Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Copper Ballet

 ILNP Ballet Slipper is a soft bronzed pink holographic polish.

Alone it is a bit sheer for my taste, but as a layering polish it's just right.


I paired it with Cirque Halcyon, a polish that holds the standing, running and jumping record for Great Rose Gold Polish. The good news: Halcyon is on Cirque Colors website. Awesome!!


Two coats Cirque Halcyon and two of ILNP Ballet Slippers:



Pink? I get a warm bronze rose at best.


Both are beautiful and pose and interesting combination. 


Thanks for reading my little nail polish blog!

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Emily Oh Emily!

One of my favorite boutique brands is Emily de Molly.

Here is Crystal Cavern:




Three coats. A hot pink leaning orchid loaded with a gilded shimmer. There are some small (tiny) flakes, but more like a large fleck than a flake (oh semantics!).

Under my flash the pink almost vanishes.


Here's another angle:



Here you can see the pink that really anchors it. 


This one is from around 2016 and, sadly, after a perusal of the site, is now discontinued. 

Though I will say her offerings are gorgeous and rarely let me down.

No affiliation, just a constantly happy customer.


Thanks so much for reading my little nail polish journal!


Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Blooming Blue

Night Owl Lacquer has been a steady performer in the indie polish world. 

And like many indies, polish shades and collections come and go.

Here is a beauty from the still-available Blooming collection.



A beautiful bright periwinkle. Due to the shifty blue to purple pigment, it has such a range.  Here it is with a nice two coats and a bright "vibrant" (to use their description) blue that softens with a bit of blurple leaning action.



The shift her is delightful. Muted and soft like morning on a lavender farm. 


Finally you get this:



This is so bright and zingy without being anything less than that periwinkle, purple tinged blue.


Delightful!!!


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!



 

Friday, May 27, 2022

Charmingly Purple

 ILNP, the very successful boutique brand, has been curating tidy little collections of loveliness for about 10 years now.

I have been remiss in posting, but here's a beauty.



 A scattered holo that, in three coats, really showed up as a softened blue tinted purple. Delightful.


Still available at ILNP.com


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Chateau Stamping

As you know, or mayn't, I am pulling photos from my old stash of "to be posted" along with some new polishes. Kind of mixing it up as I get back into the stream of posting on a regular basis.

Here is one that I almost passed on posting, but it keeps catching my eye.

Sally Hansen Silver Lining (a 2010 Tracy Reese collection original!) topped with Color Club's Take Me to Your Chateau:


 I love the combination!

Silver Lining has a faint blue sparkle built in and my photo doesn't do it justice at all.


I did not write down the plate number, so I don't have any idea what it could be, but I think it's a Pueen.


thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Friday, May 13, 2022

Grape Hyacinth, By Black Dahlia Lacquer

 An irresistible glitter polish from Black Dahlia Lacquer.


This is where Sinful Colors Hottie got left in the dust. 

Three gorgeous coats of periwinkle leaning royal blue saturated with iridescent and holo glitters.


This is no longer available on their site, but the good news is they have a host of gorgeous polishes.


Wore like a champ and was even more delightful in person.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Summer Trippin'

 China Glaze Wanderlust.


Pale violet pink with a pretty secret shimmer.


To wit:



Three coats. Gorgeous shimmer. This is under flash.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!


Saturday, April 30, 2022

Cirque, Cirque, Baby

 Cirque, a little boutique brand, has managed to sail the rocky seas of boutique nail polish and make it from port to port with delightful, well curated collections. I've always been delighted by them and here is one of my special favorites.


Halcyon:


Three coats of rose gold greatness. This is under the sunshine and it's delightful!!




Hard to fault this beauty. 


No longer in stock, but it is on their site.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Monday, April 25, 2022

A Red Pink or A Pink Red

I think Zoya really nailed it with Liza.


Bright, crisp, perfect tulip shade for spring. Three coats. 

In my realm I have a bit of wear issue with Zoya, but I am still trying to find the right top coat. It's not dissimilar to my old Sally Hansens, so part of it is my overuse of my nails.

Easy formula, lovely shade.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Blurple Semi Holographic: ILNP Mila

 Pretty steely blurple that has a lot of metallic texture, and some scant holo.



Pretty and full of metallic holo pieces that do a semi-holo scattered finish that is hard to capture.

Here is a shot under flash:



Three coats. 

My camera pulls pretty warm, I guess it's trying to compensate for the flash. It's not got a gold flash.

You can see some of the holo on the pinky and the bottle.


I have mixed feelings. Pretty, but the holo payoff doesn't warrent all the stuff mitigating the purple. 


I know. Fussy!


This is still available at ILNP!


Thanks for reading my little nail journal!

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Spring Snows and Winter Colors

 Living at moderate elevation brings late spring snow, just when the daffodils are blooming and the tulips are in full bud, we get a week of snow, sleet, and a reminder that winter, well, she's not ready to go to sleep.

February, is, as I believe I have written, our little "spring fake out" where it gets balmy and the sun makes you a little silly. Winter, though, wagged her finger at us. So it's still winter shades for now.

Found an old Jesse's Girl at the Dollar Tree. A delightful formula. 



The shimmer is soft, but has some dazzle to it. Why they call it satin I believe is because it's semi-matte. I guess like wax.



Three coats and no worries on cleanup. Tight little formula.


I haven't been drugstore browsing in ages (Nail Polish Love In The Time Of Covid), so I don't know if Jesse's Girl still has its modest spot in the Walgreens. It was always separate from the nail polish aisle, but it's literally been about 2-3 years since I've been into any drugstore. I did peep at the polish in Walmartland and see that they've rearranged the whole nail sitch, but didn't really do more than breeze through.


There is an old Jesse's Girl web site, but it's old and not secure, so probably not worth it.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Friday, April 8, 2022

Pink for Spring

 Here is Pahlish Suzie, Do You Copy? Which I believe refers to a television show.

Three coats



It's a frothy pink shimmer and flakie combo with a very strong blue flash:



I am pretty sure I didn't capture it very well, but you get a drift of the blue shimmer. 


It's an older one, from 2019's For The Love of Polish Box. FtLoP box is a trio of polishes curated as a monthly sale on the Polished for Days site. It's the first week of each month with Polished for Days and Pahlish holding down the fort and a guest creator adding the third polish. There is a theme and often it's a nice trio. Worth checking out a Polished For Days. 


I love the doll pink verging on coral around the edges along with the blue. Nice!


You may be able to find this on a blog sale or perhaps a Facebook sales page. 


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Burnout by Urban Decay

 Quick and simple.

Vintage Urban Decay that came out ages ago, probably early 00's or thereabouts.

It has a funny yellowish shade, but has a red-green shift. The original pigment.



You can see a bit of the green, though it's pretty scant.

Three coats. 



I believe you can just make out the red shift.


I believe this is probably just in my collection because of the red-green shift, because it's a pale dijon shade that really does me no favors.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Brushing off the Cobwebs on Sally Hansen Opals

Spring is here, hope and sorrow combined. 

Here's a polish from happier days.

Sally Hansen Star Opal 05 Pale Pink.



This is two coats over navy blue and the emerald green flash really wails under flash.

Alone it is just a sad and milky polish that didn't thrill me enough to make a solo shot.


Here is the purple shift:



You can see the navy/purple and it is a pleasure.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal! 


Pax!

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Basic Autumn Stamping

 Here is a beautiful yellow, Princessa's Picking on Waikiki stamped with Maybelline Racing Green.

All are oldies, but still beautiful. I will be posting a lot of backlogged images. Right now my nails are super short and kind of weak, not that this image couldn't have been taken yesterday! LOL. 



The Magic Garden is a plate loaded with beautiful images, best for large nails. I can't figure out if DRK is still making plates, they were out, they have polish that shows up on the limited time sales like Polish Pickup and Hella Handmade Customs, but I am not sure what the status is on plates. It's a big plate that has a bird cage in the middle, not the one with the Christian imagery. May be on the reselling facebook places or ebay etc.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal. 

Saturday, October 2, 2021

And Then The Grumble Was Gone

I have been unable to post for a long while except intermittently as my last darling pug, Lily, has been sick with complications of liver failure associated with her cancer.

So it's been a hard few months and it's been challenging to post with any enthusiasm.

Godspeed Lily. A bright light of enthusiasm, heart, and never missed an opportunity to have fun and love the heck out of life.


 Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal.

Friday, August 27, 2021

Old Sally Hansen and Her Roses

 Here I am with another vintage Sally Star Opal. 

Rose Gold 04. The Rose part is a mystery, but onward.



A deep stem green, perhaps, but a blackened green for sure. 

This is two coats over black. You can see it is a somewhat loose formula.

But the deep green satisfies.


Then the shift:


I mean, really! The deep plum with a scant pink shimmer just delights me.


I did try it alone, but there was no rose or gold.


Findable on the usual suspects for vintage polish: eBay, blog sales, vintage polish groups on Facespace. 


Thanks so much for reading my little nail polish journal!

Monday, August 9, 2021

Deee-Light

 This one is from Music City Beauty through the Hella Handmade Creations from July 2019.

Pretty little multicolor deep gray based multicolor micro glitter.



Two coats of this pretty little dense party house of a polish was so fun to wear.


I normally don't like the deeper shades but this holo sparkle with the pink and green glitter seems to just play around all the time. 


The promotional images showed a much stronger pink presence than I ever saw, so this is the one caveat with indies and the limited edition presales.


You may find this on a blog sale. 


Thanks for reading my nail polish journal!

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

A Star, A Star

Been playing with the old Sally Hansen Opals. In retrospect those were some crazy great times in nail polish with pigments that only now are approaching that kind of greatness.

This one is Star Opal 03 Fire Opal. Let's play with the light, shall we?



 Two coats over black, a delightful deep redwood shade that seems fitting with the current trend in lip colors.


But it just keeps getting better:


It shifts to this golden yellow that is so pretty.


Then:



Here is this deep mushroom shade with the golden shimmer peeking out.


Altogether a very unique shade in my collection. I am sure there are pigments in the indie realm, but I don't know if a pure shimmer one exists. 


You may be able to find this on eBay or a blog sale.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!


Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Hot Summer

Oh yes, talking about the weather. Not.

Here's Esmaltes da Kelly's Hella Handmade Creations from June 2020:


 Loads of holo and blue glitter in a bath of holo particles.


It's very much a "fun in the sun" polish, and a bit shy under my lamp.


I mostly know Esmaltes da Kelly from stamping plates and polishes, but she definitely turns in some beauties on the Hella Handmade Customs and Polish Pickup.


Thanks for reading my nail polish journal!