Virago Varnish Enology Collection Swatches & Review

Howdy folks :) Today I have the Virago Varnish Enology Collection to share with you! Enology is the study of wine so all the names of the polishes are tied to the wine-making process. I personally don't drink wine anymore because it sometimes triggers migraines for me, but I have had my fair share throughout the years, hehe.

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There are five shades in this collection, all holographic microglitters in tinted bases. I added one in at the end that is not part of the set, but it has a similar finish and formula. These all apply the same, smooth and very easy. There has actually been a lot of polishes with this type of finish released from different brands this Spring and these have to be my favorite in terms of application. They do dry dull so you'll need a thick top coat to bring out the shine and cover the glitter, but they don't dry as gritty as I had expected. The glitter particle is more of a flat (?) shape. Hard to explain unless you see it in person.

Oxidation is a light blue holographic microglitter. This was opaque in two coats.

Rosé is a light pink holographic microglitter. This was the lightest shade and I needed three coats to cover my nail.

Vineyard is a light dusty green. This color was by far my favorite in the collection, it looks insane in real life! Two coats.

Fermentation is a light purple holographic microglitter. This probably had the strongest holo in the bunch. Two coats.

Chartreuse is a light greenish-yellow holographic microglitter. I was surprised but I got full coverage on this in just two coats.

Allure is the interloper, not part of the Enology collection, but a classic and essential Virago Varnish shade. This is a diamond-like silver holographic microglitter, same formula as the others but without a tinted base. Two coats!

You can purchase all of these shades on the Virago Varnish website for $11.25 each. So what do you think of these blingy glitters? Any favorites? Have you tried Virago Varnish yet? I hope to be able to show you many more shades from this brand in the future, I've really enjoyed everything I've tried from them!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI SoftShades 2016 Pastel Collection Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Today I have the latest OPI collection to show you, SoftShades 2016, the Pastel collection! There are six shades all in light, fluffy pastel tones. The formulas on these is almost crelly-like, thinner but creamy and pretty easy to apply. Not really streaky, just less opaque than a typical crème. They all dry very shiny as well, which is always a plus. Let's take a look!

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It's a Boy is a true baby blue pastel crème. This covered for me in just two coats. This is now my go-to pale blue polish, such a stunner!

It's In The Cloud is an off white crème. The lightest shade in the group, I needed three coats to totally cover my nail line.

I Am What I Amethyst is a bluish purple pastel crème. Two coats for opacity. I'm in love with this shade! It seems to be a favorite for a lot of folks.

One Chic Chick is a buttery pastel yellow crème. This was opaque for me in just two coats, surprising for this type of shade!

This Cost Me a Mint is a pale green mint crème. Almost two coats on this guy, but I used three here.

Stop I'm Blushing! is a demure pastel peach crème, almost a neutral shade it's so muted. Another one that was almost opaque in two coats, but needed a third for total coverage.

These are available now wherever OPI is sold, such as Ulta, Sally Beauty Supply, and professional salons, for $10 each. What do you think about these dreamy pastels? I think they are just fabulous, my favorite of the SoftShades selections in a long time!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Glam Polish No Lei-Overs! Limited Edition Collection Swatches & Review

Hey there! Today I have the No Lei-Overs! limited edition collection from Glam Polish to show you! "Hop on our direct flight to Paradise with six vibrant holo & glitter filled shades inspired by the beauty of Hawaii." These are amazing polishes and make me SO wish I was away at a tropical getaway, instead of dealing with storms and snow in flippen' April!

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Lei’d In Lahaina has a magenta holographic base filled with a mix of bright pink holographic, neon pink and white glitter and microglitter. I found this applied very easily despite the obscene amount of glitter and shimmer packed in. I have found about 99% of the Glam Polish shades that I've tried to have excellent formulas and this is right up there. Two coats for opacity, dries a tad bumpy due to the glitter but only one coat of Seche Vite worked to cover them.

Hawaii Kai has an aqua blue turquoisey holographic base filled with neon green and blue, white, and silver holographic glitter and microglitter. Another fabulous formula, same as the magenta shade. Two coats.

Waikiki Wahine is a fuchsia holographic with purple, turquoise & navy glass flecks. I couldn't quite capture the fire on this as well as I normally would be able to, as the sun has been a little shy lately, but it's definitely there. This applied great, as well. Opaque in one coat, but the color deepens up a bit on the second layer to the shade you see in the bottle.

Lanikai Dreaming is made up of neon pink and matte white glitter and microglitter swimming in a nudey gold holographic base. This is a unique shade and I am bowled over by it! Demure but still flashy! Same formula as the other glitter shades, two coats for opacity.

Hanalei Sunset has a deep indigo purple jelly base with shimmering glass flecks, neon pink, holographic violet, and bright pink holographic microglitter. This one was a tad thin, but covered in two coats. I was a little bummed that the pink glitter doesn't pop as much on the nail as it looks like it does in the bottle, the jelly base kind of covers it a little bit too much for my taste, but it's still a lovely polish.

Hibiscus Hideaway is a bright red linear holographic with a slight orange tone. This went on so easily, totally opaque in one coat. However, I used two layers as I always do, but it didn't change the look of the polish that much so you could definitely get away with one. This is another picture that doesn't do the holo justice, it's much more intense in real life.

This collection will be available for purchase on the Glam Polish website this Friday, April 29th at 2pm EST for $11.50 per bottle. This collection is labeled as "limited edition" which means it might not come back into stock once it's gone, so you definitely don't want to hesitate to get these if you want them. Let me know what you think about these! I am so in love!

Along with the No Lei-Overs! collection – Glam Polish also has an Elvis themed 12 piece collection called The King releasing the same day. My friend Lisa of Cosmetic Sanctuary has the review of that collection her blog now, be sure to check it out!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Contrary Polish Color4Nails Exclusives Swatches & Review

Guess what! Today I have two polishes to show you that you can actually buy! I felt kinda bad about the two I showed you yesterday that you probably aren't going to be able to get any time soon. These happen to be from online nail polish stockist Color4Nails too, exclusively available from them, to anyone who wants them. The duo is by indie brand Contrary Polish.

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inspiration photos via Contrary Polish & Color4Nails

How Prim Is Your Rose? is a warm light rose pink with gold microglitter, reddish copper flake shimmer, and scattered holographic shimmer pigment. Application was easy, smooth. Since the base is a little more sheer than a traditional crème, I found I needed three coats to cover my nail line completely. But it gives a nice depth for the glitter to pop through. Dries a bit satiny, so add a top coat for maximum shine.

I Kinda Lilac You is a light lilac crelly with holographic silver microglitter and scattered holographic shimmer pigment. This gal had pretty much the exact same formula as the pink shade, three coats here too with added top coat.

These polishes are available now on the Color4Nails website for $12.50 each. Let me know what you think about these two shades! Have you tried Contrary Polish before??

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Color4Nails Spring Break Duo Swatches & Review

I was torn about posting these for you, but I couldn't resist. This duo from indie brands Pahlish and Contrary Polish is themed for Spring Break and is from Color4Nails, an online nail polish stockist, exclusively for the members of their Facebook fan group, C4N Nailistas. There were are only 100 duos available and they were only available to order for two days this past week. So you can see my hesitation. But I'm not one to let any good swatches "go to waste" by not posting them on my blog. I hope you don't mind that much!

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Pahlish Sunrise In Monaco is a watermelon red jelly with a mix of metallic silver flakes and red glass fleck shimmer. A little thick, but easy to apply and has surprisingly great coverage in only two coats. I have one or two other Pahlish shades, but I actually haven't tied them yet (crazy, I know), so this shade is my first go with the brand. Not disappointed at all!

Contrary Polish Isla Mujeres is a sea green crelly filled with gold shimmer and scattered holographic microshimmer. This applies really nicely, and is opaque in three coats. Dries a bit satiny so you'll want a top coat for shine. This is also my first shade from Contrary Polish and I am pretty pleased with it. I love the shimmer/glitter type in this because it's smooth on the nail and doesn't make the polish difficult to remove like other glitters can.

Again, I'm sorry if you fall in love with these, but I just couldn't not post the prettiness! And there's always a chance that they could show up on blog sales or destashes in the future. Actually, it might be good for you to join the C4N Nailistas group anyway, as they might be planning to have more exclusive duos in the future, they do lots of sneak peeks to new polishes coming to the Color4Nails store, and sometimes even exclusive early shopping access or discount codes! Plus they ship internationally. Hope your weekend is going well, thanks for coming by today!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Native War Paints Dirty Neons Collection Swatches & Review

And so it begins, neon-season! The Dirty Neons by indie brand Native War Paints was created with instagram nail artist Mrs. White and features six shimmery, slightly muted neon colors. These not only have great formulas but they were created to be excellent for watermarbling! I didn't try that nail art technique with them though, I'm not ambitious enough yet, but I did put them on my nails the regular way!

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Plutonium is a muted neon teal with pink shimmer. Great consistency, not too thick or thin. Covers completely in two coats. This is such a great color combo, I love it!

Nuclear is a muted neon orange with green shimmer. This one was a tad thicker, but that made application effortless. Two coats here.

Fallout is a muted neon yellow with blue shimmer. This went on pretty well, still a tiny bit streaky on two coats so I did three. This might be the first neon yellow with a really nice to apply formula that I've tried though, which is great.

Atomic is a muted neon pink with turquoise shimmer. Same formula as Nuclear, opaque in two coats. This one dried the most dull out of all of them, and even though I always recommend top coat, you'll definitely need it for shine on this one.

Uranium is a muted neon green with orange shimmer. This one had a similar formula to the yellow, but covered perfectly in just two coats. This reminds me of Slimer from the Ghostbusters and I'm not mad about it!

Radioactive is a muted neon orange toned red with orange/gold shimmer. Another excellent formula, a little thicker like the orange and pink, opaque in two coats.

As a sidenote, neons are quite hard to photograph completely accurately. I ask that you always take your monitor and device settings, etc. into consideration regarding color accuracy with any swatch, but with neons especially because the pigment does crazy things in the light that simple photography just can't handle sometimes. And it does crazy things to my skin tone.

The collection will be available on the Native War Paints website for pre-order at midnight EST on Friday 4/22, ending at 11:59pm EST on Saturday 4/30. They are all $8 each or $40 for the set during the pre-order. After the pre-order ends, they will be $8.50 each and $45 for the set. Mini sizes will also be available. Be sure to check out their mix & match option, where you can pick your favorite six polishes from all the NWP neons (25 colors!), same pricing. So what do you think? Are you ready for dem neons?? This collection is amazing and there is not one that I wouldn't recommend to you!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Powder Perfect The Palace Collection Swatches & Review

Happy Wednesday all! I'm back with another indie collection, this time from Australian brand Powder Perfect. The Palace Collection is inspired by the Cinderella fable as told by Charles Perrault & the Brothers Grimm. There are five polishes in the collection, with crème, foil & holographic finishes in dreamy colors.

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Cinder Soot is a beautiful polish incarnation of cinders & ashes, a creamy grey base filled with gold flakies & a holographic glow. Excellent formula, easy application. Fully opaque in just two coats. $12.50AUD/USD

Search The Kingdom is a pretty, feminine pastel pink crème. Nice formula, but I did need three coats for full coverage. However, you may be able to get away with two depending on your application style. $10.50AUD/$11USD

If The Slipper Fits is a soft holographic purple with color shifting flakies that change from purple to blue. This is one of the most complex holographic shades I've seen, especially in this color. It's quite striking in person, I was not able to do it justice in this photo. Fabulous formula, two coats. $12.50AUD/USD

Turtledoves is a delicate ivory crème. Not quite bright white, more soft and muted. Surprisingly lovely formula for such a light color. Two coats here. $10.50AUD/$11USD

First Dance is a cornflower blue metallic foil. Not my favorite finish, but even I can appreciate the formula. Opaque in one coat but I used two. There are some brushstrokes, but such is to be expected with a foil. $11.50AUD/USD

Hazel Twig is a pale green holographic shimmer polish with gold-green flakies. Another super complex polish, to which I have no equal. And the formula here is also top notch, two coats for opacity. $12.50AUD/USD

These polishes are available now on the Australian Powder Perfect website and the US Powder Perfect website! I listed the prices by each shade description because they're different, obviously haha. So what do you think of these pretty shades? I'm bowled over, seriously impressed! My must-haves are Slipper, Hazel and Cinder. Let me know which is your favorite!

**EDIT: There has been a coupon code created for my readers to get 10% off any purchase on www.powder-perfect.com! Valid until 7/31/2016 - enter KELLIE when prompted at checkout! (Not an affiliate code, I won't know if you use it, just a help to get you save some money!)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Celestial Cosmetics Unicorns and Rainbows Collection Swatches & Review

Hello again dear friends! Today I have a collection from indie brand Celestial Cosmetics to show you called Unicorns and Rainbows! It's a great gathering of spring-y shades that is just right for the warming weather. I was sent these from Color4Nails, a nail polish stockist that sells Celestial Cosmetics (and a whole bunch of other awesome brands)! Let's take a look :)

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Cakes & Rainbows (both of which I'm an inherent fan of), has a soft gold base with a holographic effect. I say it's a gold with holo instead of just a gold holo because that's how it seemed to me. Much more subtle and shimmer-like indoors, but a nice linear effect in bright sunlight. This was thin and I had to take care not to overload my brush, but other than that it went on without a fuss. This took three coats for full opacity.

Farting Rainbows has a cornflower blue base with a violet shift and a holographic effect. This one is more obviously holo indoors, but still on the subtle side in my humble opinion. Out in the sunshine it just sings though, very pretty. This was not as thin as Cakes & Rainbows but I still used three coats.

Snow Unicorn has a frosty pearl base with a holographic effect. I expected this to be a straight silver holo by seeing it in the bottle, but when I applied it I gasped as it turned frosty before my eyes! I'm not against all frosts, but this just wasn't my cup of tea. The brushstrokes killed it for me. This is also quite thin and took three coats for opacity.

Rainbows & Unicorns Unite has a lilac pearl purple base with a blue shift and a holographic effect. Another three coater, but easy formula, not too thin. This is very pretty but I think I would prefer it without the frostiness.

Unicorn Fields is a rich clover green linear holographic. I really love this one, strongest holo fire and best formula. Full opacity at two coats. This may be not as unique as the other shades in the collection, but I just swoon over a green holo!

This collection is available now on the Color4Nails website for $10 per bottle. Let me know what you think of Unicorns and Rainbows! Even though it's not my favorite collection overall, I really enjoyed Unicorn Fields and Farting Rainbows. I'll see you back again soon :)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Dollish Polish Mars Attacks! Collection Swatches & Review

Greetings earthling! I've got a new quartet of polishes from Dollish Polish to show you today, inspired by the infamously geeky dark comedy Mars Attacks! My siblings loved this movie when we were growing up, but I just thought it was super weird, until I got older and learned to appreciate it for what it is haha. If you've seen it, you either love it or hate it! Anyway, it's a pretty sweet idea to make a polish collection from and these colors are so cool!

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image via Dollish Polish

Ack! Ack! Ack! is a chartreuse jelly filled with subtle orange shimmer. This applied easily, but the jelly formula lends to a more transparent finish, so I built it up with three coats. The square top on the bottles usually comes off, but I couldn't get any of these ones to pop off, which I felt impeded my application a little.

We Come In Peace is a violet purple jelly with added turquoise shimmer. This is a bit thicker than the green, but applied virtually the same. Three coats here too.

Do Not Run, We Are Your Friends is a vibrant coral accented with lime green shimmer. This has the same thickness as Ack! Ack! Ack!, a bit thinner than We Come In Peace. Easiest application of them all, three coats but it borders on being a two coater.

They Blew Up Congress! is a medium teal jelly with flakes of gold shimmer. This one is simultaneously the most sheer and the thickest, but I still didn't really have trouble applying it. Three coats here as well. I love the larger shimmer bits!

This foursome of shimmer shades releases this Friday, April 22nd on the Dollish Polish website. I love anything that has to do with aliens and science fiction so this theme is right up my alley. Dolly from Dollish Polish always creates such fun polishes from creative pop culture references, and these are no exception! What do you think if these? Have you ever seen Mars Attacks!?

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

The Holo Hookup May 2016 Indie Collaboration Box Swatches & Review

It's time again for The Holo Hookup! The theme for the indie collab box for May is "From The Holo Hookup, With Love"! Joining the permanent contributing brands Different Dimension, Glisten & Glow and Cupcake Polish is special guest brand Painted Polish! Onward to the swatches!

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Different Dimension From Cairo, With Love is a beige-nude linear holographic with added glitters and flakies. There is a strong pinky copper flash in there and I'm OBSESSED with it! This just may be my favorite Different Dimension polish! Application is a dream, opaque in two coats. Dries a bit dull so you'll want a top coat.

Cupcake Polish From Cancun, With Love is a sparkling aqua ultra linear holographic with subtle iridescent flakies. On the first coat this was more sheer than I expected, a little thinner formula than most Cupcake Polish shades I've tried. However, it was completely opaque on the second coat. And that color is seriously island fantasy eleganza! I found the flakies hard to capture but they are definitely in there :)

Glisten & Glow From Tokyo, With Love is a bright red-coral linear holographic with added pink shimmers and holographic microglitters. Perfect representation of the Japanese pagodas, so right on! On the thinner side, but has flawless application. Two coats on this.

Painted Polish From London, With Love is a slightly greyed blue linear holographic with added holographic silver galaxy glitter. The consistency of this is a little thicker than the others, but didn't affect application for me. This is two coats. As a side note, I love this brand's bottles! They're very solid and substantial feeling!

This edition of the box will be available on The Holo Hookup website on Thursday, April 21st at 9pm EST through Thursday, April 28th at 9pm EST. The cost is $40 plus shipping. Please let me know what you think about this quartet! Have you tried The Holo Hookup yet? Which of these is your favorite? And what destination would you pick to travel to? I'd honestly die to visit any of those destinations but I've been dreaming about going to London forever. Talk to you soon babes!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.