Colors by Llarowe Blonde Ambition

You guys are lucking out-- I've got a nice random variety of polishes to share with you right now! Today I have a fun polish to share with from a very popular indie brand-- Colors by Llarowe Blonde Ambition, which is actually from the Summer 2014 collection.

Blonde Ambition is described as a "light nude taupe strong linear holo," so you'll imagine my surprise when my bottle showed and looked much more brown/tan than a so-called light nude. A lot of times a polish will look darker on the nail than it does in the bottle, but in this case Blonde Ambition looks darker in the bottle and lighter on the nail! Weird. Anyway, the formula of this was good-- it was a little sheer (there was visible nail line) with one coat, and I ended up using three coats to get the coverage that I wanted. This wasn't patchy and didn't drag, so you might be able to get away with two coats depending on your polishing style/nail length. I really like this color! The holo effect is quite strong as you can see from my photos, which gives a nice flair to this neutral color.

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Blonde Ambition has been discontinued from the CbL line, but there are currently still bottles for sale! This polish retails for $12 and you can find it on the Llarowe website here.

Stay tuned for some fun posts this weekend and of course a Super Bowl manicure! (Now I actually need to figure out what I'm going to do, hah!)

Zoya Loredana

Switching back to another line of polishes with velvet in the name, I have another polish from Zoya's Matte Velvet line to share with you today. This is Loredana, described as a "medium gunmetal grey, packed with silvery shimmer." Spot on there-- there is a ton of shimmer in this polish, so I imagine it would look pretty under a top coat, though of course I prefer it with the matte finish.

Of the Matte Velvet polishes I have worn so far (all but one), I found that Loredana had the worst formula. By that, I don't mean it was terrible by a long shot, just compared to the other polishes in this collection. The formula was on the thinner side and definitely was not as opaque as the others. I needed three coats here to get completely opaque coverage (as compared to two with the others).

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Loredana reminds me of graphite. I think this is so pretty, though I wish the formula was a bit better!

ILNP Electric Carnival

I have a real treat for you tonight! I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) created a line of Ultra Chrome Flakie polishes which have caused a sensation within the polish community and helped to kick off 2015 as the year of the flakie, apparently. These Ultra Chrome Flakies are supposed to be fully opaque and can be worn alone or layered over a base color. There are 13 Ultra Chrome Flakies in all, and honestly, it's a bit overwhelming and there's definitely some overlap between the polishes. I had a very difficult time deciding which ones I liked the most and ended up getting four. The first one I have for you is Electric Carnival, which is described as having "primary colors of red, pink, gold, and green." You can see some blue in the bottle as well, though I was not able to capture that with my photos. 

Here I layered Electric Carnival over Sally Hansen Crushed. I wanted use a reddish base to bring out the base color of the flakies. I used two coats and I can tell you, it is packed with flakies. Certainly not opaque in one coat, but the claim that these will be fully opaque is not a lie. Electric Carnival is easy to apply and the flakies all lay down nicely on the nail. A layer of top coat and it was good to go!

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Polishes like Electric Carnival (and flakies in general) are the types of polishes that are hard to tear your eyes away from! Especially this one, with all the different colors that you can see with this polish. So freaking gorgeous! I am so glad I picked this one (of many)!

PS - Sorry, I somehow managed to publish this without any content. Whoops! 

Sally Hansen Crushed

Today I have a new Sally Hansen polish to share with you! Sally Hansen recently released what I believe is a limited edition of new textured polishes called "Velvet Texture"-- they are textured but it's a flatter, less rough kind of texture-- almost more like a satin though there is a slight raised finish to it. I saw these while we were traveling for the Christmas holiday so I snatched many of them up. This is the first one, Crushed, which is a magenta color.

I don't remember having any issues with the formula-- it was good. I needed two coats to get the coverage I needed. It dries quickly, which is typical of polishes with this finish.

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Matte or satin finish polishes do tend to chip more quickly and easily and unfortunately, these Velvet Texture polishes followed suit. So far both of the polishes from this line that I've worn have chipped within a day, day and a half. Even when I was wearing another polish layered on top and had a top coat, they still chipped quickly. Part of that may have been my base coat, which was a super cheap Wet n Wild one. But something to note if you are looking for these.

What do you think of this different textured finish? Or are you over textures as we move into 2015?

Sunny's Body Products Seasonal Box: Christmas Edition

Ok, this has been way delayed but I finally have a review of Sunny's Body Products Seasonal Christmas box. Unfortunuately, this box is no longer available for purchase, but some of the scents are available for a limited time and she has restocked some of the Valentine's boxes if you are interested. (Note: all of these scents except Eggnog are currently available as limited editions scents if you feel particularly interested in any of them.)

This box included a new product, Sunny's All-Over Body Balm, scented with a fragrance called Frozen. The label even has the stars from the cartoon (which I haven't seen yet) which is pretty cute. Frozen is described as "delicate snow crocuses dancing in the ozone with a backdrop of spicy juniper berry and the richness of the forest woods."

I find this scent to be a little overwhelming and perfumey for me. It's not a bad scent, don't get me wrong, I just find it a little strong for my person taste. I like the idea of this balm a lot, but think I need to try it in another scent. And definitely don't mistake this chap stick/lip saver-- it's not meant to be used on the lips (yes, this may have happened to me).

Next up we have Sunny's Lip Saver in Eggnog. This smells exactly like the name promises, eggnog! I was pleasantly surprised at how realistic it was. Yum!

I've said many times, but these Lip Savers are my favorites!

Coming right along we have the two oils in the box! First up is Sunny's Cuticle Oil in Hot Chocolate, which is described as "a yummy, frothy cup of hot chocolate with hints of caramel and creamy vanilla." 

This smells exactly like hot chocolate! I do have to say that when I used this frequently, there is an earthy note that comes out that I don't particularly love. 

Next up is Sunny's Intensive Cuticle Therapy in Christmas Cravings. This scent is described as having "top notes of orange, grapefruit, lemon, and apple; followed by middle notes of cinnamon, ginger, carrot, and nutmeg; sitting on base notes of buttercream and vanilla."

This definitely smells like Christmas in a bottle. I love it!

One of my favorite products is Sunny's Miracle Balm and this balm, in a scent called Basalm & Citrus. This scent is described as "beautiful balsam fir surrounded by sparkling notes of orange, grapefruit and crushed cranberries with a background of sandalwood, clove & cinnamon." 

This is a great scent. I really like the different notes and think they balance really well. As a plus, I don't find this too overpowering.

I also love Sunny's Sugar Hand Scrub and Ice Capade, which is described as having "top notes of lemon, peppermint, and spearmint; a warm middle note of buttercream; and base notes of vanilla and menthol," is no exception.

This is a fresh, crisp scent which I really enjoy.


And last but definitely not least, we have Sunny's Hand Cream in Warm Vanilla Nutmeg. This scent is described as "a creamy vanilla and warm, heady spices are divine in this comforting, delicious blend! Notes of sweet berry, caramel, root-berry, creamy French vanilla, vanilla bean, and warm, spicy nutmeg."

I'll be honest, I thought I was going to dislike this scent. I tend not to be a big fan of food and/or super sweet scents so I thought this would be my least favorite scent. WRONG! I freaking love this. I want to live in it, it's soooooooo good! I really wish Sunny would make this a permanent scent. One of the things I really like is that the scent is strong without being overpowering and it has staying power-- I can still smell it on my hands when I wake up the next morning. *goes off to buy more* 

As I said above, all these scents except the Eggnog lip saver scent are currently available, so if something strikes your fancy, you can still grab it! Overall, I thought this box was a winner, given that I wasn't a big fan of many scents from the Fall Exclusive box. I have already ordered the Valentine's Day box, so I can't wait to see what that brings!

L'Oreal Masked Affair

Ok, you've probably seen this polish a million times already, but now I've got it! L'Oreal Masked Affair has already become a hard to find polish as of all the polishaholics are snatching up this little gem! Masked Affair is a limited edition polish that is part of the L'Oreal Dark Sides of Grey collection-- based, if you can't guess, on the book/movie 50 Shades of Grey. Here's my quick aside: haven't read the book nor do I plan on seeing the movie; I certainly don't begrudge anyone enjoying it, but there are definitely better books in the same genre if you are looking for them!

Anyway, back to Masked Affair. This polish is a drugstore holographic, which is a mythical beast akin to the unicorn, which is why this polish is flying off the shelves. Masked Affair is a lavender tinged silver holographic and very soft and pretty. The formula on this was decent-- not the best I've ever seen but not terrible; just ok. It was a little sheer on the first coat and a bit prone to dragging. But three thin coats covered well. I do think that my top coat dulled the holo effect a bit, but it is a softer holographic flair in general, not a strong linear effect. Personally, I find this to be very pretty and flattering! It's not the most original polish ever made, but it's definitely nice to see something like this from a drugstore brand.

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So what's your take on Masked Affair? Have you made an effort to find it or are you passing on it? I'm glad I picked it up and I hope L'Oreal (and other brands) continue to try new things with their drugstore polish lines.

Two-fer Tuesday: Seahawks Manicures!

Sliding in just under the wire... a rare Two-fer Tuesday post! These manicures are basically the same, except they use different polishes. Over the past few months I did a couple of Seahawks (Seattle's NFL team, if you don't know) inspired manicures, but one has just been hanging out in computer, wondering if it would ever see the light day. Given that the Seahawks just won the NFC Championship, I figured now was as good a time as any! 

First up, a manicure featuring Sally Hansen Batbano Blue and Nail-Venturous Floam:

The above manicure is actually from August so whew, a long time ago! I think I was wearing Batbano Blue and wanted to do something fun to jazz it up so I finally (FINALLY!) pulled out my bottle of Floam, which was languishing in a drawer.

And my manicure from this past weekend:

This is a new Sally Hansen polish called Slick (that is a dark dark blue) and is supposed to have a patent finish-- aka super shiny. And if you think I'm wearing Floam on my ringer again, you would be wrong. This is 12th Woman from Daily Hues Lacquer. It should have some silver circle glitters as well, but I was having trouble getting them out of the bottle.

Now I need to start planning a manicure for the Super Bowl, since the Seahawks miraculously made it back for the second year in a row!

Enchanted Polish Good Life

Oooohhhh, look at this-- my first Enchanted Polish on the blog! I have recently become an EP convert, though there is still some lingering resentment (not from me, just in general) about the low availability of her polishes. Mainly, I do the preorders and have managed to catch a few restocks, but since I have no vested interest, it's just kind of fun. The polish I have for you tonight, is Good Life, which I managed to catch on a random restock-- it was the one polish I wanted so I'm glad I was able to snag it! Good Life is a pretty unique polish, at least to me. It is a gold-bronze duochrome with a holographic finish and the gold has a strong green tone to it. (Spoiler alert: you won't really see it in my photos, sorry!)

The formula on Good Life was perfection-- while not quite opaque in one coat, it went on smoothly and easily and two coats was perfect! No complaints, it was great, which considering the price point, is a must. So I was definitely please with the opacity and how easy this was to apply.

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This is the first Enchanted Polish I've ever used and I was very impressed! The formula was great and I think this is a really unique color. Winner winner chicken dinner! I am definitely looking to collect more EPs and look forward to trying the ones I already have!

Literary Lacquers Luggage for Your Journey

Tonight I have a new-to-me nail polish brand: Literary Lacquers! This is my first experience with the brand (which is right up my alley-- nail polish and books!) and I bought a limited edition polish called Luggage For Your Journey, which was actually a charity polish to benefit Alzheimer's research. This polish was inspired by Terry Pratchett, who is a prolific author and who also announced back in 2007 that he was living with early-onset Alzheimer's. Personally, I find the idea of Alzheimer's-- losing yourself, not knowing your family-- to be terrifying. I have also never read any of the of Pratchett's work, which is a shame-- so given the cause, I decided to get this to support a good cause and try out a new brand!

Luggage For Your Journey is coppery brown holographic polish with some strong gold tones as well. I am pretty sure I used three coats and a top coat here. Usually I am not a huge brown polish fan, though I am trying to work on that. I think the holographic finish adds an extra dimension to this polish, even though it would still be pretty without it.

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Unfortunately, despite the gorgeous color, I was not impressed with the formula of this polish. I have read raves about Literary Lacquer and so I was incredibly disappointed when my first coat was incredibly sheer and wanted to drag itself all over my nail. Not what I was expecting at all.

Overall, I thought this polish was super pretty but I was incredibly disappointed with the application of this polish. I will try Literary Lacquers again to see if this polish was just a fluke,  but sadly my first experience wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. 

Purple Friday: Girly Bits Seriously Sassy

Hey all! I have a Purple Friday post this week because, ta-da, the Huskies play in Cactus Bowl tonight against Oklahoma State! So of course I had to paint my nails purple for the occasion! But which purple to wear? I have so many that I haven't worn yet!

After polling several outlets, I settled on Girly Bits Seriously Sassy as my purple polish of the moment (top left). The Girly Bits website describes this polish as "a royal purple jelly, with blue to purple colour shifting glitter." I would add that there's some pink in there too, but the blue dominants and make the polish lean blue or blurple. The description of this also calls it a jelly, and while it does have a jelly-like consistency, it covers very well and I only needed two coats (the website suggests 2-3 coats).

Seriously Sassy definitely needs a top coat as it dries down to a matte finish-- I actually used two because the first coat wasn't as shiny as I wanted, though the glitter wasn't eating through the top coat (it was still smooth to the touch).

Given that this is a purple and a blue leaning purple at that, it wanted to give me trouble so I was fooling around a bit with my camera (I am clearly no expert here... if I ever have time again, this is one of my goals) to try and get photos that more accurately capture color. They still don't do Seriously Sassy justice, and are slightly blurred on the edges but I feel capture the color a bit better. In any case, the polish actually looks purple and not blue. You can see the blue glitter in the purple base.

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This purple IS seriously sassy! In low light it is very dark, but you can tell it's not black. In other lighting situations, it just glows and has an electric quality to it. I'm definitely smitten.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Cowboys!