Polish Review: Sinister Benediction

Ahhh… How do I start this post out….

Oh yeah, that might do it. Do you remember Large Marge? If you’re a child of the 80’s, you should.

Does Pee Wee’s Big Adventure ring a bell??

Maybe this’ll jog your memory….

Or maybe this? Yes, I just found Tumblr… This post could get interesting…

OK ok ok I’ll stop… For now…

What I’m trying to get at is that in this post I am reviewing Sinister Benediction's seriously awesome, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure themed Spearmint or Fruit.

You know, that nasty gum that Pee Wee gives the insufferable Francis and his father that makes black goo come streaming out of their mouths?

Yeahhhh that’s it.

The maker of this gorgeous little gem describes it as: a semi-matte mint crelly polish filled with pale yellow, aqua, pink, and black matte glitters and a tiny bit of shimmer. How I describe it? The most awesomest bits of my childhood crammed into a bottle with a ton of freaking fabulous glitter.

I mean, how can it not be awesome when all these colors, which you usually don’t see mixed into a polish finally come in a polish?

I used three coats of Spearmint or Fruit just by itself, which… Might have been a little overkill… I probably should have used some undies and then just a light coat of this beauty, cause it’s REALLY glitter intensive. Like you get a ton of glitter each time you dip in. Not that it isn’t pretty, cause it REALLY is. Its just a lot of glitter lol

But DAMN. So gorgeous. I am seriously in love with this polish and I may need to go buy the rest of the collection. At $9 a full size bottle, that won’t be unattainable. Along with Spearmint or Fruit, there’s also Chuck’s Bike-O-Rama, Breakfast Machine and Everyone I Know Has a Big But. You can check the others out at her Etsy shop and see customer pictures of them at her Facebook page.

She was also nice enough to fill out my wonderful Q & A!

GoodWitch: What made you start making polish?
Sinister Benediction: When I was first getting into cosmetics, eye shadow came in electric teal and cobalt blue but not nail polish. Bored by the color offerings, I never painted my nails.

Last year I wandered into a forum thread about nail care almost on a whim. I saw photos of polish in every color. I had long since stopped wearing colorful eye shadows, but now I wanted those colors on my nails.
For several years I entertained the idea of making and selling some art/craft thing, but I couldn't decide what. When I learned of indie polish, it appealed instantly.

GoodWitch: What inspires you the most?
SB: Glancing at my big brainstorming list, most of my ideas come from favorite movies and shows.

GoodWitch: If someone copies one of your polishes, is that flattering or insulting?
SB: This hasn't happened (to my knowledge) so I'm not sure. I'm of the opinion that you should always quote your sources though.

GoodWitch: What are some of the new polish trends going around that you like and what are some that you cannot stand?
SB: I really like the sparkly textured polishes, but I don't feel the same about plain textures.

GoodWitch: Do you have anything awesome in the works for your customers?
SB: I have several more Big Adventure polishes I'd like to make. I also have some ideas involving custom glitter shapes. If anyone out there works in glitter manufacturing drop me an email.

GoodWitch: What do you do outside of the polish world?
SB:I used to do web design and development but burned out. Now I'm a stay-at-home wife trying to complete personal projects.

GoodWitch: What type of base coat do you use or suggest? As well as top coat?
SB: I favor NailTek Foundation III. It's helped keep my dry nails from cracking so often.

I haven't found a favorite topcoat. I'd like the speed of Seche without the shrinking. For the Big Adventure polishes I'd suggest a matte topcoat. It looks great with the matte glitter.

GoodWitch: Is there any nail-related ritual you can't skip when you're doing your nails?
SB: I can't skip placing something on the table to protect it because I often drop stuff.

GoodWitch: Do you have any manicure secrets you'd share with us?
SB: I'm still new to polish so it's likely you've read the same tips from bloggers as I have.

SO… Go buy some of this awesomeness to keep for your very own. You won’t find it in the basement of the Alamo, you won’t find it in the desert. You’ll find it at her Etsy shop! Go there and tell her… Large Marge sent ya! (errr… The Good Witch might be a better idea LOL)

 

Polish Review: Lacquer Queen Polish

Hey there everyone! I hope everyone is having a great week!

Today I have a new review for ya! Tammi from Lacquer Queen Polish sent me three gorgeous little pretties and I’m here to share them with you today!

First up is You’re Violet, Violet! It’s a gorgeous jelly-based scattered holo in a wonderful shade of purple that I have like none of, so this was a real treat.

Isn’t it gorgeous? It also has some flecks of little glitter in there as well. She also claims that it’s self-smoothing and it’s true!

Soooo prettiful. The only problem I had with it is that it tends to get streaky a little, and stringy the longer you paint with it, but it was pretty minor. Dry time was next to nil once on the nail.

Next up is Radioactive, a gorgeous teal blue linear holo polish. It is…. SPECTACULAR.

This doesn’t even capture the prettiness a bit. The linear in this polish is totally strong and gorgeous. I kept flashing it in sunlight and just LOVING it.

Please note, I wore this polish for four days! Small amount of wear, no chips or blemishes to name. I am seriously impressed with the formula of this polish. I put it on because it went really well with the shirt I wore to a job interview and decided not to take it off!

And look at that holo! Soooooo pretty!

You can see where my nail had grown out, but the polish was still perfect as the day I put it on. I usually have rotten luck with holo polishes. They usually only last a day or so at the max and start flaking and chipping like mad. Not this one!

The last one is Earth Angel, a beautiful purple to blue scattered holo thermal. This polish has a special meaning to the creator as she donates $1.00 of every bottle sold out of the Angels Among Us collection to the American Diabetes Association.

Isn’t it a beauty? The thermal in this polish is really strong. It started changing on the BRUSH before I put it on. Needless to say, I was impressed! And the staying power was astronomical!

Here it is before I introduced the water to it. As you can tell, it’s already changing on the tips a little. And it’s not all that cold in my living room!

Here is the gorgeous purple color it turns when it’s cold.

And here it is when it’s hot. It’s a gorgeous soft periwinkle blue color.

All in all, all the polishes I received from Lacquer Queen were awesome! The formula is very smooth, fast drying and seamlessly gorgeous.

Ranging from $10.95 to $13.95, the price is a little bit on the high side, but with pretty much every polish containing spectraflair, it’s kind of a given. That crap is expensive and hard to come by these days. You can buy her polishes from her Etsy store. And make sure to like her Facebook page for an extra discount! I believe you get what you pay for and in this instance, you get a very superior product that will never fail to disappoint!

Polish Review: La Bella Vernice

Today on the blog I have three polishes from La Bella Vernice. Made by a gal in a group I’m in, these polishes have been all the rage right now.

The first I have is Jozzibug. Roni lists this as “an aqua style holo blue”. It’s a scattered holo, and it does dazzle in the sun.

The mix is very well pigmented, the scattered holo translates great on the nail.

It’s a very pretty sky blue color.

Next up is Cinderella, a nice mix of pinkish purple holographic glitter. It’s a topper, as it takes at least three coats to reach full opacity by itself.

Here I paired it with Essence’s Break Through and it’s the perfect match.

This is just two coats of Cinderella and as you notice, it’s not opaque. It’s still pretty though!

And here is Feeling Shameless. Roni lists this as an “ultra holographic thermal polish that changes color with heat.”

I didn’t really catch the holo in this polish. It does have some sparkles, but it’s very scattered.

One of the two problems I had with this polish is that it took five coats to become completely opaque and even then I had issues with what looked like wear on the tips even though that was impossible. It does dry to a very pretty periwinkle blue shade.

When hot it darkens to a pretty deep purple/blue color. That’s where my other problem comes in. It doesn’t stay for very long. Like almost as soon as you take your hand out of the water, it starts changing color.

This was literally just seconds after I took the picture above. Kinda disappointing that the thermal reaction didn’t stay longer :/

This was taken right after the picture above.

All in all her polishes are good. The thermal left a little lacking in my eyes, but I’m very picky when it comes to thermal polishes.

You can pick up these and other polishes at La Bella Vernice’s website for $10 per full size bottle.

 

Polish Review: Unique Glitter Polish’s Princess Polish

If you haven’t noticed, I absolutely love Indies. Pretty much more than any other brand (except maybe for the hard to find OPIs). So much more thought, love and care goes into each bottle of Indie polish you get. Being a business owner myself, I find it almost necessary to tout the small business owner and show my love for Indie polishes by hopefully getting their names out a little farther.

So this finds me sitting here late on a Sunday evening starting this review; watching Goldfinger with my almost 12 year old son and enjoying the “cooler” weather we were graced with today. And I get to share another awesome Indie polish designer!

Christina, the brains behind Unique Polish’s Princess Polish was gracious enough to send me two pretty little gems for me to review.

First up is Neon Romance. Listed for $8.50 at her Etsy store, Neon Romance is described by Christina as a translucent clear/pinkish base with red stars, red bars, gold shards, pink squares, fine pink and red glitter.

When I first looked at it, I was like *raises eyebrow*. I wasn’t real sure what to make of this topper. Pink and gold and red aren’t normally colors I would combine together, but she changed my mind.

I put a generous coat on top of Essence’s Fame Fatal and was plesently surprised by the combination.

It really looked good. It is kind of hard to get all the shaped glitter to come out and present well. As always, I flipped over the bottle and let it rest on its top for awhile. Just works easier to get the pieces out that way.

Next up is Party Time, a polish topper she hasn’t released in her store yet, so I got first peeks of it!

There is a huge amalgamation of shapes, sizes and colors in here. Red diamonds, blue hexes, holographic circles, shards, bars, squares. The list goes on! Again, as the rule of glitter toppers go, it works better if you stand it on its top and let the heavier glitters float to the neck.

While the base itself is as smooth as silk, it is kind of hard to grab the bigger glitters and get decent coverage without getting too much base.

When you pair it over a bright color, such as Essence’s (yes, I have quite a few Essence crèmes LOL) L.O.L it looks smashing. Reminds me of the 80’s and early 90’s and the bright, bold geometric shapes that seemed prevalent in that time period.

When using these polishes, use a light hand, it will enable you to get a few more coats out of the base and hopefully a little more glitter coverage. Dry time is quick though, and there was absolutely no shrinkage when using a fast dry topcoat, which is always a plus for me!

You can find these, and other gorgeous little beauties in Unique Glitter Polish’s Store. Her prices are pretty reasonable and her customer service is A+!

Christina was kind enough to answer a Q & A for us, so please, feel free to read on!

GoodWitch: What made you start making polish?

Christina: My girls were always wanting the latest styles of polish and that was getting pricey then I thought I can do this myself and started to play around with making different glitter polishes. My girls were getting compliments and asking where they got them from so I decided to make more and market them!! Right now I am a stay at home mom so I have a little more time to play around with new styles. I also love tapping into my creative side.

GoodWitch: What inspires you the most?

Christina: I get my inspiration mostly from my kids...they ask for certain styles/colors and try to work on it. I also look to the current clothing styles to blend into, that way you have a matching polish.

GoodWitch: If someone copies one of your polishes, is that flattering or insulting?

Christina: This has not happened yet but I think I would feel flattered that I made something that people would like to copy, then a little upset that I may lose money.

GoodWitch: What are some of the new polish trends going around that you like and what are some that you cannot stand?

Christina: I love the fuzzy nails!!! Not sure why but I love to 'pet' my nails. I also like all the 3D art nails.

GoodWitch: Do you have anything awesome in the works for your customers?

Christina: My son has Autism and I would like to work on some polish inspired by both him and his spin on life as well as the Autism Speaks colors.

GoodWitch: What do you do outside of the polish world?

Christina I spend my time caring for my 6 children and just trying to live life to the fullest!

GoodWitch: What type of base coat do you use or suggest? As well as top coat?
Christina: Actually I don't normally use a base coat unless I am wearing heavy glitters then I use a homemade "glitter remover" base coat. As far as top coat I love Seche Vite.

GoodWitch: Is there any nail-related ritual you can't skip when you're doing your nails?
Christina: I always use a cuticle oil.

GoodWitch: Do you have any manicure secrets you'd share with us?
Christina: I don't do my nails as much as I would like other then to try out my new styles, so I don't really have any secrets.

 

Thank you, Christina, for giving us a bit of a glimpse into your “inner workings” LOL.

She was also kind enough to give my readers a code for 15% off that’s good until September 30th (just happens to be boyo’s birthday!). Just enter the code: ThankYou6 at checkout to claim your discount!