Happy Hands Am I Not Yours?

Happy Hands Am I Not Yours was released with the Faint of Heart collection for this past Valentine's Day. It's a dark, teal-green jelly packed with glitter. I actually took a bottle shot this time, just because I'm so smitten with the glitter mix.

How cool is that? It looks pretty awesome on the nail, too. And sorry about the state of my cuticles- I wore this manicure the week before my presentation, which was full of stress and unfortunately, cuticle-picking. So my skin is looking pretty rough, lol.

But the glitter!!

I've told you of my love for square glitter, so it shouldn't surprise you that my favorite part of this polish is the big teal squares.

So, I've layered 2 coats of Am I Not Yours over 2 coats of American Apparel Passport Blue. It was pretty thick, so I'd definitely recommend keeping thinner on hand, and being generous with it. I had no trouble getting a good amount of glitter on my nails, which was great. This manicure looked so cool in person.

Have you tried any Happy Hands polishes? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

HARE Cast in Bronze

HARE Cast in Bronze is from the Fall 2012 Finders Keepers collection. It's a unique combination of copper glitters in a warm, dusty lilac base. Unexpected, but so pretty!

Unfortunately, I don't have any base colors that would go with this. And if you are like me, ie. thoroughly unfamiliar with the indie glitter formula, you will have a hard time with application. This is my second attempt with Cast in Bronze, and it is MUCH better than the first one, let me tell you. Let each coat dry completely, and there might be a few times when you have to scrape the glitter off the brush and just use the base to fill in some patchy areas. This might also be because of the fact that I apply thin coats, though. And I should be clear, I think this color is entirely worth the effort!

This picture, taken in direct sunlight, is a more accurate representation of the base color. I know I said I've cooled off purples, but turns out I still like the cool, unique ones. I just find the majority of purples boring, I guess. I really dig HARE's unexpected color combinations. They seem so odd when you think about it, but work so nicely on the nail!

Have you tried Cast in Bronze? Thoughts? Application tips, perhaps?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week! To my fellow Americans, have a great 4th of July weekend! I am SO looking forward to this four-day weekend. 

Crowstoes A Christmas Crow

Aww, Crowstoes month is coming to an end. I hope you've enjoyed the month-long onslaught! I've saved my favorite for last. Crowstoes A Christmas Crow, like Maxxed Out, is part of the CROWSmas collection from this past holiday season.

DISCLOSURE: A Christmas Crow was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

A Christmas Crow is a smoky dark brown, almost black jelly packed with color-shifting red-gold shimmer and glitter. Here it is at four coats alone:

It's still a bit sheer, but passable in this state, I think. Also, the formula was great! I told you previously that I had to add quite a bit of thinner to get my other glittery Crows the way I liked them, but this needed no thinner. Excellent.

I just love the shimmer! But here's the real stunner: A Christmas Crow over black.

Hold me. It's AWESOME. Oh, and sorry about the random change in nail length! I received the package with polishes to review just before getting my cast off, and I was so excited about this one I wore it over black as soon as I got home from the doctor's office!

I used 2 coats of A Christmas Crow over 2 coats of Sinful Colors Black on Black. The black base made the shimmer stand out, and it is just fantastic.

A word of caution to those with sensitive noses- use this in a well-ventilated area! A Christmas Crow had an unusual, strong smell, and while it didn't bother me, I wanted to point it out just in case it made a difference for one of you. I can't remember where, but I recall reading about another polish of a similar color with a similar unusual, strong smell, which leads me to wonder if it has something to do with the colorants.

DISCLOSURE: A Christmas Crow was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

Have you tried A Christmas Crow? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Crowstoes Maxxed Out

Crowstoes Maxxed Out is from the CROWSmas collection, which as you might have guessed, was her first Christmas collection!

DISCLOSURE: Maxxed Out was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

Maxxed out is a super flashy mix of gold and silver glitter, with lots of holographic sparkle. I really love this. It's tied with A Christmas Crow for my favorite Crow! You'll see A Christmas Crow on Friday. I layered Maxxed Out over Essie Brooch the Subject. 1 coat over 3 coats of Brooch the Subject.

I treated Maxxed Out the same way I did Absolum- by thinning the bejeezus out of it and wiping off the brush before beginning my application. Aside from the slight traffic jam of gold glitter on my ring fingernail, application wasn't bad at all.

I'm really liking the look of metallic glitter over a nude. And I actually remembered to try it matte! Check it out. I used Essie Matte About You.

How awesome is that?

Maxxed Out looks awesome matte. And I have another combo to show you. Remember waaaay back in January when I posted my favorite bases for layering? Yeah, I'm bringing Dorien Grey back.

After the first go with Maxxed Out, I was able to spread out the glitter better, and application was great.

I like this combination, but the glitter is sort of hard to capture while the mani is glossy, soooo I decided to add Essie Matte About You again.

Dat glitter.

I think this is my favorite way to wear it. Interestingly enough, yes, there is bar glitter in here, and while I'm still not enamored with it, it didn't affect my love for this super flashy glitter!

DISCLOSURE: Maxxed Out was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

Have you tried Maxxed Out? I'd also like to try this over some different base colors, and I'm curious as to what you'd recommend!

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Crowstoes Absolum- Your Potions Master

Crowstoes Absolum- Your Potions Master is another one of the first colors released.

DISCLOSURE: Absolum was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

It's a complex layering glitter with glints of blue, orange, and green. Predictably enough, I layered it over two blues, but damn if it doesn't look super cool! I only wish I had remembered to use a matte top coat. So first up, here it is over New York Summer Hot Sky Blue.

Like Bunny Slope, Absolum has a thiiiiick formula, but I thinned it to my liking, wiped off the brush really well before applying, and application was much easier.

Interestingly enough, there is some bar glitter in here, long black pieces, but I don't have a super strong aversion to them like I usually do. Still not crazy about the bars, but bar glitter is almost always a dealbreaker for me. Which brings me to my next base color, American Apparel Passport Blue!

I think this is my favorite base for Absolum. Not only do the brighter glitters pop, the black bar glitter disappears! I don't hate it in this application, but I'm certainly not fussed about it's disappearance, heh.

Okay, I know I've been talking about similar polishes for the Pleiades, but I tried going into Etsy to look at comparable glitters, and my head just about exploded. Plus, glitter formulas vary so widely from brand to brand and even within brands, and indie glitters even more so. My point being, I'd feel sort of weird bringing up other indie glitters when I'm completely unfamiliar with the brands, so I'm going to forego this particular part of my typical blog post for Absolum and the remaining two glitters.

DISCLOSURE: Absolum was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

Have you tried Absolum? Are you as nutty about bar glitter as I am?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Crowstoes Bunny Slope

Happy Friday! Today I have the first of four Crowstoes glitters for you. Bunny Slope is one of Crowstoes' first colors, and is a unique blend of matte white glitter and a few other glitters I can't quite put my finger on.

DISCLOSURE: Bunny Slope was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

There are glints of iridescence here and there, which is really cool! I swatched Bunny Slope alone and over OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, and I have to say, I really would not recommend the first way, LOL.

This is four coats alone. It sort of looks like I used loose glitter, which is a cool effect, but I have pretty much zero experience with this kind of formula, so application was tricky. The formula was very thick, but I've read that Crowstoes uses uncut suspension base, so after testing it one nail I went ahead and thinned it to my liking.

You can see a bit of the iridescent glitter, but unfortunately you can also see I had a hard time getting an even surface, even with thinning and a coat of Gelous. Luckily, the solution is really simple and I wish I had just started with this in the first place! I used 1-2 coats over 3 coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu.

I didn't get full coverage with this round of swatching, but looking at this combination in person, the white from the OPI does a nice job of filling in the gaps, and the result is a super cool, twinkling white.

There are also a few holographic bits in there! You can see a bit of it in the bottle, but unfortunately my camera, once again, had trouble picking it up. This will hopefully be the last time I have to tell you that, LOL. I feel bad that I have to keep saying "IT'S TOTALLY THERE TRUST ME" but yeah, bear with me D: In my attempts to capture some of these Crows properly, my dad let me use is fancy Nikon camera, which is a D3000 or something? I don't remember the exact model number but is it fancy. Anyway, I had even more trouble with that one.

I can't think of anything similar to Bunny Slope, so if it's something that catches your eye I would definitely recommend it, but don't expect this to apply like a Milani One Coat Glitter! Keep thinner on hand and be patient. That last part, I am not so good at, but I think this is worth the trouble.

DISCLOSURE: Bunny Slope was sent to me by Crowstoes for my honest review.

Have you tried Bunny Slope? Thoughts? Do you have any tips for application?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

HARE Star Tropics

Now here's a glitter that I am madly in love with. HARE Star Tropics is from Spring 2012, but was a very limited release due to some formula and glitter problems. I have experienced neither of those issues, but last I heard Nikole was reformulating, so hopefully it will be released with a future collection! It is absolutely gorgeous.

Star Tropics consists of 2 sizes of silver square glitter and small silver hex glitter in a blue jelly base. The base is very slightly blurple, but still distinctly blue. It sort of reminds me of Starry Starry Night, but on some hardcore steroids. With that in mind, I layered it over a dark blue. First, I tried it over Ruby Kisses Regaled Out Blue. 3 coats of the Ruby Kisses, 2 coats of Star Tropics, Gelous, and top coat.

I liked the combination, but felt like my base color didn't quite go. It doesn't have the slight indigo tinge to it, so the second time I decided to layer it over Revlon Urban, and that was perfect!

As you can see, I'm a bit rusty on my glitter application, lol. Fear of removal keeps me from wearing these crazy glitters, to be blunt! Since it's a super chunky glitter in a jelly base, it's not surprising that it's pretty thick, but application wasn't bad, and I had no trouble getting the giant squares onto my nails.

In case I haven't told you enough yet, I LOVE SQUARE GLITTER. Here's a closer look, from the first manicure I did:

The depth that the jelly base imparts is just awesome, even if it doesn't quite go.

As far as I know, there aren't any dupes of this out there. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have a glitter mix with these exact sizes and shapes, in a bunch of differently-colored bases. That would be AWESOME. If someone made a light grey creme/jelly (I still refuse to use the word "crelly") with matte, retina-searing hot pink glitter like this, I would be all over that. And aqua and yellow. Dark teal jelly and an antique-ish gold. I always have these ideas floating around in my head but I'm terrified of messing up and wasting money/supplies so I never actually get around to attempting any of them ._. Story of my life.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

OPI Metallic 4 Life

OPI Metallic 4 Life was released with the Nicki Minaj collection in early 2012. It's a black jelly with tons of silver glitter. Too much glitter, in my opinion. I used 2 very thin coats over a black base and probably should have stuck with one.

Meh. It's not a bad color, just not my thing. It seems sort of messy-looking...

I figured I'd try it matte, since I clearly don't like this as is...

Nope. Should've left it glossy. Oh well, they can't all be winners. I do love the idea of silver glitter in a black jelly base, so I'm debating decanting some of it and adding clear and a little bit of black. The formula wasn't bad, and frankly I didn't want to wear this long enough to comment on wear, so I do want to clarify that it's not an issue of quality or anything. I just think the glitter:base ratio is way off for my tastes. On Friday, I'll have something much much better to show you. :) And one of these days I'll learn to keep track of what day it is, lol!

Nicole by OPI Luke of the Draw looks pretty much the same, if not slightly more dense. But given that they're both OPI products, they're probably just rebottled versions of each other.

Have you tried Metallic 4 Life? How did you feel about it?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Revlon Gold Coin + Orly Halo

Yaaaaay, I am free! My cast was originally supposed to come off four weeks ago, but my wrist was definitely not healed enough at that point, so I got a new one. Watch out for those skateboarders, y'all. I still have a bit of trouble with my right knee. :|

Picking up where I left off, here's Orly Halo. It's an awesome, flashy metallic glitter from the Naughty or Nice Collection that was released last winter. When I tested this on a single nail, I realized it's sheer as hell, so I opted to layer it over a cool gold foil: Revlon Gold Coin. I know I said I wasn't going to buy Gold Coin, but I didn't! I discovered it in my mom's stash. Apparently we both have weaknesses for gold and copper. :'D

Luckily, Gold Coin is really freaking opaque, so I only needed to use one coat for a base. Here it is with 3 coats of Halo on top. I did use top coat, but Halo is surprisingly smooth on its own.

And in the sun:

Yay! Sparkly metallic glittery awesomeness. This is a pretty flashy manicure, and I got several compliments on it from people, which was nice. Let's take a closer look:

Ok, well, you can't really see that much because it's so busy...but it's comprised of small silver hexes mixed with tiny cool gold glitters, and flecks of Gold Coin peeking out through the glitter. I should also note that the wear on this mani was great. 5 days, still super blingy, no chips or tipwear.

As far as dupes go, I can't think of any that I would consider exact, but OPI Spark de Triomphe seems pretty close. I think it has a veeeeery slight greenish tinge, but the glitter composition seems similar. I actually bought Halo to kill my Spark de Triomphe lemming, and it's close enough to suit my purposes.

Have you tried Halo, or any of the other Holiday Orlys? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Revlon Urban + Heavenly

Happy Friday!!! Today I have 2 fabulous polishes from Revlon to show you. Both Urban and Heavenly are from the Bubblegum Days/Urban Nights collection that was recently released by Revlon. I believe the colors are all still available in stores. By far, the most popular color from that collection seems to be Girly, a milky glitter that seems vaguely reminiscent of HARE Rad Cloud and Magic Mist, but to be blunt....I don't like it. It looks kind of messy and chaotic to me. I did pick up a third color from this collection, Eclectic, and you will hopefully be seeing that in a few weeks. Spoiler alert: it sucked. A lot.

Urban and Heavenly, however, do not suck! At all. Let's start with Urban. Urban is a lovely navy creme with purple-ish undertones, which is a nice contrast to the green-tinged dark blues I've been seeing lately. It's solid in 2 coats, not streaky, and dries nice and glossy on its own. In the shade:

Sorry about the dry hands. I did moisturize before taking these photos, I promise, but it's not doing me much good right now. Silly winter weather, making things difficult. In the sun:

Isn't it awesome? So rich and glossy. I didn't use top coat before taking these pictures, by the way. To this manicure, I added one coat of Revlon Heavenly.

Since Urban is dark, the glitter in Heavenly really pops over that base. And I think it's a fun change to layer iridescents over dark blue instead of black. I get bored of layering over black...

Heavenly suspends the glitter in a slightly milky base, but it doesn't interfere with the layering at all. I do think the glitter mix seems...unbalanced, somehow? But it's a fun combination.

Dat color shift. And, as you know by now, I love squares....I also love green-blue iridescent glitter...not quite as much as blue-purple, but it is still awesome.

Now, Heavenly is the latest in Revlon's series of high-end dupes and approximations, and this is apparently a dead-on dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Stairway to Heaven. Based on swatches, Urban looks similar to China Glaze Calypso Blue, but because swatches of the latter vary so much, it's hard to tell. I've never seen Calypso Blue in person though, since it was released before I became a polish addict, so take it with a gigantic grain of salt.

Have you tried any of the Bubblegum Days/Urban Nights polishes? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

HARE King of Carat Flowers

Blegh, Monday. On the bright side, I have my first HARE polish to show you! King of Carat Flowers was released last fall with the Finders Keepers collection, which was packed with interesting and unexpected glitters. This is one that could be worn on its own, but I've been advised that layering really helps, so I chose to layer 2 coats of King of Carat Flowers over 2 coats of SHCSM Dorien Gray, which I've already gushed to you about.

Check it out! Yellow/gold glitter, lavender glitter, delicate gold shimmer, and glints of iridescent blue glitter in a light grey base. I really really love this. Let's take a closer look:

Since I layered it, application was a breeze, and I didn't have to place the glitter or anything. It distributed itself nicely with my normal application method. I had this on my wishlist for a few months before I caved and bought it, and I'm so glad it didn't disappoint! Now I just need to get my hands on Bisbee and Archipelago.

Do you have any HAREs? What do you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals

Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals was released with the Ice Baby collection in late 2011. There was a ton of hype around this collection, and I remember going insane trying to find it. I finally found the three I wanted at a Walgreens near my uni. Aside from Back Alley Deals, I picked up Cost is No Issue and It's All in the Cut, the aqua and lavender glitters. I've worn these glitters several times in the year that's elapsed since I acquired them, but I've had a hell of a time getting decent photos of them. Here's 2 coats of Back Alley Deals over 2 coats of China Glaze VIII. I used a coat of Gelous, but as you can see it's sunk in a little bit, so it could have used a second coat.

I should also note that accurately photographing purples....oy. You know how it is. Back Alley Deals is warmer in person. This is closer, but not quite there:

Anyway, Back Alley Deals is awesome. Standard formula for a full-coverage glitter, and I didn't have trouble with application.

I love the little glints of fuchsia here and there.

The Ice Baby collection is long gone, but there is a dupe: Nails Inc. Bloomsbury Square, which is available at Sephora.

Thoughts? Have you tried Back Alley Deals or Bloomsbury Square? What'd you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

SHCSM Greige Gardens + Lynnderella Connect the Dots

SHCSM Greige Gardens is a relatively new core color. I don't know details of the release, but I started seeing it in stores last spring. I love these types of greige/purple-y colors, but I always worry about how they'd look against my skintone, so I never bought any, but I recently found Greige Gardens on clearance at Target, and decided to cave. I'm glad I did, because it is lovely.

This is 4 coats, without top coat. It dries glossy, and the formula is smooth, but it's a lot more sheer than I think a creme should be. 4 coats for a creme is a bit much. I'm hoping this will go the way of Dorien Grey and improve with time, because I really like this color.

Then I decided to top it with 2 coats of Lynnderella Connect the Dots, and one coat of Gelous. I am in love with this combination.

YAY, square glitter! Those black squares are my favorite part of Connect the Dots, aside from the gigantic black hexes. I know there are tons of alternatives and approximations of Connect the Dots out there, and lots of drama associated with all this, but I still think this one is the nicest. Even with the bar glitter. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the bar glitter fits in really nicely with the other glitters, without reminding me of bacilli or beard trimmings.

It's also worth noting that I've now had this polish for roughly a year and a half, and I've had no issues with sinking glitter, or warping/bleeding/melting, so I'm very pleased in that regard. I totally understand why extensive testing isn't practical for indies, but it is still one of my concerns as a consumer, so I thought I'd throw that in there. If only Lynnderellas still cost $12...

Now, let's talk about similar polishes. For Greige Gardens, three polishes come to mind: Parlez Vous OPI?, A-England Guinevere, and China Glaze Below Deck. Parlez Vous OPI is warmer, more purple, and discontinued; Guinevere is more purple, although I have a hard time judging warmth vs. coolness because of variations between swatches; and Below Deck is darker, warmer, and more purple. Below Deck is definitely the most different of the four.

Connect the Dots, as I've previously mentioned, has a buttload of cousins. I vaguely considered listing them, but ain't nobody got time for that. Except for Chalkboard Nails. Her black & white glitter mega post is awesome and really helpful, so I'll just direct you over there, and you can see for yourself.

Greige seems to be one of those love it or hate it sorts of colors- how do you feel about it? Have you tried Greige Gardens, or Connect the Dots? Or perhaps any of the other black and white glitters? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Pahlish Toxic and Timeless

Happy Friday, y'all! Today I've got Toxic and Timeless to show you. Just a note before I start with the photos, my bottle is from an older batch, has no bar glitter, and a darker, sheer teal jelly base. I think the barless batch was an anomaly, as was the sheer teal base. It's definitely a lot bluer than what's shown in the current listing, so I don't think this version exists anymore. Incidentally, I'm quite pleased with what I've got! Here is one coat over my franken, Across the Ocean. I had been wearing my franken for 5 days at that point, so I apologize for the growth. And for the cell phone picture, haha. I just really wanted to show you what this looked like!

Then I decided to layer 2 coats of Toxic and Timeless over Nails Inc. Kensington, the dark teal jelly/creme that was sold with the Wyndham flakie. Here it is on day 1:

I put this on just before finals last semester, so I had no time or energy to think about the state of my manicures. I made an excellent choice though, because check out the wear on this mani. Day 10:

There's growth and a bit of tip wear, but it never lost that glossy shine. I am quite pleased.

Toxic and Timeless is quite thick, but it's not unmanageable by any means. I despise greenish yellows, chartreuse, all that fun stuff, so I'm quite surprised to say that I love the bright hexes in this. They just...work. And when you add an additional coat of Toxic and Timeless, the sheer teal base turns the hexes into an awesome lime green.

I don't have any other Pahlishes, but I think Prayers for Rain and Like Calendars Dying are calling for me. Added to the ever-growing wishlist...

Have you tried Toxic and Timeless, or any other Pahlishes? Did it wear as well for you as it did for me?