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!

 

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!

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.

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A Glitter With Potential

 Morgan Taylor rides just under the crest of the popular wave of polishes.

Older users are loyal to Essie and OPI, many can name a polish by the titles of its initials!

New users like the boutique brands like Ella and Milla and Cirque (yay for Cirque!)

Morgan Taylor is a salon brand that was an offshoot of the Gelish label. They do infrequent launches and in the beginning launched smaller, curated collections. Lately they have been larger, but still, in my opinion, thoughtful. 

Here is a glitter that is from the Midnight Masquerade collection from winter 2015. 

This is a bronze gold glitter in a sheer pumpkin orange jelly. I could not really emulate the bottle color, despite three coats. This has no topcoat and lies pretty flat. I really like this shade, though I really would have liked the copper shade in lieu of the bronze one. I have mixed feelings.

I guess my feelings are moot, as the polish appears to be discontinued.

Here it is over an apricot/orange creme (that I forgot to write down the name!), one coat:

I think the implication is that the base color sells the copper more than the glitter.

This one can be found online at the nail supplies that carry Morgan Taylor as well as eBay. 

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Into the Woods

The thing that really got indies off the ground was the world of glitter. 

It seems to have been surpassed these days by multichromes and flakies, but there are a lot of neat ones still around and some oldies that are worth finding.

Here's a lovely oldie from Emily de Molly, Black Forest:

Two coats over black base. No top coat.

This has a fairly sheer crelly base that is fairly dense with pine green to emerald glitters. 

While it does take a little bit of work to situate the glitters, there is adequate coverage and it's so beautiful as a result: the black doesn't mar the green glitter at all, though it adds a smoky effect on the lower layer. Quite beautiful.

I think a glitter filling topcoat would have been a good bet.

I did decide to top it with a matte topcoat: old NYC matte. 

Wow. Just perfect! Glowing!

What you can't see is how as I move my fingers though the light some of the glitter almost disappears into the dark base, them pops out again in a luminous glow. Delightful!

This polish is about from 2012, so it's an early one.

Might be around on a blog sale.

I recommend it over a vamp or a black, I think the base is translucent enough to let a bright navy, maroon, or even forest green shine through. 

A little treasure.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

NIcole by OPI. Gone But Not Forgotten

Back in 2011 Nicole by OPI was a going concern. In fact they'd had even some affiliation with a pretty popular tv family, plus some TV show tie-ins.

Somehow it just wasn't meant to be. Gone the way of the Dodo, as I frequently say.

I found that in the nail community people didn't like the bottles.

Sometimes they did a better version of something (Dutch Ya Like OPI next to NOPI Purple Yourself Together as an example) or did some fun stuff with glitter.

This set came out around Christmas 2011 with four glitters. I had them set aside for swatching, but ended up separating them into their color families.

Nicole by OPI Orna-ment For Each Other

Three coats (two would be fine).

No top coat.

This is a texture, but  I honestly can't recall if it was supposed to be textured or not, I really can't recall. 

I love how the gold brings it into the warmer tomato family of reds.

Wore it for about a 4 day span with no tip wear or anything. Nice!!

I think I bunged it over another polish, so you can see that a little around the edges. 

Perhaps considered rare at this time, as it's not inexpensive on eBay. You might find it on a blog sale, though.

Thanks for reading and sticking with my little nail polish journal!

Richness in Humble Places

I notice now that the indie world, which I seem to be turning my head toward a lot these days, emulates things that I've made in the past by layering.

I will be trying to do more of that these days since I am maxing out on polish.

Here is a pair of old and probably so obscure I couldn't begin to tell you where to find them!

Super Professional 128 topped with a Borghese No Name mini glitter

I love the holiday feel, and I am feeling it hard this year. Major progressive changes have given me hope, and I know that there is very much more that will happen.

In the mean time, the Super Professional is probably rotting in land fills across the globe and nothing emerged after several searches. I gave away one bottle, a secret regret!

The Borghese is from the mini set I got about 6 years ago (wow!), check it out here.

I have all of these little gems, except one, and I love these a lot.
While there is a lot of Borghese on Ebay and the like, there isn't a glitter like this. Ironically two of the other minis have a not-so-mini, so why wasn't there a big ol' bottle of this jewel tone blue, fuchsia, and gold delight? Who knows.

I don't have anything similar, which is a real bummer, this is gorgeous!!


Ok, enough gushing. Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Old and Original

When indies got things rolling, they made a lot of glitter polishes.

Glitter seems to be out of favor in lieu of holo, multichrome, and duochrome, as well as more traditional finishes.

I think it seems to stem from a few things. Instead of a long discursive paragraph, I thought I'd throw some chart action up:

As you have deduced, my numbers aren't real, but I think there are just too many people wrestling with that glitter removal who burned out not realizing there were things like scrubby tubs, foil methods, etc.

Plus the various tastes.

I didn't add that there are people who love glitter. Like me!

Here's an oldie that really started the marriage of a crelly and glitter as a serious glitter category

Pretty and Polished Jawbreaker

While this combination seems fairly generic now, it was an eye popper. I've got three coats here and it's a delightful formula, very easy to work with. some shaking and rolling was in order, but I also notice I missed some of the big square glitters, a symptom of them sticking to the side of the bottle.

The soft off-white shade, with the scattered glitters really evokes that lovely old school candy feeling.

It needs a good shake, but it's fine after a bit of patience.

Where to buy. Well, Pretty and Polished has a Facebook page with activity through the end of 2017, but the Etsy shop is gone, despite a direct link from that page. It's hard to say. The market is near saturation, the buyers are mercurial, slavishly following one brand to the expense of very original work, then in a trice shifting loyalty. It's exhausting.

Meanwhile if you can find a bottle, do check it out. I also suggest checking out KBShimmer, who has held the torch for gorgeous crelly glitters.

Let me spend a little time talking about removal. It can be challenging. The glitter will not enable the remover to get beneath it and break up the polish below. This is the crux of the issue when trying to get the last glitters off.

I suggest using the foil method (blogged here). There is also the Cutex Twist and Scrub, with it's refillable sponge immersed in acetone or acetone free remover. Very effective I hear. There is the Reesa Method, mentioned on the Makeup Alley message board, with google I find one image and a phantom site that looks like it borrowed things. If you google "silicone finger protectors" you will find an array of choices. The goal being to cover the cotton - or whatever you use - to prevent evaporation prior to letting the remover react with your nail polish. This makes your polish remover far more effective.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal! 

Winter Blue

Well, I realize I've had Orly Total Eclipse around for a while. It's a pale blue base chock full of tiny glitters and small glitters that are blue and iridescent.

I put it over Sephora by OPI I Don't Bite (blogged here).

Two coats and you can see the blue around my untidy edges.

It's a lovely royal blue with iridescent glitters, too. I like how the blurple contrasts with it a bit.

Here's another shot in the sunshine:

You can see the blue glitters popping out a little more here. I have to admit I love this combination.

I think with some searching you can still find these polishes.

I know that the Sephora by OPI is pretty hard to find and so is the Orly.

Total Eclipse won't come up on a search of Orly's site. Found at TJ Maxx, I am unsure when it came out. Orly has fallen off my radar, why I don't know. I like the size of their collections, but maybe I have so many dupes and their collections aren't inspiring me right now. Having said that, and poking around their site, I do like their small, edited collections!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Red on Red

I love red a lot. I don't wear it often, but there is a red for everyone. 

Let's get going!

China Glaze Ring in the Red over OPI Thanks So Muchness!

I have to admit the combo just floored me. I wanted to add that the medium and small glitter in RitR just play in the light like mad.

Ring in the Red is a silver glitter (two coats here) of a medium density in a rich scarlet red jelly base. 

Deeply unshy, I think over a foil it would make me insane, just so gorgeous.

Thanks So Muchness (blogged ages ago, here) is a lovely red shimmer that is a luminous cool red shimmer, so while it's not the star of the show, it's definitely a strong support player. 

Alice in Wonderland has been a repeated theme, the original small quartet came out in 2010 and people went spare over the glitters (remember when people went nuts over glitters? I do too, now you can barely find an indie making a glitter any longer), but the two reds were quite beautiful, if not somewhat derivative.

Ring in the Red is an oldie, too from a more vintage China Glaze Christmas collection, 2011 holiday. 

Both can be found with a few clicks of the mouse. 

I have a lot - I mean a lot - of red glitter and this is a standout. 

I wore this for a few days and it held up well, despite a little tip wear revealing some of the silver in the glitter. I was wearing the Milani old gold label top coat, so it might not be a majestic beast of a tough one.

Meanwhile bright red is a great neutral for bright winter days of snow and sunshine.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

It's Frosty Outside! Seriously!

Our weather has been a real tricky player this year. It has changed with the abruptness of a book snapping shut. Not denouement, nothing, just snip snap, next season!

OPI It's Frosty Outside

I've got it humbly under the lamp.

I've become a savage sponge applicator when it comes to glitters. Take no prisoners, leave no living behind. I use my trusty latex body paint protector and whip that glitter into the density it deserves.

This is from the 2013 Mariah Carey collection. I love the texture, it's got the matte/dry feel.

I recommend this puppy. 

Here it is with flash:

It shows its stage presence for sure!

I am sure it's sauntering about on the longest river in the world or eBay.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Early Winters

This season puts me in mind to fireplaces, cocoa, and cozy blankets. Especially when it's rainy, I've got to say this trove of old photos perfectly coincides with this feeling!


I am still getting my head around sponge application, and I know that next time I will definitely use some latex body paint. No kidding around!


OPI Wondrous Star

Pros: interesting contrasting dark shimmer that I think is black. That aged silver look is very nice. I will say that if sponging was done right, I might have a wall of silvery light across my nail. It just didn't work out for me.

Cons: not super dense, even with sponging. I think it needed more on the sides, but without latex body paint, it was a pain.

This is from Mariah Carey's 2013 Holiday collection. I found a lot of these at TJMaxx, a price point that is nice for testing things out!

I know that it seems to be  metallic glass fleck and not a glitter, so its left a ton of residue, even after extensive clean up!

I think, though, it's more of a topper.


Here it is over LDL 207

To me the star is the red, it's an oldie. An early purchase back when Ross was the super score for oddball greatness. I blogged it briefly here.

I won't lie, Wondrous Star doesn't feel like a full on win. More like Salt n Pepa.

Meanwhile, let me roast my toesies in front of a fire and imagine me inside and the rain and snow outside!


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Mermaiding It

Wanted to stamp with the mermaid scales for a while...

This is Maybelline Urban Utopia topped with Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe then stamped with DRK plate using Maybelline Denim Dash. 

DRK went out of business in 2016, sadly, and the thing about them was that they had 1) great plates and 2) a lot of Brazilian brands of nail polish that, frankly, kicked butt.

I grabbed a few polishes and a plate before their final days.

Meanwhile, this is a fun combo.

This is after two days of wear before stamping, then two days with stamping. Love the combo.

I am using CND Vinylux as a top coat. Little rough around the edges, but a mani extender will smooth it out for the weekend.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

China Glaze Skyscraper

When this came out I was pretty excited, there was still the rush of finding Essie's Starry Starry Night or a good dupe (now that I have Dior Blueberry, I'm okay. Plus I have a Pretty Serious dupe...so I need to blog these! Plus a franken I finally around to making...but carrying on...) I was pretty excited by this polish.

In the bottle it is very lovely: gorgeous deep blueberry jelly with a ton of silvery small glitters.

Taken with my iPhone:

Three coats, no top coat. I put it over black. Why? I didn't trust the polish to cover. Next time I will try it alone or try it over a blue. It's packed with glitter, which is very nice.

I don't think I've shown it to its best advantage, losing the depth that makes this polish a beauty.

It's readily available online, though not apparently on the China Glaze site. It's from China Glaze's Metro collection from autumn 2011 (dang, is that like 5 years ago?)

Thanks for reading my nail polish journal!

Something Old and Something New

While summer is here, I wanted to throw in an old photo I uploaded to Flickr, but forgot to blog about.

It's Color Club Something New over Nicole by OPI Ps and Qs

I love Nicole by OPI Ps and Qs. A soft vintage green that bears slightly cool.

Three coats here.

Then I topped it with Colur Club Something Blue from their Celebration collection back in 2014. It's a pearly white glitter loaded with light blue pearl glitters, all a medium hex size, then sprinkled generously with a small white glitter.

It's very much a lacy overlay to a beautiful dress kind of fun combo.

I feel like it's more springtime than full summer sunshine, kind of a guest at the wedding kind of thing.

The Color Club is still available online, but Nicole by OPI can be hard to find, though I think there are many good mint greens out there that would serve the purpose.

Meanwhile, hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Mid Mod Metallic

Zoya Cindy over Super 138

Like a set of glass vases with opalescent accents. Like gold jewelry with opals. Reminds me of the late 50's and early  60's aesthetic.

Super 138 from Super Professional Brand is our base here. It's a gorgeous 14kt gold shade that seems to have vanished off of eBay. Much stinkage when you apply it, but it's a gold for the ages.

Zoya Cindy. Tricky would be an understatement. To say the least. I've worn it about 4-5 times and it was a bear to get to dry.
I finally had to use thin coats of everything, let it dry between each coat and then use a quick dry top coat to finish. Truly it had to do its own thing to dry. Worst was that even over Zoya it seemed to re-wet already dry layers of polish below. Things then melted off like a chocolate shell on a cherry liqueur.

While I love the pastel opalescent glitter, it's hard to truly love this polish. Too high maintenance.

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Emily de Molly Bellisima

Here is a sweet polish that you need to own:

Emily de Molly Bellisima

I've put it over a nude, and I think it rocks better over a pale pink, white, blue or gray pastel or ice shade.

This is a true beauty.

Pink matte glitter and silver smaller glitter packed with a large lavender shade of pink glitter, then accented with a smattering of giant glitters. I love the fact that the large glitters are round, too.

This is never going to be a full cover polish, but it's packed with impact and you just need to let it shine.

If you live in Australia, where this brand is based, it appears to be on sale. Lucky you!!

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

Happy Fourth of July!

China Glaze's Sheer Glitter

These are turning into my favorite glitter. It's a translucent glitter that, unlike an iridescent, possesses a strong enough pigmentation that it doesn't rely on light to iridesce the color.

I've blogged one before, my beloved Heart and Soul by Whimsical Ideas By Pam (blogged here)

Then I discovered that China Glaze has one in their Spring 2016 House of Color collection.

Since that collection came out, I've had my eye on Moonlight The Night:

I've put it over a pure white and the blue, pink, and periwinkle glitters sing. I love how these transparent glitters layer and create lavenders and medium blues as well. So nice.

I didn't do this one over black for a photo, but it does look similar to the bottle: Carnival glass iridescence pops out and it is also a beauty. Over white, though, wow. This is a Tasmanian Wolf in the world of glitter. I have four different bottles of transparent glitter: two by WIbP, one by China Glaze and one by Starrily.

I wish there were more. This is an easy to use glitter, it's born to change color over other colors and it's own fellow glitter-mates, and it dries flat and is easy to remove.

Waiting for more of these, it's turning into the one glitter that turns my head!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Zoya's Cindy and Renee

Zoya Cindy is from Zoya's Redbook collection that came out Holiday 2015.

It's a pretty gilded glass fleck packed with beautiful large iridescent glitter.

Here it is over a navy, Color Club Yacht Club, a very deep navy:

This is two coats, and the gold is almost bronze when it's over a dark shade.

I then popped it over Renee, another one from the Redbook trio.

Pretty, but not totally to my layering taste.

Recommend? With reservation: I could not get the topper to dry adequately. It just melted with every base and top coat, and didn't play well with Renee or Yacht Club. Number one job of a topper? Play well with others!

Here is Renee alone:

I love this fire engine red, it's gorgeous. Rather thick and unwieldy this two coater was tricky for me, but I think the color is so great.

It is an odd trio as you've got Marjorie - a rich glass fleck reddened plum, then Renee with its warm red, finally Cindy, which is not really great over either.

The limited edition is still on the Zoya site for sale.

I have mixed feelings about the trio. Marjorie was a winner, Renee placed, and Cindy showed. 

Red, White, and Silver

Zoya Luna

Here's a very unique polish. A silver glitter in a white shimmer base.

Three coats. The white is a shimmer and it works very nicely with the silver.

Here it is over white:

Over white it is merely a silver over white and the play between the glitter and the white shimmer are gone.

My only complaint is that I couldn't get it to dry well. I find that with me, Zoya can be very hit or miss. I have no way of predicting it, either.


Here is Zoya Astra

dog hair! Ack!

This beauty is a red and silver combination in a rich ruby base.

This is a two coater, but it can do double duty as a topper, too.

Both of these are, apparently discontinued on the Zoya site. They are online, but I am not seeing a density of them. It is similar to a China Glaze Mrs. Claus from their 2010 collection, but a bit better, in my opinion.

I had no issues with this one, and definitely like the pari of colors in the jelly base.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!