Rainbow Sugar.  I wanted my nails to resemble the polish in the bottle as closely as possible this time.  Rainbow Sugar is a very sheer jelly glitter, and I'm sure it could be layered over any color, or even used for a funky French manicure (which I really want to try now).

    Speaking of the glitter, I love the mix of colors in this polish!  It is a wonderful blend of pastels and brights, and the finishes are satin or matte so they go together really well.  The hex and square shapes definitely lend themselves to the sugar sprinkle look, too.  The glitter isn't super dense, but I only used one coat and really liked the feel of it.  I did have to fish for the glitter a little bit but I think a major reason for this is working with a mini brush.  The glitter was easy to place and didn't have issues clumping in one spot.  To top off all the glittery goodness this polish has a fine light blue shimmer through it, and it spreads perfectly on the nail for a really nice finish.

   Laquerlicious polishes are sold on etsy.  So far I'm loving the ones I'm testing, what do you think?

NotD / Nail Art

   Yay for titles made from the names of polishes used!  I did some pretty pastel nails for my Happy Halfiversary (you know, the 6-month mark of being married!) manicure.

  I love layering glitter over cremes, and I love mint green with pastel pink...  Yes, I am very happy with how it all turned out!  I also love finding cheap polishes that I can fall in love with.  Here are the polishes I used:

   Finger Paints Hue Left A Message? is an adorable micro glitter which only has a cameo in this manicure.  Pure Ice Home Run, a wonderful mint green creme - I used two coats as my base!  Nyx Girls Dreamy Glitter, and Revlon Whimsical.  Then I added nail art stickers to a couple nails as accents.

   I used one coat of Whimsical over Home Run, which didn't alter the color at all because Whimsical has a similar base color that is very sheer.  You can transform it quite easily, so rather than use 4-plus coats of it alone I prefer it for layering.  After Whimsical I tried a thin coat of Hue Left A Message? on my middle finger, but the glitter was still more concentrated than I wanted.  I moved on!

   The next polish was Dreamy Glitter, a mix of pastel pink stars, iridescent hexes and small iridescent glitter in a translucent pink base.  I really love this polish!  It is easy to work with, spreading nicely and not impossible to get the stars out of the bottle.  Plus it is pretty cheap.  ;D

   To finish my manicure I used a fast-drying topcoat and went to bed.  The next morning I added a pastel nail art sticker to my accent nail so my lonely Hue Left A Message? nail wouldn't look so out of place.  I put on another top coat layer which smoothed the star glitter pieces out better.

   Thanks for letting me share these with you, hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!  A quick note on the ragged cuticle area on my index finger; I cut my finger badly two weeks ago and as it heals it keeps peeling.  I can't do much about it other than give it time.  I took these pictures at the beginning of the week and I'm still wearing this manicure today.  My index finger is looking a lot better, and amazingly my nails only have tip wear.  I'm also happy to say that my nails have grown out to a good length and patient filing has earned me an even square shape... finally!

Swatch & Review / Nail Art

   At first I was planning a regular swatch post for the few Layla Mirror Effect polishes that I picked up.  But the plain fact is that there are already awesome swatch posts out there with all the individual colors, my favorite example being at A Polish Addict.  (Here's part 2 from her, as well!)  All the polishes have an identical finish so rather than more plain-ole' swatches, I had fun with nail art!

   I bought my Layla polishes from FabulouStreet.  I managed to pick them up on sale, their regular price is $15.50 per bottle.  The special chrome formula is intended to be used without a base coat on freshly buffed nails.  (You can even buy a special Layla file for this purpose, which came out with their holographic collection.)  I ignored this.  Instead I used a peel-off base coat on my unbuffed (nonbuffed? buffless?) nails.

   As you can see these truly show every little imperfection in your nail.  They dry super-fast into a thin foil.  Personally I hate to go without a base coat, and these applied just fine over what I had on, so I think next time I will try tricking them with a super-thick glossy base!  I used a fast-drying drying topcoat on all my fingers and a thick topcoat on my thumb, no issues there either.  Wait for the polishes to dry before top coating them!

   The opacity on these metallics is wonderful despite their thin, almost watery consistency - you're looking at just one coat of each polish, both in the base and each layer of the cloud design that I free-handed with the polish brush.  The least opaque seemed to be Titanium Sky, which if seen at the right angle in certain lighting had a thin spot.  Can you tell?

  Layla did a very nice job with this line of polishes.  Finally, metal-finish polish without frosty brushstrokes!  They are the most chrome-like metallics I've ever seen, but nothing as shiny as their bottle caps.  Because of how they show every tiny ding and dent in your nail bed I will probably stick with using these for nail art.  I'll probably hold off on buying any more of them until they release more unique colors, though.

   Layla is an Italian brand, specializing in various "effect" polishes, and all Big 3 Free.  They are on the pricey side for my budget, but I've enjoyed every polish I've bought from them.  Have you tried anything from this brand?  Do you these metallic nail polishes?  Let me know!  =)

Swatch & Review

   This is an extra-special review post, because I'm getting to share my very own custom polish creation from Different Dimension on Etsy!  After seeing a similar polish in her shop I was inspired to request my own tweaked version called Pastel Nonpareil.  Isn't it lovely?

   My inspiration for the name was taken from these amazingly tasty and especially eye-catching treats served at our belated wedding reception.  They were made by my sister-in-law!

   Didn't she do a stunning job?  Let me tell you, these did not last long at all.  Everyone loved them!  Nonpareil (non-puh-rell) sprinkles are my favorite sprinkles ever, too!  Put them on something and I'll want to eat it.  Thus the name behind my polish!  So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty on custom polishes from Different Dimension.

   First off, sizing and price.  A custom polish from Different Dimension is going to be in a full size Different Dimension bottle which holds 15ml.  The cost for calling all the shots on your own Big-3 Free blend is $10, which I'd say is a smoking deal considering the quality Missi is known for and the fact that every custom polish comes with a personalized gift.

   Admittedly, I had it pretty easy in describing my request.  "Like what you made there, but with X color added and no shimmer."  Still, the customer service was great.  My questions were answered and I had some options to work with before I fully made up my mind.  I gave the polish a name and Missi had it finished for me in no time at all.  Here you can see it has a printed label, finished the same way that one of Different Dimension's regular polish offerings would be.

   Oh, and that free gift?  It's a handmade necklace of your polish that arrives in a little drawstring bag.  Missi takes a bit of your custom blend and pours it into a cute glass vial, corks it and puts it on a long chain.  (My chain was 24", it can be cut down easily if a shorter length is desired.)  The cork is sealed into the bottle with a very strong clear glue.  I don't know if the polish will ever dry out inside the bottle but I doubt it would change the look much if it did.

   Isn't it adorable?   The bottle measures 1 inch including the cork, so it makes a nice piece for layering.  I can definitely see wearing a couple of these necklaces together.  I was very happy to open my package from Different Dimension and be able to wear my custom polish right away - no dry time!

   One other thing to note is the value of the necklace.  You can buy a vial necklace filled with one of the colors regularly offered in the Different Dimension store.  It's essentially the same thing, and the cost is $5.00.  So if you figure that you just spent $10 for a 15ml nail polish made just for you and that polish included a free gift valued at $5.00...  I don't need to point out how good of a deal that is, do I?

   Pastel Nonpareil is a white jelly polish filled with small holographic glitters in a mix of rainbow colors.  As you can see in the above macro shot there is a lot of glitter!  It mixes easily and the somewhat thick formula is easy to work with just like all the other Different Dimension polishes I used beforehand.  I almost used a white creme polish as a base, but I'm so glad I didn't.

   Above, three coats is squishy white jelly perfection.  Top coat smoothed everything out, but I've also worn this polish without a top coat and the glitters aren't annoying or snaggy.  You can see a hint of my nail line in this picture, but I hardly noticed it with my non-macro eyeballs.

   What surprised me is how much I loved it at one coat.  I'm not generally into sheer polishes, but Pastel Nonpareil won me over.  The white jelly base is what makes it work, evening out perfectly and making my nails look like they must be lovely on their own, not slightly stained from all the dark polish I wear...  Oh, and the glitter helps, of course.  ;D  I actually wore my manicure with 3 coats one one hand and 1 on the other, and the winner remains undecided.  I'll wear it both ways!

   I've also used this polish in layering for jelly sandwiches, and it was wonderful like that, too.  I ended up with a very versatile polish!  Which Pastel Nonpareil manicure is your favorite?

   In conclusion, I definitely recommend Different Dimension for custom polish creation.  I already have a few more ideas cooked up and am excited to say that you will be seeing a polish named by me in the Different Dimension shop soon!