Summer of Untrieds Week 4

I apologize for the lack of posts this week, but I've been battling some sort of bug that's had me down for the past two or three days.  That being said, let's get back to the Summer of Untrieds Challenge.  This will be my last post for this fun little challenge, so I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have!  Let's get to it!

Here are the prompts and the rules:

Rules:

• Use at least 1 untried polish that fits with the prompt for the day.
• If you don't have anything that works with the prompt, then consider it a free day and choose a random untried from your stash.
• There won't be an inlinkz, so keep up with the group by tagging your photos #summerofuntrieds.  I've also been including #julyuntriedchallenge in my posts, so you can add that too if you want.  Also, feel free to add a tag to me if you'd like (either @blueeyedlawyer or #wishesofablueeyedgirl).
• Start crossing off those untrieds in your stash!

[I purchased these polishes or received them as gifts from friends.]

Day 23: Micro Glitter

I decided to do skittles with my micro glitters instead of just picking one.  I picked (from thumb to pinkie): Lynnderella Yes to Know Love, Smitten Oncoming Storm, Lynnderella Thrill Ride, Lynnderella One Hot Summer Night, and Lynnderella Carnivale de Glitterati.  All of the Lynns are colored glitters in clear bases that built into full opacity within two coats.  They all required a coat of Peita's Polish Glitter Glaze and a layer of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  The Smitten, however, was small silver glitters in a deep blue base.  It took three coats to reach full opacity, and I again needed to use two coats of topcoat for a smooth finish.  You can purchase LE Lynnderellas at their store here, and you can purchase Smittens here.

Day 24: Holographic

I have a million holographics that need to be worn, so I decided to go with three harder to find ones that have just been collecting dust since I purchased them.  All three come from Enchanted Polish - Engineered to Destroy, Keep Watch, and Dream On.  I did a gradient on my accent nails of Dream On and Keep Watch, which are both purple holos without any added shimmer or shifts.  Application and cleanup on those were easy for a gradient, which was great, and I really liked the outcome.  Engineered to Destroy is a truly special polish.  It reminds me a lot of Dollish Polish Toxic Avenger in that it has this crazy gold / red / green shift in a black holographic base.  But there was just something a little different about it.  I guess it was more black than gold or brown, so it's definitely not a dupe for TA.  All three only required one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  You can only purchase Engineered to Destroy and Keep Watch at the Mishka store as they were store exclusives.  I have no idea if they'll ever be back.  You can purchase Dream On from Nail Polish Canada, but again, it has an infrequent restock and is uber hard to snag when it is restocked.

Day 25: Zoya

I only have a small handful of untried Zoyas, so I went with two that didn't look too bad together - Carter and Seraphina.  Carter is from their Pixie Dust line and is a lovely purple textured polish.  I used three coats with two coats of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  I really like the look of this with a glossy finish instead of just the normal textured finish.  Seraphina is a silvery grey shimmer that took three coats to reach opacity and only one coat of topcoat.  You can purchase Zoyas at most beauty supply stores.

Day 26: Grey

For greys, I used NerdLacquer Don't Blink and Pahlish Romance topped with Elevation Polish Bromance. Unfortunately, all three of these polishes are really hard to find.  NerdLacquer sort of fell off of the face of the earth, and the Pahlish/EVP duo was a limited edition.  Don't Blink (named for my all time favorite episode and baddie from Doctor Who) is a light grey polish with silver, white, and gun metal grey glitters.  This shows three coats with one coat of topcoat.  The glitters on this polish are sinkers, so you have to flip it upside down between layers.  Romance is a darker grey with rainbow micro flakies.  The topper, Bromance, has a scattered holographic effect and is packed with white glitters with larger red to green shifting flakes.  You can find NerdLacquers on blog sales, Pahlish at her shop, and Elevation at her shop.

Day 27: Matte

Initially, I chose to wear Sinful Black Cherry, a vampy matte (or leather effect?) red polish, for this day's challenge.  But it was just so boring alone that I had to add on something fun.  That being said, I chose to top Black Cherry with Lynnderella Billet Doux, which was one of my hugest lemmings that I was soooo happy to squash about a month ago!  I mattified the mani using NYC's Matte topcoat.  Black Cherry is two coats that were a bit streaky, but a third coat would've given it a nice finish.  I chose to only do two coats, though, because I knew I was going to top it with a glitter.  I used one coat of Billet Doux, one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top to make it dry faster, and then topped it with my matte topcoat.  You can buy Sinfuls at Rite Aid and Walgreens.

Day 28: Shimmer

Again, I get really bored with wearing just one color at a time.  Plus, I was really trying hard to fit in as many untrieds into this month as I possibly could.  That being said, I decided to pair a shimmer polish, Arcane Lacquer Locked in Limbo, with a glitter that also has a strong shimmer, Lynnderella Blue Rogue.  Limbo is three coats with one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  Blue Rogue shows three coats ALONE without undies with a coat of Gelous and a coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  You can purchase Arcane Lacquers here.

Day 29: Rainbow Honey

I wore an unnamed sample and Annual Emotion, and I used this mani as last week's Red Coat Tuesday!  Go and check out the full review here.

Day 30: Thermals

I only have three untried thermals, and one is most definitely a Halloween polish, so I went with the other two for this mani - Digital Nails Lying and Pretty & Polished Dollipop.  Both show three coats with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  Lying probably could've been done with just two coats, but I chose to do three for my photos.  The main problem I had with the P&P was that, when warm, you could see bald spots in the lighter royal blue that you couldn't see in the colder blurple.  The changes were very reactive and would change fairly easily.  Sadly, however, I couldn't get very good photos of the transition.  You can purchase Digital Nails here and Pretty & Polished here.

Day 31: Foil or Chrome

For the last day, I decided to go a different direction than I had originally planned.  I was going to use some of the Essie Mirror Metallics, but I decided instead to use Enchanted Polish Purple Roses and Elevation Polish Silversword.  I used three coats of Purple Roses, and it went on easily and spread evenly.  Removal was a bit of a pain because the small particles are a bit like glitter, so it got all over the place when I tried to scrub it off (and scrub indeed I did do).  Silversword was almost fully opaque in one coat, but I used two for my photos.  Again, application was really easy, and removal for Silversword was much easier than PR.  There is some glow-in-the-dark pigment in Silversword, but it wasn't very reactive for me.  Granted, I didn't intentionally go out of my way to see how well it worked.  Purple Roses has been long discontinued, but you can purchase Enchanted Polishes at her store here.

So, there we have it!  The end of a month full of fun and lots and lots of new manis! What do you think?  Did you like following along with this challenge?  Would you like to do another one?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

[I purchased these polishes or received them as gifts from friends.]

Summer of Untrieds Week 2

I've been sooo busy at work and with the shop that I haven't had time to keep up with the Summer of Untrieds Challenge posts.  I've been doing them every day and posting them on my Instagram account, but I haven't posted them here.  That being said, I'll be playing a little catch up the next few days!  So, let's get started!

Here are the prompts and the rules:

Rules:

• Use at least 1 untried polish that fits with the prompt for the day.
• If you don't have anything that works with the prompt, then consider it a free day and choose a random untried from your stash.
• There won't be an inlinkz, so keep up with the group by tagging your photos #summerofuntrieds.  I've also been including #julyuntriedchallenge in my posts, so you can add that too if you want.  Also, feel free to add a tag to me if you'd like (either @blueeyedlawyer or #wishesofablueeyedgirl).
• Start crossing off those untrieds in your stash!

July 8: Glitter with Colored Base

I wore NerdLacquer Warrior Ethos with an accent of Alter Ego's Nymph of the Night.  I did this for a #RedCoatTuesday, so go and check out the full post here.

July 9: Lilypad Lacquer

I wore Violet Moon and Almost Famous on alternating nails.  I loved these two together, and they both applied flawlessly.  They both had pink flashes that really brought the look together, which is why I wore them both.  However, sadly, the pink flash in Violet Moon was impossible to pick up with my camera, but it's very apparent in person.  Both polishes only took three coats and dried quickly.  I purchased these directly from Lilypad Lacquer at her store here.

July 10: Purple

This is Peita's Polish Wendy with accents of Lynnderella Is it Warm In Here?  Wendy is a warmed toned purple with a strong pink flash.  It applied very easily in only two coats, and dried quickly with a coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  It removed without staining, too, which is sometimes an issue for me with purples.  IiWiH is a clear base with a strong purple shimmer loaded with matte glitters in white and neons.  It wasn't that hard to get the glitters out of the bottle, and the consistency was nice with even application.  I purchased both of these straight from the makers: Peita's Polish and Lynnderella.

July 11: Summer

For my summer themed polish, I used a few polishes whose names, and colors, reminded me of summer.  I used Model City Polish Walking on Sunshine, a sunny yellow holo, and OPI Strawberry Margarita, a bright pink creme, as base colors and topped with Lacquistry's Watermelon Baller Shot Caller, a glitter topcoat packed full of shades of pink, green, and black matte glitters.  Strawberry Margarita took three coats for full coverage and dried fairly quickly.  It applied evenly and didn't require much cleanup.  Walking on Sunshine is in four coats as it is a tad sheer.  Application was fairly easy, and the patchy first coat builds up well with further coats.  Watermelon Baller is one coat with a great glitter to base ratio.  The glitters were easy to get out of the bottle and spread well.  You can purchase OPI polishes at salons and beauty supply shops.  You can purchase Model City Polish here and Lacquistry here.

July 12: Glitter Crelly

The glitter crelly I chose to wear, 365 Days of Color's Summer Dream, was from my friend Jen over at Jen's Nail Files who gave it to me in my birthday group!  I chose to pair it with Elevation Polish Lys Glacier.  Summer Dream is a minty green crelly with a lovely rainbow of hex glitters in varying sizes.  I wore three coats without undies, and it applied fairly easily, if not a tad thick.  Lys Glacier is a taupe-ish purple with a pink to gold shifting shimmer.  I wore three coats alone, and it was super easy to apply.  Sadly, 365 Days of Color has decided to stop selling nail polish so she can focus on her insanely popular (and super awesome) hand care line, but you should still check her out at her store here.  Lys Glacier has been discontinued, but you can purchase other EvPs at her store here.

July 13: China Glaze

I chose to wear varying shades of blue for my China Glaze mani, so I chose Strap on Your Moon Boots with accents of Kaleidoscope Him Out.  I know that the Hologlam collection was a huge disappointment for a lot of people who were hoping that the recent China Glaze collection would be an answer to the hugely popular and long discontinued OMG collection.  There were clearly batch issues as several people had bottles with very little holographic pigment.  I, however, received a set with very high holographic pigmentation as you can see in this photograph.  I used three horrible coats of SOYMB to cover up the patches and balding spots.  It is pigmented enough to be opaque in one or two coats, but the application was so horrible that I was forced to use three coats to cover up the unevenness.  You can see in my photos, that it was also extremely difficult to clean up, and there were still stains on my cuticles after I did my cleanup routine.  My bottle of KHO was from a dusty hunt, so it's old and a bit thick.  I used three coats of KHO because it was actually fairly sheer.  Cleanup was relatively easy as well.  Both of these have been discontinued, but you can purchase China Glaze polishes at beauty supply stores.

July 14: Neon

It's hard to get much more neon than Illamasqua's Collide.  I decided to pair Collide with a special franken from a friend that I received in a indie maker/hobbyist group swap.  Collide is a bright neon pink polish that can be worn alone (on my thumb) or over white (on my index and pinkie).  Application was fairly easy, but it works much better in two coats over white versus four coats alone.  Even with the four coats, it was still relatively easy to see my nail line.  The little franken is a lovely neon pink with black glitters.  I wore this in two coats over Cult Nails Tempest.  You can purchase Illamasqua polishes at Sephora.

So, that was week two.  Which was your favorite?  Did you participate?  There's still one more week left to play, and I'd love to see your manis!

Pretty Little Liars: 100th Episode | Summer of Untrieds Glitter in Colored Base

Tonight's post will double as both #RedCoatTuesday AND! #summerofuntrieds day 8: Glitter in a Colored Base!  Normally, I try to put all of my July Untried Challenge manis into one post a week, but tonight's post really went well with the theme for today, and both polishes I used were untried!  So, let's hop to it!

(Source)

The rules are easy!

• Paint your nails red, do your lips red, do a shadow design in red, or do anything beauty related that is mostly red.
• Add your blog and photo to the inlinkz!  If you don't have a blog but do have an IG, you can check this link for directions on how to use your IG for inlinkz.  If you don't have a blog or IG, you can just add your photo to the linkup or send it to Color Me So Crazy, and she will get them up for you!
• Use the #RedCoatTuesday tag when you share your photos on IG, Twitter, or Facebook!
• Tonight's extra rule was to add a 100 in your design somewhere to commemorate the 100th episode!

For this week's challenge, I wore Nerd Lacquer Warrior Ethos with an accent of Alter Ego Nymph of the Night, which was a gift from Cynthia, Alter Ego's creative genius, as part of an indie polish maker swap.  I then used Zoya Sookie to add in the 100 and -A using the brush from a Kiss striper.  This review will focus on Warrior Ethos mostly, but I'll mention a few notes about the AE in the Overall Thoughts portion below.

I purchased the Nerd and Sookie myself.

Color: Candy red jelly base with purple iridescent, red, gold, and black glitters in varying sizes.

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

Bottle / Brush:  Round bottle – the brush and wand are the standard width and length.  Easy to control and manipulate.

Opacity: High – opaque at two coats!  Yes, TWO.  A jelly based glitter that is opaque in TWO COATS.  Uncanny.

Glitter Application: Difficult – difficult to dig the glitters out of the bottle, but spreads evenly once you get them out.  The glitters are hard to get out of the bottle because they sink...  That is probably my biggest gripe about this polish.  I had to turn it upside down for quite some time to get the glitters top the top, and even then they had a tendency to settle back down as I was painting.

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 designed for stamping.

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

Overall Thoughts:  I was so surprised when I applied WE and it was only two coats.  That is probably the thing I was most excited about, to be honest.  Plus, the glitters laid flat and didn't require the use of any tamer to smooth out.  I used one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top, and the glitter looked glossy and felt perfectly smooth, which was awesome!  There's nothing I hate more than thick layers and chunky glitters on my fingers.  Because I only needed to use two coats and one coat of topcoat, it dried super fast!  Like I said above, my only real complaint about WE is the sinking glitters, but it's not so horrible that a little flip upside down wouldn't fix.  Alter Ego's Nymph of the Night is a blackened base polish with ultra micro fine red glitters that dries matte.  Application is tough on the first coat because it's matte, so you have to work quickly to make sure it doesn't drag.  After that first coat, though, application is super easy and self leveling.  While the matte looks pretty awesome in its own right, I have to say that I fell in love with the way this polish looked with topcoat.  The subtle shimmer really pulled this look together.  I did some crappy as always nail art to commemorate the 100th episode using Zoya Sookie and a brush from my silver glitter Kiss Nail Art striper.  I'm not good at freehanding, so I wasn't really pleased with this.  I should've known better, though, because I can't even write with a normal pen much less a floppy skinny brush, hah!   That's definitely something on my list to work on - free hand nail art that doesn't look like the nail polish equivalent of macaroni jewelry...  I'll keep trying, though!

Sadly, Nerd Lacquer hasn't been the most reliable with regards to restocks...  or even actual delivery of her products.  I've really enjoyed working with this polish, though, so I would recommend nabbing it if you see it on a blog sale.  As I mentioned above, Nymph of the Night was a special edition created for a group, but you can purchase other Alter Ego polishes here.  Follow her on Facebook and IG for news and updates.  Lastly, you can purchase Zoyas at most beauty supply shops.

(Source)

Golden Oldies Thursday (a Few Weeks Late and on a Wednesday): Skittles

Yes, this post was supposed to go up on March 6...  However, I'm still going to say that I've actually been staying on top of the GOT Polish Challenge!  I've done every single mani so far, and I've at least posted all of the blog posts so far - even if they aren't quite with the right week.  So, tonight's post will be what I should've posted two weeks ago, skittles!

Here is the GOT Polish schedule of events if you would like to follow along or participate.

Remember the rules:

• The polish you use must be at least a year old.
• If you haven't been a polishaholic for that long, you can use the oldest polishes you have.
• The polish should be previously used, but if you're stuck, you can use a polish from your untrieds stack.
• You can use more than one polish as long as it fits the rules.

I purchased all polishes in this post.

Since it's hard to truly gauge a polish off of application on one finger, I'm going to skip the review of these polishes for a later date.  Instead, let's just look at the pretty pictures.

I used from left to right: Nerd Lacquer Outed by a Probot, Elevation Azure Caverns, Elevation Ubsunur at Night, Liquid Lacquer Mocking Bird, and KBShimmer Hex Appeal.

Probot, AC, and Hex Appeal are all three coats with one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.  Ubsunur and Mocking Bird, however, are both four coats with one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top.

You can purchase Nerd Lacquers at her store, sometimes, but you'd probably be better off purchasing them from blog sales.  You can purchase Elevations here.  You can purchase Liquid Lacquers off of blog sales as she is no longer running a shop.  KBShimmer polishes can be purchased here.

So, what do you think of my skittles?  Have you enjoyed following this challenge?  I've been really enjoying seeing what everyone has done and their interpretations of the themes!

I purchased all polishes in this post.

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