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

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

Holo Hearts

Hello ladies! Life has been crazy to say the least but I'm getting back into a steady stream of free time to spend as I please.  That means more nail polish!

I've got a quick post today sharing some lovely holographic polish I bought for cheap off Amazon. Nabi Hologram is the brand but their names are not very original...at all. Teal is the name of the base color with lime green hearts in Green. The polish didn't drag and two coats of the teal provided full coverage. 

I'll have some new fun polish to show you soon. I'd really love it if you could leave some comments as to what you would like to see!

Thanks for stopping by

~Linda

Cirque Epoch

Hello my lovelies!

During my last trip to NYC for work, I made a point to head over the a boutique (International Playground) to get some Cirque polishes. I ended up getting three while there and all of them are fantastic.

This is Epoch, whose main color is teal but she changes to blue and purple at different angles. Epoch in the bottle is fantastic, there's this purple ring around the outside of the bottle that let's you know she's going to be gorgeous.

This is two coats of Epoch over 1 coat of OPI Black Onyx.

Oddly enough the purple didn't show all that much for me on the nail. There were gorgeous shade shifts between dark teal and blue but the purple was a dark vampy purple versus a bright grape purple. It's also beautiful how the color seems to have a dark ring around the edges of the nail. This is such a fascinating effect that I rarely see in a polish color that I love.

This was the first Cirque polish I've tried and the quality is definitely fantastic. Great brush and the consistency was perfect. Dry time was actually pretty quick as well.

Cirque polishes can be bought at a handful of boutiques around NYC or you can purchase them online here. This polish was $13 USD while some of her holographic and other specialty polishes can run a little higher at $15 USD.

I have 2 holographic polishes to share with you as well, so don't go far!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Maybelline Urban Utopia + Holo Topcoat

Holographics are always at the top of my list when I'm looking for a polish that will actually make me happy. I bought some Spectraflair a while back and made myself a linear holographic topcoat. I recently saw some of the new Maybelline Color Show polishes and obviously I gravitated towards the teal creme.

This is two coats of LE Maybelline Urban Utopia and one coat of my homemade holographic topcoat.

Two coats would have made the linear holographic much more prevalent however the topcoat does tend to change the base color a bit, adding a silver tint or rather mutes or dulls the color a shade. I was loving the color so I decided to stay with one coat. What's great about having a holographic topcoat is that I can basically revamp any of my current polishes.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Orly Glowstick

It's officially summer and I have the mani to prove it!

I basically love this new purse which I got on Little Black Bag, and it's by the designer Melie Bianco. Highlighter yellow tassel, handle and bag bottom look amazing against this teal and while polka dot purse. God I cannot say enough how absolutely great this bag is!

This mani matches my purse and is totally my 'welcome to summer' mani since Friday was officially the first day of summer.

I started with a base coat of Milani White Out and then two coats Orly Glowstick. I added different sized dots using dotting tools and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, a beautiful teal creme. The white base color kicks up this already neon polish plus it cuts back on the number of coats needed for opacity.

Orly Glowstick is amazing around sunset when you're outside because it truly does look as though it's glowing. I actually had to test the glow in the dark quality of this polish because it radiates like a neon sign.

I hope you started off the first weekend of summer in a great way!

Thanks for stopping by

~Linda

Mystery Clouds

Hello Hello

Is it spring yet? Soon enough I guess, it just won't stop snowing here. The Tulips in my front yard must be confused. *shrug*

Anyways..on to the good stuff right? :)

This is two coats of Julep Mystery Green #4 which is a cross between turquoise and mint green. It went on pretty smooth and the consistency was nice; not too thin, not to thick and it leveled quite nicely.

I stamped the clouds using Konad black and BM-312.

I LOVE this color! It's a shame that I found this color so late as it was a limited shade and probably won't be offered again. I guess I'll have to treasure this bottle.  ☺

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

ManGlaze ILF

Today I have my first ManGlaze polish to show you. I've been wanting to try this brand for a while now since I love me some matte polish! ManGlaze had a sale a little while back on Facebook and I picked up ILF and some Franken Juggs empty nail polish bottles.

ILF is a gorgeous teal polish with a silver micro shimmer. The polish is obviously a matte but the shimmer takes this polish to a new level! I think what I love most about this polish is that although it's teal which is always a favorite of mine, it has a hint of sea foam green which mellows it out rather than a teal bitch slap to the retina. That combined with the matte effect makes this an office appropriate color. At least for my office...but I tend to wear whatever I want since I do not work with the public.

The consistency of this polish was great and it applied like butter in thin coats. This polish went above and beyond expectations!

The artwork on these bottles are always kick ass! Zombie chicks with big tits, Raunchy Eye Balls and middle fingers...what else could you ask for? Check these bottle shots out!

 

They included some stickers, temporary tattoos and a guitar pick that I believe is intended to be a can opener. They wouldn't want you to chip a nail!

ManGlaze polishes can be purchased on Amazon or on their 'crappy website'.
 
Mink Mitten is next on my must have list from ManGlaze! What's your favorite ManGlaze polish?

~Linda  

Chrono Cross Samplings

Today I have two polishes from Rainbow Honey's 2012 Chrono Cross Collection. These are Snake Eyes and Siren Song in their adorable little packaging.

Snake Eyes is described as "a sheer but shimmery sea foam green makes up the base of this polish; sprinkled throughout are loads of sea foam glitter accented by hints of purple, magenta, gold, and some searing dark eyes".

Siren Song is described as "Inspired by Marbule’s loveliest mermaid, this polish consists of a shimmering aqua color loaded with glitter, tinsel, and holographic sparkle to boot!"

Snake Eyes and Siren Song

To be honest my first impression of these polishes was not the greatest. I swatched them on a nail wheel and sighed. I didn't even really want to swatch them but pulled out a few base colors to play around and see what would look the best under these. They are both very sheer but Snake Eyes especially.

This is two coats of Julep Harley a silver metallic/chrome and two thin coats of Snake Eyes. The sheer green color in the base of this polish was hidden a bit over the silver, but shows over black and other colors. The glitter spreads nicely and I do like the different size glitter pieces as well as the glitter color combo.

This is two coats of Pop Beauty Mint Magic and two coats of Siren Song. This polish is packed with glitter but the tinsel and larger hexagon pieces of glitter do not apply as evenly as Snake Eyes. I had to apply this in patches and the glitter dries a bit bumpier than I like, but it grew on my the longer I wore it.

Outside Shade

Outside Shade

Indoor Artificial Light

These were the only two that I bought from this collection and although they grew on me they were not what I was expecting. I think I was expecting a smoother application and a deeper color to the base. Obviously polish can look different in the bottle compared to on the nail, but if there were more swatches online I might not have bought these.

Rainbow Honey was born out of a love for color and a penchant for creativity. All of their custom-designed products are always free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Dibutyl Phthalate (the “big 3”). They never test their products on animals and are hand-crafted and hand-packaged in the USA. 

They offer mini sized bottles (7ml) for $5 and full sized bottles (15ml) for $10 which is an awesome option. You can check out all their collections on their website.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Energy Vs Hera

I've recently showed you some swatches of Jade Energy and Hits Hera which are both teal holographic polishes. Before getting my hands on Energy I assumed that they were going to be very close but taking a look side by side you can see the differences. The main difference is the underlying base color.

Energy leans more towards blue while Hera is more green based.

Jade Energy and Hits Hera

I have Energy on my index and ring finger, and Hera on my middle finger and pinky.

These are the pictures that most clearly showed the differences but about half of the pictures I took you could hardly see the difference. Lighting has a lot to do with that because indoors the colors are plainly different while outside the holo effect makes it more difficult to distinguish which was which.

Indoors taken by a window

I ended up stamping over this with Color Club Wild at Heart and MASH Plate #44.

Once I stamped over these you couldn't even see the color differences between Energy and Hera.

So which do you prefer, Energy or Hera?

~Linda
 

Jade Holographic: Energy

Hi beauties! I received a package from the lovely Enamel Girl with the Jade Holographic nail polish I won from her recent giveaway and was pleasantly surprised to see that she also sent me a nail strengthening base coat from Poshe. I haven't used this brand before but thought it was very sweet of her to send. Her swatch of this polish looked amazing so I've been dying to give it a try.

This polish is called Energy and it's a bright teal color when in the sunlight but has a sea foam green tint when indoors (which you can kind of see in the picture above).

The color of this polish is really nice and it actually has a very strong holographic effect. It seems to be much stronger than Hits Hera that I showed you a few posts back. I'll pull together a comparison and have it up in a day or two.

Overall, this polish is a great holographic with no dragging. I've seen other holographics where the holo is strong but the color is weak. Not this one.

Have a great day!

~Linda

Hits Hera

Happy Friday! Sorry I've been M.I.A, work has been ridiculous lately. UGH I've been soo stressed out that I've got big knots in my shoulders. I don't wanna look like a hunchback so I had to take some time to paint my nails and relax. A piña colada was calling my name...I couldn't be rude and not answer!☺

Today I have a HITS holographic polish from the no Olimpo Collection that I've been wanting to share. Hera is a bright teal color with a relatively good holographic effect. The application was pretty good but the brush was very odd shaped. It was extremely wide and it was not flat, therefore it looked like a Wet n Wild Megalast 'Manicure Pro' brush jacked up on steriods. Make sure to let the polish dry completely between coats so there will be no dragging.

This is 2 coats with no top coat, and pictures were taken outside in afternoon sunlight.

I was lucky enough to be the winner of a giveaway from Enamel Girl a few weeks back so I'm expecting to get a Jade Teal Holohgraphico polish soon. I cannot wait! I'm thinking it's going to be very close to this color so I'll have to pull together a comparison.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Snake Skin Stamping

Hello Hello! Today I have a quick post to show you some snake skin printed nails. I started with 2 coats of Orly Gumdrop which is a mint/jade green creme and then did a gradient halfway up the nail using Julep Piper. Piper was from the August Boho Glam box and is a mint-teal metallic. After the gradient dried I used Bundle Monster plate #224 with China Glaze Deviantly Daring from the new Bohemian Luster Chrome Collection. Here's the end result. This has one coat of Seche Vite.

I love that you can see Piper peaking out towards the tips of my nails. The shimmer from Piper almost looks as if it was layered on top, but it's not.

Whats your favorite animal print? Do you ever do animal print manis?

~Linda