You Know When You Forget About Swatches For Months?

Hey guys. You know Christmas in July? It's about to be Christmas in March. I just found a treasure trove of random Christmas polishes I had saved up apparently for a rainy (snowy?) day for all of you and since the weather here still thinks it's winter, here's some polishes that agree. Also, I just am so lazy about blogging I can't be arsed to get to my camera to connect it so you'll probably be seeing some vault photos for a bit. Excuse my cuticles and nail shape and yada yada but these are fairly old and before I went nuts and changed my whole photography method so anyways shutting up now okay.

 First is Candy Lacquer Deck the Halls over Essence Cafe Ole. All I wrote in my notes for this is "❤❤❤❤❤" so that must explain exactly how I felt about this at the time. Red, green, white, and gold glitters (some of them holo or iridescent) in a clear base. Not usually a gold fan but 5 hearts just about explains all there is to say.

Next is Lacquerhead, which was new to me about this time. I believe they had a Black Friday sale where I got My Boo (the orange and black on my left two fingers) and Just Be Claus (the red and green on the right). Both of these are layered over white. Great glitter payoff!

Finally, JENsations Spirit of Christmas, which is red and green glitter in a clear base. You should be able to see right off the bat what drew me to this and if you don't, either you don't read my blog enough or you don't know me at all! *sobs* *storms off dramatically*

There we go, your least seasonally appropriate, most confusing, strangest post of the day. You're welcome and happy Friday!

xoxo,
Amanda

January Untrieds!

Hey everyone! Writing this last night (as you're reading it, anyway) and my blogging BFF Amanda just revealed her big secret I've been holding in FOR WEEKS: she's having a little baby! I'm so excited for her so today's untried is my homage to her in that JENsations is one of my favorite indies and Amanda is one of her favorite people... and glitter is mine and Amanda's baby... okay, I'm stretching here. Basically, these are my only untrieds from JENsations so I am dedicating them to Amanda's baby, okay?!

I layered Snow Angel over Hits Melon. To give you an idea of what the base of this polish is, here's Melon on its own for comparison (PS this is more green in person and it's a little streaky as this is only one coat):

This is one coat of Snow Angel. Snow Angel has a shimmery white base and has some translucent white glitter in it. The glitter was a little sparse but I think that's intentional so you can see the shimmery base. It was really easy to get glitters because they lay against the flat side of the bottle.

Next up is Locket which is the complement to Key to My Heart. You may remember when I swatched KTMH over purple it was perfection so I wanted a purple version so I could wear it over pink and wear them together in a skittle mani (probably for Valentine's Day). I named it Locket because... you know, key to my heart and the locket... so.. yeah. It's black, white, and purple matte glitter in all shapes but including hearts and I LOVE THIS. Like I love Amanda and her future baby (see what I did there? it all comes full circle, people). I layered one coat over two coats of Elf Mango Madness (which is my only Elf untried!!! LOOK AT THAT! so many full circles today, people!). It's really gorgeous and I love love love this. Jen does awesome customs!

Okay, chatty Cathy mode off! Last is Christmas Cookie which is obviously for Christmas. It's red and green glitter in a white base and it's great! It reminds me of one I have by Lacquerhead which I will be posting soon. This is two coats over white creme undies.

Finally, a bottle shot because they're just so pretty to look at. Happy Tuesday!

xoxo,
Amanda

Belated Untried Challenge: JENsations Swatches

Hello again... today's post is to make up for Tuesday's post I forgot about. Amanda remembered and Madeline might need some reminding! haha However, when I'm making up for my wrongdoings, I make up really well and today I have some fantastic glitters from JENsations!

First up I have Pinata which I layered over Hits Hello Kitty Candy. I included a swatch of that one alone first:

Then Pinata! This was two coats, really easy application. Pushed around a little bit but it leveled itself out really well. I loved that these glitters seem almost translucent and not so in-your-face like some rainbow glitters (though we all know I love those, too!).

Here's a bottle shot: these star bottles are by far my favorite!

Next up is Wild One, which is part of her Bachelorette collection. I'd love this one just for the name because it reminds me of Flo Rida's song of that name and that was the song I remember playing on the radio a lot when I first started dating my boyfriend <3 Anywho... this is 1 dabby coat over Barry M Lemon Ice Cream.

Finally, Key to My Heart! This one is one of my favorites and this swatch actually became a NOTD! This is 1 easy coat over Barry M Berry Ice Cream. I loved this one so much I had Jen create a purple, black, and white one I named Locket so I  could do a mix and match mani with lavender/pink nails and opposite glitters :) (she's in my swatch bin!)

There you have it! Jen's polishes are available on Etsy for $8 and the bottles alone make them worthwhile! She does a great job making sure the polishes are high quality and with her customs she ensures they're exactly what you're looking for. I've had her make two customs for me already and she's my go-to shop! Check it out :) /end plug ;)

xoxo,
Amanda

November Untrieds Part 5

Hello! Almost the end of the week yayyyy! I'm actually off work tomorrow because tonight I'm seeing Bassnectar with my boyfriend. When we started dating, I took an interest in his musical tastes, of course, and Bassnectar is probably my favorite of all his music he introduced me to - so I'm pretty excited! I'm DEFINITELY excited for having tomorrow off. I used to have all Fridays off work but had to work them to make more money, so having one off now feels like a real treat!

ANYWAAAYYYYY... today's pictures are awful. Maybe my battery was dying or maybe I was lazy or maybe my life malfunctioned? I don't know. But it's not the best photography ever so forgive me. I needed to do my next day of mine and Madeline's challenge and apparently I overlooked that my photos SUCK. ... uh. Ahem. Moving on.

China Glaze Jungle Queen was actually an accidental purchase for me. I found it on clearance at Sally's and thought it was Elephant Walk... which, of course, it wasn't. So I grinned (grun?) and beared (bore?) it and tried it anyway. I don't love it, don't hate it. It's a dusty purple with shimmer (ughhhh I hate shimmer) but it looks gray in some lights. This was two coats and it applied well.

Then I added a coat of JENsations Follow Your Heart. This is black and white matte glitters (including hearts, eeeee!) in a clear base. If you're running to Jen's shop now to buy it, you're going to be disappointed - because this was a custom one made for me! However, everything used was a combination of glitters from her other polishes, so if you're lemming it you could probably request "Follow Your Heart" or just do what I did and tell her you want a custom polish with all the matte black and white glitters she has except bar glitter. :)

Here's a bottle shot of Follow Your Heart. I absolutely LOVE this polish. Jen did a great job (by the way, custom polishes by Jen are $9.20 - the .20 is to cover a listing fee - and she's so quick and dynamic! I definitely recommend her custom polishes!)

There you are... sorry this post was 90% NOT China Glaze, oops!

xoxo,
Amanda