Red Coat Tuesday: Pahlish Blood of the Mountain

Holy wow, you guys!  I'm going on almost a full month of blogging!  I can't believe it!  I really do think that moving away from my uber detailed review has been helpful in the long run...  While I do miss the info dump, I'm hoping I still give you guys enough information to really get the gist of a polish.

Purchased myself.

Guess what time it is???  It's #RedCoatTueday!  I totally missed the premiere last week, so this is my first mani getting back into the swing of things.  I'm also missing the link up, so I'll add that as soon as I get it.  This week's episode!!!  Omg!!!  All I'll say is Jason.  Mmm mmm mmm, Jason, hah!  Ok, sorry, let's get back on track and take a look at tonight's offering, Pahlish Blood of the Mountain with an accent of Lynnderella Tidy Whities.

(Source)

First, the rules!

• 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!

Let me just say this up front...  I'm not in love with this combo by any means.  It was one of those things where I thought it would look good in my head, but as soon as it was on my nails I knew I was wrong.  Oh well!  I'm not going to let perfectly good photos go to waste!  Let's take a look, shall we?

Blood of the Mountain is a burgundy/ox blood linear holographic with golden flakies and some on-tone red holo glitters.  Application was a bit rough.  BotM has a super thick consistency, so it was a bit gloopy for me.  The consistency made it difficult to apply, so it looks (and was) quite a bit thicker than I usually like.

Thankfully, it was self-leveling, so it looks smooth even though it was anything but when I applied it.  Because it's a thicker formula, it also took some time to dry.  Lastly, it dried a bit textured and rough because of all of the extra flakies and glitters in it.  I'm used to this and don't mind it, though.  I only needed to use one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top to give it a glossy look.

Tidy Whities is a white shimmered base packed with rainbow iridescent glitters as well as large (read chunky) matte and satin white glitters in various shapes and sizes.  The shimmered base gives it a bit of a milky feel even though it's not really a crelly or colored base.  It's just so extremely shimmered that it didn't really play well with the red undies.

Application was much like many other Lynnderellas, meaning that it's so packed with glitter that it's a bit thick, dense, and required dabbing to get even coverage.  The glitters were so densely packed into the bottle that they were very easy to get out - even the larger shapes.  The bar glitters didn't curl up, either, which is fantastic, because they usually do and that drives me insane.  I used an extra coat of topcoat to make it smooth and glossy.

You can purchase Lynnderellas at their shops here and here.  You can purchase Pahlish at her shop here.  So, what do you think?  You like?  Are you a PLL fan?  If you are, do you spend most of your time each episode screaming and throwing things at the TV because those girls are just soooo dumb?  Yeah, thought so, lol.  And that's why it's a guilty pleasure!

(Source)

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.]

Oldie but Goodie: Pahlish Fire in the Taco Bell

Today's weather was seriously crazy.  Like for real crazy.  My heart and thoughts go out to those who lost their families, homes, and businesses in the tornadoes that ravaged north Georgia today.  I'm very thankful that we're all ok here in Blue-Eyed Girl land, but it was really nerve-wracking all day.  Although, I did spend most of the day at the allergist, which came back with an astounding I'm not allergic to anything.  Weird, huh?  Oh well!  At least that rules out one more thing in the never ending search for a reason why I've been sick for a very long time. They did, however, determine that I have asthma.  I'm glad to know why, no matter how hard I've tried, I can't run even short distances despite being in really good shape.

Since I've been feeling kinda blah and I'm working on clearing out my old photos, you guys get another Oldie but Goodie!  I'm sure you're so excited.  Photos for tonight's polish, or Pahlish...  (Heh heh heh.  See what I did there?) were actually taken at Disney World this past summer when we went for my 30th birthday, which means that I don't have any bottle shots.  These were taken in full sun with three layers alone without undies.

Fire in the Taco Bell is an orange jelly with hot pink hexes and squares.  I topped the three layers with a thick layer of Seche Vite.  Sadly, you can tell that there's some pull back and shrinking.

Overlook those gnarly cuticles, if you can...  This was in the middle of July at a theme park after all!

The polish applied easily with the glitters coming out on the brush easily and spreading without any manipulation.  I'm sure it would look amazing over undies, which might actually help with the shrinkage, but I didn't wear it over any undies before I sold it.

Despite how pretty this polish is, I decided that the orange just wasn't for me.  As a gal who went to UGA, I'm not a huge orange fan.  Usually, most oranges don't look great on me, either, but Fire in the Taco Bell is actually one that looked pretty good with my skin tone!  Sadly, it appears that Shannon from Pahlish has changed the formula, so if you order it from her store now, it will be a little different than mine.  It's still very pretty, though.

You can purchase Pahlish at her Etsy store, which is restocked every Friday at 7pm central time, and Llarowe.  Although, keep in mind that it's cheaper to order directly from Pahlish's etsy site if you live in the US.

How do you avoid shrinkage?

Comparison Thursday: Grey Glitters

Today's been a rough day.  I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and have been irritable all day.  Don't you hate that?  Add on top of that, I've been singing songs from Les Mis for four days.  FOUR DAYS.  It's my all time favorite musical and has been since I was 11, but there's only so much a person can take.  I can't get them out of my head.  So, in an effort to make myself giggle a little, I decided to watch something pretty damn spectacular.  Go ahead.  Click play.  I'll wait. (Please bear with the introduction he does because the video is totally worth it - especially if you're a console video game nerd like myself.)

HAH!  Fantastic.  It never ceases to make me smile and put me in a better mood.  Plus, I'm now enjoying my first beer since Christmas, Sweet Water Dank Tank the Gimp.  I've been trying to cut back on my alcohol just to get healthier (I'm gluten intolerant after all), but it's sooooo hard.  I love that sweet manna from heaven.  I'm also watching some Arrested Development and Eureka while the hubs snoozes on the couch with the kitties.  My night is definitely going much better than my day!

Now that that's out of the way, let's take a look at today's Comparison Thursday: grey glitters.  What's your preference for spelling the word grey?  Grey or gray?  I don't know why, but I've always spelled it grey.  If that drives you crazy, I apologize and give you permission to flame me in the comments, lol.  As you may have noticed, I've changed up the way I review polishes on the blog.  For Comparison Thursdays, I won't be doing full blown reviews of these polishes like I do in normal review posts.  Instead, I'll focus solely on comparing each of the relevant polishes instead of going into too much detail.  Then, I'll do a detailed review of each polish at a later date.  How does that sound?

Anyway, back on topic.  We're going to take a look at four of the grey glitters I have in my stash: Pahlish Sitting in a Tin Can, Dollish Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto, Pahlish Sullen Girl, and Dollish the Many Shades of Mr. Grey.

Here they all are together.

And here they are blurred so you can see the gorgeous glitters a little better.

Sitting in a Tin Can

Sitting in a Tin Can is a charcoal grey jelly with fine black glitters and multi-sized and -shaped silver holographic glitters.  SiaTC applied really smoothly without much work, but the smell was pretty off-putting - almost like I was at my grandmother's house playing in her perfume.  I noticed this with Sullen Girl, as well, so I'm not really sure what base Shannon is using or if it's something else that she adds to her polish to make it so...  pungent.  The glitters in SiaTC have sunk, but they shake up easily.  Although, they were a little more difficult to dig out of the bottle than the other three polishes.  This is two coats over undies (Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal).  Other than the fact that the glitters took a little effort to spread and the smell was a bit too strong for my taste, I really do like this polish.  It's probably my favorite of the four.

Domo Arigato(u) Mr. Roboto

I'm anal.  It's Arigatou, Ms. Dolly.  Not Arigato.  Anyway.  Roboto is a grey jelly with a lighter base than SiaTC.  It includes silver holo hexes in two sizes, iridescent glitters, and black hexes in two sizes.  Roboto suspends well, mixed easily, spread well, and only required a little dab and then a swipe on the second coat for full opacity.  It's not as dark as SiaTC and is a little more blue-toned than Sullen Girl.  The lack of smell and ease application puts this in my second favorite slot.

Sullen Girl

Sullen Girl is a bit lighter grey jelly than SiaTC and a little more brown-leaning than Roboto.  Again, this little baby smelled pretty bad.  It lasted on my hands for a whole day even with a shower, if that tells you anything.  Plus, it clumped.  A lot.  Like, a whole lot.  It was a massive pain to apply, which was completely opposite of SiaTC that applied soooo easily.  This is four coats to get an even and non-streaky end product.  The iridescent glitters make this one unique in the bunch.  This was easily my least favorite.  I'm sure that you can add some thinner and fix the thickness right up, but I also wasn't really sold on the color combination.  It'll be making its way to my sales page in the next few days.

The Many Shades of Mr. Grey

Grey is the outlier of the group.  It's a clear base with gun metal, silver, and black glitters without any holo goodness.  It spread so easily and looked great over the undies I chose (still Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal), which I had been battling with for the whole week trying to determine whether I like it or not.  I'm actually really digging it with Grey on top.  I knew it wasn't really in the same family as the other three, but I wanted to toss it in just in case anyone was curious.  It's still really pretty, and I love it for different reasons than I love SiaTC and Roboto.

Depending on what you're looking for in a grey polish, you could probably get away with only having one.  If you want iridescent, go with Sullen Girl.  If you want holo-y goodness, you can't go wrong with either SiaTC or Roboto.  You'll just need to determine what base jelly color you like best when making your choice.  Here's my order of preference, in case you're curious: SiaTC > Roboto > Sullen Girl.  Grey falls in a different spectrum.

You can purchase Pahlish at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  Follow Shannon on Facebook and Twitter for updates, news, and new collections.  You can purchase Dollish Polish at her store (NEXT RESTOCK IS TOMORROW!!!!), Llarowe, and Overall Beauty.  Follow Dolly on Facebook and Twitter for updates on restocks and new collections.

Which is your favorite?

Game plans!

I don't know about you, but I always feel better when I have a goal in place and a plan to reach that goal.  This past weekend the hubs and I sat down and set up a monthly budget with goals for savings for emergencies and vacations.  My bank has a pretty kick ass online banking tool, so I was able to set up a goal through them that would either tell me how much money I need to save to hit a certain target by a certain date or how long it will take to hit the target amount when only depositing a certain amount per month.  I'm feeling pretty good right now!  Plus, I've pretty much gotten all of the prizes together for the holiday giveaway.  I can't wait for the rest to be delivered so I can let you guys in on the secret!  Until then, let's take a look at some polishes!  This is an oldie but goodie, Pahlish Train Underwater, since my nails are the nubbiest they've ever been...

This is three coats in the sunshine.  

Train Underwater is a navy blue based polish with navy blue, light blue, and fuchsia holo hexes and giant holo  hexes.

It applied really well, with the glitters spreading evenly, and the large hexes coming out easily.  Look at that color saturation!  This is one of my favorite polishes of all time and my all time favorite Pahlish.  It's pretty similar to a few other polishes I have, so I plan to do a comparison post sometime soon.  Maybe this week if you guys want!

You can purchase Pahlish at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  She restocks every Friday night on her Etsy store, which is cheaper with faster shipping.  Nothing against Llarowe or anything, but just sayin.  Check out her Facebook and Twitter for updates on restocks and new collections.

What's the last goal you've planned that you were truly excited to reach?

Breast Cancer Awareness Part 2: Pahlish Glittoris

That name never ceases to make me giggle.  It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where the lady won't remind Jerry of her name but does tell him that it rhymes with a female body part...

LMFAO.  Amazing.

So yeah, this, ladies and gents (?), is Glittoris.  Fitting, really, if you think about it since this is breast cancer awareness week on the blog.

Glittoris is a hot pink jelly based polish with hot pink glass flakes, holographic silver squares, hexes, and bars, various shades of pink hexes and squares, red squares, and translucent iridescent hexes.  Seriously gorgeous.

Glittoris applied so so so well.  I didn't have to dig for the squares, and the glitter spread out perfectly.  It wasn't too thick or too thin.  The glitter didn't really eat top coat either, but I did apply 2 coats of Seche Vite, which was a mistake.  Shrinkage.  Ugh!

Look at those glitters!!!  The iridescent hexes are seriously my favorite.  Stunning!

You can purchase Pahlish polishes at her Etsy store every Friday night at 7pm central or on Llarowe.  You can also follow Shannon on Facebook.

What's your favorite pink polish?

Oldie but Goodie: purple goodness

Today will be a quick one with another oldie but goodie.  Check out base color Pahlish Slow Fade of Love with Rainbow Honey Worst Possible Thing as the topper.

Slow Fade of Love is a deep purple based polish with holo glitters.  Like all Pahlish polishes, it applied fantastically.  I did this so long ago, though, that I can't remember how many layers I used.  It was at least 2, maybe 3?  I don't remember.  I do remember, though, that I seriously loved this polish.  I applied Rainbow Honey Worst Possible Thing on top because I thought the purples would compliment each other well.  The Worst Possible Thing has blue, purple, and iridescent smaller glitters with larger purple hexes in a clear base. Like all RH polishes I've used to date, this guy was extremely thick, so it definitely needed some thinner to apply smoothly.

This mani was a few days old, so I do have some tip wear.

Here's a blurry pic so you can see the holographic and iridescent glitters.

Lastly, here's a closeup shot of the mani so you can see the layering a little bit better.

You can buy Pahlish at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  Follow Shannon on Facebook here.  You can purchase Rainbow Honey at their site, which also includes a blog for news and updates.  Follow Dee and her RH crew on Facebook, too!

Do you have any Pahlish or Rainbow Honey polishes?  Which is your favorite?