Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

If you didn't know, my store is having a sale right now, and since I'm a dumb dumb that doesn't understand that technology stuff, the fixed code will be up until midnight tomorrow night.  All orders will receive 13% off with the promo code "Halloween" - so click here to order!  Also, there are only a few more hours to get your donations in to I Need a Lighthouse (or you can send them to me via paypal if you'd rather).  More information on that is located here, here, and here.

Ok, we won't be doing a Comparison Thursday today since it's Halloween, which is my FAVORITE holiday of the year.  Instead, I'm going to show you some of the Halloween looks I've been rocking this month.  Bear with me as these photos were taken with my iPhone and might not be the best quality coupled with the fact that my nails are a right mess. Without further ado, and in no particular order, my Halloween manis!

**All polishes were purchased by me.**

Lynnderella Are You a Good Witch over Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso.

Witch is a clear based polish with a blue shimmer and glitters in all sorts of shapes and sizes but that focus more on the darker side of the spectrum.  Part 1 of the Lynnderella Halloween inspired Twin Set.  Piu Mosso is a deep navy creme with a strong copper shimmer.  

Lynnderella Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun over Wet 'n Wild Fantasy Makers Darkest Hour, Once Upon a Time, and Ghouls Rush In.

Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun is a clear based polish with a pink to blue shimmer and multicolored glitters.  Part 2 of the Lynnderella Halloween inspired Twin Set.  Darkest Hour is a plain black creme.  Once Upon a Time is a silver foil.  Ghouls Rust In is a really nice bright orange jelly.  

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains with Illamasqua Raindrops.

Raindrops is a grey based polish with silver-grey flakies.  Gotta Love Brains is a pale grey base with a pink shimmer and hexes and squares in silver, purple, pink, and blue.  This is two coats of Raindrops and three coats of GLB without undies.  I wasn't sure how I'd like either of these, but this may be my favorite non-art mani this year.

Lynnderella All Hallows Eve over Elevation Torres del Paine.

All Hallows Eve is a green polish with various shades and sizes of green and black glitters.  Torres del Paine is an amazingly luscious green creme that is opaque in one coat.  Flawless application!  I took it to the next level by using NYC Matte me Crazy.

Orange Gradient

I used 5 different polishes following this technique to get this look.  I was absolutely IN LOVE with this mani.  It's just sooo pretty.  I used (from cuticle to free-edge): Elevation Matsuda, Deborah Lippmann Footloose, China Glaze Riveting, Elevation Sarychev, and Elevation SBP Llulluillaco.

Candy Corn Holo Gradient

I used the same technique as the one above for the gradient (from cuticle to free-edge): Model City Polish Corn Maze, OPI Coral Reef, and Indigo Bananas Do You Have a Flag?  I then stamped on my accents with Konad Special Black using my new Bundle Monster Holiday plates (BM-H07, BM-H06).

So, if you celebrate it, what did you do for Halloween?  If not, what was your Thursday mani?  I'll be doing something a bit different next month, so check back tomorrow for that.  Also, please be aware that the Depression Awareness Giveaway will take time to verify as I will be awaiting the information from the charity, so please be patient as I get all of the verification information in.

**All polishes purchased by me.**

Oldie but Goodie: OPI Liquid Sand The Impossible

Ok, I'm going to be dredging up a lot of photos that I took a loooooong time ago for the next month since I won't be painting my nails as often.  Some of these are from back before I moved in May, so there will be a different lighting scheme going on.  And of course, my nails were much longer and healthier back then for sure!  Either way, I hope that you don't mind the older photos, which also means older polishes, as I work through my No Polish November.  More details on that and a giveaway for those participating in the challenge will be up later this week.  Also, don't forget to get your donations for I Need a Lighthouse for my Depression Awareness Giveaway by 10/31!  Check out the info on what do do here, here, and here for instructions on how to pay with PayPal if you'd rather do that.  Ok, let's get into some polish, shall we?!

Tonight, let's take a look at OPI Liquid Sand The Impossible.  I have the mini bottle, which has a few distinct differences from the larger bottle.  Let's take a look!  Photos are with and without topcoat in indoor lighting.

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

 Color: Bright hot pink with small and medium hot pink hexes.  Leans more red/orange when topcoated.

Finish: Textured – a polish designed to be worn without a topcoat and to have a rough finish once dry.  Finish is gritty and almost sand-like.

Bottle / Brush: OPI Mini bottle – designed as a miniature version of the larger bottles.  The shorter handle and wand make it hard to handle.  The brush is also not as wide as the new pro-brush.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three coats.  First coat is streaky, but builds well with subsequent coat.  Here, I've done three coats to ensure full coverage for photos.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes.  This is my only problem with this polish.  It takes FOREVER to dry.  I think part of that is due to the fact that I'm used to instant gratification with quick dry topcoats, and Liquid Sands are typically worn without a topcoat.  It's not a deal breaker, but it wasn't awesome when I dinged it pretty badly 15 minutes after painting.

Overall Thoughts:  The first thing you'll notice is that the mini bottle's brush is a lot thinner than the standard bottle's wide brush.  Couple the thin brush with the smaller handle, and you get a bottle that's relatively more difficult to handle.  While that was irritating for sure, it didn't completely kill my opinion of this polish.  The second thing you'll notice is that the mini bottles don't contain the cute stars that are in the full sized bottle.  Now that made me sad.  When I started seeing swatches with the stars in it, my heart sank.  I totally would've gotten the big bottle if I had known it had stars that weren't present in my mini!  Ahh well.  C'est la vie!  Otherwise, I really enjoyed this polish.  Dry time was a huge miss for me, but the fact that it's textured means that you couldn't tell that I dinged pretty badly on my ring finger since I was able to manipulate the polish to cover the ding.  Boooyah!  I also really enjoyed this polish with a topcoat.  Tomorrow, I'll show you what it looks like with a glitter topper.  Hint hint: it's hot.

This polish came out last year, but you should still be able to find these where OPIs are sold.

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

Guest Post: Color Me So Crazy with PolishTBH

Hello and a big THANK YOU to Julie for letting me do a guest post for her! I am such a super fan of Wishes of  a Blue Eyed Girl and all that she does! So, anyway since she supports me and my endeavors I will always support her! So I was going to prepare a little Halloween Art Tutorial for you all, but that failed- story of my Nail Life!!! I decided to do the next best thing- THERMALS!!

I will be showing you all Island Fantasy by Polish TBH. I used to rock the thermals when I was a tweeny, but now they are back and I love them!! This one is a turquoise/ teal base with gold glitter. It changes to a bright yellow/ green in warmth and it's flipping awesome!! When I put this on, I was reminded that I totally need to get more thermals. BUY ALL THE THERMALS! *hint hint* Julie :)

Anyway, before I chit chat your ears off, here are the pics. Enjoy and be sure to check me out on my Bloggy Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Google Plus and Pinterest!

These two above are just normal wear in room temperature. Well, at least my room temperature. No temp manipulation at all.

This is after the cold water dip. I literally ran my nails under cold water for about 10 seconds. 

This is after about a 10 second stint under warm/hot water. 

This is under warm/hot water with a flash to show the bright yellow. I also dipped the bottle under water- which by the way, don't do. My label is no longer there. TBH bottles are apparently not meant to be dipped under water :( 

These last pictures are of the tips dipped in cold and rest under warm/hot. 

The only issue that I had with this polish, besides the dissolvable label, was that the polish kind of got "stuck" for a little when it was shocked in between extreme temps. I had run it under warm water and it literally stayed that bright yellow for about an hour before I finally painted over it. The bottom line is I need to get more thermals!!!

Polish TBH- Island Fantasy

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Yeah, I don't have any thermals, but this post has seriously made me realize I need to add some to my ISO list!  Thank you so much for showing us this gorgeous polish, Brigitte!  Don't forget to go and follow her over at Color Me So Crazy!

Guest Post: Adventures in Polishland with a Geometric Glitter Mani

Happy Friday from Adventures in Polishland! I'm so excited to be writing for Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl today. I thought it would be fun to put a spin on my favorite nail art look, and create a fall-inspired, geometric glitter manicure. While I typically rock light-toned hues, when the weather turns cold I grab the darker polishes. Let me share the edgy manicure I created!

 

I began with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Night Flight, a dark blue polish that looks almost black. Night Flight has a perfect formula that is opaque in two coats. The fast-drying formula is also perfect for a geometric manicure because I am too impatient to wait for anything else to dry. After about five-ten minutes, I was ready to grab the scotch tape and get to glittering!

 



To create a geometric look, I decided to place a diamond on my ring finger as an accent, and then rotate triangles on my other nails. All you need is tape to achieve this look! Simply place the tape where you want the design to be, apply your glitter polish, and peel off the tape while the polish is still wet. I used Shimmer Polish in Stephanie since the colors really complimented Night Flight. Plus, Shimmer Polishes are quite densely packed, so I knew the glitter would be opaque!

 

As a final touch, I added a matte top coat to my manicure. I just love the look of matte glitter! It really makes the glitters pop, and it makes the color portion look like vinyl. I used butter LONDON Matte Finish, but any matte top coat will do! Of course, you can use a glossy top coat if you prefer. And that is my complete geometric glitter manicure for fall! This nail art technique is so easy to create, and you can customize it to your own tastes by using different colors, glitters, and designs. The possibilities are endless! If you liked this look, please head on over to my blog Adventures in Polishland for everything nail polish and beauty. I would love to see you there!

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Thank you again, Christina, for taking over my blog for the day!  Wow, that is a suuuuuper cool look  that I think I could actually pull off!  You guys know me and my lack of artistic tallent, but this is super pretty and seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to do!  Make sure you go follower Christina at Adventures in Polishland!

Comparison Thursday: Guest Blogger Style - Grey with Red Glitters

Hi, Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl readers! I'm Sara from Born For A Storm. I'm stepping in for today with a quick comparison post for Julie! (Disclaimer: both of these polishes were purchased by me, because I feel the need to own every grey thing in the world.) Today we're going to be looking at grey jellies full of red glitter!

 

Hare - Swanky Soiree. This polish was a Holiday 2012 limited edition from the brand. Isn't it beautiful? I missed it when it came out but was finally able to track it down via a blog sale. Lucky! It's a grey jelly with hex and square shaped red glitters. There's also a few grey glitters in it and a subtle silver shimmer. It's gorgeous, but you can't get it anymore, which leads me to...

 

Happy Revolution - Flip Flip Flipadelphia. This polish is so similar that it's silly to own both. (Unless you are me, who needs to own all the grey.) It's a grey jelly, with red, silver, and grey glitters. The main difference is that there is a lot less red and silver shimmer in this polish than in the Hare, but I still think it's similar enough to be an adequate substitute! This polish was an It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia-inspired collaboration between Happy Hands and Polish Revolution and is currently available in both of their shops. (My lighting was a little different for this photo and I apologize. I promise they are both very, very similar.) Both of these polishes are shown with basecoat, 2-3 coats of polish, and topcoat. They both got a little gloopy as I added coats, as glitters tend to do. I wasn't surprised by this, and I don't think that it's necessarily a flaw in the polish; it's just something that happens. I think, in the future, when I'm wearing them instead of just doing swatches, I would put on an opaque grey cream, and then just one or two coats of polish. I hate when glitters get really thick, so using a base polish is something that I really like to do. Both of these dry a bit gritty, so a thick coat of topcoat would be a good idea. In conclusion, both are gorgeous, one of them is still totally available. If you want to come over and follow my blog, you can click here or follow me on Bloglovin'! Though, I will say that I post more frequently on Instagram, so you can follow me there as well, if you want. Many, many thanks to Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl for hosting me today!

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A huuuuuge thank you to Sara from Born for a Storm for doing my weekly comparison post!  I don't have either of these polishes, so I'm super glad she volunteered!  Make sure you're following Sara over at Born for a Storm, but DEFINITELY make sure you're following her on IG because she's more active over there.

Guest Post: Nailbed Dreams and the Sparkliest Mani I've Ever Seeeeeen!

Hello, there! I'm Emma from Nailbed Dreams. I'm honored to be here on Julie's awesome blog. I'm here to share with you my newest manicure concoction. I've layered 5 of the sparkliest polishes I own, and came out with an awesome mani! Let me share my recipe with you. 

Polishes used:

Zoya Trixie - 1 coat

China Glaze Glistening Snow - 1 coat

OPI Save Me - 1 coat

OPI Which is Witch - 2 coats

JENsations Holo Daze - 1 coat

I highly recommend you going through your stash and layering your sparkliest polishes! I think next I'm going to try doing this with all blue glitters, purple glitters, etc. What do you think? I absolutely loved the way this came out, even though it about blinds you in the sun! The only downside to this will be trying to get it off, but the good ole foil trick should do the job just fine!

Below, in the top left corner is OPI Save Me. Underneath that is JENsations Holo Daze, followed by China Glaze Glistening Snow. In the top right is Zoya Trixie, followed by OPI Which is Witch?. 

I really hope everyone enjoyed my holo layering! Big thanks to Julie for letting me be here today!

Thanks for reading, 

Emma

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Holy wow, Emma!  Thanks so much for sharing this gorgeous mani with us!  This is, indeed, the sparkliest mani I think I've ever seen.  All she needed was a little Lynn Shapeshifter in there and she would've been way over the top!  If you aren't yet, you should definitely be following Emma over at Nailbed Dreams!

Guest Post: Southern Sparkle Nail Art and Jindie Olive You!

Hello Lacquer Lovers!

I'm Samantha and my blog is Southern Sparkle Nail Art! I'm guest posting for Julie, along with a bunch of lovely ladies, while she is away. Today I will be reviewing a Jindie Nails polish that is very close to my heart because I got to name it, Olive You!

As described by Jindie Nails "Olive You is a gorgeous sage/olive green linear holographic polish with metallic green/gold shifting glitters.  It has 3 different types of linear holographic pigments, including SpectraFlair.  This polish is opaque in about 2 or 3 coats." 

I have to agree! Olive You is everything you could hope for in a sage holo! It is opaque in 2 coats and it had a great dry time!

 These photos were taken in natural sunlight! It was a little bit overcast, so the holo is not as strong. :(

Overall, I loved this polish! I would definitely recommend it!

That is it for today, dolls! Come and visit me at my blog, Southern Sparkle Nail Art! I'm doing Halloween posts all month. :)

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Wow, that's a beautiful holo right there!  Thank you to Samantha for taking over my blog today!  Make sure to go follow her and check out her amazing Halloween posts!

Guest Post: Lit from Within and Pretty Stripes!

Hello, Fireflies! Oh, wait.  That's my blog.  I'm Nidia, and I'm guest posting, B#$ches! I picked up a couple polishes from this new-to-me Indie, Liquidus.  This is Arsenic, a grey creme with a *very* subtle gold shimmer.  As in, I can't see it on the nail at all.  Very thick formula, could be a one-coater if you were careful.  The ding on my middle finger is actually from my attempt at a teabag patch.  Yeah, it was bad.

The nail art I did was inspired by this Pinterest pin by Kelsie's Nail Files.  I couldn't find the original blog post - the pin takes you to a collection someone else did of her manis.  I hope someone with better Google-fu than I have can point me to her original post. The first set of stripes I did with a nail art brush and Liquidus Blue Diamond Turquoise.  I love these deep, rich, blue jellies.  I love the depth and shine they have!

SpaRitual Ripple Effect is a dusty lilac with enough grey tone to go with Arsenic.  I love these colors together.  I touched up a little bit with Arsenic, too, which is why it's looking a bit of a hot mess.

Manis like this *need* topcoat to smooth out all the different textures and make it glossy.

I can't help but be bummed that I couldn't get that gold shimmer to show up.  I like the combination of colors, though!

Thanks, Julie, for the opportunity to guest post!  If you like this mani, and want to see more from me, please like my Facebook page for blog updates, and/or follow me on my blog.

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I always adore Nidia's nail art.  It always looks great, and her instructions are perfect for even the most novice of nail artists (like myself!).  Don't forget to go check her out over at Lit from Within!  Thanks for sharing, Nidia!

Guest Post: Peer Pressure Polish and Elevation Epidote

Hi there fellow lacquer lovers! My name is Jennifer and I run Peer Pressure Polish. I'm just a quick guest post here while Julie is away from her blog. I named my blog Peer Pressure Polish because if I see a polish on someone or on a lot of people I feel compelled to own it. If you tell me I need it, or it's popular I must have it in my life. The polish I am going to share with you today is one of those. This is Elevation Polish Epidote. It is a beautiful Army green holo polish. I first saw this on Instagram from @thepolishaholic. It was so pretty and I had to have it I had no issues with application, this is three thin coats and I was able to wear it about four days. I got so many compliments on this polish. Which was shocking to me, I thought it was going to be a polish only I was going to love. I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote and I used Glisten and Glow HK Girl as my topcoat.

I really wish there had been some sun going on when I had this on, because I couldn't see the full holo effect with the cloudy weather. Thanks for reading my guest post! Jennifer

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Wow, that's one Elevation I've been going back and forth on, but I'm seriously wanting it now!  Many thanks to Jennifer for her wonderful guest post!