Indie Monday! - Rainbow Honey - Hanami and Koi Pond

 Hello all! Today I have for you a couple belated swatches from the indie brand Rainbow Honey. I keep waffling over how I want to review these because I haven't been super happy with the service I've received from the site. The polishes are pretty but I don't believe that Hanami was described well, since the description didn't include holographic glitter. Don't get me wrong, I love holographic goodness, but not when I want a delicate layering glitter which to me was what Hanami was described as.

Anways, Hanami is gorgeous, and has the best formula of any of the RH's that I've tried. The Equestria polishes were ridiculously thick, but these two coats of Hanami (shown over Layla Red Taboo) were pretty easy to apply. This polish is really complex and has holo glitters, iridescent glitters, matte white glitter, pink glitter, white shards, and has a pretty twinkling effect.

Next up is Koi Pond. This is another pretty polish, but one that I wish didn't contain holo glitters. To me they just throw off the whole aesthetic, but that's just me being picky!  The pictures speak for themselves, this is a super fun layering glitter. This swatch is two coats of Koi Pond over two coats of Orly Sapphire Silk.

What do you think?

Lynnderella Cauldron Drippings + Orly Royal Navy

This post is from my iPhone, so I apologize for the briefness. I'm currently camping and sitting by the fire, but I wanted to post one of my favorite recent manis. This is Lynnderella Cauldron Drippins over Orly Royal Navy. And for once I shook up Royal Navy enough so the aqua shimmer actually showed up. Cauldron Drippings is super pretty to me but I wish that it had a little more variety in the non orange glitters. When CD came out I remember Lynn saying it contained the extra drippings of glitter from her other frankens, but whatever, it's still pretty. Here ya go!

OPI DS Sapphire Tape Mani and *Giveaway!* continues!

Gonna leave this post short since I need to be getting ready for work. This mani is 4 coats of Orly Skinny Dip, which is a pain in the ass blue "neon" from the Orly Summer collection. Total mess. But with topcoat it evened out. Then I added a tape design using scotch tape and OPI DS Sapphire (which when you scroll down is the prize in my 150th post giveaway). Then I added some rhinestone hearts!

And Skinny Dip alone:

 

AND THE GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Orly Synchro multichrome from Fall 2012 Electronica collection

Holy multichrome, Batman! This color is cuh-razy! In the bottle it's a molten fire-y rosey gold blue purple glass box of emotion. Totally gorgeous in the bottle. On the nail it was a pain in the ass. But still gorgeous. I spent at least an hour last night trying to decide whether to wear it on its own today or over black. When I laid it over black, it was too streaky to wear at one coat, but at two, it kept the blue shimmer from being as prevalent. When the polish is more opaquely layered, I feel like the blue shimmer ends up clashing a bit (and greying out) the color shifting frosty-goodness underneath.

The base of this polish is a super sheer reddish rose pink that I wasn't really a fan of because it just wouldn't get opaque at a reasonable amount of coats. But all the multichrome made it worth it! So much beauty, totally unexpected! It reminds me of the classic Sally Hansen Nail Prisms multichromes. It's like SH Garnet Lapis with a different color base. 

This is four dang coats over two coats of nude polish underwear. This polish bubbled and dented forever, and I almost gave up and changed my mani... and then I added french tips in Finger Paints Black Expressionism!

 

And here I swatched it over black (no topcoat), 2 coats, 1 coat, 2 coats, 1 coat.

I know! So many pictures! But I was chasing that gold edge of color that I just baaarely caughty in the 2nd to last picture, but you can see it in the bottle! What do you think? Are you going to pick up any Orlys from this collection? Are you willing to deal with Synchro's mess of a formula to get this sweet multichrome effect?

Cover Band Sticks n Stones + Zoya Zuza & Orly Preamp art

Gonna keep this post short because it's midnight and I've gotta work early tomorrow. But I wanted to show you my last two manis because I loved both so much that I didn't want to take them off!

Zoya Zuza is a goooorgeous addition to the Zoya line. Zuza is hard to describe. It's kind of foily, kinda glass flecky. But it's crazy gorgeous and crazy pigmented. So pigmented that it stained my nails green! Poop. The formula was also super thick, but the color was so pretty that I got past it.

And overtop I had to choose between my Lynnderella Connect the Dots or Coverband's Sticks and Stones. I chose S&S because of the few specks of iridescent glitter in it that I love so much. And I don't want to dwell on the Lynn drama, I love some of her polishes and I will leave it at that.

Here is Zuza at two coats plus one coat of Sticks and Stones w/ Cult Nails Wicked Fast topcoat. Rach recommended I use their topcoat with Zoyas and it seemed to work well! Previously Zoyas neeever dried on me. Go Rach!

And here is an updated mani (current mani), using Orly Preamp (WHICH I LOVE SO MUCH) with a stamping in Color Club Wild at Heart and then flakies from the Finger Paints Collection - Twisted.

I loves it soooo much! Props to Orly for this gorgeous Fall color that is so un-Fall to me but perfect for Summer!

Orly Electronica Collection Fall 2012 "Preamp"

I went to Sally's yesterday for nail polish thinner (which I ended up forgetting :/), and left with my first Orly haul. I got two from the Electronica Fall 2012 collection, and I picked up Mysterious Curse on clearance, and Mermaid Tale from the new Flash collection. First swatch I have for you is Preamp from the Electronica collection. I had to ask the Sally's lady to look in the back since the collex wasn't displayed yet, and I'm so glad I did!

Preamp is a gorgeous blue tinged pink creme-y base with small pink and gold flakey shimmer. SO PRETTY.  The formula is pretty thick, but I'm getting used to that from Orly. I just love the color of this with my pale weird skintone. Just slightly purple toned but the warmth of the shimmer just pops this polish like nobody's business. It also has a hiiint of dustiness to it that keeps it from being fuschia. Love.

I tried to take pics in different lighting so you can see the cool tones and the warmer tones. Here is 3 coats of Preamp with one coat of Poshe topcoat. 

Lynderella Lucky Numbers

Glittterrrr. It took me awhile to decide what base color to use with Lynnderella Lucky Numbers because it has both black and red glitters, as well as a sheer red shimmer base. I didn't want to layer this polish over red or black because you wouldn't be able to appreciate both shades of glitter, so I chose Orly Royal Navy, a beautiful blue jelly! If you look at the closeups you can see the turquoise shimmer in Royal Navy.

Lucky Numbers, like a normal Lynnderella, has all kinds of different shaped glitters in it. Unfortunately, a lot of the bigger glitters in Lynnderella polishes tend to sink to the bottom. I remedied this by letting the polish stand upside down for a little bit, and then shaking it a little bit. Otherwise, the formula was alright, but dried with a lot of texture, even after two coats of topcoat. Pretty, but not nearly as awesome as my favorite Lynn, Very Pretty Vampire.

What I did like about this combo is that it felt very Superman-y to me and from far away had a nice red shimmer on a contrasting base a la Clarins 230. Although of course this is nowhere similar to Unicorn Pee otherwise.

You can purchase Lynnderella polishes from Llarowe's website for $15 a piece once you get on the wishlist list.

Some more catch-up spam!

First up we have my Hunger Games mani! While I was in Vegas, I tried to layer my manis so I wouldn't have to change them as often. So one day I had on CQ Rustic Dream, which I love to death! This is a Rite Aid only polish brand, usually right next to the Chameleons and Petites. Rustic Dream is a gorgeous multichrome that goes from pink to copper to gold. Love it! We planned to see the midnight showing of Hunger Games in Vegas, so I added some flames to my existing mani with Orly Glitz and Glamour. I love that Orly because it's pretty opaque so really great for nail art, I LOVE the formula. Here's the mani that was on fire!

And a flakie extravaganza! Forever 21 has some of the coolest polishes. I found this neat Love & Beauty polish there, uniquely named "Pink".... It's the sheerest reddest pink jelly with the most amaaazing micro-flakie-shimmer. Gorgeousness! It has specks of blue, pink, gold, orange, it's amazing! I wanted to layer it so I put it over Color Club Electronica, a blue tinged purple with subtle pink sparkle. And for extra crazy, I added two coats of Finger Paints Asylum, muahahahahaha!

Here's a shot where you can see all the different flakes!

And more swatches of yesterday's Wet n Wild Speak When Spoken To over black:

And yes that is a Rainbow Dash keychain. :)

Going to Vegas! NOTD

I'm leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow! I've never been and I'm sooo excited! The only thing that's stressing me about it is the airplane flight. I haaate flying. I get barfy. I'm not afraid of flying, that part is cool, I just get nauseous really easily. I'll bet you can guess what I'll be keeping an eye out for while I'm there.... nail polish! Specifically the Hawaiian Girl nail polishes... waaaant. So I wanted to do a manicure to commemorate the occasion, and figured I'd do some stamping because I'll probably leave this mani on for more than a day (unusual for me).

The base color I used was Orly Glitz and Glamour, my favorite gold. This polish has an amazingly opaque formula, and wasn't runny at all. I barely had to do any cleanup with it. However, the cleanup I did have to do was a pain because the little gold flecks are almost like glitter in that you have to really work to get them off your skin. Anyways, I did two coats of G&G and then I layered one coat of OPI DS Shimmer on top for some rainbowy goodness.  For the stamping I used American Apparel Hassid and plates BM 19, C01, and m22.

Wish me luck! Vivaaaa Las Vegas!

My car got hit by a tree! And spam...

It's been a crazy ridiculous couple of days... bad storm... tree killed my car. Came home from work that same night after I saw my dead car, came home to no gas heat or cooking... stupid construction work...

The daggone tree beheaded my Batman antenna topper... Poor Batman.

So here's some spam:

This was my mani the day I found out my car got smashed, Orly Snowcone with China Glaze Snowglobe (old version) on top. The Orly's formula was bananas and a pain in the ass. Gluey and thick. Wonderfully opaque, but unpleasant, even after thinner. Beautiful blue/periwinkle color though. With two coats of Snowglobe, it made a beautiful, sparkly, masterpiece.

So to cheer myself up, while I was waiting for them to tow away my car, I put on three coats of OPI The Show Must Go On, my favorite from last year's OPI Burlesque Collection. TSMGO is an amazing pinky/red/orange/gold duochrome. So bright. So foily. Just a total mood brightener. Awesome formula. Love.

This was taken outside of Macy's, watch it GLOW!

And here it is with the original version of Icing Tiger's Blood, a sheer orange jelly with iridescent glitter: