Literary Lacquers Ocean Nail Art

Happy Monday guys! Mondays are a drag aren't they?! Well we are in the doldroms of summer, some of us are longing for fall, some of us are longing for vacation, others are just longing for some fun!

Anyway, since it's Monday and a portion of us are back-at-it as we say (I'm currently at the office on deadline, wrote this last night), I thought I'd share some nails that make me think of anything but work!



To start this look off I painted one coat of Literary Lacquers Thermofish* on my nails. Thermofish is a green leaning linear holo with scattered matching microflakies. Literary Lacquers does this finish so well so I paired with it with another polish from her latest collection Literary Lacquers Blue Lullaby* in a fun gradient look.



Then I got to stamping. For the image I pulled out my Bundle Monster BM-509 plate and used my KBShimmer Eyes White Open.



Then I wasn't quite sure if the look was super obviously ocean nails so I found a sea star image and placed in on my middle finger. The orange stamping polish I used was Jolie Polish Orange Dahlia.



To top the whole look off I did two layers of top coat, these polishes aren't top coat hungry, I just like to make everything super smooth and shiny! And they most certainly did shine and sparkle, check out these in the sun!!!



Anyway, I hope these bring a smile to your face. They certainly made my week brighter when I wore them!  Tell me of all the fun adventures you've been having! I've been having a chill week, but the future holds many fun adventures ahead.

I Finally Tried Darling Diva Polish!

Happy Friday everyone! I finally get to share with you my first purchases from Darling Diva Polish. They've been on the scene for quite awhile and I have no idea why I've never purchased from them before, clearly I was delusional!



Anyway, needless today in addition to being so in love with all these colors, I was so impressed with the brand too! The formula on these polishes was spectacular and they shipped within less than 24 hours, which was amazing too! So let's get to these gorgeous swatches shall we?!?









This is Darling Diva Polish Peekablue. This is a gorgeous squishy blue jelly polish with holographic sparkle and color shifting flakies. In the bottle it looks a little more bright blue than it does on the fingers, but I think this color would also look really cool layered over a lighter color (that might make the blue pop even more). Because this was a jelly I applied three coats, but I bet most people could get away with two coats. The formula was totally a breeze to work with too. Keep reading in this post to see a fun nail art look I added to my Peekablue mani!







This is Darling Diva Polish The Alchemist. This was totally the first polish that tempted me by Darling Diva and I knew when they were having a sale recently that it was a must purchase. This is a stunning bright red holo with gorgeous violet flash in its strong linear holo finish. The best part about this stunner – ONE COAT. No joke. This polish is out of this world amazing. It's fire-y and delicate all at once and I am in total love. Such an amazing red!







And of course I'm a sucker for a good vampy polish so I always had my eye on Darling Diva Polish BEWBS!!! as well. This polish's formula was similar to The Alchemist, it could almost be a one coater, but I applied two coats here for extra umph! This is a gorgeous dark berry purple and it is vamp at it's very best. Expect to see me wearing this a lot in the fall (my most favorite season ever!).

In fact, I'm actually wearing this baby now. I am headed on a weekend away to the Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo to go wine tasting and beer tasting with a bunch of coworkers and ex-coworkers this weekend. I broke out BEWBS because the color reminded me so much of wine and it just so sophisticated looking!





And finally I finish with this fun art look I created using Jolie Polish Baby Green Hulk stamped using my new Bundle Monster Shangri-La plates for this fun buffet stamping look over Peekablue. I thought the green would be a good pairing because it pulls some of the fun shift in the flakies of Peekablue!

Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this brand. I already ordered from them again actually. And you should totally check them out too! If you visit Adventures in Acetone, another amazing nail blog that knocks it out of the park with her swatches and nail art, you maaaaay find an awesome discount code for this brand! So what are you waiting for?! What are you dying to get from this brand?!

Ever After Polish Review & Nail Art

Hey guys, today I've got some polishes to show from Ever After Polish's newer collection I've Got the Magic in Me – a collection inspired by the Magic Mike movies. ;-)



A snafu in shipping with this brand gave me a bad impression originally, but that has completely turned around. I contacted the maker after my original review of the brand, and I am nothing but pleased now. If you haven't checked out this brand, I highly suggest you do, the maker is sweet and the fan group is super fun and great too. Let's get to this week's swatches and review shall we?









First up we have Ever After Tarzan's Vine. This is a gorgeous leaf-like green, almost a kelly green, holo polish with very subtle gold flakies, which you can see in the macro shots. I really like this green, makes me think of fresh mowed lawn and suburbia for some reason. The polish was a bit on the watery side, be careful not to overload the brush and you'll be fine. Opaque in two coats.










This is Ever After Flesh Popsicle. This couldn't be a more perfect nude polish for my skin tone if it tried. Almost gave me what every nail person strives for at some point, mannequin hands. But the extra awesome aspect of this polish was the holo finish with the tiny copper micro flakies which give it a little something extra. This polish is complex and beautiful. The formula on this was superb and applied opaque in two thin coats.



I also tried out the Make it Rain salt scrub, which had a sweet floral scent to it and works just great. It is a salt scrub though, so the exfoliating pieces were much larger than some other scrubs I've used in the past. The oils are very moisturizing though. I really love salt and sugar scrubs, they help treat my hands after a long swatching session and are especially great when I have a busy week and don't have time for a mani bomb.







And because Flesh Popsicle is such an awesome nude, I knew it would make an incredible canvas for some nail stamping. In a test of some more of my Jolie Polish stamping polishes, I put together this rainbow heart look using my UberChic Beauty plate 1-01.

Anyway my impression of Ever After Polish is a great one, both with the polishes and the bath product. I would highly suggest checking out the brand, the customer service is great and the maker is super sweet. Have you tried Ever After Polish before? I'd love to hear which of their polishes you love!

ILNP 2015 Summer Collection Picks

Today I have four new polishes I recently got from ILNP during their summer collection preorder earlier this month! These beauties are stunners and I had so much fun photographing and playing with them. I expect to use them a ton in the future!



I got six polishes in all, but had to stop at one of them to create a nail art look because I was just so in love with the polish, you'll see what I mean later. So let's get to the swatches.









This stunner is ILNP Long Walks and I just knew this would be the first polish I would wear from my INLP haul. This is a gorgeous taupe colored polish with beautiful gold flecks and a subtle holographic finish. Most taupes don't work with my skin tone but I found this to be delightfully complex. It has a lavender lean to it which makes it work on my skin tone. I just loved this polish no matter when you looked at it, it was always looking a little different. Completely unique in my collection. The formula was superb, as are all my ILNP, and this was opaque in two coats.

Side note: I was wearing this polish the night my mom went to the hospital. The next day, as I was waiting in her hospital room by the window while she was in surgery, I distracted myself by checking out my polish in the light.









This is ILNP Paper Route, the minute I heard the name of this polish I knew I needed to have it just for the name alone (see my blog title if you don't get it). This is a gorgeous white holographic polish with fine holographic particles plus these beautiful holographic shards I haven't seen anywhere else. They are so beautiful and make this polish truly unique. The formula on this one was on the thicker side, but not difficult to work with. I used three coats for opacity, but most could probably get away with two.









This is the gorgeous ILNP Harbour Island and it is a beautifully bright teal jelly polish with the fine holographic shards similar to Paper Route. Because of all the reviews that said that this particular shade was on the sheerer side, I decided to layer it over Paper Route, and I thought the results were stunning. The slightly lighter background really made the teal pop. I just love this color, I can never get enough teal polish in my life. This was two coats, but on it's own I believe it needs more like three to four to avoid visible nail line. It is sheerer because of the jelly base.









And finally we have ILNP I See You. This is a beautiful champagne leaning nude polish that is such a lovely canvas for nail art. I saw it and said, I need to wear this longer than just a swatch, so this is where I stopped swatching the polishes I bought. This lovely champagne nude polish is SUPER holo in the sun and even in the shade. It has fine holographic finish with the same holographic shards as the previous polishes, really making it pop in the shade.









So I really liked seeing I See You and then Harbour Island together, so I broke out my Jolie Stamping Polish that reminded me most of the teal color of Harbour Island. The stamping polish is Jolie Polish Blue Turquoise Flower using plate Uber Chic 1-03 plate.

I'll add a few more shots of this look in the wild so you can see what it looks like outside in the sun and in the shade. The stamping can get lost because the holo in this is so stunning, but I think it is a subtle effect that I rather liked!





I just loved these polishes and after checking out I See You I know I'll probably eventually pick up some more polishes just like it from ILNP. So let's dish, which ILNP did you pick up or drool over? Have I added to your list?! Let me know in the comments!