Review and Swatches--Literary Lacquers Woman of Pleasure

The first two photos are from when I first received this polish in the mail, which I posted about here. Literary Lacquers describes Woman of Pleasure as "a periwinkle crelly (creme jelly) base with navy and lavender sparkle, matte light pink, large navy hexes, and magenta circle glitter." My photos are pulling a little blue, but it is definitely periwinkle.
*I purchased this polish and received no compensation or samples for this post.*

I finally photographed a full mani using this polish. Shown is three coats of Woman of Pleasure over a base coat, and topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

The first coat was very sheer, but not streaky. The second and third coat built up the color nicely. I didn't have any trouble with the formula, everything went smoothly. 

I was very happy with this polish. My favorite part is the magenta circle glitter. The magenta really pops against the periwinkle base. Have you purchased any Literary Lacquers? Their holographic polishes are especially amazing. 

You can purchase Literary Lacquers from their etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LiteraryLacquer for $10.00 each. Payment is via PayPal only. If you're on Facebook, you should follow their page to keep up with restocks and occasional coupon codes: http://www.facebook.com/LiteraryLacquers. Today (Monday, January 6, 2014) is the last day to use coupon code HAPPY2014 to get 20% off at checkout for all orders.

Emily de Molly Bright Young Things over Zoya Robyn

Emily de Molly is an Australian polish maker that has long since captured my heart, as you might have seen in a few previous posts. I was very happy to find Bright Young Things in a blog sale.
*All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me.*

While I'm not usually one to wear a polish the moment that I receive it (it's usually a strange, OCD, agonizing decision as to which one to wear), I put Bright Young Things on right away. 

I happened to be wearing the lovely Zoya Robyn at the time, so I just put the glitter topper Emily de Molly Bright Young Things over it. I used a quick-dry top coat of Poshe to smooth everything out, although the glitter did lie flat.

I loved this mani and wore it for a few days, which is a long time for me. It reminds me of the ocean and pretty saltwater fish. Next time, however, I will probably choose a different shade for the base so that the purple and turquoisey teal glitter can shine, too. (The purple did show up in real life, but hid from the camera. Silly purple; the camera could be friends with you if you'll let it.)

You can certainly purchase Emily de Molly polishes on Web sites like www.llarowe.com and www.shoppe-eclectic.co, but you might want to do a search for polish blog sales first, or try polishsale.livejournal.com for lower prices. The first sites that I mention seem to be good, but they sell out really fast and the price is more than I would usually pay. (It's expensive to make beauty products in Australia, I think, and I would guess it's not easy to import them, either.)

Yes, summer has put me in the mood for all sorts of brights! I will revel in the deeper colors of autumn soon, but I will enjoy the brights into September at least. I am not strict about seasonal colors, but the weather does affect the mood and the mood does affect the polish choices. September is surely part of summer in California.

Review and Swatches--Colores de Carol Inner Princess

Inner Princess is the third nail polish I've tried from the brand Colores de Carol. You can see my photos and reviews of the other two here: the yummy-looking Cupcake Fantasy, and my favorite so far, Best Polish Friend Forever.
*I received this polish as a gift with purchase from Colores de Carol.*

If you're not familiar with Colores de Carol, the brand shares its name with the creator's awesome nail blog: http://www.coloresdecarol.com/. Carolina does great nail art, swatches, and reviews. Now she also creates artistic nail polishes by hand.

Inner Princess is described by Carolina as a "White base with navy blue flakes, mix of multicolored glitter and aqua stars shape glitter."

The white base is the nice, milky-sheer-type that allows the glitter to show well. The navy blue flakes are those tiny bits that you see throughout the polish. The aqua stars are quite prominent. As for the multicolored glitter, my eyes show the mix to be: 

Small hexes (hexagons) in baby pink, teal, fuchsia, lavender, and red Small squares in baby pink, teal, fuchsia, lavender, and red  

Tiny hexes in baby pink, teal, fuchsia, lavender, red, and purple

Tiny squares in baby pink, teal, fuchsia, lavender, and red

This is a sheer polish, but buildable. In all of these photos I am wearing one coat of Orly Bonder as my base, three coats of Colores de Carol Inner Princess, and one coat of Poshe top coat. Initially, I tried using a white polish as a base color, but I found that it looked too stark and really took away from Inner Princess.

Inner Princess applied well. The formula in my bottle was slightly thick, but not a problem. I believe that it wouldn't hold the glitter as well if it were any thinner. Dry time was still good. 

I didn't have to fish out any of the stars or the other shaped glitter. I ended up with at least one star on all of my nails but one. My nails are arched and small, so star glitter is unable to lie completely flat on them. I'm hoping someday to find star glitter that is tiny so that I can wear it better. These stars didn't stick out much. If you have regular-size nails or not much of an arch, they probably won't stick out at all. 

Inner Princess is a darling polish and I'm very grateful to have tried it. I've actually worn it a handful of times before this post. However, it doesn't fit my personality as well as the the other two Colores de Carol polishes that I own, Cupcake Fantasy and Best Polish Friend Forever. That is why I am not gushing as I did with BPFF. 

Inner Princess and the other Colores de Carol polishes can be purchased for $9.00 at http://www.coloresdecarol.bigcartel.com/. (Nine of her polishes are on sale right now for $7.00. Carolina also sometimes has coupon codes on her blog.)  

*I received this polish as a gift with purchase from Colores de Carol.*

Emily de Molly Regal Beginnings Revisited

Emily de Molly Regal Beginnings is one of my most treasured polishes. See my previous post HERE for a review. Today's post is to show the photos that I preferred, but were stuck in my new-to-me camera (I needed to buy a card reader to make my computer load them) at the time. 
*I purchased this polish with my own money. I am not affiliated with nor compensated by Emily de Molly.*

*I purchased this polish with my own money. I am not affiliated with nor compensated by Emily de Molly.*

Mint Candy Apple In the Spotlight

Essie Mint Candy Apple is a beautiful polish. I still wanted to dress it up, but without detracting from it. I decided glittery accent nails would do the trick.
*I purchased this product with my own money and I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

The glitter accent nails are painted with two coats of Sinful Colors In the Spotlight over my original Essie Mint Candy Apple mani, which I posted about here.

I was happy with the contrast between the finishes; the metallic aqua color of In the Spotlight with its rainbow glitter and the soft green creme of Mint Candy Apple.

Look at all the different shades of glitter that In the Spotlight has to offer:

I used one coat of Seche Vite over the accent nails to smooth out the glitter, although the glitter was not overly rough. 

It seems like you could build up In the Spotlight to be opaque and wear it on its own. The aqua base seems to have a foil finish.

I purchased Sinful Colors In the Spotlight at my local Walgreen's. I believe that they usually retail for $1.99, but I combined a coupon and my loyalty card and got three Sinful Colors polishes for only 99 cents each.

You can also purchase Sinful Colors polish in the U.S. at Target, Rite Aid, and WalMart. They are available at other retailers, too, according to their Web site, which has the complete list of where to buy.

Application was very nice and easy, but the polish chipped quickly. But for the price, I still got my money's worth, as I had a full day of staring at the sparklies. 

I have several other shades by Sinful Colors, as they are constantly putting out different ones that call to me. A similar brand, to me, is Spoiled. These are made by Wet 'n' Wild at the same price point as Sinful Colors. I buy them at CVS. I don't see as much variety in the Spoiled line as I do in the Sinful Colors line, but I really like their shades. Several of them are dupes of expensive polishes.

What do you think? Do you have any inexpensive polishes that you like to use?

*I purchased this product with my own money and I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

Review and Swatches--Colores de Carol Best Polish Friend Forever

As promised, I have for you today my second polish (see the first here) that I purchased from Colores de Carol: BPFF (Best Polish Friend Forever). This was the polish that I wanted the most when Carolina first introduced her line. I love it even more on my nails!
*I purchased this polish with my own money and I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

Carolina describes BPFF this way: "A slightly shimmery sky blue jelly base with small white hex glitter, large purple squares, small blue squares, teal and dark blue hex glitter and pink round glitter."--(source) 

Yeah, I would pretty much be sold just based on the description. But look at it! If a polish can be happy, this is a happy polish. 

I'll admit that I put many coats of this polish on to get it opaque, but the polish wasn't the problem. I wasn't thinking, so I didn't let the formula 'speak' to me. You don't need a billion coats with BPFF, but medium coats work much better with it than thin coats. When I tried to do thin coats, I would accidentally wipe too much polish off the brush and most of the glitter went with it. I experimented later and found that medium coats make it an easy-peasy application with even glitter distribution. 

Two or three medium coats would probably bring you to opacity, or you could layer one or two coats over a base color.

After I reached opacity, I topped it off with two coats of Seche Vite. Most of the glitter played really nicely and would lay flat on the nail. I had two or three of the purple squares that wanted to curl slightly. Speaking of the glitter, I love how the milky blue base still allows the glitter to stand out and be colorful. I especially love how the pink circles and the blue squares pop! 

Here's the bottle from a distance and up close:

I think that BPFF is well suited for spring, but also an awesome all-year-round polish. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, there seems to be a transition going on right now between the original Colores de Carol bottles/labels and the new ones, so yours may or may not look different than mine. The new bottles look to be square; I am not sure about the labels.

 

For me, it also worked nicely with my Seche Vite top coat. I didn't experience shrinkage (where the top coat dries so fast that it pulls back the edges of your polish) or chipping, and almost imperceptible tip wear after typing for a couple of days.

If you haven't already, you might also want to check out the Colores de Carol blog. Carolina does fantastic nail art and swatches. My personal favorite is her stamping.

Colores de Carol polishes are sold at $9.00 for a full-size bottle (15ml), and she sells them through her Big Cartel store: http://www.coloresdecarol.bigcartel.com/. Carolina also has some on sale right now for $7.00. She has some options listed for mini bottles as well, three for $13.50. Shipping is primarily to U.S.A., but if you discuss it with her, she mentions that she may be able to work something out for international shipping.

*I purchased this polish with my own money and I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

Thanks for visiting!

Swatches and Review--Colores de Carol Cupcake Fantasy

Colores de Carol is a nail blog that I follow, written by the talented Carolina. She also recently started her own nail polish line. I was drawn to two shades right away, and those are the two that I have bought so far: Cupcake Fantasy and Best Polish Friend Forever. Today I will share Cupcake Fantasy, and leave BPFF for its own post.
*I purchased this polish with my own money and I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

Two coats of Colores de Carol Cupcake Fantasy over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (left hand)

I started with one coat of base coat and two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy, which I posted about here. Seems like a sugary set of polishes, doesn't it?

One coat of Colores de Carol Cupcake Fantasy over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (left hand)

I proceeded to do three coats of Cupcake Fantasy and one coat of Seche Vite. You could easily skip the top coat if you wanted, as all of the glitter behaved well and didn't stick up.

Two coats of Colores de Carol Cupcake Fantasy over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (left hand)

Two coats of Colores de Carol Cupcake Fantasy over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (right hand)

My mani appears to be pink overall, being as that's the color of my base, but Cupcake Fantasy is actually pale lavender.

Here you can almost see how the base is more lavender

In Carolina's swatches, shown here, I see some larger purplish hexagonal glitter. I did not see any of this on my nail, but I also don't see it in my bottle. I haven't asked her about it since I was perfectly happy with what I received. 

EDIT: Carolina saw this post and she wants to send a new bottle that includes the hex glitter. What great customer service! Her polishes are all mixed by hand, so they are not going to be exactly the same, but she was very apologetic. I was happy before, and now I'm even happier. 

Three coats of Colores de Carol over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (right hand)

All of these photos are indoors under artificial light, as I didn't have time to take the photos during the day.

Three coats of Colores de Carol over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (left hand)

Communication, payment, and shipping were all pleasant and prompt when I ordered. I was able to get a shipping cost from Carolina before finalizing my order, which I appreciated. (I did, however, end up ordering when she had a special once for free shipping.)

Three coats of Colores de Carol over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (left hand)

If you order, your bottle may or may not look different than mine. I've shown a round bottle here, but I believe her new bottles are currently square. She mentioned new labels as well, but I haven't yet seen what they look like. She still has the older style of some bottles/labels in stock, too, as of today. 

Three coats of Colores de Carol over two coats of Revlon Cotton Candy (right hand)

Colores de Carol polishes are sold at $9.00 for a full-size bottle, and she sells them through her Big Cartel store: http://www.coloresdecarol.bigcartel.com/. Carolina also has some on sale right now for $7.00, so check it out. She has some options listed for mini bottles as well, 3 for $13.50. I am eyeing Bubblegum & Slippers, Daffodil, and Butterfly Blush.

*I purchased this polish with my own money and I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*