Cupcake Polish American Beauty Collection Swatches and Review

*Press Sample*

Cupcake Polish is coming out with a super holo collection called American Beauty. Each Polish is named after a city here in the United States and all of them are gorgeous strong linear holos!

I was sent three of these for review:

Cupcake Polish - Chicago

Chicago is an amazing, unique, stunning light purple. I have a TON of purple holos, but this one is totally different from all of them. It's kind of between pink and purple... maybe orchid? The pictures portray it way more blue-toned purple than it is in person. It's much brighter and pinker. And freaking awesome.

Cupcake Polish - Dallas

Dallas is a bright coral red base with amazing holo flame. I now have over 200 holo polishes and this is absolutely unique in my collection. Most of the red holos I have lean very pink/fuchsia, but this one has a little bit of both pink and orange which gives it the overall coral color. I'm not usually a huge fan of reds, but I think this is my favorite of these three.

Cupcake Polish - New York

New York is a vibrant teal blue. Although I have quite a few teal holos, this is one of the most saturated ones, and the holo is super strong without making it look greyed out.


All three polishes had perfect, easy to work with formulas. They were all almost opaque in one thin coat, and completely opaque in two. They have none of the dragging, patchy issues that some holos have and don't require any special base coat. I actually swatched all of these with no base coat because I'd been warned that they might stain some and I wanted to test. Honestly, I had very minor staining with both Dallas (red) and New York (teal) (none with Chicago), but all it took was an extra clean cotton ball and it all came right off. I think a single coat of regular base coat would probably help with that too.

I have to say, I'm incredibly impressed with these. I've been on a huge holo kick lately, and I've been scouting out all of the very best brands. Cupcake Polish is definitely one of them. There are three more polishes in the American Beauty collection:

Los Angeles - Pink
Denver - Green
Miami - Orange

(Swatches for these can be seen in the shop)

The American Beauty collection is going to be available (in somewhat limited quantities) in the Cupcake Polish shop on September 29th at 12pm Central time. They will be $12 for a full size bottle.

What do you think of these Beauties?? Are you as enamored as I am? Seeing as I only got mini bottles to review I will be in line for some full size bottles.  I'm dying for Dallas, Miami, Denver, and Chicago!!

(These products were sent for review.)

Stars and Stripes! (Well... Dots and Stripes, anyway)

Happy 4th of July!

I used Urban Outfitters Silver Holo (dupe for Color Club Harp on It) with Jade Vermelho Surreal on top for the stripes and Rescue Beauty Lounge Dead Calm with OPI DS Glamour on top for the blue base with Silver Holo dots.

Color Club Harp on It is still readily available right now, and Jade Vermelho Surreal goes in and out of stock on Llarowe and Ninja Polish. RBL Dead Calm and OPI DS Glamour are both discontinued and most likely going to be hard to find, but Glamour has some "dupes" being made more recently (one is Glamorous by Ninja Polish). Dead Calm is a dark blue creme, so there are probably some similar polishes out there.

In support of Chalkboard Nails!

Today I decided to make a tribute to one of my favorite nail blogs: Chalkboard Nails.

The blog owner, Sarah, is incredibly talented in the realm of nail art, and has provided inspiration to so many nail polish fanatics, including me. I'm actually lucky enough to live in the same neighborhood with Sarah, and get to hang out with her every once in awhile. She's very sweet, social, and just plain fun to be around.

I decided to try one of Sarah's signature hand poses, though my hands don't look nearly as graceful as hers do...  *sigh*  :o)

Chalkboard Nails Houndstooth

(American Apparel L'Esprit and OPI Just Groovy)

I kinda of suck at stamping, but I'm determined to practice and get better at it. I was pretty happy with the results this time, even though they didn't come out perfectly.

Here is a picture of the inspiration (just in case she changes the background in the future. She's had quite a few really awesome ones so far!):

Sarah has actually had a bit of backlash of hateful comments and emails after having requested that a particular Instagram user credit her when using her pictures. Not an unreasonable request, but the IG user retaliated in a disgusting manner, and I feel so bad for Sarah having to deal with the aftermath. She works so hard not just on coming up with original creative designs, but also in the execution AND superb photography of them. She definitely deserves to be cited when her pictures are shared. 

So I wanted to show her my support, and tell her just how much I personally love her blog and nail art.

You're amazing, Sarah!

CrowsToes - Triple Black Diamond: Swatches and Review

Ahhh, I LOVE this polish! I swatched it on just my thumb first but was so crazy about it I had to put it on the rest.

CrowsToes - Triple Black Diamond (over China Glaze Liquid Leather

Triple Black Diamond is actually a clear base that's full of small black, purple, silver holo and DUOCHROME SQUARE glitter.  It's mostly opaque at three coats on its own, (which makes the individual black glitter more prominent).  I decided to layer it over black to make the other colors stand out more, and it has incredible depth!   It also looks amazing over A England St. George (Steffels has some awesome pictures of it, which is why I bought this polish in the first place).

CrowsToes polishes can be purchased from Llarowe's shop, but you have to catch them when they're in stock!  

Wet n Wild - Cost is No Issue: Swatch and Review

We all know I love glitter, so I was pretty thrilled with a lot of the Wet n Wild Ice Baby Collection. Here is yet another beauty from that set. (The first two I reviewed were Diamond in the Rough and Back Alley Deals)

Wet n Wild - Cost is No Issue

Cost is No Issue is a clear base chock full of teal micro glitter and small sky blue hex glitter. This is my FAVORITE glitter combination (mix of micro and small glitters in complementary colors that are opaque in a couple coats), and this one is quite pretty. Nails Inc Fitzroy Square is a dupe.

This is not a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid Dream, but honestly I love this one so much more. Mermaid Dream always looks so... chunky. I've heard that it's actually smooth, but I don't care for how it LOOKS so bumpy and textured. So to me, this is Mermaid Dream's way more awesome sister - a wonderful, even more sparkly alternative! WIN.

I think it'd be very unlikely to find this one in stores anymore as it was released sometime last year, but Nails Inc Fitzroy Square may still be available (though a bit more expensive).

Claire's Starstruck - Cosmic: Swatch and Review

I haven't gone to Claire's polish-hunting in awhile, so I was pretty excited when I found this pretty polish the other day.

Claire's Starstruck - Cosmic

Cosmic is a sparkly purple with what looks like micro glass flecks in violet and blue. I think it's a tad more purple (less blue) than the pictures show, but it's close.  It is part of the Starstruck line, which parallels the Color Club Take Wing collection (the Claire's polishes actually say "Color Club" on the back), except that Take Wing doesn't have this purple, and Starstruck doesn't seem to have the yellow. I love the chunky square bottle it comes in.

4th of July Nails

Happy 4th of July!

Right now I'm missing my family in Michigan because we usually have a huge party that lasts all day/night with tons of beer, food, and fireworks. I LOVE family parties!

These are the nails I did to celebrate (I DO get to go over to my grandparent's and have a little party with them and my aunt and uncle). I used Revlon Royal for my left ring finger, China Glaze Phat Santa for my right finger and OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? for the base on the rest. Then I layered All That Glitters Glitter Glory over the ring fingers and sponged it on in a gradient French over the others. It is very easy to apply with the brush, but I had a little trouble sponging it. I do love the result, though!

I bought Revlon Royal in a drugstore a few months ago, so I think it's readily available. Phat Santa was part of the China Glaze 2010 Christmas collection, but there are a lot of red creme/jellies like it. Glitter Glory was purchased from the All That Glitters Etsy shop, but it doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment. Hopefully it will return!

A Starry, Starry... dupe? CM - Midnight Imposter

I'm not one for buying expensive nail polishes unless they are extremely unique. I'm always on the lookout for cheaper dupes or a way to franken-dupe my own for less. This is a polish I saw on a couple blogs and I thought it looked a lot like Essie's very-hard-to-find Starry, Starry Night.

CM - Midnight Imposter

Midnight Imposter is a rich royal navy blue jelly with lots of small silver hex and square glitters. The formula is wonderful. It is opaque at two coats, but for a little extra depth I used three coats for the pictures and one coat of Cult Nails Wicket Fast on top and it came out glassy smooth. In short, it is beautiful and everything I would hope Starry, Starry Night would be if I ever decided to pay the high prices for it (which I won't... the only time I've spent $30+ on a nail polish was when the money was going to charitable causes).

Now after I've looked up Starry, Starry Night again, I see that it appears to have smaller micro glitter instead of the slightly bigger pieces in Midnight Imposter, but honestly I like the look of Midnight Imposter more. Because the glitter is a little bit bigger and more sparse, it actually looks like individual little stars, and I love how some of the pieces get buried underneath jelly layers to appear to be different shades of blue along with the silver. It's classy and chic indoors and sparkly out in the sun!

I got Midnight Imposter from East Bay Beauty Supply, and the cost and shipping was very reasonable in my opinion. I feel like I've seen CM polishes in store as well, but I can't remember where.

Tony Moly Galaxy: Swatches and Review

I finally caved in and bought the Tony Moly Galaxy collection. We all know how much I love glitter, so it was only a matter of time... At first I was only planning on picking up the two or three that were my favorite, but I'm glad I got all of them because most of the others won me over completely!

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Tony Moly - Mercury

Mercury is made up of lots of small silver glitter with some sky blue and red mixed in. The base is slightly tinted grey, but it doesn't make much of a difference because the glitter is so dense. This is the most shiny of the set, and ended up being one of my favorites.

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Tony Moly - Earth

Earth is a translucent navy blue base with steel colored micro glitter and small fuchsia holo glitter. It's not as sparkly as Mercury, but still incredibly interesting!

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Tony Moly - Mars

Mars is a mix of small copper and micro orange glitter with a sprinkling of royal blue micro glitter that's not always apparent. In fact, I couldn't really see it in the bottle until I held it in the sun. I kind of wish the blue glitter was a tad bit more prominent but it's still a really awesome accent! I love brown and copper glitter so I figured this would be one of my favorites.

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Tony Moly - Neptune

Neptune is a crazy blend of green glitters in a sheer green base. From what I can tell, it has olive/gold and forest micro glitter as well as medium grass green hexes. I love green polish and glitter, but didn't expect to like this one as much. I wish it had another accent color like the rest of them to add a little bit of pizzazz.

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Tony Moly - Jupiter

Jupiter is comprised of small lavender and indigo glitter and medium cerulean blue holo glitters, but to spice things up it also has a sprinkling of copper micro glitter! I wouldn't be nearly as captivated if it didn't have the copper, but this ended up being one of my favorites as well!
*Aside note:  This one kind of reminds me of The Hungry Asian's Sea Creature because of Sea Creature's purple micro glitter accent amongst the teal and blue.  LOVE.


I was surprisingly impressed with this collection! All of them had wonderful formulas that were opaque in two coats (however, they all required at least a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to make them glassy smooth) and they weren't too thick like some glitters can be. I was so enamored with the "accent" colors in all of them, especially Jupiter.  The odd thing about them was that none of the bottle actually have the planet names on them (in English, anyway). They are labeled GT01-GT05.  Also, Neptune is 04 and Jupiter is 05... weird.

My only complaint is that they didn't do one for ALL of the planets! MOAR GLITTER!

I bought my set of these off ebay and they range from about $32-35 for the set or $7-9 each.

Paris Sparkles - Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise: Swatches and Review

Most of the polishes I've bought in the last two months have been from Etsy shops. Here are two from a shop called Paris Sparkles: Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise.

Paris Sparkles - Chataigne

Chataigne (which is "chestnut" in French, I believe) is a tinted auburn base with small tan and medium silver holo glitter. This is my favorite of the two, especially since I recently discovered my love for brown glitter. It's just incredibly flattering and sparkly! It takes three coats to build up to be opaque, but it seems to dry quickly so it's not a hassle at all. It requires a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to be smooth.

Paris Sparkles - Cobalt Surprise

Cobalt Surprise is a royal blue jelly with lots of small silver and medium silver holo glitters. I think it originally had pink and/or purple glitters, but they may have bled off their colors into the base. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful royal blue glitter that's easily opaque in two coats. This, too, requires a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to be glassy smooth.

Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise (as well as MANY other beautiful polishes) are available in the Paris Sparkles Etsy shop for $7.00 for a full-sized (15mL) bottle.

The Hungry Asian - Sea Creature and Sneeze Breeze: Swatches and Review

The Hungry Asian has made some incredibly unique and beautiful polishes. I picked up two of them recently, Sea Creature and Sneeze Breeze, and they are pretty incredible.

The Hungry Asian - Sea Creature

Sea Creature is a mix of dark emerald micro glitter and medium blue holo hex glitters with a sprinkling of small violet glitter. I've seen a few random pieces of medium silver holo hexes as well in there, but they're kinda rare. This is all in a clear base, but it covers almost completely in two coats on its own, or in one coat over a base color (shown here over Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal).

This color JUMPED into my favorite nail polishes of all time. The teal/green/blue overall tone of this plus the holo sparkles is a very stunning combination. Add in the little purple sparkles here and there and it is a true winner in my book. It also has a great formula that only requires a coat of Gelous and a coat of SV to be glassy smooth. I don't think there is a single thing that could make this polish better than it already is.

The Hungry Asian - Sneeze Breeze

Sneeze Breeze is a mix of neon blue and black glitter in a clear base. The formula on this one is a little tougher. It doesn't dry quickly like most glitters, so you have to wait quite a while in between coats or it stays gummy and creates globs when you add the second coat (you can see on my ring finger that I didn't wait long enough and it got a little lumpy). Two coats is all that's needed, but it's a pretty thick formula. BUT if you have the patience, the end result looks so cool! Like the Nailventurous lacquers, the matte neon glitters have an amazing overall effect - it's like sprinkles of color without the bling.

The Hungry Asian has an Etsy shop where you can buy these and her other awesome polishes. They come in full sized bottles for $8.50 or cute little mini heart bottles for $4.50.