Vertical Neon Smitten Gradient

Hey everyone, happy Friday. It's been a pretty busy week but I wanted to help enable you all in case you hadn't picked up the Smitten Polish neon flakies yet, they are available in her shop thanks to a restock she had earlier this week.

In case you need a refresher, I reviewed* and compared these puppies here and here, but last night I thought it was high time I combined them all in a single look. So I have seen quite a few vertical gradients out there and thought combining these eight polishes would make a spectacular bright rainbow look!

To create a vertical gradient of this kind, I didn't use any make up sponges, just painted with the brushes. I would paint one side 2/3 of the nail in one color, and then go over the other side with the other color for 2/3 the nail. Leaving the middle 1/3 of the nail to be a combo of the two colors. 

So let's take a look at the individual nails and I'll show you which colors they are.

This is Aqua Opal (left) and Ice Pop Paradise.

This is Lazy River and Aqua Opal. 

This is Terra Opal and Lazy River. This is my favorite nail because the middle third turned out the best! 

This is Ignis Opal and Jar of Sunshine. Now Jar of Sunshine takes over here, but trust me, Ignis Opal is in there, just didn't layer well with the strength of the neon in Jar of Sunshine. I also have the original version of Ignis, which is why it probably looks a bit different than the website. 

This is Aer Opal and Pool Noodle. These two look the most similar, but they are actually quite different. Because they were on my pinky they had the least opportunity to create the middle third of a mixture, so the whole nail looked mostly one color. I have the first version of Aer Opal if anyone is wondering, I think that is why my Aer looks less purple than the shots on the website. 

These all retail for $11.50 on the Smitten Polish website. 

So I just thought I'd show some more love to these awesome neon flakies. They clearly deserve a revisit now and again, they are quite awesome in my ever so humble opinion. Do you have any of these? Found a way to combine them that I haven't tried yet?!

*These were originally sent to me as press samples for my honest review.

Smitten Polish Neon Flakies Collection Pt. 2

Hey guys, get ready for a super fun week. Not only is it a short work week for me, but I've got some awesome posts set up – starting with this one!

*Press Samples*

Say hello to the Smitten Polish Neon Flakies Pt. 2, plus some comparisons with Pt. 1 later in the post! These lovely new neon flakies will be available for pre-order Wednesday July 1 at 2 p.m. CT for 24 hours.

I'm going to cover the application first, because the formula for this whole collection is very similar. Application is great for this whole collection, most people could probably get away with two coats, but I applied three because my nails are longer and I didn't want even a hint of visible nail line. I love the jelly finish on these, makes the polish look extra shiny and squishy! The formula is easy to work with, the flakies are all evenly distributed and lay flat on the nail with zero drag upon application.







First up we have Smitten Polish Pool Noodle. This lovely is a beautiful neon pink jelly polish with golden iridescent flakies throughout. My photos make it a little less neon than this polish actually is, but it is truly bright, trust me!







Next we have Smitten Polish Jar of Sunshine. To me this is seriously a glass of Sunny D (remember that drink!?!) bottled into a nail polish. I love this neon traffic cone orange neon flakie. This one also has the golden iridescent flakies. This too, was brighter in person than my photos could capture.



I included a these comparison shots with the similar Opalescent Elements warmer shades. Please keep in mind that these neon polishes seriously freaked out my camera so the colors here aren't exactly accurate, but I thought it would be helpful to see them side by side. From right to left : Aer Opal, Pool Noodle, Ignis Opal and Jar of Sunshine. Aer Opal is clearly more purple than Pool Noodle, but their flakies are the same, just different bases. I would say that Pool Noodle is definitely brighter. Now the bases of Ignis Opal and Jar of Sunshine are very different. I would almost say that Ignis Opal is a more pastel type of neon finish that is a great orange leaning coral finish. Jar of Sunshine is clearly a bright neon orange finish. Ignis Opal flakies are green leaning, while Jar of Sunshine has the golden flakies.

 

Now onto the cooler shades of the collection. 







This is Smitten Polish Lazy River. When I first saw this polish my heart skipped a beat. This is just the most perfect color, clearly my favorite here! This is a lovely green-leaning teal jelly polish with green iridescent flakies. This isn't neon like the other two, but a lovely shade of teal and the flakies make it nice and bright.







And finally we have Smitten Polish Ice Pop Paradise. This is a close second favorite of this collection, it is the most stunning shade of blurble (a blue leaning purple). This jelly flakie polish looks purple and blue all at the same time and has green iridescent flakies. I love how chameleon this polish is – sometimes blue, sometimes purple with a lovely green flash.



And now I have the cooler shades of the Smitten Polish neon flakies. From left to right: Terra Opal, Lazy River, Aqua Opal and Ice Pop Paradise. Terra Opal is clearly a neon green with the golden flakies and Lazy River, while green leaning, is clearly teal with green flakies. Aqua Opal is a gorgeous almost cerulean blue with green flakies and Ice Pop Paradise is a blue leaning purple with green flakies, where the blue looks more navy than cerulean.



These are all really great and unique in my collection. Clearly my favorite is Lazy River is my favorite, but they are all so lovely.

So what do you think? Which do you like best? What do you plan on adding to your collection. I really like how they all look together, they would make an awesome set!

Once again these are available for pre-order at the Smitten Polish website on Wednesday July 1 at 2 p.m. CT and will be available to purchase for 24 hours – so no worry about having to hit the order button right at 2, which is always convenient!

Smitten Polish Opalescent Elements Collection

Hey you guys, today I have some super exciting swatches of a brand new collection from Smitten Polish! Now it's summer and all over the place I am seeing either neon cremes or holos, it's a neon parade out there but today I am honored to share with you something different! Neon jelly flakies!

*Press Sample*

This four piece collection is the Smitten Polish Opalescent Elements collection and it consists of four jelly flakie polishes, unlike anything I've seen out on the market. These polishes will be available on the Smitten Polish website April 25 2 p.m. CT!



First off let's talk formula. All of these were very similar in formula so I'll group it all together. These polishes each applied very easily in three coats. The first coat is rather sheer since the polish is a jelly base. It builds up quite well in the second coat, and many might stop there, but I have some wicked stains growing out on my nails and I felt like you could see that still, so I added a third coat.

The polish applies quite easily, with the flakies (which vary in size) laying flat on the nail. The polishes dry a tad matte (not totally though, somewhere between that and shiny), and each swatch has a top coat. So let's get to those wonderful swatches shall we?!





This is Ignis Opal. This is a bright in your face coral leaning pink with golden orange iridescent flakies. I like this take on the bright coral pink, it reminds me of a fire-y sunset!







This is Aqua Opal, and guys, I have been dreaming of a polish like this for a long time. This is a bright neon blue with green iridescent flakies. As you can tell in the above photo, I have this pendant on my necklace (which I never take off) of Lake Tahoe and I've always wanted to layer polishes to match this pendant. Now I don't have to layer a thing, I have it all in one bottle. I looooove this polish so so much!





This is Terra Opal, which is a bright in your face neon green with lime green flakies, similar to Aqua Opal. This polish is so bright and reminds me of the green slime from Nickelodeon's Double Dare, that takes you back doesn't it?! Either that or it totally ages me. ;-p





Rounding out the collection we have Aer Opal, which is a lovely neon purple (more on the warm magenta side, than the royal cooler side) with golden iridescent flakies similar to Ignis Opal.

And because I love to combine polishes to create a cohesive look, I of course had to nail art these amazing polishes! I wore this look for four days and I can say with confidence these polishes wear quite well and do not stain one bit!









This look was photographed in direct and indirect light, and outside in the sun and in the shade, which gives you a better idea of what the polishes look like in all lighting situations! Also now you can see them all side by side, which gives you an idea of their differences and similarities all in one look.

I used nail vinyls to create the Vs and then used a dotting tool to dot all four colors on my thumb nail. I just looooved how this turned out. I think the thumb reminds me of party lights, you know the kind that are in a dome and move all about the room to create a party atmosphere? Like at cheesy eighth grade dances and such!?!

Honestly I couldn't pick a favorite out of this collection, I seriously loved each one of these equally and I do believe I will be wearing these again and again over the summer! I definitely want to slap a few of these in a pedicure too because they are bright and vibrant and unique!

Now as a reminder, these polishes hit the Smitten Polish site April 25 at 2 p.m. CT and you don't want to miss out on them!

So let me know what you think?! Do you love neons?! Are you over them already and it isn't even summer yet? What about this take on flakies? Share with me your thoughts in the comments!

Easy But Elegant Nail Art: Double Side Dot

So the first time I saw the double side dot look, I kept the idea in the back of my head of something I must do! I believe the first place I saw it was from McPolish on Instagram, so this is definitely not my own idea but one I wanted to share with the masses regardless!

Also I had seen ILNP Poetry and ILNP Happily Ever After paired before, and knew they would make the perfect combination for this look!







The formula for Poetry and Happily Ever After were great, wonderful two coaters both of them.

Happily Ever After, which is on the thumb and ring accents, is a lilac colored mega holographic which has gorgeous silver flakies throughout. The flakies make the polish glow in the shade and the holo finish makes it blinding in the sun! Awesome polish through and through.

Poetry is a magenta, warm leaning purple. Almost the color of a delicious sangria. But look close, there are magenta microflakies, giving the polish even more depth.

To make the side dot look, just use a dotting tool and add two dots to the side of your nail. Throw in an accent for an even more cute, coordinated look. Pretty simple to do, but a fun way to pair polishes!

Sorry this post is on the shorter side, I've had a busy week and it was my husband's birthday yesterday! But I've got some fun polishes to show you next week courtesy of Smitten Polish! I'll just leave a shot of the bottles right here as a little sneak peek! You won't want to miss these neon flakies!!!