Takko Tuesday! - All My Stars

Happy Takko Tuesday!

Press Sample

Today, I have another shiny shade from the Takko Lacquer Metallics in Poetry Trio.  This metallic/holographic trio was just recently released with the Late Summer Collection.  There is a gold, a silver and a rose shade.  "All My Stars" is the rose gold version of the metallic holographic finish.  She's a beaut!

Takko Tuesday! - My Sun

Happy Takko Tuesday!

Press Sample

How awesome was that eclipse?!?  It was a truly amazing experience for me and I hope that you will all get to witness a total eclipse in person once in your life.  I spent the day staring at the sun, so what better polish to share with you today than "My Sun" by Takko Lacquer?   This is one of the brand new polishes being released for preorder this week.  The Metallics in Poetry Trio is three holographic metallic shades that go perfectly together.  There is a gold, a silver and a rose metallic in the trio.  Today, we are going to look closer at the gold offering.  Sneak peek of the trio at the end of this post.

Pahlish - Life Aquatic Collection

Hi friends!

Press Sample

I have been battling strep throat most of the week and am finally feeling like a normal human again.  So let's start the week off with a shiny collection from Pahlish.  The Life Aquatic Collection is a group of 6 polishes with the same finish just in different colors.  The finish is a bright, shiny foil flake metallic.  Like super shiny!  I didn't include macro shots in this post because the polishes wee just so shiny that they made my macro lens freak out.  There is no glitter in these shades so application and removal is easy.  To not repeat myself a bunch of times, all of these swatches are with two coats and a glossy top coat.  I will let you know if there were any deviations from the norm in the individual descriptions.  These babies are available now, so let's take a look!

Envy Lacquer - One Year Anniversary Trio

Howdy!

Press Sample

I have a new to the blog indie brand to share with you all today and these polishes are beautiful!  Envy Lacquer has recently celebrated their one year anniversary and they released a special trio glittery goodies.  The trio is based on the three most popular colors of jewelry metals; gold, silver and rose gold.  These three polishes are so sparkly and so shimmery, they just shine on the nail.  Let's take a closer look!

Click through for all of the pics!

KBShimmer's Birthstone Collection

Happy 2016 Friends!

Press Sample

Let's start out the new year on this blog with a look at some lovely birthstone inspired polishes for every month of the year.  KBShimmer has outdone themselves with this collection.  Each of these 12 polishes are just stunning.  They are all packed with silver flakies and holographic dust to make these polishes sparkle and shiny.  As a general rule...the formula on all of these polishes is amazing.  Smooth and applies like a dream.  They are not difficult to remove like a glitter but the silver flakies will get everywhere.  These babies are so sparkly and super metallic that photographing them was a challenge.  I am still waiting on my new macro lens to be delivered, so I do not have macro shots for you today.  But I am sure you will see from my photos just how incredibly reflective and shiny these polishes are.  Let's take a look!

Click through for all the sparkle!

Takko Tuesday! - Diamonds and Tulle

Happy Takko Tuesday!

Purchased by Me

Today, I have another lovely Takko Lacquer baby to share with you!  "Diamond and Tulle" came out in last year's winter collection but I just recently snagged it from the final sale on Llarowe.  It is a beautiful rose gold metallic with a soft linear holographic shimmer.  I have been totally digging rose gold accessories this year and I don't think that love with fade anytime soon.  It is just so girly yet sophisticated.  The formula was fantastic and was pretty much a one coater for me.  I did use two coats with a glossy top coat in this swatch but I truly almost stopped after the first one.  Even though it is metallic, it did not have those dreaded brush strokes which I appreciate.

Today is also special because I am doing another dual Takko Tuesday post with my polish sister across the pond, Lotte!  Be sure to check out her swatches of Takko Lacquer's "Diamonds and Tulle" over on her blog Marzipany.  Here is the link!  Make sure you say hello to her...she's a doll :)

And now for the Takkitos!  Mmmm...takkos.

Do you love it?  I love it!  Totally love it.  I think I am going to pair this is white sometime soon.  Maybe a white base with some D&T polka dots?  I will put that in the nail art idea vault for another time.  In the meantime, check out all of these places where you can stalk Takko Lacquer.  Stay up to date with restocks and new releases via social media and check out the international stockist.  I think Femme Fatale might actually have this one in stock!

Takko Lacquer shop and restock info

Takko Lacquer IG

Takko Lacquer Twitter

Takko Lacquer stockists: Mei Mei Signatures, Femme Fatale


Smooches!!
- Amy McG aka McPolish

*product purchased by me*

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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!

A-England Dorian Grey Quick Swatch!

Just a quick post today! This is the unique A-England Dorian Grey. This was the only polish I purchased from A-England's Gothic Beauties Collection. I'm not a huge fan of near-black colors, and most of the other colors in that collection were very dark.

Dorian Grey is absolutely unique in my collection, it's sort of a metallic steel shimmer. It really looks like old un-polished metal, but with a blackened glowy look it it. Somehow the silver does lean a tiny bit yellow, and it wasn't very complimentary on my skintone, but I love it anyway. Something about the liquid metal nails look I'm really loving.

Do you like metallic shades? Do you have Dorian Grey?

OPI Danke Shiny Red and a Comparison

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a sucker for a good red. OPI Danke Shiny Red was released as part of the Fall 2012 Germany Collection (which is probably one of my favorite OPI collections since I've been a polish addict). Danke Shiny Red is one of those reds that I tried to convince myself I didn't need, since nearly every brand has their own version (if not several) of rich metallic red.

Danke Shiny Red has a gorgeous rich red base, perfectly cool and slightly blue leaning, without venturing into purple territory. The shimmer is that very fine silvery shimmer that was in several of the Germany Collection polishes, it's just shy of being frosty but without leaving any visible brushstrokes. The shimmer is so dense that this polish looks like a gorgeous metallic red in most lights.

The formula on this polish was perfectly acceptable, a bit thicker than I prefer (I live in a hot climate and thicker polishes go on in a thicker layer making them more likely to bubble) but perfectly manageable. This is two coats and top coat. This one may stain a bit (reds often do) so be sure to use a base coat!

OPI Danke Shiny Red Comparison

When the OPI Germany Collection was released, I absolutely had to have Danke Shiny Red. While not unique, it's a gorgeous cherry red shimmer with a blue tone and an almost metallic finish. I ultimately decided not to purchase this color due to its similarity to Zoya Elisa, which many bloggers said was a dupe for Danke Shiny Red. Once I had Danke I absolutely had to compare the two, and I was surprised to notice that they are most definitely not dupes. 

Now to the average person, these polishes may look exactly the same, but as a self-proclaimed red lover these are very different. Danke Shiny Red has a fine shimmer that is more dense than the red of Zoya Elisa. This shimmer makes Danke Shiny Red look more metallic and Zoya Elisa look lighter in color.

Index and Ring:  Danke Shiny Red. Middle and Pinky: Zoya Elisa 

I'm so happy to finally have Danke Shiny Red in my Collection! It's the perfect metallic red polish. What is your favorite red?

Guest Post at SMYTC

Hey Y'all! Tonight I'm guest posting over at the Show Me Your Top Coats blog. This blog is just starting out but it shows a lot of promise, please check it out!

Click to go to my Guest Post

I also want to mention that if anything seems a bit funky around here for the next 24 hours, hang tight! I'm in the process of a blog re-design!

Metallic Ruffian

Today's post is going to be a quick one since I've got less than an hour before midnight!

This is a ruffian manicure with OPI Designer De Better (the silvery color near the cuticles that was my base color) and SpaRitual Solstice (the gorgeous gold). I freehanded Solstice on top of Designer De Better, and it turned out great. I needed two coats of each polish, and I love the way this looked. I've seen ruffian manicures before and always considered it one of those sort of 'strange' looks, but it was fun to try and I think ruffians might grow on me!

Ruffian Manicure - OPI Designer De Better and SpaRitual Solstice

Ruffian Manicure - OPI Designer De Better and SpaRitual Solstice 

Ruffian Manicure - OPI Designer De Better and SpaRitual Solstice 

Zoya Elisa: My Swatch and Comparisons

Zoya Elisa is from Zoya's fall collection. According to Zoya it is a "Bright, shining medium crimson red with subtle gold shimmer and a glowing metallic finish." Elisa does seem to glow in pictures, the shimmer turns luminous and bright... however, I was actually a bit disappointed in this color when I compared it on my nails to the pictures. On my nails it ended up being a pretty medium red with shimmer giving it a metallic-like finish. Although it's still a gorgeous polish, it isn't quite as unique as it looks in all of the swatches that I've seen online, that glow is much less apparent in person.

The formula was wonderful, as all of my Zoyas seem to be. I used two coats for these photos but I easily could have gotten away with one if I'd been more careful. 

Although I haven't seen OPI Danke-Shiny Red in person, I'm told it is a very near dupe of Zoya Elisa, Let Them Have Polish has a wonderful comparison if you are interested. With Zoya's sales, Elisa may be much less expensive to pick up than the OPI. 

Zoya Elisa

Zoya Elisa - click to zoom in and see that shimmer.. I dare you!

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Here's a comparison I made of Elisa right after receiving it in the mail (back when my nails were nubbins). I was wearing Perceval so I had to see how Elisa compared to another glowing metallic red. ChG Red Stallion was the only other polish in my collection that looked close to Elisa.

Zoya Elisa Vs. A-England Perceval and China Glaze Red Stallion

A-England Perceval is much darker and China Glaze Red Stallion is much more orange-toned than Zoya Elisa. No dupes here! (Also a note, if you ever want to see a comparison of a polish that I've swatched or used in a post, please let me know. I can compare it to anything in my collection or find another great comparison post for you!)

I'm happy with Elisa, I think I just wanted it so badly that in my mind it was the perfect metallic red. Have you ever wanted a polish with a passion than purchased it only to realize that it couldn't possibly live up to your expectations?

Quick Swatch! $OPI I Don't Bite

This is a quick swatch of Sephora by OPI I Don't Bite (I really don't understand this name... but then again I picked up this polish out of context, so perhaps it has something to do with the collection...).

I Don't Bite is a metallic pale lilac-toned blue. For some reason the color and finish together really remind me of an old worn pair of denim jeans. The formula was good, application was good, and I really don't have anything to say about it. It was nice, not fantastic or overly unique, but nice.

I often find myself picking up new colors just to buy new polish or try a new brand and not because I have a particular interest in the color, and I think I need to break the habit before I break the bank. This polish was from a blog sale, so it's not a huge waste of money. It's unique in my collection but it will never be on my favorites list. 

Julep It Girl Intro Box Review

What a horrible blogger I have been this week! I have been finish up my graduate classes and trying to get organized for summer research and I ran out of backup posts. Well I'm back now and I have plenty to show you. I've purchased quite a few wonderful indie polishes from Etsy and purchased supplies to do my own frankening.

Today I'm going to show you my Julep Maven It Girl Intro box. I decided after much debate to try out Julep nail polish. I've seen Julep all over the place but never wanted to fork out the cash ($14 + shipping for one bottle of nail polish?). While browsing the internet, I saw the penny deal: get a Julep Maven intro subscription for just $0.01. Seems too good to be true right? Well it's not. I checked my credit card statement and I was charged for $0.01 exactly! There doesn't seem to be any catch to this awesome deal. They shipped it to me fast and here are the results!

The Julep Maven It Girl intro box came in this cute little packaging

With a nail file and three bottles of nail polish, Heather, Mandy, and Helena.

Heather	Helena	Mandy

First up is Heather, described as: "chic platinum greige with a metallic glow." I'd say this one is a graphite grey metallic shimmer. The finish has obvious brushstrokes, but with careful application that wouldn't be a problem. Two coats + base coat for this photo. Heather really isn't a "me" color but it is pretty and the application was great.

Mandy is my favorite of the three, described as: "fresh, bright, deep coral-pink." This color is absolutely amazing. It's such a pretty color and just says SUMMER to me. It looks beautiful and bright on my fingers and I can imagine it would be a great pedicure color. It's a bit more pink than some corals (such as OPI's On Collins Ave) and did I mention absolutely gorgeous? The formula was perfect, thick and pigmented, this is two coats and top coat with no base coat.

Helena is equally gorgeous, described as "ultra-saturated fuchsia. Looks great on all skin tones." It's a great fuchsia, and it didn't significantly darker than the bottle color. In my experience most polishes this color dry matte and much more red than the bottle color, but Helena is pretty bottle accurate. This photo, on the other hand is not color accurate. I tried it outside, inside, fluorescent lighting.. but my camera can't seem to capture this color.

This is the color of Helena:

I used to think that Julep bottles looked a bit awkward because they are long, narrow, and square. After having some they are really quite nice! They have thick glass, so they are really nice and solid. The bottles nest together nicely because of the square sides and the narrow squared lid has the perfect grip for manipulating the brush. Aren't they nice?

I'm quite impressed with these three Julep polishes. The bottles are nice, the brush is great, the formula was near perfect: two coats that self-leveled and dried smooth. One quick coat of top coat and they were a shiny perfect dream. I might just have to wait and see what next month's box is like...