Guest Comparison Thursday: My Life in Polish and Minty Holos

Tonight's guest post comes from the super sweet and awesome Sara from My Life in Polish!  When I put out the call for help, Sara answered quickly and even agreed to do a comparison for me!  I'm stoked that she was able to find some very lovely mint holos to compare for us tonight, and I'm even more excited that they aren't any that I own!  So, check out the lovely post below, and make sure you go give Sara some lovin!

Hey guys!  I'm Sara from My Life in Polish.  Super excited to be posting over here today.  When I asked Julie what kind of posts she was looking for she suggested a comparison.  So of course I immediately jumped to my love of minty holos.  I have an over abundance so this was a no brainer.

My index finger is Hit Polish Nail Lacquer Breakfast @ Tiffany's.  Two coats made it opaque but the formula was kind of a pain, little thick but runny at the same time.  Next in line is Liquid Sky Lacquer Mint to Love.  This is also two coats but the formula was hands down the best of the four.  So creamy and amazing!  My ring finger is Dollish Polish Totes Magotes.  Minty green and an awesome movie quote?  Yes please!  This is the only polish that took three coats.  Good formula though.  Lastly my pinky is NailNation 3000 Never Mint To Hurt You.  It's two coats and a nice creamy formula.

You can see that Totes Magotes is the most holo but by no means is it a freaky strong linear.  Hit Polish and NailNation had the softest holo effect.  The Dollish Polish and Liquid Sky Lacquer are my favorites.  DP because I like the base green color and LSL because it was the all around best polish of the bunch.

So now I ask you to enable me a bit.  What is your favorite minty green holo?  I obviously don't own enough haha (I have more not shown here).  Thanks for reading today and a huge thanks to Julie for letting me hang out here today.

Note from Julie: To answer Sara's question regarding favorite minty green holo - If I can be a bit biased here...  I'd have to say that it would be Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Dorkhead? You Slash Me with Your Words.  But then again, I don't have a ton of true mint holos (or like, any).  ;)

Guest Post: Lit from Within with Nail Art and Cameo Colors Lacquer

I'm almost finally done with my current work project, so this will be one of the last guest posts for a bit.  Tonight, I have the super awesome Nidia helping me out!  She is always up for helping out when I put out the call, and I love her sophisticated and easy to recreate nail art.  Make sure you check her out at her blog!


Hello! I'm Nidia, and I run a little blog called Lit From Within.  I love doing nail art, and I've brought a little here today to share with you. I started with Cameo Colors Lacquer Welcome To The Universe, a slightly iridescent blue with a soft holo. If you read my blog, you may remember that I wore this mani to visit the Salt Room Millenia with the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida.  Well, I added some nail art!

This nail art design is inspired by one I saw on Nail Art Gallery by Nails by Amy of Perfect 10 Nails Salon.  By that evening, I'm sure I already had tip wear or dings or something, because I seem to be incapable of wearing the same polish for longer than a few hours.  So, I covered the bottom 1/2 of my nails with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

With a white striper, I painted a horizontal line just below the edge of the black tip, and then painted the large swirls on either side.  In the top inside section, I painted the remaining half-swirl.  

Then, with a dotting tool, I made black dots in the 'V' of the top of the swirls, and then made dots with Welcome To The Universe in the black at the bottom of the 'V'.   Don't forget your favorite topcoat to seal in your design and make the layers blend together.

This nail art might work better on longer nails, but you can make it work with nubbins if you keep the proportions. It's a little busy, but the boldness of the white keeps it clean. I can totally see redoing this for the holidays with a nude/red/black theme, or adding in a gold or silver.

Bottle shot:  Cameo Colors Lacquer Welcome To The Universe, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, and a white nail art striper.

If you liked this nail art, and enjoy other beauty stuffs, please feel free to stop by my Facebook page, check out my Twitter, Instagram, or check out my blog, Lit From Within.  Thanks for reading, and thanks, Julie, for having me!

Guest Post: Color Me So Crazy and Northern Star with Femme Fatale

I have another fantastic blogger and good friend providing tonight's content.  There are a few people who I know I can always count on, and Brigitte from Color Me So Crazy is always up at the top of my list.  Check out her lovely swatches of Northern Star Polish and Femme Fatale!  [And can I just say how much I blushed about this first paragraph???  I die!]

Hello Wishes of a Blue Eyed Girl fans!! Today, I have a great combination to show you, but first let me talk a little about this blogger I am guest writing about. Julie has been one of my first nail polish friends. I actually met her when I won one of her very first giveaways on Instagram for her polish line. That was around 2 years ago!! I have gotten to know Julie pretty well and I absolutely adore her!! She works so hard in everything she does. Her real life job, her polish line, her blog, her friends. EVERYTHING! I really think Julie rocks! Anyway, thank you Julie for this opportunity and I am sure you will all be seeing me again soon!!

In the mean time, be sure to check out my little bloggy. I have nails, makeup, skincare products, and even sometimes toddler pictures!!  

Blog

Facebook

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Pinterest

For this design, I wanted to do something bright and fun for the summer. I was recently given the Femme Fatale and the Northern Star as giveaway prizes and I thought they made a great combination.

The Northern Star polish is a bright pink linear holographic polish that is just stunning in the sun. The Femme Fatale polish is a lavender crelly with lots of pink, purple and black glitters in a variety of sizes.

The crelly was really nice to apply. Sometimes you get a heavily loaded glitter that just clumps together and doesn't want to apply the glitter nicely. This had a nice even glitter application. A few shakes of the bottle was all I needed to mix it up. This also happens to by my first Femme Fatale polish. I am really impressed and would not mind trying more in the future. 

Also, since I have a new captive audience I wanted to tell you ladies about 3 great services-ish I offer on my blog. I think you will be interested in at least one of them.
1. #RedCoatTuesday- We do a link up every Tuesday in honor of Pretty Little Liars. I know Julie participates. So, if you were wondering how to get involved just send me a message under the contact tab on my blog and I will get you hooked up.
2. Make Me Pretty Giveaways- A list of all of the giveaways I can find from around the beauty world. Check back often for a chance to win some goodies!! You can find that here.
3. NFL Link Up- This is for my football girls. Once the season starts, I do a weekly link up for you all to show your pride in your NFL team. If you want in on this one, just send me a message via my contact page on my blog and I will get you all the info.

 

Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at these pretties as well as learning some new, fun things to do around the nail and beauty world and I hope you check out some of my shenanigans in the future!

Colors Used:

Femme Fatale- Abracadaver

Norther Star Polish- Carnivale

Guest Post: Born for a Storm with Lynnderella Bunny Robin

This week's going to be insane, so I'll be having a few guest bloggers help me keep up the blog! I promised I wouldn't take too much time off, so this is my solution. Tonight, let's welcome the ever amazing Sara from Born for a Storm, one of my BFFs and the lady who has the cutest nubs around! Take a look at her lovely post below! 


Hi, everyone who reads Julie's blog! I'm Sara and I'm over at Born For A Storm. Julie put out a call for some guest bloggers so I'm here to show you a totally beautiful Lynnderella that I got earlier in the spring. I was hesitant to buy Bunny Robin at first. I'm not much of a bright blue-wearer. I stick to softer blues, but after wearing this, I don't really know why. I purchased this polish myself.

 

How cute is the blue label?! This is from Lynnderella's spring core collection. I decided to wear it for Easter, since the polish reminded me of candy nestled in bright blue Easter basket plastic grass stuff. Random? Yes. But are you now agreeing with me about what it looks like? Also yes.

 

Just looking at this photo makes me want to whip this out and wear it again. This polish is mainly blue with hints of multi-colored glitters. The base of the polish is blue, so it'll change your base color a little bit. The base also has an intense pink shimmer! I'm wearing it over a light blue Essie that I forget the name of. I'm wearing one thicker coat of the Lynn with base coat, top coat, and a bit of Gelous to smooth it all out. I used some zig zag nail vinyls on my ring finger to make it look like an Easter egg. It's super dorky but I got so many compliments on it!

 

I think the macro speaks for itself. :) You can purchase Lynnderella polishes at the brand's eBay store.

Guest Post: Color Me So Crazy with PolishTBH

Hello and a big THANK YOU to Julie for letting me do a guest post for her! I am such a super fan of Wishes of  a Blue Eyed Girl and all that she does! So, anyway since she supports me and my endeavors I will always support her! So I was going to prepare a little Halloween Art Tutorial for you all, but that failed- story of my Nail Life!!! I decided to do the next best thing- THERMALS!!

I will be showing you all Island Fantasy by Polish TBH. I used to rock the thermals when I was a tweeny, but now they are back and I love them!! This one is a turquoise/ teal base with gold glitter. It changes to a bright yellow/ green in warmth and it's flipping awesome!! When I put this on, I was reminded that I totally need to get more thermals. BUY ALL THE THERMALS! *hint hint* Julie :)

Anyway, before I chit chat your ears off, here are the pics. Enjoy and be sure to check me out on my Bloggy Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Google Plus and Pinterest!

These two above are just normal wear in room temperature. Well, at least my room temperature. No temp manipulation at all.

This is after the cold water dip. I literally ran my nails under cold water for about 10 seconds. 

This is after about a 10 second stint under warm/hot water. 

This is under warm/hot water with a flash to show the bright yellow. I also dipped the bottle under water- which by the way, don't do. My label is no longer there. TBH bottles are apparently not meant to be dipped under water :( 

These last pictures are of the tips dipped in cold and rest under warm/hot. 

The only issue that I had with this polish, besides the dissolvable label, was that the polish kind of got "stuck" for a little when it was shocked in between extreme temps. I had run it under warm water and it literally stayed that bright yellow for about an hour before I finally painted over it. The bottom line is I need to get more thermals!!!

Polish TBH- Island Fantasy

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Yeah, I don't have any thermals, but this post has seriously made me realize I need to add some to my ISO list!  Thank you so much for showing us this gorgeous polish, Brigitte!  Don't forget to go and follow her over at Color Me So Crazy!

Guest Post: Adventures in Polishland with a Geometric Glitter Mani

Happy Friday from Adventures in Polishland! I'm so excited to be writing for Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl today. I thought it would be fun to put a spin on my favorite nail art look, and create a fall-inspired, geometric glitter manicure. While I typically rock light-toned hues, when the weather turns cold I grab the darker polishes. Let me share the edgy manicure I created!

 

I began with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Night Flight, a dark blue polish that looks almost black. Night Flight has a perfect formula that is opaque in two coats. The fast-drying formula is also perfect for a geometric manicure because I am too impatient to wait for anything else to dry. After about five-ten minutes, I was ready to grab the scotch tape and get to glittering!

 



To create a geometric look, I decided to place a diamond on my ring finger as an accent, and then rotate triangles on my other nails. All you need is tape to achieve this look! Simply place the tape where you want the design to be, apply your glitter polish, and peel off the tape while the polish is still wet. I used Shimmer Polish in Stephanie since the colors really complimented Night Flight. Plus, Shimmer Polishes are quite densely packed, so I knew the glitter would be opaque!

 

As a final touch, I added a matte top coat to my manicure. I just love the look of matte glitter! It really makes the glitters pop, and it makes the color portion look like vinyl. I used butter LONDON Matte Finish, but any matte top coat will do! Of course, you can use a glossy top coat if you prefer. And that is my complete geometric glitter manicure for fall! This nail art technique is so easy to create, and you can customize it to your own tastes by using different colors, glitters, and designs. The possibilities are endless! If you liked this look, please head on over to my blog Adventures in Polishland for everything nail polish and beauty. I would love to see you there!

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Thank you again, Christina, for taking over my blog for the day!  Wow, that is a suuuuuper cool look  that I think I could actually pull off!  You guys know me and my lack of artistic tallent, but this is super pretty and seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to do!  Make sure you go follower Christina at Adventures in Polishland!

Comparison Thursday: Guest Blogger Style - Grey with Red Glitters

Hi, Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl readers! I'm Sara from Born For A Storm. I'm stepping in for today with a quick comparison post for Julie! (Disclaimer: both of these polishes were purchased by me, because I feel the need to own every grey thing in the world.) Today we're going to be looking at grey jellies full of red glitter!

 

Hare - Swanky Soiree. This polish was a Holiday 2012 limited edition from the brand. Isn't it beautiful? I missed it when it came out but was finally able to track it down via a blog sale. Lucky! It's a grey jelly with hex and square shaped red glitters. There's also a few grey glitters in it and a subtle silver shimmer. It's gorgeous, but you can't get it anymore, which leads me to...

 

Happy Revolution - Flip Flip Flipadelphia. This polish is so similar that it's silly to own both. (Unless you are me, who needs to own all the grey.) It's a grey jelly, with red, silver, and grey glitters. The main difference is that there is a lot less red and silver shimmer in this polish than in the Hare, but I still think it's similar enough to be an adequate substitute! This polish was an It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia-inspired collaboration between Happy Hands and Polish Revolution and is currently available in both of their shops. (My lighting was a little different for this photo and I apologize. I promise they are both very, very similar.) Both of these polishes are shown with basecoat, 2-3 coats of polish, and topcoat. They both got a little gloopy as I added coats, as glitters tend to do. I wasn't surprised by this, and I don't think that it's necessarily a flaw in the polish; it's just something that happens. I think, in the future, when I'm wearing them instead of just doing swatches, I would put on an opaque grey cream, and then just one or two coats of polish. I hate when glitters get really thick, so using a base polish is something that I really like to do. Both of these dry a bit gritty, so a thick coat of topcoat would be a good idea. In conclusion, both are gorgeous, one of them is still totally available. If you want to come over and follow my blog, you can click here or follow me on Bloglovin'! Though, I will say that I post more frequently on Instagram, so you can follow me there as well, if you want. Many, many thanks to Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl for hosting me today!

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A huuuuuge thank you to Sara from Born for a Storm for doing my weekly comparison post!  I don't have either of these polishes, so I'm super glad she volunteered!  Make sure you're following Sara over at Born for a Storm, but DEFINITELY make sure you're following her on IG because she's more active over there.

Guest Post: Nailbed Dreams and the Sparkliest Mani I've Ever Seeeeeen!

Hello, there! I'm Emma from Nailbed Dreams. I'm honored to be here on Julie's awesome blog. I'm here to share with you my newest manicure concoction. I've layered 5 of the sparkliest polishes I own, and came out with an awesome mani! Let me share my recipe with you. 

Polishes used:

Zoya Trixie - 1 coat

China Glaze Glistening Snow - 1 coat

OPI Save Me - 1 coat

OPI Which is Witch - 2 coats

JENsations Holo Daze - 1 coat

I highly recommend you going through your stash and layering your sparkliest polishes! I think next I'm going to try doing this with all blue glitters, purple glitters, etc. What do you think? I absolutely loved the way this came out, even though it about blinds you in the sun! The only downside to this will be trying to get it off, but the good ole foil trick should do the job just fine!

Below, in the top left corner is OPI Save Me. Underneath that is JENsations Holo Daze, followed by China Glaze Glistening Snow. In the top right is Zoya Trixie, followed by OPI Which is Witch?. 

I really hope everyone enjoyed my holo layering! Big thanks to Julie for letting me be here today!

Thanks for reading, 

Emma

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Holy wow, Emma!  Thanks so much for sharing this gorgeous mani with us!  This is, indeed, the sparkliest mani I think I've ever seen.  All she needed was a little Lynn Shapeshifter in there and she would've been way over the top!  If you aren't yet, you should definitely be following Emma over at Nailbed Dreams!

Guest Post: Southern Sparkle Nail Art and Jindie Olive You!

Hello Lacquer Lovers!

I'm Samantha and my blog is Southern Sparkle Nail Art! I'm guest posting for Julie, along with a bunch of lovely ladies, while she is away. Today I will be reviewing a Jindie Nails polish that is very close to my heart because I got to name it, Olive You!

As described by Jindie Nails "Olive You is a gorgeous sage/olive green linear holographic polish with metallic green/gold shifting glitters.  It has 3 different types of linear holographic pigments, including SpectraFlair.  This polish is opaque in about 2 or 3 coats." 

I have to agree! Olive You is everything you could hope for in a sage holo! It is opaque in 2 coats and it had a great dry time!

 These photos were taken in natural sunlight! It was a little bit overcast, so the holo is not as strong. :(

Overall, I loved this polish! I would definitely recommend it!

That is it for today, dolls! Come and visit me at my blog, Southern Sparkle Nail Art! I'm doing Halloween posts all month. :)

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Wow, that's a beautiful holo right there!  Thank you to Samantha for taking over my blog today!  Make sure to go follow her and check out her amazing Halloween posts!

Guest Post: Lit from Within and Pretty Stripes!

Hello, Fireflies! Oh, wait.  That's my blog.  I'm Nidia, and I'm guest posting, B#$ches! I picked up a couple polishes from this new-to-me Indie, Liquidus.  This is Arsenic, a grey creme with a *very* subtle gold shimmer.  As in, I can't see it on the nail at all.  Very thick formula, could be a one-coater if you were careful.  The ding on my middle finger is actually from my attempt at a teabag patch.  Yeah, it was bad.

The nail art I did was inspired by this Pinterest pin by Kelsie's Nail Files.  I couldn't find the original blog post - the pin takes you to a collection someone else did of her manis.  I hope someone with better Google-fu than I have can point me to her original post. The first set of stripes I did with a nail art brush and Liquidus Blue Diamond Turquoise.  I love these deep, rich, blue jellies.  I love the depth and shine they have!

SpaRitual Ripple Effect is a dusty lilac with enough grey tone to go with Arsenic.  I love these colors together.  I touched up a little bit with Arsenic, too, which is why it's looking a bit of a hot mess.

Manis like this *need* topcoat to smooth out all the different textures and make it glossy.

I can't help but be bummed that I couldn't get that gold shimmer to show up.  I like the combination of colors, though!

Thanks, Julie, for the opportunity to guest post!  If you like this mani, and want to see more from me, please like my Facebook page for blog updates, and/or follow me on my blog.

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I always adore Nidia's nail art.  It always looks great, and her instructions are perfect for even the most novice of nail artists (like myself!).  Don't forget to go check her out over at Lit from Within!  Thanks for sharing, Nidia!

Guest Post: Peer Pressure Polish and Elevation Epidote

Hi there fellow lacquer lovers! My name is Jennifer and I run Peer Pressure Polish. I'm just a quick guest post here while Julie is away from her blog. I named my blog Peer Pressure Polish because if I see a polish on someone or on a lot of people I feel compelled to own it. If you tell me I need it, or it's popular I must have it in my life. The polish I am going to share with you today is one of those. This is Elevation Polish Epidote. It is a beautiful Army green holo polish. I first saw this on Instagram from @thepolishaholic. It was so pretty and I had to have it I had no issues with application, this is three thin coats and I was able to wear it about four days. I got so many compliments on this polish. Which was shocking to me, I thought it was going to be a polish only I was going to love. I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote and I used Glisten and Glow HK Girl as my topcoat.

I really wish there had been some sun going on when I had this on, because I couldn't see the full holo effect with the cloudy weather. Thanks for reading my guest post! Jennifer

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Wow, that's one Elevation I've been going back and forth on, but I'm seriously wanting it now!  Many thanks to Jennifer for her wonderful guest post!