Friday, October 31, 2014

Pear Nova - Fall 2014

Happy Halloween! Today I'm thrilled to share with you the Fall 2014 collection from Pear Nova.

For those that have not heard of this brand it's a high end polish developed in Chicago which are all creme polishes. I ran across this brand on Instagram and one day decided to give them a try since cremes are my favorite finish. I certainly was not disappointed. These are the most creamy polishes I have ever tried. Most of them are fully opaque in just 1 coat and are super shiny!! Also I'm such a sucker for packaging. Each polish comes in a cute little pouch which I'll show in a picture below. It really says a lot when a business takes the time to provide a little something extra, giving exceptional customer service.

In all my swatches I did not use a top coat because one wasn't needed. However for a longer lasting manicure I'd recommend using one. The fall collection consists of 4 creme polishes. Check out a description of each after the jump.


Pilsen Lofts & Art Walks is a light grey creme. This is a great neutral for the fall, probably even better for winter. The formula was a little thick but super easy to work with and fully opaque in just 1 coat.

Boystown Blues is a cornflower blue creme. The formula was very similar to Pilsen Lofts & Art Walks and fully opaque in just 1 coat.

Jekyll & Hyde Park is a plum purple creme. The formula was amazing!! I never was a fan of dark colors but recently I've been digging these shades for the fall season. I used 2 coats for the photo below.

Oak Street Suite is a true army green. In the bottle you'd think this was a straight creme. I was pleasantly surprised to see a faint shimmer when applied on the nail. This one was my favorite from the collection. The formula was a dream to work with! I used 2 coats for full opacity.

I have never been to Chicago but if I had to take a guess this collection was inspired by the city. I loved the names of each polish. I also did a tape manicure using Boystown Blues and Pilsen Lofts & Art Walks shown below.

All of these polishes are 3 free. If you're looking for the perfect creme polish I highly recommend this brand. The Fall collection is available now on Pear Nova's site here and retail for $11.50 each. 

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Colors By Llarowe - Fall 2014

Hi! Today I'm excited to share with you my picks from Colors By Lllarowe Fall 2014 collection. For those not familiar with llarowe, she's an e-tailer specializing in exotic independent nail polish brands. I purchased some of my first indie brands on llarowe's site a few years ago but kind of took a hiatus the past couple years. In the past her restocks are insane and usually draws huge crowds to her site which causes to much traffic. However she has revamped her site and now it includes putting each visitor in a queue so you can shop without getting stuck on one page.

Llarowe released her own polish line and I was so happy to finally pick up a few from her latest fall collection. I must warn you this post is very picture heavy.  Check out a description of each polish after the jump!


Seasons Of Change is a gunmetal green linear holographic polish. This is a one coater however out of habit I used 2 coats. The formula was excellent!


Mercy is an eggplant linear holographic polish. The holo was more intense in the sun than I could show here in pictures. It's another one coater but I used 2 here. The formula was great.

Smokey Mountain Memories is a royal blue scattered holographic polish. This took 2 coats for full opacity. The formula was ok but I recommend you shaking this really well as it had little clumps of blue polish in my bottle.


My Broken Down Crop Duster is a dark brown linear holographic polish. Man was this one intense?!!!! It had a great formula and I could easily get away with just one coat. This one reminds me of  OPI My Private Jet (the original).



Lastly is Show Me Again. This is not from the fall collection rather from the Show Me Collection. It's a multi chrome scattered holographic polish. The colors shift from teal to blue to pink, it's so gorgeous. It took 2 coats alone for opacity but you can also layer this over a blue or black polish.







Surprisingly these are all still available here and each retails for $12. If you see one you like I recommend picking them up because these usually sell out quickly.


Monday, October 27, 2014

Zoya Wishes - Holiday 2014

I'm in a great mood today so I'm sharing another post with you all. Today is my 5 year anniversary with my amazing husband. We had a dinner at our house yesterday with our immediate family and today we just kicked back and had a lazy day.

Friday I received my Zoya order, Wishes Holiday 2014. For the past few years their holiday collections have been on point so I knew I had to order this one. Ironically the night before it released I went to bed wondering when their holiday collection would be out and voila, the next morning they made the press release.

This collection consists of 6 polishes, 3 are magical pixie dusts, 2 metallic and 1 cream. Check out a description of each after the jump.

Willa is your typical black creme. I used 2 coats here and it was fully opaque. I don't usually buy salon or high end brand polishes in black because it's something you can find in the drugstore fairly inexpensive and the formula is just as comparable. However I did have a black from either Zoya or OPI on my list so this came out just in time. The formula on this one was excellent, nice and creamy.

Prim is a metallic ice blue. You can somewhat see the brush strokes so I recommend applying this one with as little strokes as possible. The formula was a bit thin but easy to work with. Here I used 2 coats.

Haven is a metallic plum purple. This one too was a little thin but easy to work with. I found this one to not show the brush strokes as much as a metallic would. I used 2 coats for full opacity.

The last 3 are the magical pixie dusts. These are a spinoff from the original pixie dusts released last year but have more holographic chunkier glitters. When the magical pixies first released this year I purchased 2 and was not impressed. The colors and glitters were amazing but I found the formula to be too thick, lumpy and difficult to apply without dabbing the polish on your nail.  Since then I haven't purchased anymore magical pixies until this collection.

The 3 below basically have the same formula, easy to work with and full of beautiful holographic hex
glitters. However I was a little disappointed with how they dried compare to prior magical/pixie dusts. These all dried with a gloss. Some may call it a semi-matte but I beg to differ. When I applied topcoat it basically looked the same. And when I applied a matte top coat it took away the holographic effect. What a bummer! All in all I love the colors and they are unique to my collection. I just wish they dried more matte like the original pixie dusts.

Imogen is a black magical pixie dust with hex holo glitters. I wore this as a full manicure yesterday while doing some serious cooking and by the end of the night I had little to no chipping so I was impressed. I used 2 coats and no top coat.

I wanted to see how the polish would change if I added top coat and unfortunately there's not much of a difference. If you do want a glossier finish you'll have to add at least 2-3 top coats due to the gritty finish.

Thea is a plum magical pixie dust with hex holo glitters. The formula was great and I used 2 coats for the photo below.

I added a matte top coat and I do like the result but it does take away the holographic effect.

My favorite is Nori, a blue magical pixie dust with holo hex glitters. Again the formula was awesome and I used 2 coats for the photo below.

I also added a matte top coat even though it takes away the holo effect. Overall this was my favorite look from the whole collection.

My top picks are Nori (plus matte top coat) and Willa.
These are available now on Zoya's website for $10 each. You can purchase the 6 set for $57.


China Glaze Halloween 2014

Hey lacquered lovers. Halloween is quickly approaching us this Friday so today I'll be sharing a couple of polishes newly released from this years collection.

China Glaze usually has the best Halloween collections and I look forward to seeing what's new each year. This year however I was a little disappointed which will explain why I only picked up two, I Love Your Guts and But Of Corpse. I can't lie, I picked up these two because of their name and uniqueness. I truly have nothing like these polishes in my collection. Formula wise they are both the same. They both dry with a matte finish so I did I used top coat on them. Also when applying they dry very quickly and if you don't paint with a steady hand you'll end up having patchy spots.
For both photos I used 2 coats plus 2 top coats.

I Love Your Guts is a pinky red polish with black glitters that dries matte.

But Of Corpse is a green polish with black glitters also drying matte. This polish stained my nails terribly. Luckily I was to get off the yellow stains with a real good buff.


These polishes are just not my cup of tea and I'll probably end up giving these to my daughter or her friend. The polishes seem kind of childish in my opinion. I picked up both at my local Sally Beauty and each retailed around $3.99.


Monday, October 20, 2014

B Squared Lacquer Spring Cremes

Happy Monday! I know Mondays can sometimes be a drag so today I'm bringing some fun pastels for your reading pleasure.

B Squared Lacquer is an indie polish maker I ran across on Instagram. During the spring she released a set of cremes, all pastel and spring like. I had my eye out on these and meant to purchase them earlier but I totally forgot. Thankfully her recent anniversary sale reminded me to pick these bad boys up and everything on her site was 40% off (who can say no to a great sale!?) Pastels are my favorite colors of polish and I wear them year round, not just in spring or summer. The collection consists of 6 colors and today I have 5 to show you. Check out a description of each after the jump.

Rain Boots is a light blue creamy pastel. This was my favorite from the collection. The formula was great and easy to work with. I used 2 coats for the photo below.

Bees Knees is a light yellow pastel creme. Such a wonderful formula for a yellow polish! This will definitely be my go to yellow from now on. I used 2 coats for the photo below.

Funny Bunny is a pink pastel creme. This one kind of reminds me of a laffy taffy in strawberry, one of my favorite candies when I was younger. Again the formula was great and not too thick. I used 2 coats for the photo below.

Sprout is a lime green pastel with a lot of blue undertones. This one too had an excellent formula! I used 2 coats here.

Fuzzy Navel is a peach creamy pastel. This one was a little thick but not to hard to work with.

I used Fuzzy Navel, Funny Bunny and Rain Boots for a fun colorful gradient.

These polishes are still available here. The mini bottles retail for $5 each and full size $9. I opted for the minis and they were super easy to work with. The brushes were just the right size for my nail beds and weren't short like some minis I've dealt with.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

OPI Rock Goddess - Halloween

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! Today I'm sharing a mini set collection I picked up last winter at my local TJ Maxx, Rock Goddess. It's OPI's 2013 Halloween release which consists of 4 mini polishes. The set also came with a cute skull braided bracelet.

The polishes in this set aren't anything to go running to the store for. To be truthful I only purchased it  because it was super cheap and the bracelet was kind of cute at the time. Check out a description of each polish after the jump.


Yellopalooza is yellow creme. The formula was just ok, it needed 3-4 coats to level out good.

Stand In Lime For Days is described as a citrus lime green. This was very sheer and needed 3 coats, but formula wise it was ok.

Rolling Bones is a platinum metallic. This too was very sheer and need 2-3 coats on some nails.

The Drummer Is Hot is a bright fiery orange. Formula wise this was the best of the collection needing only 2 coats.


You can still get this set on eBay or Amazon. I think it's a cute stocking stuffer or secret Santa gift.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Zoya Ignite - Fall 2014

Happy Saturday! Today I spent most of my day organizing and un cluttering my nail polish, big fun! I've been thinking about selling the polishes I don't use anymore, though I find it very difficult to part with some of my favorite brands, OPI and Zoya. With that said, today I have the 1st half of Zoya's Fall collection for 2014, Ignite. This part of the collection consists of 6 beautiful shimmers. Check out a description of each polish after the jump.

Autumn is a copper shimmer. Everything about this one screams Fall. This reminds me of a Deborah Lippmann from a couple years ago, Phoenix Rising. I used 2 coats for the photo below.

India is a burgundy shimmer that looks to be purple. The formula was great and I used 2 coats.

Sansa is a dark purple shimmer. Again this had a great formula. The first coat went on a little sheer but it built to opacity with 2.

Teigen is a cranberry shimmer. I love all of these that the shimmer is just as strong in the bottle as on the nail. This one also had a great consistency and easy to apply. I used 2 coats for the picture below.

Remy is a dark bluish/green shimmer. This one had so much depth and was one of my favorites from the collection. It did stain a little bit so I would recommend a couple base coats. I used 2 coats below.

Last but not least is Yuna. Ahhh words cannot describe how gorgeous this one is. It's a blue/gray  with gold shimmer. At first I thought it was a dupe to Yara but this is like its gray sister. This is my favorite of the collection. I used 2 coats for the photo below.

I loved the consistency and formula of them all but Yuna was hands down the standout of the collection for me. 2nd pick would be Remy for its depth. The Ignite collection is available at Ulta and Zoya.com for $9 each.