a england Camelot

Taking a break from all the Valentine themed polishes (and glitter) and bringing you something completely different tonight-- straight up black! This is a polish I've had for awhile, a england Camelot. Named after the legendary kingdom of King Arthur, this polish is a deep black onyx polish that is super shiny.

Camelot, my goodness-- it's so shiny! All the pictures below are without a top coat. Look at how shiny it is! Overall, I had an easy time using this polish and the formula was great and very pigmented. If you're good, this is definitely a one-coater. I used two because I never feel good with just one coat. But I feel like this looks gorgeous on the nail and actually does look like black onyx stone.

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This is a perfect black. A little on the pricey side, yes, but it's easy to use and the formula is great. I don't know wear just black very often, but I love how shiny this is and I'm glad I have a bottle in case I need it.

SquareHue Vintage Love February Box

Today I have a review of the SquareHue February box, which was a collection entitled Vintage Love. SquareHue is another monthly polish subscription service. For $21, you get three preselected, full-sized polishes sent to your door every month and there's a theme for each month (February was Vintage Love, the upcoming March is The O'Hue Collection). You don't get to see the colors before you get them, which adds a fun element to surprise to the whole thing.

High School Crush, a pale peachy pink creme:

At first I thought High School Crush was a pale pink, but it's actually a little bit peachy. That makes me like it more. The formula was on the streaky side, but still applied pretty easily and dried down quickly to a nice shiny finish. Like the name implies, this color has a light, innocent feeling to it.

Wartime Romance, a dusky deep rose-plum:

Wartime Romance is so pretty. The formula on this is great and went on very smoothly (I used three coats here, though I probably could have gotten away with two). It also dried quickly. At first I was afraid that this would look too old-lady, but there are some purple tones in this polish that make it deeper and more intense. It does have a slightly old-timey feel to it (and I'm a sucker for anything WWII) and I think the name and the color are perfect together.

Dear John, a vampy deep red shimmer:

Dear John is super vampy and a very dark shimmery red. To me, Dear John is very reminiscent of OPI Germanicure and takes on brown tones sometimes. The shimmer gets lost a little in low light because it's so dark, but it is very pretty.

Overall, I liked the box, though I can't say I blown away. While I do like being surprised with the colors, I'm not sure how unique the color are and the formula on High School Crush was disappointing. I am getting my March box and then I'll make a decision as to whether or not I want to continue with it. I like the SquareHue bottles and brushes a lot-- the brushes are a little stubby, but had a nice stiffness and flexibility that made applying the polish pretty easy.


If you're interested in joining SquareHue, check out their website.

Lynnderella Matters of the Heart

Tonight I have a polish I swatched ages ago-- one of Lynnderella polishes I got last May. I swatched this and decided it was too Valentine-y at the time (I think I swatched it in July) and held off posting swatches until now-- and it's almost the end of the month! Matters of the Heart is a mix glitters-- red, pink, purple, white-- in various shapes and size (large and small hexes, squares and hearts) in a milky pink base.

Now, I don't actually have any notes for this polish-- sorry! I think I used one coat here, dabbed over Misa Double Dutch (which makes the base color a little more pink than the actual base color of the polish). The formula was a little on the thick side and I honestly don't know if you'd want to try wearing this by itself, as the base is fairly sheer and you'd probably need several coats to make it opaque.

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I wasn't thrilled with this polish.  I don't know what it is, but I wasn't a huge fan, despite the fact that it is a pretty polish. Part of it's the color of the base-- I would like to try this over a lighter pink or a white (or maybe a light blue) and maybe I would like it more. I also found it a little difficult to work with, and given the amount of time I spent waiting for this and the money I spent, it was a bit disappointing. Also, not all of the glitter would lie completely flat on the nail (though I don't think it was due to curling) and so I needed a couple coats of a thick top coat to make sure there weren't any pokey bits.

China Glaze Escaping Reality

Sorry I've been so lazy about blogging. I have tons of polishes I need to share with you, but have been feeling less than motivated to actual take the time to do it! Then things get busy and my will to do anything other than throw on sweat pants and collapse in front of the tv. Yeah, my life is so glamorous.

I wanted to take a break from indie glitters (even though I love them too) and share one of my new favorite polishes with you. It's not exactly new, but it is new to me. This is Escaping Reality, which is one of the polishes from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away collection, which was released this past December. I wasn't totally blown away by the collection, but recently I stopped by Sally's and they had a buy-one-get-one special going on with the polishes from the collection. There were only three different polishes in the display, so I grabbed Escaping Reality and another polish I'll show you later.
Escaping Reality is what I would call a "nearly neon hot pink." It's a creme and dries down to a satin matte finish (similar to a neon) but isn't actually a neon. The formula is a good and goes on very easily and smoothly. There is some visible nail line, but nothing too bothersome. Here I used two coats and no top coat.

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I love how bright this is without being neon. It's bright and cheerful and I love how it looks. It's necessarily a unique polish in the grand scheme of things, but I still love it. It's the perfect pick-me-up for the midwinter blahs.

All That Glitters C U Never

Sorry-- I've finally got the last of my Bitter Hearts polishes from All That Glitters for you tonigh! This is C U Never, and is such a gorgeous polish! C U Never is described as a "deep green glittery base with green, sea green, chartreuse and gold glitters in different shades, shapes and sizes." It's kind of dusky deep green with a bit of a teal flavor to it. I love the glitter combination-- the gold pops nicely in the dark base and the greens compliment each other well.

I decided to layer C U Never over Anise Urban Jungle, which has a very similar color base. Because of the darker base, I only used one layer of C U Never and it looks great! My application was a little uneven at the tips (you can see the slightly lighter base color peeking through) but this was an easy polish to work with. I love the subtle shimmer in the base too. Gorgeous!

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This is probably my favorite shade of the ones I bought. I love that this is not anywhere close to stereotypical Valentine's colors (even though I love those colors for the holiday). C U Never is limited edition and still available for $8.

All That Glitters Dream On

Sorry for the delay in posting-- I was in Portland this past weekend to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday! We had an excellent time and a lot of fun, but it didn't leave much time for posting. So now I'm back, finishing up some Valentine's Day polishes. Tonight I have Dream On, another polish from the All That Glitters Bitter Hearts collection. Dream On is described as a "pale pink creme base with gold shimmer and holographic gold and gunmetal glitters."

For this swatch I layered two coats of Dream On over Square Hue High School Crush, a light pink creme. I think this makes the base of Dream On slightly more pink than it actually is in the bottle. The formula was a little on the thick side, and in future I would be tempted to wear this on its own rather than layer it.

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I think that this is unique color combination, even though I'm not a fan of pink bases. I like how the gunmetal glitters look a little purple, and I think the colors of the glitter give it an edge, especially with the pink base. I'm not sure I'm in love with this polish, but I do like it.

Dream On is limited edition, but is still available from the All That Glitter etsy store and retails for $8.

Valentine's Day mani!

While my husband and I don't really "celebrate" Valentine's Day in any special way, other than to spend time together-- but I do enjoy having a fun manicure for the day! I was really struggling with ideas for what to do for a Valentine's day manicure-- I had several ideas but really wasn't motivated by any of them. 

Originally, I was going to use Nostalgic Lacquer Girls On Film, but then I fell in love with All That Glitters Go Away. So I decided to pair Go Away with China Glaze Escaping Reality (my new favorite pink) and just do an accent nail. I was originally thinking I might do some stamping and actually practiced this past weekend... but in the end I was too tired and lazy to try anything exciting or new.

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Hope that if you're celebrating you're having a fun day doing something special with those you love!