Colors by Llarowe Arc de Triomph

Today I have the polish I actually wore for Christmas! Colors by Llarowe Arc de Triomph was a limited edition polish for the Indie Shop California event, but several makers were kind enough to release extras/make more available to those of us who couldn't attend. I saw a bunch of swatches of these polishes and instantly fell in love-- especially because I have been to Paris and so these polishes called to me. Plus I'm a fan of the CbL line anyway, so it wasn't a real hard sell.

Arc de Triomph is described as a "silver linear holo with gold flake and golden shimmer. This polish looks different in every light. It will look silver, taupe or brown based depending upon your lighting." This is so true! I thought the gold flakes and shimmer would make it appear more golden but it was definitely more silvery and darker than I expected. The formula was good-- a little thick as a lot of CbL polishes tend to be but in a good way. This went on easy and I didn't have any issues. I probably could have used two coats, but did my standard three to make sure my coverage was complete. 

I have to say, at first I was a bit disappointed in Arc de Triomph, mostly because I felt that the photos/swatches I had seen of it made it look a lot different than how it looked in person. I think I just didn't realize from the outset that it was actually more silvery and a lot of the photos I saw made it looks more silver/gold when I would say it skewed darker silver/platinum. BUT... I still ending up liking this. It looked lovely on and worked well with everything! It was maybe a bit darker than I wanted but that's ok because it worked out in the end. Unfortunately the holographic masked the flakies in these photos, but you could definitely see them in low lighting.

Unfortunately, this polish was a limited edition run and is now sold out and I don't think it will be back, but you never know! Happy Monday-- hopefully you have a holiday or at the very least a quiet day.

Julep Kristjana

Hey look, it's a Julep polish!! Remember when I used to post Julep polishes all the time? While I'm still a Julep Maven (though I have started skipping the monthly box with some frequency), it's rare their polish really catches my eye these days. I find myself more interested in their make up and skincare products than the polish, who would have thought! But occasionally a polish does catch my eye, and so today I have Kristjana to share with you. Kristjana was in my November Maven box (which I really wanted because of the new Matte Lip Mousse, one of my favorite lip products) and kept this polish in my box because it looked pretty. When my box finally arrived and I opened it, I knew I had made the right choice because I actually wanted to wear it right away.

Kristjana is described as a "sweet plum holographic" and I would say that's pretty accurate. It's a deep red-toned plum purple with a chunky holographic finish. I used three coats here, but probably could have gotten away with two. Formula was decent, not too thick or too thin and I didn't have any issues applying it. The Julep bottles are still long and skinny, so the necks can get a bit gunky but that didn't affect the polish I was applying.

I was surprised by how much I liked this! I feel like Julep has fallen behind in the nail polish game-- they produce A LOT of polish and while a lot of their polish would have been ground breaking a few years ago, it's pretty par for the course these days. And the formulas can be very hit or miss dependent on color and finish. However, I feel like this is a winner! I don't think it's unique by today's nail polish standards, but it's a pretty color and the chunkier holographic sparkle (something I have grown to like over time) is a lot of fun and very attractive. I enjoyed wearing this one, a lot!

Happy Friday! Hope everyone has a good weekend! 

Love Angeline 10/16

Again, starting off with sad news... Love Angeline has also decided to close her doors! It's not happening until February but it will be happening and they are slowly cleaning out inventory. I'm not totally surprised by this announcement, as Natosha had previously posted she had considered closing Love Angeline, and recently handed the reins of the business over to a friend, even though she was still making all the polish. So while not unexpected, it is a shame because she has produced a lot of lovely polishes and I have enjoyed them! Luckily for you, I'm behind in all the polishes I do have, so you will some other lovelies from this brand.

10/16 is a deep olive green holographic. There's not much more to say there! It's a nicely pigmented polish and was maybe a titch on the thicker side, but nothing difficult to work with. Usually I make a quick note if I used two coats, so I think I must have used three here, though I feel like two would have been fine. I don't have much more to add-- I didn't have any issues with this!

Hey, another gorgeous green! 10/16 is definitely dark, but it doesn't veer into black territory and works well for the darker colors we see in the fall and winter months. I feel like photos don't capture it as well as I would have like, but it's very pretty!

Enchanted Polish November 2016

Today I have another monthly mystery from Enchanted Polish to share with you-- November 2016. Actually, I wore this before I wore the October mystery polish, but didn't manage to get up on the blog as soon as I wanted. (The best laid plans, yaddda yadda.) Really, this was to my advantage because now I actually have material to blog about. First things first... how do I even describe this polish? I have trouble pinning it down to one thing, because it's kind of a chameleon! November 2016 is a purple toned grey taupe neutral with a delightful pink shimmer!

I expected the formula on this to be on the thinner side; to my delight, it was not! The polish was decently pigmented, though my brush had a few wonky strands that made the actual polishing interesting. But this applied very smoothly and I had to be careful not to get too much on my brush so it didn't pool on my nails. I probably could have used two coats but decided to do a third, like I usually do. No issues, though, and even the wonky bristles didn't impact me too much!

Overall, this color is kind of funky but I like it a lot. Some people might find the color difficult to wear, but it's very pretty. Frankly, I'm not even sure if I can really pull it off, but I'm game to try it at least once! And like I said, despite the funky color, I actually do like this quite a bit! What do you think of oddball colors like this?

Daily Hues Nail Lacquer The Peacemaker

Like I said, I went on a green kick last month and so here's another green polish for you! Today's polish is Daily Hues Nail Lacquer The Peacemaker. This polish was actually a custom for someone in the FB group, but she gave permission for Jenn to recreate the polish in a small batch for anyone who was interested in buying it. The unique color intrigued me, and so I decided to snag a bottle while I could. The designer of this polish says that it was based on the saying "extending the olive branch" and so it was given the name The Peacemaker. The polish is an olive green creme with golden shimmer flakes and just a tiny bit of holographic sparkle.

Big news: I only used two coats here! This is a pretty thick creme, but not in an unworkable way-- the kind that's nicely pigment and goes on easily and so two coats is just perfect! I didn't have any issues and this was easy to apply! Despite the darker base color, the shimmer isn't swallowed up and gives the whole polish just the right amount of sparkle and light without being overwhelming.

Hey look, another green I like! Maybe the world is ending, haha. But seriously, I do think this is a really love polish. The color, the name... it just works! As I mentioned the last time I blogged about a Daily Hues polish, the brand is currently on hiatus which may or may not be permanent (at this point I would guess permanent but we'll see) so unfortunately this polish is no longer available. But I still have goodies from Daily Hues I plan on sharing with you this year!

Enchanted Polish October 2016

A couple weeks ago I was really on a green kick and lucked out because I had several very lovely green polishes just waiting to be taken for a spin! Today I have one of the Enchanted Polish monthly mysteries to share with you, October 2016. This year the mystery polishes are all shimmers (as opposed to her usual holographics) and as a shimmer fan, I'm loving it! October 2016 is a serene sea green creme with a strong blue shimmer.

The formula on the first coat was a little thin; a bit thinner than I would have expected, but not difficult to use. I used three coat here to reach the level of opacity I wanted. Two coats might have worked, but I wanted to make sure I didn't have any thin spots. The shimmer is gorgeous and strong and doesn't get lost in the deeper base color, as you can see from my photos!

I loved this polish more than I expected! To me, it looks like glass and I love it so so much. I have warmed up to green polish a lot as I have blogged-- well it's still not usually the first color I reach for, there are a lot of gorgeous greens out there and I would add October 2016 to that list. This goes on the list for one of my favorite polishes of last year! The blue shimmer combined with the base is just such a lovely combination and I can't get enough of it!

Nine Zero Lacquer Twinkle Lights

Hey all! I took a little bit of an unintended break over the holidays, but between traveling, said holidays, and being sick again... blogging wasn't really on my mind. Well, it was, but I could not muster the energy or time to get anything accomplished. So let's get 2017 off to a festive start! Today's polish is actually from Nine Zero's 2015 Christmas collection and it's called Twinkle Lights and is described as a "silver holographic with semi-transparent rainbow glitter." This sums it up nicely!

Twinkle Lights was pretty easy to work with. The first coat was a bit sheer, but it built up nicely. I used three coats and there is still a little hint of visible nail line but it's not distracting-- the polish is so sparkly that you definitely don't notice! The red, blue, green, and yellow glitter are fun pops of glitter but not hugely distracting; because they are semi-transparent they glow a bit but blend in nicely with the holographic sparkle. My only very very minor quibble would be that the yellow glitter gets a little lost, but it's a fun surprise when it pops out and reminds you it's there!

Again, this is another polish I wish I had worn earlier but it's so pretty that it makes up for any delay! I love how sparkly this is and I think it perfectly captures the delight of holiday lights-- something I personally love and wish we would keep up all through out winter when it's so grey and dreary. Twinkle Lights is a fun holiday polish that frankly doesn't feel too "holiday" if you catch my drift. I feel like you could wear this are other times of the year and people wouldn't necessarily think it was for Christmas. I loved this! If you like this, it's still available on the Nine Zero site, along with a golden version called, appropriately, Golden Lights.

Happy New Year!