A blog about a girl, her nail polish, and some delicious noms.
Posts tagged purple
31 Day Challenge 2012: Day 6 – Violet Nails!!
258 months ago
Morning Everyone!
Sam, Cris and I are back again with Day 6 of the 31 Day Challenge 2012 with our violet nails! This is actually the manicure I wore for my birthday this past Sunday and I loved it soooo much! Less talkie, more polish…ie? 
31 Day Challenge 2012 – Day 6 Violet ‘Equalizer’ Nails!!
How effin’ amazing are these, right?! Hahaha, I don’t mean to toot my own horn here but I am SOOOO thrilled with how these turned out! Did I mention that already? 
I first saw this manicure done by @imichelley on Instagram. Her IG is private but somehow I was still able to pin the link to her mani to my Pinterest board so you can see it [HERE] (yay technology!).
I started off with 1 coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge 360, a gorgeous aqua teal blue with a subtle silver shimmer. Then I carefully added 1 coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas (a deep purple creme) over half of each nail, because I didn’t feel like effing around with tape that day.
After both of those polishes had a little time to dry, I added short frenetic black lines down the center of each nail in varying lengths with a black nail art pen. Then I went back over the black area with my Sinful Colors Time Off polish (it’s the fine-tipped nail art polish version of their Black on Black). I think it looks like an equalizer bar on a sound system, hence my nickname for the manicure. ^_^
I loved how it looked plain, but I realllly had been wanting to play with my Enchanted Polish Secret Sauce so I added that too before I finished everything off with top coat. Secret Sauce changes its appearance depending on what its layered over and it has multi-chromatic shimmer. I love it! You can’t see it on my nails here, but depending on the lighting the shimmer went from red, to golden, to green! 
And here’s a photo of my mani before I added Secret Sauce and my top coat. Still gorgeous on its own but damn it, I wanted some ~*~sparkle~*~ for my birthday.
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So what do you all think of this bad-ass mani?! I certainly love it and I want to do Equalizer nails with ALLLL the colors now!
For those with grabby hands: RBL 360 and Mismas can be purchased at rescuebeauty.com, and Enchanted Polish is available through Llarowe or Harlow & Co (though it’s currently sold out on both sites). ^_^
Don’t forget to check out Sam and Cris’s blogs to see their Day 6 violet nails!
* Some of the product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
Review: New Fall 2012 Takko Lacquer Collection!!
23
Morning Lovelies!
I hope you’re all having a great Wednesday! I’m pretty pumped because American Horror Story (wiki|FX site) is having their season 2 premier tonight!! Sadly I have to work so I’ll miss most of it but I have my DVR set. Did anyone else see the season 3 premier of The Walking Dead (wiki|AMC site) this past Sunday? HOLY CRAP. 
I’m a HUGE fan of the graphic novel series and I was pretty displeased with season 2 (aka, the longest farm visit ever and how hard is it to keep an eye on Carl?!), but this first episode of season 3 definitely made up for it.
Today I’m also excited to be able to share the new Takko Lacquer collection with you!! Sheryl blew me away with her last collection from this summer so when she contacted me with news of her four new pretties I was already getting excited before I even knew what they looked like! Then she posted her inspiration boards on her blog and I just about died.
Well these pretties showed up at my home on Monday and I had to… HAAADDD TO swatch them right away. This is a VERY picture heavy post so I’ll be putting the images behind a cut today. I’m going to show you everything on its own AND also layered over black because…. oh man, they’re glorious! Let’s get right into it, shall we?
Guest Post For LTHP… Lightning Strike Nails!!
68 months ago
Allo Everyone!!
I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be taking over for the evening post on Let Them Have Polish today! Head on over to Cris’s blog so see more of this awesome manicure that I whipped out for her.
Lightning Strike Nails
Review: Pixi Fall 2012 Nail Polish Collection Swatches
15
Morning Everyone!
I hope you all are having a great week so far. Two of my favorite shows had their season premiers in the past few days. Dexter was on the 30th (holy crap!) and season 8 of Supernatural premiered last night! It’s on my DVR and it’s the first thing I’m watching when I get home from my midnight shift on Thursday morning!! October is seriously the best, all of my fave shows are coming back this month! I cannot WAIT for season 3 of The Walking Dead to start because I absolutely love this section in the graphic novels (oh haaaay Michonne and OMG THE PRISON!). And then a few days later season 2 of American Horror Story begins!!
Now that I’m done rambling, I’ve got three great polishes from the Pixi Fall 2012 collection to share with you today! These little beauties surprised me at home one day and I couldn’t wait to try them out! And then life happened and it took me a few weeks to get to them. My world. Oy. Let’s move on to the swatches now!
Amazing Amethyst
Amazing Amethyst is a pretty medium purple shimmer. I had to color correct the heck out of this one because my camera hates taking accurate photos of some purple polishes, it almost always want to make them blue! What you see is pretty damn close to how it looks to the naked eye. I’m patting myself of the back for finally figuring out how to color correct my nails without making my hands look jaundiced.
The formula on this one was great, this is 2 easy coats.
Classy Cocoa
Classy Cocoa is a gorgeous taupe brown with golden shimmer. I loooooooove this one! This is such a perfect smokey Fall shade! The formula was great for this one as well, I only needed 2 coats for opacity. ^_^
Evening Emerald
Evening Emerald is not emerald at all. It’s actually a blackened teal blue-green packed with shimmer! I absolutely LOVE this one. Flawless formula, just like the other two. I only needed 2 coats with this one as well. I can see myself wearing this polish on my toes a LOT this Fall. What’s great about Evening Emerald is that the shimmer is visible in almost all light settings.
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Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed all three of these polishes quite a bit! Amazing Amethyst is the least unique of the bunch, but it had a great formula and it’s still a pretty shade. Classy Cocoa and Evening Emerald were clear winners for me here, and they’re definitely my top picks out of the three.
Purchase Info:
You can find the Pixi Fall 2012 polishes at Target stores and online at Target.com for $8 each per .25 oz bottle of polish. They are also available online at Pixibeauty.com for the same price. I still think they’re a bit overpriced for the amount of polish you get, but the formula is great so that’s something to think about when considering this brand. 
* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
Review: Contrary Polish Swatches!
13
Morning Everyone!
Today I’ve got Contrary Polish swatches to share with the class. This is another Indie line that is brand new to me. These lovely polishes arrived with my EPIC nail mail from Llarowe. I’m still slowly working my way though that pile, haha!
I’m pretty excited about these polishes because they’re another Indie brand that has stepped out of the glitter market. All six of the polishes I was sent for review are gorgeous jelly or jelly-creme hybrid shimmers! Let’s move on to the swatches shall we?
Gilded Oak
Gilded Oak is a gorgeous ‘plummy brown with golden shimmer’. I love the depth here! It has a thin formula but it’s easy to work with. I used 3 thin coats for opacity. Just look at the shimmer in that macro shot!! ♥
Firebrand
Firebrand is my kind of red! She’s a deep raspberry jelly (YASSS) with red, orange and pink shimmer. Amazing formula, and again easy to work with. Since it’s a jelly finish, make sure you’re waiting a few minutes between coats to avoid cuticle drag. This is 3 coats.
Purple Smoke
Purple Smoke is described as a ‘blue grey with purple and blue shimmer’. This one has a jelly-creme hybrid finish, my favorite kind! I love the subtle shimmer in this one. This is 3 coats.
Bright Night
Bright Night is a ‘deep blue jelly with aqua and silver shimmer’. I am a sucker for these blue jelly/shimmer combos, so I obviously love this one. Anything that even remotely reminds me of the much sought after Essie Starry Starry Night is a win in my books. This is 3 coats. There’s a little VNL so you’ll probably need to layer this or do 4 coats to reach full opacity.
Inky Fingers
Inky Fingers is a gorgeous polish! This one is a blurple (blue/purple) jelly-creme hybrid with blue and green shimmer. It’s absolutely stunning and I love that the shimmer shows up in almost all light settings. ^_^
I used 3 coats here, but I would have been able to get away with 2 if I’d waited a bit between coats.
Creeping Moss
Creeping Moss is Fall in a bottle! This one is described as ‘olive green with pink and copper shimmer’, but it looks more brown with olive green undertones to me. Whatever color it is, I frickin LOVE it! This one has the thinnest formula of them all but still reached opacity at 3 coats. ^_^
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Final Thoughts:
Wow! What’s not to love about these polishes!? Shimmer and jelly-creme formulas are at the top of my favorite polish finish list, so these beauties by Contrary Polish really hit the spot for me! It’s hard to name a favorite, but if I had to choose my top picks would be and Creeping Moss, Gilded Oak, Firebrand and Inky Fingers since they are the most unique to my polish collection.
Purchase Info:
You can purchase full sized bottles of Contrary Polish through Llarowe. They retail at $11.00 per 15ml bottle of polish.
For mini bottles and invoicing for custom orders, you can contact Carrie at the Contrary Polish blog. You can also find updates and news on upcoming collections there too, as well as the Contrary Polish Facebook Fanpage.
Contrary Polish is a 3-Free brand.
* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
Guest Post for Love. Varnish, Chocolate, And More…
28 months ago
Hello Everyone!!
A few days ago I did a guest post for my girl Deborah over at her blog: Love. Varnish, chocolate and more… Head on over there to check it out if you haven’t seen it already!
Bottle Shots: Glitter Gal Nail Polish
49 months ago
Morning Everyone!
Happy Guild Wars Early Access Weekend for those that also pre-purchased the game like I did! I’ve been waiting for this game to release since I first heard about them making it back in 2007! I was a huge fan of the first Guild Wars, and I’ve been enjoying all the Beta Weekend and Stress Test events for GW2 for the past few months. I might be a little quiet online for the next four days because I’ll be thoroughly lost in the wonderful world of Tyria. I’ve scheduled posts through next week!
If anyone else will be playing this weekend, come find me in-game! My Guild Wars ID Tag is Nymeria4326. ^_^
And now back to the polish! I posted nail wheel swatches of these Glitter Gal nail polishes a loooooong time ago on Instagram. I’ve yet to actually swatch them on my nails, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy the bottle shots! ^_^
Glitter Gal Nail Polish
From Left to Right:
Transitions Soft Blue
Transitions Soft Violet
Transitions Soft Green
Transitions Soft Red
From Left to Right:
Coober Pedy Green
Lightening Ridge
Andamooka Blue
Serpent Black
From Left to Right:
Hidden Violets Soft
Daybreak Soft
Evening Light Soft
Furnace Glow Soft
From Left to Right:
Wild Violet Brilliant
Last Light Brilliant
Red Night Sky Brilliant
Fiery Furnace Brilliant
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I layered these all over Serpent Black when I swatched them on the nail wheel and they are really pretty! I will eventually get around to swatching them on my nails in the not-so-distant future.
You can see who stocks Glitter Gal in your area by checking out the Glitter Gal Store Locator on their website. ^_^
* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
NOTD: Sally Hansen Arabian Night
15Morning Lovelies!
I completely blame Stephanie from Imperfectly Painted for this polish finding its way into my clutches. She featured it on her blog a few months back and it was love at first sight. Then she told me where to buy it online and it was a done deal.
Sally Hansen Arabian Night
Sally Hansen Arabian Night is a polish from their Salon Nail Lacquer line that was originally released back in 2008. I liked polish back then but not the way that I do now where I actively looked at polish while I was out shopping. I’m kicking myself now because I would have had some GREAT polishes in my IKEA Helmer if I’d started my collection in those days.
Arabian Night is an absolutely gorgeous grape purple shade that’s filled with golden shimmer. Words cannot express how much I love it! It has a great formula and it was opaque in 2 coats. Just look at that macro shot, it’s bursting with golden shimmer goodness! ^_^
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Sadly, you can’t find Sally Hansen Arabian Night in stores anymore… And now that I think of it I really haven’t seen anything as amazing as Arabian Night from their Salon Nail Lacquer line in quite some time. The good news is that you can still find Arabian Night for a good price online at Cassie Cosmetics or their sister site on eBay.
I love discovering older gems like this. What are some of your favorite older/vintage polishes?
Review: OPI Germany Collection Fall 2012
17
Morning Everyone!
I’m here to show you swatches for the OPI Germany collection for Fall 2012! I really enjoy OPI’s regional themed collections, though I STILL need to swatch the Holland collection from this past spring. I’m a slow poke. Anyway, this collection is made up of 6 creme polishes and 6 shimmers.
I used Cult Nails Get In On base coat and Wicked Fast top coat for all my swatches show here today.
Photos behind the jump! Speaking of which, do you all prefer pictures behind the cut when it’s a larger collection like this? Or would you all rather have all the photos out in the open without a photo jump?
Takko Lacquer Collection Swatches and Review
51
Morning Everyone!
I hope you’re all having a great start to your weekend! I’m looking forward to having a nice weekend off to spend time with my friends and boyfriend. And maybe throw in some swatching and gaming. You know, the usual stuff. I’m really excited to show you a polish brand that’s entirely new to me. Sheryl, the creator of Takko Lacquer, contacted me last month and asked if I would like to swatch her new 8 polish collection. I took one look at the polishes and said hell yeah! Each color looked beautiful, shimmery, and well made. All traits that I look for in an Indie polish brand.
According to Sheryl’s FAQ page on her Etsy shop, Takko (or Tako) means Octopus in Japanese. Which I love because they’re one of my favorite animals! I also like that all of her products are made with safe, top quality pigments/ingredients that she researches before she uses them in her polishes. All Takko Lacquers are also 3-free, no formaldehyde, no toluene and no DBP (Dibutyl Phthalate). And they are vegan and cruelty free!
Once I had the polishes in hand they looked even more beautiful than in pictures. Let’s get right into the swatches! I used Cult Nails Get It On base coat and China Glaze Fast Forward top coat for all of my swatches today.
Blushing Nude
Blushing Nude is a nude light beige with a flash of pale pink shimmer. It’s a great ‘band-aid but better’ shade, and I can see myself using this as a base for nail art in the future. I really enjoy nude polishes that have a little bit of “oomph” to them, so the hidden shimmer is a winner for me here. This is 2 coats. It’s thicker, but not horribly difficult to work with. If you’re careful you could probably get away with 1 coat here. ^_^
Here’s a shot of Blushing Nude with flash so you can get a better look at the shimmer. Me gusta.
I Love Rock & Roll
Sheryl describes I Love Rock & Roll as a “deep black jelly lacquer with bursts of pink shimmer and micro glitter”. The pink shimmer has a multichromatic/glass fleck quality to it that reminds me of the darker polishes in the Models Own Beetlejuice Collection. But I Love Rock & Roll is definitely not a dupe to those. I think of it as their American cousin.
I used 3 coats here to reach the opacity I preferred. It’s a little on the thick side, so you want to wait a few minutes between coats or you’ll get cuticle drag. And yes, I did get the song stuck in my head.
Kaleidoscope Eyes
This polish has my heart y’all! Kaleidoscope Eyes is a gorgeous… GORGEOUS blue/green/purple multichrome polish that’s filled with holographic shimmer! The purple was camera shy but it’s there, I promise! It reminds me of the Ozotic Mish Mash polishes and the Beatles Collection by Enchanted Polish. I really did not want to take this one off to swatch the other polishes in this collection, I loved it that much! Kaleidoscope Eyes has a thinner, easy to apply formula. I did use 3 coats here, but 2 would have been perfectly fine.
You can see the holographic shimmer pretty well in this shot. It’s not in-your-face, but it’s definitely noticeable in most light settings. Another great thing about this polish is that it’s Spectraflair Free! She uses a natural mineral based pigment with holo qualities instead. There has been some concern in the polish world lately about the safety of Spectraflair in cosmetics, so it’s nice to know that Kaleidoscope Eyes can achieve the same holo glow without Spectraflair. ^_^
Kiss The Sky
Another winner here! I posted a sneak peek shot of Kiss The Sky on Instagram and my Facebook fanpage the other night and I’m pretty sure everyone fell in love with this one too! If Max Factor Fantasy Fire and Clarins 230 had a baby, that baby would be Kiss The Sky. It’s a ‘blurple’ jelly with green/orange duo-chrome shimmer, just look at that macro shot!
And this baby has a great build up, all I used here were 2 coats of Kiss The Sky! I can’t wait to try layering it over other polishes.
Lemon Macaroon
Lemon Macaroon is a FABULOUS yellow jelly creme that’s filled with orange/green duo chrome shimmer. This polish is amazing! It’s so hard to find great yellows, and this one is SO so fly. Yes. I said fly.
It has a great thin formula and I achieved full opacity in just 2 coats, which is a feat for any yellow polish. So basically, if you love yellow polish YOU NEED THIS.
The Blue Flamingo: MIA
The Blue Flamingo: MIA is Sheryl’s tribute to Miami. Sheryl is also an artist and fashion designer in real life so she spends a lot of her time traveling back and forth from Miami and NYC (haaaay Fashion Week! ). I like that she found a way to incorporate that into her polish line. ^_^
The Blue Flamingo: MIA is a sky blue jelly that’s filled with pink glass fleck shimmer. The pink is hard to capture on camera but you can see if in the macro pretty well. I used 3 coats here, and once again make sure you wait between layers to avoid cuticle drag with this one. The finish on this one is almost metallic, it’s a nice change up from the rest of the collection.
The Electric Apple: NYC
The Electric Apple: NYC (her tribute to New York City) is another surprise hit for me. I love the combination of the cement grey creme and the golden yellow shimmer. I don’t have anything quite like this in my collection! It really has that glowing-from-within feeling that I just love in polishes. It’s a little thick, but not unmanageable. I used 2 coats here, but it has the potential to be a careful 1-coater. ♥
Here’s The Electric Apple: NYC with flash. O.M.F.G. I cannot wait to wear this in the sun!
Wanderlust
Last, and absolutely not least, we have Wanderlust. This wonderful polish is described by Sheryl as a ‘smokey lilac jelly creme hybrid lacquer with vibrant teal shimmer’. I couldn’t have said it any better myself. And man, Wanderlust is AMAZE-ING. I used 2 coats here, but again it could be a 1-coater if I didn’t rush it. It has a thick formula, but like the others in this collection with a similar consistency it was not hard to work with.
And here is Wanderlust with flash. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS?!
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Final Thoughts:
I’m pretty much smitten with my Takko Lacquer polishes! I can be pretty picky about my Indie polish brands, but Sheryl and her lovely polishes have definitely won me over! If her debut collection is this unique and versatile I cannot wait to see what Takko Lacquer has to offer in the future! My top picks for this collection are Wanderlust, The Electric Apple: NYC, Kaleidoscope Eyes, Lemon Macaroon, and Kiss The Sky.
If I have one single complaint about the polish it’s that the brushes are a little tricky to work with initially. They are full length but a little soft/loose, if that makes any sense. Not loose as in ‘strands falling out’, but loose as in you get a little too much polish on the brush. It takes some getting used to, and I think it caused me to have to use 2 coats instead of 1 coat of polish on a few of these. But really, I can handle a minor brush complaint when the polish is this gorgeous!
Which ones are your favorites?
Purchase Info:
Takko Lacquer nail polishes can be purchased on Sheryl’s Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/takkolacquer! They retail at $15.00 per .5 fl oz bottle of polish. And she DOES offer international shipping! Check out her shop policy page for more details on that.
They’re a little pricier than some Indies but I think that this collection is certainly worth the money. ♥
This Just In: Sheryl just let me know that she will be discounting all Takko Lacquer polishes to $12.00 per bottle to celebrate their first full review on Nails and Noms! Thank you Sheryl!! I’m not sure how long this sale will last so snatch ‘em up ladies!
MOAR Updates!: Holy cow did those polishes sell out fast! But Sheryl stated that she plans to restock her Etsy shop on Friday, August 24th and she will extend the sale until then as well! For further updates, stay tuned to Takko Lacquer’s Etsy Shop. ^_^
* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
