Native War Paints Real Life Cart Jacking

This poor post-- I've literally been trying to get it up for weeks and it keeps getting rescheduled and rescheduled because I forget to finish it. No longer! Today I have one of the Black Friday polishes that Native War Paints released, Real Life Cart Jacking. I actually missed this the first time around but there was some leftover stock that was released in December so I decided to grab this one because it was the one I was most intrigued by. 

Real Life Cart Jacking is described as a "dark burgundy with turquoise shimmer." Yes! Some pictures make this look more red, but in truth it's a deep red with plummy brown tones to it. The turquoise shimmer is strong (and gorgeous). The formula was a pretty good, nicely pigmented but not too thick. I used my usual three coats but probably could have gotten away with two. I didn't have any issues with this.

Again, this wasn't quite what I expected, but I still like it. My photos make it look more purple than it was in real life, and though it does have purple tones you can definitely tell it's red. Apparently my camera had other ideas. I thought it would be more red, but I find the plummy red brown color very attractive as well and it works well with the turquoise shimmer. Definitely a more unique polish in my collection! 

Colors by Llarowe Siren's Song

And last but not least, today I have the Colors by Llarowe February 2017 POTM, Siren's Song. This is described as a "blurple linear holographic with color shifting glitters that shift green to red to gold." I have to say that adding these types of shifting glitters to a holo seems to be very in right now-- I know Enchanted Polish released a whole series of these (which you will eventually see here if I ever get around to it) so I guess CbL is also hopping on that band wagon. Not that glitter + holo is a new thing but these particular combinations seem to be big right now. And I'm sucker for a purple and love the color shifting so it's all a win win for me!

I used three coats here and maybe should have only used two as this did get a little thick. Siren's Song is definitely a bit thick to begin with, though definitely not unworkable. I think three coats was overkill as this is pigmented enough that two coats should be fine! The glitters are nicely distributed and while they do want to migrate to the free edge a little, it's not a lot of work to fix that. I how rich the purple looks!

Here's an outdoor shot where you can see more of the shifting glitter (please ignore the chip on my index finger-- I was in the middle of packing the car when I stopped to take a photo and noticed it, wahhh). But you can actually see how the glitters change color!

I thought this was really pretty but oh man, I probably need two layers of top coat because this chipped like the dickens on me, starting the day after I applied it. I hate that! Aside from that minor annoyance, though, this is very pretty and I'm happy to have it in my collection.

Colors by Llarowe Blue Steel

This week is a mini Colors by Llarowe week on the blog-- today I have Blue Steel, the January 2017 POTM to share with you! Blue Steel is described as a "blue to green deep charcoal based scattered holo with intense gold to green shimmer." This steely blue is perfect for the cloudy, cold days of January.

I didn't have any problems with Blue Steel and it was on par with most the CbLs I have. A touch thick but not in a bad way; this went on smoothly and easily. It's nicely pigmented and I probably could have gotten away with two coats but I used my standard three.

Here's an outdoor shot to give you another look at this beauty:

I love this. I'm always a sucker for blue and I love the platinum flash. I also like the softer holographic finish here. It's just so lovely and was a dream to wear. It looked so good! I really enjoy the

Colors by Llarowe Fool's Gold

Today I have Colors by Llarowe Fool's Gold to share with you, and this was actually the December 2016 POTM but it's the first polish I applied in 2017! My original plan was to have a post about this polish up in January, but clearly that didn't happen! Ah well, here we are now! Fool's Gold is described as a "reddened purple multichrome that shifts from burgundy to green to gold with intense red to gold to green shimmer."

I was pleasantly surprised at the formula of Fool's Gold-- I thought it might be on the thin side, as some of these metallic duochromes can be, but it's really nicely pigmented and I actually had to make myself apply thinner coats so I didn't wind up with too much polish on my nails! I probably could have gotten away with just two coats, but because I did use thinner coats to start with I wanted to make sure I didn't have any thin spots so I used my standard three in the end. Photographing this was kind of a pain and I don't really love my photos because you can't see the shimmer or duochrome very well but hopefully you can get a sense of how rich it looks.

It's a little blurry but you can see some of the golden shimmer here:

While I don't think this polish is really unique amongst the range of duochrome polishes you can find out there, it's still pretty! I like that Fool's Gold is firmly in the red/magenta category-- I feel like a lot of polishes look red but end up more bronze/brown. This is a rich, elegent color and it's perfect for the holidays and cold winter months.

Valentine's Day mani with Love Angeline and Different Dimension

Hey all!! I was out of town this past weekend so I unfortunately didn't get any posts written up for this week (poor planning) but I had to paint my nails for Valentine's Day so I'm throwing up a quick post. I wanted to do something fun and I had some nice pink and red untrieds so I thought I'd try some easy nail art. And fortunately, it worked out!

I used Love Angeline Love as my base. Love is a pinky red raspberry holographic. It's very nicely pigmented and had a great formula-- it flowed easily onto the nail and was a dream to apply. I probably could have gotten away with two coats but used three because of my giant nail beds. Then I used a dotting tool to make a freehand heart on my ring finger using Different Dimension Whatchu Talkin' 'Bout Willis, is a dark cherry red holographic. 

I'm really happy with how this turned out, especially considering I've never done any sort of freehand nail art before! Luckily, a heart is a pretty easy shape to do, whew! It's not a lot but it's a nice little themed mani for the day, which is fun! And hopefully this can make me more confident to try some more nail art in the future. Happy Valentine's Day!

Native War Paint Brokelyn

Today I have one of the Polish Con exclusives-- these are polishes that are being released weekly as a lead up to the Polish Con being held in April in New York. This polish is Brokelyn by Native War Paints, a play on the location (Brooklyn) and how broke all the attendees are going to be when it's done, hah! I am not attending myself but I am pleased that they makers are releasing these polishes up to everyone prior to the event because not everyone can get there!

Brokelyn is a deep blue with a strong copper shimmer. The formula was good; this is nicely pigment and goes on smoothly and easily and wasn't too thin or too thick. I believe I ended up using three coats just to make sure everything was as opaque as I wanted it to be-- most people could probably get away with two coats if so inclined!

I also got a photo in the sun (with my phone) to showcase the amazing shimmer:

SHIMMAAAAAAAA!! *cough* Anyway...

This was a little darker than I was expecting but the shimmer is wonderful. I will say it disappeared a bit in low light but really was stunning in sunlight. The shimmer also dulls the blue pigment a bit and gives it almost a purple/grey tone but it's a small quibble because I think it's really pretty!

Painted Polish Feasts & Football

Oh man, I completely forgot about this poor polish sitting in my unpublished folder! I was scouring my brain for polishes I had worn and knew I was forgetting something! I actually wore this back in December, right before Christmas. I actually meant to publish this last month but real life has taken up a lot of my time and obviously I haven't been able to blog as regularly as I would have liked.

Feasts & Football was part of Painted Polish's fall/Thanksgiving collection and the photos were so stunning that I decided I had to have it! Feasts & Football is deep brown microglitter and holographic microglitter in a clear base. I actually wasn't expecting that at all (I guess I missed that in the description) so I was a bit surprised when I first applied it! But it built up nicely, though I did use three coats to make sure it was as opaque as I wanted it to be. But it was easy to apply and I didn't have any issues-- the base wasn't too thick so it didn't create problems! The holographic microglitter was very sparkly and this worked really well as a neutral.

I was really happy with this -- it's a gorgeous color and I definitely find that a holographic finish makes me much more likely to wear the color brown. This looked great on my nail! I was a bit surprised when I first applied it but it didn't end up being an issue at all. Now that I know what I to expect I look forward to using my other (and future, haha) Painted Polishes!

Girly Bits The Fuchsia Is Ours

Two weeks ago was the Women's March, which is the first overly political thing I have ever done in my life up to this point. I participated in with a group of friends and it was a great experience. I needed to wake up and shake off my apathy and privilege and this was the perfect way to to do it. Whatever your political beliefs, I think it's crucial to realize that yes, your voice does matter you can make a difference. Being involved and knowing what's going on is better for all of us!

I wanted to paint my nails pink for the march, and I knew I had a pink Girly Bits that was unused that would probably fit the bill. When I pulled it out and say the name was The Fuchsia Is Ours it was just perfect. The Fuchsia is Ours is described as a "bright pink holo with gold and orange shimmer." Being that Girly Bits is such a tried and true indie brand, I didn't expect to have any problems with this and indeed, I did not! This had a nice formula and went on smoothly. This was nicely pigmented, though I did use three coats to cover my giant nail beds (probably could have gotten away with two otherwise).

I love this pink! It's such a great color! It was super easy to use and it's such a beautiful color-- I fell in love! Sometimes you just need a good pink and fit perfectly. I was really happy with how this looked and it was just what I wanted for the march!

Happy Monday! Hope everything is off to a good start!