Tag: jelly

Try it on Tuesday | Icing Hey Sailor Boy & HK Girl Top Coat

Happy Tuesday! I haven’t written a Try it on Tuesday post in quite some time! Try it on Tuesday is when nail bloggers and nail polish lovers alike try on a polish from their collection that has been sitting there untried for a great deal of time. Yesterday I decided to grab a polish called Hey Sailor Boy from the Icing, and sealed it with one of the most talked about top coats in the nail polish community, HK Girl from Glisten and Glow. Let me show you this awesome combination!

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Up first is Hey Sailor Boy! It is a gorgeous, dark blue jelly polish filled with blue micro glitter and blue and green hexagonal glitters. I received this polish as a gift, and I am so thrilled I did! Not only does Hey Sailor Boy have an amazing formula that is opaque in two coats, but it is a dupe for the beloved Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe! I just love the dimensional look with this polish — it appears to be a jelly sandwich manicure without the extra work! Hey Sailor Boy is also so shiny and glittery that my camera had a difficult time capturing its amazingness. My photos do not do this polish justice!

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To complete my manicure, I reached for the Glisten and Glow HK Girl Top Coat. I received this bottle as a gift from Jill, the owner of Glisten and Glow, for helping her judge a nail art competition, and had yet to use it. I typically use up one top coat at a time, but I was unhappy with the results I had been getting with my other top coats, so I decided to switch it up and reach for this one. I’m so glad I did! HK Girl is the shiniest top coat I’ve ever used — it looks like I got a gel manicure done at the salon! It also dries extremely quickly. The one drawback of HK Girl is that it does have a stronger odor than most nail polishes, but I’m willing to put up with that for the results I got. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that HK Girl retails for just $6.95 on Glisten and Glow’s website HERE!  That is a very good price for an indie top coat!

All in all, I am loving my current manicure. Not only did I get to try out a polish and a top coat that have been sitting in my collection for several weeks, but Hey Sailor Boy is perfectly themed for the Fourth of July! You can stop by your local Icing store to grab a bottle of Hey Sailor Boy for just $4.50. Be sure to leave me a comment below with your favorite top coat as well!

The products in this post were given to me as gifts from two separate people. This post contains some affiliate links. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Indie Spotlight: The Escape Collection from Rainbow Polish

Happy Thursday! Today I am very excited to be sharing three beautiful polishes from the indie brand Rainbow Polish’s new Escape Collection. I have never tried Rainbow Polish before, and I am so impressed with the ones I’m about to show you today. Even the packaging is great — the bottles and labels are professionally done. Here is a quick look at the polishes in the bottle, and then a detailed review!

 

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First up is Wild Orchid, a beautiful pink jelly polish with scattered holographic glitter and blue and purple hexagonal glitters. Wild Orchid is opaque in two coats and has a great, full coverage formula. The polish glides on so easily, and I just love the color combination. Wild Orchid is like a jelly sandwich manicure in one polish!

 

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Next up is Stinging Jellyfish, a multicolored glitter top coat with holographic bar glitters mixed in! I layered one coat over Spoiled in Plastic Flamingo. Stinging Jellyfish has a great formula, and is absolutely stunning! It can make any nail polish color have an instant rock star quality! The photos above don’t do the sparkle justice — when the holographic glitters hit the light it looks amazing!

 

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Last but not least is Tahitian Waters, a light blue jelly base with holographic grains, medium pink hexagons, large holographic hexagons, and holographic squares. I layered one coat over Sally Hansen Barracuda since the formula is too sheer to be worn alone. Once again I am so impressed with the formula of this polish! The glitters apply with ease — absolutely no fishing for them whatsoever! Tahitian Waters is such a unique polish, and perfect for summer!

All in all, I am loving these polishes from the Rainbow Polish Escape Collection. These are just three of the eight available, so be sure to head on over to her Etsy shop HERE to see the full collection. Each polish retails for $8.50, but you get a discount when you buy the whole collection at $49. You can also stay up to date with Rainbow Polish on Facebook HERE.

 

The products in this post were provided for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

 

 

 

 

A Follower Inspired Jelly Sandwich Manicure!

Happy Monday! Today’s post features a fun manicure that was inspired by my Facebook fans back in March. I thought it would be fun to put together a look that was created by you, so I asked for ideas. Lori suggested I use Barbie pink and glitter, Alex suggested glitter as well, and Stephanie called for a jelly sandwich design. Let me show you the result when I put all three of these thoughts together!

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First I began with two coats of Sitting Pretty from the brand Tip Top Nails South Africa. I love the bright pink of Sitting Pretty. This polish also has a great application, but the jelly formula takes forever to dry. In fact, I receive linen imprints on my nails even days after putting this one on. Luckily, I knew any marks wouldn’t be noticeable with this jelly sandwich manicure, so I grabbed Sitting Pretty since I love the color and the formula is just what I was looking for!

 

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I completed my manicure with one layer of Equinots from A Rhyming Dictionary Polish (see that review HERE), and one final layer of Sitting Pretty. I just loved the end result! The red, purple, and pink glitters from Equinots stood out well beneath the jelly of Sitting Pretty. I loved how all of the ideas from my followers came together in this fun and bright manicure! I thought the colors were just perfect for spring!

While the polishes I used in this post are not readily available for purchase at the moment, you can recreate this manicure with any jelly nail polish and the glitter of your choice! You can see my past jelly sandwich manicures HERE and HERE to get more inspiration! Let me know what your favorite combinations for jelly sandwich manicures are!

 

The products in this post were provided for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

 

Illamasqua Rampage and a Jelly Sandwich!

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! Today I am bringing you a splurge polish. While I value a bargain, sometimes it is nice to treat myself to a higher priced polish. I bought my first Illamasqua at the end of the summer at Sephora for $14. I’ve already used it for three manicures, so I’m making sure to get my money’s worth! Let me show you this jelly polish.

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Illamasqua Rampage is a dark green polish with a jelly finish. Unlike many jellies, I was able to achieve opacity with just two coats! This polish’s formula is just okay — it was a bit streaky and uneven. This is characteristic of jelly polishes, but because it is a higher end brand, I expect a bit more from it. I also find it difficult to make my manicure look perfect with this one, but if I make too much of a mess I can just clean it up afterwards. Formula issues aside, I love this color! I wore it for the first time on Thanksgiving, and I couldn’t help but carry this trend over into winter.

You may remember my last post, where I used Rampage as the base color for Are You My Mummy? from Lucky 13 Lacquer (see that post HERE). Well, I couldn’t help but make a jelly sandwich! Here’s how it came out.

IMG_0228 IMG_0230 IMG_0227I am absolutely thrilled with the final product! If you don’t know what a jelly sandwich is, you can see THIS post for more information. Basically, it’s when you layer glitter in between layers of jelly nail polish.  To get the look above, I have on two coats of Rampage, two coats of Are You My Mummy?, and one very thin coat of Rampage. Because of the dark color of this Illamasqua, I made sure to use a very thin coat over the glitter so I could still see the different shapes and colors. I would say this mani upgrade was a complete success!

You can purchase Illamasqua nail polish on Sephora’s website for $14 per bottle.

Indie Spotlight: Cameo Colours Lacquer

Happy Wednesday! I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a great holiday yesterday. I am back to blogging now after a short break, and I have three polishes to show you from the indie brand Cameo Colours Lacquer. Two of these polishes are holiday themed, but they are both still available to buy, plus they can be worn any time of year. I love how versatile glitter top coats can be! Let me show you the beautiful polishes from Cameo Colours.

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Up first is Stroke of Midnight, which I layered over Essie Play Date, a lilac purple color. Stroke of Midnight is a glitter topcoat in a clear base that is filled with silver bar glitter and circle glitters in pink, purple, and blue. I layered one coat over Play Date to get the look in the photos. Stroke of Midnight has a great formula. The glitters were easy to apply and were perfectly flat upon application. I love the manicure I got when I layered Stroke of Midnight over a purple color. It’s perfect for any time of year!!

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Next up is Tangled Lights, which I layered over Julep Isla, a metallic white polish. For this manicure I went with more of a holiday feel. Tangled Lights is another glitter top coat filled with small hexagonal glitters in every color you can think of! The base is also full of holographic shimmer, which really makes the polish shine in the light. I applied two coats of Tangled Lights over Isla to get the look in the photos above. I love this manicure! Tangled Lights can be worn over another color for use throughout the year.

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Last but not least is Kings and Queens from the Thirty Seconds to Mars Collection. This is an orange jelly base filled with holographic glitters. There is a holo shimmer throughout, plus small hexagons, and crescent moons! I was quite surprised when Kings and Queens was opaque in just two coats. This polish was a dream to apply, but I did have a hard time getting the moon glitters to come out of the bottle. Make sure to give yours a good shake so they will rise to the top of the polish! Kings and Queens is just gorgeous!

All in all, I really love these polishes from Cameo Colours Lacquer! I was very impressed with the quality of the formula, and I definitely recommend this brand. Make sure you stop by to purchase the holiday polishes before they sell out! You can shop on Etsy HERE. Full size bottles are $8 each. You can also visit the Cameo Colours Facebook page HERE.

 

The products in this post were provided for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Brand Power: Tip Top Nails South Africa

Tip Top Nails is a brand from South Africa that creates vegan and 4-free polishes made from natural ingredients. Today I have four polishes from their NailChic line to show you. I really loved all of these polishes, especially the brush! The flat brush applies polish perfectly, distributing it evenly with every stroke. The formula in each polish was also outstanding. More detailed comments to come in the color descriptions!

First up is Sitting Pretty, a bright pink jelly polish. The color was a bit brighter on my nails than I thought it was going to be, but I really like it. With two coats the color was opaque. The one thing I really did not like about this polish, was that even after wearing it for two days, I woke up to impressions on my nails from my blankets. I can understand that this happens when polish is not completely dry, but it was strange that it still occurred forty-eight hours after application. It must just be the formula. Besides this one issue, I love Sitting Pretty and can’t wait to wear it again!

 

Traffic Lights is a metallic red polish with a beautiful shimmer. I am not usually a big fan of red polishes, but this one is stunning. I did apply two coats, but you could honestly just use one! My only complaint with Traffic Lights is that removal took a bit more effort than usual, but other than that I am happy with it. I definitely plan on using this color again during the holidays. It is perfect for Christmas!

Next up is Jitterbug Lime, a metallic lime green. This is also a shimmer polish, with green and gold undertones. I was very surprised by how pretty this color is. Upon first look, it has a frosted finish, but in the light the color truly shines. I used two coats of Jitterbug Lime, and both were necessary to achieve opacity. Brush strokes are visible with this polish, as with almost all other metallics that I’ve used, yet this does not take away from the polish at all. Similar to Traffic Lights, removal of this polish was more difficult that I would like. Otherwise it is stunning!

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The last polish I have to show you is Gold Drop Glitter. I assumed that this polish could easily be worn on its own as the bottle read “Apply 2 coats of colour” on the bottle, just as it did with the other three polishes. But as soon as I applied one coat I realized that Gold Drop Glitter is best used as a glitter top coat. I was determined to use this on its own, so I started painting with hopes that I would achieve full coverage. Four coats later I was satisfied with the look. Gold Drop Glitter is a clear base with fine gold grains. If you’re willing to apply four coats you can wear it on its own. Otherwise, it would go great on top of another color. One day I’ll use this in another mani to show you what it looks like as a topcoat.

All in all, I really loved these polishes from Tip Top Nails. I wore each for 2-3 days and only experienced minimal wear along the tips of my nails. I definitely recommend these polishes. Those in South Africa can purchase Tip Top at their local Clicks store. The rest of us can follow the Tip Top Facebook community HERE and on Twitter HERE. You can also view all Tip Top products on their website: http://www.tiptopnails.co.za.

Have you tried this brand before? What do you think of these polishes?

The products in this post were provided to me for review. All opinions are my own.