Laquerlicious Polish Review!

Reviving my blog for swatches & reviews of five fabulous Laquerlicious handmade indie polishes!

Please click on images to enlarge :)

First up we have "Supreme Queen", part of the Laquerlicius shimmer collection.

This is 2 coats, over Essie "Where's My Chauffeur?" and Seche Vite topcoat.

This color is beautiful!  I got many compliments on it.

 Hard to describe - almost like a light grayish blue.  Kinda reminds me of a robin's egg!  

There are tons of beige, royal blue and teal shimmery glitters in a blue-gray base.

Here is "Emerald Glaze", part of the Laquerlicious glaze collection.

This is 2 coats, over OPI "Cuckoo For This Color" and Seche Vite topcoat.

Despite looking very opaque in the bottle, Emerald Glaze is actually quite sheer!

It's jam packed with gorgeous green, teal and purple tiny glitter in a green base.

The purple glitter offers an amazing pop of color against the green/teal.  

I absolutely loved the way this looked on my skin tone :)

This lovely color is "Divine Doll", part of the Laquerlicious shimmer collection.

2 coats, over Essie "Play Date" and Seche Vite topcoat.

I have become a purple addict, so this polish was right up my alley :)

A beautiful shimmery combination of purple, beige and a hint of teal.

This is the perfect polish for anyone who loves a cheerful purple!

This gorgeous glitterbomb is "Bottle of Bubbly", from the Laquerlicious New Year's 2014 collection.

This is one generous coat, over Spoiled "Visually Slimming" and Seche Vite topcoat.

An incredible mixture of silver and gold holo glitters in a clear base.

There are all sorts of shapes & sizes in this polish!

Round, hex, micro, stars and bars just to name a few.

Application of this polish was a dream, didn't really have to dab at all or fish for glitter!

Definitely have plans for this baby as New Years Eve mani.

Last but not least, "Countdown to Midnight", also from Laquerlicious New Year's 2014 collection.

1 generous coat, over China Glaze "Stone Cold" and Seche Vite topcoat.

This glitter bomb is made up of varied sizes of round white, black, pink, purple and teal glitters in a clear base.

This is a super fun, playful polish.  I really enjoy the contrast between all of the colors.

This is the type of polish that would go well with just about any color as a base, so the possibilities are endless!

Application was fairly easy, although I did have to dab and fish a bit, but that doesn't bother me at all.

Final verdict is that these polishes were fantastic.

I fully believe in supporting indie polish makers and really I loved the unique glitter color combinations that Laquerlicious has to offer! 

They dried super quickly, application was a dream and Michelle (IG @creativenailchick) was a pleasure to work with.

I will be using many of these polishes again in the future.

All of the polishes that were reviewed are currently available for purchase at www.Laquerlicious.com :)

Haul, Review & Gradient Swatch: "Love, Charlotte" Polish

A few days ago I got these really awesome nail polishes at a store called Charlotte Russe.

It was very unexpected because Charlotte Russe is known for reasonably priced trendy clothing & shoes.  

I don't shop there, but my friends wanted to see what they had.

I'm glad we stopped in there because I never knew they had their own brand of polish called "Love, Charlotte"!

I was a little hesitant at first, because I figured they would have a really bad formula, but I tested all of them in the store and the application was great and not streaky at all.

The colors don't have names on the bottle but I got a light pink which was "Pastel POP" brand, hot pink, purple, fine silver hologram glitter, large silver holo glitter & a large mixed light & dark purple and silver holo from the "Love, Charlotte" brand.

 

I decided to do a sponge gradient (click here for a mini-tutorial on sponge gradients)

I used the light pink, dark pink & purple and topped it off with the fine silver holo glitter!

 The sun finally came back out so I got a shot in the sunlight too!

If you live near a Charlotte Russe store, I would totally recommend stopping in to check it out!

They do have some polishes on their website, but there was definitely a better color selection in-store.

They were also on sale in the store but not online!

They were 2 for $3 and I also got an extra 10% off my purchase for giving them my email address, so I got all 6 polishes for around $18. 

Have a wonderful Sunday :)

Swatch & Review: Wicked Polish Gangrene & Pinkeye

Swatch & review of indie brand Wicked Polish "Gangrene" & "Pinkeye" from the Pestilence Collection!

I thought the name of the collection was very creative and I loved all 5 of the colors, 

but limited myself to only buying 2.

 -"Gangrene" is a milky white base with neon green & neon yellow hexes, and small yellow flecks.

 -"Pinkeye" is a gorgeous light bubblegum pink base with pink, white and silver hexes.

For the swatches I used 3 coats of each polish over a white base:

 

 "Gangrene" indoors, with flash.

  "Gangrene" in sunlight

 "Pinkeye" indoors, with flash.

 

"Pinkeye" in sunlight.

The bottles with their cute heart labels.

 

  I've never been so happy to say I have Gangrene and Pinkeye.

 Rylee is such a sweetheart, she even sent a hand-written thank you note and some yummy candies :) 

If you'd like to purchase the Pestilence Collection, you can visit Wicked Polish on Etsy!

Swatch, Review & a Little Halloween Fun: "Day Glow" by Serum No. 5

One magical day, I stumbled upon another blogger's review of "Day Glow" by Serum No. 5.

I was instantly obsessed, and decided I had to have it.

It is so much more vibrant and better than any other glow polish!  It even glows in partial darkness!

You can check out the Glow in the Dark Skeleton nails for comparison with another glow polish.

I had a feeling that "Day Glow" would be in high demand and I was right.

By the time I checked Etsy, the full size bottles were sold out so, naturally, I ordered 2 minis.

By the time my order was completed, "Day Glow" had been completely out of stock!!

Here is my little mini, in all of it's glory.

3 coats of "Day Glow", over 1 coat of Essie "Fiji" - it's recommended to use a white (or almost white, in this case) base color to make the "Day Glow" a little more opaque.

In full darkness. 

 Added some fun Halloween designs :)

In partial darkness.

For comparison, this skeleton was done with China Glaze "Ghoulish Glow", shown in partial darkness.
You couldn't even see it on my camera in full darkness because the glow wasn't strong enough.
"Day Glow" is far superior.

Let me just say I am absolutely in love with Serum No. 5 "Day Glow".  

Application was a dream, it's not streaky or lumpy like other glow polishes. 

The price is reasonable - $6 for a mini and $12 for full size, and they were shipped very promptly.

Keep an eye on Serum No. 5's Etsy store for updates on restock!

Review & Swatch: Handmade Custom Etsy Polish

This is a review & swatch of my very first handmade custom polish purchase!

I found it on Etsy, at the GlimmerByErica store.  

From her super cute, 80s cartoon inspired Rainbow Brite collection, this polish is named "Starlite Shine" which was Rainbow Brite's beautiful rainbow-haired white pony!

It was described by the seller as a "white jelly base with all seven colors of the rainbow and an added rainbow holo sparkle"

I decided I had to have it.

The first thing my boyfriend said when he saw this polish was "Whoa, it looks like cupcakes" and my friend said it looked like Funfetti frosting, which was very accurate and definitely inspired me.

This is 2 fairly thick coats, and it's fairly opaque.

Later on I added a top coat & it actually brought out the colors and holo glitter even more.

(I only did 1 nail because I didn't want to waste it!)

The white jelly base gives it a unique milky/creamy quality, and the glitter makes it slightly textured.  These qualities make this the most perfect polish for...

..CUPCAKE NAILS!!

(It would also be great for ice cream nails too :D)

I really enjoy this polish.

I'm very happy with my purchase and I know I will be using it a lot in the future.

If you'd like a tutorial for the Cupcake nails, leave a comment!

Haul, Review, Swatch & The Return of Press-On's!

Just a small haul of nail products:

A couple of recent purchases I've made and wanted to share with you :)

From left to right they are: Ulta brand turquoise sparkle in a clear base,  Two of the China Glaze colors from the "Capitol Colors" collection which was based on The Hunger Games.  Each color represented a different district.  They were also on clearance, so why not?  The polish on the right is a color that I purchased years ago and absolutely loved, so I repurchased.  

And last but not least, those things at the bottom are... blank PRESS-ON NAILS! 

But don't worry, these aren't your typical 1980's lame press-on's.  I've purchased blank ones because I'm going to be hand painting them and I plan on selling them on Etsy :)

A brief review of these polishes:

(From left to right)

-Ulta "Love Fern" - Clear base with small turquoise glitter and slightly larger turquoise sparkles.  One thick coat, barely any sparkles showed up.  I'm actually disappointed with this polish & will be returning it.

-China Glaze "Stone Cold" - Represents the masonry of District 2.  It's a gunmetal gray sparkle, but actually dries matte.  It reminds me a lot of a slate or graphite.  I don't usually like matte colors, but this is beautiful.  If you want to add a top coat, it looks a bit darker and the sparkles really stand out.  One coat is all that's necessary with this color.

-China Glaze "Turned Up Turquoise" - Had to use 2 coats of this, otherwise it's a bit patchy.  Beautiful turquoise color but it dries very matte & flat.  Once you add top coat it's quite brilliant and sparkly!

-China Glaze "Smoke and Ashes"- Photos just don't do this color any justice..  it's a beautiful glossy black with speckles of a dark bluish green.  Represents the coal mining of District 12.  Only needed one coat.

Press-on's have made a major comeback!  I prefer to call them "prefabricated" because it sounds fancy, but let's face it.. they're press-on's.  

Many people like them because they're quick and easy, especially for those who are.. nail polish challenged, and they won't damage your natural nails!  You can use adhesive tabs (which never  worked for me) or you can use nail glue.  If you are careful when you remove them, you can even re-use the same pair.  

I plan on painting a set tonight and will post some photos tomorrow :) 

Review: Layla Cosmetics Hologram Effect polish

Everyone loves glitter.  And what's better than regular glitter?  HOLOGRAM GLITTER!

This is a review of Layla Cosmetics Hologram Effect polish. 

After reading reviews of other holos and looking at photo swatches, I decided on Layla Cosmetics brand.

All of them looked really pretty, but at $15 each I limited myself to 3:

"Mercury Twilight" which is a silver holo, "Flash Black" which is a charcoal/black holo and "Ultra Violet", my personal favorite of the three, a silvery-purpley-lavendar-ish holo.

The thing about holographic glitters is that they're really weird to work with.  The first time I'd used these, I was so excited to have holographic glitter nails that I skipped all of my normal pre-mani steps - file, buffer, base coat - and it came out really dull and streaky.  

Apparently, you're supposed use an "aqua base coat" (wut?).  I thought maybe another coat would help because more glitter is always better right?  Alas, it only made it horribly streaky and just not very pretty.  Then I put a coat of Seche Vite top coat over it, because it's super glossy and that should make it better... except it made it WORSE!  The top coat actually made it less prismatic.  What gives?  Why are holos so different from any other polish?!

After some research, and trial & error I found out a few things:  

If you are painting on natural nails, it's best to use a high shine buffer to smooth out ridges on the nail, and acrylic nails don't usually require any base just normal buffing.  

Seche Vite top coat is easier to find and a good alternative to aqua base coat.

Apply a heavy first coat, and wait at least 5 or 10 minutes before applying a second coat, otherwise the brush starts to pull off the bottom coat and it ends up very streaky & patchy.

I also discovered that the holos look very different in different types of lighting.

I painted 3 coats of each color on a nail tip, and took photos in various types of light.  I also painted the right half of the nail lengthwise with top coat so you can see how dull it makes the holo.  This kinda sucks because no top coat means it will chip or flake a little faster than a regular polish.

These photos below are from when I took my acrylics off for a week or so.  

I buffered my natural nails and used Seche Vite as a base coat, and no top coat.  The top one is a tape mani with all 3 colors and the bottom is just 2 coats of "Ultra Violet".  

They lasted pretty well for about 3 days, just a few small flakes came off on the free edge of my nail.  

 Pros:

It's absolutely beautiful!  

There is no other way to get that super crazy pretty glittery prismatic shine. 

If you can get a decent looking thick first coat, you don't have to use a second, so it will last forever.

If you have Seche Vite on hand, you don't need to buy an aqua base coat.

Layla brand was on the cheaper end but still really good quality and very prismatic.

Cons: 

They're hard to find, so they are a little pricey;
These were $15/bottle on Amazon, and I've seen Gosh holo go for $50 and up on eBay. 

Long wait time to dry between coats.

Top coat kills the hologram effect so it flakes off more easily.

Can't use normal base coat.

Conclusion:

They're really pretty, but definitely take some getting used to working with. 

If you have some extra cash to splurge and you love shiny things, go for it!

Have you ever used holographic glitter polish?  What are your thoughts?