Darling Diva's Lucky Star

*Press Sample*  Ok, guys, I'm so beyond excited to show you this polish tonight.  Not only is it super hot, it also glows in black light and glows in the dark!  Lucky Star is from Darling Diva's upcoming Madonna collection.  Let me just say, these polishes are HOT.  Like Madonna from the 80's or early 90's hot before she got all veiny and creepy.  I have two more to show you this week, and I should have the rest to show you soon.  I'm seriously in love.  Now for my favorite part, my interview with maker, Carrie, of Darling Diva!

1) Are all of the polishes you've created in one collection?  If not, what are your collection names? 

Well most recently I had the Back in Black collection based on AC/DC songs, I have a Material Girl collection coming soon based loosely on Madonna songs. This fall I have a "DD" (yes thats bra size lol) collection coming out based on women in comics:) Other than that, in the past I had My Little Pony and a Christmas collection based on the Movie A Christmas Story, other than that I pretty much like to make what I want at the time. I think collections are lovely but so are one offs:)

2) Of the polishes you're sending me, what collection(s) do they belong to? 

Material Girl.

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Darling Diva's Lucky Star for review purposes.  All other polishes 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: White crelly with hot pink squares in two sizes and neon green and black stars.

Finish: Glitter Crème – glitter in a crème base. BUT WAIT.  IT GLOWS IN THE FREAKING DARK, Y'ALL!!

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

Opacity: Low – it requires several coats for opacity, but you'll never really get rid of visible nail line.  I will say, I liked it much better layered over itself than over undies.  I've layered it over a Finger Paints white polish whose tag fell off a long time ago on all but my ring finger, which is four coats over itself.  I also tried to layer it over Sinful Shine Wisp, but 1) it wouldn't dry, and 2) there were an insane amount of bubbles.  I tried twice with the same result.  I think it's probably because the Sinful was just too thick to wear as undies.  However, pictured below is Lucky Star over the Finger Paints, which came out nicely.

Glitter Application: Medium – easy to dig the glitters out of the bottle, but it was a little difficult to spread evenly once you get them out due to the base to glitter ratio.  You just have to make sure you don't get too much polish on the brush then you can apply it with the dab method just fine.  You can also apply more than one layer to get the desired result without applying too thickly.

Consistency:  This one is tricky...  I would say Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush at first.  However, once it's been open for a little while, it gets a little thicker because of the glow in the dark pigment.  I added a couple drops of thinner, then it was perfect!

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies with some pooling, but spreads well with manipulation.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping, but I would be interested to see if the glow in the dark pigment would transfer well via stamp.

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes.  When layered over other polishes, it took some time to dry.  However, layered over itself took only 4 or so minutes to dry without smudging.

Overall Thoughts:  Honestly, the first two times I applied Lucky Star, I did have some problems...  As I mentioned above, I had some serious bubbles.  They clouded the entire nail, and I was so disappointed.  I had a hunch that the problem was really caused by the undies I chose, and I was pretty much correct.  The bubbles pretty much disappeared once I used a different white as undies.  The minimal bubbling you see here is from my stupid wicked thick NBP Glitter Food...  It needed thinning as well.

I also had a bit of problem with the polish thickening as I went through my mani.  I spoke with Carrie, the creator of Darling Diva, and she gave me some tips for glow in the dark pigments.  Long story short, upon her advice, I added a couple drops of thinner, and Lucky Star was good as new!  I always have issues of thickness with glow in the dark polishes, so I wasn't surprised that I'd need to treat Lucky Star a little differently than normal polishes.  

Lucky Star under black light

Once I figured out how to maneuver Lucky Star (a little thinner, less thick undies, and the dab method), I really enjoyed the look of this polish.  It's so bright and reminds me of the 80's and Lisa Frank.  It really is a very sweet polish.

Lucky Star in the dark

The Material Girl collection isn't available yet, but it should be ready for you guys to snap up in a week or two.  You can purchase Darling Diva polishes at her store, Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures, and Norway Nails.  Follow Carrie on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates, especially for updates on the release of this B.A. collection.

Do you have any polishes that needed just a little bit of thinner to achieve perfection?

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Darling Diva Lucky Star for review purposes.* 

Dollish This is Halloween Part 1: Glitter Top Coats

First thing's first, let's get some administrative junk out of the way.  The next round of reader of the month started Monday. All blog, FB, and Twitter interactions give you one entry. I will randomly draw the winner on November 1st.

Second, I need your help with choosing a polish to send to a swap group I'm in. We're swapping polishes we've made only, so I need help choosing from some of my frankens. Go to my Facebook album and comment on the polish you think I should swap.  Give me your opinions by Friday at midnight, and I'll choose one person from the comments to receive their choice of 2 of my frankens!  So get on over there and give me your opinions!

Lastly, I announced a super awesome really cool Halloween giveaway yesterday.  Make sure you enter for a chance to win one of six awesome prizes!  Here is a shot of (most of) the prizes.

**Booberry is in transit**

Ok, on to the polishes!  Here are the Dollish Polish This is Halloween glitter top coats.  As a general observation, most required the dab method and they were still sparse.  The base was a bit runny and pooled at my cuticles if I wasn't very careful with application.  Out of the five I will show you, This is Halloween applied the best.  Something's up with Jack was probably the most difficult to apply.  I was most surprised with the subtle shimmer in What's This? What's This?  My brush for Spectral Pup was a little wonky, so the application wasn't that great either.  Also, my Spectral Pup doesn't glow in the dark as vibrantly as I had hoped.  I attempted to take several pics of it in the dark, and none came out well.  I compared it with three other glow-in-the-dark polishes I had on hand to show you how it stacks up against the others.  Check them out and let me know what you think.  (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

This is Halloween over OPI DS Vintage

Remember, This is Halloween is one the prizes available in my Halloween Giveaway!

Spectral Pup over OPI Day at the Peach

Something's up with Jack over Revlon Charming

We're Simply Meant to Be over OPI Black Tie Optional

What's This? What's This? over OPI Parlez-Vous OPI

Also, here's a comparison shot of the three glow-in-the-dark polishes I had on hand, Dollish Spectral Pup, Wet 'n Wild Fantasy Makers Go with the Glow, and China Glaze Ghoulish Glow.

Go with the Glow and Ghoulish Glow are prizes in the Halloween giveaway!

Which is your favorite Dollish?  Which glow-in-the-dark polish would you rather have?