GlitterDaze Naughticle Collection-- Rolling In the Bay and Surfbort

  Hi all!!  Back this past January, I introduced myself to indie polish brand GlitterDaze, by way of glitter topper Rainbow Bridge, a polish creator Sana made in memoriam of her own beloved pet (my own happy beginning {HERE}).  Sana closed up shop for a few months and recently relaunched with two gorgeous summer collections, one of which is a fabulous set of bright summer cremes.  I picked up two of them, Rolling In the Bay and Surfbort (yes, some titillating names in this set!).

GlitterDaze Naughticle Collection-- Rolling In the Bay and Surfbort

My Favorite Summer Pedicure Colors

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  Happy Caturday, all!!  I hope you're having a maximally enjoyable summer so far.  Just a quick post today on my favorite summer pedicure colors before C and I go play in our back yard for the better part of the day :)

My Favorite Summer Pedicure Colors-- Butter London Come To Bed Red, Essie Licorice, L'Oreal Penthouse Pink, Zoya Dillon, Zoya Zuza

Butter London Ladybird

  Hi all!!  You know I love RED, but I find it somewhat difficult to wear during the summer, as I'm drawn most to deep and dramatic, especially on nails.  When Butter London announced their exclusive NYFW shade this past February, a juicy tomato red jelly called Ladybird, I about died of excitement, though.  Butter's got a lineup of the most perfect classic reds and I was stoked about this new personality and the warm weather possibilities.  I'm not one to buy Limited Edition polishes, though, so when a dear blogger friend gifted me with Ladybird, I about died of excitement, again, lol (this is a dangerous polish).

Butter London Ladybird

Independence Day Manicure #2 featuring Zoya

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  Hi guys and gals!!  Zoya's having another big promotion for Independence Day, get three polishes free for the price of shipping, now through July 6.  The fact that I did another Fourth of July manicure in all Zoya shades was pure coincidence (though I suppose I should have their sale times memorized by now, lol).

  I'm pretty much still over the moon about the summer collections this year, so I decided to do a skittlette using this summer's blues and Livingston, a consummately perfect summer cherry red creme.  On index, Ling, a royal/cyan blue creme; middle, pinky, and thumb, Livingston; ring, Muse, a rich cerulean glassfleck with holo glitters.

Independence Day Manicure #1

  Hi everyone!!  Independence Day is right around the corner, so we US gals are busy playing around with our reds, whites, and blues in anticipation.  I admit I hadn't put much thought into anything until a link to THIS POST from I Heart Pretty Polish showed up in my facebook newsfeed.  Yes, folks, Essie is back, not blogging, but back interacting and resharing some of her favorite manis, and it is AWESOME to have her.

  So I was initially going to more or less recreate the skittles mani she posted last July, as I have a similar blue (or three) and I picked up the red she used shortly after she first posted.  Instead, I decided to go with one of my all-time favorite duos and throw that gorgeous red into the mix.

Celestial Cosmetics Trip-- The Electric You Collection, Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  I seriously cannot bend my mind around the fact that it's almost July.  I actually showed up to work 45 minutes late on Monday because I was certain it was only the 16th and so followed that schedule (muh bad for not switching it out on my cork board where there is also, incidentally, a calendar).  Walking into work to choruses of "Oh THERE you are!" is so much fun, lol.

  Anyway, let's move forward in my latest Celestial Cosmetics holo fest.  I've showed you two of the six neon holos from the upcoming Celestial Cosmetics/Color4Nails collaboration collection, The Electric You (Inception and Merge).  This one is Trip, a totally unique jelly based bright pumpkin linear holo that I can't really classify as neon, even over a white base.  Still, it's a fun color with a typical easy to apply Celestial formula and I dig the name.  Here it is on its own, two coats and one layer of topcoat.

Celestial Cosmetics Trip

Celestial Cosmetics Merge-- The Electric You Collection, Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  I've got on another smokin' neon holo from Celestial Cosmetics and Color4Nails summer 2014 collaboration collection, The Electric You.  This one is Merge, a beautiful, bright rosy pink jelly based linear holo.  Shown two coats under one layer of topcoat.  I think this is just about the prettiest holo I've seen so forgive the amount of photos you're about to see, lol.  The formula is textbook Celestial, minimal cleanup, practically applying itself.

Celestial Cosmetics Merge

 

Celestial Cosmetics Inception-- The Electric You Collection, Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  I feel another Celestial Cosmetics holofest coming on ;) This Aussie indie polish brand  is one of my very favorite indies for their wide array of gorgeous linear holo shades with perfect formulas.  Celestial and etailer Color4Nails have teamed up again to bring us a collaborative summer collection of neon holos, called The Electric You.  

  Because these holos are neons, it's suggested that they be worn over a white base.  I found Inception, a jelly based, bright and watery turquoise, to be perfect without (and all's the better without the telltale line of white that tends to peek through at the cuticle line).  I used two coats of Inception and one layer of topcoat.

Celestial Cosmetics Inception

Quick & Dirty Milani Bella Blue Lipstick Review

  Hi friends!!  For as long as I remember, I've been much more a lipstick gal than an eyeshadow one, and I can only trace this to my mom, whose lipstick stash rivals my own (and may exceed at this point).  Unlike her, though, I have this propensity towards blue lipstick.  You won't likely catch me running around in public with blue eyeshadow, but on the lips, it's a whole different story, and one that I can't explain.

  The last time I recall a mainstream brand releasing a blue lippy was L'Oreal in the mid to late '90s with Blue Mood.  I don't remember much about it except that it didn't translate on the lip like I'd hoped it would, like it wasn't blue enough, so I got rid of it.  I think about it often, lol.  When I saw the first press releases for Milani's limited edition summer collection, Bella Blue, and that it included a blue lipstick, I got all excited and couldn't wait to get my hands on one.

Milani Bella Blue lipstick

Sinful Colors Face the Facets

  Hi all!!  Ever on the lookout for a good yellow am I, and while it's usually cremes I'm after, I couldn't resist the shimmery prettiness of Sinful Colors' Face the Facets (or the 99¢ deal Walgreens recently had on their SCs).

  Face the Facets is a bright daffodil yellow texture polish, a rerelease for summer 2014.   It's a jelly base packed with monochromatic shimmer that flash a subtle (so subtle that I couldn't capture it on camera) yellow gold and spring green.

Sinful Colors Face the Facets

LVX Summer 2014 Collection

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LVX Summer 2014

  Hi friends!!  I don't pay a lot of attention to seasonal trends in nail polish (though since I have this blog, perhaps I should start) but it recently struck me that this summer is one of softer toned creme palettes in various themes-- Maybelline's Bleached Neons, Zoya's country garden-esque Tickled collection, and this lovely and surprising set of Cape Coddish lights (and one apt and striking bright) from LVX.  Let's dive right in.

Sinful Colors Mint Tropics

  Hi friends!!  Some of you might be aware of the buzz in the nail polish community surrounding the rerelease of collaboration OPI Damone Roberts 1968, a wildly popular and hard to find polish that goes for exorbitant amounts if you are lucky enough to catch one.  Well, the folks behind OPI and Damone Roberts are milking this one for all it's worth and graciously lowering the price of the rerelease to $20.

  So what's the big deal about the color?  Damone Roberts 1968 is touted as "a different green with undertones of a soft grey, and a warm brown that works well on every skin tone" (damoneroberts.com), a pistachio rather than mint shade.  A google search will tell you that it's a hard one to photograph (and I've never seen one in real life, so I'm not even going to pretend to know what it really looks like).  The official description and bloggers describing what their pictures look like are decidedly at odds.  All this is really a moot point because this little Sinful Colors polish I picked up may or may not be remotely similar.

  A new summer 2014 release for Sinful Colors' Turn Up the Heat collection, Mint Tropics isn't really mint at all, but for a slight hint of blue tone keeping it from becoming a grass green.  It's light but not pale and has the brown undertones reported in the OPI.  (Mint Tropics doesn't photograph easily, either.)  

Sinful Colors Mint Tropics

Zoya Magical Pixie Collection-- Summer 2014

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Zoya Magical PixieDusts Summer 2014

  Hi everyone!!  Zoya's third summer 2014 collection is also their second set of Magical Pixies, matte textured polishes filled with holographic hex glitters.  If you thought spring's Magical Pixies were chunky (review HERE), honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

  Like the spring set, this season's batch are all jelly based.  However, the microfine glitter that obscured the sheerness of the base and gave the spring colors their super sparkle has been replaced with a smaller amount of little holo glitters (presumably to up the "holo" quotient).  The former were opaque in two coats; these all need three, and with the texture and the abundance of larger glitter, end up quite thick on the nail.  The cool thing is that these colors fit together beautifully and seem to be tailor-made for ombre manicures, and, if you're skilled enough and not afraid of a little thickness, gradients.  On their own, they're lovely colors in a thickness bordering avant garde and even more reminiscent of Essie Belugaria than the last set.

Sinful Colors Blue La La-- Summer 2014

  Hi all!!  Sinful Colors' summer collections have landed, and, as usual, I can't really make heads or tails of the whole thing.  They've got some new, some reissues, and one that looks suspiciously like Cinderella (even as Cinderella is still in the core line).  Also, as far as these sets are concerned, anything goes, color wise.  They run the gamut from spring through fall, which is fun and edifying, but not overly cohesive.  It also makes choosing one or two polishes somewhat difficult, lol.  One of the colors I chose is a little bit spring, but it's so pretty, and I've felt this shade conspicuously absent from my stash recently.

  This is Blue La La, a periwinkle creme from the Chill Out set.  The formula is thin but super saturated.  Wipe the excess polish off the brush and use a bit of care and pressure in applying and you'll be fine.  It's perfect in two coats.

Sinful Colors Blue La La

Zoya Tickled Collection-- Summer 2014

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  Hi friends!!  Today I get to show you the second half of Zoya's Summer 2014 collection-- the cremes, under the title Tickled.  I love cremes and I love the fact that I can count on Zoya to deliver a great set of them twice a year.  That said, Tickled is one of the classiest collections I've seen, and for summer, no less.  I used two coats of polish, unless otherwise stated, and one coat of GlitterDaze Super Smooth Keratin Topcoat.

Zoya Bubbly Collection-- Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  Zoya's been playing around with those holographic glitters we saw in this spring's Magical Pixies, and to marvelous and extrinsic results.  This summer's effects finish collection, called Bubbly, is a set of six jelly based GLASSFLECKS (thank you, Faeries!!!  From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for another set of glassflecks!), the likes of which haven't been seen since Zoya's Sparkle collection of summer 2010, this time with an extra dimension of color and gleam from the glitters.  That's not where the differences end, though.  The glitters are very small, and while quite obvious, they don't make these polishes troublesomely thick-- rather, they balance out the relative jelly thinness and help make each of these polishes opaque in two, rather than three or more, coats.  Each swatch here is two coats without topcoat. 

butter LONDON Summer 2014 Lolly Brights-- WINK Mascara and Eye Pencil in Chav and Cheerio

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  Hello friends!!  Welcome to the third and final installment of Butter London week a la LLPT!  Today I have two of the Lolly Brights eye cosmetics, and I admit to having NO CLUE what to do with this stuff when I opened my package.  The aqua blue tube is a mascara, called Chav, and the pencil is an eyeliner called Cheerio (so cute, lol).

butter LONDON Summer 2014 Lolly Brights-- Lippy Lip Glosses

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  Hi all!!  I was thinking the other day, after a conversation with my friend Emily of Must. Stash. fame, that it might be fun to play around with some more adventurous lip colors (a la the electric purple of Maybelline Elixir Vivid Violet), when these beauts show up on my doorstep.  However, they're not as they initially appear.

butter LONDON Summer 2014 Lolly Brights-- Sozzled Nail Lacquer

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  Hi everyone!!  Welcome to Butter London week on LLPT!  It's almost May, temperatures are slowly rising, and summer is imminent.  Butter London's summer collection has made its debut and in a decidedly different turn from this spring's muted neutrals,  Lolly Brights is full of bright, vivacious, adventurous, and fun color for lips, face, and nails.

  I've been reallyreallyreally excited about the bright green creme polish in the set of six nail lacquers since the first promo pictures started popping up.  A good green creme is aloofly, edgily elegant to me, somewhere between black and red, minus the sex, plus some cool, and a fresh summer alternative to classic bright pink.  Sozzled is a vibrant, saturated kelly green with a formula that doesn't disappoint-- a nice, not too thick, not too thin consistency requiring minimal cleanup, opaque in the standard two coats.  Finished with one layer of topcoat.