NOTW: Black Lace French Tips

Hello again and happy Friday!! I leave for vacation today!!! ^_^

Here's what I'm currently wearing:

Outdoors, natural light, no flash. Boo for a smudged ring finger!

This is three coats of Zoya Rose, a coat of Seche Vite, and a lot of dry time (and I still smudged my right hand with the stamper!! >:(  ). I stamped the tips with Konad Special Polish in Black with Bundle Monster Plate BM18. I topped everything off with a coat of INM Northern Lights. The INM smudged the stamps a bit, so beware! I should've used some NYC In A New York Minute Fast Dry Topcoat first, since I know that doesn't smudge, but I didn't and I suffer the consequences. >.> Just a few spots, so nothing horrible (unlike Orly Sec n' Dry, which smudged everything so bad for me that I had to start over). Everything then got a final coat of Seche Vite, so I wouldn't smudge anything further.
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Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I was undecided on what to do this week. I changed my polish three or four times and I debated cutting them down too before I settled on this. I opted not to turn them into nubbins just yet because I love wearing this style, but rarely do because I can't stand to have them this long very often. Even so, I'm quite happy with how these turned out. The perfectionist in me wanted to keep doing them over until they were perfect, but with prepping for this upcoming vacation, I didn't have the time!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash. Details of the design on the most 'perfect' nail I managed.

Tune in a little later today.... I'll have an announcement of sorts!!

So.... More VERY soon!! ^_^

Announcing NeverWithoutPolish's Zoya Month!

Hello again so soon!!

I have a little announcement... I have declared that September is 

As it turns out, I happen to have 31 Zoyas left to swatch, and September has 31 days! So, I'm going to have a swatch post for you every day this month featuring one of Zoya's many awesome polishes!

Zoya is one of my favorite brands. They make great polishes that are free of the bad stuff, plus, they're cruelty free as well! They've got a great selection of colors and finishes. And, most importantly, they are consistently awesome in the quality department. Their formula is great, always. They're also pretty fun to interact with. Check them out on Facebook--they frequently do special offers for their fans through social networking. They've also got a referral program called "Share the Love". Details here. But, basically, if you sign up for an account through someone's Share the Love Link, you get a free bottle of polish added to your first order, and the person whose link you used to sign up gets points added to their account that can be redeemed for some pretty good coupons. For example, I have three separate "3 Zoyas for $10" coupon codes I 'spent' my Share the Love points on. It's a pretty nice incentive. I should point out that I'm not affiliated with them in any way--just a happy customer spreading some love.

Back in April, Zoya did an Earth Day promotion. It was buy one, get one polish free with an insanely high limit to the number of polishes you could get. I had just gone on a few polish buying binges, so I told myself I had to sit this awesome deal out. Even though, that effectively put each bottle at $4 a piece. I didn't trust my inner polish addict, so I resorted to handing Mr. NeverWithoutPolish my plastic with instructions to not, under any circumstances cave in and let me order. The last day of the promo came, and of course, I was making a wish list and whining to Mr. NeverWithoutPolish. He didn't budge. I wandered away from my computer for the night, and he ended up shutting it down before bed. But can you guess what he did just before? Yes, he bought every single polish on my wishlist for me! He's so awesome!! ^_^  So, Zoya Month is really his doing!

Speaking of Mr. NeverWithoutPolish, he and I are leaving on vacation for the next two weeks, but I've got blog posts ready to go, so you'll not be without while I'm away. I may not get to interacting with the blog frequently, but I'll catch up upon return. More soon!  ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Barielle Elle's Spell

Hello again!

Barielle Elle's Spell. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today I have Barielle Elle's Spell for you! This is the polish that made me try this brand. I was enticed by the flakies. ^_^

Elle's Spell is a red jelly with red and orange flakies. I see some of the flakies shift to a yellowish gold at times as well, but it's not as abundant as the red and orange. This is a lovely polish. I had no issues with the formula. It's great for layering or wearing alone.

First, I layered one coat of Elle's Spell over yesterday's Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost swatch.



Barielle Elle's Spell over Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.



Here it is on it's own. This is a base coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix, three coats of Elle's Spell, and I skipped the topcoat on this one because it was pretty and shiny all by itself.

Barielle Elle's Spell. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I'm not sure where Barielles can be found in the real world. I ordered mine from the interwebs at Barielle's website. I recommend liking Barielle's Facebook page. They do flash sales for their fans on occassion, which is why I ordered when I did (they offered a code to their Facebook fans that gave me 40% off everything--including shipping!). My only gripe is the packaging. My three bottles came in a large, slightly padded envelope-type mailer but were not individually wrapped up, so they could bounce around in there and bump into one another. Thankfully, my order arrived unbroken, but I can see the potential for breakage in transit.

Barielle Elle's Spell. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^



Barielle Elle's Spell over Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost, Indoors, artificial light, no flash.



Stash Swatch Initiative: Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost

Hello again!!

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

 Just a quick post today. Here is Wet n Wild's Eggplant Frost.

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, no flash. A lovely warm-toned purple.

 Swatches today are one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix base, two coats of Eggplant Frost, and one coat of Seche Vite. The first coat of this was streaky, but it leveled out with two. Some of the pictures show some patchiness, which I couldn't see in person, but a third coat wouldn't hurt next time.

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, with flash. Check out the deep purple shimmer! Love it!

For 70 cents, this polish is pretty awesome. I found it during a random Walgreens stop. I wasn't really after any polish that day, but they were having a big sale on Wet n Wild polish, so, of course, I had to get some! I think I grabbed four polishes for less than $3 that day! ^_^ This one is really pretty. It's got a warm purple base with this gorgeous deep purple/blue shimmer in it. This polish glows in the right light. I love it when random (and cheap!) polish finds turn out to be lovely.

Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Color Club Warhol

Hello again!

Color Club Warhol. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

 I wanted to start the week off with my very first lemming. This is Color Club Warhol from the Poptastic collection. This may be one of my favorite polishes of all time!

Color Club Warhol. Indoors, artificial light, with flash. It's not quite so orange normally.

I was lemming this before I even knew what 'lemming' meant. For any newcomers, a nail polish lemming is a polish you've seen someone else wear and now you must have it for yourself--like lemmings who follow one another even to their doom! ^_^  I know they are a real animal, but I can't help but think of the little green-haired guys from the video game first! Anyway, before I really got into nail polish, my mother came home from the nail salon with this color on, and I had to have it. I searched online and found it, but didn't order--back then I wasn't keen on online shopping (that has certainly changed!!), but I never forgot the name of that polish. It was one of the first things I ordered when I started taking an interest in nail polish and nail blogs. 

Swatches today are one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix base, two fabulously easy coats of Warhol, and a coat of Seche Vite. Every Color Club polish I have worn has had a fantastic formula. This flows smoothly onto the nail and gave me no trouble whatsoever. This is neon, and very bright. It's definitely pink with orangey undertones, which you can see in certain light. I didn't have any sunlight for these swatches unfortunately. It rained steady all day Saturday of this past weekend. Sunday was sunny for a few hours, which I capitalized on to get some nice sunlight pictures of some holo and glitter polishes, but not this one. I took some flash pictures, which I normally skip, to try to give you a range of lighting conditions.

These pictures were taken in my lightbox. The left is without camera flash and the right is with flash.

I think I got this from Head2Toe Beauty--they're a great source for older nail polish collections and cheap too!

Color Club Warhol. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^

NOTW: Lemondrops and fun!

Happy Friday!! In one week, I'll be on VACATION!! ^_^

Here's what I've been wearing all week. A bright, sunny, simple mani!

I started with one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardening Base, two coats of Barielle Lemondrops on all but my ring fingers (which got two coats of Zoya Arizona), and a coat of Seche Vite.

Bright and sunny! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Once that was all dry, I added a careful coat of Black Cat Lacquer's Rainbow Brite and topped it with more SV. I reviewed Rainbow Brite in this post, where I also explain in greater detail how I applied what I call a 'careful' coat of glitter polish.

Lemondrops and fun! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This was fun and easy and quick--exactly what I wanted after the rather involved mani's I've done the last few weeks (here and here too). This is reminiscent of Candeo Jellybean. I'm not saying this look is a dupe for Jellybean, but I think it's close enough for me that it kills that lemming!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Wish me some sun, so I can get some major swatching done! I don't want you to be without posts while I'm away!

More Monday!!!!!!!!!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: China Glaze Splish Splash

Hello again! Happy almost Friday!

China Glaze Splish Splash. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Just a shortie post today. Here is China Glaze Splish Splash from the Summer Neons collection.

China Glaze Splish Splash. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is two coats of Splish Splash, no base coat, with New York Color's In a New York Minute Fast Dry Topcoat over the top because, in true neon fashion, this dries a bit matte. A gorgeous deep blue with blue shimmer. What's not to love?

China Glaze Splish Splash. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is a great vibrant color with an easy formula. No issues here!

More soon!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Hits Moonbow

Hello again!

Hits Moonbow. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today I have another very special polish. This is Moonbow from Hits!!

Hits Moonbow. Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

I used one coat of this over a black creme. I lusted over this polish for so long. I'm glad I finally got my hands on it and it doesn't disappoint!

Swatches today are one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardening Base, two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, one coat of Moonbow, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Hits Moonbow. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is from Hits' Phenomena collection, which is a series of four multichrome glitters. I have read others mention these are dupes of some Ozotic polishes, but I am not familiar with Ozotics, unfortunately. Anyway, the glitter in here shifts from teal to purple to pink and finally gold at the extreme angle. Over black, this makes me think of galaxy nails. I like how you get both 'sides' to the shift from individual pieces of glitter being aligned differently.

Hits Moonbow. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Can't wait to see what other layerings I can come up with for this....

The Hits Phenomena Collection can be found at llarowe and Ninja Polish. It's been popular, so some stalking might be necessary to snag one. Happy hunting!

More soon!! ^_^

Hits Moonbow

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pretty & Polished Pool Party

Hello again!

Pretty and Polished Pool Party. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today we have my very first indie polish purchase ever! Here is Pretty & Polished Pool Party!

Pretty and Polished Pool Party. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is a super fun jelly glitter sandwich in a bottle. The base is a milky blue with a million different glitters. There is a lot going on here--bar, hex, square, holographic glitters in every color. You may remember this from a few weeks back--it was a part of this fun mani.

Pretty and Polished Pool Party. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is one coat of Sally Hansen Protix, three coats of Pool Party , and one coat of old Seche Vite. In fact, my bottle is so goopy, I thought it ruined the mani before I could get pictures--halfway through my normal picture routine the polish wrinkled uniformally across all my nails. As I was going to remove it and start over, it leveled itself out. It was weird. I blame the Seche Vite. About time to add some thinner to that bottle.... Anyway, I love this polish. Someone else said that it looks like pool toys floating in a pool, and I couldn't agree more!

Application was easy. No fishing for glitter--there's more than enough in here. However, thinner coats with fewer brush strokes makes it easier. The glitter doesn't clump up or drag that way.

Pretty and Polished Pool Party. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

So fun for summer! I love this!

Pretty and Polished Pool Party. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I bought this from llarowe. Here is the product page. As I write this (Sunday evening), this polish is currently available. Leah Ann does a great job at keeping you informed about restocks and other polish happenings through email and her Facebook page, if this isn't still available by the time this posts. This was part of my first order from llarowe, and I was impressed by how quickly my order was filled (seriously, I got a shipping confirmation two hours after I hit the "Submit Order" button!). Check llarowe out! It's a great source for indie and import polish.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Orly Androgynie

Hello again!

Orly Androgynie. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today I have Orly Androgynie from last year's Holiday Soiree collection. This is a black jelly base with multiple sizes of gold glitter. I see fine gold glitter as well as some larger holographic gold glitter.

The glitter in this settles in the bottle so judicious shaking is required. I even let mine sit propped up upside down for awhile before swatching so I could maximize the number of glitters available. I also shook this in between coats because it settles very quickly. Not really a problem however--gives you something to do while that previous coat dries a bit.

Orly Androgynie. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Sinful Colors Nail hardening base, three thin coats of Androgynie, and one gloopy coat from a bottle of Seche Vite that has seen better days. The first coat of this is streaky, but gets to opaque in three, though I'd ideally layer this over a black base. The glitter seemed to get overwhelmed by the base color, so maybe layering it thinly over something will help.

Orly Androgynie. Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

Orly Androgynie. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I was a little disappointed in this. In the bottle, this has the potential to be amazing. That blue-green flash you see off the glitter in the bottle? Yeah, awesome right? Sadly, that doesn't translate onto the nail. It's still pretty--the gold glitter has a dark cast to it which makes it unique to my collection. I like this polish, but I'm hoping I can find some way to make it look like it does in the bottle.. then it might be one of my favorite polishes of all time! I'll keep you posted with any breakthroughs!

Orly Androgynie. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Orly Androgynie. Indoors, artificial light, no flash. Looks like time to thin out my Seche Vite. It's old and wrinkling the polish now. Sadface!

More soon!! ^_^

Copy Cat NOTW: Two Ways

Hello again!

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

After finishing up swatches for this week, I wanted to do something fun with my nails. I had found this mani on Pinterest and pegged it to my "Nails! Nails! Nails" board to recreate. My take on it is definitely different, but that was my inspiration.

Indoors, artificial light and natural light, no flash.

All fingers got a base coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardening base. On my thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers I applied two coats of Pure Ice white (which is a terrible white, not to mention so old and goopy, I need a replacement). I topped the white with two coats of China Glaze Pool Party--a super bright, in your face neon pink/red-orange. This polish may be my new obsession. It's on my toes indefinitely! It's less red than the first picture, but far more vibrant than the indoor ones. This one was hard to capture!

Two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out on my middle and ring fingers.  The middle finger got a coat of Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. To pull everything together, I stamped a lacy image from BM11 onto Pool Party with Konad Special Black, and added the same to my ring finger with a mix of Konad Special White and Pool Party. I finished with a coat of NYC's In a New York Minute topcoat. I like how this turned out. It's very punky, if a bit busy. I love, love, love this idea of two accent nails.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I ended up needing a fresh mani by Wednesday this week, but I wasn't over this design idea yet. So here's my take two:

Indoors, artificial and natural light, no flash.

Once again, all fingers got some Sinful Colors Nail Hardening love. Thumb, pointer, and pinky started with two coats of Zoya Charisma and one coat of Orly Sec 'n Dry. Once morning hit and I saw them in the daylight, I thought a few nails needed a third coat, so they each got another coat of Charisma and Sec 'n Dry for good measure. Two coats of Orly Luxe went over my middle and ring fingers. Sally Hansen Big Money went over Luxe on my ring finger once it was dry and got multiple coats of Sec 'n Dry over the course of the evening to get a smooth finish. Finally, my middle finger was stamped in Zoya Carly with BM21 and topped with NYC In a New York Minute.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I love this even more than my first attempt. The gold accent nails rock!

Hope you all have a great weekend! I've got major swatching planned--let's hope the sunny days we've been having persist!

More Monday!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Sally Hansen Glitz Gal

Hello again!

Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

The last Sally Hansen Gem Crush polish in this mini-series is my favorite one, by far, and I think you'll see why. This bit of awesome is Sally Hansen Glitz Gal:

Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

This is a fantastic glitter bomb of charcoal micro glitter and small silver holographic hex glitter.

Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

This is one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Protix, three coats of Glitz Gal, and one thick coat of Seche Vite. This sparkles like crazy! Even in the shade!

Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

The formula on this one was thick but did not give me any issues. I had more issues with the brush than anything. Look at it--a big flat paddle! This made application rather messy.

Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Indoors, artificial light, no flash. I am not a fan of these brushes!

This ended up not being as dark on the nail as I expected. I think I'd use one or two coats of this over a black base next time. I absolutely love the sparkle off this!



Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I have four of the eight or nine in this line. You can see the others in my collection swatched here, here, and here. CVS, Target, and Walgreens all had these a few months ago. Good hunting if you're after them still!

Sally Hansen Glitz Gal. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^