Glam Polish The Power of the Dark Side

Today I have the other, villainous half of the April Glam Polish duo. Inspired by Darth Vader, one of the most famous (infamous?) villains to grace our screens, Darth Vader. Tall and imposing, you definitely don't want to run afoul of him, especially as he goes around Force-choking people who displease him.

The Power of the Dark Side is described as a "black jelly with a mix of iridescent flakies, rainbow holographic microglitter, shifting iridescent glitter and fine holo microglitter." With the jelly formula, this was a little sheer but built up very nicely. I used three coats for the look I wanted but you might be able to get away with two! The flakies and glitters are packed in there so you don't have to worry about any distribution issues. This was easy to work with! 

I am generally not a fan of very vampy "goth" polishes-- it just isn't my natural aesthetic! That said, I do like how colorful the flakies are in the dark base. While this is definitely dark, it's also fun and has a lot of character, which I like. I don't tend to reach for darker polishes a lot, but I really appreciate how the color doesn't get lost here. Definitely one of my favorite dark side based polishes! 

Pahlish Star Wars Trio

Ok, strap yourselves in for a long, picture heavy post! Today I have a trio of Star Wars themed polishes from Pahlish that were released around Thanksgiving back in 2015, right before The Force Awakens was released. These are all jelly based polishes with a combination of glitters and flakies in them! They are based on various locations from the original trilogy!

First up is Two Moon Sunset. I find the name a little confusing because I think the maker actually means the binary sunset we see on Tatooine. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Two Moon Sunset has a red base with red and platinum flakes, microglitters and shimmer. I used three coats here but I think two would have been fine. The jelly base is a little thick but this goes on very easily and dries quickly.

Next up is Winds of the Cloud City, based on Bespin from The Empire Strikes Back. This one has a blue jelly base with blue and platinum flakes, microglitter, and shimmer. I used three coats here but probably could have gotten away with two.

And lastly we have The Forest Moon, based on the planet Endor from Return of the Jedi. As the name probably suggests, The Forest Moon is a green based polish with platinum and green flakies and green microglitters. I found that this to be a little thicker and I needed three coats to make sure it was even and opaque.

These are just simply gorgeous and even a year and a half later they still have good formula and are easy to use. I love all of them; it's hard to pick a favorite! If I have to choose, The Forest Moon wins by just the smallest of margins because I love the mix of flakies and glitter-- it has the most depth to it! But these are all great and lovely!

KB Shimmer Big Apple of My Eye

And here's another red! Today's polish is KB Shimmer Big Apple of My Eye. This is one of the upcoming limited edition polishes for Polish Con in NYC. These polishes have been available on a weekly basis, so unfortunately this one is no longer available, though if you are going to Polish Con (or know someone who is) you will be able to snag a bottle there! Personally, I think this is a great way to do it, especially because not everyone has the funds to be able to travel to NYC. Big Apple of My Eye is a candy apply red jelly packed silver holographic microglitter, giving it a more scattered holo effect.

Big Apple of My Eye definitely has a more squishy formula, but was super smooth and easy to apply. I used three coats because there is some visible nail line, but you might be able to get away with two if you want! This does dry down with a little of texture, but that was easily taken care of with some top coat! 

This was a fun polish to wear! I actually decided to wear this for International Women's Day on March 8th-- I didn't strike, but did wear red in solidarity for women's rights. And Big Apple of My Eye was perfect for that! I am really happy with this polish-- no, it's not all that unique or different but it's a classic and I love the chunkier holo glitters and the jellyish consistency. I loved wearing this, a lot.

Happy Thursday!

Purple Friday: Salon Perfect A Royal Affair

We prevailed last week over Oregon State and even though I'm out of town this week, I'm still rooting on my team from afar! And not only that, this week ESPN Gameday is in Salt Lake City for the UW-Utah showdown! It would be a lot of fun to travel down there, so I hope the Dawg fans who do have a great time. This week will be a tough challenge for the Dawgs; frankly, the back half of our schedule is pretty brutal at this point, with at least four good teams that will be chomping at the bit to take us down. I just want the Dawgs to keep their heads down and grind out one game at a time! Hopefully we take the same magic that we had in Oregon down to SLC and come back with the win!

This week I chose Salon Perfect A Royal Affair for my purple polish. I'll be honest, I picked this polish partly for selfish reasons-- I'm traveling with it and wanted a polish that I wouldn't cry over if it got lost or broke in transit. No offense to A Royal Affair, but I believe it's a perennial polish and even though I hate to lose a polish in any circumstances, I would really hate to lose a special indie. So there you go! A Royal Affair is a neon grape purple. This was my first experience with Salon Perfect, and alas, perfect was a misnomer in this case. The formula of this polish was pretty finicky and my first coat was a nightmare; very sheer and pooled all around the edges. Luckily, three coats gave me pretty good coverage; it's definitely not completely even and there are some thin spots but it looks mostly good.

The formula of A Royal Affair leaves a lot to be desired sadly, but the color is very pretty. It's not neon as the color in the bottle seems to suggest, but it's still a lovely color. I'd be curious to see how it looks over white (though not this week) to see if that would make it pop more. I certainly wish the formula was better; hopefully my next experience with the Salon Perfect brand is better!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Utes!

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.

Pahlish Little Rebel Droid

And here we are!! The last day of my Star Wars nail polish marathon AND my birthday! *cough*33*cough* For my last themed polish, today I have Pahlish Little Rebel Droid, which was a Black Friday special and I can only assume is inspired by R2-D2. To me, it can't be anyone else, and given that Artoo is one of the few characters in every movie (C-3PO being the other) it seems fitting that this polish should round out my month of Star Wars polishes. 

Little Rebel Droid is a squishy deep blue jelly packed full of red/blue shimmer and red flakies. With the jelly finish, it is a touch thick but was mostly opaque in one coat. I ended up using three because of my longer nails, but I would bet most people could get away with two. It went on smoothly and the flakies were pretty dense (though not overly so) and it dried smoothly as well. No complaints here!

Photographing this was a bitch! My currently set up is basically point and shoot and my lighting/camera is not very good at catching these deep, moody polishes that have a lot of detail and depth to them. Soooo frustrating! Natural light ended up being the best way to capture all the flakies in focus, but of course was done the morning after I painted my nails, so my top coat is already showing some wear and tear! 

Here's an iPhone shot to hopefully you give you a bit more of the flakie action:

All in all, I really like this polish-- though I wish I had been able to capture it a bit better on camera. In low lights it does look pretty dark, but otherwise you can see the flakies and they really make this polish interesting and give it a lot of depth. I guess this one of first Pahlish polishes I have really worn as a full manicure and I'm happy with it! I have others in my collection, so I look forward to trying them out!

Personally, I had so much fun doing this. I know not everyone out there is a Star Wars fan (there's so much to love, though, give it a try!) but hopefully you have enjoyed all the polishes inspired by the SW fandom. Real talk: I actually have a shit ton more polishes that I haven't even shown you yet!! However, even I need a break from Star Wars occasionally so while I probably won't be doing another month of themed polishes, you might see more in December as we approach the release of Rogue One (if I remember [about the polishes, not the movie]). This was a fun challenge for myself, though, and one I'm glad I did. But shhhh, don't tell-- I'm really looking forward to diving back into my stash and picking out some non-SW themed polishes to wear and post! Look for a round-up post in the future and in the mean time I will be taking a few days off to regroup and decompress before I start posting again!

Level Up Lacquer Captain Phasma and NerdLacquer Phasma

I guess technically I could have made this a Two-fer Tuesday but instead we get... Two-fer Thursday...? Roll with it! Today I have two polishes dedicated to one of the newer villains in the Star Wars universe-- a lady to boot! Level Up Lacquer Captain Phasma and Nerdlacquer Phasma are inspired by the eponymous lady storm trooper introduced in The Force Awakens, identifiable by her tall stature and shiny chrome armor. I believe she is the first female villain we've seen on the big screen. Unfortunately, her role wasn't that large, so hopefully she gets an expanded role and more depth in future movies.

Captain Phasma is described as a "silver/grey cream with a linear holo effect." I would say that in my experience, this polish definitely has a more jelly like consistency than what I would expect from a creme, so to be a smidge more descriptive, I would call it a stormy grey holographic jelly. The first coat was pretty sheer, and this had a slightly thicker consistency that made it want to drag. I used three coats to make it opaque, though it does still have a squishy appearance on the nail.

Phasma is described as "a 'chrome plus' which contains the usual foily chrome bits plus a crapload of silver, white, and holo microglitter, plus a dash of linear holo which doesn't really display to full effect, but does add a bit of opacity. As you see in the pics, this is like, the sparkliest silver nail
polish ever. Kinda demi-matte velvety-feeling on its own, but very glassy slick with topcoat." The first coat was fairly sheer, but easy to apply. It was a bit on thick side, but wasn't difficult. It dried down quickly to a matte finish and built up nicely.

I like both of these! They are similar but not the same-- again, a lot of creativity from various indie makers! I like the darker, harder color of Captain Phasma and the intense sparkle from Phasma. No complaints here! As I said earlier, I hope Phasma gets an expanded role in future films; it's nice to have women in prominent positions on both sides (good or bad)!

Which one of these is your favorite? 

Darling Diva I'd Just As Soon Kiss A Wookiee

Ok, last but not least, today I have Darling Diva I'd Just As Soon Kiss A Wookiee. This is my last Darling Diva polish for a little bit, but you can obviously tell which collection most of the quotes came from. This is another line from ESB, when Han is trying to get Leia to admit she has feelings for him, and Leia isn't quite ready to take that step yet, hah.

I'd Just As Soon Kiss A Wookiee is a grape purple jelly that is packed with holographic shimmer and glitter. The formula is definitely a touch thick, which makes it a little difficult to work with because it wants to drag a little bit-- not helped by the fact that I had a very busy week and swatched this quickly instead of wearing it as a full manicure and taking a bit more time. Despite that, it dries fairly quickly and was easy to build up. I used three coats here.

I'm a bit bummed I only got to swatch this-- I'll definitely be returning to it in the future because it's so pretty. The formula was not my favorite, but I probably need some more time to play with it instead of trying to swatch it in a hurry. The color is gorgeous, and definitely deserves a full manicure. I'm so glad I picked this one up, plus the name will always make me laugh!

With that, I'm wrapping up the quote section of my Star Wars polishes... join me next week for villains!

Contrary Polish Slavegirl Bikini

I have another polish that was initially in the May 2015 A Box, Indied. Today I have Contrary Polish Slavegirl Bikini, based, as you can probably guess, on the infamous slave bikini that Leia wears in Return of the Jedi! Slavegirl Bikini is gorgeous deep cherry red with red shimmer and scattered holographic shimmer (or maybe very small holo glitters). I'll be honest, when I first saw this I was a bit disappointed. This wasn't the color I associated with the infamous bikini-- I always associate a deeper, more burgundy color with it-- but this is color I have! Despite my initial reservations, once I put this on I immediately apologized for judging it before I wore it, because this polish is perfect!

The formula was good and very easy to apply. Slavegirl Bikini does have a more crelly formula and so it isn't totally opaque. I am pretty sure I used three coats and there is a slight visible nail line but nothing that bothers me, as it seems typical for these types of reds! I actually wore this to the Star Wars costume exhibit at the EMP and it was just perfect!

I'm not really happy with these photos, because I don't feel like I've captured Slavegirl Bikini very well. Argh! But in the end, this polish is freaking gorgeous and such a strong, beautiful color. I really liked more than I anticipated, which is always good. It's feminine but also kickass, just like Leia-- especially as she now has the nickname "Huttslayer." Definitely a winner in my books!

Two Random Seahawks Manicures

This is going to be a totally random post because I did these manicure back in January for the NFL play-offs and then the Seahawks lost (womp womp) and my laptop was dead and so of course they weren't posted. But if I don't post them now, even though it's not football season, you'll probably never see them! So this will be short and sweet! 

Up first I have a manicure I did using solely Lucky 13 Lacquer polishes! I picked 12th Woman as my main polish, and it's a deep navy blue crelly polish. I'll have a review later! I then used a Born Pretty Stencil and added Unleash the Beast, a blue/green duochrome flakie for the pattern.  

The second manicure I have to share with you is one I unfortunately I didn't love. Not because the polishes were bad, but because the colors were off from what I had imagined in my head and I just wasn't really thrilled with the whole look. It happens, right? I used Pahlish Winds of the Cloud City and Fairytale Finish Turning Over a New Leaf for this manicure.

I'm just going to call this my retro Seahawks mani and leave it at that, because the colors match better with the retro (aka 70's and 80's) Seahawks uniforms. Both polishes were great but it wasn't the look I was going for. Ah well! 

Hope everyone is enjoying a nice weekend! 

Purple Friday: Colors by Llarowe Grape Jelly and Enchanted Polish Rainbow Juice (with pulp)

Another Purple Friday post eeking in before the clock rolls over-- but not for lack of effort on my part, though! I got my manicure done and took pictures and then my internet wouldn't work! Darnit! But we're rolling now, so quick, let's get on with it! This week we're playing a team with a worse record than we have, so hopefully we can win!

This week I actually did have a manicure in mind-- specifically, making a jelly sandwich because I was wanting to play with some polishes I had lying around. I pulled out Grape Jelly from Colors by Llarowe, which is a sheer, deep purple jelly. I applied two coats making sure to let them dry in between coats!) and then layered a coat of Enchanted Polish Rainbow Juice (with pulp) on top of that. Rainbow Juice (with pulp) is a holographic glitter topper with small holographic glitter and larger flakies. Then I layered another coat of Grape Jelly on top of that! Grape Jelly is definitely a bit on the streaky side, so my coats aren't terrible even, so I'll have to work on that. I don't think the finished product looks too bad, though! It may not be the most unique look out there, but it does have a nice sparkle!

Artificial light (flash):

I really love this look! It's not perfect, but suddenly I have a great urge to buy a bunch of jelly polishes and make jelly sandwiches with Rainbow Juice (with pulp). I think this would look fabulous with pretty much any color!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Beavers!

Girly Bits Fathomless

Today I have a fun polish to share with you! This is Girly Bits Fathomless! This is an older polish, released back in 2013 as part of the "Season of Sparkle" collection. It was recently on sale and is now retired-- I snatched it up on a whim even though greens tend not to be my thing. The Girly Bits website describes Fathomless as a "deep teal, with glowy blue/green micro glitters that peek through the jelly lacquer." PS-- I think it's awesome that the GB website lists retired polishes, along with a shade description and the collection it was released in?! So helpful for those of us who are crazy like this.

This had a great formula. It definitely felt a bit jelly-like in its consistency, just a touch on the thick side. With the first coat, I got pretty good coverage but few sheer spots towards the tips of my nails-- a second coat evened everything out no problem! Fathomless dried fairly quickly down to a more matte finish, so definitelu need a top coat to make this nice and glossy. Luckily it's not a very thirsty polish and one layer of top coat was all I needed to make it smooth and shiny.

Artificial light (flash):

 

I took few photos with my iPhone to better capture the shimmer, because I couldn't photograph it properly at night with my camera. 

I personally think this is a great Christmas polish and I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I love this color, given that it's not really my wheelhouse (green, near-black). But there's something about the sparkle and flash and how it never looks quite black that snuck up on me and sunk its claws in-- so I love this! It's greenish blue, blueish green, shimmery, dark and deep-- love it!

Seahawks Monday

Woo, a slight change of pace this week! The Seahawks play the Detroit Lions this week for Monday Night Football. With the Huskies having a bye week I actually painted my nails for the game! So I thought I'd shake things up with my regular posting schedule and share my manicure. I was sick last week and into this week but am finally starting to feel a bit more like myself, so I squeezing in this post before bedtime-- I just finished applying this to my nails! Fresh of the presses, literally!

This week I picked another one of my Seahawks themed polishes-- this time, Sea, from Daily Hues Nail Lacquer. This is part of a duo-- I've actually shown you the other polish, Hawks, previously. Sea, as the name might suggest even if you weren't a Seahawks fan, is an ocean blue holographic. Sea has a jelly-like consistency and is on the sheer side. I used three coats here and it's still a bit sheer for my taste. But I didn't use undies and I didn't want to do another coat so here we are! With the jelly like formula, I did have to be a bit careful with my application and use a light hand to avoid dragging it. The linear finish is linear, though it isn't an extremely strong linear. It does have a very nice sparkle, though!

Artificial light (flash):

I like Sea, though I wish it were a little more opaque. However, with the color, name and jelly like finish, I can almost imagine this as a piece of seaglass, so I'll live with the sheerness.

Go Hawks!

Cirque Colors Thicker Than Water

Taking a break from the mattes and textures of late, I have a gorgeous polish to share with you-- Cirque Colors Thicker Than Water. This was originally released as part of the Kontiki Collection in 2014 and then re-released as part of a Nordstrom Pop-In collection this year. I missed out on it the first time around, so I didn't delay this time around. Thicker Than Water is a stunning teal green jelly with a strong green-gold shimmer to it.

As this is a jelly, it is a little on the sheer side and you can see some visible nail line (though honestly, the camera picked it up more than it was truly visible). This just have a slightly thicker formula, but goes on easily and smoothly. I used three coats just to make sure I had good coverage.

Artificial light (flash):

Natural light (sun):

I thought Dear Dahlia was exquisite, but Thicker Than Water is just as gorgeous. The shimmer is incredible-- it really does give the appearance of tropical waters. All I wanted to do was stare at my nails. Thicker Than Water is truly stunning-- the shimmer is what elevates this polish. My pictures don't do this justice!

Cirque Colors Dear Dahlia

Today I have my first Cirque Colors to share with you today! I have Dear Dahlia, which was originally released in a trio called the Kontiki Collection (which was limited edition) and then more recently it was re-released as part of a Nike Pop-In Collection at Nordstrom, which was also limited edition. Dear Dahlia is described as a "fuchsia jelly with multi-dimensional shimmer." The shimmer picks up as predominantly green.

Dear Dahlia has a jelly formula and is definitely a little on the thick side, but not unmanageably so. I used three coats here and my camera picks up some visible nail line, but it's not as noticeable in real life. This does has have a really nice squishy quality to it. I only had one major issue with this: there were some weird black spots that showed up on my nails when I painted. Not a lot of them, but I'm not sure it was some unmixed pigment or some other contamination. It wasn't too bad, but I was a little disappointed because this brand has a very high-end vibe and it was a little disappointed that this happened with my first experience.

Artificial light (flash):

My photographs aren't spectacular but you can really see the green shimmer is. It's so gorgeous!  All I wanted to do was stare at my nails. Dear Dahlia is a perfect summer color!

Julep Ada

Happy Friday (almost Saturday now, ack)! Just a quick post tonight, I'm tired. Traveling alone with the kids last week pretty much wore me out for the entire week-- being with my mom was nice but it's not the same as having your partner. I am ready for a weekend at home! Today I have a polish from my February Maven box-- Ada. Ada is a new finish from Julep, described as "fizzy." I'll be honest and say that I'm not really sure what that means, but I'll try my best to interpret this. Ada is a raspberry jelly with small white hex glitters in it. I'm guessing the fizzy descriptor comes from the fact that the glitters are kind of like bubbles in a pop (er, soda if you call it that).

Ada had a good formula and great coverage-- I think I only used two coats here! The glitters are small so easy to get and despite the jelly formula, is not sheer, just nice and juicy! This did dry down to a slightly matte, textured finish so it does need a top coat to make it all shiny and gorgeous.

Artificial light (flash):

Ada is a fun, cheerful glitter! It's bright but not overly so-- perfect for deary winter days. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy this was to apply and definitely wouldn't be opposed to see more glitters like this from Julep in the future.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Barry M Blood Orange

Today I have a new to me brand to share with you, Barry M! This isn't a new brand-- Barry M has been around since the 80's, selling various cosmetics. Being a UK brand, I think the products were more difficult to obtain for a time, but it's become much easier thanks to the internet! So tonight I have a polish from the Gelly Effect line, which promises a "gel-like shine" as opposed to being a jelly finish. Today I have Barry M Gelly Blood Orange to share with you! I bought this on sale at Llarowe back in March.

Despite the name, Blood Orange does not really have any orange in it! Instead it's a lovely, classic red. This does have a slight jelly finish to it, as is usual with these types of reds. I didn't have any trouble applying this-- it went on smoothly and easily. I believe I used three coats here, just to get a little more coverage of my nail line, though two coats would have done just fine. This dried to a nice shiny finish, though I did apply a top coat over it.

Artificial light (flash):

Overall, I was pleased with this polish-- it was easy to apply, dried well, and was nice and shiny as promised. I have another polish from this line that I'm eager to try-- hopefully I like it as much as Blood Orange! I have high hopes.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Killa Red

I'm a terrible blogger. I started work part time at the end of January and since then I've just been plain too busy and way too tired to even think about blogging or painting my nails. Well, that's not quite true. I think about it quite a lot-- it's actually doing anything that is the real sticking point right now. One step at a time, I suppose. Sorry I have been absent for pretty much the entire month of February!

In any case, tonight I have Rescue Beauty Lounge Killa Red to share with you! Killa Red is described as a "cool, blue-toned red worn by those dangerous blondes in Hitchcock films (as they reach for their guns hidden in slim Kelly-green alligator clutches)." This is a gorgeous red that has a crelly formula-- though it might actually be more jelly than creme, in all honesty. The formula had a slight syrupy quality to it. This was a breeze to apply-- riffing on the femme fatale theme, it went on as smoothly as a silk stocking. Unfortunately I didn't write down how many coats I used-- definitely two to three. 

Artificial light:

Natural light:

Gorgeous, classic red! Hard to go wrong here. This is a red that feels slightly dangerous-- I'm picturing stiletto nails, slinky metallic gowns... and suddenly I have the hankering for a martini.

What's your favorite red polish?