Leftover Rainbows

Well, in all the hullabaloo of trying to keep up with challenges, I swatched far more rainbow-themed polishes than I'd realized. I'm only now finding the hidden folders of rainbows! Here's a few for today :)

Nfu Oh 66, which is the green holo. This is two coats and I took these in my lightbox, no base coat or top coat. The formula on these is tricky: WAIT between coats and you should be fine, but I was a bit impatient and you may notice some bald/thin spots. Or maybe you won't, because you'll be mesmerized by the holo.

I swear I also swatched the light blue one (65) but the swatch eludes me. I'm losing it. Anyway, it's like the green one but baby blue. :)

Deborah Lippmann Let's Go Crazy is a deep purple based rainbow glitter jelly. I got this for a ridiculously good deal on HSN for $8 back in the day (Amanda did too, because I told her about the deal. she's welcome.) I have to own pretty much all of DL's versions of rainbow glitter because she really started all of these shenanigans, and I love it.

These pictures are three coats and it's still pretty sheer but the glitter takes away from that, I think. I stopped at 3 coats because IRL this wasn't as patchy but, of course, lightboxes and bright lights are bound to show all the flaws.

Okay, done with rainbows for now... probably for a little while but believe it or not, I have even MORE swatches saved up. Rainy day vault photos, someday.

xoxo,
Amanda

Glimmer by Erica Sweethearts

Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday! Today is my one day of outreach so this morning I'll be driving all over and then at work later for a bit, still out at 4 so I can't complain! The weather is getting nicer here which is making it so much easier to be a New Englander :)

Today I have a quick swatch for you of a Valentine's Day polish I bought, but it's actually pretty appropriate for any time of year. Glimmer by Erica Sweethearts is below, layered over white undies. There's a whole rainbow of hexes in here and pink matte hearts (my main reason for loving this, obviously).

I used two coats of Sweethearts just because with milky-based glitters, I prefer to use two layers to still get some of the layering effect of glitter and the base color. I love the combination of glitters in this and think it's sheer enough that it could easily be used over a base color and just mute it while incorporating the glitter. I also LOVE the label - I'm a sucker when there's a custom label that's different for each polish (versus a brand's logo and then a separate label with the polish name).

xoxo,
Amanda

Quick Post and Plug

Hey everyone! First up: I'm having a blog sale, I've made a list rather than taking photos since this will be easier to keep up with so please check it out. I have some black label OPI, lots of indies, some limited edition China Glazes, etc. I didn't list shipping because I'll figure it out on a case-by-case basis depending on country, how many you want, etc. but I'll be reasonable (starting around $2). Email me at az270890@yahoo.com if you're interested in anything! The document is here.

Onto the swatch of the day, an old one from when I was growing my nails out and apparently my cuticles rebelled. This is 2 coats of Julep Charlotte, a pretty purple creme.

I added Pretty and Polished Hello Dolly. There's two photos because the first one is the most awkward hand pose ever but shows the polish better than the second where my hand is normal *shrugs*

xoxo,
Amanda

Rainbows: Candy Lacquer Spam!

Happy Thursday! Today is my Friday since I don't work Fridays so I'm pretty pumped for that. Today I have about a million Candy Lacquer swatches because I apparently have been hoarding them in my vault not to mention some recent ones so go grab some popcorn or another snack, get some water, and go potty before we begin. Go ahead, I'll wait. The polishes will be under the cut whenever you're ready (I have EIGHT to show you).

High Vault-age & Vintage Lulu

The good news is that when I'm lazy about what to post (i.e. pulling pictures from my vault), I up my pun game and you get fun titles like today. Get ready for the puns, BOOM. (Actually, I'm not very punny, so don't set your expectations very high.)

Lumina Lacquer Chinese Lanterns over some nude polish. I honestly just searched my notes for about 15 minutes and either this swatch occurred while I was dreaming (it is a dreamy polish) or I forgot to write notes down. Anyway, you get the idea. Of course, this is the quintessential "Amanda polish" with hearts and lots of glitter. I am really fond of Lumina Lacquer, she's made her way up into my very favorites!

Here's Sinful Colors Flutter. This was 3 coats and it had an annoying, gloopy formula. I think this might already have a new home for someone with patience and thinner :)

I added Memo's Mind Faerie Dust which was super easy to apply and this is one coat. There's butterfly glitter in there, can you find it?!

Last for today is Nicole by OPI All Kendalled Up. This is two coats and the formula was just perfect. Plus, I actually really liked this color on me. It's a little more red IRL.

I added Different Dimension Rainbows & Butterflies on top which is not for me. Nothing with her formula or anything but I wasn't a fan of the shimmer which overloaded it, IMO. Definitely a very fairy feel (which I guess relates more to the previous glitter than this but we're on a fairy theme now, people! Keep up!). She also has found a new purpose, which you'll be seeing in the next couple days in the form of a giveaway :)

Finally, please enjoy this vintage picture of baby Lulu. This is from my October 3rd album so it's when she's not quite a year, I think. She quite enjoys my lightbox and I frequently chase her out of it but this particular time she had already started napping, sitting up, when I got to her so naturally she stayed inside and you guys get a picture instead. Enjoy!

xoxo,
Amanda

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

Case of the Blahs & the Cure!

Hey all! I'm sorry for my blogging absences lately. It's been one thing after another. I have this whole huge explanation typed out and if you care, it's after the cut but I didn't want to bog you all down with a lengthy post if you didn't ask for it ;) Anyway, today's post is a quick swatch of Lynnderella The Present is a Gift over white which I did a couple months ago (hence my nubs) but it seems appropriate. We all have to remember to be thankful sometimes. Also, the cure to any blah feelings is glitter and Lynnderella does it so well.

Anyway, there you have it. Hope you guys have a good week and hopefully you'll hear from me again soon :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Pretty Me Polish Review

TGIF! This weekend feels like such a blessing. Today I am also blessed to have some Pretty Me Polishes that Jeannette was sweet enough to send me! Let's dig right in!

First is Galaxy which I layered over black. This is just one coat but it covered really well! The patchy spots are user error, not the polish's fault. Galaxy will be part of a line of polishes using the same glitter but different base colors. This would be perfect for a galaxy mani!

Next up is Shortcake. I layered it over China Glaze Pink-ie Promise and the ring finger is Expressionist Red. This was made up of a really dense glitter combination in the pink realm, which is, of course, right up my alley! This would have been perfect for Valentine's Day but since I'm a girly girl this will work anytime ;)

Finally is Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, which is teal and magenta dot glitters in a yellow base with fine iridescent glitters. I layered this over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, so you can see the base is pretty opaque yellow, but it's sheer (this is about 3 coats) so it definitely needs a base color. This was really fun and bright, perfect name!

Ta da! Which was your favorite? I'm sure you can all guess mine ;) I also want to add that Jeannette actually sent me TWO packages because USPS lost the first one, and I think that says a lot for her customer service that she'd send out a second one for a reviewer! These are (or will be soon) available on her Etsy shop and retail for $8 for a full sized bottle.

xoxo,
Amanda

MOAR RAINBOWS

Some more rainbows today. Rainbows WITHIN A RAINBOW, as a matter of fact. I did some skittles using a few crelly-based rainbow glitters I had in my untrieds bin and this is what happened:

The blue is Pretty and Polished Party At Joe's (which I got primarily because my boyfriend is named Joe, so, yeah...) and the rest are all minis I got from a set from Claire's with no names. The lavender on my pinky is very reminiscent of It's A Trap-eze except a lavender base. They're actually all pretty unique, who knew?

Don't forget to go check out Amanda and Sarah!

xoxo,
Amanda

Untried Creme + Glitter + Jelly

Last day of the month and last untried creme! I never thought I had a glitter addiction until trying not to use it... just kidding. I've always known about my glitter addiction.

First up is the creme: China Glaze Dance Baby, which my buddy Jamie sent me. This applied perfectly and was so shiny on its own! I love pinks and this won me over immediately.

Then I added Studio M Poparazzi, which was kinda chunky and a little hard to manage but whatever:

And finally, OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! on top to make it a yummy jelly sandwich <3

Here's to March - the theme for our untrieds is "rainbow". You'll have to wait and see what that means! Go see what Amanda and Sarah are wrapping up the month with.

xoxo,
Amanda

Stop! It's a Trap(eze)!

Happy hump day! It feels so weird for me because the last few weeks I've had Mondays off for snow, sickness, or holidays... so Wednesday feels like Tuesday! Anyway, we're nearing the end of February, hope you get all your comments in before March 2nd because I'm drawing a winner sometime that day! I'm going to do this again next month but I have to round up some prizes first :)

Today's post is China Glaze It's a Trap-eze. At first, I was really overwhelmed with the amount of glitter in the bottle and I didn't like it much. I thought it'd be hard to work with and lumpy and too much going on to really be pretty, but, happily, I was wrong! My glitter-lovin' heart loved this! This is about three coats, I believe... but my notes are basically that I was just really excited about this so they're no help. No top coat in this photo but I'm sure it would help with any texture issues, although all the glitters sat flat on the nail.

What a glitter beauty! Do you own this one? I'm glad I didn't sell my bottle before trying it because I'm sort of in love!

xoxo,
Amanda

Last Week's Untrieds!

Gotta make up for lost time today, folks! Here's a few untried cremes to make up for my absence last week (sorry about that!). Don't forget - my comment giveaway ends this week so get your comments in on these last few posts to up your chances. I think I'll continue this tradition next month! What would you guys like to see for prizes?

Anywho... gonna give you three manis today because I way overshot my goal of creme untrieds one swatching day and I'm making up for lost time.

Sation Drama Doll is the pink below. It was brighter in person but not quite neon since you can see below it dries shiny. This is three coats and it was streaky and took forrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to dry. I'll still use it again because I love pink.

Then you know me... step one: paint on a creme, step two: add glitter. This is OPI Lights of Emerald City from the new Oz collection. This was two coats as the glitter is fairly sparse on its own.

Next I tried Sally Hansen Wet Cement which my BFF Amanda sent me. This covered easily in two coats though it could have used a third and was a little thin for a normal creme. I fixed that...

 ...with glitter! Below is Black Cat Lacquer The Dream of the 90s Is Alive, which is a gray based crelly with a whole bunch of colors and black shapes. I like the sizes of glitter in this one because they're pretty consistent. Sometimes when a glitter has varying/huge shapes it makes it hard to manage all of the glitters on the brush. This was a dream to apply, one coat applied like normal polish and then I dabbed some glitter on some places/added a second coat if needed.

Finally, Julep Michelle. This is two coats of absolute blue perfection. Sorry the flash is incredibly bright on my skin and I look vampiric. I guess my camera can't handle the dark colors on me... but it's pretty color accurate, a little more navy IRL.

Then I added Cirque XX which Amanda sent me in a secret Cupid exchange and OMG AMANDA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. This is absolute glitter perfection. Love at first sight applies here. This was one coat, it was absolutely packed with glitter which is good because I never ever want to run out of this. Ever. *snuggles bottle*

So there you go, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xoxo,
Amanda

Untrieds: Sally Hansen Carribean Coral

Hey everyone! Sorry this post is late. I have another post I'm drafting too with my explanation of why but the post at hand is more important :) Today Amanda, Sarah, and I are back with our untrieds challenge and I actually didn't cheat (much).

This base is Sally Hansen Carribean Coral which is a red-leaning coralcreme, though the bottle looks like it has shimmer. It didn't translate to the nail so I'm calling it a creme :) Application was easy in two coats, no top coat in this picture.

Then I felt bored and had leftover Valentine's Day thoughts floating in my head so I did a simple skittle mani using my white dotter. My heart's wonky so it looks like a weird triangle but whatever. The glitter on my accent nail is Different Dimension Love Her? I Don't Even Lacquer! which had really good glitter payoff but I had to fish for the heart to get it out of the bottle :( It's a fun color anyway and I'll try thinning it for next time.

There you go, happy Thursday!

xoxo,
Amanda

February Untrieds .. 5?!

Hey everyone. I can't believe how this month is flying by. Already on my 5th untrieds challenge with Amanda and Sarah! Thank goodness because I'm craving more glitters on my blog... not that I haven't snuck them in anyway ;)

Today's polish is actually from Amanda so even more reason to love it! This is Sephora by OPI Read my Palm which is a really perfect green. I am not a huge green person but this is one of my favorite shades. This is two coats and it applied like butter. Also, don't you love Amanda's label? I love her so much.

I'm sure you all expected this by now. I had to add glitter, had to. I suck at this challenge. Who's idea was this anyway?! Oh, yeah... mine. *changes subjects* This is Naild'It Unique Hocus Bogus which I bought from Llarowe a while back and I haven't tried this either until now, but it's a perfect complement to the SOPI. Hocus Bogus has purple, blue, teal, and black glitter in various sizes. There's also some stars and I think maybe large round black glitter? But I might have imagined that. This is one coat which distributed pretty well on its own but I did go back and add a couple hexes to even it out overall. Really pretty polish!

Here it is a little closer to show it off <3

Anyway, have you guys noticed a difference in my photos? I've been trying a different technique and wondering what you all think. Please let me know in comments!

xoxo,
Amanda

Treasures by Tan Review

Good afternoon everyone! I totally thought I scheduled posts for this weekend but apparently I totally forgot with the long weekend... Americans have tomorrow off for President's Day- which leads me to ask: do you think Michelle Obama gives Barack a card on President's Day? Who makes such cards? Just a thought I had.

Anyway, Tanya of Treasures by Tan was kind enough to give me a blogger discount so I have a couple swatches from her. I swear I posted these already but apparently my mind is totally gone. Up first is Grama Cupcake which is a white base with all sorts of neon and ROUND glitters. The color is inspired by what Tanya's son calls her mother, how cute! I layered two coats over white and had no issues with application or fishing. You can see from the bottle this is PACKED with glitter, and no sinking.

My other pick was Star Light Star Bright Wishin' For a Cure Tonight which is a special polish for Tanya because it's dedicated to her son, Tyler, who has juvenile diabetes. 50% of the proceeds from this polish will go to juvenile diabetes research so if you're on the fence about it once you see it, hopefully that pushes you over the edge to order it!

SLSTBWFACT (what a mouthful haha!) is "different size/shape glitters in turquoise, purple, white, black, iridescent, and of course silver holo “wishing” stars all in a clear base" as Tanya describes it. I layered two coats over OPI DC Cherry Blossom and it was pretty easy to apply. I had to fish a little for the stars but nothing extreme, definitely worth the effort.

Hopefully I inspired you to check out Tanya's shop on Etsy because I was really impressed with her selection! Polishes are $8.50 for a full size except for SLSBWFACT which is $10 to account for the donation included in the cost. She also has a deal to buy 3 and get 1 free!

xoxo,
Amanda

Laquerlicious Review

Hi everyone! Hope you had a good Valentine's Day! I didn't celebrate really, my beau's mom is visiting and we decided to celebrate this weekend instead. Today I have some swatches from Laquerlicious. Michelle was kind enough to send me three of her polishes to try and show you so away we go!

First up is Garden Pansy, which I was unable to find a listing for on the Etsy shop, so it may be part of a new collection. I layered 2 coats over American Apparel Dynasty but it was probably buildable alone in two coats. This had a purple base with purple, blue, and magenta glitters in it. My only complaint about this was the smell: it smelled like a nail salon, which is bearable to others but it caught me off guard so I thought it was important to mention.

Next is Pink Granite, which has black, pink, and white glitters in a clear base. There's a couple shades of pink glitter in it too, which made it unique for me since I've seen quite a few black, white, and pink glitter combinations. I layered it over Cherimoya Blockbuster and it was really easy to work with. I used the typical dabbing application for indie glitters but didn't have to fish for glitter at all. I really loved this and next time I think I'll wear it over a pastel creme!

Finally is Washed Denim which is the blue complement to Pink Granite, almost. This seemed to have a greater variety of white glitters and the black glitter was finer than in Pink Granite but I really liked this color scheme. I layered it over Julep Popova. Important to note: there's blue ROUND glitter in this, which everyone seems to be really excited for lately - myself included. You can see a few of them towards the tip of my ring finger! I loved this combination of glitter and application was superb, this is just one easy coat applied like normal creme nail polish and I didn't really have to push anything around for the look below.

There you have it! I was really impressed by this brand overall and plan to purchase again soon. Laquerlicious is available on Etsy at $8.50 for a full size bottle. She has lots of polishes on sale and also a couple to benefit pitbull charities for $15. You can also follow her on Facebook or Instagram, her username is CreativeNailChick.

xoxo,
Amanda

Untrieds & Sparkle Nail Lacquer Review

Happy Valentine's Day! Umm... so... you may have noticed from my preview picture that this is a glitter. But you'd be wrong! I have an untried creme/neon as a base and it's China Glaze Pink Plumeria but I may have gotten a little excited and forgot to photograph that part... so... uh... put your imagination goggles on my friends, and block out the glitter. Then go over to Sarah and Amanda and see what people who can stick to challenge rules come up with ;)

Just kidding. YOU CAN'T BLOCK THIS GLITTER OUT. It's sparkletastic and gorgeous. But let me get back to that... Sparkle Nail Lacquer was kind enough to work out a deal with me and I picked out some stuff to review! Of course I chose Glitter Bomb, and none of you are surprised. Glitter Bomb is exactly what it sounds: all types of glitter in a clear base. I can see moons, butterflies, stars, and hearts on my nails and I didn't have to fish whatsoever. It was absolutely loaded with glitter and very easy to apply, although a couple of the larger glitters curled (see the big square on my pointer finger). I didn't notice any others curled in the bottle so it might have just been this one type. Either way, I was satisfied!

I also wanted to try her quick dry top coat, which is something I've been in the market for ever since my Wicked Fast dried up. I can report this top coat was awesome! Below is one coat and it could have used two, but this was a pretty dense glitter so I'm not surprised. It did dry super fast and it's now my current go-to top coat!

Alright, so now that you've seen all you need to see, head on over to Sparkle Nail Lacquer. By the way, this week they're having 14% off with VALENTINE14 so you can save on your glitter fix! Just a tip :) Happy day of love and remember that I love you!

xoxo,
Amanda

Inspired by... Pinterest!

Hello everyone, happy Monday! Today is my second Pinterest inspired mani with Amanda. On my Butter London Molly Coddled post, I alluded to the fact that there'd be another post with that color, so Molly Coddled is my base color for a mani inspired by this post by Dori Davis (which is a new-to-me blog but I'm obsessed with it now):

Dori used tape to create the hearts but I'm a rebel (Dottie? anyone catch that reference?!) and decided to freehand it (which should indicate to you why last week's Pinterest mani involved using heart glitter rather than my mad freehand skillz). Also, since it's "Inspired by Pinterest" and not necessarily "Copy Pinterest", I decided to only do hearts on my middle two fingers and used Candy Lacquer Love-ly Lavender on my pinky and pointer. The gray crackle is the one from China Glaze but I know you guys don't really care about that so I'm going to channel my inner lazy and not look up the actual name.

What do you think? I was amazed how perfectly my middle finger's heart cracked and even mentioned it on twitter haha! I think this is a good, muted way to show a Valentine's mani that isn't all red and pink and hearts. (Though there's nothing wrong with that in my book!)

xoxo,
Amanda

Silly Saturday!

Hi everyone! I hope you're all as happy it's the weekend as I am. You know that song "Everybody's Workin' For The Weekend"? Yep, that's perfect for me. Let's all have a listen while we see some pretty swatches!


Today I have some swatches from Silly Lily who was kind enough to send me some polishes to review and I'm so impressed! First off, here's the packaging:

Now onto polishes! First I have Bunny Eggs which I did a crap job of picking out base colors for. The green is Essie Da Bush and the yellow is Nerds Lemonade from a Claire's set... I thought the bright would bring out the pastel glitters but it just looks sorta... gross. So ignore my ring finger! Bunny Eggs has light pink, lilac, and green glitters in a clear base. There's some microglitter in there too which might be iridescent or tiny pastel glitters, my eyes aren't good enough to know which one. What I can tell you is that I love this! It's very glitter packed so there were no issues getting glitter onto the nail. Very easy to grab and place as you'd like them!

Next is Winterberry which I have an alternate name for but let me show you it first and let you decide which name suits it better ;) Winterberry is a light purple base with black and purple matte glitters. I layered this over Julie G Fairy Tale to conserve the polish itself. This application was super easy and the swatch below is two coats.

Now... Alaina helped me with this visual. What do you think: Winterberry or Purple Dalmatian? I think we all know the clear answer here.

Finally, I have Feelin' Hexy which was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. Lily told me to pick three polishes and almost all three were rainbow glitters, but I knew I needed to narrow it down to one because I'm a crazy person if I order just rainbow glitters, right?! So it took a lot of assistance from Amanda and Wes but both of them unanimously chose Feelin' Hexy as their #1 pick for me and I have to listen to my advisors. Feelin' Hexy is rainbow matte hexes in a clear base, really easily applied. I layered this over OPI Mermaid's Tears.

PS This polish combination is what inspired me to say to Wes I felt I was on a roll with my base color choices... hence, I'm the ACE OF BASE. Points for you if you know that band and now have one of their hits in your head. I'm not even sorry for that... you're welcome. 

Anyway, Silly Saturday complete! Silly Lily polishes are available on Etsy for $4 minis of $7 full size, which is one of the most affordable full sized indies I've ever encountered! Lily was also very friendly. I'll definitely be ordering from her soon (probably those other two rainbow glitters...)

xoxo,
Amanda