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.

An InLinkz Link-up

Holiday Week: Valentine's Day v.2

So yeah, I know that Holiday week was last week and that I should've posted this yesterday as promised, but I wasn't feeling well and hubs was using the laptop to do our taxes.  From the outside, it would appear that I'm the sickest person in the world, huh?  I promise, it's all related to one issue, sinus disease, that will be remedied later this year.  Until then, though, I'm dealing with a chronic sinus infection causing me to run low grade fevers from 99.7-100.4.  At least I'm able to work from home right now, so that's good.  I'd hate to annoy everyone in my office with my sniffling and coughing.  It's kind of obnoxious right now!  Anyway, let's take a look at my epic Valentine's Day mani.  

I started out with a base of Color Club Halo Hue Miss Bliss, which is an ultra-holo barbie pink.  Unfortunately, I apparently didn't take any pictures of it.  Womp womp!  After my undies, I did a skittles using the following polishes:

Lynnderella Don't Drink this Pink, Glitzology Cupid's Arrow, Lynnderella Matter of the Heart, Rainbow Honey XOXO, and Lynnderella Angel Food.

Here are closeups of the bottles as well as macro shots of each polish.  I am in lust with pretty much every one of these polishes.

Miss Bliss

Don't Drink this Pink

Cupid's Arrow

Matter of the Heart

XOXO

XOXO blurry to see holo glitters

Angel Food

All of these polishes are so dense that you can't really see my holo undies at all.  

Don't Drink this Pink and Cupid's Arrow were both packed with so much glitter that they required the dab method.  The glitter to base ratio was heavily balanced toward glitter than base.  XOXO, Matter of the Heart, and Angel Food, however, were perfectly easy to apply.  You couldn't see the holo undies under the creme polishes for obvious reasons.  The only one that gives you a peak of holo goodness from the whole mani is XOXO.  

Here's another shot of them all together.

You can purchase Lynnderella here, Glitzology here, Rainbow Honey here, and the Color Club Halo Hues on eBay or Amazon.

Which of the six here is your favorite?

*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.*

Case of the Blues: Sassy Lacquer Dawns Dew

With the end of this project in sight, I sighed in relief.  Until, that is, they decided to get an extension so we could continue on this insane project for another week.  Now, I'm just sighing.  There go my plans to hit up Disney this weekend!  Meh.  Oh, and let me just tell you, time changes suck.  They need to keep it one way or another.  This stupid variation is killer!!!!  Ugh.  So, I guess you can say that today, I have the case of the blues.  And the Mondays.  Maybe a little of both.  Or a lot of both?  Fitting that I'm rocking some seriously killer blue nails!

First, I want to show you a quick peek at my undies for this mani.  They'll be up on the blog shortly for a Comparison Thursday post, but here's the ombre I used as my base mani.

Deborah Lippmann Dancing in the Sheets, Elevation Alphubel, OPI What's With the Cattitude, Barry M Blueberry Ice cream, and China Glaze Electric Beat.

I chose to top these guys off with an indie called Dawns Dew [sic] by Sassy Lacquer.  (Read my interview with Carrie of Sassy Lacquer here.)

Color: Super sheer blue with fine blue and pink shimmering micro glitters.

Ignore the smudge on my middle finger...  I ran out of time, so it had to stay.  Womp womp!

Finish: Sheer – a polish that is sheer like a jelly, but has shimmer.  Not squishy like a jelly.  Best over darker colors.

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.

Opacity: Low – it requires several coats for opacity, but you'll never really get rid of visible nail line.  This is pretty much best used as a topper over other polishes.  It's so sheer that I couldn't get it to build up enough to cover my visible nail line.  However, it looks great over other colors and transforms darker colors into something special.

Here it is over black and white.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.  Like with Tiger Lily Wears Pink, Dawns Dew has super fine micro glitters that come out of the bottle easily and spread without any need to manipulate.

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.  It was almost perfect.  I didn't even need to do any cleanup - and this is my right hand, guys.  I'm not so awesome at polish application with my left hand, so the application for Dawns Dew is something special.

Overall Ease of Application: Easy – applies well without pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads evenly and smoothly.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes. Overall Thoughts: Dawns Dew is a very pretty blue shimmer looks best over darker colors.  The micro glitters slightly detract from lighter colors by giving them a speckled look, which is actually trendy right now so it's not really a negative.  You just don't notice the blue sheen and pink shimmers as much over lighter colors as you do over darker.  It completely transforms mid-range and darker colors showing off it's beautiful shift from blue to pink.  Application was amazing.  It applied evenly, spread well, and I didn't screw up my right hand, which is fantastic since it's now my swatching hand!  Even though I'm not usually really into sheers like this, I'm very pleased with Dawns Dew.  It's extremely pretty while also being fairly unique.

You can purchase Dawns Dew from Sassy Lacquer's store.  Follow Carrie on her blog and Facebook for more information, news, and updates.

What's your favorite sheer?

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*