A Rhyming Dictionary Polish Review

It's Glitter Friday.

Friday, friday, got glittah on Friday.

I suppose you could say rhyming's always been strong suit of mine. Freestyling just comes naturally to some people. Spend a sweet moment with my melodies baby and you're guarenteed to feel the Smash! (Smash would totally say something like that.)

I cheat though. Sometimes I use...A Rhyming Dictionary!

Check out A Rhyming Dictionary and the sparkling spectrum of glitter polishes below.

"...What is she talking about?"

I got an assortment of glitter and flakie-filled polishes. The store owner, Morgan, asked me if there were favorite polishes from her Wizard of Oz-inspired collection that I wanted to try. I chose a lot of itty-bitty matte glitters, but also told Morgan it's entirely up to her what she send. I wasn't expecting flakie polishes, but the welcome was warm upon their arrival.

Tollydiggle shown over Au Champagne (ORLY).

Tollydiggle.

The flakies in this polish are amazing. They're dark, so they stick out, even when there isn't amazing light coming from the sun. Yet, they've got a rainbow of color that comes out when the light does hit them. This awesome effect is achieved,  but the pieces are not muddy looking. I'm stunned.

Another surprising bottle that really impressed me, perhaps more than everything else in the sample set I got, is Oil of Veins.

Oil of Veins shown over First Mate (China Glaze).

A surprising, molten mix of red metallic material, mixed with black glitter. I say material because I don't know if glitter is the right word to describe the consistency of the copper pieces. These pieces run thin in width, but thick and strong in awesome. Just look at the way it changes the look of a dark-blue creme. It looks just like...oil.

Equally as exciting to me, but less surprising for readers of Nailed It, are the next polishes: the itty-bitty glitter polishes. I'd like to preface these polishes by saying they are all wonderful, and shown in one to two coats. The base is not as smoothly applied as a normal polish, and may benefit from a little thinner formula.

With that being said however, these polishes are fun to add to the collection. A colorful mix of glitters can really bring out a polish's color, and you can see in the swatches below how the Oz collection from the Etsy shop is doing that.

The Horners shown over Electric Pineapple (China Glaze).

Mostly matte itty-bitties, with a much smaller amount of metallic glitter pieces, this one was at the top of my list to review. After reading the first sentence of the description of the characters the polish was named after though, I'm more hesitant about The Horners.

Hiphopper shown over Lemon Fizz (China Glaze).

Hoppers each have only one leg, set below the middle of the round, fat body. They hop whenever they move, and even the children stand firmly on their single legs and never lose their balance. Hip Hopper is the champion wrestler of the Hoppers.

Now look at Hip Hopper's ensemble in the link in the sentence before this.

The colors should make sense now. You can also see them in the nail art I did yesterday, using the three main colors.

The final matte glitter and polish of this collection is called Regos. I take the greens to represent the the fertile, well-wooded region.

Regos shown over Life Preserver (China Glaze).

I guess I'd have to say, at the end of this sample set, I would venture back to A Rhyming Dictionary's land of Oz. I'd recommend trying a flakie polish from there, even if it is something you wouldn't normally dream of doing. Wonderful things can happen in the magical world of Oz...

These products were sent to me by A Rhyming Dictionary. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Franken Friday!

I think I'm going to start a new series on the blog called Franken Friday, which will take place on the last Friday of every month.  I just got into frankening a few months ago by mixing pre-made polishes, which is why I have so many Wet 'n Wilds on my sales page (buy them, please!!!!).  Then, I got some solvent resistant glitters and added those to the pre-made polishes.  Finally, I got my own base, pigments, and glitters and started frankening up a storm!  Today, I'm going to show you one of the polishes I made and tweeted about earlier this week.  I call it First Frost.

It's a white based polish packed with fine navy blue glitters, small silver, blue holo, and gunmetal hexes, and large periwinkle, gunmetal, and navy blue hexes.  It's a flat creme without any shimmer, but I did toy with the idea of adding some sparkle.  I think it looks pretty good without it, though.

Here's a close-up of First Frost.  I was so surprised with this franken because I was able to wear it for four days without any chips or tip wear!  It was astonishing!  I only took it off because I got bored.  I think thinning out my Seche Vite has helped with the shrinkage and chipping.  I know you always need to thin SV out halfway through the bottle, but it wasn't really thick yet.  I'll make sure to thin it out often from now on, though, because I'm so tired of SV shrinkage!  I'm actually going to be trying out the Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamond Flash top coat to see how it compares.  I'll definitely make sure to keep you guys posted!

This is actually on day 3 of this mani!  It still looks great!

I am trying to decide if I want to include this in a swap I'm doing with a few other frankeners.  What do you think?  Would you be happy if this polish showed up in a swap?  Be honest!

Sadly, no game-day nails tomorrow.  I have a client meeting on Sunday, and I don't want to have to do my nails Sunday morning before my meeting.  I'm putting on China Glaze Innocence and topping it off with KBShimmer Pixie Tears.  I'll definitely take good pics of it tomorrow in the daylight.  I've got two game-day manis that I haven't shown you guys yet, so I'll definitely post them next week as well.  I tried out a new nail art technique that I'm excited to show you guys!  Plus another franken that didn't really come out very well.

What's your most work-appropriate polish?

A Rhyming Dictionary Polish Sneak Peek

Tomorrow brings glitter! Glitter Friday if you will. I think that should be something on the official calendars. Glitter Fridays.

Tomorrow's swatches will be coming to you from A Rhyming Dictionary. Go check it out now, but wait till you see the colors I have for you tomorrow.

For today, I'll show you one with some nail art. This is Hip-Hopper.

 Come back tomorrow for more!

Comparison Thursday: OPI DS Reds

Today, let's take a look at the two OPI DS reds that I own: DS Reflection and DS Tapestry.

Reflection on the left; Tapestry on the right.

DS Reflection is a scattered red holo that leans more towards a berry red.  The scattered holo isn't as bright as it is in Tapestry.  Tapestry has a brighter scattered holo that leans a little more coral than Reflection.  It's not as coral as Coral Reef, but it definitely leans more coral than red.  Both of these polishes are scattered holos, which is a departure from the original DS linear holographic collection.  While I usually prefer linear holos, I do really enjoy both of these polishes.

Here's a closer shot so you can see the holo pigment a little better.

See how Tapestry has a much chunkier holo pigment than Reflection?

Like all OPI DS's, these both applied really well, very evenly with a lot of pigment in just one coat.  Here, I have on two coats with a top coat.  You can find these in some ULTAs, nail salons, or at TransDesign.  I bought my Reflection at ULTA and my Tapestry at a salon near me.  They have been discontinued, as far as I know, but you can still find them places if you look hard.  I think they are just different enough to justify having both!

Well, that was short and sweet, lol.  I'll leave you with some nail mail!!!!  I got my Dollish Polish This is Halloween collection in the mail today!  It's funny, too, because I actually have two more packages on the way from her, which will make two lucky readers very very happy!  Eeep!  I expect to do a Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire comparison to Dolly's Vampire Coven and Sonoma Deadly Zins very soon, so keep your eyes open for that!

Do you own any OPI DS's?  Which is your favorite?

Oldie but Goodie: purple goodness

Today will be a quick one with another oldie but goodie.  Check out base color Pahlish Slow Fade of Love with Rainbow Honey Worst Possible Thing as the topper.

Slow Fade of Love is a deep purple based polish with holo glitters.  Like all Pahlish polishes, it applied fantastically.  I did this so long ago, though, that I can't remember how many layers I used.  It was at least 2, maybe 3?  I don't remember.  I do remember, though, that I seriously loved this polish.  I applied Rainbow Honey Worst Possible Thing on top because I thought the purples would compliment each other well.  The Worst Possible Thing has blue, purple, and iridescent smaller glitters with larger purple hexes in a clear base. Like all RH polishes I've used to date, this guy was extremely thick, so it definitely needed some thinner to apply smoothly.

This mani was a few days old, so I do have some tip wear.

Here's a blurry pic so you can see the holographic and iridescent glitters.

Lastly, here's a closeup shot of the mani so you can see the layering a little bit better.

You can buy Pahlish at her Etsy store and Llarowe.  Follow Shannon on Facebook here.  You can purchase Rainbow Honey at their site, which also includes a blog for news and updates.  Follow Dee and her RH crew on Facebook, too!

Do you have any Pahlish or Rainbow Honey polishes?  Which is your favorite?

Happy Little Clouds

I got sunshine on a cloudy day...

And cloudy it has been. The ongoing anti-Fall protest continues with a sunny bright manicure. It's a little something but nothing too fancy or special. I've got some major projects to amp up for, so I'm savoring these days of simple nail art in the meantime.

There's only three colors and a dotting tool involved tonight. Once in a Blue Mousse (Lime Crime), My Boyfriend Scales Walls (OPI) and The "It" Color (OPI).

Having Halloween

Nailed It is prepping pumpkins and gearing up the ghouls for some fun Halloween nail art.

Unwilling to fall pray to the Fall fever though, I'm saving the scares for later in the next month.

Additionally, you've got a few things to look forward to including some fashion fever, tiny glitter teasers and as always, some nail art to get your own creative juices flowing!

A (not quite right) gradient: Ama Dablam and Blue Moon Lagoon

Yesterday I tried my very first gradient.  It didn't go great, but I think I know how to fix it next time!  I used OPI Blue Moon Lagoon for my base and used Elevation Ama Dablam on top for the gradient.  I got Ama Dablam as one of those, "Oh no!  It's about to be discontinued!  I must have it even though I may not really like the color!" purchases.  I'm not really into golds, browns, or coppers, so I really wasn't sure I'd like it once I got it.  I tried it on my nail wheels over about 15 different base colors, and I still wasn't 100% sold on it.  Until I remembered my bottle of Blue Moon Lagoon.

Here are closeups of the bottles:

Look at those round glitters!!

Raaaaaainbow!

Elevation Ama Dablam is a very lightly brown tinted glitter with gold micro glitter, teal hexes and squares, and unique round copper glitters.  The teal glitters are holographic and shine brightly in the light.  I can't speak to application as I applied it with a makeup sponge in order to complete my "sort of" gradient.  I got a little heavy-handed on a few nails, so they aren't really gradients.  I think I know what I did wrong this time, so I'm definitely going to try this again.

Here it is blurry so you can see the holographic sparkles.

See how my ring finger is pretty much completely covered?

Blue Moon Lagoon is a teal holographic polish that applies very thinly.  This is three coats as the base.  I applied the glitter while the base color was still tacky, so the holographic rainbow isn't as vivid.  Blue Moon Lagoon is a discontinued polish that I purchased from a salon.  You can find it on ebay now, but it's very expensive.  I suggest checking your local salons for it if you're looking for it.


Once I put this over Blue Moon Lagoon, I simply couldn't stop staring at it.  Check it out in the sun!  So sparkly!!

The tip wear is from actual wear this time and not shrinkage from SV.

Here it is closeup in the sun.  You can see the rainbow from Blue Moon Lagoon in the left picture, but you can see the glitters better in the pic on the right.

Unfortunately, Ama Dablam was a limited edition and is no longer being sold.  However, you can find more Elevation polishes here.  Follow Lulu on her blog here for news and updates.  Lulu is on vacation and will be skipping her October restock, so definitely make sure to keep an eye on her blog for more news regarding reopening her shop.

Do you do gradients?  What's your favorite gradient technique?

Birthday Polish: Polish, Eh?

So, this is the last of my birthday polish customs.  If you'd like to see the other two, you can see Allons-y here and Remnants of Summer here.  Today's polish comes all the way from Canada, from an awesome indie shop called Polish, Eh?  As you may recall, I cast out a net for birthday customs from a Facebook group I'm in, and three lovely ladies answered the call.  Janet was the first to offer her services!

I asked Janet for a glitter creme with some shimmer.  I didn't have any blue cremes with glitter, so I asked if she could do that with a flash of another color of her choosing.  Luckily for me, she chose pink!  So, I present to you my custom from Polish, Eh?

Here's a close-up of the bottle so you can see the pink shimmer.

This custom, which doesn't have a name yet, is a baby blue creme polish with pink shimmer and purple, silver, and blue hexes.  It was so easy to apply.  I did store it upside down to make sure I got a good mix of all the glitters.  I didn't have to work hard on this mani at all!

Isn't it GORGEOUS?!  

The only downside to this mani is that I used Seche Vite on top.  I'm starting to hate Seche Vite right now.  For some of my favorite manis it has shrunk the crap out of them causing them the chip quickly and lift on the sides, which is what happened here.  I took this pic a day or two after I applied it, so try to ignore the shrinkage.  Here's a close-up of it on the nail because it's just so pretty.  I seriously can't get enough of it, shrinkage and all!!

Also excuse the terrible cuticles if you can.  I've been dealing with a terrible mold issue after my basement flooded, and I'm apparently highly allergic.  Awesome.

I bought Confectionary and Gum Balls from Polish, Eh? at the same time I got my custom.  I'm really looking forward to using those two soon.  I'm waiting for my nails to grow out a little first.  ;)  You can purchase some pretty awesome polishes from Polish, Eh? at her Etsy store.  You can also follow her on Facebook for news and updates.  Janet's got her Halloween polishes on sale now, too!  So rush on over and get some!  Polish, Eh? has seriously one of the best formulas I've used in a looooong time!  I can't sing enough praises for this brand!  Granted, if you're in the US, you'll want to order a few to make the shipping worthwhile, which you should and you won't be disappointed.

Do you have any blue creme glitter polishes?

Shiny Double Accent

I feel like I'm somehow rooting for a football team that's playing with these nails.

Then again, I also just feel happy because there's so much shiny to the whole manicure. Shiiiny!

I may cause a fire if I dance around...

Source: http://www.gifbin.com/983103

You're being blinded by I'm Not Lion and Man Hunt. Pretty huh?

Comparison Thursday: Blue Glitters (aka Absolutely Alice!!)

So yeah...  Pretty much everyone is in love with OPI's discontinued and hard to find Absolutely Alice.  It's a gorgeous blue and gold glitter bomb that just shines like a multi-faceted jewel on your nails.  It is, in a word, breathtaking.  Honestly, I didn't really get the hype when I first saw swatches of it.  I had no idea why these bottles of polish were going for over $20 on eBay.  I just didn't get it.  Then, I found 2 bottles on a dusty hunt and purchased them.  One was brand new and the other was about half gone.  I added a little thinner to the half gone bottle to use for myself and did my mani.  The results were amazing.  Sadly, I didn't get a chance to take a legit pic, but I guess that just means I get to wear it again soon, right?!  So now that I'm a believer in the hype, I decided to turn to my stash to see if I had any similar polishes, and if yes, how would they compare to AA.  I came up with the following lineup: OPI The Flowers are Blue-ming!, Nails by Laura Alice Who?, OPI Absolutely Alice, China Glaze Dorothy Who?, and Zoya Twila.

These are all of my blue glitters.  Aren't they lovely?

Here's a nice shot of the back without labels in the way.

And here they all are on the nail.

I knew that Twila would be the outlier because it's made with bar glitters and not fine hexes.  I put it on next to the rest just for fun.  I also had a feeling that FaBM would be different as well because it has a blue base with holo glitters instead of being a straight up glitter bomb.  That leaves Absolutely Alice, Alice Who?, and Dorothy Who? to seriously compare.

Check out this blurry shot to see how each polish shines.  You can see the holo-ness of FaBM.  You can also clearly see the gold shining through in AA that isn't quite as prevalent in the crisp shot.  You can't see the gold as well in AW.  Also, you can see that DW is really just blue and silver without a trace of gold.

Here's a close-up of each polish (other than Twila).

From top left going clockwise: FaBM, AA, DW, AW

Absolutely Alice is a blue and gold glitter that applies evenly without much coaxing.  Make sure to let the coats dry a little after each layer so you don't end up dragging any wet glitter around.  Alice Who comes the closest to AA but it has fewer gold glitters.  It also applies very easily and is one of the few indies I own that didn't require thinning at the get go.  Dorothy Who is blue and silver, so it's not quite right even though it's still gorgeous.  It applies well but stains like crazy.  I mean, look at my cuticles!  That stuff didn't want to budge.

I think if you can't get your hands on Absolutely Alice, you should really go for Alice Who from Nails by Laura.  You can purchase Alice Who here at her etsy store.  Right now, it appears that she only has minis available.  You can also follow Laura on her Facebook page.  I sold my AW already, though, because I have so many similar polishes already in my stash.  I do have Twila for sell in my blog sale, plus I'm auctioning off a brand new Absolutely Alice!  If you're interested in bidding, the auction runs until 9/23, so send me an email at jldbjunkmail@gmail.com.  (Silly email, huh?  I like to give it to people at retail stores when they sign me up for memberships.  It makes them smile, lol.)  The current bid is up to $18.  As an aside, I'm also auctioning a brand new Elevation Marble Caves, same ending date, but the bid is up to $25.  Please email me if you would like to bid on either.

Which is your favorite?  What's the highest you've paid for a single bottle of polish?

Goddesses' Garden

My once itty bitty bitten nails have really grown and become much healthier since starting the blog. They've gotten to the length where a French manicure is flattering and feminine with hand's shape, no acrylics required.

I'm embracing this grace tonight. A vine of leaves over Milky Ways from Lime Crime provides the perfect elegance. I see Greek goddesses playfully sunning and drifting to sleep after barrels of sweet wine against marble pillars adorned with delicate vines and tiny pink blossoms.

Additional colors used include Something Sweet, For Audrey, and Kalahari Kiss (China Glaze).

Ah...just thinking about that beautiful goddess life has the sultan of sleep weighing down on my eyelids.