4th of July Nails

Happy 4th of July!

Right now I'm missing my family in Michigan because we usually have a huge party that lasts all day/night with tons of beer, food, and fireworks. I LOVE family parties!

These are the nails I did to celebrate (I DO get to go over to my grandparent's and have a little party with them and my aunt and uncle). I used Revlon Royal for my left ring finger, China Glaze Phat Santa for my right finger and OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? for the base on the rest. Then I layered All That Glitters Glitter Glory over the ring fingers and sponged it on in a gradient French over the others. It is very easy to apply with the brush, but I had a little trouble sponging it. I do love the result, though!

I bought Revlon Royal in a drugstore a few months ago, so I think it's readily available. Phat Santa was part of the China Glaze 2010 Christmas collection, but there are a lot of red creme/jellies like it. Glitter Glory was purchased from the All That Glitters Etsy shop, but it doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment. Hopefully it will return!

Dandy Nails - Come Out and Play and You Set My Soul Alight: Swatches and Review

Another indie/Etsy brand! This time it's Dandy Nails. I had been contemplating Come Out and Play for a long time, and finally caved and bought it, along with You Set My Soul Alight and Colorblind (but I haven't figured out which color to layer Colorblind over yet).

Dandy Nails - Come Out and Play

Come Out and Play is a beautiful fuchsia-purple jelly base with lots of small white glitter and is opaque in two coats. This one has the "jelly sandwich" look where some of the glitters get buried in the purple jelly to create extra depth. It's so simple, yet so stunning. The brush was a bit "fluffy" on this one, but I hear Dandy Nails has nice new brushes that are a lot better.

Dandy Nails - You Set My Soul Alight

This one is a charcoal/black jelly base with multicolored micro glitter. Again, this one has a lot of depth (I love glitter in jelly bases!). At the same time, it's not to flashy in dim light, so it'd still be elegant enough for a formal setting. I didn't know how much I'd love this one until I tried it on. It's gorgeous!  I should have gotten pictures in the sunlight to show how sparkly this one can be!

I have yet to find an awesome base for Colorblind, but I'll definitely post it when I find something fun!

Dandy Nails polishes can be purchased from the Dandy Nails Etsy shop and retail for $8 for a 15mL bottle. If the one you're looking for isn't in stock, don't worry - the shop is restocked pretty often!

Paris Sparkles - Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise: Swatches and Review

Most of the polishes I've bought in the last two months have been from Etsy shops. Here are two from a shop called Paris Sparkles: Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise.

Paris Sparkles - Chataigne

Chataigne (which is "chestnut" in French, I believe) is a tinted auburn base with small tan and medium silver holo glitter. This is my favorite of the two, especially since I recently discovered my love for brown glitter. It's just incredibly flattering and sparkly! It takes three coats to build up to be opaque, but it seems to dry quickly so it's not a hassle at all. It requires a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to be smooth.

Paris Sparkles - Cobalt Surprise

Cobalt Surprise is a royal blue jelly with lots of small silver and medium silver holo glitters. I think it originally had pink and/or purple glitters, but they may have bled off their colors into the base. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful royal blue glitter that's easily opaque in two coats. This, too, requires a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to be glassy smooth.

Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise (as well as MANY other beautiful polishes) are available in the Paris Sparkles Etsy shop for $7.00 for a full-sized (15mL) bottle.

The Hungry Asian - Sea Creature and Sneeze Breeze: Swatches and Review

The Hungry Asian has made some incredibly unique and beautiful polishes. I picked up two of them recently, Sea Creature and Sneeze Breeze, and they are pretty incredible.

The Hungry Asian - Sea Creature

Sea Creature is a mix of dark emerald micro glitter and medium blue holo hex glitters with a sprinkling of small violet glitter. I've seen a few random pieces of medium silver holo hexes as well in there, but they're kinda rare. This is all in a clear base, but it covers almost completely in two coats on its own, or in one coat over a base color (shown here over Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal).

This color JUMPED into my favorite nail polishes of all time. The teal/green/blue overall tone of this plus the holo sparkles is a very stunning combination. Add in the little purple sparkles here and there and it is a true winner in my book. It also has a great formula that only requires a coat of Gelous and a coat of SV to be glassy smooth. I don't think there is a single thing that could make this polish better than it already is.

The Hungry Asian - Sneeze Breeze

Sneeze Breeze is a mix of neon blue and black glitter in a clear base. The formula on this one is a little tougher. It doesn't dry quickly like most glitters, so you have to wait quite a while in between coats or it stays gummy and creates globs when you add the second coat (you can see on my ring finger that I didn't wait long enough and it got a little lumpy). Two coats is all that's needed, but it's a pretty thick formula. BUT if you have the patience, the end result looks so cool! Like the Nailventurous lacquers, the matte neon glitters have an amazing overall effect - it's like sprinkles of color without the bling.

The Hungry Asian has an Etsy shop where you can buy these and her other awesome polishes. They come in full sized bottles for $8.50 or cute little mini heart bottles for $4.50.

Dollish Polish - Expecto Patronum: Swatches and Review

I just can't get enough of these indie polishes... especially the pastel/white jelly bases with glitter! (I'm currently on a mission to get NailVenturous Robin Laid an Egg!)

Dollish Polish - Expecto Patronum

Like Pretty & Polished Jawbreaker, this is a nice squishy white jelly that is opaque in 2-3 easy coats (3 shown). There is a mix of small and medium teal holo glitter, as well as some larger teal hex glitters, and subtle orange flakies. The flakies don't show well in the picture, but then again they don't show too much in person either - just a flash of orange every once in awhile. I love how some of the glitter from the first coat(s) get buried underneath the white jelly to give it different shades of teal and some depth.

The only quirk with this polish that I've found is that the large hexes are not flat... instead they are very chunky and ruin the smoothness of the polish. I think Dollish was having a problem with some glitter in another of her polishes, Hip Hop Hippity Hop, and this one seems to have the same issue. I think she was working on resolving the glitter issue in Hip Hop, so I imagine Expecto Patronum will be fixed as well. For now, I just don't shake the bottle and let the big hexes fall to the bottom so I don't get any on the brush. The other glitter and flakies still seem to suspend nicely.

Here is a picture of the cute mini bottle. These bottles are pretty tiny, but it's great to be able to sample lots of polishes for less! I love Expecto Patronum so much that I'm looking to buy a full sized bottle once the glitter is fixed!

Expecto Patronum is available on the Dollish Polish Etsy shop, but business has been booming so much that she's been opening and closing the shop to be able to keep up with orders. Sign up to be notified when she reopens if you're hoping to get this beauty!

Nailventurous - Floam, Pinkerbell, Orange You Unique, and Humble Bee: Swatches and Review

The polishes featured in this post are all handmade by a blogger friend of mine named Amy from Nailventurous. She recently opened a shop on Etsy and in her first sale she sold out in less than five minutes! It was absolutely crazy! I was incredibly lucky and snagged the set of three (Floam, Pinkerbell, and Orange You Unique) as well as Humble Bee.

Nailventurous - Floam

Floam is one that's slipped just out of my reach a few times, so I'm REALLY excited to finally own it! Floam is a mix of neon blue and green matte glitter (in other words, it's not metallic) in a shiny clear base. It's a bit thick, but it makes application really easy and Floam only takes two coats to be fully opaque. I love this polish so much!

Nailventurous - Pinkerbell

Pinkerbell is a mix of the same blue and green glitter in Floam, but with some smaller neon pink glitter as well. From a distance I think it has kind of a greyish blue look, but up close you can see all the beautiful specks of color. Very fairy-esque to me. Kind of light and dainty, but bright and playful at the same time. It had the same slightly thick formula that covered nicely in two coats

Nailventurous - Orange You Unique

This one, a mix of orange and blue matte glitter, looks to me like a summer day by the pool. At a distance, this one kind of blends into my skin and is a neutral orange color, but the blue really pops against the orange up close. I think it has white glitter in it, but the base is tinted a slightly neon coral color so they look a bit pink. Again, two (kind of thick) easy coats for opacity.

Nailventurous - Humble Bee

This is the one that's not part of the "original three" set. This is one of Amy's newer creations, and it won me over instantly! It's a combination of small neon yellow glitter and small and medium black glitter in a clear base. As much as I was excited for Floam, this one may be in a tie for my favorite one here. I really want to try layering this over a bright blue or coral! This one is two coats as well.

All in all, I'm SO incredibly impressed with Amy's unique frankens and their wonderful formula! It's important to wait a few minutes between coats so you don't drag the glitter around, and a topcoat of Gelous then Seche Vite is required to make them glassy smooth.

As I mentioned, these are a tad bit hard to get ahold of, but not impossible. Amy should be stocking the Nailventurous Esty shop again in the near future (for Humble Bee), and you can also watch out for Floam, Pinkerbell, and Orange You Unique on Ninja Polish (you can sign up for email notifications on both sites).

Nerd Lacquer - Holy Grail: Swatch and Review

Sorry for the absence!  I was snowed in at my parents house and couldn't get to my camera or computer.

Yet another one where I'm not sure WHY I got it, but it sort of just jumped into my Nerd Lacquer order (I think I was in the "BUY ALL THE NERD LACQUER!" mentality... haha).

Anyway, I actually ended up wearing it for a few days because I loved it so much!

Nerd Lacquer - Holy Grail

Holy Grail is a whole bunch of different shapes/sizes of silver holo glitter in a dusty light teal holo AND glow-in-the-dark base! At first I thought the base color was a little bland, but after wearing it I realized that it toned down all of the crazy holo in this just enough to make a really pretty, classy polish. Not everyone may like it (and it actually took me a couple hours of wearing it for me to fully appreciate it), but I'm very happy I picked this one up.  I actually ended up being very pleased with EVERY Nerd Lacquer polish I got!  This only took two coats to be fully opaque (like all of the Nerd Lacquers I currently have), and the glitter lays nice and flat although it does need a couple coats of topcoat (Gelous and SV) to be smooth.

Again, Nerd Lacquers can be found in the NerdLacquer store on Etsy, on NinjaPolish, and Harlowe & Co, but are kinda of hard to catch in stock. All of these sites offer some way of being notified when it IS in stock, so sign up for the emails if you're really itching for some Nerdiness!

Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker: Swatches and Review

This was one of those days where I felt like I couldn't find something that I'd be satisfied with on my nails. Then I decided to try out Pretty & Polished Jawbreaker, and it was PERFECT.

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Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker

Doesn't it look JUST like those jumbo jaw breaker candies? I love how it gives the jelly/glitter sandwich look in just one polish. This is three coats shown, but it really only takes two coats to be fully opaque. You can also layer it over white to conserve it, but I recommend using a white jelly like Essie Marshmallow to preserve that squishy look.  The glitter is random, but is dense enough that it's not hard to get the nails looking "even" but still unique.  Just a wonderful polish!  I wish I would have gotten the full size instead of the mini...

Jawbreaker is available in mini and full sizes ($4.50 for 5mL and $8.00 for 15mL) in the Pretty & Polished Etsy shop, but goes in and out of stock a bit because they're all hand made. Be sure to check the shop regularly!

Lacquistry - Oh Yes I Did: Swatches and Review

If you haven't yet gotten into the Etsy/indie nail polish craze, you NEED to check it out (especially if you love unique glitter polishes)! This is one I picked up from Lacquistry's Etsy shop a week or so ago.

When I first swatched it on a stick, I thought it was incredibly unique and very pretty, but I didn't really understand how GORGEOUS it was until I put it on!

Lacquistry - Oh Yes I Did (shade)

Lacquistry - Oh Yes I Did (sun)

Oh Yes I Did is a combo of small brown and blue glitter with larger brown holo and blue holo hexes in a lightly tinted brown base. It took only two coats to get nice and opaque, but took a couple layers of Gelous and Seche Vite to get it perfectly glossy smooth (even a day later after fully drying).

This is one of those rare glitters that looks amazing both in the shade AND in the sun. I walked around the Arizona Renaissance Faire on Saturday and couldn't stop staring at my fingers all day. The brown in this is such a rich auburn brown and it's perfect paired with the bright sky blue holo glitter. I had no idea how much I LOVE brown glitter until I tried this beauty - now I'm HOOKED!

Lacquistry's Etsy's shop has been pretty busy lately so she's taking a break to fill orders, but you can sign up to be notified when she returns.  Oh Yes I Did sells for $7.50 (plus shipping) for 0.5oz (15 mL).

Nostalgic - Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle: Swatches and Review

This is a set of nail polish that I saw awhile back on someone's blog and for some reason I passed on it (phooey!). Well, a few weeks later I managed to nab a set, along with the Truly Outrageous collection, which I will show later.

All three of these are multi size and color glitters in a sheer pastel jelly base. Because they are sheer, I decided to layer each one over one coat of a matching base color.

Nostalgic - Andie (over Color Club - I Believe in Amour)

Andie is a light pink jelly base with large salmon "pattern" hex glitters (click on the pic to see the crazy patterns on the large hexes!), and small lavender and magenta glitters. The small glitters are pretty prominent and are easy to get plenty on each nail. So light and pretty, yet with a bit of "pop" from the dark and large glitters!

Nostalgic - Blane (over OPI - A Grape Fit)

Blane is a lavender purple jelly with large dark blue hex glitters and small light blue and dark purple glitters.  I feel like I may have layered it over a color that was too dark, although I read somewhere that Nostalgic was going for a "moody" feeling with Blane. The glitters were a little bit harder to get even on this one, but not too bad.

Nostalgic - Duckie (over American Apparel - Office)

Duckie is a light teal jelly base with a sprinkling of large gold hexes, medium blue holo hexes and small gold glitters. The only one with a middle size glitter, it also has the most sparse glitter of the three. The application on this one is tough just because it's a bit difficult to get many glitter pieces in this one. But it's my favorite, so it's worth it.

None of these are pictured with topcoat, but I've tried Duckie with Seche Vite and it came out perfectly smooth with only one coat.

All three of these require a bit of patience in application and moving the glitters around. The trick I found was to pull the brush out of the nail polish and wipe it on the edge of the bottle neck a few times and wait for some of the polish to flow back down leaving some glitter in the neck. Then scoop up the patch of glitter that has what you want in it. Getting it on the nail just right takes a little time as well, but the end result it completely worth it in my mind. It's not a "quick manicure" by any means, but if you have the time to give it some more attention it looks so beautiful in the end!

The Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle collection is available in the NostalgicLacquer Etsy shop, but is in and out of stock frequently (because it's home made!). I know there is a planned restock with many of each color available in two days (Friday, Feb 24th) so keep your eye out if want to grab any of these!

Cult Nails - Toxic Seaweed

This polish is part of Cult Nails latest collection Let's Get Nekkid and they've said that there are limited quantities available of this one, so I was super excited to get a hold of it. I knew I'd like it, but I didn't expect to be this blown away.

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Cult Nails - Toxic Seaweed

This is just gorgeous. It's a teal jelly with gold glitter and orange flakies. This is built up to three coats, but it looks nice at two. It just seems to get deeper and darker with each coat. I don't know what else to say except that if you like jellies with glitter or flakies, you should definitely pick this one up.

As of now, Toxic Seaweed appears to be still available on the Cult Nails site for $10. Better grab one while you can!

Edit:  Wanted to add this cute bonus picture of the cute polish burrito that it came in!

Remember tomorrow is the last day to enter my 500 Follower SensatioNail Starter Kit giveaway if you haven't already!