Polished by KPT Holographic Thermal - Kelvin Bleu

Today I have my very first thermal polish to share with you. I've been seeing some amazing holographic thermals out there lately which all led back to a new-to-me indie brand; Polished by KPT. Soo many choices! Well, I fell in love with this gorgeous blurple shade named Kelvin Bleu that shifts from a light pale blue when warm to rich blue with gorgeous purple undertones when cold. This color is AmaZing!

The rich blue on the left is Kelvin Bleu in it's cold state and the pale blue on the right is in it's warm state. When running your hands under hot water the tips almost go white, but I couldn't seem to get that photographed since once you pull your hands out it changes back to the pale blue very quickly.

There are multiple shades of blue between the warm and cold states and it's very cool to see your hands at various stages of warm to cold throughout the day. I've tried to take as many pictures as possible to show you the variety. Either way.....all shades are gorgeous. Lots of pictures below...enjoy!

This animated picture show the color change after dipping my cold hands into some warm water (for my thumb, index and middle finger). The shots show the natural color change of the warm water wearing off and my hands returning to their natural cold state.

For these pictures, I was using water to change the temperature of the tips of my nails from cold to warm or vice versa. (I actually started to get prune hands at one point..lol)

So my very first holographic thermal did not disappoint and neither did the quality of Polished by KPT nail lacquer. The consistency was nice and thick, but no where near gloopy, so it was pretty much opaque in 2 normal coats. There was no obnoxious scent and surprisingly I noticed that the holographic prisms were more visible with top coat. As you can notice my pictures do not show the holo very much but in the sun they are much much more prevalent! A medium grade holographic effect in my opinion. I will have some nail art coming up very soon with this polish and in those pictures you will see the holo much better!

I picked up Kelvin Bleu on Polished by KPTs BigCartel site here. It was $12 plus very reasonable shipping. Make sure to stop by and see some of her other gorgeous creations.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

ILNP Ultra Chrome Gradient

Hello my dears, today I have one of my absolute favorite manicures to show you.

I found ILNP a while back and have been growing my collection quickly! And by quickly I mean 3 or 4 polishes from each of her collections. Barbara makes some of the most amazing polishes I've ever seen! Today I will be showing you three of her Ultra Chromes that were released in 2013: Mutagen, Cygnus Loop and Birefringence.

Mutagen is a chrome polish that shifts from vibrant green, blue, red, orange and slightly greenish gold depending on the angle of your fingertips.

Birefringence shifts through various shades of blue and purple, to red, orange and sometimes even yellow.

Cygnus Loop shifts from bright purple to orange, yellow and green.

All are formulated without the need for a base color with full coverage in 2 coats, however I always find that black undies work best and prefer to use that in order to use less of my precious polish.

All photos are taken indoors under artificial light and have one coat of black undies and top coat. The gradient starts with Mutagen at the cuticle and then Birefringence and Cygnus Loop closest to the tip.

When moving your hands at different angles under the light, the color shifts are quite prevalent. All three shifting at the same time is quite amazing!

I love this picture because you can actually see bright green, blue and purple on my thumb then half green half teal, pinkish purple and royal purple on my other fingers. Possibly even a little orange on the left side of my pinky. The photo is a little washed out, but the color shifts are stunning in real life!

At times, it appeared as though there were 6 different colors on my nails at once. I'm wearing this mani as I type up this post and I honestly can not stop looking at my hands.

ILNP has a wide variety of polishes from cremes and glitters to amazing holographics (and Ultra Holos!!!) to Ultra Chromes. You can shop Barbara's store at www.ILNP.com but be warned....do not visit when you are on a no-buy! You will break it, and be ashamed of yourself at how weak you are.

There are 4 new Ultra Chromes with her new Spring 2014 Collection along with some sweet pastel holos and ultra holos. I picked up a few and cannot wait to show you what I'm sure will be more amazing color shifting beauties and holo magic.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

OPI AmazON AmazOFF

Hello fellow junkies! Today I have one of OPIs Spring/Summer 2014 Brazil Collection; AmazON...AmazOFF.  This is a deep teal polish with a very subtle shimmer hiding in there. The formula was pretty good giving full coverage with 2 coats.

Since the shimmer is very subtle, I didn't have any issues with streaking. This has a coat of Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat giving a nice shine and smoothed out even the smallest imperfections.

I was wearing this the days leading up to Valentines Day, so I decided to add some little hearts with Layla Mercury Twilight and a small rhinestone. Since me and my better half don't necessarily make a big deal of Valentines Day and I'm not a pink chick I decided this would be my homage to the 'holiday'.

Hopefully you ladies were showered with love...or at least gave yourself something purdy!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

L'oreal Duo

Today's mani features two shades of L'oreal; one from their Extraordinaire Gel-Lacque line and one from their textured Gold Dust line. I actually haven't jumped on the gel nail polish trend because I hate having to actually work at taking off my polish. I saw Meant To Be and loved it! It's nothing like the colors I normally wear, but I still had to have it. I didn't want to pay $15 for the special base and top coats that go with the Gel-Lacque line, so I decided to get it anyways and just try my hand at some base/top coats I already have. I didn't have to try hard, I used Sinfulcolors basecoat and Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat and it looks perfect.

This is 2 coats of Meant To Be and accent nails using Sexy in Sequins, a textured polish. 

Sexy in Sequins is a dusty grape purple textured polish with gold shimmer that flashes pink. The larger light purple hexagonal glitter adds an extra layer of texture. It's similar to Zoya PixieDusts with maybe just a little extra grit. 

Meant To Be is close to a raspberry wine color that can almost look pinkish under certain light while a richer burgundy color under other light. It's a quite complex color that is simply amazing.  The following picture was taken in my kitchen under normal household lighting, while the above pictures were using OttLites and my lightbox. Meant To Be is much more pink or raspberry red in this picture. (Also - this picture was taken 2 mornings after doing my nails....you can see some light scuffs in the top coat on my middle finger, but otherwise, very minimal tip wear)

Meant To Be has one coat of Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat over it and it really does give an amazing gel like shine. I haven't used this top coat with any other polish yet, so I'm not sure if it's simply how amazing this new top coat is or if it's reacting perfectly with the Gel-Lacque polish. Either way, after two 10 hour days typing on a computer among the other daily stuff, it still looks shiny and there practically no tip wear!  

I'm curious to know - have you used any of the L'oreal Gel-Lacque polishes? What about the other brands of gels, do you think it's worth the money to buy the lamp and special polishes and the time to cure it and remove it? 

~Linda

Pretty Jelly Diamond S-teal-er

Today I have a polish from the indie polish maker Pretty Jelly. I found them on Etsy while browsing for some new homemade polish and instantly knew I had to buy some of their vivid holographics. I picked up Diamond S-teal-er for it's beautiful blue/teal color and linear holographic.

They promote that their polishes are opaque in 2-3 coats and they don't lie. I had full coverage with 2 thin coats.

Sunlight (through window)

The consistency was thin but easy to work with since it doesn't drag the way Layla sometimes does. Some of the thinner holographics dry too fast and then it drags, or too slow and it's in line with normal polish. I absolutely love that the dry time for holos is much much shorter, so Diamond S-teal-er was perfect in my opinion!

My sunlight is scarce since it's been snowing since I can remember but I tried to get a photo through the window to show a better idea of the holo. My pictures don't do it justice. While it's not the most intense holo (like Lyla) it's definitely a stronger holo than a-england. I'd call it a medium holo, but again, the color pay-off is great!

These holographic polishes are 5 Free and cruelty free. I had to limit myself but there are there 2 other beauties I will hopefully get my hands on soon. Stop by and see what you're missing!  Diamond S-teal-er is a 15ml bottle for $10 and can be picked up here at their Etsy Shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda