Girly Bits: Bette Davis Eyes

I'll be off shortly to spend another day exploring London, but I wanted to write up a quick post to share before I head out!  This polish is another beauty from the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and it's called Bette Davis Eyes.  

Bette Davis Eyes is a lovely pearly white polish with an amazing pink/purple shimmer and slight holographic sparkle, which was much more apparent in person than it is in my photos.  Take a look at the bottle in my photos for a better idea of what the shimmer and holographic sparkle can look like!

I used two thin coats for perfect coverage; the formula was slightly on the thicker side, but it made application very easy and I hardly had to do any clean-up.  Bette Davis Eyes naturally dries to a slightly textured finish which I loved, so that was how I chose to wear it.  However, since the texture isn't too rough, I'd say it would likely smooth out with 1-2 coats of a thick top coat, if you wanted to wear it that way.  

As I mentioned, this polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.   The website is currently down for maintenance, but is expected to be back up and running on August 13th. You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with the site, as well as new releases.  

I absolutely love how delicate and feminine this polish is, with the added interest of being textured!  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided for review and my honest opinion. 

Noho & Solitaire

Good morning! Just a quick post today with a black and white textured look I've worn for the past two days.  :)

I got a mini bottle of OPI Solitaire from my Secret Santa last month which had been on my wishlist for a while, and I finally got around to using it!  (Thank you Blair!)  I layered two thin coats over a silver polish which I'll keep a secret for now because swatches will be on the blog soon... 

I finally caved and purchased Nails Inc. Noho over the weekend, which is part of the Leather Effect collection.  I've got the burgundy and light blue and have been wanting this one forever, and I'm so glad I finally bought it!  It's a super awesome jet black with the really cool leather finish that I love.  This is two coats; it's opaque in one if you're careful, but it does wear at the tips pretty quickly.  

I really liked mixing the Liquid Sand and Leather Effect polishes in this mani; the different textured finishes were really fun together, and the black and white were a great contrast.  What do you think?  :)

piCture pOlish: White Wedding

Hi all!  This morning I have a gorgeous piCture pOlish shade to share with you, White Wedding!  :)

White Wedding is a gorgeous white jelly-ish base filled with light colour-shifting flecks, and was created in collaboration with Llarowe.  Here I've layered two thin coats over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, but I've also worn it built up alone in 3-4 thin coats before. 

Either way, my camera refuses to capture the true beauty of it.   SO frustrating!  I have worn this polish at least three or four times, and my photos never turn out as I'd like.  This is definitely one that you have to see in person, it's so stunning!  

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list. 

So... I tried.  But seriously, if you're looking for a lovely flattering white polish with that extra something, White Wedding is the way to go!  What do you think?  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review.  

Teal Spotted

I will not say good morning, since I neither feel good this morning, mean it is a morning to be good on, mean it is a good morning whether you want it or not, nor all of them at once.  (x)  I do, however, have some cool nail art I did last week to share with you. 

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and followed this tutorial by CutePolish on YouTube with Orly Le Chateau to create the spotted look. 

Topped it with one coat of Seche Vite.  This look was pretty easy to achieve once I figured out which of my perfumes worked best to create the spots.  The most difficult part was cleaning up, Le Chateau stains like crazy!! 

How do you like this look?  I think it's a great alternative for those of us who can't get our hands on OPI Spotted (though I'll take a look for it when I go to Europe in March), and there's infinite colour choices when you do it this way!  

I've got another post scheduled for tonight with something very exciting, so look out for that later!  :)

Chirality Nail Polish: Cereal Killers

I didn't have a very good morning yesterday, but once I came home to a new episode of Castle, lunch with my awesome grandpa, and some nail mail from Chirality Nail Polish, my mood was much improved.  If you like my Facebook page, you might have read that I did a ton of swatching yesterday.  I managed to get all four of the Chirality polishes done, as well as a few others.  This is probably my quickest turnaround time ever, I was just so intrigued by these polishes! 

Swatches and review after the jump!  :)

Indie January: Nubzen Claus Part 2

Day 18 of Indie January is a double feature!  You may remember last month that I showed you two polishes from Nubzen Claus, and today I have two more.  Take a look!

Ladies' Night is a magenta jelly base packed with orange, pink, and purple hex glitters and sprinkled with coarse holo glitter.  This polish is pretty sheer, so I layered two coats of Ladies' Night over OPI Casino Royale.  Two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth finish. 

Application was easy, no troubles there.  This is a beautiful polish, it's super sparkly and would be very appropriate for a ladies' night!  :)

Unicorn Drool is a white jelly with fine pink/purple shimmer in the base, which is sprinkled with rainbow shards. 

The base in this one can be problematic; if you try to use it alone (like I did twice before finally giving up) the base is goopy but super sheer, and the four coats needed for opacity take forever to dry.  However, for these pictures I layered two thin coats of Unicorn Drool over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and the formula was much more manageable when layering!  I was glad to find that none of the shards poked out with only one coat of Seche Vite, WIN! 

Why is it that the nail polish community is so obsessed with naming polishes after gross things that come out of unicorns?  (Unicorn Pee, Unicorn Poop, Unicorn Drool, Unicorn Farts, Unicorn Barf... The list goes on.)  I suppose the theory may be that whatever it is, because it comes out of a unicorn it must be awesome. 

You can find Nubzen Claus Nail Pretties on Etsy here, and on the Nubzen Claus website.   For updates, check out the Nubzen Claus Facebook page and Twitter. 

My favourite of these two is probably Ladies' Night, because I absolutely love that magenta base packed with sparkle!  Which is your favourite?  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

Indie January: KBShimmer Oh Splat!

Day 16 of Indie January; I've made it past the half-way point!  Today's polish is KBShimmer Oh Splat!, a super fun mix of multicoloured hex glitters in a white jelly base.  Take a look!

For these photos I've used three easily-applied coats of Oh Splat!, and topped with two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth finish.  Two coats applied carefully would have been enough for opaqueness in person, but I added one more coat to account for  my super-visible nail line and the camera. 

I think that this is a really cute and fun mix of glitter, and is a great way to wear rainbow glitter if you're not a fan of the super-blingy look.  I'm wearing this right now, and it's a nice refreshing change from all the dark colours I've been wearing lately.  To me it looks like rainbow bits birthday cake, and I kind of want to eat it... Tehehe :)

You can find KBShimmer on the KBShimmer website and Etsy store; they're also available internationally through Harlow & Co. and you can like the Facebook page for updates!  :)

I'll definitely be pulling this one out again in the spring, though the weather here isn't looking up any time soon.  How do you like this polish?  Are you a fan of rainbow glitters in jelly bases?  Leave a comment! :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

Candy Canes

I'm back after a (long-than-anticipated) Christmas hiatus to show you my Christmas day nail art, and I've included a quick tutorial at the end of the post!  :)

I started with 2 coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a coat of Seche Vite to speed up the drying.  After taping off stripes, I used Essie Macks for the red and topped the whole look off with two more coats of Seche Vite to smooth out the stripes.  

I say that this was my Christmas day mani, when in reality it only lasted the first part of the day.  Of course, thanks to Christmas and review packages arriving, I now have an obscene amount of untried polishes (and a storage rack!) so I had to paint my nails on Christmas day! 

Here's a quick picture tutorial for this look; it's pretty self-explanatory since I mainly made it to post on Instagram, but if you have any questions just leave a comment! 

My pile of untried and to-review indies has grown to the size of Mount Doom, so I'm planning to do a month of everyday indie polish posts.  I usually post sporadically so posting every day will be a challenge, but I'm really looking forward to it!  I hope you'll follow me along the way!  :) 

KBShimmer Winter Collection

Happy Monday! (That's the two cups of coffee speaking.)  If you're not a caffeinated as I am, I hope I can brighten your morning with this gorgeous glittery post featuring fove polishes from the KBShimmer Winter Collection!  Let's get right to it! 

Hex Appeal was inspired by New Year's Eve in Times Square, and is a "navy jelly base with magenta, silver and blue hex glitters. Tiny micro bar glitters add a bit of pop."

Hex Appeal covered perfectly in two thicker coats.  Application required a bit of work; I first applied it normally to spread the jelly base, and then dabbed around to evenly disperse the glitters.  Two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth, glossy finish. 

I'm sure you'll agree that the extra effort in application is SO worth the end result though.  Isn't this a stunner?  Definitely one of my favourites from the collection! *drool* 

Next up, Candy Cane Crush is "is loaded with red and white hex glitters in many different sizes. This polish is scented with vanilla peppermint, for a classic sweet mint scent."

I layered one thick dabbed coat of Candy Cane Crush over two coats of China Glaze Holly-Day.  This one is a hungry glitter, even with two coats of Seche Vite it was pretty bumpy. 

I absolutely love the vanilla peppermint scent, I wish every polish smelled like this!  It's not overpowering at all (unless you hold it up to your nose and inhale like my sister did when I told her it was scented) and I could still smell it the day after applying two coats of top coat!  This is a very versatile polish: over green for Christmas, pink for Valentine's Day, blue for 4th of July, and red or white for Canada Day!

For We Three Blings "we started out with a micro iridescent gold and then added faux gold flakes. To finish this polish off, we then added several sizes of golo holo glitter." 

I layered one easy coat of We Three Blings over three coats of Essie Macks, and topped with one coat of Seche Vite.  You can see the gold holo on my blurred index and middle fingers. 

This gold top coat is stunning, and applied like a dream!  I had such a hard time deciding what to layer this over; on my high-tech plastic bag tester swatches it looked gorgeous over everything, especially all the rich jewel-toned shades!  The combination of faux gold flakes and gold holo is so beautiful! 

Cocoa Nut is "a chocolate brown polish loaded with berry colored glitters in several shades of pink. Micro gold adds a hint of shimmer and shine." 

This polish goes on beautifully, I honestly forgot that I was applying a glitter polish!  Two coats covers perfectly.  The polish is left with a slightly grainy finish even after two coats of Seche Vite, but I had multiple people tell me "Whoa that's so cool, it's textured!"  Why yes, it is cool, isn't it?  ;)

Cocoa Nut flashes some other colours too, which you can see in the bottle shot above.  It's such a flattering shade of brown.  In fact, this post is a little late because I didn't want to take it off and wore it for two whole days!  Another favourite in this collection! 

All Decked Out is "a forest green Christmas Tree inspired base loaded with a mix of colored hexes in various sizes, gold holo hexes and a scattering of gold holo stars, as we know all Christmas trees need to be topped with a star!"

This one applied like Hex Appeal, a little dabbing was required to spread the glitters evenly.  Two coats of Seche Vite smooths it out perfectly.  The stars were hard to get, but I went fishing to satiate my desire to have a star on every nail... hehe!  :)

I absolutely love All Decked Out, yet another favourite in the collection.  The forest green jelly base is beautiful and gives the polish so much depth!  I got so many compliments on this one (sometimes after shoving my hands at their faces... like an insane person..."Look! I have Christmas trees on my nails!!")  Yea, this polish got me pretty excited.  It's just so Christmas-y!  :)

Now I'm in a super Christmas-y mood, I've been writing this post while listening to Christmas music for the first time this year!  :)  (Click here for my favourite Christmas song. You know you want to.)

You can buy KBShimmer polishes on their website here, Etsy shop here, and on Harlow & Co if you're not in the US.  Like the KBShimmer Facebook page to keep up-to-date with new releases and sales! 

No Castle Mani Monday post today because there's no new episode until the Christmas episode next Monday, but I hope this post made up for it!  Overall, I'm extremely impressed with this whole collection.  There's something for everybody in there, and you can bet I'll be reaching for them a lot this Christmas season (and some of them year-round!) 

Do you have a favourite in this collection?  Did you order any of them when they were released last Friday?  Comments are early Christmas presents!  :)  

*edit: Voting for the Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art Challenge is open until Wednesday.  Click here and vote for your favourite (or mine, up to you) ;) *

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for review and my honest opinion.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

My third successful water marble was frustrating for all the wrong reasons.  It turned out very pretty and the marbling was problem-free.  Great, right?  Sure, until I go to take pictures and you can't see a thing because it's too subtle and my fingers are orange! **EDIT: Thanks to Jen, I'm working on figuring out Photoshop Elements to colour-correct my photos.  No more orange fingers!**

This nail art was so pretty in real life and I was determined to get somewhat-decent pictures, so I painted over the lines with more polish to make it stand out more.  It's marginally better. 

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and marbled with Sinful Colors Cinderella and OPI Don't Tough My Tutu.  I then filled in the white with Essie Pure Pearlfection, and in an attempt to make the design more visible I went back over the blue with Cinderella. 

This nail art was inspired by snowflakes, and I think I captured it pretty well.  It was soft, delicate and shimmery, like a fresh snowfall!  :)  

That's the original picture right there, can't see a thing, right?  Anyways, I did this nail art for a contest, and I'd really appreciate it if you could go vote for my manicure here!  I'm working on swatches of some stunning polishes, and I'm so excited to show you soon! 

Mrs.P's Nail Potions: IHeartNY Collection

I've got something pretty exciting today, it's the entire I<3NY Collection from Mrs.P's Nail Potions!  There are 5 polishes in this collection, each represents one of the main characters in Sex and the City.  I've used Mrs.P's descriptions of the inspiration behind each different polish, and all photos are two coats without topcoat.  Let's get right to it!

Can't Colour Enough is "inspired by Samantha Jones and her colourful and out there personality and fashion.  It's a neon pink jelly with a little bit of extra fine holographic glitter for that shimmer and sparkle to represent the life in the fast lane aspect of Samantha and then is loaded with many different glitters of different shapes and sizes kind of like a party confetti to represent all the high profile PR events and parties that Samantha attended and organized/hosted."

Application on this one was a little tricky.  I dabbed on the first coat to get the glitter spread evenly, a second coat evened it out nicely and was much easier to apply.  At first glance I thought it would be a lot like DL/Claire's Candy Shop, but looking at it now, it looks like the pink sister of P&P Pool Party.  This one isn't personally my taste at all, but I think that the extra fine holo glitter adds a nice touch to an exciting polish!

All Lawyered Up is "inspired by Miranda Hobbs.  She has the simplest of style of all the girls and is the iconic redhead of the show.  Most times you see her in her straight-laced suits as she is a lawyer so I thought I would keep this Potion very simple and straightforward and bring in the red/orange to represent her hair.  It's a red jelly base with medium hex glitters in red and orange."

This polish applied fairly easily, it had a good consistency and the glitter spread itself pretty well with just a few extra strokes of the brush.  The vibrant orangey-red jelly base just screams "redhead" to me, it's so perfect!  I used two coats here for complete coverage, though I think it would look even better with a third to add more depth to the jelly!  (Please ignore the ding on my ring finger, silly me!)

Searching for Mr. Right is "inspired by Charlotte York and her forever search for the perfect husband.  Charlotte was always a hopeless romantic and believer in true love.  It's a white jelly with pink heart glitters and fine white iridescent and holo pink glitter.  It's very pretty and romantic and girly, just like Charlotte."

I like the finished look of this polish, but I think that my bottle was missing the iridescent glitter.  My photos look quite different from Bree's own photos in her Etsy shop.  Application was troublesome with this one; the white base is a little patchy  and the hearts needed to be placed on.  I think the base is maybe a little too opaque, I had hoped that the hearts would show through more.  I used two coats; probably would have been better with three thinner coats because it was getting a little thick.  Formula aside, I think this is a really cute and girly polish, and would be perfect for Valentine's Day!

The Big Apple is "inspired by Carrie's two true loves, Mr. Big and New York City.  It's a black jelly which represents the nice tailored black suits Mr. Big usually wears with fine silver sparkles to represent the spark between Carrie and Mr. Big and all the lights of NYC.  There is also white diamond glitter which I thought picked up on the crisp white shirts Mr. Big always wore under his suits and red hex glitters to represent the love that Carrie feels for both Mr. Big and NYC.  Red is also the colour of apples and NYC is the big apple after all!"

Unfortunately, my anticipated favourite of the collection was a bit of a letdown, and it's probably my fault.  I used two coats by itself because most the other swatches I've seen are over a black creme, and now I see why.  It's perfectly opaque by itself in two coats, but it's quite thick and the glitters don't sit well at all on top of each other.  I'll swatch this one again soon over a black creme, because I'm sure it will be tons better and I really want to love this one! 

**EDIT: I've reswatched The Big Apple; one coat over black with one coat of Seche Vite.**

The Naked Dress is "inspired by Carrie Bradshaw and her famous "naked dress" from Season 1 on her first date with Mr. Big.  It's a nude jelly with gold holo glitter in fine and medium hex.  The gold glitter represents the "Carrie" necklace that she always wore and treasured throughout the entire series."

I've saved my favourite for last!  Nude jelly with gold holo glitter?  Yes, please!  This nude is super flattering, and the glitter is so perfectly dispersed in the polish for a nice even coating.  Application on this one was the easiest of them all, not a hitch!  I imagine this would be a great work-appropriate polish, nude with just that little bit of sparkle.  My mom has had her eye on this polish ever since it came in the mail, you can bet the mini bottle of this will go pretty quickly! 

This collection is currently available at Mrs.P's Nail Potions Etsy shop.  She is also doing a giveaway this month where the lucky winner will receive (free of charge, all they have to pay is postage) a full-sized set of the entire collection!  For every bottle of Mrs.P's Nail Potions that is purchased during the month of November, you will get one entry into the giveaway!   You can keep up to date with Mrs.P's Nail Potions on Facebook and Twitter. 

I love The Naked Dress, but All Lawyered Up is a close second!  Which polish is your favourite from this collection? 


Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion.