Kawaii Nail Lacquer: Gryffindor

Today I have another great lacquer from Kawaii Nail Lacquer. This one is Gryffindor, also from the Harry Potter collection. 

 

Gryffindor is a clear topcoat with red hexes and squares and gold hexes, squares, and bars. 

I started off my manicure with OPI Danke-Shiny Red, a red lacquer from OPI's Fall 2012 Germany collection. The bottle shot leans a little more orange than Danke-Shiny Red actually is, but the swatch reads more true to life.

 This is two coats of Danke-Shiny Red, no topcoat.

I used two coats of Gryffindor over Danke-Shiny Red and then applied a coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

Application of Gryffindor was good. I was able to get a good mix of the different glitter shapes on my nails and nothing was curling. I like the red-on-red in this manicure and think that the glitters in Gryffindor pull out more of the high shine that Danke-Shiny Red has on its own.

Kawaii Nail Lacquer can be purchased on Etsy. And make sure to like the Kawaii Nail Lacquer Facebook page so that you are current on updates and new releases!

Note: Gryffindor was provided to me for my honest review.

Feenix Polish: Falling For You (2 Ways)

Falling For You is the third polish I've had the honor of recently reviewing for Feenix Polish and I have it shown two ways so that you can see how it might look over colors you have in your collection.

Falling For You has a Falling For You has a shimmery, dark gold/light brown base with lots of different glitters in gold, red, orange, and brown. Some of the glitters are matte, some are not. The combination is wonderful.

This is an awesome polish with a lot of versatility. As Feenix Polish suggests on Etsy, you can try this over Twigs, which I reviewed here. I decided to try it over a couple of colors. 

First up is Zoya Carmen, a gorgeous red creme.

 

This is one coat of Falling For You over Zoya Carmen:

And then I tried Falling For You over OPI Schnapps Out of It! In the bottle, Schnapps looks like a "mature" color (read: something your grandma probably owns). But on the nails it's actually quite lovely and is appropriate for almost every occasion. It's a sort of dusty, muted brick red with some orange and pink tones. There is also the slightest bit of shimmer.

 And here is one coat of Falling for You over Schnapps Out of It!

I really, really enjoyed Falling For You. It's a great layering color and I'm certain that everyone has a color in her collection that's going to look great with some Falling For You layered on top of it. I would highly recommend that you pick this color up before the leaves change color and fall off of the trees!

Feenix Polishes can be purchased on Etsy and you can keep up to date with Feenix Polish on their Facebook page and blog. Make sure you show some love for this great brand!

 

Note: Falling For You was sent to me for my honest review.

NotTooPolished: GRANGER

It's Harry Potter's birthday today. So in honor of that, I have NotTooPolished's GRANGER, named for one of Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger. And, like Hermione, GRANGER sports the colors of Gryffindor -- a beautiful red-burgundy jelly base with square and hex shaped glitter dispersed throughout. I lurve it. 

 

Check out all of the depth in the bottle:

 

And here are three thin coats of GRANGER with one coat of Poshe fast dry topcoat. No undies in sight for this beauty.

Click "Read more" for additional swatches and information on where to purchase NotTooPolished lacquers!

NotTooPolished: RiverRun

I'm going to see some post 4th of July fireworks this weekend and thinking of fireworks made me want something sparkly and patriotic on my mails. So I was very excited that I received NotTooPolished RiverRun this past week because it had everything I was looking for in a lacquer. 

Riverrun is part of the Great Houses of Westeros collection. I had no idea what that was and the internets informed me that it's a Game of Thrones reference, which I've been told I need to watch but don't have HBO. So I guess I'll stick with lacquers for now. There are red squares and blue and silver holographic hexes, mixed with very micro silver holo shimmer glitter that adds a fun finish to the lacquer.

I layered River Run over a shimmering gray and this is the gorgeous result, like fireworks on the nails!

Rainbow Polish: Great Blue

Hey, you. Yes you, reading the screen. Are you looking for a kind of different and a little bit funky of a topcoat? If so, I have something that I'd like you to check out. It's Great Blue from Rainbow Polish. 

Yeah, those are a ton of chunky glitters that you see in a variety of shapes and colors. Still interested? Then BAM, check it out over a fiery, borderline neon coral:

Click "Read more" for additional swatches, Great Blue over a pale blue, and information on where to purchase Rainbow Polish!

All That Glitters: Cha Cha Twist

I have another great lacquer from All That Glitters to show you today -- Cha Cha Twist!

A bottle macro that shows the blue, red, and black hexes and blue bars. This polish is packed with glitter!

I opted to use Cha Cha Twist as a topcoat and paired it with China Glaze Flyin' High and Essie Who's She Red, both pictured after the jump. Flyin' High is a sky blue creme and Who's She Red is a true red creme. Both are great colors on their own and Cha Cha Twist brought them to the next level.

Flyin' High is on every finger except for my ring finger. 

For additional swatches and information on where to purchase All That Glitters polishes, click "Read more"!

Pretty & Polished: Swing

Today . . . was a day. I'm glad that it will be over shortly so that tomorrow can be a fresh start. And to bring me into tomorrow, I have Pretty & Polished's Swing. Swing is a bright jelly red with black and white glitter dispersed throughout. It's a bright, cheery color and this particular manicure made me smile big time, for a reason that you can see in my swatches.

Do you see what I see in the photo below? On my middle finger? You might be thinking that it's just a dud hexagon. But I think that it's Pac-Man, munching on a pac-dot/ black hex glitter. It makes me smile in a big way when I look at my nails.

Click "Read more" for additional swatches and information on where to purchase Swing and other Pretty & Polished lacquers!

First Look @ Bravery

Here is my latest creation -- Bravery. When I open shop, a portion of the proceeds from Bravery will go to Soldiers' Angels.

When I started making my own line of polishes I knew that I wanted at least part of my line to benefit a cause near and dear to my heart and that is assisting those in the United States Armed Forces. My brother was killed in action on November 6, 2010 while fighting with the 101st Airborne in the Kunar Province, Afghanistan. He was 23 years old.

So Bravery is the first of a series of polishes in honor of our servicemen and women. A portion of the profits from this line will benefit charities that directly aid those in the Army, Navy, and Marines.

It's comprised of red, blue, and white hex, square, and bar glitter in a clear base. Some are matte, some are traditional glitters. And there are also white stars dispersed throughout.

All swatches show two coats of Bravery over Confetti's Lonesome Dove, a great neutral gray.

The stars are prominent on my pinky, middle, and thumb fingernails.

The polish will be available in time for the 4th of July and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Soldiers' Angels, a nonprofit organization that assists servicemen and women of all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Their motto is "May no soldier go unloved."

You can learn more about Soldiers' Angels here.

Pretty & Polished: Phoenix

Pretty & Polished's Phoenix is a rather new addition to owner Chelsea's line of brilliant lacquers.  My indie polish collection is probably 50% comprised of Pretty & Polished polishes and I enjoy each one I've tried.

Check out Phoenix!

Phoenix is comprised of canary yellow matte hexes and small and medium sized red metallic hexes. So unique!

Here is a shot in natural light, no flash.

 Click "Read More" for additional swatches and information on where to buy Pretty & Polished lacquers!

All That Glitters: Valentine Massacre

As the name implies, All That Glitters' Kirsten creates, well, really glittery lacquers.

I picked up three the other day and the first one I tried was Valentine Massacre, a brilliant red and black glitter lacquer.