Nail Polish I Wore In Real Life Vol. 2

Hi everyone! Today I have another volume in my series of nail polishes I wore in real life! The first post in this series is here, explaining in detail why I wanted to do it if you're confused. Let's see what I've worn lately!

Here we have Stellar by Virago Varnish. I've had this indie brand on my radar for a while because a few of my YouTube friends have been singing their praises and I finally got some! This is a full coverage microglitter with holographic blue, purple and teal hexes. Good formula, a little sparse in places so I used two coats but had to dab on some extra in some areas. Dries matte and a little textured so I used a thick top coat. I really like this, it's super blingy in person. Stellar is from their Hollywood Glamour collection and I purchased it from their website for $11.50.

This is Falling For Hue by KBShimmer, which I purchased from their website for $8.75. KBShimmer has come out with scented "mani shots" which I've been buying like crazy, so I threw this in my cart with an order the other day because I realized I didn't have it, and I am in love. It's a great formula, typical for KBS crelly glitter mixes, with a white base and metallic red, pink and purple hex glitters in varying sizes. I used two coat here for full opacity. May seem a little fall-esque to be wearing in June, but I do what I want and wear out of season polishes wheneva, whateva.

So tell me what you think about my two full mani polish picks and tell me what you've been sporting on your nails lately! Also, have you entered my giveaway yet??

❤ Kellie

China Glaze Desert Escape Collection Swatches & Review

Hello my beautiful friends! I hope your week is going well :) I am happy to share with you today the newest collection from China Glaze called Desert Escape. It is a six piece collection inspired by the tones of a desert landscape. I live in the high desert, northern Nevada, so I have been looking forward to seeing the shades.

Press Sample

First is Don't Desert Me, an intense fuchsia pearly metallic. I always think I don't care for this finish until I put it on and then I love it. The opacity is awesome, it's a one coater but I used two to see if it deepened the color, which it did slightly, but you could definitely only use one. I thought this might be brushstrokey but they kinda disappear (in real life, for some reason they show in the photo, *eye roll*) when this dries which is excellent.

This crème pink is called Don't Mesa With My Heart. It's slightly purple toned which is lovely, it makes it stand apart from other pinks. This seemed really great on some nails and on others it was a tad streaky. I needed 2 coats on some and then another few strokes on others so I would say I used 2.5 coats haha. I actually wore this for a few days in real life, yay!

Meet Me In the Mirage is a rose gold metallic foil. It's really a mix of rose and silver particles that blend together to give a pinky coppery look, which is cool. It has great opacity, you could get away with one coat if you wanted, but I used two here. It's a little thick but not difficult to apply. This is similar to Orly's Rage if you're familiar with that.

Here we have Rain Dance the Night Away, a bright turquoise crème. This is seriously stunning and has an awesome buttery, opaque formula. I've been regretting not getting the turquoise from the Giver collection, but this is similar and I think I like it more! It's almost a one-coater, I used two here.

The Heat Is On is a slightly orange tinted red jelly crème. I was afraid this would be on the sheer side, but it covers the nail really nicely. It just stays slightly see-through because of the finish. (In case you're wondering about my verbiage, to me a "jelly crème" is more jelly than crème and a "crelly" is more crème than jelly.) I used two coats and can just barely still see my nail line.

And last is What's She Dune?, a sandy beige crème. This is another fabulous formula, opaque in two easy coats. It's nice to have such a light color with such a great, pigmented, and easy consistency.

Here is the gist regarding purchasing this collection, direct from the company who makes China Glaze: "The individual shades sold as open stock colors will only be available on LockAndMane.com. Sally Beauty will only carry select nail art kits but they will not retail the individual colors. Ulta is not carrying this particular collection." I have heard some folks have found these on other sites but I'm not sure what they are. Let me know what you think about these colors! I love something a little different for summer :)

Have you entered my giveaway yet?

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Pretty Serious Cosmetics Stop Collaborate and Listen Collection Part 2 Swatches & Review

Hey there friends! Today I have a few new shades from Pretty Serious Cosmetics to add to their Stop Collaborate and Listen collection! This is a series made up of collaboration polishes the brand creates with nail polish bloggers, you can see the first installment here. I am always eager to see polish shades from the minds of bloggers, after all we know what's what in the polish world!

Press Sample

First is Kashmir, a shade created with Christine from Serenity Nails. That link goes to her blog post where she talks about her inspiration for the shade if you're interested. Christine's nails are amazing btw, you need to check her out! The polish is a red toned purple, leaning burgundy in some lights, with gold and copper flakes, color shifting shimmer in blue and purple and red opal flakes. This is a complex shade and I am in love with it! It was a little dense, but not thick. Perfectly opaque in two easy coats.

Iktsuarpok is "an Icelandic word that describes the feeling of anticipation of a visitor arriving imminently, thus leading you to keep looking outside to see if they’re there yet". It is the perfect name for this polish designed by Hannah of Polly Polish, though I can't pronounce it haha. Her blog is great, definitely swing by :) This polish is a medium grey, almost blue, jelly crème with silver glass fleck flakes. This has an incredible formula, thin but not runny and very opaque. This is two coats. It reminds me of a darker version of Illamasqua Raindrops. I love it!

And last is Herald of the Skeleton War designed by the inimitable Scrangie. If you don't know who she is, I don't even know what to say because she's the epitome of nail bloggers. I miss her posts like crazy, but you can still catch some swatches from her on Instagram. This is a blackened green jelly with iridescent blue flakes, golden green and purple microglitter and multi-sized purple hex glitter. This polish is kinda tricky and I got a little frustrated with it the first time I applied it. It wouldn't spread very easily on my nail the way I wanted it to, like I couldn't get a good line around my cuticle. And the second coat got sorta lumpy and dense. There is SO much glitter in it and the jelly base is really pigmented so it can get a little sludgy if you overwork it.

I talked to the brand maker and it's possible that I got a bum bottle with more glitter than normal and was offered a replacement, buuuut I decided to try it again before I completely wrote it off. I saw another blogger layer it over a dark green and I liked how that looked, so that's what I did here. This is one coat over OPI Christmas Gone Plaid and it's much better in my opinion, it looks like how I was hoping it would look like in the bottle. A thick top coat is a must because it dries kinda satin and not super smooth because of all the glitter. I love the uniqueness of this shade but just know it might take some extra care if you wear it by itself.

That last photo was taken a week later than the others and my nails have grown a ton! They tend to grow like weeds in the summer, which is kinda annoying unless I get a break because I have to file them so much more haha. #nailbloggerproblems

These are available now for $9.95 each at www.pretty-serious.com. They are based in Australia but they have a shipping location in the US so we do not have to pay international shipping, a major plus. What do you think of the newest installment of this collection? Props to all the collaborating bloggers, these are some dope shades!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway and I'll see you again soon!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.