Review: You say D&R Apothecary, I say Hit Polish--let's just love some polish!

Hello!!

Today I have two polishes to show you that I recently bought from D&R Apothecary. For a while they were Hit Polish, and then they were D&R Apothecary, but I think they're now Hit Polish again. Either way, this is an indie that I consider a go-to for glitter toppers, so I was very interested to try some of the glitters they have that are in a colored base.

I'm a sucker for oatmeal-raisin cookies, and can never find enough of the type I like (not too crispy on the outside and not too gooey on the inside), so I figured a good substitute might be this polish, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. This is two coats of the polish with no undies:

D&R Apothecary/Hit Polish Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, direct sunlight

The formula on this was good; no clumping or balding, and I didn't have to fish for the amount of glitter you see here. You can wear this without undies, but you could certainly put on undies to alter the look a bit, too. I'm not sure if this is going to work as a substitute for the cookies though, because it reminds me of them so much it just makes me want to find them and eat them! Seriously, though, lol, I love the combination of these colors, with the tans, the golds, the browns, and then the little spots of dark grape. It's a polish that has a lot of complexity, but doesn't look like an unplanned soupy mush of glitter. It keeps a unified feel to it that I really like. :)


Next up I have a similar sort of polish, and it's one of those milky glitters that I usually don't care for; the exception to that rule for me seems to be anything in neutral-ish shorts of hues. This one is Tea-Stained Linen, and I also have two coats here:

D&R Apothecary/Hit Polish Tea-Stained Linen, indirect sunlight

For someone who doesn't like milky glitters, I am pretty darn pleased with this polish...It's creamy but not in a stark way--the colors are soothing to the eye and it reminds me of a cup of strong Irish Breakfast tea filled with plenty of milk (probably because I can't make 'real' tea without getting tons of leaves floating in my tea, lol!). The choice of gold here isn't too bright or two overwhelming, and the base has just the right opacity--the exact amount of coverage that I seem completely unable to get in my own frankens, lol, that gives just enough color but still lets the glitters peek through. It's beautifully made and balanced.

If you haven't heard of this indie (is that possible?!), you really should check them out. Every polish I've ever gotten from her I've been very impressed with.  You can find her Etsy shop by clicking here; she's currently having a 10% off sale, and I noticed a few items on sale for as much as 40%!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope your week is off to a pleasant start. :)
M.

(The items in this review were purchased with my own money.)

Polished Pairings: Zoya Thandie + Hit Polish Pink Lemonade

Hello!

The weather outside where I live has been just beautiful this week--not too hot, not too cold, which has not been the case so far for most of the season! So, to celebrate, today I have a fun, summery pairing to share with you. :)

I started with a base of Zoya Thandie, a polish that I have fallen in love with. I love coral polishes that straddle that line between orange and pink, the kind that feel almost like duochromes. This one does that in most lights, with a decent formula to boot:

Zoya Thandie, two coats, indirect sunlight

Zoya Thandie, two coats, in the shade

On top of this I put a layer of Hit Polish Pink Lemonade, a glitter topper that captures all of the joy of summertime for me, with yellow and pink glitters in a variety of sizes:

Hit Polish Pink Lemonade over Zoya Thandie

This makes me think of fruit smoothies with chunks of strawberries. It makes me think of citrus sorbets. It makes me think of bright sundresses and children's bathing suits. It makes me think of refreshment in the hot sun, and of short breaks to refuel after long days of playing in the sprinklers on the lawn. It makes my heart glad. :)

Thank you for taking a look. Hope you are having a lovely summer with at least a few moments to pause and enjoy,
M.

Patriotic Polished Pairings: Statue Of Liberty

Hello--

Very fast post today because i'm running late and not feeling too well. :( But I really want to share this with you on the holiday. :)

I started with a base of Zoya Hazel, a pretty slate-blue fleck-finish polish with flecks of goldish-copper in it. When I was looking at it, it reminded me of the blue-green patina that bronze statues get, including the statue of liberty...

Zoya Hazel, overcast outside light

That instantly inspired me to do two things. First, I paired the polish with a coat of Hit Polish Patina, to bring up even more of that statue-type finish color palette:

Hit Polish Patina over Zoya Hazel

Then, finally, I finished off with a simple stamp, using Konad black and Winstonia stamping plate 114:

And there you have it...a patriotic manicure of a slightly different type. I hope you are all having a wonderful 4th of July if you're here in the states, and if you're not, I hope you're having an awesome day, too!

Hugs and smooches,
M.

Nails 4 Ways: Fergie Ferguson Crest Syrah

Hello!!!

I've never really been too tempted by the Fergie by Wet n Wild polishes...all I'd really seen was the glitters, and I wasn't too impressed by them. But then... I saw Ferguson Crest Syrah. Horrible, horrible, horrible name--beautiful polish. It's a brown-magenta-purple multichrome with a flecked finish. I did wear it for nearly a day before I had a chance to take pictures, so please excuse the tipwear:

Fergie Wet n Wild Ferguson Crest Syrah

I couldn't decide what to do with it, because I had two ideas, so I decided to show you both of them, and combine them. :)

First, I decided to stamp on it with Sally Hansen Brisk Blue and Cheeky Gals plate GA29
Plus Sally Hansen Brisk Blue GA29; I wanted to create a rich, bright contrast--oh yeah baby, this is not something you wear to work:

Ferguson Crest Syrah by Fergie Wet n Wild + Sally Hansen Brisk Blue

But hey, maybe a Polished Pairing is more to your liking. I thought that might be fun, so I combined it with Hit Polish (aka, D&R Apothecary) Wisteria Lane:

Fergie Wet n Wild Ferguson Crest Syrah + Hit Polish Wisteria Lane

And maybe you're like me, and you just can't decide...I understand. Sometimes I want to wear ALL da polishes myself! Especially when they look this good together:

Ferguson Crest Syrah + Wisteria Lane + Brisk Blue = Holy crap that's bright, but awesome!

I admit. This is not for every occasion. Mardi Gras comes to mind...or some other extravagant, over the top fun event. But what can I say, I love to be crazy sometimes. :)

Which do you like best? Or do you think it looks best all by itself?

Thanks for looking. Big hugs!
M.

NOTD: Bright skittle stamping :)

Hello!

Today's Sunday Stamping prompt in Adventures In Stamping is to stamp over a skittle. These days my favorite type of skittle is a 2 + 2 skittle, with two colors each on two nails, and one of the colors on the thumb (although you never get to see the thumb, lol).

I was feeling very summery, so I decided to go with some deliciously bright summer colors. I chose Zoya Darcy, a bright lemon creme, and Zoya Mitzy, an avocado matte. Holy moly, Mitzy is a huge pain in the butt to apply--I mean on the level of old-school holo pain in the butt. Not only did I have to pull out every trick in my bag to apply it, I had to invent new ones. It made the application of Darcy look easy, impressive as she was a bit problematic, too. Don't get me wrong, I love Zoya, and most of the time have little or no problem with their formula--and ever brand has a few difficult children. So I don't mean to malign the brand, at all. I just had to get that little whine off my chest. :)

Back to the issue at hand. Next I put D&R Apothecary (formerly known as Hit Polish) Sour Candies over Darcy on my pinkie and index finger; Sour Candies is a very fun mix of blue, green, yellow and white glitters of varying sizes, in a nearly clear green-jelly base. Then, I stamped over Mitzi with China Glaze Hanging In The Balance, using Cheeky plate GA3. Finally, I finished off with two yellow glequins on the middle nails:

If that doesn't put some summer spring in your step, I don't know what will! Yes, it's bright, and I love this combination of colors for summertime. Maybe subconsciously it reminds me of a beach ball or something. :)

Thanks for taking a look! Peace and love,
M.

NOTD: Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Hello!

Today is officially Mardi Gras, so I have my second celebratory Mardi Gras manicure today. This one I made on purpose, lol! I set out to make it sparkly and glittery and gaudy in that awesome Mardi Gras way. Let's see if you think I pulled it off. :)

I started with a base coat of Milani Hi-Rez, one of Milani's very chunky, but still awesome, holographic polishes. It's a sort of a dark lilac shade which I thought would serve as a good backdrop for the rest. Next I did a quick saran-wrap pattern over it with China Glaze's Rare And Radiant, to give it a bit of iridescent green shine in spots. After that, I put on a coat of Hit Polish's Bourbon St., a fun glitter in Mardi Gras colors. And last but not least, I stamped swirls of beads being thrown through the air with Bundle Monster plate 224, using Butter London's British Racing Green and Manic Panic's Blood Thirsty:

This is a good shot to see the iridescent effect

Love that pretty glitter. :)

To show that it doesn't look so busy when you actually see it farther away. Not that I care if it's busy, lol!!

This angle gives a great shot of what Milani Hi-Rez looks like :)

Now I want to find a place to eat crawfish, dance to Zydeco, and wear some beads!! Who wants to join me?!?

Also, I just wanted to point out that this is basically the same design I used on my hot chocolate manicure (which you can see here for comparison purposes); although I did add some saran-wrap background here, it's otherwise the same technique with different colors. The two together show just how versatile a single stamp can be when you just vary it a bit, I think. I've never before been inspired by one design I was doing to do the same thing for another purpose, so I just had to share that part with you. :)

Here's hoping that your good times are a-rolling! If they aren't go make 'em roll!! :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After (&After): Fall glittery swirl

Hello!!!

I think it's okay now if I share with you the manicure I used for my guest post yesterday, (you can see the original post on The Manicured Monkey by clicking here)so here it is:



I'm very excited about doing this guest post for Kristin; I've been admiring her art for quite some time, and getting to know her in Adventures in stamping. Thank you Kristin for this opportunity!

Kristin gave me full choice with respect to what sort of manicure I wanted to do, so I chose a fall manicure to share with you. I started with a base of Jessica Gingersnap, from the new fall collection; it's an incredible glass-fleck finish polish with a range of gold and bronze flecks:

Jessica Gingersnap in indirect light

Jessica Gingersnap in the shade

 Next, I did a gentle gradient of glitter at the tip, to play on the neutral fall base, but add in some more fall colors. I used Hit Polish Autumn Harvest, which has shades of orange, gold, green and brown hex glitter in a clear base:

Jessica Gingersnap vs. Hit Polish Autumn Harvest

Gingersnap + Autumn Harvest

 Finally, to finish the look, I stamped over each nail using the flourish image from Bundle Monster plate BM02 and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Jumping Jade:

I love how this came out, but for some people, it may be a lot of look! I think two cool variations that would make it a little more subtle would be to put the glitter and the flourish both only on the accent nail, or to put the glitter on all the nails, but the stamped flourish on the accent nail only.

Thanks so much for reading this post, and thanks again to Kristin for giving me the chance to do a guest post for her!

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Depression Awareness

Hello.

Today's manicure represents a serious subject that is close to my heart. As you may know, October is Depression Awareness month. If you don't know much about depression, please check out Scrangie's post on depression; it contains a lot of important facts about what depression is and isn't.

I suffer from depression, and have for most of my life, as far back as I can remember. In fact, part of the reason I started this blog was to give myself something happy and positive to focus on for at least a few minutes each day.

Depression can be debilitating. It makes your life dark, like a huge, sticky black cloud has engulfed it. When people tell you to be grateful for the good things in your life, that makes it worse, because you already know you're lucky and don't understand why you feel so horrendously bad all the time; and, you feel deeply, deeply guilty about not being able to pull yourself out of it and feel the way you 'should' feel. The fact is, depression isn't a choice. It's a biochemical disorder that sufferers have no control over. And it can destroy every moment of every day for them.

The official color of depression awareness is green. I chose China Glaze Cast A Spell as the base for my depression awareness manicure:

Cast A Spell is a dark, dark olive green that's almost black. It's filled with dark green-gold flecks, and in this context it reminds me of the way that even when light tries to crack through the blackness of depression, it never quite succeeds, and is tainted by the darkness around it.

Many people who suffer with depression work hard to keep the outside world from seeing it. I've had many colleagues in my life tell me that they admire how I'm always positive and energetic, but they don't understand how hard I have to work to put on that face; they don't understand how draining, how much it takes out of me to put on that face. And they certainly don't understand that the darkness is lurking right underneath that facade, barely hidden and waiting to come out.

To symbolize that aspect of depression, I did a skittle artwork manicure:

On my index finger, I put a coat of Hit Polish High Tech (a pretty glitter with greens, silver and black). On my middle finger, I put a coat of CND Jade Sparkle (a green interference topper) along with a ridge of olive glequins. On my ring finger I put a coat of Lush Lacquer Camo Queen (a glitter with olives, golds, and black), and on my pinkie I added Zoya Opal, a green-blue flakie.


But no matter what good things are going on, no matter how good a front I put on, and no matter what I manage to fight through and accomplish when I'm depressed (and even tiny things are a huge fight), it's all still  blunted  by the depression.  There's a pallor over everything, and nothing feels good, nothing feels right. To symbolize this, I put a matte top coat over the manicure:

If you know someone who suffers from depression, you can support them by educating yourself about depression and about the help available to people who suffer from it.

Thank you for reading if you've made it this far. Below I've linked in with other bloggers who are also spreading the word about depression.

M.

Before & After (& After): Leafy Leafy Leafy!

Hello!!

Today I'm going to take a break from Halloween, and show you a fall manicure. Sadly, Halloween still managed to seep out of my subconscious, because I'm holding a bottle of Halloween glitter in my hand instead of the actual glitter that I used! I didn't realize it until it was too late...::sighs::

I started off with a base coat of Barielle Lily Of The Valley, a very pretty grass-green polish which I wore for a day (and forgot to take a picture of--yep, I'm really on top of things in this post!). Then I put a coat of Hit Polish Autumn Harvest over it:

Barielle Lily Of The Valley with Hit Polish Autumn Harvest (pay no attention to that bottle)

Okay, fine, that bottle contains Hit Polish Halloween, if you like it and want to know...:)

I love the colors in Autumn Harvest, they remind me of the changing . This is a clear-based glitter, but I don't think I'd classify it as a 'glitter bomb'--it's clearly meant to be layered over another polish, and the mix of colors and sizes of glitter makes it a solid, pleasant fall go-to glitter for me. :)

For my third day wearing it, I wanted to stamp over it in a way that picked up on the fall theme:

I used Magno Nails Plate O (which I will be reviewing for you soon!), and Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.

I wish I'd taken a picture from farther away because while it looks a bit busy in this picture, it actually looks very nice when you see it on the whole hand--it blends a bit. Regardless, I really like the colors together, and  love the fall feel of it. :)

Thanks for looking!

Xoxox,
M.