My favorite Halloween Polishes, part 2

...You ready for part 2? (if you missed part one, you can find it here. )

Last time I showed you some basic building blocks, plus a couple that were a little extra-special. I'm going to continue on with the extra-specials--and by coincidence, all of today's offerings are indies, too. :)

Let's have at it!!

Best all-in-one Halloween polish: No Worries Polish Truffula Tree

No Worries Polish Truffula Tree, artificial light

If you want a fun, special Halloween manicure that will catch they eye, but don't have time for nail art and the like, this polish is for you. Beautiful formula, and very festive. Your one-stop Halloween polish experience. :)

Most versatile Halloween accent polish: The Nail Junkie Tiger

The Nail Junkie Tiger

I realized as I was putting this together that I don't have a full swatch of this polish, because I tend to use it as an accent rather than a full mani. So I'm showing you a Halloween mani I did with it instead of a swatch. This is a great polish to use as an accent nail, a background glitter to stamp over, a stand-out skittle nail. The basic orange-and-black color scheme make it perfect for almost any sort of theme--spiders, witches, pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, haunted houses, bats. Yes yes yes, I realize it has bar glitter. I love bar glitter myself, but even if you don't love it for daily wear, I think it still has a place in theme manicures. :)


Darkest, most goth-type Halloween polish: A Study In Polish Consulting Criminal

A Stud In Polish Consulting Criminal, direct sunlight

Perfect for deadly vampires, serious sorcerers and goth fairies, this red, white and silver in black jelly polish will take care of all of your dark, shadow-filled Halloween-style desires.


Polish that looks most like body part and blood splatter: 6 Harts Ninja Bat

6 Harts Ninja Bat, over medium gray franken, indirect sunlight

Let's say you're stuck in a horror movie, and some serial killer is coming after you, trying to kill you. Let's further say that you pull out a grenade, and blow him to bits. Let's still further say you take a look over at the wall that his body splattered all over. That's what this polish reminds me of, when I'm in a Halloween state of mind.

On that note: Spaghetti and meatballs, anyone?

Most night-sky and alien-esque Halloween polish: Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me.

Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me!, no undies, direct sunlight

Looking for a night sky polish that comes with its own moons? Want something that captures a whimsical, alien-creature type of look? Going to the party as Dr. Who, and want to take the galaxy with you? Want nails that the sauciest of sorceresses would wear, polish that will make your nails look like they can cast spells all on their own? This is the polish for you. You could get a slightly more subtle look than the one I put together here by putting undies under it and using one coat. But who wants subtle for Halloween??? :)


Most self-explanatory: Pretty & Polished Blood Clot

Pretty & Polished Blood Clot, no undies, two coats, artificial light

Yeah, it's probably pretty obvious why this one made the list--this is so creepily, horrendously like a microscope view of blood cells clotting up, it makes the Halloween freak inside me dance with joy. This is also one of those frustrating polishes to photograph--it looks so much better (and creepier!) in person. I believe this was also released for a while under the name 'Bloody Mary'; whichever way you find it, your evil nurse/doctor/serial killer costume would not be complete without some of this dripped, er, painted onto your nails.


Most non-horrific Halloween polish: SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance

SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance, 2 coats, indirect sunlight

 

The only thing horrific here is my swatching ability--these were taken a year ago, I apparently didn't realize the bottle was in focus rather than the nails, and they make me shudder! But they still get the basic idea across, including the duochrome aspect of the polish, and the glitters. This is a wonderful polish for princesses, faeries, elves of various sorts, and other sweet, ethereal costumes. It's also just a fun, quick Halloween polish that will help you capture the general spirit of the holiday in one bottle.


And to end, an absolutely quintessential Halloween polish: Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash

Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash over Zoya Keiko, artificial light

I have undies here, but you can build this polish up on its own to get more glitter and nearly the exact same base color (as you can see in the bottle). This is another polish that I love for capturing the spirit of the holiday just as it is, with no nail art and no costume to pair with it. It's full of energy and fun, just the way Halloween should be.

And so, my favorites are at an end...but I'm sure this is only the beginning of the possibilities. So I leave you with this very important question: what amazing Halloween polishes am I missing from this list? What are your favorites? Point me to them!!! :)

Hugs and Halloween thrills,
M.

Review: No Worries Polish

Hello!

I have a charming indie brand to share with you today: No Worries Polish, who recently sent me some polishes to review. :)

You know that I think it's important to support independent polish makers, but I've never really said a lot about why I feel that way. For the most part in all walks of life, I like to support small business and artisans whenever possible; of course I buy from major brands too, and I don't mean to suggest that they're unworthy of patronage in any respect, as a general rule. But...I have a deep appreciation for that aspect of the human spirit that drives someone to do something well, take pride in something they love, and throw themselves into making a living at it. Perhaps it's just the romantic side of my nature, but I believe there is something beautiful about producing something from your heart, from your hands to mine, no middle-man, the way business has been done from the beginning of time. And, there is more honesty and less possibility of shenanigans (yes, I did just use that word). I like looking into the eyes of the person who grows my lettuce, fixes my shoes, and makes my polish (okay, in that case 'looking into the eyes' might be 'having conversations over e-mail'--same thing :P ). Why am I taking the time to say this in my review today? I'll explain more about that later. But for now--we must POLISH!

First up I have No Worries Polish Mermaid Dancing, a bright blue shimmer with small light green glitters and large silver hex glitters:

No Worries Polish Mermaid Dancing, indirect sunlight

This polish has a child-like feel to it that makes me want to put on a flouncy dress and hunt for fairies in my garden with my little niece. The particular shade of blue is bright and sunny, a cerulean sort of bright that stands up against the large silver glitters. When you stare down at this polish, the depth in the shimmer pulls you in. It's a happy, dreamy polish.

I'm wearing two coats here, and while I didn't have any issues with the formula, I did place the large glitters a bit. There is no shortage of them, and they aren't hard to get out, but larger glitters can try to stay where you don't want them at times. It certainly didn't take much effort at all to spread them out where I wanted them. :)


Next up is Titanium, a silver frost with small navy blue and pumpkin orange hex and square glitters, along with some medium squares, throughout:

No Worries Polish Titanium, indirect sunlight

No Worries Polish Titanium, direct sunlight

Let's just get this out of the way right now--If you're a Denver Broncos fan, I don't see how you can not own this polish. As a 49ers fan, I can't claim that's a selling point for me personally (grrrr), but serious now, how perfect is this for your team! I think there might be an ordinance requiring you to purchase it...I'm not sure, but I'd look into it if I were you. :P

For the rest of us, Titanium has a good formula, and I'm showing two coats here. As many frosts tend to be, this one can be a bit stroky, but not as bad as some, for sure. I think Nicci has done a great job of getting a good balance between the blue and the orange--the larger percentage of the blue glitters helps balance the brightness of the orange glitters to make a visually pleasing combination. The addition of some squares rather than just circles also gives just a bit more dimension to the polish.

But here's my favorite, by far: Truffula Tree. If you don't know, the Truffula tree is a central part of the Dr. Seuss book 'The Lorax', which is an indictment of a consumer society that destroys natural resources due to greed. The Truffula trees are beautiful, vibrant, colorful tress that get cut down in order to manufacture goods--to the point of extinction. The Lorax tries to speak for the tress, and reminds us that if we don't care about our environment, certainly nobody else will. This polish celebrates the striking, vibrant colors of those trees with a beautiful bright carrot-orange jelly base, small grape-purple hex glitters, and medium green-teal hex glitters, all curled up in a soft shimmer:

No Worries Polish Truffula Tree, artificial light

No Worries Polish Truffula Tree, indirect sunlight

I think she has perfectly captured the whimsy and fun of those trees. This shade of orange is so sunny and vibrant, so rich for a jelly, it's just delightful. Every time I looked down at my hands while I was wearing this, it made me smile. And it probably goes without saying but...you know you're going to see this polish again come Halloween time. I'm not sure I've seen a more perfect Halloween polish, ever, end of story, even if that's not necessarily what she intended with it, lol.

This is two coats, and the formula was excellent on it. The large glitters are sparse, and you have to shake the bottle well before using to be sure you get them, or go fishing for them (I'd recommend storing this one upside-down if you can). I totally get why she didn't use too many of the large glitters--more of them with these colors would have turned this polish into a parody of itself--and if you want more of them for some reason, you can grab them out and put them where you'd like. I wanted just a little flicker of the larger glitters here and there, so that the orange and purple could sing, the way I believe Nicci intended them to do.

And I do admit that I like having a reminder when I look down at my nails to be respectful of the planet I live on, in a fun, happy way. :)


Okay, so I started off this post talking a bit about why I like to support small businesses when I can. I chose to bring this up during this review because I believe this goes doubly for Nicci--not only is she a small business owner, but her husband is in the armed forces (and their story is a very touching one). I believe that is also worth supporting, and deserves to be mentioned here. Now, would I buy horrible polish just because a military wife makes it? HECK NO. My money is too precious to me for that, lol--I'd find another way to be supportive. I wanted to review these polishes without knowing that fact about her. But, if I'm going to buy a pretty polish, I do like having the opportunity to support  someone who sacrifices so much for their country. I don't mean to be political about this, and I seriously doubt that Nicci wants you to buy her polish for any other reason than you love it. I just think that getting pretty polish and supporting military families in the process is, well, to borrow words from Martha Stewart: it's a good thing. :)

Here is Nicci's story if you'd like to know more about her and her husband:

My name is Nicci, and I'm an Army Wife. 

I met Bob, the man that is now my husband 3 years ago. He came into the small town store that I worked at to help his 8 months pregnant sister-in-law get balloons for her brother's 30th birthday. I was the girl that inflated the balloons.

If you would have told me that 3 months later he and I would be dating (thanks in large part to our sister-in-law), and that a year after that we would be married, and planning a move to a duty station in the Middle East, I would have told you, you were crazy.

But, that's what happened. And the funny thing is, my parents, grandparents, and his parents, knew it as soon as they saw us together.

My husband is my hero, and I would follow him to the ends of the Earth. He's something I had honestly believed I would never have in a spouse. I didn't think men like him existed, but I know now that they do. He supports me, he's proud of me, and he's my biggest fan. He's also one of the strongest people I've ever met. 

He's a 2 time cancer survivor, and he found out he had cancer when he was deployed in Iraq, of all places. He had known there was something wrong before he left, but he didn't want to abandon his team, so, he ignored the warning signs and went anyway. 

After they found the tumor he went through treatment at Walter Reed, not knowing if he was going to be diagnosed as terminal, and not knowing if he was going to suffer permanent damage. After his first tumor was resected, and he was given a clean bill of health, he put his uniform back on, and went back to work. 

The second time was 6 months after we started dating. He went in for his checkup, and they found a tumor. I was with him, and we were both shocked. He had shown no symptoms, but there it was on film, clear as day. I promised him I would be there for him, because the last time he was largely alone because he didn't have a significant other, and he didn't want his family to see him in such a state, and told them not to come even though they wanted to. He can be stubborn, to say the least.

The day after he had his second tumor resected, he went back to work. He didn't even consider taking a day or two of leave, even though his bosses, and I told him it would be ok.

Most people don't even know he went through all of that. Because despite it, he was and is a happy person. 

Before I met him I was a little neurotic, to say the least. I was maxed out on credit hours a semester at my university. I had to get out in 4 years or else my scholarship would run out, and I couldn't afford that. That mixed with some other things I'd rather not talk about affected me in a not so great way. I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I was a big worrier. 

After we got together I noticed I started to mellow. Things didn't stick to me like they used to, and the biggest sign something had changed was, I had stopped biting my nails.

This was huge for me. It had been a habit ever since I could remember. Something I had tried countless times to stop, and failed. Then I just stopped. It took me a while to notice, by the time I did, my nails were long enough for me to paint them. I couldn't believe it.

I was so proud to have nails, and I started painting them a new color every 3-5 days. My husband let me buy whatever nail polish I wanted, because in his words I could be addicted to worse things, like crack, haha.

My nails and my polish collection got pretty famous here in our village in Saudi Arabia. Girls started to want to borrow pieces from my collection, and even started asking me if I would paint their nails because I was so good at painting mine.

Finally, one of my friends voiced something I had been thinking about for a while. "Nicci, why don't you make nail polish? You love it so much, you should."

I talked to my husband about it, and being the wonderful man he is, he told me to go for it. I read up on the process, got advice from a fellow nail polish creator, bought all the supplies, and soon I had my first collection started.

Nail polish for me represents something more than what it is. It represents a part of my change, my metamorphosis from a neurotic girl, to a calm and collected woman.

That's why I call it, "No Worries Polish." That's what my husband, and my happy, lucky life makes me feel. No worries.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I apologize for the length, but I hope now you know me a little better.

You can find No Worries Polishes at Nicci's Etsy store, by clicking here. Right now she is having a sale, with a number of polishes at the bargain price of $6.25 for a full-sized polish. And of course her polishes are three-free and not tested on animals. Would a lover of The Lorax have it any other way?

Thanks for reading! I know I kind of had a sentimental overload what with Dr. Seuss book and all, so I thank you for your patience with me today. I guess you got to know a little bit more about me in the process, too. :)

I hope you are having the most wonderful of Sundays. :)
M.

(The polishes in this post were sent for my honest review.)