Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Polish Review: Time Lord by A Girl Obsessed

Ahhh… So my final review of 2013. Crazy huh? The year has gone by soooo fast. It’s like someone sped up time or something!

My last review is of A Girl Obsessed’s Time Lord. I have been eyeing this polish like FOREVER. It’s been taunting me and gloating every chance it got. I was totally ready to purchase it after New Years, but received it as a surprise Christmas present from the owner of AGO!

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Time Lord is of course, Doctor Who inspired. It’s to mimic the dimmer color of the 9th and 10th Doctors’ TARDIS. I happen to love these two Doctors’ TARDIS for the worn, tarnished look of the blue. Granted, I do love Matt Smith’s bright blue TARDIS, but this color is just more indicative of the well-traveled, well-loved TARDIS.

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My mani today is of course, Time Lord and LynBDesigns Slim and a Little Bit Foxy as an accent finger. Time Lord is an AWESOMELY pigmented polish, I mean. One coat is really all it needs, but I had to add two because that’s just how I roll. It goes on seamlessly and beautifully.

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It doesn’t have any sparkle, I’m not sure why my topcoat and picture are translating it this way. And that’s not a nick at the top of my nail, it’s a reflection of my lamp LOL This will be the PERFECT canvas for some awesome Whovian inspired nail art, that’s for danged sure.

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*sigh* So prettiful. Even makes my horribly damaged cuticle on my pinkie finger look good. Never try to start a fight with a thin paper sign and think you’re going to win.

This is hands down my new go-to-Who polish! It is seriously fantastic. If you’re wondering where you can purchase this beautiful polish, you can find it at A Girl Obsessed’s Etsy page. At just $8 it’s barely a bank breaker, so make sure you add this to your collection!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Bloggerversary Best of 2013 Indie Polishes

So, I didn’t quite get to my 1,000 Facebook likes as I had planned. Ho hum. Oh well, my awesome giveaway will be even more awesome as I’m going to start looking for sponsors in the next week or so.

This year has been a whirlwind of awesome happenings. I’ve loved nurturing and working on my blog and I hope many, many more awesome things will come in 2014.

So without further adieu, I bring you- in no particular order- my 25 top favorite Indie polishes of 2013!

One of my first posts of 2013 was one expounding the virtues of my MANY Beatles-themed polishes. I have more to add to the list, so I may need to revamp the post later this month.

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Enchanted Polish’s Across the Universe: a gorgeous, shimmery, sultry shade that never fails to make me melt.

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Daring Digits Nova- One of my favorite toppers and it’s such a sleeper. Goes good with pretty much any nude or neutral for an added zing.

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A Girl Obsessed Berries & Cream- The polish that began my obsession with milky glitter filled crellies. SO absolutely beautiful, and one of my all time favorite mixes of colors!

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Literary Lacquer Laters, Baby!- Such a beautiful deep charcoal linear holo with bits of holo glitter mixed in. Definitely a must for vamping out a little!

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Cosmos Lacquer R2 Beep Boop- A great red-white-and-blue topper from my good friend Tia, has to be one of my favorites from her awesome little company!

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Literary Lacquer Raspberry Cordial?- On the search for a true hot pink holo, my friend Amy over at Literary Lacquers sent me this beauty to review. Not only was it the PERFECT hot pink holo, but it was also designed with Anne of Green Gables in mind, one of my favorite book series when I was a little girl! A double whammy!

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LynBDesigns Am I Ginger?- A PERFECT orange holo that doesn’t make me look like I’ve got Jaundice, Am I Ginger? is one of the best fandom polishes I’ve seen lately!

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Kawaii Lacquer Stars & Dots- Yet another white crellie glitter bomb on the list. Stars & Dots was my go-to mani over the 4th and my birthday.

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Limitless Lacquer Blue Matte Topcoat- Such a bright and vibrant matte glitter topcoat, which honestly… I am really digging matte glitter. Don’t get me wrong, but matte glitter just kicks a little ass. And Limitless Lacquer has made bank on it!

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Sweet Pea Polish Peach Moonshine- Such a beautiful polish by itself, but it’s also a thermal polish. A real double whammy!

TheClock

Cinema Swatch The Clock- A beautiful scattered teal polish. It’s a beauty of a polish and never fails to please.

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LynBDesigns Alexandrite- A stunner of a polish that I wasn’t able to capture completely. It is a crazy shifter and so beautiful it’ll take your breath away.

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Literary Liquor Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster- A gorgeous teal holo that is seriously OUT OF THIS WORLD. It’s a must have for holo fanatics!

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Sinister Benediction Spearmint or Fruit- Seriously the BEST, most awesomest fandom polish theme in the world. Themed after Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Sinister Benediction hits one out of the park with this AWESOME polish. If you go get this puppy… Tell her Large Marge sent ya! Muahahahahahahahaha

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Lacquer Queen Radioactive- Whenever I look at this polish or wear it I immediately start singing Radioactive, that’s how much I love it. LOL It’s a gorgeous blue linear holo polish that never fails to impress!

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Lady Varnishes Bigger on the Inside- One of my favorite TARDIS blue Doctor Who themed polishes, Bigger on the Inside is a stunner!

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Kawaii Lacquer Sugar Skull- What better to show off your Halloween spirit and your love of pink?! Sugar Skull can help you out there!\

ToffeeSparkle

Clarity Paints Toffee Sparkle- Hands down my favorite (and only) brown linear holo polish I own, and such a beauty at that!

LakeGlass

Two Gypsies Lacquer Lake Glass- A stunner of a polish that I had a hard time taking my eyes off when I was wearing it. Looks gorgeous in the bottle and translates beautifully onto the nail. A must have!

GrapeApe

My-Stash Lacquer Grape Ape- This deep purple shimmer polish will not fail to knock your socks off.

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Limitless Lacquer Retro Christmas- The best polishes are ones you give the ideas for, am I right?! This was one of two custom polishes I had made for Christmas this year.

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Paint Shop Polish Godric- I’m a sucker for anything Harry Potter related, and Godric was truly a stunner that won my heart.

 

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Honey Bunny Lacquer Rotten Apples- This Alice In Chains topper is rockin!

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Polish Yer Hooves Vintage Christmas- This shimmery teal polish was another one of the Christmas customs I ordered and she didn’t fail to please!

All in all, the polish through this year have been SPECTACULAR. I have loved the opportunity to swatch for some of the best indie brands out there and look forward to swatching more in the year to come.

Thank you so much for sticking with me, my darling little Witchie-Poos. I extend cyber hugs to each and every one of you for being so freaking awesome it’s ridiculous.

Here’s to 2014, to be one of the best years any of us have ever had before!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Polish Review: One Idea, Two Awesome Customs

A month or so ago I got the wild idea for a polish. While I used to dabble in polish making myself, I have long since put away the bottles and glitters and given up. Too much work, not enough patience. But this idea was just sitting there knocking against my brain. I had to have this polish.

I contacted two different polish makers- Leigh Anne of Polish Yer Hooves and Rachel of Limitless Lacquer. Both of these girls make some PHENOMENAL polishes and have what seems like unlimited creativity when it comes to the polish world and how it runs.

I told them both that I wanted a tealy-blue jelly polish with white and red matte dots. I gave them this picture as a reference for color:

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Don’t laugh LOL. These are the exact colors I was looking for. The tealy-blue and the orangey-red. I love these colors as they are vindictive of a vintage, retro Christmas to me and I am all about anything vintage or retro.

And they did not fail to surprise and delight me. Each polish is different in it’s own special way. They’re both gorgeous and I have already got a slew of compliments on both of them!

Without further adieu, I show you now… Retro Christmas from Limitless Lacquer!

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This gorgeous tealy-jadey-blueish base has tons of white and red matte circle glitters floating inside. Rachel was concerned that the glitter would be hard to remove from the bottle so she gave me extras, which I have not needed as the glitter is very easy to remove from the bottle and place onto the nail.

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Beautiful, huh?

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This is Retro Christmas with the flash on. I love how transparent and yet pigmented it is. This is three coats.

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And this is Retro Christmas without flash. Super shiny and oh so yummy looking.

Onto Vintage Christmas by Polish Yer Hooves!

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This little gem is a tealy-blue shimmer jelly base with red and white matte glitters floating about. I didn’t want a ton of glitter, just a bit. Kinda sparse. And she delivered!

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I love how gorgeously shimmery this polish is. It goes on like a dream and is relatively opaque in three coats.

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This is a gorgeous look and I could just imagine it over either white undies or for an even bigger kick under black. I may have to try those!

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SOOOOO freaky beautiful!

If you ever have an idea for a polish, please make sure to look to your favorite Indie designers. Most of them have custom listings on their Etsy pages or they can come up with one. Pretty much every one of them are more than gracious enough to hear your ideas and turn them into beautiful polish creations if they have time.

I am so glad I asked Leigh Anne and Rachel both to create this polish for me. Both Retro and Vintage Christmas are fabulous and I love the fact that while it was the same idea I got two completely different polishes from two awesome Indie designers!

Polish Review: Kawaii Lacquer Joy to the World

I have yet another gorgeous polish from Jamie at Kawaii Lacquer to share with you. During her Black Friday sale, all of her polishes including the LE’s were only $5.00 each! I had to partake in this gorgeous creamy white Christmas Crelly.

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Filled with red and green glitters of different shapes and sizes in a creamy white base, Joy to the World is a quenticental Christmas polish, and fortunately, the only one I have bought this Christmas.

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Look at that!!! And it goes on like a dream.

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This is three coats of Joy to the World with a topper of Hong Kong Girl.

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So pretty and cheerful!

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This is also the polish I used in my Candy Cane Nail Art Tutorial last week!

You can find this and other AWESOME polishes including Frosty’s Remix, Jolly Holly and Oh Christmas Tree for $8.50 at Kawaii Nail Lacquer’s Etsy shop! And don’t forget to stop by her Facebook page and show her some love!

Tutorial Thursday: Silver and Gold Ugly Christmas Sweater Nails

So… I invisioned these nails to be streamlined and elegant; beautiful and classically gorgeous. They turned out to be just a little bit gaudy and obnoxious. So if you’re looking for nails to go with your Ugly Christmas Sweater, look no further… Some sweater ideas to get you in the spirit:

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OK! Now that you have a little inspiration, lets get started!

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Supplies you’ll need: White (Sinful Colors Snow Me White), Gold (West End Wonderland), Silver chunky glitter (OPI Pirouette My Whistle), two cheap clear coats (LA Color). You’ll also need some eyeshadows in silver and gold. I used Loreal HIP Metallic Shadow Duos in Platinum and I had started out using the fall ombre stack that I got from Fancy Dawn but found that the one I had chose was more copper than gold so I had to switch to an old Victoria Secret eye shadow I’ve had around for awhile. You’ll also need some silver and gold nail art accents, an exacto knife, painters tape and a pallet.

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First off, use strips of the painters tape to create your French tip grids. If you’re like me, and you have a couple nails broke down, don’t despair. That’s where West End Wonderland comes into play. Add that to your nubby nails while you’re at it.

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Add the white to your tips and while they’re still wet, carefully remove the tape and you’re left with somewhat perfect french tips!

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Using a mechanical pencil or a toothpick, crush up some of the silver eye shadow and sprinkle it onto your pallet. Using one of the inexpensive topcoats, drop a few drops into the mess and mix it up.

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Add a streak of silver to the edge of the nail.

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Using your finger pat it down and spread it out. Repeat the same steps with the gold shadow.

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You could leave it at that…. But nooo. We’re going to add the maximum amount of gaudiness to the situation.

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Using some clear topcoat pooled on your pallet, and spread on your nail; using an orange stick, place some silver shards on your nail wherever you think necessary. Repeat with the gold.

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Add some other little doodads and what nots. You’ll need a good, thick topcoat like Gelous to smooth things out or you’ll snag your nails on your awesome sweater!

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