Review: Glam Polish

Hiya and Happy New Year to one and all!

I've been MIA again these last few months but now I'm back to continue with the reviews. Hopefully I can be a little more consistent this year. (P.S. That's not a resolution or anything.)

Once again though I will continue to try to purchase more indie brands and support the smaller companies this year. That being said I've got a gift card for Mozaic (the OPI store here in Barbados) that I fully intend to take advantage of. OPI Purple Palazzo Pants I see youuuuu!

Anywhosie, guess who got two more Glam Polish babies on her trip to England last year. Told ya Unforgettable Dream was the first but wouldn't be the last! Weeks before I left for England I was scouring the European stockists sites for polishes I wanted. Only two of the ones I got were on my wish list but they're both gorgeous.

So I got me Charmed and Are You Sea-rious? which was a relatively new release at the time and my fave of the two. I purchased these from Rainbow Connection, an English stockist for indie polishes.

So let's talk about them.

Charmed

Charmed was released early in 2015 as part of the Cast A Spell Part 3: The White Witch Collection. It's a rosy mauve with varying sizes of holographic glitter and legit comes alive in sunlight. Seriously, this has joined my Cheer Me Up Collection, those polishes that keep you happy when work's not so great, the ones that break your concentration when you're driving or keep you entertained when you're stuck in traffic. Y'all know what I mean!

So this gorgeousness in a bottle applied pretty easily for me given all the glittery goodness inside. I used two coats because it didn't cover completely in one. The pigmentation was superb and the formula wasn't bad either. Make sure to give it a good shake so the glitters are evenly distributed. Because they're so many glitters in there you're gonna need a top coat to smooth it all out, otherwise it'll dry with a textured finish.

Are You Sea-rious?

Are You Sea-rious? was released as part of the Under The Sea Collection. When this baby hit Instagram I took a screenshot of every one I saw. Lemme tell you, I haven't wanted a polish this bad in long. This baby is everything I love. It's that perfect blue green that reminds you of the beach. It's got what looks like tiny turquoise glitters mixed in with the holo glitter. This thing comes alive on your nail. No lie, it made me think Accra beach, a Cuz Cutter and a coconut snocone with milk. Another one added to the Cheer Me Up Collection.

Ok so to the nitty gritty. Are You Sea-rious? is a gorgeous blue-green, aquamarine colour filled with holographic glitter and tiny turquoise glitter. The formula is amazing, goes on perfectly. This can be a one-coater if you do a heavy coat.

My only problem with these are the brushes, I'm not a fan of Glam Polish brushes but that's a small issue given the quality of what's in the bottle.

Because these polishes are so packed with glitter, make sure to give them a good shake just to get all the good stuff well mixed before you put it on your nails. Like I said earlier you may also need a coat or two of top coat to smooth it all out because the glitter makes them dry a bit textured.
FYI These polishes are all hand mixed in batches so the formulas may vary by batch. That being said they are amazing and worth every penny.

Glam Polish can be purchased directly from their site or from any of their stockists.

I hope you liked them and if you do decide to get them that they make you as happy as me.

Until next time...

Shop The Stash: LA Girl Sparkle Ruby

Hi Hi!

I've been digging through the babies again this week and rediscovering stuff I bought forever ago and loved.

Soo this week I found my LA Girl Sparkle Ruby. This was one of the scattered holos LA Girl released a few years back. This is actually the only collection I own in its entirety and coincidentally these polishes are some of my faves. Although the holo effect isn't that strong the polishes are gorgeous.

Lucinda over at Moden Makeup has also been shopping her stash and rediscovered an oldie but goodie Color Club Snakeskin.

Have you found any oldies but goodies in your stash recently?

Until next time...

Review: Essence The Gel Nail Polish

Hi Hi!! Hope everybody's good.

I'm now the proud owner of 3 new Essence polishes.

Now these weren't on my wish list per se but I've wanted to try the brand for a while. They're all from the Gel line but one's a matte line and I'm going to review them for you today.

I picked these polishes up on a visit to Wilkos. The three I got were Serendipity, Miss Captain and I *heart* my blue jeans.

The Gel polishes are part of a three step system that provides a gel like finish without the UV/LED light. I only picked up the colours as Wilkos had neither the base nor top coat but if I ever come across them I'm definitely picking them up. This brand is currently not available in Barbados.

Serendipity

Serendipity is a lavender greyish colour. The pigmentation and formula on this polish is amazing, smooth like butta as I like to say. It's definitely got the feel of a gel polish. What I would say as someone who likes products to last is the polish seems as thought it may thicken over time and require some thinners. Other than that no complaints.

In the pics below I used two coats but this polish could be a one coater if you're careful. The brush is also amazing in my opinion. It's got those brushes I like, similar to the brushes from the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line. It lets you get that nice perfect line close to the cuticle.

Serendipity

Serendipity

Miss  Captain

Miss Captain is one of those hard to describe colours. By my eye it's a cross between a dusty teal and a slate grey. Might be a bit hard to visualize but the pics below are pretty true to colour. The formula was just like that of Serendipity, creamy perfection. This could also have been a one coater but I used two again. This colour is unique to my collection but I'm not really a fan of it.

Miss Captain

 I *heart* My Blue Jeans

I *heart* my blue jeans (no idea how to get a heart here) is also from the gel line but it's a Matt (Essence's spelling not mine). It's a beautiful navy blue polish, perfect fall colour if you live somewhere where the seasons change. The formula and brush on this one were like the two. This one surprisingly is also unique to my collection. I intended to top coat it but the matte had me good. Drying time was ok, my two coats took about 30 minutes to dry completely.

Roundup

Overall I'm impressed especially for the price point. The formula and pigmentation was great. The brush was amazing in my books, and I say in my books because most people don't seem to be fans of this type of brush, particularly people with small fingers. Drying time on Serendipity and Miss Captain was good; when I say drying time I mean dry to touch because I go over with my topcoat before everything is completely dry. I can't speak to longevity as I change my polish every two days but from all reviews they last. These are my first three Essence polishes but they definitely won't be my last.

Until next time...

Haulin' - Another Year, Lots of New Babies

Hiii

I recently got back from visiting the queen, officially it was called vacation but I returned more exhausted than I left. This is why I didn't fnish the September Nail Challenge I started. The rush to get things together at home and at work before travelling took some time and energy. And I know it's not necessary to have things in order but for me it is. 

Anywhosie, as I was gallivanting through London I made sure to pick up some new babies. I got 16 in a total, a resounding 10 down from last year's haul if I remember correctly. Let's hear it for self control and a diminished wallet- YAYYYY!!!

So I'm here to share the new babies with you and I'll do a review on each in separate posts.I tried to group brands together so this post wouldn't be too picture heavy.

As I said over the next few weeks I'll have separate posts on each.

Until next time...

Shop The Stash!!

Hi Guys,

How's everything? I'm back from vacation and trying to get back into the swing of things.

A few weeks ago I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed out and I don't know about you but when I'm feeling that way, I need one of two things: a snocone or new polish. So I left work in search of one or the other to cheer me up but my snocone man was MIA and I couldn't find any polishes that jumped out at me. This gave me the idea for a new blog series: Shop The Stash!!

Basically this is a challenge to myself to keep out the people's stores and make use of what I've got. It's by no means a no-buy 'cuz we all know how those go. What I noticed is that I've got a few un-trieds and several polishes that have only been once or twice so I'm putting them to work.

To start off the series I pulled out a baby that hasn't been used in a while: OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI and did a simple mani. I added some gold studs to make it blingy and top coated with Old Faithful. For the newbies that's my Glisten and Glow HK Girl.

Do you guys have any untried or once-used babies lying around? Feel free to join me and shop your stashes too. Let me know in the comments. 

Until next time...

September Nail Challenge | Mozaic & Mermaid

Heller Hellerrrr!!

I'm back with entries three and four of @clairestelle8 September Nail Challenge.

The theme for day 9 was 'Mozaic' and I recreated a favourite mani of mine and it came out great. I knew days in advance which colours I wanted to use and made sure I got this one together on time. Here's the link for the first mozaic mani I did. I was dying to try my Oy! Another Polish Joke and made sure to weasel that one in here. I'm really liking this colour scheme.

Day 12's theme was 'Mermaid', and like day 9 I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do and was pleased with how it came out. I made stamping decals for the first time using my Gal Cosmetics stamping plates and Konad Stamper and they turned out way better than expected.

All in all I was really proud of these two manis. Almost made me feel like I got my groove back lol. I hope you guys like them. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Until next time...

September Nail Challenge | Coral & Flowers

Hi again,

Hope everybody's good.

A few months ago I completed the February nail challenge and promised I'd do another soon but then life happened.
 While scrolling through my Instagram feed last week I came across a picture on @gigislacqueredup page of @clairestelle8 September Challenge and decided to give it a go. The last one I did was back in February and I've been meaning to do another but life happened.

Below is the list of entries for the challenge.

Ok, so the plan is to show you my entries for the challenge every Sunday as usual as I have no time to blog during the week. So far I'm off to a bad start lol.

Anyway, they're eight manis to be done in the challenge and I knew from the outset they were going to be a bit of a challenge for me asthe nail art's a tad bit rusty from non-use.

The first mani for September 3rd was themed 'Coral' and I did a simple mani with a gold accent nail. Now being entirely truthful this wasn't what I had planned. I'd initially pulled out the nail vinyls and shades of coral in the stash and got to work. But...it turned out nothing like I envisioned. Hence the boring plain Jane mani.

September 6th's mani was a bit more detailed. The theme was 'Flowers' so I got out the dotting tools and set to work. Here's what I came up with. Not perfect, but I liked it.

So those were my first two entries fort he challenge and hopefully I only get better from here.

Hope you liked them. Until next time...