Swatch & Nail Art

   My could manicure obsession continues!  This time I switched the color layering up by offsetting the "bumps" of the clouds.  It's a subtle difference but I like it!

  For this manicure I used a base of ILNP Dreaming in Violet, my one Pantone orchid-inspired polish... as of yet!  This is a really nice pinky-purple holographic polish.  It is linear, and stronger than what my photos show, of course.  While Dreaming in Violet's formula is very good (I only needed 2 coats!) there was just one thing I was let down about...

Swatch & Review

   12 pictures.  I have a dozen photos to share of these polishes, and I still don't feel like it's enough to show off their pretty color shifting.  I tried a few different types of lighting to show the range of colors, but believe me when I say these two polishes are much more flashy in person.  These nails all started with a black base.

Swatch & Review

   So, in my last post I said that I was looking forward to the weekend...  Well, my husband and I ended up coming down with "the stomach flu" (that's a misnomer, did you know?), and we're still not back to 100%.  Out of the two of us I ended up being the really, really sick one, so my weekend was pretty much a loss and so far this week has been a yucky blur of missed work and trying to nap.  At least I'm finally coherent enough to write about some manicures I did awhile ago!

Swatch & Review

   Wow, a swatch post!  It has been so long!  Today I'm sharing Laquerlicious Star Attitude - 1 coat over China Glaze Def Defying.  This is an AWESOME combination!!  Seriously, I could not get over how bright and happy my nails looked.  I used 3 coats of Def Defying, though I could have gotten away with 2 on the glitter-coated nails.  Star Attitude only needed 1 coat because it is packed with all different types of glitters... star shapes, hexes, shreds, micro bars...  Despite being so full of gllitter application was easy, so this nail polish is a winner in my opinion!  Thanks for looking.  =)

Swatch & Review

   This mini might be my favorite of the three I was sent for swatching.  It's hard to say - I'm bad at choosing favorites.  But there is something special about this polish from the All Things Diva Laquerlicious collection.

   First off, it doesn't really make me think of diamonds.  Oh, it certainly brings to mind jewels with it's gorgeous sparkle, and I know that diamonds come in more than clear, but I mostly think of tasty jam when looking at this!  Perhaps jam with crushed up gemstones in it, yes.  But that really isn't important.  What is important is that it is pretty!

   I used 3 coats of Diamond Diva by itself for this swatch.  It was wearable at 2 but the jelly base had a couple sheer spots, so the look of 3 was better.  You could definitely layer this glitter polish over a similar berry-hued shade for opacity, but the depth of three coats on it's own is fantastic.  Diamond Diva wants to dry to a satiny matte finish, I added 2 coats of topcoat to give it a glassy finish that really brought the sparkles out.

   The color of this polish can look a bit different depending on lighting, but it is always a rich, cool-toned color.  I'd describe it as magenta/fuchsia jelly with a bit of shimmer and a lot of microglitter.  The glitters are in shades of pink, purple, and blue, as well as a bit of iridescent glitter that shines orange.  It has a whole rainbow of jewel tones going on!

   Diamond Diva has the same slightly stronger-than-usual smell that Divine Doll has, and I'd say that application is the same, as well.  It does best when you work with it quickly but gently, and give it a few minutes before doing another coat.  By itself it has a slightly lumpy texture from the glitter, but it smooths right out with topcoat.  I love it!  What do you think?

 

   As always thanks for stopping by and having a look!  =)

Laquerlicious Links:

Swatch & Review

   Hey everyone, important quick updates before I get into this swatch post.  First, my computer's screen is still being flaky.  It has decided to work for a bit right now so I took advantage of that by editing as many pictures as I could.  Replacing a bunch of parts has done nothing to keep it working and it appears that it must be a glitch caused by static, instead.  My husband is trying to find a permanent solution.  I'm just going to say that editing my photos on a CRT monitor (or our TV) is not my thing.  I've had a stern talk with my computer about it's behavior, so hopefully things will improve soon.

   Second, and more serious, my pregnant mommy check-ups are now happening twice-weekly.  The great news is that I'm basically feeling fine, and the baby seems to be good, too.  I'm being monitored closely because of my low amniotic fluid level, which can turn into a serious complication.  At any one of these check-ups there is the possibility that I'll be kept at the hospital, probably until our baby is delivered.  At this rate it's not looking like I'll reach my Sept 21st due date.  Personally I'm doing everything I can to hydrate myself and praying that the level will go up!

   So basically, if the blog suddenly goes silent, don't worry too much.  I'll try to keep updates going on Instagram if I can't post them here, so be sure to follow me there.

   Now on to the more frivolous and fun stuff.  ;D  Recently Michelle of the etsy shop Laquerlicious Unity moved some beautiful polishes into the clearance section of her shop, so this prompted a little spree on my behalf!  She was generous enough to send along a few minis, two of which are from her new All Things Diva collection, for swatching and sharing on my blog.  I'm really excited about the colors she surprised me with, because they are shades that I was curious about!

   First I tried Divine Doll.  The shop description is perfect: "a shimmery grape purple with an aqua shimmer and caramel and teal micro glitter" - yep, that's exactly what it is!  The purple tends to looks a bit like a blurple thanks to the aqua shimmer, and it's loaded with small glitters.  I used 2 coats for full coverage.  Application was a tad bit finicky but typical of this type of polish.  For best results you need to work quickly, applying a thin-ish first coat.  It wants to dry fast so if you mess with it too much the heavy shimmer pigment and glitters will start to drag and make bald spots.  So give that first coat a moment to dry and set up on your nail.  Then the 2nd coat applies perfectly!

   I took a bottle shot to try to show off the pretty glitters better.  Between the color purple and the heavy shimmer my camera was at a bit of a loss while photographing my nails.  I love the caramel and teal glitters in this polish!  They really pop, and I don't have anything like this shade in my collection.  This polish is a color combination that I would have never thought of, but totally works!  I was also very happy that it was friendly to my pale skin tone.  May I also point out that this super-duper shimmery polish shows not a single brushstroke?  Hooray for being frost-free!

   Being glitter-heavy, it does have texture when dry.  Not gritty texture, though.  I used 1 coat of Poshe to top this manicure off, and while it wasn't glassy smooth, I didn't notice my nails having texture.  Also, removal... actually not bad!  I soaked a cotton pad with remover, held it on my nail for a few minutes, and most the glitter wiped right off.  I advise against scrubbing at the glitter; then it does turn into a sparkle-splosion on your hands.

   The only complaint that I could mention about this polish is that it has a stronger smell than the other Laquerlicious shades I've tried.  It has the regular polish smell and a little something more.  A sort of sweet, chemical-y odor.  I'm guessing that these might use a different base to suspend all the shimmer, and that would be the cause for a different smell.  (My full-size bottles just smell like typical glitter polish!)  The smell disappears when you apply topcoat, so it is only a temporary suffering!

   Thanks for reading, princess!  Be sure to check out the Laquerlicious shop, and stay tuned for another awesome All Things Diva polish coming up next! =)

Laquerlicious Links:

Swatch & Review / Nail Art

   First off, huge shout-out to my husband for replacing the inverter board in my laptop.  Now the backlight in my screen lights up again, so I can edit my pictures!  Yayyy...  The timing of that part dying last week was really bad - August 15th was my 2-year blogaversary, and I was too busy to bother trying to make a post on a different computer, or more aptly, a different screen.  (I don't want to edit colors on a screen I'm not used to.)  Anyway, happy belated blogaversary to me - celebrations shall ensue. =)

   Photographs don't do this manicure justice.  I did a little cloud design and it hardly showed in pictures...  I used Color Club Miss Bliss (pink linear holo) and Color Club Eternal Beauty (purple linear holo).  Miss Bliss is a slightly deeper shade of pink than Color Club Halo-graphic, because I love linear holos and the color pink I'm happy to have both in my collection!    But they are quite similar and you really don't need both...

   Anyhow, I can rave about the formulas on these polishes equally.  They were super-smooth to apply and very pigmented - wearable at 1 coat!  I used 2 coats for better depth of color, however.  Miss Bliss is a true pink color, and Eternal Beauty is true purple, not leaning too blue or red.  And they are so full of rainbows.  Simply awesome.  Check out my picture below from before I added the nail art!

   Two more untrieds have become tried and loveds!  What do you think of them?

Swatch & Review

   I was sorting through my Indie polishes when I came across a special bottle that I used but never got around to sharing on my blog - shame on me!  Released at the start of 2013, this is Different Dimension Aorta Miss You But I Don't.  The name makes me giggle, and I'm the one who named it!  This lovely blend of glitters was all Missi's doing, though.  So I feel honored that she thought the name was fitting for it!

   For this quickie swatch I layered one coat of Aorta Miss You But I Don't over Zoya Purity, any I love how it pops on the white base!  There are all sort of pretty glitters floating in a clear base.  The name-inspiring purple hearts, of course, but also magenta circles and larger holographic hexes in pink and red.  What really does it for me is all the pretty microglitter, though!  There is magenta, silver, and even lavender, and it looks sooo lovely together!

   I'm a huge fan of Missi's Different Dimension polish formula.  I ended up wearing this for a couple of days without topcoat. Despite the larger glitters it dries quite smooth; my nails weren't snaggy at all.  A couple larger glitters chipped off but that heart stayed on!  Really impressive all around.  Different Dimension polishes are available on Etsy.  =)

Swatch & Review / NotD

   Good evening, princesses!  Here is a manicure that is sure to give you sweet dreams about polish.  ;P  I was fortunate enough to snag Once Upon A Starry Night during I♥NP's clearance sale, and found the limited edition Pure Ice color Fairy Godmother, which pairs wonderfully as a base color.  Also, I think I may have found my "pose" for pictures.  Holding my hand at an angle seems most comfortable.

   I used one coat of I♥NP (I Love Nail Polish - what a great brand name!) of Once Upon A Starry Night, which is a clear-based glitter with a really nice density for using as a topcoat.  The glitters in it are prismatic, silver, blue, and matte white.  It contains holographic silver stars but not very many of them.  Getting one of the stars is a treat, and the nails without stars don't look like they are lacking.  I've had this polish on my wishlist since I first saw it announced last year!  Sadly this shade is now discontinued - sorry!

   ILNP definitely earns their tagline of "boutique nail lacquer": the super cute packaging, the wonderful brush and good formula...  I'm not sure if this bottle is made with the original or reformulated glitter base.  (The suspension base was changed after complaints that the polishes were great but smelled horrible.)  I can say that this does have a polish smell but it is not at all offensive!

   Pure Ice Fairy Godmother is a perfect amethyst shade that will. not. photograph. accurately.  I tried color-correcting the photos and gave up, because by the time the polish was looking right my hands looked fiery.  Yes, this is a cool-toned purple, but it is more red than this.  It's a medium type of purple that isn't too bright, too dark, too pastel or dusty.  It also seems to have a faint hidden shimmer.  I used two coats, and coverage was very good.  The formula is on the slightly thick side.

   These are two really pretty polishes that work great together!  Pure Ice is sold at Walmart, and you can find I♥NP shades at their website:

Swatch & Review

   Hello princesses!  In contrast to yesterday's bright and springy polish post I have a swatch of Orbital, another Different Dimension nail polish.  Part of Missi's ever-growing space themed polishes, I was honored to name this one!  Isn't it gorgeous?

   Orbital is a black jelly polish filled with a perfect mixture of aqua, pink, and purple holographic glitters.  As you can see from my bottle shot it is filled with about four different sizes in each color.  Sadly pictures don't capture just how awesomely sparkly this is!  Especially in lower light this polish twinkles like a rainbow-hued night sky.

   In these swatches I used three coats of Orbital alone, and one coat of Poshe to top it off.  The formula on this polish is phenomenal.  The glitter stays well suspended, you get plenty of it on each brushstroke, and it spreads over the nail evenly.  The black jelly base is never streaky and even looked decent at two coats, then opaque at three while still having amazing depth of glitter.  It is well behaved, dries fast and doesn't eat topcoat.

   I think this now one of my very favorite Different Dimension polishes based on the beautiful glitter and perfect formula.  I can't wait to try it layered over black, and even just one coat over a grey would be nice!  I definitely recommend this polish, go get a bottle!

Swatch & Review

   Today I'm sharing another polish that Missi from Different Dimension sent me for review: Vervain.  I didn't actually name this one, but it reminded me of the same flower that she did name it after!  I was browsing the Internet looking at flowers for spring time polish name inspiration when I saw this picture:

   Verbena and vervain flowers come is several colors, but I think this white and purple type is the prettiest.  Let's take a look at a bottle shot of this polish!

   It contains small purple holographic hexes and large purple hexes.  The large size glitters are more sparse and you won't end up with as many on your nails as they appear in the bottle, but they are there.  Most of mine ended up buried in the layers of polish.  The milky white base is hiding a very beautiful purple micro-fleck shimmer.  This likes to hide and I couldn't see it on the nail at all, but if you enlarge this bottle shot you can see it in about the middle-right area.

   I wore 4 coats of Vervain for these swatches.  The formula was a bit more tricky that usual for Differnent Dimension.  It was also sheer and that is what it took to get rid of my VNL, but if you're okay with some VNL it was looking good at 3 coats.  If you're totally obsessive over opaque nails or "saving" on your glitter polish you could layer 1-2 coats over white.  That would (probably) still end up being 4 coats of polish, though.  I really like the depth of all the glitter.  I just wish you could see the pretty shimmer!  I have a hunch that you could layer it over another color to get that shimmer to be seen - any suggestions?

   As always Different Dimension polishes are available on etsy!

Swatch / NotD

   It took me way too long to get around to wearing this polish after nabbing it from a blog sale.  Butter LONDON Knackered had been on my wishlist for awhile, though I had no idea what the name meant.  It prompted me to look into British slang, and in that way I found that it means basically means exhausted.  Cool!  British slang is fun!  And so is this polish.

   I have to admit that I was knackered when I did my nails.  I used one coat of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme as my base (yes, it really is good - my first time trying it), and one coat of Knackered over top.  I didn't do my best work with this manicure, and I didn't realize how sloppy it was until it showed in the macro shots... yikes!

   Butter LONDON Knackered has a thin consistency that dries pretty fast.  I think it would have looked better with either two coats or a thicker, better-applied coat.  Even so this polish is super gorgeous, looking the most stunning in low light when it's holo microglitter sparkles like crazy and it has more of a blackened smoldering effect.

   The purple-to-green shift this polish has is awesome.  It also shows pale blue in the bottle but I don't really see that on the nail.  I believe that is just from the sheer tint of the polish.  If I use Knackered alone it would look more grey-blue, and not have such a strong color shift.

  The sparkle reminds me of China Glaze Fairy Dust very much.  I expect you could create a similar manicure just by layering Fairy Dust over your favorite duochrome polish.  I loved wearing Knackered so now I'm inspired to create other versions of this manicure through layering.  What do you think of it?

Swatch & Review

   Out of all the Different Dimension polishes I've done swatches for I employed the most creativity with Social Suicide.  I loved wearing these nails!  They were just so happy... literally!  (Once you see the face created by a random swipe of glitter you can't unsee it.)

   To create my Lisa Frank-esque base I painted my ring and thumb nails white, then added stripes on top.  Left to right I used L.A. Colors Art Deco polishes in Poppin' Pink, Dee-lite, Hi-Lite, and Limon.  I added a swipe of China Glaze Gothic Lolita to the outside of my thumb to tie my rainbows in with the rest of my nails, which were done in two coat of Gothic Lolita as well.  Then each nail got a coat of Different Dimension Social Suicide.  More pictures (including those of smiley nail!) and thoughts ahead!

Swatch & Review

   Have you ever been on the fence about something that a lot of people say is great but you aren't sure you really need it?  So you almost don't get it?  I was that way about Different Dimension - That Is So Fetch!  I'm drawn to purple nail polishes.  That means I have several purple glitter polishes already, and I almost didn't get this one.  Finally I told myself that I would use it, so I should add it to my collection.  I'm so glad I did!

   LOOK AT THAT GLITTER!  Click the picture to see it up close!

   Here is a design that I thought up awhile back and recently got an excuse to try.  Chalkboard Nails is running a nail art contest for either warm or cool colors, and of course I picked cool.  My design?  Use heart-shape paillettes upside-down and tightly packed so that they look like fish scales!

   I used China Glaze Refresh-mint as my base and pressed rows of scales into the polish, starting with fuchsia at the tips, then a row of lavender, and finishing the nail in baby blue.  My thumb nail had the colors staggered farther up the nail one one side.  This took two coats of Tough Coat and a coat of Poshe to seal everything and there was still texture, but it was an interesting, smooth texture, and it wore like iron.  I didn't shed a single scale!

   Sadly having that many paillettes means quite a few bubbles.  They seem to form no matter how much time I take or how carefully I place the little spangles.  =(  Fortunately from a regular viewing distance they are hardly noticeable.  All the scales have a bright green-to-purple flash that shines and dazzles you in the light, haha.  No really, see the bright green flashes?

   So, this isn't a very difficult mani, it just takes some patience and many, many heart-shape spangles.  (So many hearts littered the table after removal.  @_@)  But, I do feel it is original, and attainable for someone like me who isn't very steady-handed.  Next time I want to do a dragon-scale manicure, with heart scales (Pokémon reference!) in red, orange and yellow.  =D

   Would you try this?  Leave me a comment!

   Here are my nails with one coat of China Glaze Drawn To You.  I used the magnet from my blue Icing MagnetiX polish - which I'm giving away a set of - don't forget!

   My alignment on some fingers was a little wonky and my ring finger didn't turn out so well, sorry about that!

   It has been awhile since I've done any sock hauling.  The truth is, I have a lot of socks.  I don't really need anymore.  I'm trying to "use up what I have".  But I couldn't resist picking up a few things on clearance from SockDreams - my favorite Online sock store.  I've been shopping there a looong time... since before the site was even called SockDreams, before they started a successful physical store up.  They've come a long way.  Here is what I picked up:

   The green toes peeking out up top aren't for me, but they were going to feel left out otherwise.  (;  The K. Bell socks are really awesome, really more of a net tight and sock hybrid, because they are open-work but made of cotton and thus rather thick.  These fit great and I love the lace trimmed tops with their little bows.  The Betsey Johnson tights were on my wishlist and I just love them!  Perfect color, cute design - they are so me!  My two new additions from Foot Traffic are awesomely pretty rose tights and really cute toe socks with stripes of pink, purple, and black.  Also very me!

   The other nice thing about this haul was the amazingly fast FREE shipping!  Seriously these were going out the very same day I bought them, within just a few hours.  SockDreams is so quick and their customer service is superb.  For example one time I accidentally ordered a pair of socks in a color combination that I already had (guess I really liked them), so I E-mailed asking if it could be changed and just like that I got a response, it was fixed, and my socks were on their way to me.  I highly recommend their site to everybody.

   www.SockDreams.com

   I'm a collector of socks, for sure.  Trying to keep myself within the bounds of reason, though, which is more than I have done in the past.  What about you?  Any quirky accessory that you love to hoard? 

   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've got more magnetic nail polish swatches to share with you today!  Last week I tried two more colors by the Layla brand.  One I loved, one I was slightly let-down about.  First I tried Brown Sugar:

   There were very few swatches of this one Online and it was really hard to judge if it would fit my skintone or not, so I chanced it.  I'm very glad I did!  I ended up loving this even though it is an unusual polish color for me.  It tends to look just a bit darker, like this:

    It is a very neutral brown and doesn't lean too red, too orange, or too anything else.  The silver magnetic particles really pop, and the diagonal line design made me think of turkey feathers.  I tried straight lines on my thumbs... not bad.

   The other thing that was just great about this polish was the application.  This is just one coat and it was completely opaque.  I didn't have any "dead" spots where the magnet didn't effect the polish, and it dried on it's own fairly quickly.

   I'm going to venture to say that Layla Magneffect Brown Sugar has a lot of movement, meaning that the magnetic particles show a strong illusion of moving within the polish.  The silvery lines in this were constantly shifting and changing width, disappearing and reappearing.  It's a fun color to wear.

   The next polish I wore was Layla Magneffect Velvet Groove.  I was hoping for a rich cool-toned burgundy red, but to me it looks mostly purple.  After enjoying Nails Inc. Houses of Parliament I was hoping for something different in my collection.  I did use the Nails Inc. magnet on this color, though!

   The pictures show it as being more red-tinted than it looked in most lighting.  A pretty color anyway, though... oh well!  Hopefully another brand will come up with the perfect rich red magnetic polish.  (Or Layla could just come out with more colors - that's cool with me!)

   The good news about both of these colors is that they both wore well with just minor tip wear.  What do you think of them?