Wet n Wild Reject the Mainstream

I feel like I have a really random bunch of polishes I am blogging this week! Today I have a polish that is actually from last spring, I believe. This is Reject the Mainstream, which was part of the Silver Lake collection. I think I say it every time I post, but I really enjoy the Wet n Wild Megalast line of nail polish-- they are cheap and generally have decent formula, and I like both those things! Affordable and easy to work with is always a winner!

Reject the Mainstream is a soft lilac creme. Even though pastels are considered more of a spring trend (if you pay attention to those, which I don't really) but sometimes I just want something soft and gentle and this color really fits the bill. The formula was pretty great-- on the thinner side, but nicely pigmented and it went on smoothly. I used a light hand and didn't have any trouble at all. I did use three coats to make sure it was even, but probably could have gotten away with two!

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the formula of Reject the Mainstream was! This was really lovely all around: color, formula, all of it. I loved this polish and I shouldn't have let it sit around for so long, but I'm glad I pulled it out now! This may not be the most original color out there but I still like it!

Native Wars Paints No Tricks Here

Today I have a real treat for you! I have Native War Paints No Tricks Here. This was a mystery polish released for April Fool's Day. I actually passed on buying it the first time around but then a few extras were offered in the clearance area of the NWP shop and it was so pretty I decided I had to have it! And I think that was a really good choice. No Tricks Here is described as a "medium blue polish with a shifty red/gold shimmer." 

No Tricks Here had a good formula and I didn't have any issues. It went on smoothly; the first coat covered fairly well but I probably ended up using three because that's typically what I do. (Of course, it's also been awhile since I wore it and I also don't remember!) I was worried that this would stain, given how vivid the blue is, but no staining to report here, even after a few days of wear!

I think this very well may be one of my favorite polishes of 2016! Vivid color, blue, gorgeous, strong shimmer. I feel like the shimmer isn't quite as prominent in my photos as it is in real life, but trust me, it's very visible to the eye. I loved this polish so much and didn't want to stop staring at my nails. I can't really stop babbling about how lovely this is... sorry not sorry! I'm all about the shimmer right  now!

Sinful Colors Koko-Nuts

Listen, I am no Kardashian fan, by any means, but that hasn't stopped me from liking some of the polishes they have released. I don't have very many but I love that there are a bunch of matte polishes so I'll probably be picking some of those up. Today I have Koko-Nuts to share with you, which is a polish from the King Kylie collection. 

Koko-Nuts is a white creme with a strong gold shimmer; it definitely has a glass fleck quality to it. Formula was pretty standard for a white creme; ok but not amazing. It's on the thick side and goes on a bit streaky-- I found it difficult to get thin coats and this does not want to self-level. I used three coats and it's not too bad; maybe not quite as even as I wanted but not terrible. If you are a careful polisher you might (maybe) be able to get away with two coats. 

I do like this shimmer, but I'm not head over heels in love with this polish. I saw some swatches that I loved and which lead me to pick up this polish in the first place, and while I do think it's pretty (love the shimmer!) I wish my nails were a but shorter because I think it would look cleaner. Sadly, Koko-Nuts is kind of just "meh" on my nails but I may try it again at a different time. I do want to try some of the matte polishes that have been put out, though! 

Two-fer Tuesday: Essie Find Me an Oasis and Resort Fling

My posting will be a little sporadic this week... there's a lot of upheaval currently going on in my house and I haven't been able to find the time (or have been too tired) to get any posts ready for this week. I will try, though! Today I have the last two polishes from the 2014 Essie Resort collection, Find Me an Oasis and Resort Fling!

Find Me An Oasis is a light sky blue pastel creme. Sadly, the color is probably the best part of this polish-- the formula is pretty terrible. It was thin and wanted to streak something fierce. I used three careful coats here (I had read other reviews of this not having the greatest formula-- they were right) and that definitely helped, but there is still some unevenness on my nails and I didn't feel like doing four coats to see if I could make it better.

Resort Fling is a summery cantaloupe coral crelly. Again, I love this color family for summer, but I feel like the formula could have been better, though honestly, as I reflect on it, was not as bad as Find Me an Oasis. The first coat was pretty darn sheer, though after three coats the visible nail line is pretty minimal. It is still a little bit streaky and didn't self-level very well.

Sadly, I find it hard to really love either one of these polishes-- I like the colors a great deal but  the formulas leave a lot to be desired. Certainly not the worst I've ever used, but definitely not great and will probably prevent me from reaching for these polishes again in the future, which is a shame! But you can't win them all, and there are similar colors out there with better formulas.

Daily Hues Poppin' Poppies

Today is the last day of my teal themed week and I have a very unique polish to share with you as our last polish of the week! Daily Hues Poppin' Poppies was a group exclusive for the Daily Hues Crew (the FB fan group), based on the following picture: 

I'll be honest and say that I didn't snatch this polish up when it was made available for sale and regretted that. Luckily Jenn still had some of the glitter mix and made a few more bottles and I was able to snag one and I'm so glad I did! Poppin' Poppies is described as a "lighter teal blue with matte neon orange / coral glitter, matte pastel orange glitter and orange holo glitter along with copper sparks and some holo sprinkled in." This was pretty easy to apply and covered nicely in two coats (yes two, I actually used two!). The glitter was distributed nicely, and this had a slight crelly feel to it, so I used a light hand to avoid any streaks.

I'm in love with Poppin' Poppies! It's such a unique, fun polish and I truly don't have anything else like it in my collection. I love the orange and teal combination; it works so well here! I am so glad I was able to snag this; I can't want to see the next custom Jenn makes! 

Hope you enjoyed my teal themed week here on the blog-- any favorites? Have a great weekend everyone! 

Throwback Thursday: KB Shimmer Teal Another Tail

Today I have another Throwback Thursday for you! In keeping with the teal theme for the week, today's polish is KB Shimmer Teal Anothe Tail, which was originally released back in the fall of 2013 and I bought it on sale when it was sadly discontinued. This polish is a gorgeous teal with a strong pink shimmer. This poor baby has been sitting around unloved for awhile, but I saw some photos of a summer collection with a similar looking polish (teal with pink shimmer) and I knew I had this lurking in a drawer and so I dug it out immediately to wear it! And I am so glad I did because it's beautiful!

Teal Another Tail was great to work with and went on smoothly and easily. The first coat was a little sheer, but it built up nicely. I probably could have gotten away with two coats but used three, but that's pretty typical of my polishing style! There's maybe a titch of visible nail line but it was not noticeable in real life.

Teal Another Tail is just fantastic, but really, that's to be expected from a brand like KB Shimmer. It's polishes like this that make indie brands so fantastic-- and KB Shimmer is one of the best! I really need to get some more of her polishes because I feel like she always has great collections; definitely check KB Shimmer out if you haven't yet.

Girly Bits Here's Lagoon Atcha

It's Wednesday! Hump day! And a the perfect day to have nice break, a breath of fresh air and enjoy the simple beauty of a gorgeous creme polish. Today I have Girly Bits Here's Lagoon Atcha, which is the one of two polishes from their new Colors of the Month series. These polishes will only be on sale for a limited time at the beginning of each month for preorder-- unfortunately, this was one of the June releases and is not currently available.

Here's Lagoon Atcha is described as a " bright aqua crelly" and even though this seems like it doesn't work with my whole teal theme-- to me, this polish looks way more turquoise/light teal than aqua, which to me would have a stronger blue tone. To my eyes, Here's Lagoon Atcha leans green, though some of that might be skin tone dependent (though personally I think it leans green in the bottle too). Being that this is a crelly, is does have a slightly thinner formula, but is still well pigmented. I found my first layer to be a bit streaky, and ended up using three thin coats to even it out. But no complaints, as it went on smoothly, dried quickly and didn't give me any real issues.

Personally, I loved this polish! I recently wore this on vacation and it lasted a full five with only minor tip wear! Technically seven days because I was too tired upon arriving back home to take it off, hah. So this is definitely a winner in my books, all the way around. I love a good creme and the color is beautiful, so I'm in love. Definitely looking forward to seeing more COTM duos from Girly Bits! Happy Wednesday all!

Two-fer Tuesday: Fairytale Finish Neverending Fairytales June 2016

Today I have a Two-fer Tuesday post, the first in about a bazillion years (or so it feels). I have the June 2016 Neverending Fairytales subscription polishes to share with you! June is Amanda's birth month (and mine too) and so she made some polishes based on her favorite color: teal!

The first polish is Glittering Peep Toes, which is a "dark teal with silver micro holo and larger silver holo." This had a nice creme base and applied smoothly. I seem to remember this was made a bit on the thinner side so I ended up using three coats, but didn't have any issues. I love the various size holographic glitters and how well they pop against the teal background.

Next up we have Sparkly Pumps, which is a super sparkly teal glitter in a teal jelly base. The first coat was a bit sheer, but the second covered nicely. I ended up using 3 coat but I actually think I should have stopped at two, because it felt a bit thick and draggy on the last coat and I think was way overkill. Ah well, next time I know better! This was super lovely and squishy looking in real life. 

This was a great sub month! I love teal and these polishes are both beautiful. They were easy to apply and looked great and I really enjoyed the two different takes on the same color! This is maybe the best sub box so far!!

Fairytale Finish Fairy Iconic

Happy Monday all! Hope your week is off to a good start; we got back from five days of vacation and the reentry into real life has been a bit rough. Today I'm starting a teal themed week, featuring some gorgeous teal polishes. I know I've mentioned on my blog before that I am not a huge green fan, but I do love certain shades of green, especially teal. It just happened that I had a bunch of polishes that fit this description and I decided to make a little themed week for kicks! Shake things up a little!

Today I have Fairytale Finish Fairy Iconic to share with you! Fairy Iconic is (I believe there are still bottles left) group exclusive to the Fairytale Finish facebook group. I'm a big supporter of Fairytale Finish so I jumped on this immediately. It was voted on by the facebook group and the winning combination was Tiffany Blue and holographic, and this is what Amanda came up with! It has a rich teal creme base with a subtle holographic finish.

This had a wonderful formula! It was super creamy and smooth and went on very easily. I actually think I used two coats here instead of my usual three, that's how good it was! In any case, it was a dream to work with and I don't have any complaints! My only (very) minor quibble is that it was difficult to photographic the holographic finish, which was very nice in person but apparently too subtle for my camera!

This is such a gorgeous color; I actually ended up wearing it for a few days longer than I originally intended! Ok, so truthfully some of that was just due to timing and/or exhaustion but it's such a beautiful color that it wasn't an issue at all. But I could have worn it a lot longer, in all honesty! As the first group custom I am really impressed and definitely look forward to future releases!

Sinful Colors We're All Matte Here

Today I have another Sinful Colors "porcelain matte" to share with you, We're All Matte Here. Personally, the name cracks me up; it's the perfect nail polish twist on "we're all mad here" line from Alice in Wonderland. We're All Matte Here is described as a "sugary melon" and while I'm not quite sure what that means, but it is a red leaning coral matte that is pretty much my ultimate summer color.

I used three coats here. The formula was a tad thick, so I did up using maybe thicker coats than I should have and I did end up with some bubbles/bumps. Not terrible, but it could be better. The color really carries this for me; it's just so perfect for summer that I find it hard to dislike even if I wasn't thrilled with the formula.

These types of shades are my favorite for summer and never fail to make me happy. I'm a little disappointed I had some bubbles with this, but I'm not sure if it was my fault or the polish. Probably mine but I'll need to wear it again to make sure. I did end up wearing a top coat with this, which seemed to eliminate them so it looked nice regardless. I probably needed to use slightly thinner coats and wait a bit longer in between coats. But I still really like this and will definitely be reaching for it as a pedicure color this summer!

Throwback Thursday: Essie Under the Twilight

Another Throwback Thursday post and another Essie polish, also from the Resort 2014 collection. Today I have Under the Twilight, which was definitely one of the highlights from this set. This polish is described as an "intensely provocative smokey plum." In the bottle it looks blue (to my eye anyway) but on the nail you can definitely tell where the smokey plum descriptor comes from.

Under the Twilight had an excellent, moreso than the other half of this collection-- I'll get to those polishes later. This was nicely pigmented and went on super smoothly. It was very nearly a one coat wonder, though I did have a few thin patches so I used a second coat. Excellent!

I wish this had a bit more color to keep it from looking so close to a near black, but the formula was excellent and it's still definitely not black, despite being so dark. Even though this is/was a resort color, I think it will be very wearable in the fall and winter. Under the Twilight is a very chic twist on a black manicure, especially if you don't want a true black.

Review: Born Pretty Store Black Cat Water Decals

**product sent for honest review**

Hey all!! I had a different post planned for today but this weekend while I cleaned some things out and finally found some Born Pretty Store water decals I had been looking for-- they were sent to me in January, my laptop stopped working, and then I misplaced them and couldn't find them for ages! But here they are! I got these black cat water decals -- they are nicely detailed and can work over a multitude of colors, provided of course that it's not too dark!

These were easy to use, though with a few caveats. The designs are pretty small, so a smaller pair of scissors might be helpful to cut them out. I also had a little bit of a difficult time removing them from the backing, but in the end it wasn't a big deal and they went easily on to my nail. For my manicure, I used a base of Darling Diva Rey, and then added two decals to my index and ring fingers. But I wanted to make a manicure that was a play on my name, so here you go!

Here's a look at my manicure:

And a close-up of my index nail:

And my ring nail:

I think these are pretty cute! You can see that the details transfer pretty well, especially on the index nail, though I did end up losing some on my ring nail. Still cute though! I'm really with how this turned out!

Check out Born Pretty Store for tons of nail art products and use my code CRK31 for 10% off your order!

**product sent for honest review**

Enchanted Polish Winter

You might be wondering how I am choosing to showcase a polish named Winter the day after the 4th of July. In Seattle we have an inside joke that summer doesn't actually start until after the 4th of July (which can sometimes be very rainy and winter-like) so I thought it would be funny to share this polish on the "unofficial" start to summer here in the PNW. Really, of course, we've been having some great weather, though coincidentally, the weather forecast for today is saying rain! So there's a bit of weather irony for you. Or something, I don't know. I found it funny.

Anyway, today's polish is Enchanted Polish Winter and as the name might imply, was released during the winter season (as part of an LE trio). Winter is a "dove grey holo" and if it looks familiar, it's because I used it as a base for some nail art awhile ago. Here I have used two coats and it actually looks pretty good, though if I had been wearing it alone I probably would have opted for a third coat. That said, I was a little worried about the formula with such a light color, but it was actually pretty good. I used a very light touch to ensure that there weren't any streaks and that definitely prevented any problems there might have been.

I think this is really pretty! I love the soft grey with the rainbow flair from the holo and think this color works year round. I just love it! It's not necessarily unique but I don't care, because I think it's very elegant and gorgeous.

Lacquer Lust Star Spangled Unicorn

Happy 4th of July! We've made some fun plans with our friends for the holidays-- hopefully the weather cooperates! It's always a toss up in the PNW, though. So I have I a sweet and simple 4th of July manicure to share with you!

To that end, I just went with Lacquer Lust Star Spangle Unicorn, which I described to my husband as "blue, red, and sparkly." The official description actually says that it is a "clear based polish packed with silver and gold holographic micro glitters mixed with translucent blue and red hex glitters, white square glitter and a dash of spectraflair." That's what I said, isn't it?! It does go on very easily and smoothly-- the glitters are nicely distributed and some will want to migrate towards your free edge, but it's very easy to manipulate. The first coat was pretty sheer, but it builds up nicely. No issues, though I did use two layers of top coat to make sure I had the smooth finish I wanted. But no complaints!

So pretty, right?! I really like these unicorn themed polishes! They're super sparkly, so easy to work with and I loved how this looks! It's patriotic and fun but I didn't have to do any nail art, hooray!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!