Tillie Polish - Glamorous Collection

Hello ladies!

Press Sample

I have a new collection to share from one of my favorite indie brands, Tillie Polish!  I just love all the polishes these sisters create.  Their cremes are creamy and opaque and some of my go to picks for base colors.  And there are some great cremes in this collection.  Tillie Polish has released the Fall/Winter collection called Glamorous...and it is glamorous!  We have a great mix of muted and bright tones as well as a great glitter.  Let's get to it!

Click through for all the swatches!

Ninja Polish Glamorous: My holo obsession continued.

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm absolutely in love with holographic polishes. I love how these polishes can feel subtle, but be incredibly colorful and sparkly when the light hits them. When I first heard about the gorgeous blue holo that is Ninja Polish Glamerous I knew I had to have it. Glamourous is similar to the hard to find OPI DS Glamour, and since I've always loved OPI DS Glamour, and wished I could find a bottle I had to try Glamorous!

Ninja Polish Glamorous is a beautiful dark denim blue holographic. The holo is linear and absolutely stunning.

The formula was excellent. I didn't have any issues that are typical of holographic polishes, and it was very opaque. While Glamorous was almost opaque in one coat I used two and SV topcoat for the photos below.

I've recently heard that Ninja Polish is experiencing some shipping issues, with most packages taking two weeks to ship. This is unfortunate, but I'm still a huge fan and customer of Ninja Polish, so if you want to try this stunning holo please have patience. (Glamorous is out of stock at the time of this post.)

-- Rebecca

NerdLacquer Cyance Friction

Do you ever get really excited for a nail polish and end up disappointed? That's how I felt about NerdLacquer Cyance Friction. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the nail polish, it's very pretty, just not what I imagined!

When I originally saw swatches of Cyance Friction it was one of those must-have polishes for me. Cyance Friction is a beautiful bright blue base with silvery pink shimmer, and bronze (at least I think that color would be called bronze) hexagonal glitter in two different sizes.

The formula is a bit sheer (like most NerdLacquers) but was opaque in three coats, and it dries to an incredibly smooth finish. The photos below are three coats with one coat of Seche Vite topcoat after 3 or 4 days of wear.

I'm not sure why this polish fell flat for me, but I just didn't like how it looked on me. Have you ever been disappointed with one of your must-have polishes?

Girly Bits Bachelor's Button

Good afternoon all!

Today I have swatches of the gorgeous Girly Bits Bachelor's Button. Bachelor's Button is a periwinkle blue linear holographic nail polish. I absolutely love the holographic polishes by Girly Bits because they are subtle, gorgeous, and very wearable.

My favorite part about this polish isn't the holo, but the stunning color, unique in my massive collection. The light blue color of this polish just says spring to me, and I fell in love with it immediately. The formula was very easy to use, and I used three thin coats (two would be sufficient if you use thicker coats than I do) and Seche Vite top coat.

You also get to see a bit of my elusive right hand! I have a cut on my swatching (left) hand that hasn't completely healed so I thought I'd give my right hand a try, it was more difficult than I ever imagined! I'm naturally right handed, but somehow my right hand can't manage to be graceful. :) In the end I photographed my mani on both hands because my right hand just felt wrong! A couple of the photos looked acceptable though:

Now back to my less-awkward left hand. These swatches make me realize that I shape my nails a little bit differently on each hand!

Just look at that stunning holo! If you love holos or blue polish I highly recommend Bachelor's Button!

-- Rebecca

Crashing Wave Nail Art

After all of the fun introducing our newest bloggers, today you're back to boring old me with some easy nail art. ;)

The idea for this mani idea started when I saw some stunning wave nail art, first from a french blogger La paillette frondeuse, then from the fabulous Nailasaurus. I was definitely inspired and wanted to create my own ocean nails as a hybrid between these two gorgeous looks. It's about time I did some ocean-themed nails, I am a marine biologist after all. ;)

I started with a base coat of piCture pOlish Ocean. The scattered holographic in Ocean makes it a perfect water base color. This was actually a mani that was several days old and was starting to show a bit of tip wear, what a great way to refresh a manicure! Following the Nailasaurus, I haphazardly sponged on a lighter blue (Deborah Lippmann Let's Hear It For The Boy) and a white (Cult Nails Tempest).

The crashing waves is definitely one of my most successful and easiest nail art adventures yet. Since crashing waves are very abstract, there is no right or wrong. All I really did was dab some polish on the tips of my fingers and voila, waves!

I can't wait to wear this mani somewhere to show it off! My fellow marine biologists are going to love it. What's your favorite simple nail art look?


--Rebecca

piCture pOlish Freya's Cats

I've been wearing a lot of piCture pOlish shades lately. They keep coming up with gorgeous unique nail polishes that I just can't get enough of. This is piCture pOlish Freya's Cats. It's another fabulous collaboration shade created with beauty blogger Nihrida. Nihrida says that Freya's Cats was inspired by the Norse goddess of love, beauty, war, and death (who apparently rode a chariot pulled by blue cats, you learn something new every day).

Freya's Cats is a bright blue scattered holographic polish. This polish isn't just blue, it's bold and vivid. The base of the polish is jelly-like to show off the gorgeous scattered holographic particles.

The formula on Freya's Cats was pretty typical for the recent piCture pOlish scattered holos, it's a jelly formula so it's a bit thinner than most polishes (this is necessary to show off the gorgeous scattered holographic particles). I used three coats plus topcoat for the photos below.

This color wowed me so much, and it's unlike any other blue scattered holo I own. Stay tuned tomorrow for a comparison between Freya's Cats and some other scattered blue holos!

Doesn't it look amazing, even on my short little nubbins?

piCture pOlish Sea Jewel

Have you ever seen sea glass? That beautiful ethereal remnant of human beings and the power of the ocean. The soft finish and beautiful colors of sea glass were what inspired Anutka of Wacky Laki to create her collaboration shade, piCture pOlish Sea Jewel.

image source

Sea Jewel is a fine metallic blue-green. It's a piCture pOlish mesh shade, so the polish is made up of tiny silver glitter in a light teal jelly base. The finish is intensely sparkly and looks perfectly like sea glass.

The formula for Sea Jewel was excellent, I used two coats and top coat for the photos below. Although there was still a bit of texture from the glitter with one coat of topcoat, I prefer that look to glossy. Somehow the slight satin finish that can be achieved with one coat of topcoat looks perfectly like sea glass. I'm in love.

Who wouldn't love that satiny sparkle finish? It's such a soft dreamy color with so much character! Have you tried Sea Jewel? Doesn't it look beautifully like sea glass?

Enchanted Polish A Little Fishy Told Me

I normally try not to share photos of polishes that are hard to obtain (without spending a fortune), but since this polish was for a good cause and was available as a pre-order for an extended period of time, I don't mind sharing it here. This is Enchanted Polish A Little Fishy Told Me. This polish was made in honor of Talia Joy and part of the proceeds went to support BASE Camp.

Although I don't normally wear light or pastel colors on my nails, I got a lot of compliments when I wore A Little Fishy Told Me. It's a pale mint blue (it's not really a mint green) with subtle shimmer and linear holographic. It's a very gorgeous color, and I actually enjoyed wearing it a lot.

The formula for A Little Fishy was similar to other Enchanted Polishes, not fantastic but not terrible (hopefully no one kills me for saying that). It was thick and reasonably opaque and I used three coats. I hate to admit that I'm not a massive Enchanted Polish fan like so many other nail polish addicts. They are beautiful polishes (and adorable bottles) but there are so many fantastic indie brands that I'm not sure why Enchanted Polish gets so much hype!

This was a different color for me but I loved it. Did you purchase Enchanted Polish A Little Fishy Told Me? Do you love Enchanted Polish or are you indifferent like me?

LA Girl Brilliant Blue

First of all, welcome to all of my new followers! I do hope you enjoy my blog! Please feel free to use the Submit Ideas tab at the top of the page if you have any questions or comments for me!

Today I have LA Girl 3D Effects Brilliant Blue. Brilliant blue is a dark, vivid blue jelly base loaded with scattered holographic particles. This is one of the polishes I'm giving away for my 1,000 Facebook Likes Giveaway! I just love this blue, the color is so stunning and the scattered holo is just perfect (just so happens to be one of my favorite finishes as well).

The formula for Brilliant Blue was excellent, it didn't give me any issues and was opaque in two coats. Below is two coats and top coat.

Brilliant Blue is a fairly unique blue, it's closest relative in my stash would be piCture pOlish Cosmos, although itisn't an exact dupe. I have a blue scattered holo comparison coming up soon, so stay tuned for that!

There's nothing quite as gorgeous as a scattered holographic polish. It's got all of the sparkle of a glitter polish with a smooth shiny finish! All of the LA Girl scattered holos were instant loves for me. I hope you enjoy this too!

Urban Lacquer: The Opposite of Good Collection Swatches and Review (photo heavy)

Press Sample

Today I have a gorgeous new collection to share with you from Urban Lacquer! This collection is called the Opposite of Good Collection, and it's a great mix of polishes and finishes. This collection launches tomorrow, Sunday August 11th at 6:00 PM Central in an Urban Lacquer's restock!

The Opposite of Good Collection consists of 5 polishes that play off of everything that is the opposite of good, in other words, very very bad! Here's the idea behind the collection:

"It started with Illuminaughty.  I wanted to name a polish Illuminaughty for quite some time, but never felt I had created an appropriate color that would match that name.  So, after thinking about this polish name, and playing off the word “naughty”, I decided to create a collection based on things that I consider to be bad, or, in other words, the Opposite of Good.  This collection is comprised of 5 polishes – 4 polishes based on “bad” things, and 1 polish that is bad, but in an oh-so-good way." - Brenda of Urban Lacquer

I love the theme of the collection, polishes based on things that we just know are bad! Without further ado, here are my swatches!

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First up is Muffin Top, a beautifully shiny pale purple linear holographic. Who doesn't know the agony of a muffin top, whether it's feeling it or seeing it, no one wants that. Muffin Top, although named for that horrible look and uncomfortable feeling of being too fat for your pants, is the exact opposite!

Muffin Top is gorgeously shiny, with linear holo that is prominent but not overwhelming. Muffin Top is beautiful and feminine, a nice light lavender with a soft shiny finish even when the holo isn't visible. The formula was great, photos are with two coats and top coat!

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Baby Cake is a pink shimmer, although it is so much more complex than that! Baby Cake is a bright pink jelly base loaded with tiny flakey shimmer that seems to shift between gold and green. The shimmer is really something and I don't have anything quite like it!

The namesake of Baby Cake is those awkward life-like cakes that just look too much like the real thing! I've found you an example here. Not good. Very, very not good.

"This polish was inspired by a cake I saw online that was in the shape of…a baby.  Not a baby-doll-baby, but a for-real-no-kidding-kinda-looks-like-a-real-baby cake.  A strange combination of creepy and edible, and definitely the Opposite of Good." - Brenda

Baby Cake was the most sheer of the bunch, the photos below are three thick coats with top coat. It applied very easily and smoothly and I didn't need any cleanup. Brenda warns that this polish is very concentrated and will stain. I didn't experience any noticeable staining with my nails (mine are already horribly stained from wearing so many reds that I doubt I'd notice), but be warned!

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Next is Coffee Breath. Coffee Breath is a dense glitter mix of brown, copper, and gunmetal silver glitter in a clear base. The glitter is a complex blend of sizes and shapes, and much more pleasant than your typical morning coffee breath! This is Brenda's take on a beautiful camo-inspired glitter.

The formula was great, the glitter was incredibly dense and not difficult to apply. For the photos below I layered Coffee Breath over Urban Lacquer Muffin Top. With one coat there was a great glitter distribution and it's easy to see the different sizes and shapes of glitter in the mix.

Furthermore, Coffee Breath would easily be opaque on its own, below is two coats over Muffin Top, and the purple is barely visible. The photos below are two coats plus top coat. I tend to prefer to wear solid glitter shades, so it was absolutely perfect for me, I'll definitely be wearing this again and again!

The best part about Urban Lacquer Coffee Breath: the glitter is holographic! Check out that sparkle that only shows up in the blurry photo. Stunning!

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Reply All was an unexpected favorite for me. I love the name (definitely one of my pet peeves!) and the polish is gorgeous. I've seen quite a few black and white glitter mixes but never thought they were for me until wore Reply All.

Reply All has a mix of small black and white glitter as well as some bigger circular white glitters. I'm a sucker for circular glitter and I love this combination!

The formula was great, I used the dabbing method to get an even distribution of glitter in a single coat. The photos below are one coat of Reply All over Zoya Caitlin with top coat.

Here it is layered over Baby Cake! I love it with the contrasting color. Isn't this just too fun?

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Lastly, I have Illuminaughty, the inspiration for the collection and a stunning midnight blue. Illuminaughty was another favorite of mine, and it's gorgeous!

I love Brenda's description and just have to share it with you:

"This is the *only* polish in the Opposite of Good collection that is bad, but in an oh-so-good way.  When I was creating Illuminaughty, I wanted the overall vibe of the polish to be…Sexy.  Strong.  Alluring.  This polish is dedicated to the not-so-secret society of bad ass nail polish fiends everywhere; join the Illuminaughty." - Brenda

Illuminaughty is a  midnight blue jelly base loaded with holo glitter. The jelly base gives it incredible shine and depth and the glitter is very sparkly (see the blurry photo below). The formula on this polish was very good, I used two coats and top coat for the photos below. With the glitter this one does dry a bit rough so it needs a thick top coat to smooth it to the glossy finish you see below!

Overall, I love the Opposite of Good Collection! It is a great mix of colors and textures, and I was surprised by how much I fell in love with several of these. The formulas were all great and I didn't have any issues at all. Reply All is going to be a new favorite glitter topper of mine and I can't wait to wear the dark and sultry Illuminaughty all winter long!

What do you think of this collection? Which are your favorites?

Don't forget, The Opposite of Good Collection launches tomorrow Sunday August 11th at 6 pm Central from Urban Lacquer on Etsy! Also look for more swatches of this collection and updates from Urban Lacquer on Facebook.