The Polish Bar Summer of 2014 Collection

So, I received these next two polishes a looong time ago, had some bad breaks and bad skin issues going on, and put them to the side.  Then, I completely forgot about them because I'm a bad blogger.  My bad!!  Buuut, Janice is super cool and totally let me off the hook about it.  And what's even luckier is that these guys are still available on her store!!  So, without further ado, let's get to work on Sail Away and Pink Cosmos!

Press Samples

Sail Away

Color: Medium teal holographic with silver sparkles.

Finish:  Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush:  Round mini bottle – wand and brush are just long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  However, the fact that it’s a mini makes application a little tricky.  Requires a steady hand to apply evenly without pooling.  I really do think that the issues I had with application on this guy was because of the mini bottle.

Opacity:  Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application:  N/A

Consistency:  Thick – thick or it can be clumpy, but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.

Overall Ease of Application:  Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  However, tends to clump up a little if you go over spots that were still wet.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts:  Much like The Polish Bar's other holos, this little baby dries to a high gloss finish.  I just love how she manages to get that gorgeous shine in her finished product!  You don't really need a topcoat, but I use one anyway because I'm way too impatient to wait for it to dry.  This particular polish was a bit on the thicker side and tended to clump up a little without self-leveling.  However, I wholeheartedly believe that the mini bottles are the main culprit for application issues because the brush doesn't fan out enough to cover my nail in only a few swipes.  I probably could've added a touch of thinner to it, but I was running out of time and couldn't really wait for any possible bubbles from shaking the thinner in to die down.  The silver shimmer in both of these is just so pretty and gives these polishes just a little more depth than an average holo.


Pink Cosmos

Color:  Hot pink with silver shimmers.

Finish:  Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush:  Round mini bottle – wand and brush are just long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  However, the fact that it’s a mini makes application a little tricky.  Requires a steady hand to apply evenly without pooling.  Again, I believe that the issues I had with application was because of the mini bottle.

Opacity:  Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application:  N/A

Consistency:  Thick – thick or it can be clumpy, but is easily remedied with some polish thinner.

Overall Ease of Application:  Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  However, it tends to clump up a little if you go over spots that were still wet.

Stampability:  Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time:  Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.

Overall Thoughts:  Unlike most of The Polish Bar's holos, Pink Cosmos actually dries matte!  Because of that, you'll need to work quickly when you apply, or you run the risk of clumping.  Again, I think that the mini brushes on the bottles make application a little more difficult because they don't fan out very wide.  However, because it's matte, it does dry much more quickly than the high gloss holos.  The silver shimmers are probably more noticeable in Pink Cosmos than in any of the other polishes from this collection that I've reviewed.  I own a lot of pink holos, but I really love that added sparkle!

You can purchase The Polish Bar polishes at their store here.  Follow Janice on Facebook and Instagram for news and updates!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily and Lynnderella Thank Blue!

Man, last orders were out in record time!  Although, that kept me from blogging pretty much all week last week, so I'm sorry!  Tonight's post will be picture heavy and information light because, yet again, I'm pulling from some older swatches before I wrote down my opinions on application after every mani.  That being said, I am so much in love with this mani that I will be rewearing it again!  Hey, maybe I can do a challenge for myself to re-wear some of my favorite manis and polishes one month!  Next month, I'll be working my way through my untried Enchanteds and Elevations as I'm working towards starting to purge some of my preciouses.  My stash is overwhelming, so it's time to make room!  So, let's get to it!

[I purchased these polishes myself.]

For this mani, I used three coats of Aqua Lily with a glitter gradient using Thank Blue.  They are a perfect match, so it was a really nice monochromatic look.  I topped it off with a coat of Gelous and a coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.

Thank Blue is made up of teal and silver glitters in a clear base.  This polish is so jam packed with glitters, that you definitely need an extra coat of topcoat to smooth it all out.  You can also wear this on its own in three coats, if you really wanted to.  

Aqua Lily is a lovely medium teal creme with a strong pink/purple flash.  Sadly, the flash is much more prominent in the bottle than it is on the nail.

Loving this blurry shot so you can see just how much holo goodness is in Thank Blue.  It's sooo stunning!

You can see the pink shimmer sneaking out in the middle of the nail towards the left.

You can purchase Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes at their store here.  You can purchase Lynnderellas at their stores here and here.  Sadly, both of these have been discontinued, so you'll have to look for them on blog sales if you want them!  So, what did you think?  Do you like to do monochromatic gradients or glitter looks?

[I purchased these polishes myself.]

Blog 2 Year Birthday Giveaway Prizes Part Two

So, yeah, I'm having to work tonight (still not done, in fact, *sigh*), so this will be pretty short.  There's only about half an hour left before my 2nd year blog birthday giveaway is over!  So, make sure you enter here!  Now, let's take a look at the rest of the prizes!

Lilypad Lacquer I Just Think It's Pink

IJTIP is a bright hot pink polish packed with flakies and holographic glitters.  I only needed two coats, but I probably could've just gone with one coat instead.  Dry time was quick, and application was super easy.  I'm so in love with the vivid brightness of this polish!

Model City Polish Strawberry Jam

I've got a full review of Strawberry Jam here, so make sure to check it out.  I just love how squishy this polish is!  And the sparkle!  Ahh, I love it so much!

Color Club Eternal Beauty

Application for EB was fairly easy and didn't require the use of an aqua base, which is fantastic!  Application was fairly easy and didn't really pool, drag, or bald like a lot of the other mainstream ultra-holos.  I used three coats to ensure opacity, but it only really needed two.  

Emerald and Ash Mie Scattering

Mie Scattering is a white jelly with a subtle holo shimmer.  It's a true jelly, so you'll need to layer it with other polishes to get rid of the nail line.  Here, I used five coats to try and cover up any sheer spots.  It can get a tad thick, so you may need to thin your bottle a little bit.  Otherwise, application was fairly easy without much need for cleanup.  It's my go-to white jelly, and it's just so squishy and gorgeous.  Dry time was average.

Elevation Polish Ave Secretan

For some reason, my photos are looking a lot more red than it really is.  It's actually a lovely bright pink and not really red.  I love the consistency of this creme, and it applies easily in just two coats, but I used three coats for my photos.  There was a little need for cleanup, but nothing too serious.  Dry time was fairly quick with a quick dry topcoat.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Hypothermia

You can check out a full review of Hypothermia here.  It was a super limited edition that I released last year as a free gift with purchase of my full winter collection.  It will be back off and on as a free gift with purchase or prizes for giveaways, but it will never be sold individually.

So, there you have it!  Those are all of the prizes for the giveaway!  Which are you most excited about?  I'll have the winners announced sometime tomorrow evening.  Good luck, everyone!

Oh, and if bits and pieces of this post made no sense or were grammatically incorrect, please note that I'm running on fumes here...  I hope to be able to catch up on some sleep sometime in 2015...  ;)

Comparison Thursday: Blue and Teal Microglitters plus Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer SE Terrific Twos

It's another Thursday and another comparison, but I wanted to show you guys the new Special Edition Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer that I created to celebrate my blog's 2nd birthday!  I did a little comparison of a few other blue and teal microglitters to give you a bit of an idea where Teriffic Twos falls within the spectrum, which you can find at the bottom.  First, though, let's take a quick look at Terrific Twos on its own.  [Also, take a look at my cutesie label!  It was designed by Sara of Born for a Storm, and I <3 it so hard!!!]

Teriffic Twos has a clear base that is jam packed with microglitters in teal, sky blue, purple, blue, and turquoise.  It's so packed with glitter that it dries to a textured finish.  You can wear it with topcoat, though, for a glossy and sparkly finish.  It is a tad on the thicker side, so you may want to add a bit of thinner to get it to your desired consistency.  However, the thicker formula makes application a little easier since it doesn't pool on the skin around my nails.  Dry time is a little long if you decide to go with the textured finish, but it was fairly quick with a quick dry topcoat even with an extra coat of Gelous before I applied my KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  Ok, so let's take a look at a few photos and then get to the comparison.

 Matte without topcoat.

With topcoat.

This little baby is also a part of all of the prizes in my Blog's 2nd Birthday Giveaway, so don't forget to enter it here!  I'm not certain if I'm going to sell this polish or if it'll be just for giveaways, what do you guys think?  

So, now let's get to the comparison portion.  

I chose to compare Terrific Twos to a few Lynnderellas: G. Whizard, Esq, B.A. Whizard, II, Thank Blue, and Do You Paraiba?.  Let's talk similarities.  They're all full of holographic microglitters.  They all dry matte and require two coats of topcoat to make them glossy and smooth.  And they all dry quickly with a topcoat.  Now, let's check out the differences!

G. Whizard, Esq.

G. Whiz is packed with just silver and light blue microglitters in a clear base.  It's the lightest blue of the grouping.  It spreads evenly on the first coat without the need for the dab method.  Note, though, that it's quite concentrated, but not clumpy.  It provides almost full coverage in just one coat, but I ended up doing three coats to ensure that all spots were covered for my photos.  Application was easy to control without cleanup.  

B.A. Whizard, II

BA is similar to G Whiz, but it includes darker blue glitters as well as larger blue holo hexes.  It's definitely darker than G Whiz and more blue than the others.  Application is a little less controlled and requires a little more precision with application, otherwise you may get it on your skin.  It comes out of the bottle easily, even the larger pieces, but it's also a little more clumpy than G. Whiz.  Because BA Whiz is a bit more concentrated, it actually covers even more than G. Whiz did, which means that it's pretty much a one coater.  However, I did use two coats for full opacity.

Terrific Twos

Terrific Twos runs right in the middle of the spectrum of this set.  It's not quite blue but it's also not quite teal.  It's some weird in-between.  TT is more teal than either of the Whizes, but it's not as teal as Paraiba and Thank Blue, which are definitely teal.  The particles are generally a little larger than the micros in the Whizes, but they aren't as large as the larger hexes in BA.  It's a bit thicker than the Lynnderellas, so it requires the dab method for application instead of the easy painting from the microglitter Lynns.  TT is a lot like BEGL Sail Her Don't Sink Her if you have it.  It took only two coats to reach full opacity.

In the shade.

Thank Blue

TB is pretty much the odd man out in this comparison, but I wanted to show you the color so you could get an idea of how they all compare to one another.  TB is in a clear base and is predominantly larger glitters versus the micros that make up the other four.  Because of this, you can still see quite a bit of the nail with just one coat.  Also, I definitely needed to do the dab method for this guy to get even coverage.  I'm not sure if it's just because my bottle is old and I've given a decant away or if that's normal for TB, but it's a bit thicker than the other four.  I ended up only needing three coats to cover up all of the bald spots.  It looks pretty cool, but I'm so not looking forward to removal!

Do You Paraiba

Paraiba is probably the darkest of the grouping and is made up of a darker teal micro glitter in a clear base with larger teal holo squares, diamonds, and stars.  Much like with the Whizes, application was smooth without the need to use the dab method.  However, it was a little like BA in that you had to be careful with pooling at the cuticles.  Just don't put too much on your brush, and you should be good to go.  It's pretty much opaque at one coat, but, as per my usual modus operandi, I added another coat for my photos.  The only issue I really had with Paraiba that actually annoyed me was that I couldn't get the shaped glitters out very easily.  It took me a solid 5 minutes of stirring and digging in my bottle to finally get a star out...  So, yeah, if you want the shapes, you've got to be patient!  I only used two coats for the final mani, and it was perfectly opaque.

So, what do you think?  Which is your favorite?  Should I sell Terrific Twos, or should I leave it a giveaway only prize?