Snowflake with Bundle Monster

I wore this back in December. My boyfriend suggested it to me, so I went with it. I'm finally posting it because I am trying to be more diligent about posting, and because we finally have some decent snow!! I wanted to post more snow-y nails when it started snowing, but we are clearly getting a much later than usual start on snow. So anyway, onto the nails!!








SNOW!!



2 coats Orly Royal Navy
1 coat Poshe
Snowflake stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM14 and Konad White

Royal Navy is such a fall back blue for me. I love wear this color!! It's so versatile, so unique, so just gorgeous! Shawn (the boyfriend) was a little specific about the color blue for this, so I immediately pulled Royal Navy.

I like this nail. It's simple, wintery, and quick enough to do. Plus I'm a big fan of that snowflake stamp. I wore it once earlier this year and I can't say you won't see it again before the year is up!

Swatches & Review - E.L.F. Holiday 2011 Nail Polish Set at Target

This is the second 5 pack of ELF polishes I own... bringing my total to 10 ELF polishes lol. This is the 'tis the season to be beautiful set that is currently at Target for $5, I found mine on an end cap with a bunch of other holiday sets. I couldn't say no. I mean, there are some interesting looking polishes and 5 polishes for $5? Yes, please!!

I don't usually review polishes. I guess I always write a review on my polishes when I post them, but I'm treating this as more of a formal review, hence the title. I'm just swatching the polishes and talking about the formula. Instead of waiting for me to wear these, I figured I'd do it all at once. I hate when I can't find swatches of cheaper polishes, so I hope this helps you decide if picking up this set is worth it!!

The 5 polishes in this set are:
Mod Mauve
Royal Purple
Red Velvet
Metal Madness
Golden Goddess

The cap is NOT a vanity cap. You will be painting with the square cap, but I did not have any problem doing so. The brushes are oval and very slightly flattened. It is obvious that there are two sides to the brush for you to paint with because it is not round. Overall, the brushes were better than the spring set I reviewed, but two of them could still improve.

Scroll all the way down for photos of each polish with Golden Goddess top coat

Mod Mauve





2 coats Mod Mauve

This was the worst brush, but it wasn't that bad. It had one stray bristle that stuck out the side of the brush. But it was just one. This was also the widest brush of the 5, not necessarily a bad thing. It wasn't too wide. The end of the brush wasn't even, it was on a slight slant, which made it a little difficulty to paint evenly around my cuticles. But it still wasn't that bad.

Mod Mauve is a kind of chocolately mauve creme, kind of an auburn almost. Definitely looks different in different lighting. I don't think it's too "old" of a color. Something about it (the chocolately part?) makes it seem more current. Nice, simple.

The formula was smooth, not streaky but seemed uneven, then it self leveled and was not uneven. The consistency was great. Medium consistency, nicely pigmented. Not too bad at all!!

Royal Purple






2 coats Royal Purple

This brush was fine. Royal Purple is a blue based fuchsia-violet with a shimmery sheen. The shimmer seems almost silvery in the bottle, but comes across fuchsia/purple on the nail. Very pretty.

The formula was FANTASTIC. Reminded me of the old, non 3 Free polishes (but it is 3 Free). Thin, easily workable but very pigmented despite it being thin and flowy. Smooth and not streaky at all. I like this formula better than mod mauve, but it's that formula difference between a creme and a shimmer. I find that it's not uncommon for them to be different and have their own qualities.

Red Velvet






2 coats Red Velvet

This brush was a little thinner than Royal Purples. Not in a bad way, just an objective thing.

The color looks much richer with a second coat. I was skeptical when I saw the first. But with the second coat, it's a lovely, foil-y berry undertones red that I'm going to say is perfect for a darker winter/Christmas red. I liked Golden Goddess best over this color.

The formula was just like Royal Purple. Like exactly the same.

Metal Madness






2 coats Metal Madness

This brush was going back to being like Mod Mauves, it had kind of a slant.

This is a charcoal base with holographic micro glitter. Very interesting. The glitter is more prominent in real life than in the photos.

The polish went on without problems. It does need two coats, it was kind of sheer with just one, but totally opaque with 2. Wasn't streaky, stayed even, thicker than Royal Purple and Red Velvet but seemed less pigmented, which is probably why the two coats is necessary.

Golden Goddess




This is a glitter top coat in the bunch. It will not become opaque, which is fine seeing as how I'm assuming that was not the intention of the polish.

It is well packed with gold micro glitter and it was round iridescent glitter. The round glitter isn't too plentiful when on the nail. Just painting it on gives you several pieces, but not a ton. They don't have a problem sticking to the brush, I just think there's SO much micro glitter and not as much of the round glitter. Not a bad thing, still pretty.

Here is Golden Goddess over all of the other colors:


Over Mod Mauve


Over Royal Purple


Over Red Velvet (my fav)


Over Metal Madness


So overall, is this set worth $5? ABSOLUTELY!!

Poison Apple Snowy Scene

This was not initially what I had planned. I wanted to do more realistic colors (e.g. green tree with brown stump), but none of the greens I wanted to use would stamp well over the red, it just wasn't happening. So I ended up just using white. I'll have to try my other idea again with a different base. But this is ok for now.









1 coat Orly Poison Apple
1 coat Poshe
Tree from bundle monster plate BM-205 with Konad White
Snowflake from bundle monster plate BM14 with Konad White
All "snow" is China Glaze White on White and a dotting tool
1 coat Poshe

Not exactly what I wanted. I didn't want to use a dotting tool for the snow on the "ground", but I could not for the life of me find my brush. I think the whole thing looks a little too puffy. I wanted it to be more elegant, and I think it kinda missed that mark. Eh, oh well. 12 more days until Christmas... which means 12 more opportunities to do it better!!

Side note, I'm in LOVE with bundle monster Christmas/winter/holiday themed stamps. They're so just awesome!!

Welcoming December with China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara

I went to several different Sally's looking for this polish. I finally found a Sally's that had the collection in, but it hadn't been put out yet. The super sweet sales associate brought out one of the displays for me, and I grabbed the one polish I really wanted from the collection, Lorelei's Tiara.

















2 coats China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara
1 coat Poshe
Please excuse several of my cuticles. That's dried Poshe (not nasty dried cuticles) and I didn't notice it until I uploaded the photos.

I know most of these photos are the same/similar angle. But they all show different angles of the polish, so I decided to not eliminate too many.

Lorelei's Tiara is an INTENSE glitter. It is PACKED with silver micro glitter and larger (but not large) lighter blue glitter. While there is a ton of silver, when you look down at your nails, they don't just look silver. You can easily tell there's blue as well.

The formula was great for what it is. If you use one thicker coat, it'll be totally opaque. Some of my nails were after one coat, but some weren't so I decided to just do another coat to all of them. It goes on easily, though it's obviously a bit of a thicker formula due to the amount of glitter and the successful intention for it to be opaque. But it stayed very even, it was very workable, it was great to use.

And if you're curious, 1 thick coat of Poshe did NOT make this smooth to the touch. It was still textured. Not bad, but if you wanted it smooth, I'd definitely suggest 2 coats of topcoat. It's a hungry glitter!!

Zoya Crystal

I got this back when Zoya did their three free polishes promo, along with Mimi and Veruschka. I had no idea what I wanted to put on, so I just opened my Helmer and grabbed the first polish I saw that was untried. It was Crystal. And here it is:













And here's a close up of the polish:


3 coats Crystal (opaque and fine in 2, I'm just ridiculous)
1 coat Poshe

First coat looked sheer-ish, but very easily and quickly buildable and went on smooth. I have no idea why I picked this, because I'm not fond of it for spring. It's a silvery metallic blue with scattered teeny tiny flakes of yellow gold. Despite the gold, it still gives an overall silvery blue metallic look to me rather than a gold-ish blue. I really wish it could pull the yellow gold out a little more. This would be a gorgeous wintery color. I don't know what it is, but I just really don't like it for spring.

On a side note, I actually know what I want to do for my Wednesday nails. I can't see myself doing anything else with this polish other than taking it off and storing it away for winter!! And I feel a water marble coming on. It won't be done this week or I wouldn't be able to wear my planned Wednesday nails, or I'd only be able to wear the water marble for one day (Thursday). The process is laborious, so when I water marble, it will stay on for at least 2 days. So possibly Sunday or Monday. We will see!!

Song:
Nickelback - Rockstar