Tag: glitter

Sephora by OPI It’s My Pink!

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Pink nail polish is my all time favorite, and It’s My Pink! from Sephora by OPI is no exception. I received this polish in a grab bag I purchased in a nail polish swap group for $20. A lot of nail polish aficionados end up selling their unwanted (and unused!) polish in grab bags to clear them out. I got an amazing bag with two full size indie polishes, and lots of other goodies. The value was well over $20. I was also really excited to get It’s My Pink! in the bag. I had been eyeing it on Copious for some time!

It’s My Pink! is from the Betsey Johnson line featured only at Sephora stores. The formula was great! I applied two coats for full opacity, and there were no streaks whatsoever. It also dried very quickly. My only complaint with this polish is that it did chip along the tips after about a day or two. Otherwise, I love this polish and plan to use it very frequently. I already used it as a pedicure, too!

Not only is It’s My Pink! a gorgeous Barbie pink, but it is scented! Once the polish dries, you will smell Betsey Johnson’s fragrance Too Too. The smell is not overwhelming, but is just enough for you to notice it. I loved the scent, and actually painted on an extra coat after a few days so I could revive the perfume. I know that a lot of people are not a fan of scented nail polishes, but this fragrance is so light that you should give it a try. This is an all-around fantastic polish!

 

I also finished up with an accent nail of OPI Nothin’ Mousie ‘Bout It from the Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection! This is a light pink glitter polish with hearts in it. I think it went perfectly with It’s My Pink! It gave my manicure a little something extra, without being too glittery.

If you love pink nail polish, I definitely suggest buying a bottle of It’s My Pink! The original retail price is $9.50, but Sephora has the Betsey Johnson line on sale for just $5 now. Try to find this polish before it sells out!

Favorite Friday: Neon Pink + Glitter

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Friday! Today I bring you a look created with two of my favorite nail polishes. Every Friday I like to use a polish that I love, but that I haven’t used in a while. I thought today would be the perfect time to use a neon pink with glitter over it. Remember when I got L.A. City Nights from Jordana? I knew that it needed to be used over pink! You can read that post HERE. Not only is today’s manicure fabulous, but I used polishes that both retail for $1.99 each! They can be found at your local drugstores.

 

 

I began with two coats of Plastic Flamingo by Spoiled. This polish has been featured many times on my blog already, but it is such a great neon pink! The formula is a little streaky, but it evens out with two coats. For just $1.99, there is no excuse to not have Plastic Flamingo in your nail polish stash. The best part is that neon pinks are still in for fall! I’ve spotted many girls sporting this color on the subway.

 

 

I’ve worn Plastic Flamingo alone a few times, but today I wanted some extra sparkle. Jordana Glitters in L.A. City Nights is a glitter polish with fine purple grains and small blue hexagonal glitters. I applied one thick coat over the neon pink, and then applied a glossy topcoat. I absolutely love the look! It is so fun! I wish I could capture the glitter better, but as you can see it is quite bright and sparkly! It is definitely the perfect manicure for the weekend, or any day! I love that Jordana nail polishes are sold for $1.99 also. How can you go wrong?

What do you think of my Favorite Friday manicure? Do you rock similar polishes?

Coterie Grand Opening & Butter London Review

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I am extremely excited to tell you all about a brand new website called Coterie. Similar to HauteLook, Coterie is a website that features flash sales on beauty brands. Its grand opening is today, but I was lucky enough to hear about a preview sale they were having last week featuring the nail polish brand Butter London. This brand usually retails for $14 a bottle, quite a bit out of my price range. With Coterie’s preview sale, I got 3 Butter Londons plus a matte topcoat for a total of $11 shipped! That is a $60 value for just $11! Let me show you the polishes I got. I’ll show you the polishes on their own, and then with the matte topcoat.

First up is Knackered. This is a duochrome polish with holographic glitters in it. Knackered is a purple/blue polish, and looks amazing in the bottle. I was a bit disappointed when I tried it out, though, because it is really sheer. It is definitely best used as a layering polish. In the photos above I am wearing three coats of Knackered. I love the glittery look, but definitely need to try this over another polish since I am not a fan of the sheer look. Besides that issue, I had no problems with the formula whatsoever.

 

 

Above is Knackered with the matte topcoat over it. It does look neat, but the matte took away the look of the holographic glitters, my favorite part of this polish. The best part about the matte topcoat is that if you don’t like it, you can apply a glossy topcoat right over it and restore the look of the original polish. No harm done!

 

 

Up next is West End Wonderland, a gold glitter nail polish with hints of orange. Luckily this polish lived up to how it looked in the bottle, and I got full coverage with just two coats. I have used gold glitter polishes before, but West End Wonderland is truly unique with the incorporation of the orange shade. It gives the polish more dimension. I also have to note that this glitter polish was the easiest to remove! I used the tin foil method, but only had to wait 3-5 minutes for the polish to come right off. Definitely a time saver!

 

 

Here is West End Wonderland with the matte finish. I have been dying to try out a matte topcoat over glitter, and I’m so happy I got the chance! The glitter is more subdued and not as shiny, but instead has a cool, grainy look. I can’t wait to try this finish over square/hexagonal glitters!

 

 

Last up is All Hail the Queen, my favorite polish of the bunch. This polish is a neutral shade with lots of shimmer, including holographic shimmer! That means this beige polish reflects all colors of the rainbow when it reflects light. My photos just don’t do this polish justice! All Hail the Queen is a great polish to spice up any neutral look. I used two coats of this polish to achieve opacity.

 

 

Finally, here is All Hail the Queen with matte topcoat. Just as with Knackered, this polish loses its holographic shine with this finish. To be honest, I applied my glossy topcoat to this manicure as soon as I could. The matte looked too much like sand for my liking! I also finished up my manicure with Julep’s Yumi. I couldn’t resist adding more glitter!

 All in all, I am still super excited about Coterie! I got an amazing deal on these polishes, and I can’t wait to see what sales they feature in the future. Make sure you join Coterie HERE. The Butter London sale is still available for a limited time. Enter code ZOEREPORT at checkout to get $25 off!

Indie Spotlight: Dollish Polish Mario Collection

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Yesterday I polled my Facebook fans and asked what post they wanted to see next on my blog. The votes are in! Today I have for you an Indie Spotlight featuring two polishes from the Dollish Pollish Mario Collection. I purchased 1-Up and The Koompa King on Copious as a part of a group order. There was a listing for the complete collection, but by splitting up the polishes, I got to spend less money and try out two polishes that I really liked. A group order is a great way to get expensive and hard to find polishes at a discount price! Let me show you 1-Up and The Koompa King.

 

 

1-Up is a glitter top coat in a clear base. It is comprised mainly of small, green hexagonal glitters, but also has small, white squares, large white hexagons, and white bar glitter. The formula is great and dries really quickly. In order to get the glitters the way you want them, it does take a bit of special application techniques, but with two coats I achieved a fabulous look. I layered 1-Up over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet. Though 1-Up is Mario themed, I could definitely see this polish as a Saint Patrick’s Day manicure.

The Koompa King is also a glitter top coat in a clear base. It’s main color is gold, which is found in small grains and small and large hexagonal glitters. Mixed in are red squares, small white hexagons, small and large green hexagons, large silver hexagons, black bar glitter, and (my personal favorite) holographic diamonds. I layered The Koompa King over Illamasqua Optimist, and the look I got was so fun! I only needed two coats of this glitter to achieve this look. I got lots of compliments on this polish! I can’t wait to use it again.

You can buy Dollish Polish direct from their website HERE. The Mario Collection has become hard to find, but keep your eyes open and you might just spot a good deal like I did.

What do you think of these polishes? Have you tried Dollish Polish?

Indie Spotlight: 2Chix Lacquer in Belle

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Today I have a polish from the indie brand 2Chix Lacquer to review for you! This brand is run by two “Melissas” and one of them sent me Belle from the Disney Princess collection. I have been obsessed with glitter top coats lately, and this one is gorgeous. Just look at the bottle!

Belle is in a clear base filled with fine white and gold grains, small gold and brown hexagonal glitters, and large white hexagonal glitters. I wasn’t sure what color to use this over, so I chose white. I got good coverage with two coats over my white base. The polish was easy to apply, and the white glitters still stood out on my white base as they are nice and shiny. Belle also dried really quickly, too. I finished with a top coat to even things out, and to keep the glitter in place. I love how unique this polish looks!

This polish really does remind me of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I would never think to put this color combination together, but it is really pretty. Next time I will try a different base color, but I think it looks great over white. I definitely suggest this polish from 2Chix! Not only does it look nice, but the formula is very good quality.

You can find 2Chix Lacquer on Facebook HERE and shop from their Etsy store HERE. Polishes retail for $8.75 each.

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

Try it on Tuesday: Wet ‘n Wild Fergie Collection in Miami Spirit

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I have always been a fan of Fergie, so when I found out she was joining forces with Wet ‘n Wild to create a nail polish line, I couldn’t wait to try them! I received Miami Spirit in nail mail from Polish Monster, and had every intention to use it right away. Well, for some reason weeks have passed and I hadn’t even opened the bottle. I decided to try it this week, as it is a perfect fall color.

 

Miami Spirit is a teal polish with green and blue shimmer. It was opaque with two coats of polish, and the formula was great. I didn’t experience any problems whatsoever! The brush that comes with Fergie polish is really wide, and at first I thought it would make things more difficult, but I found that it was easy to use despite how big it was. In fact, it holds a lot of polish! I am also happy to report that Miami Spirit dries rather quickly. All around it is a great polish!

 

Though I was loving the color and shimmer of Miami Spirit, my manicure just needed a little something extra. I went to my nail polish stash and grabbed Maybe I’m Crazy from the indie brand Absolutlacquer. You can read my full review of Maybe I’m Crazy HERE, but this polish is basically a glitter top coat with as many different colors and shapes of glitter as you could imagine. Last time, I wore it on top of a red polish, and some of the red glitters blended in. I wondered what it would look like on a shimmery teal. It turns out that it looks fantastic!

 

 

What I love about Maybe I’m Crazy is that you can achieve a different look with it every time you use it. That’s because the base color changes which glitters stand out. Plus, each nail is going to have a different combination of glitters on it. With the added shimmer from Miami Spirit, my nails are super shiny, and lots of fun! I’m so glad I tried this combination on together.

 

You can purchase the Wet ‘n Wild Fergie collection at your nearest Walgreens for just $3.50 a bottle! That’s pretty fabulous and affordable. Have you tried this brand yet?

Favorite Friday: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Favorite Friday! This week I am using another polish from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I know I blog about this brand a lot, but it’s because the polishes are great quality at an amazing price.  Plus, there are dozens of colors to choose from, and you can buy them at almost any drugstore or department store. I decided to use Celeb City this week because it is one of my all time favorites. Not only is my bottle half full, but my roommate from undergraduate school loved it so much she bought her own bottle! I think one day I’ll end up purchasing a replacement of this one.

 

Celeb City is a silver metallic polish with lots of shimmer. Unfortunately my photos are not going to do the polish justice today, as they were taken from my iPad. I promise only camera photos from now on! Anyway, the formula of Celeb City is perfect. I do need to apply two coats, but it goes on smoothly and evenly. It also dries really quickly. The best part about this polish, though, is that it lasts a really long time without chipping. If you want a polish that lasts over a week, this is the one!

 

Even though Celeb City looks amazing on its own, I decided to add an accent nail with Hollywood Walk of Fame from the new Wet ‘n Wild Fergie collection. I recently got it in a nail polish swap, and thought it would be fun with silver. I’ve never tried star glitter before. It looks great, but it hard to apply. A full review of Fergie polishes at some point in the future.

 

What do you think of Celeb City? Do you like silver nail polishes?

Indie Spotlight: Shimmer Polish Part I

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Today will be the first in the Indie Spotlight to showcase Shimmer Polish. Shimmer is an indie brand comprised of glitters. Each glitter is named after a family member or friend of the creator of Shimmer, Cindy. I was super excited when Cindy contacted me to ask if I would review her polishes for my readers. This brand is absolutely divine! I love glitter polishes, especially those that you can wear alone without layering them over another polish. Shimmer is the perfect glitter that can be worn either alone or as a layering polish. Cindy was kind enough to send me almost her entire collection to review. Thus, there will be several posts to highlight Shimmer Polish! I hope you enjoy the first two polishes I have to show you.

Jasmine is the first Shimmer I tried out. I didn’t know which to choose first, so I asked my mom what her favorite color was (blue), and she chose this aquamarine over another dark blue polish. When speaking of Shimmer, the base in this case is not a colored polish. In fact, all of her polishes are in a clear base, but there is a base color that can often be detected. Jasmine has a very light blue base that leans to the teal side. Along with the fine, teal glitter, there are small hexagons of dark blue, red, green, and silver. There are also larger hexagons that appear to be either gold or silver, depending on the light. I used just two coats of this polish to get full coverage! I was really happy about that.

The formula of Jasmine is amazing. It is a bit on the thick side, but it’s not clumpy at all. It was also very easy to use — I applied it just like a regular polish. Jasmine tried very quickly on its own, and I followed with a topcoat to even out the glitter. I’ll be honest — I kept singing “A Whole New World,” from Disney’s Aladdin every time I looked at Jasmine on my nails. It is just so gorgeous!

The next Shimmer I tried was Cassandra. Unlike the other Shimmers that Cyndi sent me, Cassandra does not have any color in it. Instead, it is an opalescent glitter in the same clear base. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to wear this on its own, but with three coats I got an amazing look. Jasmine has very fine glitters, small hexagons, and large hexagons that are all opalescent. While the polish at first may appear clear or white, when the light reflects off of the glitters, you can see all the colors of the rainbow! I feel like I am wearing snowflakes on my fingers. This would be a great polish for winter.

Just like Jasmine, the formula was great. This time I did need the third coat to get more coverage, but that’s just because of this particular color. Although Cassandra did seem to dry rather quickly, I smudged it a few times after 20-30 minutes of wear. This is probably because of the third coat I applied. Luckily, I was able to smudge the polish right back into place. No harm done! I also did not use a topcoat this time, Cassandra is not as textured as Jasmine. This polish is perfect if you want a more subtle glitter on your nails! It’s not as “out there” as some others.

I hope you enjoyed this post about Shimmer Polish! You can buy these online at Etsy HERE, and visit the Shimmer blog HERE. Stay tuned for the next installment on Shimmer!

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

Try it on Tuesday: Orly Rock Solid

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I wasn’t planning on participating in Try it on Tuesday this week, as I had hoped to do a mani upgrade with a gradient. Unfortunately, my last mani got all messed up (my fault!), and I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. Thus, here I am! I asked my Facebook followers which brand I should try out today, and they voted for Orly. I think they made a great decision!

Rock Solid is my first Orly polish. I bought it on HauteLook using credits and only paid $0.45 for it! This polish is actually from the Mineral FX Fall 2011 line, so it’s like I went dusty hunting online for this one. Rock Solid is a dark grey polish with small holographic glitters. I used two coats to achieve full opacity. The formula is a dream to work with– no streaks whatsoever! It also dries rather quickly. For once I didn’t use a topcoat, either, as I love the look Rock Solid has. The finish is a bit textured. This may sound silly, but it looks and feels like a rock, only not in the “I found it in my backyard” sort of way. Instead, it is stunning! The glitter shines in the light, and changes color as you move your hand. The grey also has a silver undertone. It’s beautiful!

Look at that bottle!

 

Rock on!

 

I’m not usually one for dark colors, but I’m loving this one! I can’t wait to wear it more in the fall and winter. I also love the Orly cap and brush. The cap is a soft, grip material. That way it doesn’t wiggle around in your hand when your painting your nails. The brush is also awesome. It’s thin, but holds a lot of polish. No mistakes or globs here! I hope to get more Orly polishes in my stash.

If you’re not an HauteLook member, make sure you join HERE. They have sales on nail polish all the time!

Indie Spotlight: AbsolutLacquer in Maybe I’m Crazy & Confetti Cake

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Welcome to my first Indie Spotlight post! A few months ago I had no idea that indie polish existed, but I quickly learned of this underground world of polishmakers. Indie polish is created and sold by small businesses. They are typically 3-free, and can be very sought after. Some indie polishes sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay! On average, indie polish is about $8-10 for a full size bottle. While this is a bit more than I typically like to spend, it is nice to support small businesses when you have room in your budget. My Indie Spotlight posts will highlight some of the sellers that create this stunning polish!

AbsolutLacquer was kind enough to send me two minis from her store to test out for review. I was thrilled to use my first indie! I began with Maybe I’m Crazy layered over Zoya America. Maybe I’m Crazy is a glitter top coat in a clear base that literally has every type of glitter you can think of — bars, hexagons (large & small), squares, and fine — in a variety of different colors. You can layer this over basically any color, because it is sure to have a matching glitter in the bottle. I think it looks great over this bright red!

 

I’ll be honest, when I first started using this polish I thought, “Maybe I’m Crazy, but what am I doing wrong?” As I’m not used to this type of glitter polish, I found it a bit difficult at first to master the polishing technique. In order to get the glitter on your nail successfully, make sure to have a lot on the brush! Then, you want to dab the polish instead of swiping it across the nail. That way the glitter will stay on your nail and not on the brush. I used about 1-2 coats to achieve this look. Isn’t it fabulous?! I got lots of compliments on this polish.

 

My one woe with Maybe I’m Crazy is that removal took some effort. As with any glitter polish, I used the tin foil method (read about that HERE). Make sure you let your tin foil claws sit for at least ten minutes. That way the glitter will come right off! Even though this takes a bit of extra removal time, I don’t mind at all because Maybe I’m Crazy is stunning. I can’t wait to use it again. Here are a couple more photos.

Look at that bottle!

 

 

The next polish I have to show you is Confetti Cake. This is a white based polish with multi-colored hexagonal glitters. Unlike Maybe I’m Crazy, I didn’t need to dab on this polish. Instead, it applied like a dream! The polish stays true to it’s name. In fact, I had to remind myself as I was applying it that it was in fact nail polish, and not frosting! I used three coats of Confetti Cake on it’s own to get this look.

 

I am absolutely loving Confetti Cake! The white base has a frosted look, and the glitter spreads out perfectly. One thing that’s so fun about this polish is the look you get when adding coats. The glitter is brightly colored just like sprinkles, but when the white is over the glitter you get a beautiful pastel look. Thus, each nail has some bright and some pastel glitters. It gives a fantastic look! It was definitely worth the three coats, but if you wanted to conserve the polish, simply start out with one coat of white polish. That way you will have more Confetti Cake for future manis!

It looks so yummy!

 

 

I’ve been craving some cake since painting this mani! But that’s another story. I am absolutely thrilled with my first experience with indie polish. These are so well made, and you can tell a lot of work has gone into making the formula perfect. I highly suggest you check out AbsolutLacquer and buy some of her polishes! Shop her Etsy site HERE. Full size polishes are $8, and she JUST released a brand new neon collection! Also, be sure to like her Facebook page HERE. She often has contests for free polish!

What do you think of AbsolutLacquer? Have you tried this brand before?

 

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