Swatch and Review: The Devil Wears Polish Nice and Toasty

It was a cold but sunny Thanksgiving Day here in New Jersey, so I knew the perfect polish for the occasion would be Nice & Toasty from The Devil Wears Polish.  I picked up this polish a few weeks ago and have been dying to try it ever since.  Nice & Toasty is an earthy brown linear holographic polish.  The brown base of this one is a neutral shade of medium brown.  It reminds me of fresh dirt in the best way possible.  I don’t have another polish that is quite this shade of brown, which is a good thing.

The holo in this polish is strong and can be seen clearly indoors.  It gives some intense rainbow in direct sunlight, and it even looks beautiful in the odd lighting of my apartment hallway, where it has a more scattered and random multi-colored sparkle.

Application for this polish was not challenging.  It was on the thick side, and I will probably add thinner to it next time I use it.  It reached full opacity in two coats.  I used an aqua base under this one, and I didn’t use a top coat for the photos.

What do you think of this polish?  I just love the way holo looks in darker, deeper base colors like this one.

I purchased this mini polish from The Devil Wears Polish online shop for $5.75.  I’ve really loved the polishes I have from this brand, so you will be seeing more of them on the blog soon!

Swatch and Review: Pahlish Sleep to Dream

When I saw the Pahlish Winter Collection, I knew I just had to have Sleep to Dream.  (Actually, I felt that way about pretty much all of them, but Sleep to Dream called to me the most).  I just recently got this one and just couldn’t wait to get it on my nails.

Sleep to Dream is such a complex color; the base is a deep burgundy-purple-colored jelly, and this is full of multi-colored shimmer.  As it dances in the light, the shimmer shines in shades of purple, orange, gold, and even a pinky-orange color.  The combination of the dark jelly base and the bursts of bright shimmer really is breathtaking.  The shimmer is not difficult to see, either.  There is practically no light to speak of here today, and the shimmer still looked exquisite in my indoor lighting.  The color of this one remains true to its appearance in the bottle when applied, which is such a rare joy!

This polish applied very easily and dried extremely quickly.  I needed two coats to reach opacity, and it looked good enough after these that I didn’t automatically apply a third coat like I normally would.  Without top coat, the finish is a little dulled, but one coat of top coat brings out the brilliance of all that shimmer.  I used my regular base and top coat for the photos.

Don’t you just love the look of this polish?  I have really been taken by all the great wine-oxblood-burgundy polishes that have been in this fall’s collections, and this is really one of the prettiest I’ve seen.

I purchased this from the Pahlish online shop for $9.00.  I practically never get back-ups for polishes, but I’m definitely considering getting another bottle of this one before it’s gone.

 

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Swatch and Review: Freak Show Polish Harvest Hayride

I know I’ve mentioned my affinity for beauty subscription boxes before, so I’m sure you’re not surprised that I subscribed to the Llarowe nail polish subscription box, A Box Indied.  (I did cancel a couple other boxes before I subscribed, though; that’s gotta count for something.)  🙂  The polish I chose for today is one I received from the November A Box Indied; it’s called Harvest Hayride from Freak Show Polish.  I hadn’t tried this brand before, so that made me extra excited to try this polish.

I’ll describe Harvest Hayride the way it looks on the nail.  I’m saying that up front because it looks quite different on the nail than it does in the bottle.  It applies as a dark navy blue base with multi-colored glitter.  It’s hard to pick out all the different types of glitter in this one, in part because they are difficult to see in the base color.  It looks like there are red, purple, and silver (?) shard glitter, silver microglitter, and coppery tan-colored bar glitter.  There may be other glitters in there, who knows.  This one dries to a matte finish.  The darkness of the base color obscures most of the color and shine of the glitter, however, and, in its natural state, it kind of looks like a matte, textured mess.  The addition of top coat, however, does bring the glitter out of its shell and really brightens up the look.  It turns into a very dark navy with hints of glitter once top coat is added.

As an aside, I’ll say that I’m not someone who spends a lot of time fretting over which base and/or top coat will be perfect for a particular polish.  This is just not what I want to spend my time thinking about.  However, this is a polish that requires a user who is willing to think about such things.  I used one coat of the nails inc. top coat for this polish, and within minutes, literally, the bar glitter was curling up and sticking out from almost all of my nails.  If I had used multiple coats of a specialized glitter top coat after applying this polish, perhaps this would not have happened.  Now, I’m not someone who would never do this, but the look of the polish on my nails would have to be really spectacular for me to expend energy testing top coats / number of coats of each one to figure out how many it would take to keep the glitter from curling.

On to the photos!  I used two coats of Harvest Hayride with a base and top coat for the photos.  You will probably notice that the color of the polish in the bottle looks significantly lighter than the color on my nails.  That is not an illusion!  This one really does apply much darker than the bottle.

What do you think of this one?  I actually think the dark navy base with hints of different types of glitter looks interesting on the nail.  I think it would have looked better without the silver micro glitter, though.  It mostly serves to make the polish texture look far too clumpy to the eye.  It’s possible that applying multiple layers of top coat would ameliorate this effect, either somewhat or entirely.

The A Box Indied subscription box can be purchased through Llarowe for $50.00.  It is sold on both a subscription basis and on an individual basis, and it is possible to skip a month with the subscription if the polishes just don’t appeal to you.  I doubt I’ll wear this one again, so if anyone wants to try this bottle (swatched once), let me know and I’ll send it to you for the cost of shipping.  🙂

Swatch and Review: The Devil Wears Polish Tequila Sunrise

It was an unexpectedly beautiful day here; it was sunny and warm, which is quite unusual for mid-November.  I don’t tolerate cold weather well, so I’m quite pleased anytime we are surprised with warm weather.  I took advantage of the sunshine to try out another new holo polish I picked up from a brand that I only learned about earlier this year, The Devil Wears Polish.  I’ve been eyeing her holos ever since, and finally broke down and ordered some a couple of weeks ago.

Today I tried the shade Tequila Sunrise, which has both a duochrome and linear holographic finish.  The duochrome shifts in this one from a light orange chrome finish to a rosey pink chrome.  In some lights it even looks a golden yellow color.  The shift in this is very pronounced and easy to see in all types of lighting.  Added to this beautiful base is a vibrant linear holographic effect.  The holo rainbows in this are visible indoors, too, but they are at their best in direct sunlight, where they dance around spectacularly.  The combination of effects makes for some mesmerizing nails.  Drive with caution while wearing this one.  🙂

The application for this one was a little trickier than most.  It was on the thick side, and, though I didn’t this time, I will likely add a couple drops of thinner to this before I use it next.  The thickness made it a little difficult to cover the nail evenly while applying, but this really didn’t affect the overall look of the polish, which is really the point, right?  🙂  Since the thickness of a polish is really a personal preference, I don’t really fault a brand’s choice in this regard unless it is taken to an absurb level (which is definitely not the case here).  Although a little thick, the polish dried reasonably quickly.  I used three coats for the photos, although one could probably get away with two if in a hurry.  I used an aqua base and did not use top coat for the photos.

Aren’t those rainbows just breathtaking?  I ♥ them.

I took a photo of this in indoor lighting as well, since the duochrome effect is easier to capture inside.

Here, you can see both the pink color (on the left side of my nails) and the more orangey color (on the right side).  And you can see here that the holo is still quite visible indoors, too.  This is such an interesting and lovely polish!  You’ll be staring at it all day.

I purchased this polish from The Devil Wears Polish online shop for $6.50 for a mini sized bottle.  I bought a few other minis, too, so I’ll try to review them for you soon!

Swatch and Review: Love Thy Polish A Beautiful Mistake

The sun finally came out a couple of days ago, and I just had to use the chance to try a new holo polish I recently purchased.  I’ve been wanting to try the Love Thy Polish brand for some time, and I finally splurged and bought a couple of their polishes.  Boy, am I glad that I did!  They are simply stunning.  I decided to use the shade A Beautiful Mistake, which is a deep blue linear holographic polish.  This is the most gorgeous blue holo I’ve ever seen, bar none.  It is my new holy grail blue holo.  The color is such a deep and rich shade of blue, and the holo is so vibrant.  I really can’t say enough good things about this polish! 🙂

I used two coats of A Beautiful Mistake over an aqua base coat.  The polish applied very evenly and dried quickly.  I didn’t use a top coat, but the holo in this is bright enough that it would likely still look quite good with a top coat.  Are you ready to see the pictures??

Can you believe how gorgeous this polish is?!  I basically spent the past two days staring at my nails.

I purchased this polish from Harlow and Co. for $16.00.  It is a little pricey, but so worth it!  If you are a blue or holo lover, you NEED this polish. 🙂

Swatch and Review: Dance Legend Malta Collection No. 91

I looked through my polishes today and found an Autumn appropriate green that I purchased earlier this year but never tried, so I used it today.  Dance Legend No. 91 from their Malta Collection is a medium, true green shade that is filled with golden shimmer.  The shimmer looks more copper colored in the bottle, but on the nail it definitely looks golden.

There were no application issues with this polish, and the drying time was normal.  It took two coats to reach opacity, and I used a base and top coat for the photos.  The golden shimmer in this polish is very fine and plentiful; it has the effect of making the base shade appear a bit more like a sage-y green color than it appears in the bottle (partly because the shimmer all settles to the bottom in the bottle, which must be shaken profusely before use).  Since it is so fine, the shimmer is not terribly shiny, but it is quite visible, and the overall effect of the polish is pretty.  I also added a copper-colored stud in the shape of a leaf to this mani for an Autumn-themed accent nail.  Since there was no sunlight to speak of today, the photos were taken indoors in artificial light.

What do you think of this polish?  I really like polishes that have colored shimmer, since it adds dimension and interest.

I purchased this polish from the Dance Legend online shop for $9.00.  Since purchases from this shop ship from Russia, they can take a while to arrive.  When I ordered, my first shipment went through customs in Russia, made it to America, and was then sent back to Russia.  That whole process took several weeks.  Dance Legend has the most awesome customer service, though, and their staff was so helpful to me every time I contacted them.  They re-sent my order, and the second time was the charm and it arrived to me in great shape after a few weeks.  They are a company with great polishes and great people, so I encourage you to check them out!  But do be warned about the delivery time.

I purchased the etched leaf stud from the Bundle Monster online shop.  I purchased it as part of a collection that contained several shapes and sizes of copper-colored studs for $10.99.  Every once in a while Bundle Monster offers a 15 percent off discount code for nail art decorations, so I usually wait to order until they have one of these sales.

 

Swatch and Review: Love and Beauty Black Magic Sand Lacquer

The Forever 21 beauty line, Love and Beauty, is one of the many nail polish brands that have come out with textured glitter nail polishes this year.  Because of the low price point of the Love and Beauty line, it’s a good way to try out this trend before investing in more high-end textured polishes.  Love and Beauty calls their textured glitters Sand Lacquers, and I chose the shade Black Magic from their line.  Although it’s called Black Magic, in the bottle this polish looks quite golden.  On the nails, however, it looks very different from the look in the bottle.  In most lights this polish looks like a dark navy base with very noticeable gold and purple glitter flashes throughout.  In lower light, though, it could pass for black.  It really is an interesting color.

I used two coats of Black Magic over base coat for the photos.  If you’re in a hurry, you could probably get away with using just one thick coat of this polish.  The color does appear slightly darker and deeper with the second coat, however.  It dried quite quickly, and there were no application issues.  I did not use a top coat because I wanted to enjoy the matte textured glitter look, but this polish would definitely look great with a high shine top coat to really bring out those sparkles. 🙂

What do you think of the textured glitter craze?  Are you over them yet?  I just love the sparklies, so this trend works for me!

I purchased this polish from Forever 21 for $2.80.  The quality of their polishes isn’t always the greatest, but they are pretty cheap so I guess you can’t expect too much.  I’m sure I’ll shop there again; I’ll just try to keep my expectations low.

Swatch and Review: Takko Lacquer Nirvana

Takko Lacquer’s Nirvana is part of their Summer 2013 collection, but it is so difficult to get that I was only able to get my hands on it a few days ago.  Nirvana is a deep teal creme polish with gold flakies.  The flakies are not extremely shiny; rather, they add a subtle touch of interest to this medium teal shade of polish.  It really is a pretty shade that I’ll have to insist is an appropriate color for autumn as well.  🙂

Nirvana was very easy to apply; the Takko Lacquer brush is one of the nicest I’ve used.  It made for an easy three-stroke application with practically no polish bleeding onto my cuticles.  I wish all polish brands used this brush!  I used two coats of Nirvana, although this did leave the slightest VNL, as you may notice in the photos.  Next time I use it, I will probably use a third coat.  I also used base and top coat for the pictures.

Do you like this twist on a teal creme polish?  In the photos you can see that the flakies are definitely noticeable, but not flashy at all.  In the bottle they look like they will be more like gold glitter shards, but on the nail they are much more muted.  I like the way it turned out.

I purchased this polish, although Takko Lacquer is another brand that is incredibly difficult to buy.  When available, Nirvana can be purchased from the Takko Lacquer online shop for $13.00.  Follow their blog for info about their (all too infrequent!) restocks and new collections.