Indigo Bananas Color of the Fire

Hey guys, today I have another amazing polish to share with you from Indigo Bananas Holo Mega Chrome Flakies Collection!

*Press Sample*

This is Indigo Bananas Color of the Fire Holo and it is a gorgeous multichrome stunner that has a different look to it every time you look at it.



Indigo Bananas Color of the Fire shifts from fushcia to gold to green to blue and is stunning in all different lights! The flakies provide really great coverage and the holo pigment is strong and packs a punch. This polish is opaque in three coats and applies like a breeze with the flakies laying flat on the nail. I've been very impressed with the coverage of these Holo Mega Chrome Flakies, I feel like these polishes have the perfect balance of holo and flakies! Let's see some more swatches!





So I added some fun stamping from UberChic Beauty 1-03 plate, that really reminded me of water for some reason. Then when looking for another stamp to compliment it, I came across the cutest whale stamp from my Winstonia W108 plate and just had to add it.



Then because I'm wacky and can't leave well enough alone, I tried to add a smile to the whale and clearly failed. Whomp, whomp. You can't win them all. But I like the addition of blue to this look!



Let's take one more look at this stunning polish close up shall we?!



Mmmm, shifty holo amazing!

Indigo Banana's Holo Mega Chrome Flakies are available now on the Indigo Bananas website and retail for $12 for full size (15ml) and $7.25 for a mini (8ml). 

You can look for Indigo Bananas news on their Facebook page and Instagram account, and if you are an Indigo Bananas lover, you should totally join us in the We're Bananas for Indigo Bananas Facebook fan group, the more the merrier!

Let me know what you think about these fabulous holo flakies in the comments! Have you snagged any of the Indigo Bananas beauties yet?!

Coral Polish Comparison Showdown

I don't know about you but warmer weather always gets me longing for a good coral manicure. And being that coral is one of my absolute favorite nail polish colors, you better believe I have a bounty of it!



And boy do I have a ton of coral polishes! There are all different types of corals. Pink leaning, red leaning, orange leaning. For the purposes of this post, I decided to compare all my cremes and holos that were in the coral family.

Let's start with the creme's first. I'll start with the pinker leaning polishes to start off with!







From thumb to pinkie we have:

Essie Wife Goes On: This is a gorgeous pink leaning coral, but truly more of a watermelon color. A great summer color! This is two coats.

Essie Come Here: This was my favorite of these five polishes. My favorite type of coral is a more red orange leaning coral that is still bright. This is two coats.

OPI Live.Love.Carnival: This is a lighter, pinker coral than Come Here. This is a great bright color, but a bit to pink for my liking. This is two coats.

Essie Sunday Funday: This polish is almost practically a dupe for Live.Love.Carnival if it didn't have these fine silver flakies, which doesn't really make it a true creme I know. This was three coats the formula was pretty watery.

KBShimmer You're So Coral: Honestly, this polish shouldn't even be in the comparison. This polish is a lovely orange/peach leaning coral, but it's more neon than anything, and unfortunately I just couldn't capture it's beauty in this post!  This is two coats.

Now on to the darker cremes.







From thumb to pinkie:

OPI Aloha from OPI: This was my newest addition to my coral collection, and the real reason this post came to life. I had to see how my new polish compared to my collection. While I love the color of this one, a bright perfect darker coral, the formula was not great, it took three coats for this opacity.

Zoya Heidi: This polish is an oranger leaning coral, but still a big favorite of mine. This is two coats.

Zoya Rocha: Almost a dupe with Heidi, except it has a very hidden shimmer and is a smidge darker, that you can only detect in certain lighting. This is two coats.

OPI Red Lights Ahead, Where?: My all time favorite coral, and it still holds true. More of a red orange coral, bright and pigmented. I just love this polish and it has yet to be dethroned as my favorite coral creme. This is two coats.

Essie Hip-Anema: This polish is less of a coral and more of a tomato red-orange. Still bright and well pigmented, and very good for stamping! This is two coats.

Now on to the indie holos! Some of these are a stretch for coral, but I picked all my polishes in the pink/orange/reddish coral family. We'll start with the lighter/pinker colors.



From thumb to pinkie:

Different Dimension Coral Rose: This is truly in the lighter pink coral category and was my first coral holo polish. I do like it, but I favor a more bright and vibrant, less pink holo! This polish took three coats for this opacity.

Colors by Llarowe Nice Melons!: This is less of a coral and more of an orange peach holo. This polish was very bright, but had the weakest holo glow of the lot of holos I feature in this post. This was opaque in two coats. 

KBShimmer Whole Lava Lovin': This polish is a bright pink holo that leans more cherry to me. Though it looks very similar to the next two polishes, it is a tad lighter, just didn't really photograph that way. It is happy and bright and fun, this is two coats. 

Colors by Llarowe Lucy, I'm Home!:This is a bright pink coral holo that is just lovely. When I originally purchased this, I thought my search for the perfect coral holo was over, that was until I discovered the world of orange-red holos (my more preferred coral family color). This is two coats.

Fair Maiden Polish Total Eclipse of the Heart: This polish is a tad darker than the previous two, but is the brightest polish of the group, but leans a darker more raspberry pink holo polish with stronger violet undertones. This is two coats.

Now on to the orange/red holos!



Smitten Polish The Second Lobster: This polish was an oops mini batch from Smitten, and I just had to get it since I love The First Lobster so much. It basically is a lighter less bright version of The First Lobster (middle finger). This also had a thinner formula and required three coats for opacity.

KBShimmer Rust No One: This polish leans just a tad more orange and darker than The Second Lobster, but is a really gorgeous orange leaning coral in my eyes. I just love this polish. This is two coats.

Smitten Polish The First Lobster: I think this polish still holds the title of my favorite coral polish, though some wouldn't classify it as such. But this is one of my absolute all time favorites, it is bright and the perfect amount of red-orange holo. This is two coats.

Elevation Polish Yeti Hides in the Mini Apple: This polish popped up this year and quickly stole my heart. I thought it was a real contender to maybe dethrone The First Lobster in my heart at my top coral holo, but this is a more cherry holo. Still gorgeous and amazing in its own right. The formula was perfection, almost a one coater. This polish also had a golden shimmer and flakies inside, setting it apart from the other classic holo finishes featured here.

Bear Pawlish Bathory: Bear Pawlish is a newer to me brand that I haven't had a ton of time to play with. I threw it into this post, because I orignally purchased this polish because I thought it might be in this family of color. It's not, instead is a gorgeous smoky raspberry, a perfect fall holo in my opinion. I have nothing in my collection like it. This is two coats.

So which polishes win here? Well everyone's taste here differs. For me, I would have to say my two favorite cremes are Essie Come Here and OPI Red Lights Ahead Where? And for the holo category I would have to say Smitten Polish The First Lobster and Elevation Polish Yeti Hides in the Mini Apple.

But there is a shade of coral here for everyone to love. How do you like your corals, more light than dark? More orange leaning or pink leaning?

Have any coral recommendations for me to check out?! None of these are actual dupes of each other, they are just close, which is why I feel justified in owning them all! :-) Hope you enjoyed this post, it was a lot of work to put together!!!

Stamping over ILNP Masquerade Holo

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you're all doing well. I had an okay weekend, woke up both mornings with a terrible migraine though and had to cancel my morning plans both days. And my hockey team continues to collapse before my eyes. But I did get to go on a five-mile walk yesterday and saw all sorts of birds and wildlife, so that made up for it a bit! And then by Sunday night, I got to play with polish and create several different looks, which is always exciting.

Today I'm sharing with you from the vault, but a gorgeous look none-the-less. This post will be a bit picture heavy, because ILNP Masquerade Holo is just full of different looks and is just so gorgeous in so many of my photos.





Masquerade is a gorgeous multichrome that shifts from pink, red, copper to green and blue. It is gorgeous and complex and looks different every time you see it. Best of all, it has a holo finish, making it lovey both indoors and out!

I saw a lot of people stamping over their flakie multichrome polishes with stunning results, so I decided to do it over this polish to see what the results would be!









Definitely pretty results. Using Born Pretty Plate BP-22 and the Born Pretty Store white nail stamping polish, I stamped this flowerish like image. I like the contrast of the white and the multichrome holo finish, almost makes the multichrome stand out even more!

I don't have a ton else to say at the moment. Currently very late (on Sunday night) here and I need to get some sleep ASAP, tomorrow I am on deadline at work!

What do you think about the look?!

Literary Lacquers Always Winter Never Christmas and Snowflakes

After a ridiculously way to long saga with the USPS, I finally got my most recent Literary Lacquers polishes I ordered around Thanksgiving weekend.

This is Literary Lacquers Always Winter Never Christmas.



This polish is a part of Literary Lacquers 2014 Community Collection, which is a collection of polishes inspired by ladies in the blogging community.

Always Winter Never Christmas was the brainchild of my friend Kirby at The Mercurial Magpie. It is an icy blue holo, inspired by "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." In the book the White Witch casts a spell on Narnia that makes it "Always winter but never Christmas."

The polish itself is a light blue polish with linear holo and larger microglitter holographic pieces. It is on the sheerer side, so it took three coats to get to this opacity.



As soon as I saw this polish I just knew I wanted to add snowflakes to it because it is such a gorgeous winter-esque polish. We don't get snow where I live, so I have to appreciate it on my nails as much as I can in winter.



The thing I loved about this polish is that it really is perfect for winter. And now just the holiday season, I think this polish will be good year-round, but especially in the early part of next year during the dreary winter weather!

To stamp the snowflakes I broke out my Bundle Monster BM-H02 and stamped with white polish.



I was so excited to finally get my polishes in the mail I literally put this on the day I got the polish. I was waiting such a long time for this polish, but the wait and the rigamarole I went through with the USPS was totally worth it!

What do you think of my manicure? Will you be wearing snowflakes after the holiday season!?

I'll leave you with a photo of me and my husband. I am typing this to you as I am celebrating an early Christmas with my in laws in Grass Valley, CA. We have on our Holiday Sweaters of course (and click on that link for a ridiculous video of my hockey team rapping about holiday sweaters that is so bad it is good!).

Born Pretty Stamping and ORLY Mirrorball

Hey guys, the Born Pretty Store recently contacted me about reviewing some of their products, and I jumped at the chance. I had seen their plates used a lot so I was very excited to get to try some of their stamping plates. So part of this post a press sample provided for my honest review.

This look began with two amazing coats of ORLY Mirrorball, which is just amazing silver linear and scattered holo in one. This polish is AMAZING!



Then I broke out a Born Pretty Store plate BP-02.



I chose this particular plate because I thought it looked delicate like lace.



Using the Born Pretty store High Quality Nail Stamping Polish in black (which I purchased myself), I stamped the image. The plate was easy to use and the black pigment in this polish was strong and the image turned out crisp and detailed. I just loved it!



It was later brought to my attention that the pattern I used looks like it has a face with a beard on it, and I can't unsee it! I bet you can't now either!



Overall I was very impressed with the Born Pretty plate and the Born Pretty experience. The company was kind enough to give me a personalized discount code. Use the code TRAH10 to get 10 percent off your next order. If enough people use my code, I'll be able to run a giveaway for my readers! The Born Pretty Store is located in Singapore, but they have world wide free shipping and super affordable prices. The shipping take a few weeks, but the wait is worth it.

So what do you think? Have you tried Born Pretty store before?

ILNP Black Orchid and Negative Space

I've been seeing negative space manis a lot this year and I thought it was high time I tried it out!



When I saw ILNP Black Orchid, I just knew I had to have it. I was looking for the perfect vampy holo, and this totally fulfilled what I was looking for!



To create the negative space, I used nail vinyls from the variety pack I purchased. I just love nail vinyls, they are the best.



To begin I started with a base coat, and then waited for that to dry. Then I placed the nail vinyls on my nails. Then I applied two quick coats of Black Orchid. You have to work fast with the nail vinyls, because they remove the best when the polish is still wet. It's not too difficult, but it is a bit of a learning curve.



Application: Black Orchid applied perfectly in two coats. It was a little tricky doing this manicure with the nail vinyls, and really properly judging the application, but I was still impressed as I usually am with ILNP polishes.

Where to Purchase: You can purchase Black Orchid from the ILNP website. It retails for $10. ILNP just redesigned their website and got new bottles, but just because they have a new look, doesn't mean they've changed their quality. You can purchase the Nail Vinyls variety pack on their website for $36.90 and it includes chevrons, chevron minis, chevron maxis, single chevrons, straights, french tips, lightening bolts and half moons.

Looking Ahead: I've got an amazing mani that I've been dreaming about doing for awhile now on my nails as we speak and I do think, if I have the time this week, I will be editing photos so you can see it on Wednesday!

KBShimmer Rust No One

This gorgeous beauty is KBShimmer Rust No One!



This stunner is a bright burning orange that is most definitely a show stopper. Also I think it is quite perfect for the fall.



When I got this polish, I had just gotten the Bundle Monster Sun Kissed Collection and was itching to use one of the plates, even though it was a bit off season to do so (though in my mind, it's never off season for an ocean related manicure, especially in California). So I stamped some fun sea stars using the BM 503 plate!



Application: Rust No One was on the thicker side, but not something that a little thinner couldn't settle. I was also pleased with the quality of this Bundle Monster set. I've had some iffy experiences with their plates in the past, but this set worked out really well! And it's a very fun set too!

Where to purchase: You can purchase KBShimmer polishes from their website. I purchased Rust No One for $8.75. You can purchase Bundle Monster plates from their website. You can purchase the Sun Kissed Collection for $9.99.

KBShimmer Mint-al Vacation with coral stamping

I've been trying to achieve this coral stamping look for awhile. I've literally been collecting coral stamps so I can perfect this look.



To create this look, I used two coats of KBShimmer Mint-al Vacation as the base. Mint-al Vacation was a little on the thick side, but definitely not difficult to work with.



To stamp, I broke out my MoYou London Sailor 08 plate, which I may or may not have bought specifically for the coral. But it has a bunch of super cute fish on it too!

I need to make a fun skittle look with these sea creatures soon!



I used KBShimmer You're So Shellfish to stamp this look. To me, I think I needed something a little brighter. You're So Shellfish is actually a bright polish, but sometimes when you stamp, polishes show up a little sheerer than they look on the nail.



Where to purchase: You can purchase KBShimmer polishes at the KBShimmer website. Mint-al Vacation and other KBShimmer holos retail for $8.75 and You're So Shellfish and their cremes retail for $7.50. MoYou London plates retail for 4.99 pounds (sorry its late and I can't figure out the symbol for that). I consider MoYou London Plates among the best in quality, if you haven't purchased from them, you really shoul!

Smitten Ker-Bloom Nautical Nails

Before I left for vacation this summer, I created this manicure to get myself pumped for going on my cruise!



To start the manicure off I used two thin coats of Smitten Ker-Bloom, a beautiful light lavender-leaning cerulean holo polish. I can't say enough good things about Smitten polishes, I have fallen in love with every single polish I have purchased from them!



Then to get myself pumped for the cruise, I added this super cute stamp from the my MoYou Sailor 04 plate.





This manicure was fun and even though the summer months have passed, for me, any time of the year is appropriate for a nautical manicure!