My Picks from the Essie Summer 2016 Collection Swatches & Review

So even though school started here last Monday, and I've already had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season, it's still technically summer right? Since it's not Labor Day yet?? I'm going with it! Anyway, here are probably the last summer polishes I'll be showing this year, two I bought from the Essie Viva Antigua collection. The other four shades in the collection were nice, but not must haves for my stash.

Viva Antigua! is a sparkling turquoise with iridescent micro flakies of shimmer. The application on this was really nice, great formula. I used two coats for full opacity.

Loot The Booty is a radiant blue sapphire with micro flakies of pale shimmer that shine blue in the base. Awesome color, amazing formula. Practically paints itself on! Two coats here too. The name of this still makes me giggle.

I purchased these from my local CVS. They should still be available wherever Essie is sold, like Ulta, Target, and most drugstores. Did you pick up any colors from this collection? Are you sad summer shades are leaving us and that fall shades are coming out? We all know I'm a heathen for fall, but I gotta give my summer polishes credit, they are so great!

❤ Kellie

Powder Perfect Insomnia Trio + Widow's Watch Swatches & Review

Hi there friends! I've got some polishes from a new-to-me brand today, Australian indie Powder Perfect! They have been around for a while but I hadn't tried them yet, and I'm happy to report that my first experience has been quite positive! I'll be showing you their new soon-to-be released Insomnia Trio and a retired shade that has been rebooted and brought back to life. On to the swatches!

Press Sample

First up in the Insomnia Trio is I Can't Sleep, a bright, brilliant orchid purple crelly. It's very pigmented for a crelly and is super easy to apply. Surprisingly opaque in just two coats! I love that this is so easy to apply, because I have similar shades in my collection that don't have as good of a formula. Also dries very shiny.

Late At Night is a lush emerald microshimmer. Pretty glitzy for a shimmer shade, really bordering on being a metallic. Kind of a cool teal-ish tone to the green. Another great formula and covers totally in one coat, but turns slightly deeper with two layers. I really enjoy this color!

And last in the trio is Thinking Of You, a reddish bright pink with a finely milled soft holographic finish and strong magenta shimmer. It's very opaque, basically in one coat but I could still see a hint of a nail line, so I used two. I really enjoy this shade, and it's kind of got a different looking finish that I don't feel like I really have in my collection.

And the returning shade is called Widow's Watch, a very dark eggplant purple scattered holographic. The press material says it was inspired by "the parapet walk that graced Victorian era mansions, where women would look out to sea, waiting for their husbands to return". It originally came out in their Abandoned Mansion Collection released in February 2014, called Widow's Walk then. It was a big hit so they brought it back, slightly revamped. Super easy formula to polish with, opaque in just one coat, but I did two like always. Dries very shiny as well! The holo isn't super strong, but sometimes you don't always want a sparkle bomb.

These will launch on their new US based website www.powder-perfect.com on Jan. 27 at 7pm EST time, and on their Australian site www.powderperfect.com.au on Jan. 28 at 10am QLD time. I Can't Sleep will cost $10.50 AUD/$11 USD and the other shades will be $12.50 AUD/$12.50 USD for an 11 ml bottle. Let me know if you've tried this brand before! I'm looking forward to trying more from Powder Perfect, because these were all lovely. Are you thinking of picking up any of these shades?

**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.

Lynnderella - Gotta Love Brains

I have a Lynnderella nail polish to show you all today, called Gotta Love Brains. It's from her early Halloween collection from 2011. I've been wanting to get my hands on this for a long time, since it came out, and I finally bit the bullet and purchased it.

The base of this is a sheer grey jelly with pink microshimmer and a bit of a white fleck thing. The glitter is in multi-sized squares, hexes, strings, in purple, silver, pink and blue. I don't love the very large silver hexes, and some of the pink bars have curled but overall I really like the assortment of glitters. This is three coats.

You can purchase Lynnderella polishes from her Ebay store, www.lynnderella.com. This one sells for $23 and is worth every penny if you ask me. I know people are wary of the price of Lynn's, but they're just as nice as department store luxury brand polishes and more unique in my opinion. It's obviously up to every individual as to what they want to spend their money on haha, I don't see much point in worrying about it. What do you think of Gotta Love Brains?

BB Couture Impact Driver

I have been lemming this particular BB Couture polish for pretty much ever, so when BB had their "green sale" for St. Patrick's Day, I knew I wanted to get a few greens so I threw Impact Driver in my cart as well. It's a dusty blue with a grey tone, packed with subtle microshimmer in silver, pink and blue. I've been told this polish is a suitable dupe for RBL Catherine H, would be interested to see a comparison on those two. This is two coats. One of the best BBC's I've used to date, incredible formula.