Polish 'M Lazy Sunday

Today I have Polish 'M Lazy Sunday, which is from the same collection (Spring Remix) as Tropical Mango, which I showed you last week! Lazy Sunday has a lavender crelly base with some strong blue shimmer and purple, pink, and red micro glitters! I think I picked this one up because a) it's purple and b) I love the glitter mix! As I said in my other post, I honestly wish I had picked up the whole collection because these are a lot of fun!

No complaints about the formula here, which was similar to Tropical Mango. The glitter is nicely distributed and comes out of the bottle easily; the first coat was a tad sheer but built up nicely. I used three coats, as is my standard, for the look I wanted. You could probably get away with two coats if you so desired.

Another winner! I love this, especially with the blue shimmer-- I love that it stands out because it really makes this polish unique (at least to me)! I don't often wear crellies or glitter, but this (and Tropical Mango) made good impressions on me and I'll be reaching for them again. Happy Hump Day everyone! 

Colors by Llarowe I'll Be At The Lake POTM July 2016

Today I have the July POTM from Colors by Llarowe, I'll Be At The Lake. I guess this is kind of a theme, as yesterday's polish was also from July and here we are at the end of August. I'll Be At The Lake is described as a "bright blue metallic base with intense aqua shimmer and pink to purple shifting shimmer with a sprinkling of holo." This polish has an almost metallic or foil feel to it from the shimmer and does have flashes of pink/purple at certain angles. The holo is pretty low key, but adds another dimension of interest to this polish, so there's a lot going on here!

I didn't have any issues with this polish. This was a little thinner than what most CbL polishes tend to be, but was still easy to use and apply. I used three coats to get the finish I wanted. You can see just a hint of visible nail line on my ring finger, but I honestly don't think it was noticeable in real life.  

I had a hell of a time photographing this baby, and sadly I think it looks much better in person than in my photos, womp womp.

You can see how glowy it is! Despite my inability to capture this on camera, this polish was really stunning in real life. I hope you can appreciate some of its beauty despite my less than stellar photography attempts!

Girly Bits Suns Out Buns Out

Today I have one of the two July COTM polishes from Girly Bits. Both of these polishes sport cheeky names and based on how we generally love to frolic in the sun and enjoy the warm weather and water. Sadly it looks like Seattle is currently in the downhill slide into fall (which I also love, but I'm always sad to see summer leave) so I'm going to have to live vicariously through my polishes. The first half of the July duo is Suns Out Buns Out (lol) which is described as a "bright Barbie fluorescent pink low density holo, with an array of gold shimmer and glass fleck." 

Like pretty much every Girly Bits polish I have used, I didn't have any problems with Suns Out Buns Out. I would say that formula was titch on the sheer side, but it was easy to apply, and built up smoothly. I used three coats here and that was perfect. No complaints! Well, ok, a minor one: I felt the shimmer was pretty prominent in the bottle but got a little lost on the nail.

I'm not sure how I feel about this polish. I think it's pretty, don't get me wrong, but I feel like it loses a little depth or dimension on the nail and looks a little "thin." I don't know. I love how it looks in bottle but I feel like it didn't totally transfer on the nail. I mean, I still like and think it's pretty, I just wish it retained some of the depth it had it bottle. So this ended up feeling a little flat to me, but hey, not every polish is going to work for every person, right? I think love the color and think it's a cute polish, it just didn't translate on the nail quite like I was hoping. Oh well!

Hope everyone's week is getting off to a good start! Is summer still going strong where you are?

Daily Hues Blake (Holo)

Let's end the week with something sparkly, just because! Today's polish, Blake (Holo) was released as part of the Daily Hues Spring Collection and is an "upgraded" version of Blake, which is a bright cobalt blue creme... so the holo edition is the cobalt blue base with added holo. I would say the addition does dull the color a little, but it still looks pretty darn gorgeous even if it doesn't have the same vibrancy of the original. 

I'll be honest; it's been awhile since I wore this so I don't quite remember everything about it. As far as I can recall, I didn't have any problems with Blake (H) while I was applying it! It went on smoothly and I used two or possibly three coats (probably three because that's how I roll). 

So pretty, right? I don't think my photos really do it justice-- do you ever have those days (or weeks) where you feel like nothing clicks? That's how I felt when trying to photograph this; every shot was slightly off and not quite in focus. I did think this color was quite gorgeous, so I wish my photos were better! I don't really this is color is all that unique these days, but it's super pretty so I don't care! 

Different Dimension Psyche

Summer isn't over yet! We are having some gorgeous, perfect summer weather right now and I have a lot of summer polishes yet to be worn. Of course, I got way off my blogging game this summer and so there's no way I will be able to cram them all in before fall gets here, but I'll try! I recently realized I hadn't worn any neons this summer, and I think that might actually be a crime! Neons and summer are match made in heaven! So on that note, today's eye searingly bright polish is Different Dimension Psyche, which was part of last summer's Back to the 70's collection. Psyche is a neon yellow with a subtle shimmer.

Psyche wasn't terrible to work with, but it's also not perfect. Being a neon yellow it already has two strikes against it so I knew I would have to be careful. I used three coats and probably could have used a fourth if I was being a perfectionist, but the truth is I'm lazy so if it works in three coats... well, there we are. Dries down to a matte finish, so you need a top coat to bring out the shimmer. You can see it's a bit streaky and there is a little visible nail line; it's really not terrible in person but it does exist. The formula is a little thick side, but again, not unworkable.

You can see that Psyche is bright, but doesn't look totally neon-- but that's typical with neons as they tend really shine in shady situations: 

Whoa, look at how it glows! It's practically radioactive! 

Even though the formula of Psyche wasn't perfect I still like the color a lot! There's something about neon yellow that just screams summer to me; I have to wear at least one during the hot weather months! I received a lot of compliments on this, even with my imperfect application, so you know it's an awesome color. I did have some issues with this peeling off, but I think my base/top coats might not be working my body chemistry any more (this isn't the first time I've experienced this issue recently) so I don't think it's the polish. Anyway, despite that, I consider this polish a winner and I kind of want to wear it for the rest of our summer, which is saying a lot!

Polish 'M Tropical Mango

In a similar color scheme to yesterday's peach polish, today I'm moving on to another fruit-- mango! This Tropical Mango from Polish 'M! This is from her spring collection, which was a remix of popular polishes that she released back in 2013! I missed the originals so I can't use them as a base of comparison, but I'd say the remixes are equally fun! 

Tropical Mango is an orange leaning coral crelly with small red and purple hex glitter and a healthy dose of pink shimmer. I think the balance between glitter and shimmer in the same polish can be tricky, but it's pretty much perfect here and the shimmer really adds a nice depth to the polish, giving that extra littl but of oomph! to make it more than just a crelly glitter. Formula-wise, Tropical Mango was a breeze to apply; no issues! It went on smoothly and I didn't have to fuss around with the glitter at all. I used three coats because that's the way I am; others might be able to get away with two! If I had been able to locate my matte top coat I would love to see what this looks like mattified but that will just have to wait until the next time I wear it!

This polish is much fun! I wish I hadn't waited so long to wear it because I really love the shimmer and the glitter is very cheerful! I'm kind of wishing I had bought the full collection but I'm happy I have this one to enjoy! I do have another polish from this collection so tune in next week to read about it! 

Girly Bits Peach Slapped

Let's start the week with something simple and sweet! Today I have the other polish from from the June COTM duo from Girly Bits: Peach Slapped, which is a hilarious name. As the name implies, the color of this polish is peach, and I would call it a borderline neon peach creme. It's bright but definitely not a true neon.

Given the color, it's probably not a huge surprise that I had a few issues with this. I found it went on a bit streaky-- I used a light touch and needed three coats for my manicure below. Even at three coats I still had some streaks, though they weren't too obvious to the naked eye (or even my camera, though maybe you can see a thin spot on my ring finger). After with Here's Lagoon Atcha, the other half of the June duo, I had high hopes for this so it was a little bit of a let down, but I'm not majorly disappointed-- I was kind of expecting it just based on the way these colors normally are.

I like Peach Slapped a lot! It's the perfect summer color. I wish the formula had been a smidge better, but really, it wasn't too terrible. I enjoyed wearing this and look forward to seeing what future duos bring us!

Colors by Llarowe Enjoy-mint POTM June 2016

Happy hump day! It's a long week for me because I'm solo parenting this week, but that's part of being an adult. We're all surviving and that's really the important part, haha! Today I have the June POTM from Colors by Llarowe, Enjoy-mint, and the name is a bit of a give away because this is described as a "linear mint green holographic." And I would say that's accurate, though perhaps Enjoy-mint is slightly deeper than a typical mint. 

Like all CbL polishes, the formula of Enjoy-mint was good. The formula was slightly thinner than most CbL polishes so the first coat was a little sheer but it built up easily. I used three coats but this went on smoothly and easily and dried quickly. Definitely no complaints here! 

Such a pretty green! This is just deep enough that it doesn't give me lobster hands, and I think the color is gorgeous. The holo is present but not overwhelming. Another great POTM from CbL! 

Hope everyone is having a good week so far! 

Enchanted Polish Dom

So yesterday I had a sweet and simple creme that I shared with you and today I'm turning the tables and showing you a super supe sparkly holo. This beauty is Enchanted Polish Dom, which was part of a limited edition trio that was released early this year (or late last year). Dom is described as a "
champagne gold ultra holo and glitter." And I'm guessing that Dom is a play off the champagne brand Dom Perignon, which is a very expensive brand of French champagne. 

I used three coats for this manicure. The first coat was a bit sheer but I didn't have any issues building it up at all! It was easy to apply and dried quickly and was very smooth! No complaints at all, but Enchanted Polish tend to have good formulas!

This is so blingtastic that it's super distracting in real life. I mean, look at that holo!! It's so gorgeous! The holo is very strong and I love that the gold has a slight darkness to it; gives it a bit of an edge and also a more neutral tone that's very wearable, despite all the sparkle. This is probably on my top 10 list for favorite polishes this year!

Wet N Wild Beat of a Generation

Sorry I've been AWOL the last few weeks! I just haven't had the time I needed to really sit down and blog; the summer has been busier than expected and blogging took a bit of a back seat. Hoping to get several posts up this week and get back in the groove. I have also been enjoying the Olympics. So to get started, here's a sweet little polish to get the week started! Today I have Wet n Wild Beat of a Generation. This was from a collection that appeared last summer (I think) but of course, it hasn't received until love until recently. I would call Beat of a Generation a bright fuchsia pink creme.

 The formula of Beat of a Generation was pretty good in terms of formula; I felt it could have been a bit better because it didn't level out as much as I would have expected for a color like this. Otherwise, though, it was easy to apply and I didn't have any issues (aside from the minor leveling issue).

It's a pretty, cheerful pink. The formula could have been a titch better, but really, for the price tag, it's not bad at all! Sometimes it's nice to just have a cute, simple creme and this definitely fits the bill. Happy Monday!

Olympics mani: Daily Hues Goldie

Ok, it's not secret that I love the Olympics. Yes, I'm a day late as the Olympics kicked off last night with the Opening Ceremony but that's my life. This is just a simple manicure I to celebrate the games; no nail art or anything. I was wracking my brain about what to do and then I remembered that I had a beautiful gold polish sitting around unloved: Daily Hues Goldie. What better that the color of the ultimate Olympic prize?

Goldie is a deep, rich golden yellow; it's also described as a "a bright sunflower yellow/gold with gold flakies throughout." This does have a metallic finish so it does want to streak; I tried to take as few strokes as possible while I was applying it. I wasn't quite perfect but the streaks aren't super noticeable in real life. The flakies did look a little bumpy in the metallic finish, which is a little unfortunate. The formula, though, is otherwise pretty good though I didn't have any actual issues applying it (except trying to avoid streaks). I only used two coats here and you can see I have nice opaque coverage; it's was very close to being a one coat wonder. In the future I might sponge on a third coat to try and eliminate any streaks but it could be much worse.

I wasn't completely in love with the finish (the flakies look bumpy and I'm not a fan of the metallic streaks) but otherwise I think this is a truly lovely deep, rich gold polish and I don't think I have anything else like it in my collection. Perfect for celebrating all the Olympic hardware that's coming in the next two weeks!

Will you be watching any Olympic events? I'm be focusing on swimming and gymnastics but will be definitely trying to catch a bunch of other events as well!

Throwback Thursday: OPI Damone Roberts 1968

Oh man, the end of July has really thrown off my posting, which was not my intent. I'm just busier than anticipated and we have had a lot going on and I'm just not on the ball-- in fact, I even wore one polish for FIVE days because I just had no time to change it! That's very unusual for me! I'll try to get some posts scheduled this weekend so I can get back on top of things; it's already August and I have a ton of summer colors that I have been planning on wearing and blogging. Oh, so many things to do! Today I have a fun throwback polish on the blog! Damone Roberts 1968 has actually been released three times that I'm aware of; I got my polish from the third release (second re-release?!) so I can't say how it compares colorwise to the other two, but I *think* they are all pretty close. Has anyone actually done the comparison? Anyway, Damone Roberts 1968 is based on the color of paint used in his salons in CA and NY, and which Roberts describes as "a unique pistachio... a different green with undertones of a soft grey, and a warm brown that works well on every skin tone." Personally, I see a lot of yellow tones in the and more than pistachio, this polish gives me soothing jade vibes. I'll be honest, I'm not even all that familiar with Damone Roberts, but I guess he is an eyebrow guru! I do love a well maintained brow-- mine grow crazy long so I have to have them waxed and trimmed on a regular basis.

The formula of Damone Roberts 1968 was good! A bit on the thin side, but nicely pigmented and easy to apply. I used a light touch to avoid any potential streaks and it covered well in two coats, though I did use a third for good measure to make sure there weren't any thin spots. I didn't have any issues!

Like many of my polishes, I'm not really sure why I let this one sit around for so long because I really liked it! OPI was pretty much my start into "serious" nail polish and even though I actually don't reach for many OPI polishes these days, picking up a bottle is like running into an old friend. I feel like this shade of green is very soothing and very flattering; while I don't normally gravitate towards greens there was something about this that I loved. I was actually sad to remove it after wearing it for a couple of days! It's such a lovely, soft color.

 I bought my bottle on Amazon for $10 (and I had rewards points so I actually just had to pay shipping) and it says it's from Damone Roberts, so I'm pretty sure it's legit. It's also still available on the Damone Roberts website if you'd prefer to buy it direct.