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~

Plösh Swatches & Review

Hi guys! Sorry for being MIA for a bit - school has started back up and after a super-short break I am back to being very busy again :) Can't go without blogging for too long though without missing it too much! Today I have a new Etsy brand to show off. Plösh has a bunch of pretty shimmery glitters, and I have three to share with you guys today!

left to right, up to down: Rainbow Sprinkles, In the Weeds,
Uninterrupted Prosperity

Uninterrupted Prosperity is a sheer shimmery pinky-beige base with rose and copper metallic hexes, and iridescent and brown microglitter. I layered it over OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?, a pale beige creme. Application was really nice, the consistency itself was a little thick so I was surprised at how easily and nicely it spread across the nail. Very pretty! I don't do neutral much, but I couldn't help wear this for a day or so because it is so classy and elegant.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
2 coats OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?
1 coat Plösh Uninterrupted Prosperity
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

In the Weeds is a sheer shimmery white base packed full of blue and green iridescent glitter and shimmer. I layered it over OPI I Saw...U Saw...We Saw...Warsaw, a dark blue creme. Application was exactly like Uninterrupted Prosperity, it had a thick consistency but applied really nicely over the nail. Super pretty! I love how the shimmer transforms the dark blue base into a gorgeous teal shade.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
2 coats OPI I Saw...U Saw...We Saw...Warsaw
1 coat Plösh In the Weeds
1 coat Seche Vite

Lastly, Rainbow Sprinkles is a white crelly packed with tiny rainbow bar glitter. I super love this one! I have lots of white crellies with rainbow because let's face it, that's one of my favorite types of polish, haha. I love how unique this one is though - the tiny bar glitters are so cute! Application was decent, it went on super sheer but built up pretty well. I did four coats but you could probably get away with three if you were careful.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
4 coats Plösh Rainbow Sprinkles
1 coat Seche Vite

I really liked these! The application was fantastic on all of them, especially the shimmery glitters, and the also had the perfect about of glitter packed into just one thick coat. And I always love anything with rainbow glitter! :)

If you'd like to check out Plösh be sure to visit their Etsy shop!

Have a wonderful day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Plösh  for an honest review~

Me.Lissa Lacquer Swatches & Review

Hello all! I've got another cool Etsy brand to share with you today! Me.Lissa Lacquer has a nice variety of glitters and crellies, and I have three pretty glitters on the blog today.

left to right, up to down: Set My Heart Aflame, Ain't No Party Like a Gatsby
Party, Beautiful Little Fool

Beautiful Little Fool is a clear base with mostly small baby pink and white hexes, some darker pink holo hexes, and a smattering of yellow, blue, and iridescent glitters as well. I layered it over OPI What's With the Cattitude, a baby blue creme. It applied nicely enough but I didn't get a whole lot of glitter in each coat, so it would probably help to layer a couple coats to get a desirable glittery effect. Overall the glitter has a very pastel, spring-y vibe, very girly!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
3 coats OPI What's with the Cattitude
3 coats Me.Lissa Lacquer Beautiful Little Fools
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Ain't No Party Like a Gatsby Party is a clear base full of silver, gold and black hexes and bars and silver microglitter as well. I layered this one over Zoya Kelly, a dark gray creme. This one was much thicker than Beautiful Little Fool; the first coat was chock-full of glitter but still applied very nicely over the nail. I love this glitter! It totally reminds me of New Year's Eve. And I love the inspiration - hands-down my favorite book I read in school! (Can't believe I haven't seen the new movie yet.) 

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
2 coats Zoya Kelly
1 coat Me.Lissa Lacquer Ain't No Party Like a Gatsby Party
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Lastly, Set My Heart Aflame is a clear base with assorts small red, yellow and pink glitters, red, yellow and black microglitter, and red hearts. I layered it over OPI Suzi's Hungary Again!, a hot pink creme. This one was in between the other two as far as glitter payoff; one coat would be adequate, but I went with two for just a little more glitter on the nail. As one would expect, I had to fish for the hearts, but it wasn't actually too bad, since I was able to snag enough for one for each nail. I really like this one, it reminds me of Valentine's Day a bit but really, with the yellow thrown in there, the KC Chiefs! And I think it looks nice over the hot pink - very bright and pretty.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
3 coats OPI Suzi's Hungary Again
2 coats Me.Lissa Lacquer Set My Heart Aflame
1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

Overall, I really enjoyed these polishes from Me.Lissa Lacquer! The glitters had nice color combos, with great formula and application. And gotta love a Gatsby polish! :)

To check out Me.Lissa Lacquer be sure to visit their Etsy shop and Facebook page~

Have a fabulous day! ♥

~This polish was provided by Me.Lissa Lacquer  for an honest review~

Bucket List Alert -- TVXQ! Concert Mani

Hello folks! Today bear with me as I let my inner fangirl out and share an exceptionally special mani with you. Last Friday, I was absurdly lucky enough to fly out to LA and see TVXQ!, my favoritest favorites ever, live! I doubt many of you know who TVXQ are, lol, which is fine and to be expected. As a quick FYI, they are a (super amazing) Korean boyband that I have pretty much loved forever, it feels like, from afar (read: the Internet) and never ever thought I would get to see them live. Then last month, I think, I got an email that they would be having their first feature concert in the US! Now... I don't live in LA, alas, so it was a bit of a so-close-but-so-far moment... but somehow I convinced my parents that I needed to be at this once in a lifetime thing, and I ended up actually flying out with my mom! (She's become a bit of a fan herself through listening to my iPod, haha).

Of course, as you all, I'm sure, already know, a special occasion of this sort needs a special mani to go with it! I agonized for the better part of June over what exactly to do with my nails (even bought a few polishes just for this mani, and they didn't even make it into it... oops). I finally sort of settled on simple red holo (or more accurately, Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men, a red creme, with Enchanted Polish Djinn in a Bottle, a holo topcoat) with a single star rhinestone at the base of each nail (which leaves me with 5 stars, which is important symbolization within the fandom anyway -- so it was perfect!). I got a bit bored with it though, so I added the accent nails with Cult Nails Tempest, a white creme, OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, a white jelly - to soften the stark white a bit - It's Raining Men again for the design and then Djinn over it all once more -- another configuration of five stars, that when connected just right (in the shape of a W), resemble the constellation of Cassiopeia -- which happens to be the name of the fandom :)

I am quite pleased with how it turned out, take a look!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade + flash

 On my nails:
1 coat Orly Nail Defense
2 coats Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men/3 coats Cult Nails Tempest + 1 coat OPI Don't Touch My Tutu
*design painted/rhinestones added*
1 coat Enchanted Polish Djinn in a Bottle
1 coat KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

I had a hard time making the picture including my thumb look nice, hope it turned out ok. I was overall very happy with the finished product! I wish the red was a little more pink/cherry-leaning... but this is just because I don't much like true reds, haha (red is the official color of TVXQ, by the way -- that's obviously important for this mani). If you have been wanting a true red holo though, I definitely recommend this combo with Djinn! The nail art nails got a bit goopy with so so much paint but I think they turned out ok. I am proud of myself for coming up with an actual meaningful nail art design for my dream concert -- which was, by the way, wonderful and amazing! (Even if most all my pictures are crazy blurry, or I would share some... got some great videos though!) Quite possibly the coolest, most special thing I've done in my entire life. Truly something to cross off my bucket list -- with a cute mani to boot. :)

outdoors, sun

Have a great day! ♥

OPI Chapel of Love

Hey guys! Just wanted to share an old favorite with you today. OPI Chapel of Love was my official  go-to pink pre-polish obsession. It's a bright carnation pink with gold shimmer that almost pulls the polish coral at times. Take a look:

indoors, natural light lamp + flash

outdoors, sun

On my nails:
1 coat Nail Tek III Protection Plus
3 coats OPI Chapel of Love
1 coat KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

Just love this color! Was probably the first polish I ever felt that strongly about, I distinctly remember citing it as my favorite multiple times back in the day. Such a simple but flattering color, I think it would look great on everyone. I last wore this as a palette cleanser of sorts (after my absurdly awesome neon glittery gradient mani) and it is such a nice, elegant look :) I don't wear plain cremes by themselves hardly ever anymore, far too many indie glitters sitting untried to do that, but this is definitely the way to do it!

outdoors, shade

Have a wonderful day! ♥

Rainbow Neon Skittles + OPI Black Spotted

Hey guys! Today's post is a super fun and colorful skittles mani. I recently got OPI Black Spotted, and was so excited to try it out that I wanted to do it over something extra special. As you probably know, Black Spotted is an effect topcoat like crackles, that bubbles up when applied. It also was only released in France I believe, so I am really happy to finally have it! For my rainbow, I used China Glaze Hang-Ten Toes, a shimmery neon bubblegum pink, China Glaze Sun-Kissed, a shimmery neon yellow, China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, a shimmery neon green, China Glaze Splish Splash, a shimmery neon ocean blue, and China Glaze Gothic Lolita, the only non-neon in the bunch but a pretty warm purple with pink shimmer. Then, of course, Black Spotted went over all of them :) Take a look!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
2 coats each China Glaze Hang-Ten Toes/China Glaze Sun-Kissed/China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard/China Glaze Splish Splash/China Glaze Gothic Lolita
1 coat KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

Sorry if my pictures aren't perfect -- not too used to taking pictures including my thumb also, had a hard time arranging my hand, haha. So when applying Black Spotted, you definitely need to make sure to use an almost absurdly thin coat -- basically don't have any polish on the brush, and you're good to go. Otherwise, it won't bubble really and will just be black. Also, the wear isn't that great; if you don't topcoat it it will kind of flake off almost immediately, and even with topcoat my tips suffered pretty badly within like 12 hours. All in all kind of a pain but the effect sure is fun!  And I always love rocking a skittles mani :)

Like I said OPI Black Spotted is HTF, but you can find it on eBay for not too terrible prices. Also, I saw that Layla came out with a new Bubbly Effect line that is likely similar -- can't wait to try those out myself!

Have a great day! ♥

31 Day Challenge Day 2 - Orange... and Blue Marble

Hey guys! Today's theme for the 31 Day Challenge is orange! I had a bit of a rough time coming up with an idea... or rather, I had lots of ideas that just weren't all that exciting (flowers, gradients etc.). I wanted to do something I had never done before. I ended up setting out to do a Finding Nemo mani, and was quite excited about it, but somewhere along the way, I lost Nemo and ended up with some sort of Saran-wrap smoosh-mani?

So the standard Saran-wrap method appears to be different than what I do, which is basically paint directly onto a crinkled up piece of Saran wrap and then basically use it as a sponge to apply polish with a funky marbled look. I started out with a base color of China Glaze Orange You Hot?, a mac 'n cheese shade of shimmery orange neon, then decided it was too light and neon and layered OPI Hot & Spicy, a bright medium orange, over it. I then proceed to use Saran wrap to smoosh (can't think of a better verb, smoosh is exactly the right technique) China Glaze Ride The Waves, a medium blue neon jelly, Zoya Tallulah, a bright deep sky blue shimmer, and Cult Nails Captivated, a sheer orange jelly packed with orange microglitter, over my nails in a random manner, trying to create a marbled effect as much as possible. For my accent nails, I started out the same with Orange You Hot? and Hot & Spicy, then topped them off with Captivated. Take a look!

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sun

On my nails:

1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat

2 coats China Glaze Orange You Hot?

1 coat OPI Hot & Spicy

1 coat Seche Vite

(marbled) 1 "smooshed" coat China Glaze Ride The Waves/Cult Nails Captivated/Zoya Tallulah

(accent) 1 coat Cult Nails Captivated

1 coat Seche Vite

Part of me wants to say this looks better in person, and part of me wants to say that the shade pic looks really deceptively pretty and this mani is just not that hot. I like the idea, but what really bothers me is that I was afraid of creating a giant mess of my cuticles so I didn't smoosh enough around the edges of my nails, which just makes them look a little incomplete. Overall it certainly was an interesting endeavor though!

Have a great day! ♥

Neon Green Holo Amazingness!

Hey guys! This weekend I got the chance to try out a fun mani combo I've wanted to test for awhile. Like many of us, I adore holos in unusual colors -- which is why holo topcoats are great, as you can make any color you want holotastic! I started out with China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard, a neon green, and used a thin coat of OPI Standing Room Only, a silver holo, on top. SRO took some coaxing to apply evenly (in person it was easier to see that it still did streak a bit, but I loved the holo enough to ignore it) but I think it turned out nice. To try and downplay the streaking I did a little glitter design with Lynnderella Shapeshifter. I really love how this mani turned out, take a look!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sun

 On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off Base coat
3 coats China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard
1 coat OPI Standing Room Only
1 coat KB Shimmer Clearly On Top
1 coat Lynnderella Shapeshifter
2 coats KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

outdoors, sun

Super love this mani! It is so funny to me to think that just a short while ago green was on my list of blah nail colors... and now it is probably either my second or third favorite (after purple and maybe blue). Of course with something as bright and pretty and then even holo as this one, how could you not like it, right? :)

outdoors, shade

 Have a great day! ♥

outdoors, sun - thumb was my fave glitter design