The Trouble With Valentine's 2016 Collaboration Trio - Cirque Colors, Lacquer Lust and Serum No. 5

Awesome indie brands Serum No. 5, Cirque Colors and Lacquer Lust have gotten together again to collaborate for a trio of polishes in a box with an "anti-Valentine's Day" theme, called The Trouble With Valentine's! This box features three limited edition luxury shades "brimming with anti-Valentine's Day sentiments". I can't stand Valentine's Day so I was stoked to hear about this theme idea!

Press Sample

I wasn't able to get sun swatches on my nails for the post this time, but I did get a rare moment of sun (on a work day haha) to snap this photo of the shades on a nail wheel in the sun so you can see how they look in full light.

The swatches below are taken indoors with artificial light.

Serum No. 5 Single’s Awareness Day is a dusty plum purple with copper holographic sparks and subtle iridescent flake shimmer bits. And bonus, like a lot of Serum No. 5's polish, it glows in the dark (it glows a lovely blue shade, but sadly I couldn't capture it). Opaque in two coats, easy formula to apply. Dries on the matte side and slightly gritty, so a top coat is a must.

Lacquer Lust Unloved Unicorn features their signature silver holographic microglitter with an added mix of larger red, purple and black glitter in hexes and squares. This is stunning and a polish I can see myself wearing a lot! Fabulous coverage in only two coats. Top coat really brings out the fire in the holo and smooths the glitter.

Cirque Colors Karma Sutra is a sparkling burgundy made with pure-silver coated micro flakes. I'm loving all the metal flakies we've had in the last year from indie brands, so this is already ahead of the pack for me, but that sexy deep color just sends it over the edge! A little thicker but not difficult to apply, basically opaque in one coat, but I did two. Dries slightly dull, so I recommend a top coat here too.

This box will go on sale for $32 on Friday, January 22nd on all three brands' websites - 12 pm EST on www.cirquecolors.com, and 12 pm PST at www.lacquer-lust.com and www.serumno5.com. The box always includes lovely wrapping and an extra treat, this time it's heart shaped lollipops! Be sure to let me know if you're planning on picking this collaboration box up! It's a fun and cheeky theme and the polishes are all excellent. :)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

My Picks from the Delush Scream Supreme Collection Swatches & Review

Hey everyone! I'm back today with some gorgeously goulish polishes from the Scream Supreme collection that Delush Polish put out for last Halloween, inspired by the macabre anthology type TV show American Horror Story. I've recently become enamored with the show, so I had to grab some of the polishes! I picked up three, but there are seven colors in the collection.

A Night In the Asylum is named for my favorite season of the show so far, season 2 Asylum. It has a teal-y turquoise jelly base that gets deeper with every subsequent layer, holographic glitter in hexes and dots and large holographic circles. There is a bit of thickness that is typical of jelly polishes with larger glitters, so it takes thin coats and a little placement of the pieces for best results. I used three coats here with a thick layer of top coat. You could also layer one coat over a teal or black and get a more opaque look.

The Supreme is the title of AHS star Jessica Lange's character in season 3 Coven. She is the Supreme witch and this polish definitely fits that vibe, it's fierce! It has a dark blood-like burgundy purpley jelly base with metallic and iridescent glitters, mostly red but there are some blue and purpley bits in there. Excellent glitter payoff and easy to apply! I used three thin coats. This is darker indoors, in full sunlight the jelly base really gets illuminated.

Bitchcraft is also themed for season 3, it's the name of the first episode of Coven. It's a black jelly with squares, hexes and large holographic circles in shades of pink. I found the formula on this one to be the most thick so I tried to use very thin coats and it worked out well. This is three with a thick layer of top coat. You could layer this over a black crème too.

I purchased these three shades from Delush Polish for $8.95 each. I am lucky they were still available to buy, thanks for keeping these around until I learned about the amazingness of AHS, Adrianna! These are really fab Halloween polishes, I'm in rapture! What do you think of them?? Do you watch American Horror Story? The new season starts in October and Lady Gaga will be in it!

❤ Kellie

HARE Polish Sea Bunny Swatch & Review

Hi everyone! Today I have a really fabulous new HARE polish to show you called Sea Bunny. It's an ivory white jelly with black squares and hexes, charcoal flakies, gold flakies and holographic shimmer. It applies easily and has great glitter pay off. I used three thin coats for full opacity.

This color is inspired by a super adorbs sea slug called Jorunna parva otherwise known as the Sea Bunny! Awwwww!

Source

This is not available at the moment on the HARE polish Etsy store, and I'm not sure if it will be restocked but I would stalk her store for it just in case. It's such a gorgeous polish, I really hope she brings it back! I'm such a huge HARE fan, everything they make I fall in love with :) How about you? Is there one indie brand you just can't stay away from?

❤ Kellie

My Picks from the Dollish Polish Ultimate Fandom Collections Swatches & Review

Hello there! I have some awesome indie polishes to show you today from Dollish Polish. They put out two "fandom" collections earlier this year where each polish is inspired by a popular movie or TV show. Here are my picks from the collections, I bought four of the mini sized bottles.

First is I Am the One Who Knocks, inspired by Breaking Bad. I was obsessed with that show, but I only started watching it when they put all the episodes on Netflix. I must've watched all five seasons in like two weeks! This polish is a light blue crelly with tiny bright blue glitters and small medium blue hex glitters. I used three coats here. You could layer it over a blue for a more opaque look, but I love this squishy look on its own.

Next is Look At the Flowers Lizzie, inspired by The Walking Dead. I actually don't watch this show yet, but I am planning on it one of these days. I mostly needed to get this because of my friend MissHollyBerries, she has talked about this a million times on her YouTube channel. It has a zombified pale olive green crelly base with varying matte glitters in black, green, white, pink, coral and yellow. From photos I've seen of this I expected the base color to be a brighter green, but I still really like it. It's not going to be everyone's favorite, but as you know I love offbeat shades! Two coats here. It was easier to apply than I expected but you might have to place some of the glitters a little.

Here is So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, inspired by the book & movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I've never read the book but my siblings were obsessed with it when we were kids. I do like the movie, it's silly and odd and fun. This polish has a soft aqua base with a blue shimmer flash and gallons of matte and shiny glitters of varying sizes and shades of ocean blue and green. I used two coats here. The glitter in this one is very dense so you might have trouble with applying the second coat. Next time I wear it I will probably layer one coat over a base color.

And last is These are Not the Droids You are Looking For, inspired by Star Wars, more specifically C-3PO and R2D2. I wouldn't say I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but I liked the older movies. This polish has a clear base full of gold and silver glitters and flakes accented with blue hex glitters. This one is probably more suited for layering, but this is three coats by itself. In the sun it looks kinda sparse, but it appears to have more coverage in lower light. Next time I wear this I will be layering it though.

sunlight

shade

You can purchase Dollish Polish products from their website. These mini size bottles were $5 each and the full sizes sell for $10. I have mixed feelings on mini bottles of polish, on one hand I love that I won't be "wasting" as much as a full bottle because let's face it, I'll never go through a bottle haha, but on the other hand, they can sometimes be challenging to paint with the short brushes and can be difficult to hold for photographs. These were easy to use, as they aren't too terribly small, and I had no trouble holding them for pictures. I would prefer if the square caps came off though, I can't seem to make it work if they are supposed to haha, but I guess you can't have everything!

What do you think of these polishes? There are a lot more polishes in the collections, and I probably will end up purchasing a few more, but I really like the ones I got so far! What fandoms do you go crazy for? Have you ever bought a nail polish just for the name?

Catch ya next time!

❤ Kellie

HARE polish Flesh World Swatch & Review

Hello and welcome my dears! Today I have a crazy "ugly pretty" polish to show you. It's HARE polish Flesh World. This is part of the Welcome to Twin Peaks collection that came out last winter, but I just barely picked it up. It's kinda zombie-esque and I decided I just had to have it for this Halloween.

It's a yellowish nude jelly with gold shimmer, gold circles and hexes, small black hexes and squares, and translucent pink hexes. I. FREAKING. LOVE. THIS! Ridiculous and odd and not everyone's cup of tea, but I just adore it. I used three thin coats here with top coat. Not as thick as I expected, it had quite a nice formula and was easy to apply.

I purchased this from the HARE polish Etsy store for $10 (she may be closed right now to restock, not sure). They are also sold at stockists like Llarowe. What do you think of this polish? Do you like offbeat colors like I do?

Later babes!

❤ Kellie

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.

HARE polish - Dancing Bird of Paradise

Hi everyone! I am happy to show you a beautiful polish from one of my favorite indie brands, HARE polish. It's from their late summer 2013 collection The Tropics are Calling. It's called Dancing Bird of Paradise. I was bowled over by the swatches my friend Valesha from PeachyPolish.com did of this lacquer and I purchased it immediately after seeing them.

The polish has a bright juicy cherry pinky red jelly base with a blend of various shapes/sizes of neon pink, satin white, gold glitter, and flaky gold shimmer. Wooo it is so hot and fun! I am addicted to bright jellies and the glitter mix in this one just blows it out of the water for me. I used two coats and it turned out pretty opaque for a jelly. The glitter was easy to spread on the nail and it didn't clump up like heavy glitters often do.

Purchased by Me

I have three other polishes from the Tropics collection that I haven't tried yet but I am excited to try. I can't say there is one polish HARE has created that I haven't wanted! You can buy HARE polish for about $10 each from their Etsy store, or from their stockists Llarowe and Femme Fatale Cosmetics. Also, be sure to follow their blog for news about upcoming collections and restocks. What do you think of this beauty?

Facebook ▴ Twitter ▴ BlogLovin' ▴ Instagram

OPI Soft Shades: Oz The Great and Powerful Collection Swatches and Review

OPI has coincided their release of the yearly Soft Shades collection with the new Disney movie, Oz the Great and Powerful, making it a whimsical fairy tale themed collection inspired by the movie. The collection includes three milky soft jelly cremes and three blingtastic glitter toppers.

Press Sample

Don't Burst My Bubble, I Theodora You, Glints of Glinda

Lights of Emerald City, Which is Witch?, When Monkeys Fly!

First up is Don't Burst My Bubble. It's a classic OPI Soft Shade, demure and classic. The color is an almost white milky palest pale pink. Beautiful and a great "palate cleanser" if you're looking to take a break from loud bright shades like I do on occasion. Or it's a perfect work-appropriate shade for you folks who want/have to keep it conservative. This is two coats.

Over the base of Don't Burst My Bubble, I layered Lights of Emerald City. A unique and still delicate glitter topper, it is made up of white glitter squares and iridescent mylar squares in a clear base. It's quite dense, this is just one coat! I love the way the mylar hits the light and changes colors.

The next jelly creme is Glints of Glinda. I loved this in the bottle, a milky peach nude. On my nails it isn't my favorite, maybe because it's too close to my skin tone? I bet it would look amazing on someone with a dark complexion. This is two coats. It was less streaky and easier to make opaque than Don't Burst My Bubble but still very jelly-like.

I layered When Monkeys Fly! over Glints of Glinda. This is probably the most unique and fantastical glitter I've ever seen from OPI. It is made up of large mirror-like gold hex glitter and smaller holographic silver hexes. Unfortunately it came to light than many customers were experiencing warping and curling of the giant gold hexagons. They addressed this on their Facebook page, if you're interested. I didn't have a problem with my glitters in the least, and I really am in love with this mani. Two coats of glitter.

This is I Theodora You, a more opaque and less jelly but still squishy pale pink. I absolutely adore colors like this. I feel so feminine and classy when I wear such clean shades. This is two coats.

And last is glitter Which is Witch? A clear base filled with tons of micro holographic silver bits, bars, and hexes. Super dense, this is one layer over I Theodora You. Another hit in my opinion, yet this is probably my least favorite out of the three glitters I swatched. Maybe I need to try it over another color for it to really wow me.

This collection also included a Liquid Sand polish which I will show you in another post, as I didn't care for the way my swatches of it turned out at the time of this post. I loved this collection, and even though I haven't seen the movie it's based upon yet, I can imagine myself in Oz whenever I see these beautiful soft shades ;) My favorites would have to be When Monkeys Fly! and I Theodora You.

This limited edition promotion is available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCP Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Random Purple Manicures

I recently got this glitter topper from Candy Lacquer and I had to try it immediately. It's from her winter collection and it's called Sugar Plum Fairy. There are tons of different glitters in pink and purple with some holo pieces, some even in a butterfly shape! I layered two coats here over BB Couture Daring Debutant, from their Formal collection. Freaking hot. Love this over white as well.

Next is Dollish Polish Hylian Princess. Royal purple, white, and gold glittah! I layered two coats over OPI My Very First Knockwurst from the OPI Germany collection.

And last of the random purpleness is more of a pink that pulls purple overall. This is two coats of Lynnderella Boy-Girl Party, a blue, red, purple, pink and silver glitter polish. I LOVE square glitters. There should be more. I layered it over Nicole by OPI Spring Break from the Selena Gomez collection.

You can buy Candy Lacquer at http://www.etsy.com/shop/candylacquer and http://candylacquer.bigcartel.com/ for $8. You can buy Dollish Polish at http://dollishpolish.bigcartel.com/ for $8.75. And last, you can buy Lynnderella polishes at http://myworld.ebay.com/lynnderella-lynnderella/ for $22.50 each. Do you like any of these? Which is your favorite?

Some of the products shown were provided for review.

Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker

This post features an indie polish seller who calls her shop Pretty & Polished. She has some really unique lacquers available, some that I like particularly because they give the look of a "jelly sandwich" using only one polish instead of two.

This one is called Jawbreaker, and it is the spitting image of the candy it's named for. It has the classic colors, blue, red, purple, green and yellow flecks, in this case different sizes and shapes of glitter, in a milky white base. You get a more translucent look with two coats, but I used three.

Shiny with topcoat

Matte-ified, seems a bit pinker than when it's shiny.

You can purchase this and other polishes by Chelsea at her Etsy shop Pretty & Polished. She sells mini and full size bottles, $4.75 for 5mL and $8.00 for 15mL. Be sure to check it out!

Wet n' Wild Spoiled - Trust Fund Baby

I showed you China Glaze Gothic Lolita the other day and decided to jazz it up a bit with a glitter. I chose Wet n' Wild's new polish brand Spoiled in the shade Trust Fund Baby. It's got a clear base with blue, black and pale gold hex glitter and small square pinky purple glitter. Fun and pretty unique. I used two coats over GL here.

I got this at CVS Pharmacy for $1.99. The Spoiled line has a ton of cute polishes so check out your local store to see all the pretties.