Purple Sparkles!

This is going to be interesting...  Let's take a look at three different polishes tonight!  A-England Elaine, Sonoma Nail Art Sonoma Sunset, and a Polish Bar prototype that became Berry Shimmer.  I'm going to attempt to do this in as much order as I can, so I hope it doesn't get too convoluted!

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me or swapped for by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

A-England Elaine

Color: Deep purple

Finish: Crème – a flat polish that finishes smooth with full opacity.

Bottle / Brush: Square bottle – long cap with standard size wand.  Average application with standard brush.

Opacity: High – opaque at two coats!

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Easy – applies well without pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads evenly and smoothly.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes. Overall Thoughts:  Elaine is the perfect purple creme.  It applies with ease and looks beautiful and smooth without any manipulation.  Just a perfect, creamy, vampy purple that looks great on its own as well as with glitters layered on top.  I purchased my A-Englands at Llarowe.

Sonoma Nail Art Sonoma Sunset

Color: Clear base with purple, periwinkle, gun metal, and fuchsia hexes

Finish: Glitter Top Coat – glitter in a clear base to be worn as a top coat.

Bottle / Brush: Round bottle brush – both the wand and the brush are standard width and length.  Easy to control and manipulate.

Opacity: Glitter topcoat – not designed for full opacity.

Glitter Application: Impossible – pools at the cuticles, difficult to spread the glitters evenly, leaves large bald spots unless you apply more than one coat.  You have to be careful because if you try to get enough glitter on your nail with just one coat, it will pool and bulge unevenly on one side and bubble when dry.  The glitter to base ratio is off.  This is two coats.

Consistency: Super thin – runny and floods the cuticles easily.

Overall Ease of Application: Hard – pools at the cuticles.  Does not spread well without massive manipulation.

 Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes. Overall Thoughts:  I think I'm just not in love with Sonoma's formula and consistency.  I love her glitter combinations, but every glitter topper I've tried has had a glitter-to-base ratio that leans heavily in favor of the base.  That's even after storing it upside down for quite a while and rolling to mix it!  I almost always have to use at least two coats to get the glitter coverage I want.  It's really pretty, though, and I love the effect over Elaine.  You can purchase Sonoma Nail Art polishes at her Etsy store.  Follow Michelle on Facebook for news on restocks and new additions to her line.   Oh, and so you know, she has polishes listed right now!  That's a bit of an anomaly.  If you want some of her pretties, get over there stat!

The Polish Bar Berry Shimmer

Color: Clear base with hot pink and purple hexes, squares, and shreds.

Finish: Glitter Top Coat – glitter in a clear base to be worn as a top coat.

Bottle / Brush: Round mini bottle – wand and brush are just long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  However, the fact that it’s a mini makes application a little tricky.  Requires a steady hand to apply evenly without pooling.

Opacity: Glitter topcoat – not designed for full opacity.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Easy – applies well without pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads evenly and smoothly.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes. Overall Thoughts: If you haven't tried out the Polish Bar, you should.  This is one of my favorite glitter toppers, and I'm sad I only have a mini!  I received this beauty in a hand-made polish swap I participate in every couple of months.  The consistency is perfect.  Unlike other glitter topcoats, it isn't clumpy and it doesn't pool or bulge.  It's bright and fun and goes well with Elaine topped with Sonoma Sunset.  The holo bits shine brightly and make this polish seriously bling-tastic.  Absolutely gorgeous!  You can purchase The Polish Bar polishes from her Etsy shop.  Also, follow Janice on Facebook for news and updates.

Which is your favorite glitter topper?

It's Almost Halloween!!!

HOOOOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!  I love Halloween more than I can truly express.  Unfortunately, the past few weeks have been very busy with work.  At my old job, I was able to wear pretty much anything on my nails.  Now, however, I have to be very conservative as I try to schmooze clients and networking contacts.  I have only had time to truly wear three of my Halloween polishes so far, so my plan is to just extend Halloween a little bit.  As of right now, I don't have any professional meetings the rest of this week after I go to court in the morning.  I'm really excited that I will finally get to test drive some of these gorgeous Halloween polishes I've been hording, lol!

Today, I'm going to show you China Glaze LOL, Crows Toes Cheshire, and Sonoma Nail Art Halloween in the Vines.

China Glaze LOL is from the OMG collection that was released in 2009.  Sadly, it has been discontinued.  It's a gorgeous purple linear holographic polish that was a bit of a pain in the butt to apply.  Some holographic polishes dry so quickly that they drag and clump while you're painting, and LOL was no exception.  You have to make sure your base coat is completely dry or you'll definitely get clumping.  The key is to work quickly.  I didn't get any shots of LOL by itself, which is a shame because it is seriously the most gorgeous polish from the OMG collection that I've worn so far.

I chose Crows Toes Cheshire for four fingers on this hand and an accent on my righty.  Then, I decided to toss Sonoma Nail Art Halloween in the Vines as an accent on lefty and on four fingers on righty.  They worked really well together.  Like all Crows Toes, Cheshire was quite thick.  I definitely needed to add thinner to this guy!  It's best applied with the dab method.  Halloween in the Vines was a bit runny.  You can't really use the dab method or else it will pool at your cuticles and leave bubbles when it dries.  This is 3 coats over LOL before I was able to get the coverage I wanted.

Cheshire is made up of a clear base with fuchsia, gold, and purple glitters.  Look at that massive fuchsia hex!!  They were very easy to get out of the bottle, but I stored it upside down for a few minutes before applying.

Halloween in the Vines is a clear based polish with purple, fuchsia, and gunmetal hexes.  It takes quite a lot to get fuller coverage, which is why I chose to use three coats instead of attempting to dab.

As you can tell in this intentionally blurry shot, Halloween in the Vines is not as bright and in your face as Cheshire.  I think the gold in Cheshire adds that extra umph that is lacking in Halloween in the Vines.  Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween in the Vines!  It's just more subdued than Cheshire.

I really like the way this manicure turned out.  Although, I don't usually associate Halloween with purple, but it's still really pretty.  Sadly, LOL has been discontinued.  I found my bottle in a local nail salon.  You can purchase Crows Toes at Llarowe and Overall Beauty.  You can purchase Sonoma Nail Art at her Etsy store.  Sonoma's restocks are infrequent, and she usually only stocks a few bottles at a time.  If you want Sonoma polishes, you'll have to work fast when she restocks.  Although, right now there are a few polishes left from her restock earlier today, including Halloween in the Vines!  Act quickly if you want one of these!!  Check her Facebook page for news on restocks.

Do you have any of the OMG polishes?

Comparison Thursday: Vampy Red Glitters

Well, since everyone is talking about Dollish Polish Vampires Coven and its similarity to Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire, I decided I would toss my comparison into the ring with everyone else's!  Today, I'm going to show you a comparison between Sonoma Nail Art Deadly Zins, Dollish Polish Vampires Coven, Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire, and Lynnderella Vampink.

Vampink is the outlier here since it is made up fine holographic glitters with larger multi colored hexes in a purple base.  I just thought I'd toss it in since I had it.  Most of these polishes have a mix of red, wine, and black glitters.  Deadly Zins has a slightly red tinted base whereas Vampires Coven and VPV have black tinted bases.  Here is a shot of each polish with just one coat.

Here they are with three coats.

Deadly Zins was pretty easy to apply.  It did require a little glitter manipulation, but the base went on smoothly without any pooling.  With dark undies, Deadly Zins actually fits in well with VC and VPV.  Vampires Coven went on easily as well and didn't require any manipulation at all.  VPV required some thinning, but I'm not sure if it's because it's old or what.  It was a bit clumpy, but it applied a little better once I added the thinner.  Vampink was a MASSIVE pain in the butt.  It was completely clumpy when I got it.  I received it in a swap, but I'm pretty sure it's a formula issue.  I added some thinner, but I ended up adding too much.  It pooled up all over my cuticles, and once those micro glitters got on my skin they wouldn't budge.  I'm kind of glad I didn't buy a full bottle!  My swatch didn't come out like the others I've seen online.  I'm going to give it another try, though, before I completely write it off because those swatches are just so gorgeous!

Now for some macro shots.

Deadly Zins

Deadly Zins with dark undies

Vampires Coven

Very Pretty Vampire

Vampink

Here are the purchasing details for each of these polishes: Sonoma Nail Art's Etsy shop, blog, and Facebook; Dollish Polish's Bigcartel shop and Facebook; Lynnderella's eBay shop (sign up on eBay to receive newsletters) and blog.

Which is your favorite?

Glitter and Nail Art: Day 7

Here's the last post in my glitter and nail art week. If you're looking for some kind of inspiration and motivation to challenge yourself and your nail blog, consider doing a week of glitter and nail art. It gives you enough wiggle room to keep your manicures simple, but still requires that you do more than just layer some glitter over your regular polish. It forces you to think outside the box and is challenging enough to stick with without feeling obligated.

For my final design, I wanted to showcase the glitter mainly, so I did a glitter gradient. The glitter is Clockwork from Sonoma Nail Art. I scored this one during her last sale, in addition to Pinot Envy. I have shown you the two others I have here and here. I piled Clockwork on at the base of my nails over Rising Star (OPI), which I painted over Posh (Revlon). I love Posh and I'm glad I bought it.

I hope you've enjoyed glitter and nail art week at Nailed It as much as I have! Keep an eye on those Etsy stores as some restock constantly, some randomly, and some at a very specific time which they will tell you outright if you ask or check their info sections.

Fantasy of Perpetual Indulgence

Today's nails hardly needs any blog-talk accompanying it. It's so flippin' amazing, but it's also a rarity currently. The amazing glitter shown here is Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from Sonoma Nail Art. It's a seriously remarkable. I originally wanted to do it over yellow as advertised on the Sonoma Nail Art blog. I wanted to try something else though, so I chose a HOT pink, Flip Flop Fantasy (China Glaze).

I seriously considered buying 2 of these polishes to offer as a giveaway prize, but then I thought that wasn't fair to the other girls who were waiting for the shop to open like me. My heart was racing faster than ice cream on a hot tarmac. When I actually got this bottle and another into my cart, I was certain they'd sell out before I could finish PayPal's transaction, but they didn't and I got a confirmation message! I felt happier than a starved-for-attention actress mentioned for her terrible fashion choices.

What's Black, White, and Full of Glitter?

THESE NAILS!

I literally couldn't handle the giggling that kept spewing out of my mouth when I thought about all the awesome glitters I've accumulated. So, I did the only thing I could think of...put one on each nail!

Now some of these you've seen already, but I couldn't repeat a polish on another nail, so I resurrected them.

Here are the candidates:

• Left Hand
• L.A. Girl Uninhibited 
• All That Glitters Spotty Dottie White
• Lynderella Connect the Dots (linked to Ilarowe's shop where it's currently being sold)
  
• windestine Carbon Copy
• Sally Hansen Multi-Faceted

• Right Hand
• F4 Polish Holy Cow
• Dandy Nails Colorblind
• windestine Asbestos
• All That Glitters Spotty Dottie Black
• Sonoma Nail Art Sonoma County Gazette

Sadly, only Holy Cow is available from the Etsy shops, but you can definitely nab the Sally Hansen and L.A. Girl more readily.

Oh...and the green is Just in Lime! (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri).