Wear Test: Alchemist Lacquer's Electric

It's sooo late!  I got caught up watching Breaking Amish with the hubs, so I got to my editing super late...  You guys may notice that my watermarks have changed.  I finally got a new program that will let me curve my watermarks!  I'm still a novice at the program, so bear with me as I figure it all out.  Also, I still have a ton of photos that I edited a few months back (I'm that back logged, yes) with the old watermark.  I promise I'm not that indecisive.  I'm just lazy.  I'm not sure which is worse?!  Anyway, let's take a look at this week's wear test!  Prepare yourselves, this will be very picture heavy!  The photos throughout the review portion are from day one.  I will start with day two after the review.  Let's take a looksee!

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

Color: Blue with red and blue glitters

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

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

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three coats, which is what I used here.

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: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: Electric was so easy to apply.  The glitters came out easily, the polish dried smoothly, and it didn't stain on my right hand where I got a little sloppy around my cuticles.  The red glitter sometimes looks purple within the layers of the polish, which gives it an extra surprise and added sparkle.  I love this royal blue, too.  I was most excited to get this polish when Alchemist Lacquer asked me to swatch for her.  It seriously didn't disappoint, that's for sure!  You can purchase Alchemist Lacquers at her Etsy store here.  Follow her on her site, Facebook and Instagram for news and updates.

Ok, let's get to the wear test!

Items Used for Wear Test:

• 1 thin coat of Duri Rejuvacote
• 1 thin coat of Orly Bonder on top of the Duri
• 3 coats of Electric
• 1 coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top

Day Two

As you can see, there's a little bit of tip wear, but nothing major.  Still looking great despite doing some dishes and other house work.

Day Three

Sadly, I had some weakness in my index and thumb nails which caused my polish to flake off.  Then, I went crazy, as per my usual, and started picking...  Yeah.  So this is the result of that.  What went from some small flakes off of my nail turned into half of my polish missing from those two nails.  D'oh!  As you can see from the other three nails, there's still only minimal tip wear and a tiny chip on my middle finger.  I wonder what would have happened if my nails weren't so weak!

There you have it!  So, what do you think about Alchemist Lacquers so far?  Go give her some love!

Wear Test: Living in a material world, and I am a...

*Press Sample*  Material Girl!  Tonight we're going to take a look at my last Darling Diva polish, Material Girl, and see how it fairs in my durability test!

First up, though, is the finale of my getting to know you questionnaire asked of Darling Diva's creative genius, Carrie!

5) How did you become interested in creating your own polish line? 

 Its a drug, seriously. I started out hand mixing stuff because I didn't see what I wanted or I couldn't get what I wanted and people started to ask if they could buy.

6) Tell me 3 fun facts that people wouldn't ordinarily know about you.  (Hobbies, interests, history, etc)

Fun? What is this word fun? ;) Well I am a hockey heuer. Go Wild <sob>, I am super addicted to Redbull, I have a desk full of toys. Hello Kitty, Sponge Bob, Backyardigans lol.

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Darling Diva Material Girl for review purposes.  All other polishes in this review were purchased 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.* 

All of the photos interspersed throughout the review portion are from day one.  The wear test info will start on day two.

Color: Bright pink with silver, fuchsia, and hot pink hexes and dots in various sizes, including GINORMOUS.

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

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

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three coats.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.  The base to glitter ratio, however, is such that you won't get a whole lot of glitter on your brush at first.  Instead, it's best to use a few coats to get the desired glitter coverage.  Here, I've used two coats over Lumina Lacquer's I Want You and three coats alone on my ring finger.

Consistency: Fluid – thin but flows easily from the brush.  Thickens up over time as you work on your mani.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling or streaking.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Two coats of Material Girl over Lumina     3 coats of Material Girl alone

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: I have been blown away by the Material Girl collection, for sure.  They have all been stunners and mostly easy to use, aside from my user error on Lucky Star.  Material Girl was no different!  Application was easy, and the effect was nice.  HOWEVER, I'm a moron and tried a new topcoat that refused to dry.  So, I added another layer...  That also refused to dry, but I went to bed and prayed for the best.  Then, I woke up, and it was shrink city.  Womp womp!  Plus, it was all dull from never really drying.  So, I added a coat of Liquid Lacquer's No Time quick dry top coat, and it was finally shiny and dry.  However, it was crazy thick and the shrinkage damage was already done.  I feel like those factors have skewed the test results, unfortunately.  So, let's see how it held up despite yet another one of my blunders.

Items Used for Wear Test: 
Originally, I hadn't intended to wear Material Girl, a glitter, as my wear test from Darling Diva, but it just happened that way. I'm pretty sure that this polish would've lasted longer than the 3 days had I worn a normal tried and trued topper instead of branching out to something new. 

Here's what I used this time:

• 1 thin coat of Duri Rejuvacote
• 1 thin coat of Orly Bonder on top of the Duri
• 2 coats of Lumina Lacquer I Want You on all but ring finger
• 2 coats of Material Girl on all but ring finger, which is 3 coats alone
• 2 coats of Miss Sporty Discotheque UV topcoat
• 1 coat of Liquid Lacquer No Time

Day Two:
Other than shrinkage, there's only one little chip on my thumb, which was actually a screwup on my part.  Otherwise, no problems with chipping.  Just stupid shrinkage.  Ugh.

Day Three:
Finally have my first proper chip on my thumb.  As you can see, it broke a little, so I think that's why I got a chip.  I also broke my middle fingernail, so I had to remove Material Girl before it got worse.

So, there you have it!  It performed better than most of my glitter jelly manis, and it probably would've been way better had I not screwed the pooch and use an unknown variable.  The color is so rich and saturated, it just glows.  I mean, not literally, but it's one of those polishes that definitely catch your eye.  

You can purchase Darling Diva's Material Girl collection soon!  I'm hearing in a week or two!!  Keep an eye on her Facebook and Twitter for news and updates on its release.  You can purchase Darling Diva Polishes at her store, Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures, and Norway Nails.

So, what do you think of the DDP Material Girl collection so far?  Which is your favorite?

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Darling Diva Material Girl for review purposes.  All other polishes in this review were purchased by me for my own use.* 

Wear Test: Model City Polish Strawberry Jam

Wow, this has taken waaaaaaaaay too long to get up, but I finally hace my wear test for Model City Polish's Strawberry Jam to show you tonight!  Get prepped for some ridiculous picture spam.  Go and plug up that extra modem, you're going to need the extra processing power tonight, folks!

*I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Model City Strawberry Jam for review purposes.  All other polishes in this review were purchased 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.* 

First, let's start with the last bit of the Q&A with Model City's maker, Nina!

3) What was your inspiration for the polishes you've chosen?

Strawberry Jam is inspired by one of my favorite foods, strawberries! I could live on them for the rest of my life and be perfectly content. Strawberry Jam was one of the first Jellies I ever created. When I first made it the base wasn't as dark because I wanted it to be a topper mostly but I quickly reformulated it to the richer base.

5) How did you become interested in creating your own polish line?

I have always been a lacquerista and use to have to hunt for unique blends, colors, and combos. With the boom of the indie market it opened my eyes to a whole new glorious glitter field world. With Model City this is my way to create blends I have always dreamed of and share with other fellow lacqueristas. 

6) Tell me 3 fun facts that people wouldn't ordinarily know about you.  (Hobbies, interests, history, etc)

• I work in the automotive field so I deal with greasy dirty parts all day and my nails are always flawless, lol.
• I am married to my high school sweetheart and we are the best of friends. We have been together for 15 years and he is a huge supporter of Model City and my polish obsession.
• I am a huge neat freak and love cleaning and organizing things. Sometime I like to make a mess just so I have something to clean!

The photos used in the wear test portion, are of 1 coat of Strawberry Jam layered over China Glaze Merry Berry.  Other photos, however, are of 1 coat of Strawberry Jam layered over Zoya Pixie Dust Chyna, Zoya Storm, and then jelly sandwiched with Elevation Matsuda over the Chyna Jam combo.  I'll make sure to list which polishes I'm showing in the caption of each photo.

I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Model City Strawberry Jam for review purposes.

Color: Vivid berry red with red holographic hexes in two sizes.

Strawberry Jam and Zoya Pixie Dust Chyna

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

Bottle / Brush: Round mini bottle – wand and brush are just long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.  Normally, the fact that it’s a mini makes application a little tricky.  However, I didn't have a single problem with application of Strawberry Jam with the mini bottle.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.  However, I wore it almost exclusively layered over undies.

Strawberry Jam over Zoya Pixie Dust Chyna

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Strawberry Jam over Zoya Storm

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.

Strawberry Jam over Zoya Storm

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Strawberry Jam over Zoya Chyna and sandwiched with Elevation Matsuda

Items Used for Wear Test:

I hadn't intended to wear Strawberry Jam as my wear test from Model City, but I ran short on time that week and wasn't able to change my polish for several days.  I'm pretty sure that this polish would've lasted longer than the 4 days had I worn my normal combo of Orly Bonder and a non-quick dry topper.

• Alcohol to dehydrate nail bed and remove oils
• Duri Rejuvacote
• KBShimmer Clearly on Top

Day One:

Normally, I take photos right after I paint my nails, but I ran out of time the night I did this mani.  There was the slightest bit of wear on my thumb and index fingers after a full day of wear at work.  You know, lots of typing and all.  Otherwise, everything still looks great!

Day Two:

A little more wear on my thumb and index finger with additional wear on pinkie and ring fingers.  Although, I'm not sure that is so much wear as it appears to be shrinkage from my topcoat.  Otherwise, nothing has chipped or flaked off.

Day Three:

Significant tip wear on thumb and index finger.  The rest of mani had minimal tip wear on each finger.

Day Four:

Alas, my mani met its doom.  My thumb and index fingers flaked off in sheets.  The rest of the mani had a medium amount of tip wear.  It was time to take this beauty off.

Overall Thoughts: Strawberry Jam has made its way into my favorites list for sure.  Application was amazing, spreading easily without any problems.  At all.  The glitters are soooo bright, the base color is so vivid, and the sparkle from the glitters is just so bright.  Yes, I said that twice.  It's seriously gorgeous.  Plus, the holo gives this polish a beautiful depth that kept me staring at my fingers for days.  I got several compliments on it, as well, which is always nice.  If you're looking for a red glitter, this should be on your short list.

You can purchase Model City Polishes at Nina's Etsy store.  Follow Nina and Model City on Facebook and Instagram for news and updates on her collections.  She's about to release a holo line, y'all, and it looks AMAZING!!!!!

What's your favorite red glitter?

I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of Model City Strawberry Jam for review purposes.