Freak Show Polish Swatches/Review

This post should really be titled "Why I'm the Worst Blogger Ever." I've had these polishes to share since NOVEMBER and they somehow never made it up here! I SUCK and I truly apologize for this because these are some fabulous polishes. What I have here is the Christmas Under the Big Top collection and part of the Zodiac collection from Freak Show Polish. It seems fitting to share the Christmas collection even though it's March, since it started snowing outside as I'm writing this. I guess spring isn't quite here yet after all.

Snowflake Covered Presents is a glitter top coat with black, white, turquoise, and magenta hex and circle glitter. This is two coats.

Mister Snowman has a shimmery gray base filled with black, white, yellow, and blue glitter. This needed three coats for what you see here, but you could also layer it over a gray base.

A Very Merry Christmas Tree is one of my favorites, a squishy white base with red, green, and white glitter. This is three coats, but again, you could layer this over white for a more opaque look.

Hot Toddies is a gorgeous deep magenta/berry shimmer with purple and pink glitter. This one only needed two coats for opacity.

Yuletide Cheer is a unique jade polish with an abundant mix of brown, silver, blue, and gold glitter. I used three coats here for maximum opacity and glitter.

Naughty or Nice is a blue and purple based glitter topper. This is two coats.

Pisces is a lovely green and blue based micro glitter topper. This is two coats.

Gemini is a blue based micro glitter topper. It also has purple and black mixed in there. This is two coats.

Aquarius is a mix of red, blue, and silver micro glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over black.

 

The bad news is that the Christmas Under the Big Top collection doesn't appear to be available anymore. The good news is that the formula was great on all these polish, so I'm sure you couldn't go wrong with any of the currently stocked ones! You can check them out on the Freak Show Polish online store and give their Facebook page a visit too while you're at it! ;) 

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own. 

China Glaze Surprise Collection Swatches/Review

In April 2014, China Glaze is releasing this special six-piece limited edition collection called Surprise! The six polishes are all glitter toppers with different color combinations but the same general size/shape of glitter.

Don't Be a Flake contains matte black and turquoise and metallic pink glitter. I layered it here over ChG Metro Pollen-tin.

Shine-nanigans is a mix of metallic pink and purple glitter and matte lime glitter. I'm wearing it over ChG At Vase Value.

Glimmer More has matte orange and yellow glitter with metallic pink glitter. It's layered here over ChG What a Pansy.

Glitter Up contains matte turquoise and peach glitters and metallic purple glitter. I'm wearing it over ChG Peonies & Park Ave.

I'm a Go Glitter consists of matte lime and turquoise glitter and metallic pink glitter. I layered it over ChG Spring In My Step. This combination is really spring-y!

Create a Spark has pink, purple, and black glitters. It's worn here over ChG Grass is Lime Greener.

Now on to the formula. I hate to say it, but these are just not very good. I had to do a lot of scraping along the sides of the bottles to get what you see here. When you dip the brush in the bottle, the majority of what you get is the clear base with just a sprinkling of glitter. What ends up happening then is that you have thick layers of the clear base on your nails that needs lots of extra time to dry. I love how these glitter toppers look, but I just don't have enough patience for them.

What are your thoughts?

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

China Glaze Flourish Collection Swatches/Review

I don't know about you, but I am so completely totally 100% over winter. I'm sick of it being below freezing outside every single day and I'm not so patiently waiting for it to finally warm up to the 50s and 60s. One thing that really gets me in the mood for spring is all these bright and cheerful collections that have been coming to my doorstep! The China Glaze Flourish collection might just be my favorite of them all... the mix of neon and pastel is fantastic!

At Vase Value is a gorgeous pale blue, almost a pastel robin's egg blue, but it has a brightness to it that keeps it from really being a pastel.

What a Pansy is a medium blue-leaning shade of purple. I love purple, but this isn't really my favorite shade. It just doesn't do much for me.

Peonies & Park Ave is a beautiful blue-based neon Barbie pink. Reminds me of the neons from the Poolside collection long ago.

Spring In My Step is one of my favorites! I've been craving soft, baby pinks for some reason and this really hits the mark. It seems to be a warmer shade of pink and I think that's why it works for me.

Metro Pollen-tin is a weird color. I left this photo kind of dark because I think the color of the polish is more accurate this way. It reminds me of a certain neon-colored mac and cheese in a blue box.

Thistle Do Nicely is an awesome pink neon! It seems to lean a little bit towards coral-pink (which I love). This will be on my toes A LOT this summer!

Grass is Lime Greener is similar to At Vase Value in that it's almost like a pastel neon. I'm normally not a fan of greens, but this one is so unique and I just love it!

Petal to the Metal is a fabulous creamy coral. I love corals that lean more towards the pink side rather than the orange side and this one is great. It's bright and cheerful without be neon, which makes it much more wearable for most people.

In A Lily Bit is a very, very pale lavender. Most pale purples that I've seen are dusty or faded, whereas this one is clean and bright.

Don't Honk Your Thorn was a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't see the beautiful silver shimmer in the bottle, but it came out on the nail and it's just gorgeous. I think this is the type of neutral that would flatter many skintones as well.

Strike a Rose has my favorite type of finish! This bright, warm pink is complemented by a gorgeous silver shimmer throughout.

Lotus Begin is a light purple, but not nearly as light as In a Lily Bit. It's the middle of the three purple shades in this collection.

As far as the formulas for this collection, I was very surprised. I expected to have big issues with the pastels and the neons but they were all pretty good for the most part. They do require a little more care than normal, but it's really no hassle. I'm wearing two coats for all of these swatches. The Flourish collection should be available now at stores like Ulta and Sally Beauty, as well as online retailers.

Which shade is your favorite? It's really hard for me to choose, but if I absolutely had to, I think I would pick Grass is Lime Greener because it's so unique!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

KBShimmer Valentine's Day Trio Swatches/Review

Okay, so this is a little late. However, these polishes are so gorgeous that it would be a shame to only wear them around Valentine's Day AND they are still available for purchase, so you can stock up for next year! ;) KBShimmer created this trio inspired by the holiday of love and I absolutely love these polishes!

Falling for Hue is a mix of red, magenta, and pink glitter in a white base. It gave me perfect coverage in two coats!

Whole Lava Lovin' is a cherry/raspberry red linear holographic polish. This one changed shades on me a bit; sometimes it appears to be a true red and sometimes it leans more pink. Perfect formula, opaque in two coats.

U Rock My Heart is a glitter topper with a whole mess of different black and pink glitters. It has hearts, stars, large hexes, small hexes, teeny tiny hexes, some circles, and I believe there are some shards in there also. I have one coat layered here over KBShimmer Chick Me Out.

♥

Which one is your favorite? I think Whole Lava Lovin' is mine... it's such a unique color for a holographic polish! If you are interested, you can purchase these shades on KBShimmer's website. Each bottle retails for $8.75.

The products in this post was provided for my honest review. 

500 Nail Designs Book - Available for Pre-Order Now! :D

Hello again everyone! Good morning! Some of you may remember last year way back in April when I announced that I was working on a book of nail designs. Well, it's finally ready to be released! In fact, you can pre-order it right now if you want to. The actual scheduled release date is April 29, 2014, but if you visit this website, you can pre-order yourself a copy from any of your favorite online book retailers.

The book features 500 nail designs (obviously :P) broken down into categories, such as holidays, special occasions, and work appropriate. There's something for everyone in the book and it's a great resource to page through if you are struggling creatively. Completing this book is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life and I'm so excited to share it with all of you! :D

Zoya Magical Pixie PixieDust Spring 2014 Collection Swatches/Review

Hey everybody! Happy First Day of Spring! I know I've been gone for a long time and I won't bore you with the details, but I've been really busy lately and blogging has had to sit on the back burner for a while. I've been missing it, so I'm getting back into the swing of things and trying to set aside some time each week for swatching and writing. :) Today I have swatches of the new Zoya PixieDust collection for you!

Cosmo is a chunky silver texture with glitter of all sizes. This is two coats with no top coat.

Vega is a beautiful crystal blue polish with tons of sparkle. I love that Zoya added chunky glitters to their PixieDust polishes. It adds such dimension! This is two coats.

Lux is a gorgeous pale pink. I'm wearing two coats, but I could have used a third or done the second coat thicker.

The PixieDusts retail for $10/bottle and can be purchased from www.zoya.com. If you are a fan of the original PixieDusts, you're going to love these! They're absolutely stunning.

The product in this post was provided for my honest review.