Sally Hansen Velvet Texture in Crushed & Velour

Hello Everyone!

First of all, HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH! It's a tattoo tradition to get 13 or 31 dollar tattoos! Support your local tattoo shop/artist and see if they are having this deal! :)

Today I am swatching two Velvet Texture polishes from a recent line relseased by Sally Hansen. I really wish I was able to get the whole collection, but I got these on sale from Ulta, so there were only two of these. :(  I really like the effect/texture of these polishes and would happily own some of the other colors.

Crushed is a raspberry cream. The formula was easy to apply, but you don't see the effect until it is fully dry. I used two coats with no topcoat.

Sally Hansen Velvet Texture - Crushed

Sally Hansen Velvet Texture - Crushed

Velour is a blurple (blue + purple) creme. This is the polish that made me buy the duo! The formula is consistent with Crushed but something is different about this one... It seems, irl, like it is shimmery even though it is not... I think this may be because of the texture in the polish. I used two layers with no top coat.

Sally Hansen Velvet Texture - Velour

Sally Hansen Velvet Texture - Velour

Like I said before, I would happily own the whole collection. The texture of these polishes is very unique to me. It is waxy/matte and looks bumpy but is smooth to the touch. Plus the two shades that I have are very pigmented! I picked these up on sale at Ulta for $1.49 and I think they are regularly about $6.00!


Until next time,
xo

Julep November 2014 Box

Hello Everyone!

Devon is a medium gray with pink shimmers. I really really like this one but I can't seem to get the pink shimmer to show up on my nails, which is irritating. I hate when a polish looks better in the bottle than on the nail lol. Formula is thick, like a lot of Julep polishes. This is one coat with topcoat.

Julep - Devon

Julep - Devon

Jessie is a beautiful dark brown. This is my favorite polish from my box this month. The color is so deep that it almost looks black. It reminds me of the "Vamp" trend that has been going on. I love colors like that! It's very mature and sexy! This is just one layer with top coat.

Julep - Jessie

Shari is a soft pink creme. The shade reminds me of ballet shoes... It's so soft and delicate! For this swatch I used two layers and one layer of top coat.

Julep - Shari

Marzia is a gunmetal chrome. I'm really not sure how I feel about it! It's cool but at the same time weird! In terms of the formula, it is a little thick and super super streaky. The more I look at it, the more I like it. I used two coats of lacquer and one coat of top coat.

Julep - Marzia

Julep - Marzia

Nadia is a pale yellow shimmer.  I am not the biggest fan of this color, unfortunately. It's pretty but just isn't for me. The formula was just a tad bit thick but was opaque in two coats.

Julep - Nadia

Julep - Nadia

Roc Solid solid is an army green creme. I love love love this color! So good for fall or for a camo look! The formula is consistent with most Julep polishes. This was one coat plus top coat.

Julep - Roc Solid

Eden is a deep royal purple creme. This color is just stunning! It looks amazing against my skin. As you can see, the color on the nails looks way different than the color in the bottle. This is because this color was an add on and it is an older polish from Julep. When I opened the bottle, it was like purple water instead of nail polish. I had to shake this baby for about 30 minutes for it to become a lacquer again and there is still more pigment at the bottom of the bottle. :( That being said, this polish was the thinnest out of all the polishes I received in this box. I used two coats and one layer of top coat.

Julep - Eden

I thought the November collection was fun. Some of the colors in this post are add-ons so they are not a part of the collection but I received them in the same box. I only buy the colors from Julep if and when I like them but I always try to get the add ons if they look interesting because they always come with a free polish or two. :)

Do you subscribe to Julep? Comment below and let me know what you think!

Until next time,
xo

China Glaze - Wings of Wonder Collection

Hello Everyone!

 Today I am swatching some polishes my mom gave me for Christmas. (I know, so late lol!) My mom has had this set for years but she just got around to giving it to me. I'm not quite sure when this collection was released but I'm guessing about 3 years ago.

Swatches below!

Blue Bells Ring is a metallic blue shimmer. I thought that this polish looked amazing against my skin. The polish itself was very thin, but I think this is because the polishes are old. I used two layers of lacquer and one layer of top coat.

China Glaze - Blue Bells Ring

Cranberry Splash is a red shimmer. This color is nice but it's not really me. It was thin like the shade before which is most likely due to it's age. I used two layers of lacquer and one of top coat.

China Glaze - Cranberry Splash

Champagne Kisses is a golden glitter bomb. This is my favorite polish from the trio. I have been looking for a lacquer like this! The polish was actually quite thick, so I had to add a few drops of lacquer thinner. I used two and a half layers of polish and one of top coat!

China Glaze - Champagne Kisses

China Glaze - Champagne Kisses

Until next time,
Xo

DERMELECT - Luxurious, Provocative & Head Turner

Hello Everyone!

Today I am swatching three high end polishes from the brand DERMELECT. Typically, these polishes are about $13.00 at Ulta, but I was able to get them on sale for $0.49! FOURTY-NINE CENTS!!! I wasn't sure if they were even good because of the mark down, but I consulted a few people and was told that they are a really good brand! And they are! I have been wearing Provocative on my toes for 3 weeks now with absolutely no chipping or lifting!

Luxurious is a soft lavender creme. The formula was very easy to apply and super shiny without top coat. I used two layers on each nail and only put top coat on the ring and pinky fingers.

Dermelect - Luxurious

Provocative is a "barbie" pink creme. Believe it or not, I do not have many pinks, so I found this shade to be essential. The formula was smooth but a little thick when applying. I used two layers and no top coat. The pictures do no justice to how shiny these polishes are!!! I took the second one in natural day light since my light box has a habit of mattifying the way polishes look.

Dermelect - Provocative

Dermelect - Provocative

Head Turner is a bright orange creme. I really really like this color. It doesn't look the same as in the bottle but there are not worries. The color on the nail is richer. The formula was easy to apply as all the others were. I used two coats with no top coat.

Dermelect - Head Turner

Over all, if I found more of these DERMELECT polishes on sale, I would pick them up immediately. They are very pigmented, shiny and are also 3-Free ( DPB, formaldehyde & toulene)! I definitely got these for a steal! They are all also going to be amazing shades for spring and summer! Once again, I picked them up from Ulta on one of the sale racks. This are easily the best high-end nail polish value I have been able to find!

Until next time,
xo

LilypadLacquer - Lemon Sundae & Lime Sundae

Hello Everyone!

Today I am swatching some neon goodness from Australia! I have been searching high and low for completely opaque neon yellow and green polishes for a long, long time now. Thankfully, Llarowe lead me to these two colors from LilypadLacquer!

Swatches below!

Lemon Sundae is a toxic neon yellow creme polish. My camera had a really hard time capturing the color, so the colors here are not accurate. The formula was very smooth and consistent. I DID however have to use three coats as it was quite streaky.

LilypadLacquer - Lemon Sundae

LilypadLacquer - Lemon Sundae

Lime Sundae is a neon green creme. I used one and a half coats to gain opacity. This formula is the same as Lemon Sundae.

LilypadLacquer - Lime Sundae

LilypadLacquer - Lime Sundae

I definitely am happy I was able to find these two polishes. They will be AMAZING during the summer time! They are also staple neon colors. I have been trying so hard to find a yellow and green like this that are completely opaque. Totally worth the money! :)

You can purchase LilpadLacquer on the Llarowe website if you are in the United States.

Until next time,

xo

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy and Matte Top Coat

Hello Everyone!

Today I have swatches of two polishes that I picked up from my local CVS a few weeks ago. They are Wet N Wild polishes from the new staple line (the polishes that they will have in stock for the next few months or years). I wasn't a fan of all of them, so I just chose something that I knew I have been wanting and could use often.

Swatches below!

Yo Soy is a nude color that I liked right off the bat. Typically, I love Wet N Wild's nudes because they come in so many different colors and opacities. Although this one was opaque with one layer, it did show the imperfections and ridges in my nails, so I had to do two coats. This is a really nice basic nude and looks very clean. For this swatch I used two layers of varnish and one layer of top coat.

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy

Because the shine wasn't showing in my light box photographs, I took pictures of this polish in natural daylight. I did the same for the matte so that you can see how different it looks with the different finishes.

I also picked up their Matte Top Coat. I love love love matte polish but I really don't see the point in just buying matte ones when I could buy a top coat and transform all of my polishes. :) (Cheaper!!!) These two polishes were only $ 0.99, so I didn't see the harm in picking up this one. I think I have about 5 matte top coats and I will most likely do a comparison post because they all look very different. Either way, this top coat paired with Yo Soy was a hit. I fell in love with Yo Soy even more than I already was before! I would say that it was a good investment for only 99 cents. There was only one thing that I didn't like about it which was that the top coat tends to be a little bit thick, so it's easy to glob on too much which will add on dry time.

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy in natural day light

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy

Wet N Wild - Yo Soy

I was loving this color with the matte top coat, so I decided to take some pictures from different angles. :) 

Both of these polishes are available at CVS for sure and most likely at any other drug store.

Until next time,

xo

OPI - Push & Shove from the Gwen Stefani Collection

Hello everyone!

Today I have a swatch of Push & Shove by OPI. Although it's not a new lacquer, I finally just got around to doing my nails a few days ago with it. I also finally found a way to make it look amazing on my nails!

OPI - Push & Shove

While I was on Pinterest looking for more mirror finish polishes, I came across an image, which led me to a blog post about Push & Shove. The main issue with this polish is that because it is a chrome, it does chip very easily. It says it's designed for one night's wear, but that is just silly IMO. Also, chromes have a tendency to be streaky and show all the ridges in your nails which is not cute at all. Amway, I am referencing said post because their application of Push & Shove was flawless and I absolutely needed to know WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and WHY.

Well, it's simple. To get these type of results with Push & Shove, you have to layer it ON TOP of a previous mani! Who would have thought...? I tested it out and it worked! Except for my version, I just painted a few different types and layers of base coats (Nail Envy and Ridge Filler, both by OPI) to achieve the smooth look. Genius. :)

Until next time,

xo

Forever 21 Nail Color Haul!

Hello Everyone!

Today I am swatching 3 colors that I picked up from Forever 21 a few weeks ago. I always find myself picking up a polish from Forever 21 because not only are the polishes usually under 4$ but there is always a color that I don't have! Another thing that I liked about this trio is that all three of the polishes can be worn together!

Let the swatches begin!

The first color that caught my eye was their Neon Pink. As ridiculous as it sounds, I do not have a plain pink in my stash! All of my pinks are either baby pink or neon (I assure you this is not really a neon). I used 3 layers to achieve full opacity plus top coat.

Forever 21 - Neon Pink

Wine is a burgundy color that reminds me a lot of the Pantone Color of the Year: Marsala. At first I thought that it was the same as all of my other ox blood colors but this shade of red is much more muted and cool (as apposed to warm in tone). I wasn't sure that I would like this color on myself but I ended up staring at my nails a lot haha! I am definitely glad I added this to my collection. This color was fully opaque in two coats.

Forever 21 - Wine

Last but not least is (poorly named) Nails/Polish/Glitter/Pink/Clear. I have found that Forever 21 doesn't really name their glitter toppers unless they are crelly like, which is a shame, but is beside the point! This topper is really beautiful and the best way to describe it is a dark copper flakie. The icing on the cake is that it goes well with the two previous polishes. For this swatch, I have layered it on top of Wine. This is one layer of the topper plus some slight glitter placement.

Forever 21 glitter polish

Forever 21 glitter polish

Until next time,
xo

Model City Polish Haul!

Hello Everyone!

Today I am swatching three polishes from an indie brand I recently found called Model City Polish. What is unique about this brand is that not only is it a store filled with beautiful hand made polishes, but they are also a nail blog!

Anywho, for these swatches, I used 2-3 coats to reach opacity and a clear top coat. Let the swatches begin! :)

First up is Here Lies... I have a weakness for gray nail polish and this one is just perfect! It's a nice cool gray with dark gray, light gray and white flakies. It also has black micro glitters. It didn't dawn on me until I had the swatch on my nails that this polish is meant to look like cement! I think that this polish may have come from a Halloween collection. I wanted to swatch this a long time ago but as soon as I finished painting, I started adding nail gems! Something that I noticed about this polish is that it is very sheer. I had to do 3 coats for it to become opaque.

Model City Polish - Here Lies...

Model City Polish - Here Lies...

Model City Polish - Here Lies... + Nail Art!!!

Next is Fairy Fight. This polish is a nice pastel purple with micro purple, blue and pink flakies. This polish is very springy and cute. I think that the flakies add more personality to the polish! Opaque in two coats.

Model City Polish - Fairy Fight

Model City Polish - Fairy Fight

Finally, we have Roll Tide which is a light gray crelly. I saw this polish and had to have it! I think this gray is very similar to Here Lies... but instead of the flakies, this polish has white hexes, red bar glitters and black micro glitters. Upon some research, I found that this polish is a homage to the Alabama Crimson Tide. I think Model City Polish did a great job of creating this tribute!

Model City Polish - Roll Tide

Model City Polish - Roll Tide

I really liked all of these polishes. They were easy to apply and opaque in 2-3 coats.

Model City Polish is available on the online shop and is not available in stores.

Until next time,
xo

Dance Legend - Top Sahara & Top Magnetic

Hello Everyone!

Long time, no blog! I know... I have been so busy! After Christmas, I was still dealing with the flu. Then I had friends visit from out of state. Then I had to deal with all of the things that come with buying a new (used) car!!! So I'm mobile now and it feels great!

But anyway, I am back and I am going to be posting some swatches from things that I meant to have on here from last year (terrible haha!). Please enjoy!

Today I am swatching two transformative top coats from Dance Legend: Top Sahara & Top Magnetic! For the following posts, I used one layer of base coat, two layers of regular nail varnish, and one layer of the Dance Legend top coats!

First up is Top Sahara. I layered this one on top of Baby I's Easiest Weight Loss: Buy Bigger Clothes. The formula for this top coat wasn't bad at all. The texture isn't as dramatic as I was hoping for, though. There are also silver micro glitters in this polish, which can be a positive or a negative. I will say that on top of darker colors, this top coat looks terrible. I tested it out on a plastic polish swatcher and it looked ashy. I think this top coat works best on lighter colors such as pastels. 

Dance Legend Top Sahara over Baby I  Best Weight Loss: Buy Bigger Clothes

Dance Legend Top Sahara over Baby I  Best Weight Loss: Buy Bigger Clothes

The second top coat from Dance Legend is Top Magnetic. I was really really excited about this because even though I feel like no one really cares about magnetic nail polish, I still like it! However... I wasn't ready to go out and buy more than one magnetic polish because I really wanted to just layer it on top of other colors that I already have. When I found this I nearly lost it with excitement! The formula was very simple and the magnetic particles are even more responsive than my Sally Hansen magnetic polish. This top coat works best over darker polishes. I layered this top coat over Ledi by Julep.

Dance Legend Top Magnetic over Ledi by Julep

Over all, I would buy the magnetic top coat over and over again! I do not feel the same for the textured polish. I wish I knew what makes polishes have texture because in this case, I would franken Top Sahara and make it more rocky.

I purchased both of these polishes from LLAROWE's online store for about 10$ each.

Until next time,
xo

China Glaze Crinkled Chrome Collection

Hello Everyone!

Today, I have swatches from the China Glaze Crinkled Chrome Collection! These polishes have quite the effect because they are a mixture of two different finishes: chrome and texture. At first, I was not sure that I would ever be interested in a polish like this, but I found them on eBay for a good price so figured, why not? As it turns out, I thought this polish was really cool! Chromes tend to dry thin, so the texture is extremely rough (I scratched my leg after swatching and could feel the texture lol). This polish is also more forgiving than a normal chrome because it is not as streaky.

For the following swatches, I used two coats of each shade with no top coat.

First, we have Alluminate. This polish is a silver chrome with line and circle glitters for texture. The application was easy and the dry time was quick, as with most chromes. I love the crinkled aluminum foil look and am already thinking of nail art. :)

China Glaze Alluminate

Crush Crush Baby is a metallic lavender with the same effect as Alluminate. I wasn't a huge fan of this polish, as I was expecting the purple to be more vibrant.

China Glaze Crush Crush Baby

Last but not least is Iron Out the Details. This shade is an electric baby blue (is that even a thing?). It was my favorite out of the three polishes and I think that it is perfect for winter wear as it reminds me of ice.

China Glaze Iron Out the Details

A few notes about these polishes:
-They are not sold in stores. I purchased mine from eBay.
-They dry fast!
-They are rough... Rougher than most textured polishes.
-They ARE chromes, so be prepared for them to chip prematurely.
-You will spend most of your day staring at them. :)

Until next time,
xo