Author Archives: Alli

Tag! Colors of the Rainbow

Posted on June 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

Rainbow TagRecently I’ve noticed a ton of people on YouTube doing The Rainbow Tag. The idea is basically to pick your favorite products that fall into all the colors of the rainbow (plus a couple additional colors like multi-color).

While this started out as a beauty tag I couldn’t help but think that would be an AWESOME thing to do with nail polish. So that’s what I’m doing.

Plus it’s Sunday. And it was my birthday weekend. I’m feeling a bit lazy and like doing something different.

So below the jump you will find my favorite polishes in all the colors of  the rainbow.

Make sure to leave your favorite in a comment or if you blog and do a blog post link it in a comment so I can check it out!

Alli

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Shimmer Polish Sarah

Posted on June 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Shimmer Polish SarahPress Sample

My trip down the glitter rabbit hole continues! I’ve had this polish for a while. I got it the same time as Jennifer also from Shimmer Polish. While Sarah looked gorgeous in the bottle it takes the right mood to wear full on glitter. Luckily, that mood finally hit me!

Sarah is a combination of large and small blue glitter, medium purple and sliver glitter, and smaller teal glitter that makes up the majority of the polish suspended in a clear base. Unlike some glitter polishes (I’m looking at you Spoiled Jewelry Heist) the glitter is quite dense yet the formula isn’t overly thick. I used three coats in my swatches and achieved a fairly opaque look.

I also used this polish over OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui and really loved the end result. There are additional swatches of Sarah along with swatches of my manicure with Suzi Says Feng Shui below the jump!

For more on Shimmer Polish check on the etsy store.

Alli

The product(s) used in this post were provided to TDV for review. For more information check out our disclosure policy.

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It’s my birthday! Help me decide on a manicure…

Posted on June 14, 2013 | 14 Comments

Birthday Outfit and MakeupToday is my birthday! Which gives me a perfect excuse to take a break from regular blogging.

I’m not a huge birthday person but this year I’m turning 30 and am super excited about the whole thing. My twenties have been great but I’m over being in my twenties at this point.

Tonight I’m going out with some friends to celebrate. I’ve already decided on a dress, makeup and shoes but as always I’m having a tough time deciding on what to do with my nails.

I’m planning on wearing a purple dress with black and white heels (though I might end up wearing just black or nude heels…).  For makeup I’m going with a metallic neutral eye using my new favorite eye shadow palette and a long wearing bright fuchsia lip (L’Oreal Infallible in Forever Fuchsia).

As far as my nails I’m just kind of stuck. I was thinking of perhaps doing a manicure with Essie No Place Like Chrome but that’s a bit boring. If I swap out the shoes I can do a fun leopard print or even some NCLA nail wraps (the white design…of course). Or maybe do combination and throw in some glitter? I just don’t know! But then again, I am a Gemini. We’re indecisive.

Please leave me a comment with birthday manicure suggestions! Clearly I need some guidance. I’ll make sure to do a post next week on what I end up wearing :)

Alli

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wet n wild megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint (+ a textured gradient)

Posted on June 13, 2013 | 3 Comments

wet n wild megalast I Need a Refresh-MintAfter I wore JulieG Rock Candy on its own I really wanted to do a textured gradient using it but was having a hard time deciding on what color to use as a base. I was looking through my seriously overflowing green and blue Melmer drawer when I Need a Refresh-Mint caught my eye. It wasn’t the most obvious choice but turned out to be a good one.

I Need a Refresh-Mint is a medium minty green with slight blue undertones. It’s quite the flattering mint. I often have trouble with mint greens being too yellow or chalky. This is neither!

The formula and application of this polish is wonderful. I really like the megalast brush. I used two coats in my swatches.

After I wore this for a day I topped it with JulieG Rock Candy using a wet sponge. I really loved the result! There are swatches of that manicure below the jump :)

Alli

 

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Ruby Wing Festival (aka my nail polish changes colors…what does yours do?)

Posted on June 12, 2013 | 4 Comments

Ruby Wing FestivalRuby Wing is a brand I’ve been wanting to try for ages but, despite being made by the same people that produce Color Club, there is no where to purchase this brand locally. Finally I ordered a bottle online. My curiosity got the best of me!

Picking out a polish to try was pretty easy. Festival is holographic glitter that indoors is a silvery purple but outdoors turns into a deep purple. Sounded like a polish made just for me (and it looked gorgeous in the bottle). But despite having this for several months I just never got around to giving it a try.

Then this past Saturday I was going to a cookout for a friend’s birthday and it was sunny. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to give this polish a try.

For a full blown glitter polish the formula is quite good. I used three coats and was happy with the result.

I wore it to the cookout and then to go out that night with some friends. We had alot of fun but I was quite confused when I woke up the next morning and the polish on my right pointer finger was missing entirely! I have no idea when the polish popped off but I imagine it’s floating around in a bar somewhere.

Below the jump there are swatches of this polish indoors as well as outdoors. The color change is quite impressive!

Ruby Wing polish can be ordered from the Ruby Wing website and are a bit on the expensive side ($10).  If you have a favorite Ruby Wing polish please let me know about it in a comment! Now I’m dying to try a few more…

Alli

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PISTOL polish Guns Blazing

Posted on June 11, 2013 | 4 Comments

PISTOL polish Guns BlazingLast summer I went through a serious orange nail polish addiction. It was bad. I accepted that I had a problem and I moved on. And then the June 2013 PISTOL polish duo arrived in my mailbox. My feelings for orange nail polish came rushing back to me.

Guns Blazing is a warm orange packed with gold shimmer. That’s not as fun as PISTOL polish’s description of Guns Blazing but it’ll do. This color is lovely, wonderful for summer and will look fantastic poolside with a tan. It’s not the best color for my particular skintone but it’s not terrible, either.

As to be expected from PISTOL polish the formula is wonderful. This applied easily in just two coats.

Instead of wearing Guns Blazing I used the other polish from the June 2013 duo, Tough As Nails, to do a Beyonce inspired manicure. The colors looked surprisingly good together. There are additional swatches of Guns Blazing as well as swatches of my Beyonce-esque manicure below the jump!

Alli

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OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

Posted on June 9, 2013 | 1 Comment

OPI Suzi Says Feng ShuiI was rummaging through my nail junk drawer the other day and ran across the OPI Hong Kong collection pamphlet. As I flipped through it I was reminded how much I loved that collection! Even the display was super cute. Since its release I have collected quite a few polishes from the Hong Kong collection but Suzi Says Feng Shui has long been my favorite.

Suzi Says Feng Shui is a medium dusty blue creme. The color is lovely and surprisingly appropriate for spring. Not long ago I did a manicure with Mac Blue India and it felt a little too fall/winter for this time of year so I was happy Suzi Says Feng Shui is warm weather appropriate. Although, I supposed OPI knew what they were doing when they put this in a spring collection.

The formula and application are good. I have no serious complaints. I used three coats in my swatches.

This polish is currently part of OPI’s Classics collection so if you missed it back in 2010 you can still get your hands on it.

As always there are additional swatches below the jump.

Alli

 

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JulieG Rock Candy

Posted on June 8, 2013 | 4 Comments

JulieG Rock CandyThis post makes me kind of sad! This is the last of the  polishes from the JulieG Frosted Gum Drops collection I have to review (Katie has a couple she’ll be posting). I ended up just loving this collection.

Rock Candy is a green leaning textured teal with the same silver glitter as other polishes in this collection. I really love this color. And the glitter has a gorgeous sparkle.

The formula and application are great. I used two coats in all my swatches. As with other textured polishes, Rock Candy wears very well.

Blueberry Fizz is still my favorite from the Frosted Gum Drops collection but Rock Candy is a close second. The color is unique as is the finish and sparkle. A great drug store find!

Within the last couple of weeks I’ve seen the Frosted Gum Drops display restocked. So hopefully if you’ve had trouble finding these in your area they will be available soon. Although, of course, you can find these on the Jesse’s Girl Cosmetics website (with free shipping on orders over $20).

There are additional swatches below the jump :)

Alli

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Spoiled by wet n wild Jewelry Heist

Posted on June 7, 2013 | 9 Comments

Spoiled by wet n wild Jewelry HeistOn the way to a friend’s place one night I found myself at CVS. I got in my car and realized I was out of Big Red and well, that just won’t do. Of course I can’t go into a drugstore without checking out the nail polish. As it turns out, I’ve had rose gold glitter on the brain lately. It was a hole in my collection that I wanted to fill. When I saw Jewelry Heist I thought it might work to fill that void (plus it was gorgeous in the bottle).

Jewelry Heist has large rose gold glitter, small square blue glitter and medium sized iridescent glitter suspended in a clear base. I have too many glitter polishes in my collection and NONE of them have iridescent glitter. This is quite the unique combination of glitter. Especially to find at a drugstore.

The glitter is rather sparse. I used 2 coats of Jewelry Heist over PISTOL polish Tough As Nails in my swatches and obviously it’s not a glitter that can be worse on its own. The clear base is also a bit on the thick side.

I decided to try manually placing the glitter with a toothpick over Essie No Place Like Chrome. While the bubbles are obvious in the swatches I didn’t even notice the bubbles until I started looking at the photos. The finished result looked really awesome. It was the perfect manicure to brighten a gloomy day.

Below the jump there are more swatches of Jewelry Heist along with swatches of my glitterly gloomy day manicure.

If you have any rose gold glitter polish suggestions please let me know!

Alli

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Sephora by OPI Too Good For Him (+ a Glitter Gradient Mani)

Posted on June 6, 2013 | 4 Comments

Sephora by OPI Too Good For HimThis was the first glitter polish I ever owned! I still remember when I bought this. It was way back at the end of 2009. Too Good For Him was part of Sephora by OPI’s New Year’s collection that year. I was browsing the Sephora by OPI display and saw Too Good For Him. It was love at first sight. And who can blame me? It looks GORGEOUS in the bottle!

Too Good For Him contains medium sized purple, blue and gold glitter in a clear base. Or at least that’s how I would describe it. Sephora’s description of this product is kind of amazing:

A vibrant lacquer inspired by empowering resolutions for the new year.What it does:The realization that you are too good to settle for less than the best can create a surge of energy like fireworks going off in your soul. This shade channels the brilliance of determined self improvement and the undeniable allure of self confidence.

Like fireworks going off in your soul! Well, I’m not so sure about that, but I will say my heart does beat a little faster when I come across this polish in my Melmer.

Formula wise, this is quite good for a glitter polish. I used three coats in my swatches and there are some bare spots but not enough to make it so this polish can’t be worn in its own.

This polish is quite versatile. Yes, it can be worn on its own, but it can also be used in other ways. I did a glitter gradient manicure with Too Good For Him and Pixi Luminous Lilac recently and was completely obsessed with it. Luminous Lilac is a gorgeous pink that is work appropriate and understated. By adding the glitter gradient to the tips it was transformed to a fabulous night out manicure.

Below the jump there are additional swatches of Too Good For Him (the MACRO shots are gorgeous!) as well as swatches of my glitter gradient manicure!

Alli

PS: Too Good For Him isn’t exactly easy to find anymore. Some good alternatives are Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink and SinfulColors Frenzy :) Continue reading →

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