Lynnderella - Mercury's Rainbow

I recently just happened to be on the computer when llarowe.com had Lynnderellas available on her website.  I had never tried a Lynnderella before but they seemed to be the golden ring everyone was reaching for. 

So knowing the coveted polishes wouldn't last long I completely panicked and starting putting them in my cart. I ended up with two Mercury's Rainbow, a Cauldrons Drippings and an I can Afford it.

Mercury's Rainbow and Cauldron's Drippings are up for a giveaway that ends June 2, 2012.

So today while it is bright and sunny I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I started with a base coat of Deborah Lippman Wicked Game and then applied a coat of Mercury Rising. 

Lynnderella - Mercury's Rainbow

Lynnderella - Mercury's Rainbow

Like all chunky glitter it can have a mind of its own on application. But I thought it went on reasonably well. The glitter pieces remind me of disco balls that shift with the changing light. (Okay, I am showing my age there.) But that is exactly what they look like. In the sun they radiate the colors of the rainbow.

Close up of Lynnderella - Mercury's Rainbow

So while I am not sure I will jump through all the hoops it takes to get Lynnderella I am sure if I came across it I would once again purchase it with a panicked frenzy.

Do you have any Lynnderellas? If you don't, make sure to enter for a chance to win one!

Happy Polishing

Kelly

Essence Colour and Go - quality and value plus

 I am excited to share two Essence Colour and Go nail polishes with you. 

Essence is known for high-quality, on-trend products at incredible prices. Glamorous Life and Luxury Secret are two of the 22 colors available in the Colour and Go line and I can't wait to tell you all about them. So let's talk polish!

Glamorous Life is a glorious shade of red that leans toward a fuchsia shade. It has tons of micro-flakes giving it a shimmer and shine that make me want to dress up and go out on the town. The photos of both colors are with two coats.

Essence Colour and Go - Glamorous Life

 The camera just couldn't seem to catch the shimmery prisms so I headed outside to try a shot in full sun.

Essence Colour and Go Glamorous Life in full sun.

You can barely see the nail through the polish. Another coat would have provided complete opaqueness but I was happy with it after two coats. 

Luxury Life is a gorgeous steely, gun metal gray. Two coats of this silky color provided complete opacity. 

Essence Colour and Go Luxury Life

Essence Colour and Go Luxury Life

One more test - I love to use my stamper but finding polishes that stamp well can sometimes be difficult. Does Essence Colour and Go work well with a stamper?

Essence Glamorous Life with Luxury Life for stamping.

It worked wonderfully! It is nice to add a polish to my collection that works for stamping. 

Essence Colour and Go polishes boast a quick drying time and in fact they dried within minutes.The brush is flat and makes application a breeze. The colors are rich and vibrant.

Bottom line: Essence is a quality polish at a value price making it a brand anyone can, and should, add to their collection.

Essence Colour and Go is 4-free and costs $0.99 making it quite the value. Learn more about the Essence product line and see the rest of the colors at www.essence-cosmetics.com.

Essence is available at ULTA, HEB, Fred Meyer and recently launched into Canada where is is featured in more than 900 Shoppers Drug Mart Stores. Essence is distributed in 55 countries.

Happy Polishing!

The product in this post was sent to me for review.  I was not paid for my review of this product and all opinions are my own

Cult Nails - Iconic lives up to its name

I tried my first Cult Nails polish today. I think I am part of the cult now. It is positively gorgeous. It reminds me of a raspberry filled chocolate candy. You think it looks wonderful and then you take that first bite and are in heaven.

Cult Nails Iconic

This polish is like that. I loved the color in the bottle. Then after applying it I realized how truly mesmerizing it really is. The flakes in this burgundy shimmery polish are like the raspberry filling in the chocolate. Not overwhelming but the polish definitely would not be as delicious without it.

Application was amazing. The formula is wonderful and dry time was quick.

I have a couple of other Cult Nails polishes here. I can't wait to try the other "flavors."

Cult Nails is available at http://www.cultnails.com/ and costs $10. But if you keep your eyes open you can catch a sale.

Sonia Kashuk "Fairy Princess"

While at Target recently I picked up one of the Sonia Kashuk polishes - Fairy Princess. I hadn't used that brand of polish yet and was anxious to try it.

The color is a beautiful, minty, springlike green. The polish in the bottle looks sparkly and fresh.

However, application of this polish was a beast. It was thick, uneven and actually quite granular. In the photos you can actually see the granular texture.

Sonia Kashuk "Fairy Princess"

Sonia Kashuk "Fairy Princess"

Maybe it was the formula in the bottle I received. I have talked to others who love the brand and highly recommend it. Perhaps I will try the brand again and in the meantime I will add some thinner to the polish to see if that helps.

China Glaze "He's Going in Circles" over Sonia Kashuk "Fairy Princess."

I didn't want to start completely over as polishing time was limited so I quickly went through my stash to see if perhaps there was something that could rescue this manicure.

I decided on China Glaze "He's Going in Circles." This seemed to do the trick and made my manicure bearable again.

Spin on Color Blocking

The colors of spring are evident in this color blocked manicure. It's bright, bold and cheerful.

This spring-inspired mani is not difficult, but is time consuming. Let's just get started.

I used Zoyz polishes in this color blocked design.

I started off with a nice base coat. I have been using Butter London Nail Foundation. I love it!

Then I painted a diagonal stripe of the yellow, green and pink. I let them dry for a bit between colors. After the main stripes were on I applied a top coat of Seche Vite.

I started off with the white striping brush and applied the white diagonal stripes in various places on the nail. Then I repeated that with the yellow and then the blue striping brush. 

Using a dotting tool I applied two rows of dots using Zoya Raven.

What I used: Striping brushes from LA. Colors, Zoya Midori, Creamy, Whitney, and Raven, and a dotting tool.

It's amazing how complicated this mani looks but how relatively easy it is to accomplish it. The idea came from http://www.nailsmag.com/ The mani on that website was only for tips. But as I began I decided I wanted to cover the entire nail.  

Someone commented and said it looks like Juicy Fruit gum. It really does remind me of that. 

I think this mani would look great with any colors. What colors would you use?

The first step: Painting diagonal lines.

2,000 Follower Giveaway

Who wouldn't want to win a Lynnderella or a Kat Von D Polish. Well now's your chance. Two people will win a Lynnderella and three will win a Kat Von D Polish.

You wonderful, sparkling, polish-lovers have made me a very happy person. When I started this blog in January it was simply to be able to converse with others about my polish obsession. I never dreamed that 2,000 of you would "like" my Facebook page.

So to thank you I am giving away some wonderful polishes.

Here are the prizes:

Lynnderella - Mercury's Rainbow
Lynnderella - Cauldron Drippings
Kat Von D - Mad Max
Kat Von D - Wonderchild
Kat Von D - No Regrets

I have swatches of Kat Von D here

That's a total of five prizes and five of you will receive one of these stunning polishes.

Now, the boring stuff... Rules: The giveaway ends at midnight Eastern time on Saturday, June 2, 2012. Giveaway is limited to US. Winners must respond to winning email notification within 48 hours at setinlacquer@gmail.com with their mailing address in order to claim their prize. 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

OPI DS swatches

OPI DS polishes recently showed up in my nail mail. I love the DS collection. They go on smooth and are so multidimensional. I think my favorite out of these three is the DS Glow. 

DS Glow is a wonderful bronze/copper polish. This would be great with a little black dress. Of course that would mean that I would have to go somewhere to wear a little black dress.

DS Reflection is a soft, glittery red. The red isn't brash or bright but a wonderful muted color.

DS Temptation is a wonderful concoction of purple glitter with blue highlights. I tried this on a bare nail and several base colors to show you the range. I did use a top coat on top of some of the Temptation swatches as it didn't have a lot of shine without the top coat.

OPI DS Glow

OPI DS Reflection

OPI DS Temptation  over the following base colors: Pointer finger: Orly Charged Up. Middle: no base coat. Ring: Finger Paints Art of Theft and Pinkie: Zoya Raven (no top coat)

Venique "Top Thong" top topcoat

I recently received Venique "Top Thong" as a gift. I have several Venique polishes and love them. This glitter topcoat was no different. I applied it over several base colors. China Glaze White on White, Frostbite, and Zoya Raven and Kelly.

I was amazed at how well it applied. It has a superior consistency and the glitter transferred easily and evenly.

It is a bar glitter with other smaller round glitters. The glitter is green, blue and pink. I have to say this may have become one of my favorite glitter topcoats. Venique can be purchased at CosmoProf.

What do you think?

Venique Top Thong topcoat - pointer finger: China Glaze White on White, middle: Zoya Raven, ring: China Glaze Frostbite, pinkie: Zoya Kelly

Venique Top Thong topcoat - pointer finger: China Glaze White on White, middle: Zoya Raven, ring: China Glaze Frostbite, pinkie: Zoya Kelly

Elle at Kohls

I found some wonderful polishes today at Kohls. They are by Elle Cosmetics and are available in a variety of colors. I picked up three polishes. They cost $10 each but if you have Kohls cash then you can pick them up pretty reasonably. You should definitely look them up when you are there.

The polishes applied great. The Riviera Blue and Imperial Purple did leave a few brush marks, but not enough that it would bother me. Application was smooth and two coats provided great coverage.

I picked up the following colors:

Imperial Purple. Not a true purple as it has more hues of red and maroon. But it is a gorgeous color!

Seaside Chic - Under indoor light it almost looks black. But in bright light or under a flash it has a wonderful teal color to it.

Riviera Blue - This ice, frosty blue lost a lot of its appeal to me on application. Its color appeared washed out under light.

So, on to the swatches!

Elle - Imperial Purple.

Elle - Seaside Chic

Elle - Seaside Chic (with flash)

Elle - Riviera Blue

Kat Von D is all of what I expected

Kat Von D has been a polish I have been lemming for a while. So when I saw it on sale at Sephora.com I had to get it. Well it arrived today and I must say it is exactly what I thought it would be - gorgeous!

These nail lacquers were inspired by the neon trends of the '80s. The pigment in these is amazingly bright and rich. The formulas on these were wonderful. One of the brushes did need to be trimmed as it had one rogue hair.

I should add that the bottles are pretty small.

Kat Von D can be purchased at Sephora.com

I received the following colors:

No Regrets: A bright, cheerful fuschia infused pink.

Wonderchild: A rich, vibrant purple. Reminds me of an amethyst stone.

Mad Max: A bold blue with lots of glitter and shine.

Now, on to the photos.

Kat Von D Mad Max

Kat Von D Mad Max

Kat Von D No Regrets

Kat Von D No Regrets

Kat Von D Wonderchild

Kat Von D Wonderchild

OPI Call me Gwenever and dotted flowers

Some days I have little to no creativity. So thank goodness for blogs, Google and friends. Yesterday was one of those days. I pulled polish after polish out of my stash - just to put it away again. A friend, Jessica, had texted me a photo of her nails a couple of days before and I just thought they were stunning. I finally decided on a color - OPI Call me Gwenever - and set to polishing.

I am pretty happy with the results. If I had to do it over again I would have used a smaller dotting tool for the "accent" dots. If you don't have dotting tools don't fret. You can easily make your own with a dotting tool or a pencil with a straight pen. See that blog post here. 

I do love Call me Gwenever. A luscious reddish-orange with lots of coral tones. It looks a lot more orange here than it really is.

What's your inspiration when your creativity is lacking?

OPI Call me Gwenever

Illamasqua swatches - silky and mesmerizing

I received my first Illamasqua polishes in the mail today and couldn't wait to swatch them.

Illamasqua is a relatively new brand - three years old. and to become such a sought after brand in just a short time is astonishing.  

I received the following polishes:

Untold: A rich red glitter polish. The glitter is a fine glitter that reminds me of the slippers Dorothy wore in the "Wizard of Oz." I can't wait to layer this heavenly glitter.

Poke: A phenomenal purple with shimmers of blue throughout. It almost has a deep lilac hue to it. 

Phallic: My favorite of the bunch. A deep majestic, navy blue. It has flashes of the most vibrant sapphire blue throughout.

These polishes went on oh so silky. I was amazed by the formula. Decent dry time and wonderful pigments. The glitter in the Untold polish went on smooth and even.

Needless to say, this polish is going to be a staple in my polish arsenal. Now, on to the photos! These are all two coats with no top coat.

Phallic - This inside photo makes it look almost black.

Phallic - In the photo in the sunlight you can see the sapphire shimmer

Poke - Wonderful shade of purple with blue shimmers

Poke - I captured more of the true hue outside

Untold - Ultrafine red glitter. I can't wait to layer this polish

Untold

Finger Paints Neons Giveaway

Three winners will receive two of the Finger Paints Neon Collection. Aren't these breathtaking?

Finger Paints Neons:
From left: 15 Minutes of Frame, Iconic Orange, Pink Perspective, Warhol Wannabe, Inkblot Blue, Popart Purple

One winner will receive 15 Minutes of Frame and Iconic Orange. One will receive Warhol Wannabe and Inkblot Blue. And one will receive Pink Perspective and Popart Purple.

The giveaway ends at midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Giveaway is limited to US. Winners must respond to winning email notification within 48 hours at setinlacquer@gmail.com with their mailing address in order to claim their prize.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Color blocked tips

I was talking with a friend last night and trying to decide what to do with my nails. She sent me the link to a video - color blocking by Copy That, Copy Cat. Of course she made it look extremely easy. So this morning I went to work picking colors and setting up my work space.

It actually took me a few minutes to get my nerve up to start. And at one point I almost took it off and moved on to something else. But it started coming together. I am pretty pleased with it. My white lines didn't come out near as crisp and clean as I would have liked. But overall it is an idea I would try again.

The colors I used are Zoya Breezi, Creamy, Audrina, and Orly Basket Case.

If you want to know how to complete this mani the tutorial video is here. http://copythatcopycat.blogspot.com/2012/01/colour-blocking-french-tutorial.html

Is this something you would try?

Let's move on to the photos!

Color Block nails

NK nail polish swatches

I saw a set of NK polish at Ross. I wasn't sure I should get it but it had five colors and was only $5.99. The clincher was a gorgeous teal color...

The colors are the following:

• Flamboyant - a shimmery gold,
• Luscious Purple,
• Teal,
• Silver, and
• Fuchsia Chiffon.

I do wonder if they got tired of naming their polish. A couple of them have clever names and the rest simply have the color as the name.

The polishes actually applied very well. Good coverage and great shine. I used two coats except for the Teal. I used three coats of that and I am glad I did. Look at that color! The swatches below are without a top coat. The brushes were actually very nice and applied the polish evenly. The polishes do show brush strokes but that doesn't bother me so much.

The Silver and Flamboyant I probably won't wear by itself. But I bet it will be great for nail art.

All in all - if I see these polishes again and they have the bright colors I would buy again.

NK Nail Polish

NK Flamboyant

NK Fuschia Chiffon

NK Luscious Purple

NK Teal

NK Silver

Maintenance - not fun, but necessary

I am as guilty as most when it comes to doing the drudgery called nail maintenance. It's more fun to paint and decorate my nails than it is to take care of cuticles. It's similar to having a home. It is much more fun to redecorate than it is to vacuum and maintain the living space.

But it is a necessary evil. I applied pink nail polish to my nails last night. And it was a cheapo polish. . . So tonight when I took it off it had stained my nails horribly. Which was even worse on top of the blue stains that I already had on my nails.

So out came the Efferdent that I purchased at the Dollar Store. Sixteen tablets for $1. I put one tablet of Efferdent in warm water and soaked my nails for about seven minutes. The directions say to soak dentures for 15 minutes. But good luck getting me to sit still for that long.

It worked pretty well. My nails are still stained, but at least they aren't pink with hues of blue. Oh, and that spot on my pointer finger is a split that I am babying until it grows out.

Then of course I pushed back cuticles, removed dead skin and applied a generous coat of lotion. Once again it is like having a home... It feels so much better when the chores are done. 

Now... I am off to do some decorating!