Dupe of a Tart

One of my favorite low-cost polish brands is Forever 21's line of polishes, Love & Beauty. It can be a bit of a gamble with formulas, but they certainly come out with some fantastic colors. Here is one I picked up a couple of months ago, Seafoam Blue, which looks like a seafoam version of OPI I Have a Herring Problem/Zoya Skylar. Check out those gorgeous glass flecks!

Love & Beauty Seafoam Blue

Chocolat & Nonpareils

It must have something to do with the seasons, but recently I've really been craving warm, chocolate-y colors, and found that I have next to none. After a bit of searching I discovered the beauty that is Illamasqua's Faithful and promptly got hold of it!

Illamasqua Faithful  

Buried Treasure

Ever since the preview of these polishes, I have been super excited by and impressed with Hare Polish's new Fall colors! She has some really gorgeous and unique color combinations and I absolutely love the inspiration behind them all. This polish, Bury the Hatchetfish, is part of her Illuminated Life collection based on marine bioluminescence. Seeing how I am totally obsessed with magical blue/purple iridescent glitter, I knew I had to grab some of these beauties!

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish

A Pair of Princesses!

It was love at first sight with these two! Part of All That Glitters' Princess Collection, here are Arose From a Sleep and Kissing on a Frog.

All That Glitter Arose From a Sleep over Essie She's Picture Perfect  

Casting Faerie Fire!

Yes it's true, I'm a nerd. A rather nerdy nerd, too. Up until about a year and a half ago, my husband and I played a LOT of World of Warcraft! And it's still very dear to me and I love it, so when I collaborated with Hot Mess Lacquers to create my dream polish, I knew Faerie Fire was the perfect name.

Hot Mess Faerie Fire + Sinful Colors Amethyst  

Lavender's Blue

This glitter from Candeo Colors is one of my absolute favorites, because puurple!

Candeo Colors Joker + Essie She's Picture Perfect

Painted Sabotage

Today I have a couple of beautiful colors from an amazing new polish maker, Painted Sabotage.

Crack-tacular and Zombie-rific!

I've been out of town with my husband visiting with his family for the past two weeks, and we had an awesome time! But I did miss out on doing more spooky manicures, so I tried to make up for it the other day with some zombie nails-- BRAAAIIINS!

Love & Beauty Mint Frosting + Fantasy Makers Glow + Sinful Colors Black Crackle

UP Colors Azul Disco

This lovely polish comes all the way from Brazil, a beautiful icy blue holographic from UP Colors, Azul Disco.

UP Colors Azul Disco

Autumn Blends

In the mood for Fall yet? It's still quite warm here, but that won't stop me from warming up some hot caramel apple cider! Well even if Autumn isn't outside your window yet, at least you can wear it on your fingertips.

Claire's Poison Apple

A Very Merry... Autumn!

It's that time of year at last! I've been going through my stash to find my most autumnal colors to get into the Fall feeling. So I bring you another beautiful and, sadly, hard to find polish from OPI's Victorian Holiday collection, here is the lovely and enigmatic Merryberry Mauve.

OPI Merryberry Mauve

Oh, Shift!

Today I'd like to share with you one of Girly Bits' outstanding color-changing topcoats, Shift Happens.

Love & Beauty Dusty Blue + Girly Bits Shift Happens

Pastel Gradient Sparkle Tape Fun Time!

After seeing the stunning and immaculate gradient manicure from the Swatchaholic (seriously, how freakin' talented is this lady?) I really wanted to try a horizontal skittle gradient of my own!

NYC Mint Macaroon (mint) + Revlon Modern Grace (lavender) + Revlon Luxe Laque (pink)

Nails vs. Zombies

Halloween is getting nearer! The leaves haven't started turning, but I know Autumn is coming, eventually! I've spotted a few bats flying around at dusk (squee!) and it's finally starting to cool off a bit. So I've been getting in the spirit of things with fall colors and spooky fun, and of course, Gotta Love Brains.

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains over Zoya Kendal

Aquanet: When big hair just isn't enough!

How crazy awesome is this glitter? It's big, bright, and super sparkly!!

Hot Mess Lacquers Aquanet over Revlon Modern Grace

Nutcracker Sweet

I love this subtle beauty! It's so perfect for Autumn and Winter. Here is an oldie from OPI's Victorian Holiday collection back in 2002, Nutcracker Sweet.

OPI Nutcracker Sweet

Matte About Lilac

Here is another beauty from my swap with lovely blogger HappyBerryNaiad, a gorgeous shifting Lilac from Elianto.

Elianto Lilac

Gettin' Smitten

Recently, Noelie of Noelie's Nails started her own line of polishes, Smitten Polish, and my are they lovely! Have a look at the two I picked up, Bluebird and Hydrangea.

Smitten Polish Bluebird

Bits of Ocean

I've been fairly obsessed with color-shifting polishes, especially blue with pink shimmer, and so I give you Models Own Indian Ocean, a breathtaking duochrome.

Models Own Indian Ocean

Dazzling Dragon

Part of A England's The Legends Collection, here is Dragon, a stunning holographic emerald green with golden-bronze shimmer.

A England Dragon

Behold! The Mysterious and Captivating: Lynnderella

Lynnderella Attitude Adjust-Mint & Gotta Love Brains
Aren't they just amazing? These were the first two Lynnderellas I decided I simply couldn't live without, although now the list has grown!

Since this is a layering polish I started with a nice minty green, Essence's I Like from last year's spring collection.


This polish really is quite beautiful on it's own-- see that blue shimmer? I just wish it were a bit more noticeable. Also I believe this is quite similar to Sonia Kashuk's Fairy Princess, but with a smoother texture.


And today I present to you the lovely, the magnificent, Attitude Adjust-Mint!


Watch her sparkle and shine as she glides effortlessly, er... on my fingertips! Yes.


Seriously. I love, love, that beautiful spring green glitter, and the little flecks of iridescence are so magical!


Next I tried it over a touch darker/blue-r hue, Mint Macaroon from NYC.

NYC Mint Macaroon

The result is only a shade or two different, but I think this combination is gorgeous as well. Also since the base of AAM is so pale & milky, it might not look very good over a color that's too dark.



The colors remind me of one of my new favorite obssesions, Swarovski chrysolite opal crystals. Swooon.


Hope you enjoyed the insane picture spam! I'll have Gotta Love Brains up soon. ♥

Katniss & Chroma glitters

Here are a couple of lovely polishes from China Glaze's Hunger Games & Chroma Glitters collections, Fast Track and Prism.

China Glaze Fast Track (aka Katniss)

I'm not usually a big fan of gold or neutral polishes, but this one really intrigued me. I love the texture, and, surprisingly, the color as well. Even though I think it's more flattering on warmer skin tones, I still love how it looks on me.

China Glaze Prism

You really can't see the duochrome in this one, but it's there! A very subtle shift from blue to purple, and of course all of that crazy rainbow glitter. I think I layered this over Essie Lapis of Luxury, since it's a little sheer, but I can't recall! Anyhow I really love this one as well. It's very fun and festive, and different from other polishes I have since I've only recently gotten into the wild glitters.

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Also, I am so super excited for the new metallic duochromes from China Glaze, their Bohemian Luster Chromes. They're supposed to come out in July-- I really hope it's soon!

Unicorn Pee 2.0

Isn't is just so awesome that all of these gorgeous color-shifting topcoats are finally becoming more available? When I first saw Clarins 230, along with the price tag, I just thought no way, ever. And then I spotted Fantasy Fire on Pretty Digit's blog, and completely freaked out.

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over Revlon Royal

Seriously! This polish is jaw-droppingly spectacular. Above is in direct sunlight.

Even in the shade the shift is noticeable and captivating.

I actually purchased Revlon Royal just for laying with FF. I really kind of hate the color on its own, and I get terrible tip wear for some reason. :/ ...So now I want to get Essie's No More Film (an indigo creme) and try it instead. And hopefully use it on its own as well!

The color shift is so striking at these extreme angles. And heck, I'll even wear a color I don't particularly like just to fully enhance it's multi-chromatic goodness! I'd like to give another huge thank you to Anna of Pretty Digits for sending me this incredible polish. Looovee it!!

Perfect Blue

A while back I had entered in Toms giveaway of an exclusive Essie polish, Barefoot in Blue, in honor of their One Day Without Shoes challenge. I'm not sure if all who entered received a polish, but I did and was super excited because it is gorgeous!

Essie Barefoot in Blue

I was also lucky enough to find a shiny blue dusty polish at Kmart, this lovely blue-pink duochrome Blue Brilliance. It came out last Spring, and I'd missed out on it in Colorado, only to find it here in Charleston-- woohoo!

Essie Barefoot in Blue and Maybelline Blue Brilliance

It's actually very sheer and best layered, and the duochrome isn't that visible, but I've been super obsessed with blue-pink duochromes due to my unquenchable lemming for OPI's Sugarplum Yum. AGH it's so pretty, why don't we see more amazing duochromes like that?!

The next day I think I received an online order with a few polishes including Essie's Lapis of Luxury, which I then realized is basically the same polish as Barefoot in Blue-- ah well! But wait, there's more: I had also recently picked up a new color by Sinful Colors, Morning Glory, which is practically identical in color but has a glass-flecked texture instead of a creme. I included some bottle and swatch comparisons so you could see for yourselves.

Essie Barefoot in Blue, Essie Lapis of Luxury, Sinful Colors Morning Glory

Essie Barefoot in Blue vs Essie Lapis of Luxury vs Sinful Colors Morning Glory

I must really like this color if I've bought it this many times, so I feel like I'm going to get good use out of it on it's own as well as layered over.

It's a boy girl party! ...ish

Ever since I first saw this polish, I couldn't stop thinking about it. For some silly reason I decided not to add Boy Girl Party to my first Lynnderella wish list, but I can assure you that won't happen this time around!

Revlon Indigo Night + LA Girl Celebrate + Nyx Superfunk

At first I thought, "You know, I could easily recreate this with some of the glitters I have-- it will be indistinguishable!" Erm, not quite.

While I did really like this combo (despite my craptastic application), it simply isn't the same! The real Boy Girl Party has an amazing assortment of varying colors and sizes of glitters that give it more dimension and awesomness. Pure glitterific awesomeness. These two have more tiny specks of glitter and not enough large/medium sizes for my liking.

Llarowe will be taking new Lynnderella wish lists starting next week, so make sure you've signed up for email updates on her site if you wish to be included! And check out some beautiful swatches of Boy Girl Party by Sparkly Vernis.

My First Polish Swap!

A few months back Happyberrynaiad and I decided to arrange a nail polish swap. After seeing her lovely swatches of some of the gorgeous polishes from Singapore, I asked if we could do an exchange, and here are the beauties:

L to R: Blue Korean polish, Elianto Racing Green, Elianto Lilac, Tony Moly GT02 Earth, Essie Dive Bar

Aren't they fantastic?! I was so excited to have these lovelies! The first color I decided to try was the magnificent Tony Moly glitter, Earth.

Such a spectacular combination of glitters: pink, blue and purple, all set in a blackened base. My application was a little bit messy, but hopefully it doesn't take away from this lovely color.

And of course the beautiful and captivating, Elianto Racing Green.

Racing Green is a bewitching green and gold shimmer in a dark blue base. It's unlike any color I have, and it was love at first sight!

As you can probably tell, I'm finally getting the hang of cleaning up my polish with a brush and acetone. I decided to use pure acetone and it was like magic, wow! Now I can finally wear darker polishes without worrying they'll look like a globby mess.

Thank you again for the wonderful swap Sherry! I absolutely love all of these polishes. ♥

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