Showing posts with label essie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essie. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas Eve! Lots of Holiday Manis

 Merry Christmas Eve! I have been very busy the past few weeks (first with finals, then with family and festivities and such) so I haven't gotten a chance to post all my Christmas manis - so here are some now!


First up is Chaos & Crocodiles There's Magic in the Air, a bright blue holo with a silvery sheen, from the December Sweet Addictions box. I layered Elevation Polish SBP Peteroa, a mix of various blue and silver glitters, over it. These two went together perfectly - so pretty! I am in love with this C&C.
outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
Next up is Different Dimension Why Am I Such A Misfit?, a white crelly packed with various pink, blue, yellow and purple glitters. Very cute! I am a sucker for white crellies with rainbow-y glitter, so I loved this one.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
 Next up is KB Shimmer Sugar Plum Faerie, a warm purple base with various purple, pink, and green glitters. Very pretty!

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
 Next is Lynnderella Sugar and Ice, a mix of various red, white, green, and a few pink glitters in a sheer white crelly base. I layered it over Essie Marshmallow to help with opacity. Love this one, so Christmassy!

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
 Last up is Pahlish Ruby Red Wrapping, a bright pink-leaning ruby red holo. I layered Lynnderella One Nutty Fruitcake, a mix of rainbow and black square glitters, over it. Love this combo!

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade

You can find Chaos & Crocodiles at their website and Facebook~
You can find Different Dimension at their Facebook or website~
You can find Elevation Polish at their Facebook or website~
You can find KB Shimmer at their store or Facebook~
You can find Lynnderella at their blog, Storenvy, and store~
You can find Pahlish at their website or Facebook~

Have a wonderful day! ♥ 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

NOTD: French Mani with a Twist

Hello friends! Today I have a simple NOTD I did awhile back for the school career fair. I needed something professional, but wasn't feeling a neutral or red or anything, so I decided to try my hand at a freehand French mani! I have definitely tried them before in the past, but that was back in what I think of as my "pre-polish days" - that is, when I wore and consumed nail polish like a normal person, instead of the obsessive kind :P So, while those past attempts were quite unspeakably ugly, I thought I might have a little more success now - and I was right!

I started out with two coats of Essie Adore-a-ball, a sheer pale pink. Then, I used the classic Essie Marshmallow, a sheer white, on the tips. I was worried about this, but it turned out quite nice! In the past I had always tried to draw on tips by just dragging the brush horizontally across the edge of my nail, which I think makes it very easy to end up with an uneven line. This time, I decided how thick I wanted the "tip" to be, then did short vertical swipes from that line to the tip of my nail. This gave me a lot more control I think, and made it easier to get the line exactly how I wanted it. Finally, to add a little kick (because I can't stand not to sparkle) I added an unlabeled iridescent flakie polish I found for some added shine :) Take a look!

outdoors, sun
I was very happy with this mani - hope you all love it too! Now that I know I can manage them, I expect I will be doing many more French tip manis in the future :)

Have a lovely day! ♥ 

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Classic Films Nail Lacquer Halloween Collection & More!

Hello lovelies! I reviewed a bunch of fantastic Classic Films Nail Lacquer pretties awhile back, and today I have a few more to share with you. And two of them are Halloween polishes, which means yay! I love holiday-inspired polish :)

up to down, left to right: Queen of the Pirates, Gilda, Chinatown,
The Screaming Skull
The Screaming Skull is a sheer sparkly white with multi-color shifting flecks, as well as pastel blue, yellow, and pink shard glitters, and white skull glitters. I layered this over butter LONDON Cotton Buds, a white creme. I love this one! It was designed to look like sugar skull candy, and I think it hit the mark perfectly. I did struggle to get the skulls on the brush a bit, but other than that application was perfect!

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
indoors, daylight lamp+flash
sugar skulls!
On my nails:
3 coats butter LONDON Cotton Buds
2 coats Classic Films Nail Lacquer The Screaming Skull
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Gilda is a reddish-pink shimmery base with gold microglitters and fuschia square glitters. I layered this over Essie Sure Shot, a fuschia shimmer. Very pretty! No problems here, the glitters came out of the bottle and spread across the nail very easily.


outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
indoors, daylight lamp+flash
On my nails:
2 coats Essie Sure Shot
1 coat Classic Films Nail Lacquer Gilda
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Chinatown is a shimmery sparkly gold base with holo rainbow microglitter, gold holo square glitter, and black microglitter and bar glitter. I layered it over Catherine Arley 807, a metallic gold holo. I adore this one! I love love love how sparkly and blingy it is, and the gold + rainbow is just a  perfect combo.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade
indoors, daylight lamp+flash
On my nails:
2 coats Catherine Arley 807
1 coat Classic Films Nail Lacquer Chinatown
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Lastly, Queen of the Pirates is a blackened gold shimmery base with red microglitter and white skull glitter. I layered it over Cult Nails Nevermore, my go-to black creme. This one is super complex and cool to look at - love that blackened shimmery base! Again, the skulls were hard to get out of the bottle but other than that no trouble with application.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
indoors, daylight lamp+flash
On my nails:
1 coat Cult Nails Nevermore
2 coats Classic Films Nail Lacquer Queen of the Pirates
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

As I expected I was super impressed with all of these beauties! I really love the unique colors and inspiration behind each polish from Classic Films - and application is always such a breeze! Great colors and application - what more could you ask for :)

If you'd like to check out Classic Films Nail Lacquer be sure to visit their Etsy and Facebook!

Have a fantastic day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Classic Films Nail Lacquer  for an honest review~

Friday, September 13, 2013

Classic Films Nail Lacquer Swatches and Review

Hello lovelies! Today I have several pretties from a new-to-me indie brand on the blog! Classic Films Nail Lacquer is a fairly new Etsy shop that opened up this summer, and I was lucky enough to receive seven polishes to share with you guys!

left to right, up to down: Spellbound, Sunset Boulevard, They Live By Night,
Lured, Impact, D.O.A., Lady of the Lake

Lured is a shimmery olive green base full of sky blue and gold hexes, squares, and microglitter. I layered it over China Glaze Rare & Radiant, a gold/green duochrome. This combo is perfect I think, so if you have R&R or any of the other Chanel Peridot dupes, definitely try this pairing out! Application was lovely, really easy to spread across the nail, and I love the color combo.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
2 coats China Glaze Rare & Radiant
1 coat Classic Films Lacquer Lured
1 coat HK Girl Top Coat

They Live By Night is a blue-tinted base full of sapphire blue microglitter, and silver small hexes, moons and stars. I layered it over Color Club Blue-topia, a dark blue jelly. Application was great here as well, didn't even have trouble getting the fun glitters out. This was so pretty and sparkly! I am always a sucker for "night-sky" type glitter polishes, so this was a favorite of mine from the start :)

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
2 coats Color Club Blue-topia
1 coat Classic Films Nail Lacquer They Live By Night
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Lady of the Lake is a periwinkle blue base with an aqua shimmer and full of baby-pink microglitter and small hexes. I layered it over Essie Smooth Sailing, a periwinkle blue with silver shimmer. Again, application was fantastic, no issues at all. I really like the aqua shimmer here, it was totally unexpected and a really nice surprise when I stepped out into the sun!

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
2 coat Essie Smooth Sailing
1 coat Classic Films Nail Lacquer
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Impact is a shimmery white base base with pink and red small shards/hexes and black bars/diamonds/circles. I layered it over OPI My Vampire Is Buff, a white creme. Application was a little tougher here than the others, in that it was hard to snag the circle glitters on the brush (and to a lesser extent the diamond glitters as well). Still not that bad, not much fishing was done for what you see here, and I think it turned out pretty good! I really like how sparkly the base is also.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
3 coats OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
2 coats Classic Films Nail Lacquer Impact
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

D.O.A. is a gray base full of satiny lavender, pink and pale green hexes, iridescent shimmery microglitters and tiny holo bars. I layered it over China Glaze Sea Spray, pale gray-blue creme. No issues with application here either! This one is super subtle; I like how there is actually quite a bit going on but it all blends so well together to create such a classy look.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
2 coats China Glaze Sea Spray
1 coat Classic Films Nail Lacquer D.O.A.
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Sunset Boulevard is a clear base full of gold and brown hexes, tons of holo gold microshimmery glitter, and the occasional lavender hex as well. I layered it over China Glaze I Herd That, a coppery gold glitter. Again, application was great. I love this one so, so much! The warm cast to the gold makes it really flattering - I don't care much for yellow, almost green-leaning golds, but this one is right up my alley. I especially like the sparks of purple, which make it really special. And this one is so sparkly too! Definitely one of my favorites.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
2 coats China Glaze I Herd That
2 coats Classic Films Nail Lacquer Sunset Boulevard
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Lastly, Spellbound is a shimmery pink base full of various satin light pink and yellow hexes, iridescent shards, and red hearts. I layered it over Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Fae, a shimmery fuschia. I had the slightest trouble getting glitter on the brush, but it wasn't that tough - and other than that no issues. This is a super pretty color, and I love how the glitters blend together with the base.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
2 coats Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Fae
2 coats Classic Films Nail Lacquer Spellbound
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

So I layered all of them over matching base colors initially, but as I was applying I noticed some of them seemed like they would have no trouble reaching opacity, so I thought it would be helpful to all to check how they looked on their own! They all ended up with decent coverage, some more sheer than others but it's really up to how you feel about sheer polish in the end. Below you will find skittle swatches, all at 3 coats each:

outdoors, sun - left to right: Lady of the Lake, Impact,
Spellbound, They Live By Night
outdoors, shade - left to right: Lady of the Lake, Impact,
Spellbound, They Live By Night
outdoors, sun - left to right: D.O.A., Sunset Boulevard,
Lured, They Live By Night
outdoors, shade - left to right: D.O.A., Sunset Boulevard,
Lured, They Live By Night

And there you have it! I was incredibly impressed with these pretties from Classic Films; with each and every one of them I was just the teensiest touch sad every time I had to take them off. Application was great and the color combos were all super sparkly and beautiful. I have been taking a bit of a glitter break recently (kind of been all holo, all the time) but these definitely rekindled my life for all things sparkly :)

If you'd like to check out Classic Films Nail Lacquer be sure to visit their Etsy and Facebook!

Have a great day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Classic Films Nail Lacquer  for an honest review~

Friday, July 26, 2013

Sweetheart Polish Swatches & Review

Hello hello! Today I have another new indie brand on the blog. Sweetheart Polish is a fairly new Etsy shop, and the creator, Cassandra, was nice enough to send me a couple pretties to share with you guys :)

from left to right, up to down: 9ers, Disco Mike, Mermaid's Magic

Disco Mike is a clear base with silver and pale green dots and tons of silver shimmer. According to Cassandra this one can actually reach opacity, but I chose to layer it over Essie Mojito Madness, a grassy green creme instead. Application was nice, I didn't have any trouble spreading a good amount of glitter over the nail in one coat. I love the intense shimmer here! And super-love that it was inspired by Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., one of my favorites :) Dying to see Monsters U when I get a chance!

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
On my nails:
2 coats Essie Mojito Madness
1 coat Sweetheart Polish Disco Mike
1 coat OPI Topcoat

9ers is a clear base full of tiny gold flakes, tiny holo gold squares, red satin tiny squares/microglitter, and red and white matte hearts. I layered it over Cult Nails Nevermore, a black creme, to show all the glitters off. I really like the warmer, yellow tone to the gold, which I find more flattering than a cooler more metallic shade. Application was pretty good like Disco Mike, though I did have to fish quite a bit to get those hearts out, but that is to be expected, especially in a mini.

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade
 On my nails:
1 coat Cult Nails Nevermore
1 coat Sweetheart Polish 9ers
1 coat OPI Topcoat

Lastly, Mermaid's Magic is a sheer silvery blue base with a green shift and a subtle scattered holo effect, with assorted blue large and small dots, small squares, and microglitter. A lot going on here! This goes on really sheer (the official description mentions it can actually be layered as a shimmery glitter topper) but builds quite well, and even though there is a lot of glitter in there I didn't have much trouble applying it - the large circles actually came out very easily even. The pictures are fairly accurate in terms of how it appears in person -- it looks more sheer and silvery in sun, but in lower light it reads a mostly-opaque slightly frosty pale teal. Very pretty color! I don't have anything like it at all, very unique :)

outdoors, sun
outdoors, shade - love this pic!
 On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
3 coats Sweetheart Polish Mermaid Magic
1 coat Seche Vite

Overall, I really enjoyed trying out Sweetheart Polish! Application was really nice on all of them, and they have a nice mix of glittery toppers and polishes that reach opacity on their own, which I appreciate - I love that several can function as either a topper or reach opacity on their own, it's like two polishes in one! :)

To check out Sweetheart Polish be sure to visit their Etsy shop and Facebook~

Have a fabulous day!♥

~This polish was provided by Sweetheart Polish  for an honest review~