NOTD: Easter Candy! OPI "Funny Bunny" with Lynnderella "Sweets to the Sweet"

Happy Bunny Day! Im taking a break from eating candy to show you my Easter mani -- you know I had to use one of those gorgeous Lynnderellas I got yesterday!!! "Sweets to the Sweet" is a slightly pink milky base with varous shapes and sizes of blue, red, lime green, purple, pink and true green glitters. Since the base is so light, I decided to try it over OPI's "Funny Bunny", a sheer white jelly (no shimmer, which is out of the ordinary for me!)

Here's the final product:

Look at all that glitter!!!!!!!!!!! This is 2 coats of "Sweets to the Sweet" over 2 coats of "Funny Bunny". Pardon the stray glitter, but the formula of SttS takes a little coercing to get applied somewhat evenly. I have true problems with scattered glitters -- my OCD does NOT like the fact that there aren't even amounts of glitter on each nail. But, I'm starting to appreciate the way these types of glitters look.

My thumbnail showed a great example of the glitters. I flooded my cuticles a bit, but I was so excited to see the final result that I was rushing! Also, hi lappy in the background!

Another thing about Stts is the glitter shades -- these are NOT colors I ever would have dreamed of putting together in the past, but it really does look like bits of candy. I can't stop staring at my hands!

With the exception of that one stray piece of glitter on my index finger, I really like this shot! This is a fairly true to life representation of the base color -- like an off white tinged with pink. I really like it -- pinks aren't usually my thing but this I can deal with!

How'd I do on this bottle shot????? Lynnderella bottles are very easy for me to hold (and look relatively natural) so I was fairly pleased with how this came out :)

Now just for fun....................

HAPPY EASTER!!!

NOTD: NerdLacquer "All of Time and Space"

Hi all! My apologies for the lack of posts in the past few days, but I've been busy working on my Etsy shop, PolishedPerfection. All my current jewelry items are listed and Ive been working on logos, mailing supplies, and new products! Check it out!!!

Onto serious business. Today's NOTD is a truly unique (to me, at least) mix of colors from NerdLacquer. "All of Time and Space" is part of the Mad Man with a Box trio (inspired by the TV show "Dr. Who"). I've been lusting after this shade for a while, and finally picked it up recently when Nerdlacquer's store opened (very briefly before everything sold out!).

AOTAS is a seafoam green shimmer base with micro and medium hex glitter in two colors: silver and purple. That's right -- PURPLE! It sounds hideous, but the contrast in colors plays out very nicely in this polish. The formula is a bit sheer, but nothing that an opaque coat of base color can't help with.

I was a bit unsure of how to wear this color when I sat down to do my nails. It seemed that none of the "base" colors I own would work with AOTAS -- Essie's "Navigate Her" was too green, "Turquoise & Cacios" too blue...........so, I decided to use just 1 coat of OP Funny Bunny to give AOTAS something to build on (also because I just received it and wanted to check out the application!). Over the base, I used 2 coats of AOTAS. The color seems fully developed but I think next time I will do 3 coats for better opacity.

Natural light:

Look at all that glitter!!!!!! I love it so much :)

And here's one shot with flash:

I did use a coat of Gelous over the 2 coats of AOTAS to even out the finish. I find that even if a glitter polish doesn't feel gritty before topcoat, it will probably still be "hungry' and suck up that layer of topcoat if I don't put something on after the glitter polish. Seche Vite finished it up and I was super happy with the color!

Make sure you stop by NerdLacquer's Etsy shop  and sign up for notification of when the talented Miss Amanda will be back from vacation --- trust me, you want some of this glittery goodness!

Polish Peep Show: Lacquistry and All That Glitters!

I got some killer nail mail today! Today's packages were 2  "indie" brands I found on Etsy that are stocked with some seriously sparkly polishes! If you haven't tried anything other than mainstream brands, now is the time to check out indie brands -- these polishes are made with love by women who love lacquer, so you know they are going to be good!

First up, we have a quartet of polishes by the lovely Jenna of Lacquistry! Lacquistry is the first "indie" polish brand I ever tried, thanks to a random search on Etsy one night. Her polishes are PACKED with hex glitter, micro glitter, shimmer, even duochrome shades! I can NOT get enough of them -- I think this is my 4th or 5th order.

First up, "Frosty Marrow" and "Chocolate Covered Cherries":

"Frosty Marrow" looked like a great topcoat for what I like to call my "cheat manis". When I'm wearing a one-shade mani, and I get bored with it, I just slap on a crackle topcoat, a chunky glitter, or a shimmery sheer shade to change the look and avoid having to re-do my nails. Because I'm suuuuuuuuuuuuuper lazy :) "Chocolate Covered Cherries" looked amazingly sparkly, and boy was I right! I swatched it quickly when I received it and the sparkle is deep. I'm looking forward to layering it over a deep brown or red shade.

Next is "Devil's Dandruff" and "Valentine Shards" -- me likey irregular glitter:

Such a nice change of pace from most glitter these days. Don't get me wrong -- it should be clear by now that I love me some glitter (especially hex!). But after seeing so much hex, circle and square glitter these days I really can't wait to try out these irregular "shards"! They seem to be more like the mylar flakes in the Zoya Fleck polishes, but I haven't really tested them out much so not sure. "Devil's Dandruff" is a generous helping of red shards in a red jelly base that has no shimmer. "Valentine Shards" is pink shards in a clear base. I like that these have no shimmer in the base, to be honest -- it would almost be overkill between shimmer and the shards if they did (I can't believe I just said that, but it's true).

The 2nd package was a trio from All That Glitters (just a coincidence, I totally did NOT know about this shop when I named this blog), another serious glitter producer on Etsy. I don't think I will ever get tired of polishes like these -- sheer to moderately opaque shimmery base, various sizes/shapes of glitter, and unconventional color combinations. Based on the quick swatches I did when I opened the package, the formula is FANTASTIC and the polish bases seem nicely pigmented (meaning I could probably wear them alone and not have to bother with a base!).

Check out "Cha-Cha Twist" and "Very Peacock-ish" (my apologies for the blurry picture, my hands did NOT want to stay still today!):

HEX HEAVEN! I need to get some better pictures, because "Very Peacock-ish" even has bar glitter in there with all that hex! And no matter how many brands put out a "mermaid teal" shade, I will always need to have them all! Love, love, LOVE! And "Cha-Cha Twist" has red square glitter too! I'm really digging square glitter these days.

And last but not least,  "Plum and Plummer":

Purple is my favorite color for polish, hands down. I usually have to talk myself out of doing purple manis every day! This is a really pretty plummy shade with silver hex glitter that stands out nicely. I have a feeling I'm going to like this one alot!

Be sure to check out both Lacquistry (though Jenna is on a much deserved vacation at the time of this post!) and All That Glitters  on Etsy -- if you love glitter (like me!) you NEED some of these polishes!

NOTD: Essie "Turquoise and Caicos" & Nostalgic Nail Lacquer "Duckie"

For my first NOTD, I had to go with some standout glitter! I love nothing more than a good hearty glitter topcoat on any and every color. Essie "Turquoise & Caicos" is a creamy turquoise (as the name would suggest....), 3 coats used here for opacity over Julep Nail Therapy and Orly Bonder. Im not a huge fan of cream polishes on their own, so I needed some kind of shimmer or glitter to accentuate the color and add some sparkle!

I discovered Nostalgic Nail Lacquer on Etsy while on a mission to find some pretty hand made polishes. I was getting sick of every brand putting out the same collection at the same time and needed something fresh and new. Nostalgic did that and more! "Duckie" is a pale teal jelly base with large chartreuse hex glitter, and smaller green and teal glitter guys too. I adore the color combination -- the hex glitter really gives it something special (when was the last time you saw chartreuse glitter?!?!?). I applied 2 coats of "Duckie" once my base color was dried -- to get the hex glitter to show up somewhat evenly, I took the "dab and spread" approach. Tricky little hexes! I finished with a coat of Seche Vite, my go-to topcoat.

I used the Iphone Instagram app to take a pic and play with the color settings to try to give a fairly accurate representation of the colors. Its pretty true to life! Check it out:

The end result is just.............*sigh*. Very calming and soft, if you ask me. I usually gravitate towards dark purples, black, or multi glitter polishes, so I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed a pale aqua mani!

I'll be posting a more in-depth review of Nostalgic Nail Lacquer's "Bizarre Teenage Love Triagle" trio this coming week, but here's a peek at the trio of polishes! Squishy glittery awesomeness!!!!

Check out Nostalgic Nail Lacquer on Etsy for more pretty polishes! The trio above is sold out but set to be restocked soon. The "Truly Outrageous" collection is amazing too (that review is coming soon as well!)