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 :)

Press Sample

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.

OPI Soft Shades 2015 Collection Swatches & Review

Hey babes! Are you into nudes?? The colors I mean ;) Neutrals? Bridal shades? Then this collection is for you! The OPI Soft Shades 2015 collection brings us six new light and soft lacquers for the tail-end of Spring/beginning of Summer. Let's see how these stack up shall we?

Press Sample

Act Your Beige! is a milky pale slightly beige cream color. This was pretty streaky for me on the first two coats. This is three, and while you can still see my nail line I'd call this pretty opaque. I like this, even after having to kinda finesse it. I never think that I like the demure nail look until I am wearing it, then I don't want to take it off.

Next is Make Light of the Situation, one coat over Act Your Beige!. It's a stunning crystal-like shimmer and glitter topper, it's iridescent nirvana! This would be such a great bridal manicure, it's a very dainty and delicate look but with that somethin' somethin'. You could build this up on it's own if you wanted to, it's got great glitter payoff.

This gal is called Chiffon My Mind, a shimmery white. The shimmer is sorta duochromey from silver to blue and purple in certain lights but it doesn't really translate to the nail as well as I had hoped. This was quite streaky for me, I used three coats and it still didn't self-level very well. It's kind of a fail for me.

Put It In Neutral is next, another sheer milky shade, but this one is a pinky nude. I love this color, it reminds me a little of some shades in the Color Club Shift Into Neutral collection I showed you not too long ago, maybe a little more feminine. This was a little streaky, better than Act Your Beige! but I still had to use three coats to even it out.

Here we have Petal Soft, a clear based topper with matte pale pink and white hex glitters in different sizes and large matte white flower shaped pieces. I got a good amount of the hexes out upon swiping my nail, but I had to fish to get any flowers. This is two coats over Put It In Neutral. This got a little thick for my taste because of all the coats. I might layer this over something different if I wear it again.

Last is This Silver's Mine, a silver leaning pewter frost metallic. In my notes for this color I have in capital letters "BRUSHSTROKES!" haha. I don't necessarily think brushstrokes are the final word in a polish being crap, at all. This however just doesn't work for me. I like the idea of it, but if only it were smooth! You have to paint your last coat on super perfectly and straight or else it's going to look bad, no buts about it. Two coats.

This collection should be out in stores like Sally Beauty, Ulta and professional salons now, retail price is $9.50 each. I usually end up liking the Soft Shades a bit more than the ones in this collection, but I would say Make Light of the Situation is an absolute MUST have. Seriously, you need it. Let me know what you think of these and if you are into collections like this or if you crave bold colors more.

Love ya!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI Fifty Shades of Grey Collection Swatches & Review

Happy Tuesday! Today I'm bringing you the OPI Fifty Shades of Grey collection. It's a six color collection released in conjunction with the movie it's inspired by. I'm not going to debate anything regarding the books or the movie here, I know a lot of people have rather strong opinions on them haha, because we're here to discuss the nail polish! :) I enjoyed this small collection. It's technically supposed to be their Valentine's Day collection I think, but it's giving us very non-traditional Valentine's colors (save for 1 red). I'm not crazy about V-day so I can get behind a collection like this haha. Let's take a look see!

Press Sample

First is Cement The Deal, a pale cool grey crème with a tinge of blue. It's thin but opaque and easy to apply. This is two coats. I love grey polishes and this is actually a shade of it that I don't have already which is nice!

This is Dark Side Of The Mood, a deep charcoal grey with a vein of a kinda milky pearl shimmer. I've heard that people had a difficult time with this formula, but I didn't have any problems with it. It's thin but I was able to get it opaque in two coats.

Here we have Embrace the Gray, which really should have an 'e' not an 'a' to make it the same spelling as the collection name, but whatevs. I've always preferred the UK spelling personally. This is a medium grey crème that applies like a dream in two coats.

My Silk Tie is a silver shimmer frost. It's got a bit of a warm grey undertone which makes it a little different than your basic silvers. It does leave brushstrokes behind, if that concerns you I'd try to paint straight haha. I liked this more than I expected to. It had pretty good opacity, this is two coats.

This guy is called Romantically Involved, a deeper warm almost brick red crème. I heard one girl on youtube call this a "mature" red haha. It's thin like the other crèmes in the collection, but very opaque. I used two coats but you can almost get it opaque in one. I actually really like this shade on me.

The last one is called Shine For Me. That name kinda creeps me out to be honest, but I like the polish. It's got a sheer-ish silver shimmer foily base with medium/dark blue microglitters. I put on three coats here. It dries slightly bumpy, some have said it's textured, but I don't agree because it's so slight it is just like a regular glitter polish in my opinion.

These shades are available in professional salons and stores like Ulta and Sally Beauty now. Let me know what you think of this collection!

How about a little giveaway! I have one brand new mini set of this collection up for grabs, so please enter below using the Rafflecopter widget if you'd like to win. This giveaway is open to United States residents age 18 and older and ends on 2/24/15. Please read all terms and conditions.

image via OPI

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Click here if the widget doesn't load.

Good luck!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

KillerQueenVarnish Swatches & Review

Hi folks! Today I wanted to show you a few polishes from a new-to-me indie brand called KillerQueenVarnish. I followed a gal on instagram that I thought had pretty nails and then she contacted me to see if I wanted to try some of her lacquers out. I am always willing to try new brands so I said yes. She sent me three polishes for review so let's check them out!

Press Sample

First is Lip Service, a medium bright pink jelly crème with small matte black hex glitters. This is a nice and unique polish to my collection. I do have a red with black glitters, but not a pink. This applied very easily and I got good coverage in two coats.

This is Flowers on the Wall, a goldish peachy shimmer with a slight duochrome of green at the edges. This is slightly similar to a polish I showed you the other day, Picture Polish Majesty, but this is more peach than gold. This differs in the finish too, it's edging on frosty. I like this but I don't know if I'm in love with it. Two coats.

And last is Midnight at the Oasis, a black jelly crème polish with gold shimmer, gold hex glitters, and gold square glitters. A lot of the glitter got stuck on the edge of the bottle, so you might want to swirl a toothpick around to mix them up a bit. The polish went on very opaque and smooth but I didn't get a whole lot of glitter on the brush without dipping and swirling a few times. This is two coats. Dries a bit matte so use a top coat for shine.

You can buy KillerQueenVarnish on Etsy for $8.75 per bottle. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and formulas of her polishes and would purchase more in the future. What do you think of these colors? Have you checked out KQV before or is this the first you're hearing of them? Talk to you soon friends :)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Zoya Diva Collection Fall 2012

Zoya put out three collections for the Fall of 2012. I've posted on the Gloss collection, and here is number two, the Diva collection. Prepare your eyeballs for some hotness!

Daul is a violet purple jelly based uber shimmer. The shimmer is foily and chunky, like someone crushed up pale gold jewels with a hammer. It has a bit of a greenish duochrome at certain angles which I love. Looks like a few other colors that came out last year but I always say dupes are good, it allows everyone access to the beauty of a polish. A bit on the sheer side.

Elisa is a gorgeous glowing crimson red with a ember-like metallic finish. It has superfine shimmer in it, making it so deep looking. Love. Amazing formula.

FeiFei is complex. It has a lovely chunky sparkley finish and it appears to be made up of a thousand colors, for real. It appears to be a shimmery steel blue but it has gold, green, and pink iridescent bits that make it duochrome like crazy. Almost blindingly beautiful. Photos do her no justice.

Ray is incredibly beautiful. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at all at first, it looked like it was going to be a frost, but it only has a slight frostiness to it and it dries down so it looks softer. The color is a beautiful blackened evergreen. Not the most friendly formula but it's overcome easily.

Song is also gorgeous. Like ga-Ga-GORGEOUS! Incredible vibrant blue with fine bright blue smooth shimmer bits. It applies like butter.

Suri is pretty fantastic as well. It's a shimmery metallic royal purple which is super-close-to-almost-but-not-quite a frost. I don't usually love this type of purple but it is just really luxe and hot. There are teeny bits of pink, blue, and purple that flash every little while which is fun.

I have to say this collection is unbelievable. I like every one of the polishes and I'm impressed with their uniqueness. Probably close to if not my very favorite Zoya polish collection ever. You can get these on Zoya.com for $8 each.

Products provided for review.

BB Couture Rhythm and Blues Collection Part 2

Yesterday I showed you the first part of BB Couture's newest collection, Rhythm and Blues. Here is the second half, the Men's collection, specifically the Blues. Like the name of the group, all of these are blue, six varying shades and finishes! The names are all blues songs, not gonna say I didn't know some of them, but I did look them all up to get more familiar with them and the vibe of the collection :)

Next is Stone Crazy, a periwinkle purpley blue with pink and blue shimmer. This is really beautiful, I absolutely adore it and I don't believe I have anything like it. This is three coats.

This is Hoochie Coochie Man, a pale almost white polish with a hint of blue. Small subtle silver shimmer. Lovely. I wouldn't have guessed this color from the name haha. Three coats.

Here is Back Door Man, a super metallic medium blue. I'm not crazy about this polish honestly, but the formula was great. This is two coats.

First is Ball and Chain, a medium dusty blue with pink and blue shimmer. This is a beautiful shade that applies wonderfully. Two coats.

Black Snake Moan is a great polish (and a great movie). This is a dark midnight blue with crazy large shimmer particles and some pink and blue sparkle. Two coats here.

And last is Boom Boom, a muted robin's egg blue with tiny silver flecks. This is very lovely and a great staple polish. Two coats.

The formula on these was excellent, I had much better luck with these than the Rhythm collection. These are available on BB Couture and Overall Beauty for $10.95 each. How do you like these? Which collection do you prefer?

Products provided for review.

BB Couture Rhythm and Blues Collection Part 1

Hi everyone! Happy Fourth of July my American readers, Viva USA! I have a new collection from BB Couture, Rhythm and Blues. The Rhythm part is the the regular cylindrical bottles and the Blues are in the square bottles "for men". Today I'll show you the first part of the collection, a group of six colors inspired by music. And YAY their signature blue handles are back! Their last few collections have had white or black ones. The bright blue metallic tops make me smile :)

First up is Dance. This is a lovely sky blue with super subtle glass fleck shimmer. This one was a bit thick, but not unmanageable. I have a few polishes similar but not the same. I love the shimmer flecks! This is two coats.

Next is Frequency, a surprising combo of light mustardy yellow and hot pink shimmer. I love BB Couture because this is something so unexpected but totally expected for this subversive brand. They are not afraid of doing unique! This was a bit harder to work with than I would like, it was streaky so I recommend painting slowly and with care. This is three thicker coats.

Here is Pattern, a pastel peach with a mod feel. I have never been lucky enough to have this type of color look good on me but this one almost works with my skin tone! I think it's the whitewashed base. This one was also streaky and thick unfortunately. This is four coats.

This is Tempo, another bright white based color, this time in pastel spring green. It reminds me of a kitchen mixer from the 50's. This one also has a thicker formula, but it wasn't quite as difficult as Pattern to apply. I love how this color pops against my tan! Three coats.

Beat is really something. I absolutely ADORE this shimmery green. Now this is a true "mint" green in my opinion, reminds me of a delicious mint chocolate candy or something. I don't own anything close to this color and I love the gossamer silver shimmer running through it. By far the best formula in the collection. Two coats.

And last is BPM, a metallic mauve pink. I can't think of anything I have that is similar, but I love it! The finish is frosty but not ugly frost, very pretty metalllic. The formula on this was thicker too and I had to take care to minimize brush strokes on application, but when it dried they weren't an issue. This is two coats.

You can get these from BB Couture and Overall Beauty for $10.95 each. They are all lovely colors, most of them quite unique. I do wish the formulas on a few were better. The stand outs for me are really Frequency, BPM, and Beat. What do you think of these?

P.S. how do you like my new watermark?

Products provided for review.

Zoya Smoke & Mirrors Collections

Hi there friends! I know it's been a little longer than I'd like since I've blogged, but this week was c-razy. My computer was being a total beezy and my cuticles are all cut to hell from filing at work :( Anyway, here is a little blast from the past, Zoya's Smoke & Mirrors. These came out last year for the Fall 2011 season. I got them right around the time I went on my unplanned hiatus and never got around to posting them. Here they are in all their glory!

The Smoke collection starts off with Anja, a rich, deep, vampy red-toned wine purple. I absolutely love vampy colors and this is nice and dark and sexy. This is two coats.

Next is Jana, a medium nude putty creme with grey, mauve and purple tones. Very complex for a crème, as it tends to be a kind of chameleon, changing in different lights. I love the whole grunge purple thing that this has going on. Three coats.

Here is Codie, speaking of vamps, this baby has sexiness in spades! This is a very dark blackened espresso brown. Just dark enough without being black. This is two coats. I should do a comparison between this and RBL Fortissimo...

This is Petra, awesome name, reminds me of Kylie Minogue's character in Bio Dome (90's pop culture anyone?). Another greige purple, this one is darker and more moody. This is two coats.

Dree is a light, dusty drab olive green with yellow tones and a touch of grey smoke. I was sure I would love this when I saw initially saw promo images for the collection and it was no disappointment when I saw it in person. Ugly pretty for sure. Two coats here.

Last in the Smoke collection is Cynthia, a smoky, blackened peacock teal with soft warm undertones. This one has almost imperceptable teal shimmer to it, interesting. I had trouble with the application on this, it was incredibly thick and I got bubbles every time I tried to do a mani with it. Pity because it's gorgeous. This is three coats.

Now for the Mirrors collection, first up is Marina. One of my very favorite female names. This is a super beautiful slate blue silvery grey with a dusty metallic finish. I love how it's frosty but not too frosty so it becomes really brushstrokey, it dries very soft. This is two coats.

Here is Neeka, a lovely smokey amethyst purple with subtle pink duochrome shimmer and gold glitter speckles. I love this, very interesting and unique. I adore how the glitter isn't terribly sparkly, just scattered and makes the polish look very deep.

Tao is a light smoke grey with blue undertones and a muted, softened metallic finish. This gal is along the same lines as Marina, very metallic but not really frosty which is lovely. This is a very sophisticated and classy color. Two coats.

OOOH. Jem is a drop dead gorgeous color, you NEED it. She's a dark red-toned purple base with metallic dark pink highlights and subtle gold duochrome flecks. This would be a sister polish to Valerie from Fire & Ice, both beautiful but this is more my style. Uber velvety texture and sparkle for days! Two coats.

Nimue is another frosty "mirror". This time done in a smoky muted purple with blue and mauve tones. This is just as pretty as the other two frosts, la la love. This is two coats.

I wasn't sure Yara was even a name, but found out it's a pretty popular Brazillian and Arabic name. It was actually the name of one of the drag queen contestants on RuPaul's Drag Race season 3, which I'm addicted to. I watch the seasons over and over again! Anyway, back to the polish. This is another super unique lacquer, same type of finish as Neeka, a medium smoky olive drab with a dash of gold glitter. Same speckled look, reminds me of a dinosaur egg!

You can get these on www.zoya.com for $8 each. Do you have any of the Smoke & Mirrors colors? I realize these are much more suited to fall and winter than the middle of the summer, but hey, everyone needs a break from neons once in a while ;)

Products provided for review.