Lilypad Lacquer Spring Sorbet Skittles

Hello friends! Today I have a very springtastic post for you. The Lilypad Lacquer Spring Sorbet collection was recently released exclusively over at Llarowe, and being the pastel holo lover that I am, I couldn't resist snagging all of them. I swatched the entire collection individually and will post those pics up shortly, but today I want to share a cute skittles mani I did with all of the pretties.

I started out with three coats each of Sherbet (blue), Minty (green), Passion (purple), Peachy (peach/coral), Musky (pink), and Lemony (yellow). I then used the Saran wrap method (topcoat, then layer on the top color, then dab with Saran wrap to create a marbled effect) with In The Milky Way, a grayish white creme holo with the same holo effect as the others. Finally, mostly because I was bored, haha, I used my dotting tool to individually place glitters from Lynnderella Connect the Spots, a multicolor dot glitter mix in a shimmery clear base, in a rainbow design on one hand and a flower design on the other. Take a look!

(right hand) outdoors, sun

(right hand) outdoors, shade

(left hand) outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

I really loved this mani! Super cheerful and colorful and definitely very springy. I really like the method of using glitters in this way - this was the first time I've done it, but I definitely want to again! A great way to add an extra poppy slash of color to a mani.

To check out Lilypad Lacquer be sure to visit their Etsy, their page on Llarowe, and their Facebook~
To check out Lynnderella be sure to visit their store~

Have a fantastic day! ♥

Yay Rainbow Nails!

Hello hello! Today I have a wonderfully rainbowtastic mani for you! It's no secret I love rainbows (hello, blog name) so I tend to do rainbow manis a lot, especially when I need a cheer-up. One such day happened recently (boo, life) so out the glitters came!

I started with a base of Cult Nails Nevermore, my favorite black creme, and then used a bunch of Lynnderella glitters: Ruby Red Ruby, Cauldron Drippings, Change, Funny Money, When the Moon Was A Star, Love Potion No.99, and Liquid Valentine. I originally tried to place each glitter on one by one with my dotting tool but this didn't work too well for some of them, so I ended up just painting thin stripes. It didn't turn out exactly like I planned but I still love it! Take a look!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off base coat
2 coats Cult Nails Nevermore
1 stripe Lynnderella (see above)
2 coats KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

I super love how colorful and sparkly and rainbowtastic this many is! The tiled look I was originally going for would have been fun too (I looked through my entire stash and couldn't find a single polish with shiny metallic LARGE purple glitters, can you believe it?) but I really like this one also -- and now that means I can go for the tiled version another day, which means yay! more rainbowz!

outdoors, sun

You can find Cult Nails at their site and Facebook~
You can find Lynnderella at their site~

Have a wonderful day! ♥

Yume Lacquer Swatches & Review

Hello my poor little blog! I cannot even believe that it has been two months since I last posted. There's no need to spend too much time getting into why, same old story -- rough couple of months; too busy; just wasn't feeling up to editing photos; etc. I am back for now though and have quite a bit stored up to share with you, so hopefully I won't disappear again any time soon!

Today I have a new to me brand to share with you! Yume Lacquer has a wide variety of different pretties -- holos, glitters, shimmers; you name it! I especially enjoy this brand because the creator, Amanda, draws inspiration from all sorts of amazing things like Pokemon (!!), Sailor Moon, and Final Fantasy -- which of course totally calls out to the nerdy, Japan-obsessed side of me, lol. Take a look at the pretties I've got for you today!

left to right, up to down: Marukyu Striptease, Let's Positive Speaking, Sand Pearl

To avoid repetition all swatches are three coats + 1 coat of KB Shimmer Clearly On Top

Let's Positive Thinking is a shimmery medium brown full of pink shimmer (click the photo to view full-size and you will definitely see the sparks of pink!). Application was great, no problems to report. I love this shade of brown, it's so warm and chocolatey!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

Sand Pearl is a nude shimmery base loaded with matching microglitter, holo diamonds, and tons of pink shimmer. This one leans very light pink on me. The diamonds were just the teensiest bit tough to grab but other than that no issues here. I really really love this color! Have worn it a couple times since swatching; the pretty pink shimmery sparkle jazzes it up just enough that this may have become my go-to neutral (or as neutral as you can be covered in rainbowy diamonds, anyway -- never been one for nails that demand attention, after all).

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

Lastly, Marukyu Striptease is a shimmery fuschia base packed with blue green, red, pink, and purple matte glitters. This one is so packed with glitter that it was kind of hard to apply -- just make sure to let layers dry so you don't catch previous layer's glitters and peel them off, and that should do the trick. So colorful and pretty though, I love it!

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

And there you have it! My first blog post in months.. have missed it, lol. And what pretty polishes to kick my return off with! I especially love Sand Pearl (dat pink shimmah) but all are great!

If you'd like to check out Yume Lacquer be sure to visit their Etsy and Facebook~

Have a fantabulous day! ♥

~These products were provided by Yume Lacquer for an honest review~ 
 

A Couple Comparisons - Hot Pinks and Teal Blues

Hello friends! I don't have much to post today- sun has been spotty and with all the Colors by Llarowe round-up posts I have done recently I actually have already posted most of my recent manis - odd! I know I probably have post-worthy pictures tucked away somewhere on my computer, but ever since I got my new computer (which was all the way back in October, alas) my file organization has been a little jumbled - maybe someday I'll find the inspiration to straighten it out. But I have had fun posting daily the past few days, and I don't really want to break my streak! So while it's not much, enjoy a couple comparisons I did recently, as well as a mani I did with the ...comparees.

Aly's Dream Polish Deep Steel Blue is a dark, navy-ish teal with a strong scatter holo effect. By comparison, Steel Blue is more of a sky blue-leaning teal, with that same strong holo effect. Application is great! A little sheer at the first coat but builds easily in three. Obviously here I did mostly Deep Steel Blue in an accent of Steel Blue with Deep Steel Blue polka dots.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

Someone in a nail polish comparison group I'm in on Facebook wanted to see the two pretties above compared with Enchanted Polish August 2013, which is also a blue-ish teal holo. It is most close to Steel Blue, but is a little darker, leans more green, and of course has a linear holo effect instead of scattered.

outdoors, sun

It really is not that similar to Deep Steel Blue at all - Deep Steel Blue seems much bluer and of course much darker than both of them, as shown below. And overall, the formulas are a different, though both are good - the EP is heavier and more creme-based and covers completely in two coats, vs. the slightly more sheer ADPs that need three. Basically all three polishes are different enough that if you like teal polish you need them all :)

indoors, Ott Lite

Another comparison that was requested was Colors by Llarowe It's Shocking (which can be seen on its own here), which is a warm-leaning hot pink linear holo) and Enchanted Polish Disco Barbie, which is a more cool-toned hot pink scatter holo. Obviously by looking at the picture Disco Barbie is much cooler-toned than It's Shocking, and appears brighter. Though Disco Barbie is typically called a scatter holo and It's Shocking is definitely linear, the holo effect doesn't seem that different in the below photo - neither are terribly strong but definitely are visible. They clearly are quite different and pink lovers definitely will want both of these as well :)

outdoors, sun

It was really fun doing comparisons like this! I don't think I've ever done a comparison post on my blog before, but I would definitely be interested in doing more in the future! If any one has any requests just let me know in the comments - as long as I have the polishes I would be happy to give it a go! ;)

Have a fantastic day! ♥ 

Superbowl Sunday - Colors by Llarowe Seahawks Duo

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Are you guys going to watch the game tonight? I doubt I will - was a bit under the weather the past few days and have stuff to work on to get caught up in school, alas. But that doesn't mean I can't join in on the fun with team color manis! Now I don't really have a preference among the two teams - but when I saw that Colors by Llarowe was going to have two Superbowl sets I totally fell in love with the Seahawks set - so I guess that means I'm cheering for Seattle tonight!

left to right: Legion of Boom, Seahawk Lime

Seahawks Lime is a lime green linear holo. The holo is super strong for this one! I love lime greens - as you can see I have a touch of the lobster thing going on in my shade picture, but I don't think it looked that bad in person, and it didn't show up at all in sun. Application was like all CbL holos like this - a bit thick but easy to manage.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
3 coats Colors by Llarowe Seahawks Lime
1 coat Seche Vite

Legion of Boom (or Legion of Doom, lol, as I originally thought it was) is a dark teal-leaning blue packed with silver, blue, and lime microglitter. This polish is kind of hard to describe - I think it is primarily made of glitter in a jelly base? but in the sun it gives off the effect of a blindingly rainbowtastic scatter holo. I adore this polish to bits! I love the slight green cast, since I have a lot of bright blue glittery polishes but none this shade of sorta-teal. And of course I just can't get enough of this polish's sparkle! Application was no trouble here either; could have gotten away with just two coats but did three since I forgot to wrap my tips at first. Also I think I could have just one coat of topcoat to smooth out the texture, but I did two just to be safe.

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

On my nails:
1 coat Innisfree Eco Peel-off base coat
3 coats Colors by Llarowe Legion of Boom
2 coats Seche Vite

Totally loved both of these! Gorgeous colors that match the Seahawks perfectly. Glad I will have the perfect mani on tonight - even if I can't watch the game I will be celebrating in glittery style.

To check out Colors by Llarowe check out the Llarowe site and Facebook - and the brand new Colors by Llarowe page on Facebook as well!

Have a super day! ♥