Kawaii Nail Lacquer: Slytherin

I really love the Harry Potter series. I'm in the middle of re-reading them and it amazes me that they're so well written. I bet that J.K. Rowling can be credited with getting a lot of kids to read who wouldn't normally be interested in sitting with a book. And they aren't just good for kids. I'm in my 20s and still appreciate them. 

So when I received Slytherin from Jamie at Kawaii Nail Lacquer, I was super excited. Slytherin contains hex glitter in silver and green -- the colors of the Slytherin house -- in a clear base.

I decided to pair Slytherin with OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me from the Fall 2012 Germany collection that I'm working my way through. Don't Talk Bach To Me is a funky sort of avocado color that I thought would pair really nicely with the emerald green in Slytherin.

 Here are two coats of Don't Talk Bach To Me, no topcoat.

And here is one coat of Slytherin over Don't Talk Bach To Me. A coat of Seche Vite topcoat glosses off the look.

I really liked this pairing, if I do say so myself. The greens play well together.

Application of Slytherin was great. I didn't have any issues and I thought that it had just the right amount of glitter in it for a glitter topcoat. You could probably build this for a glitter-only manicure, but that would take quite a few coats.

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: Slytherin was provided to me for my honest review.

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!

Tough As Nails Lacquer: Rebellious Bridesmaid

This is the very first [successful] lacquer that I made and it took me the longest to name.  She is my lacquer baby and will always hold a special place in my heart.

The name "Rebellious Bridesmaid" came from the fact that I wore the manicure seen in the photos below to my cousin's wedding. All of the other bridesmaids had pale shades of pinks or french tips on their nails. Very tasteful and clean looking and not taking away from anything. 

And then there was me, with my holographic, gunmetal glitterbomb. 

What can I say, I always like to do things a little differently. And lacquers are no exception. 

So I give to you, lovely readers, Rebellious Bridesmaid. Minis are included in all three sets I'm giving away in my 100 Likes Giant Indie Giveaway (seriously, click the link if you haven't entered. This is an amazing giveaway, if I do say so myself).

 

All photos were taken in natural light, without flash, and show one coat of Rebellious Bridesmaid over one coat OPI Lucurne-tainly Look Marvelous, with a coat of Gelous to finish everything off and give the manicure extra shine.

  

And here is my lacquer baby, which has a sheer/jelly black base loaded with silver and holographic silver glitters:

Here is a closeup so that you can see the holographic nature of some of the glitters:

You can most certainly wear Rebellious Bridesmaid with or without undies. The glitters are in a sheer/jelly black base and I was able to achieve full coverage in two coats. Depending on how you apply polish, you may need three coats.

Click "Read more" for additional swatches of Rebellious Bridesmaid with a matte topcoat.

Cult Nails: Power Thief & Pahlish: Your Silver Lining Combo

As I've stated before, I really like Cult Nails. It's a great brand run by a great woman and they have a whole bunch of brown polishes, which are my new favorite color.

So today I have Cult Nails Power Thief. Power Thief has amazing little flecks of silver throughout that take a basic brown polish to a whole new level.

Check out the bottle macro. And no, Power Thief doesn't have any purple glitter in it, that's just my bad.

 And here are two coats of Power Thief with one coat of a random topcoat. <3

The silver in Power Thief lends to the polish appearing lighter or darker, depending on how the light hits it. Below shows Power Thief at the lightest I saw it:

 It's beautiful no matter what shade it's showing. 

So as you might have noticed since you are reading this blog and literate, I mentioned Pahlish Your Silver Lining in the title. Yet, I haven't shown Your Silver Lining yet. Well this was initially just supposed to be a post about Power Thief, but I apparently really like Cult Nails/Pahlish combos because I have another one.

Click "Read more" for swatches of Pahlish Your Silver Lining over Power Thief!

NailsIT: Companion Cube

NailsIT is a lacquer shop I stumbled across through blogging. About a week ago, there was a post about a dreamy gray with holo and silver hexes, white squares, and pink hearts and I knew I had to have that lacquer. Thankfully, I didn't have to search far, as NailsIT lacquers are sold through the NailsIT blog.

Yesterday, my package containing the dreamy gray arrived, along with two others that I will post about in the future. And today I finally got to try out Companion Cube.

Click "Read more" for additional swatches and information on where you can purchase Companion Cube and other NailsIT lacquers!

Blue Mondays with Dollish Polish: 3 Best Friends That Anyone Could Have

Since it's Monday and I love 80s music and play-on-words, I'm going to shoot for doing "Blue Mondays" every Monday, featuring blue polishes.

And to start Blue Mondays, I have Dollish Polish's 3 Best Fridays That Anyone Could Have:

3 Best Friends is comprised of sky blue and silver hexes, silver holo bars, and tiny silver holos. It is an amazing topcoat.

Here are two macro bottle shots in slightly different lights:

And here she is on the nails! 3 Best Friends is loaded with so much glitter that this is only one coat of it on top of my base colors (more info on that after the jump). Don't you love it?

Click "Read more" for additional swatches and information on where to purchase Dollish Polish!


I wanted to do a little something different with my manicure. I'm not quite at the point where I feel comfortable doing any kind of nail art, but I thought I would change things up a little bit by using two colors. I chose China Glaze Flyin' High and Confetti Lonesome Dove:

I used two coats of Flyin' High and Lonesome Dove, respectively, adding one coat of 3 Best Friends and one coat of Seche Vite to top it off. All photos were taken in natural light without flash.

Application was great and 3 Best Friends was loaded with a lot of glitter, as evidenced by only needing one coat of it.

Dollish Polishes are available here.  You can also check out Dolly's Facebook page or Twitter to stay up to date on restocks, new polishes, and other news. 

All That Glitters: Ruler Of My Heart

Today is the kind of lazy Saturday that I wish occurred more often. Nothing in particular to do, plenty of bad TV to catch up on, and a perfect day to paint my nails.

Because of a happy accident, All That Glitter's Ruler Of My Heart found its way to my home. And I'm so glad that it did because it makes an amazing topcoat for any color of nail polish!

 Here are some macros that show off the glitter! Ruler Of My Heart contains silver holographic hearts and fine silver holographic bar glitters.

Here is a shot lit from underneath to show how glowy Ruler Of My Heart is:

And here is a swatch of one thick coat of Ruler Of My Heart applied as a topcoat:

Click "Read more" for additional swatches and information on where to purchase All That Glitters polishes!