a-england Whispering Waves

It's become easy to tell if I'm not really excited about a polish because it sits in my swatch folder for ages. It's usually the polishes that are good just not overly interesting or polishes that didn't really wow me like I had expected. This was the case for this a-england polish which is really unfortunate because this brand always exceeds my expectations. I should say that it's really not a faulty polish. The finish of it just didn't turn out to be a favorite of mine.

Whispering Waves

Whispering Waves is a vibrant aqua polish with subtle prismatic shimmer and a duochrome flash that shifts from blue to pink.

Color: The color isn't the issue here. I love this bright and vibrant aqua I also really love the subtle duochrome and holo. I think the issue here is there a little too much going on. The addition of the shimmer is just a bit heavy handed for my taste so it does end up getting this more frosty and metallic look than I'd prefer.

Formula: The formula was nice and easy to use. I used 2 coats above.

Price: This can be purchased from Color4Nails for $11.

Overall: This isn't a bad polish by any means. The shimmer is just too intense for my liking and I don't feel it was really needed. I really wanted to love this one more as it was a part of my wishlist for awhile but I ended up a bit disappointed in it. Formula wise and everything else is great, so if you like this color you won't be disappointed!

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

Ever After Stuffed

When I went to Ever After Polish's website to buy Burning Twilight, I knew I didn't want just one polish. I'm not usually someone who buys full collections or multiple polishes at once because I'm on a budget, but I hate just buying one. I feel like I'm missing out. I saw Stuffed on the website too then and it intrigued me, so I picked that one up as well.

Stuffed

Stuffed is a sheer pale aqua crelly base with blue and green multichrome flakes, bronze glitter, aqua shimmer, and some holo dust.

Collection: Ever After Polish Thanksgiving Mystery Polish 2015

Color: If you know me well enough you know why I love this polish. Do I even need to tell you? It's because of that cool-warm metal color combination. I love blues, greens, or purples paired with gold, bronze, or copper. I also love all these little magical bits in this polish. The flakie, the bright aqua shimmer, and the bronze glitter really come together to make this special. Sometimes less is more, but done correctly more is more!

Formula: I was a bit surprised that the formula on this was sheer. That being said, I think it's meant to be sheer and I still really like it. I do wish it had a bit more opacity. The formula was very smooth and easy to use. I did not have any application issues. To achieve this look I used 4 coats.

Price: N/A. This was available on the website a few months ago, but it's gone now. I'm not sure what the future of this polish will be?

Overall: This is a gorgeous polish with a great color combination and lot of great glitter/shimmer effects that give it dimension and depth. I still really like it despite being surprised it was sheer.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

China Glaze What I Like About Blue

I have another polish from China Glaze's Lite Brites collection to share with you today. This was a collection from China Glaze that really caught my eye. I haven't been too thrilled with China Glaze collections as of late. I wish I could say this polish was all I wanted it to be, but I hit a few snags with it.

What I Like About Blue

What I Like About Blue is bright aqua with a golden shimmer.

Collection: China Glaze Lite Brites Summer 2016

Color: There is absolutely nothing wrong with this color. This is what attracted me to this polish. I love this aqua color and you know me with gold shimmer. This color reminds me of tempting and beautiful swimming pool you just want to jump in on a hot day. It's stunning.

Formula: This is where I hit my snags, and I'm wondering if it's just me because I'm not seeing any other formula issues reported from other bloggers. This formula too me was sticky, goopy, and uneven. When I say sticky, it didn't want to lay flat and spread out on my nail it just wanted to stick to itself and the brush. I found this formula such a pain to apply. I used 2 coats here, but they weren't easy coats for me.

Price: I got this on eBay for around $4. I always get better deals on China Glaze on e-tailers.

Overall: While I love and adore this color I just can't get behind the formula. I don't know if I got a bad bottle or what it is going on with it. I'd love to give this polish stellar reviews, but that sticky weird formula is holding me back.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Fresh Paint Charlotte

I think you're seeing a theme with me here. I really like Fresh Paint polish. This has become a favorite drugstore style brand for me as of late. I think they make high-quality polish for an excellent price. I can't say Fresh Paint makes unique colors usually, but this next color stood out to me as somewhat different than other blues like it.

Charlotte

Charlotte is a muted aqua blue creme.

Collection: N/A

Color: This color really stood out to me because it had this dusty and muted quality. It reminds me of a vintage type color. I think this a pretty unique aqua shade because of that. I really like it.

Formula: Excellent easy to use formula that applied nicely. I used 2 coats.

Price: Fresh Paint polishes are 3 for $5 at Five Below.

Overall: I really like Charlotte. It's a nice dusty aqua creme that is little off the beaten path from Fresh Paint's usual standard shades. The formula on this was great and so was the price. I'm a Fresh Paint fan!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Pure Ice Faraway Land

I'm pulling up the rear on the Pure Ice Fairytale Forest collection. I know this collection is probably no longer available though as it was released in December. I did really like majority of these polishes from this collection. As you know, cool drugstore and mainstream nail polishes are few and far between these days. This polish I do like even though I know glitter toppers are not really in high demand anymore.

Faraway Land (over an aqua creme)

Faraway Land is a color shifting aqua shimmer and teal glitters in a clear base.

Collection: Pure Ice Fairytale Forest Winter 2015

Color: I love the mermaid-y look of this topper. It's so shimmery and sparkly. The color shifting shimmer in here is intense on the bottle and pretty subtle on the nail. I don't think that takes away from this polish though it just looks so magical.

Formula: This had a nice and easy to use formula. I used 2 coats over a base.

Price: I paid $1.99 for this at Walmart.

Overall: I really like this topper. It really has a beautiful effect over a polish and I like the ocean/mermaid fantasy look of Faraway Land. Toppers like this remind me to breakout my polish toppers more often. I know there are so many opaque glitters and shimmers these days, but toppers are such an easy way to liven up a manicure with no effort.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Throwback Thursday: Orly Gumdrop

I have another Orly throwback to share with you today. One thing I've noticed since doing my throwback posts is how spoiled I am now with nail polish formulas. I have to thank indies for that. Mainstream polish formulas then and even now are very average to below average especially when it comes to pastels or neons. What's interesting is 5 years ago I would consider these older mainstream formulas and even current ones good, but now they're average to below average. This older Orly pastel really reminded me how thankful I am for amazing indie pastel cremes!

Gumdrop

 Gumdrop is a soft aqua/mint creme.

Collection: Orly Sweet Collection Spring 2010

Color: This is a beautiful colors. I like the softness of this color and that is has a touch more blue to it than other mint/aqua shades. I want to say this color was the beginning of the mint green craze back when I started getting into nail polish. The color is a beautiful pastel that isn't stark or too contrasting with my skin tone.

Formula: I don't think this formula is bad. It's really not, but compared to other pastel cremes I have today from KBShimmer and other indies it's lacking. The formula was OK by today's standards. I did find it did not level or smooth out evenly on my nail well. I used 2 coats above.

Price: I'm pretty sure this is part of the core line of Orly. I see it listed on Sally's and Ulta's website. You can also find this on other e-tailers in the $5-$8 range.

Overall: I love the softness and beauty of Gumdrop. It's a fun and perfectly spring-like color. The formula isn't my favorite, but it wasn't bad either. I have definite feelings of nostalgia with this one, but also would be more likely to use a similar color with a better formula.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

Color Club Age of Aquarius

"When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars , then peace will guide the planets Aand love will steer the stars"

I'm doing so many manicures and reviewing polishes lately that get songs in my head! I'll never forget a nail polish if it reminds of a song. I spotted this bright Color Club in my recent Head2ToeBeauty haul.

"This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius The Age of Aquarius Aquarius! Aquarius!"

Age of Aquarius 

Age of Aquarius is a neon mint-aqua green creme.

Collection: Color Club Poptastic Collection

Color: This is a spectacular color. This is insanely bright too. I would most definitely consider this a neon even though it isn't a traditional neon color. I love the vibrancy of Age of Aquarius and I love that it's a minty green! Mint and neon is an amazing combination.

Formula: I so so so wish I could say this formula was as spectacular as the color. Sadly, it's not. I found this color to be thick, chalky, and did not apply evenly. This isn't the worst formula I've ever used, but it was pretty bad -sad face-.

Price: I paid $3.25 for this on Head2ToeBeauty.

Overall: The color is just that amazing. The vibrancy of this shade is killer, it is unlike any other bright mint-aqua colors in my collection. The formula is a major let down for me, but the color *almost* negates that. I know neons/pastel neons can have better formulas than this, I've seen it done with indies. I expect better, but I've been put under Age of Aquarius' spell a bit.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

KBShimmer Spring 2015 (8 of 12)

*I received the following products in exchange for my honest review. 

I have some polishes from the KBShimmer Spring 2015 to share with you today. These are available for purchase today! I really like the variation in this spring collection. This collection is inspired by the spring Pantone 2015 colors. There are pale pastels glitters, pastel glitters, a creme, and a holo. There is something for everyone, which is what I always say when I review KBShimmer. Christy really makes polishes to suit everyone's tastes!

On to polish!

Meow or Never

Meow or Never is based on the Pantone spring color Glacier Gray, this polish is a very pale gray, almost white in color with pops of purple, gray, periwinkle and sky blue.

Funky Cold Patina

Funky Cold Patina is like a long forgotten ancient copper statue turned blue green in color, this polish features a cool turquoise green base, with pops of metallic copper, blue and purple.

Cool Hand Cuke

Cool Hand Cuke is a pale minty green polish is loaded with pastel glitters in circles, triangles, stars and hexes. A touch of holographic sparkle completes this pastel polish.

Wind Swarm

Wind Swarm is based on the Spring 2015 Pantone color, Aquamarine, Wind Swarm features a pale sky blue base, a mix of purple, gold, white and pink glitters, while a hint of micro glitter offers a bit of sparkle to enjoy in the sun.

I'm So Sweet Pea

I'm So Sweet Pea is the palest of purples bases set off an explosion of glitters in pink, mint, purple and turquoise.

Blue-d Lines

Blue-d Lines is pale blue in color, this cool toned polish shines with linear holographic sparkle.

Blush Money

Blush Money is based on the 2015 Pantone Color, Strawberry Ice, this peachy-rose colored polish shows off gold shimmer indoors and a linear holographic rainbow shines while outside.

Thistle Be The Day

Thistle Be The Day is a pale pinkish purple that shines in the sun with a linear holographic rainbow.

Colors: Beautiful colors, and I absolutely love that they are inspired by the Pantone 2015 spring colors. I love the variety of colors offered and in the various finishes. I also really liked how KBShimmer offered some very pale pastel shades along with just regular pastel shades. The holos are so bright and vibrant too. I was blown away.

Formulas: I thought all formulas except for Cool Hand Cuke were excellent. I used 3 coats in each swatch and outside Cool Hand Cuke they all applied evenly, smoothly, and beautifully. Personally, Cool Hand Cuke gave me a lot of trouble. The heavier glitters in there with the crelly base made the formula tricky to apply. I really struggled to get the larger glitters on the nail and the formula did not apply evenly for me.

Price: These all are $8.75 and available for purchase now on the KBShimmer website!

Overall: I'm a fan of this collection. I love the color, the inspiration, and the different finishes. It's so hard to pick favorites here. If you had me choose , Wind Swarm would be my favorite with almost everything else tying for an immediate second. I love so many of these! Cool Hand Cuke was my only troublesome polish of the bunch. I love how it looks, but formula wise it did not work well for me. Outside of that, I think this is a perfect spring collection!

Be sure to check out the KBShimmer website for the other spring polishes I did not include and the new spring nail vinyl sheets!

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Silly Bee's Chickadees "The Gift of Melly"- Steph's Silver White Winters + Giveaway!

*I received the following product in exchange for my honest review

*Sponsored giveaway

I'm very excited for this post. Last year, you might remember I was part of Silly Bee's Chickadee's The Gift of Melly for the holiday season. I was invited back to partake again this year with a handful of other great bloggers. Just like last year, proceeds ($2 from every bottle sold) will be donated to a charity of each blogger's choice.

My polish inspiration this year comes from one of my all time favorite movies, The Sound of Music. This is not what many consider a holiday movie, but when I was younger I always watched this movie around holiday time. I can always count on the songs from The Sound of Music to lift my spirits, especially "My Favorite Things". This is where my polish idea comes from...

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things"

I wanted to create a wintery glitter mix that fits for the holidays and winter. Melissa of Silly Bee's Chickadees did an excellent job!

My charity of choice this year is the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. If you follow me on Instagram you may notice my kitty posts on Wednesdays and Fridays. I spend my Wednesday and Friday mornings at the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando as a Kitty Cuddler and Kennel Coach. My responsibilities are to socialize animals, help potential adopters, and enrich shelter cats lives with treats and activities. The Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando is an immense and meaningful part of my life. The staff and other volunteers all have tremendous hearts when dealing with animals and the community. If you purchase a bottle of Steph's Silver White Winters, $2 will be donated to the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando!

Are you ready for swatches?

Steph's Silver White Winters over white

Mattified

Steph's Silver White Winters over light blue

Mattified

Steph's Silver White Winters over navy

Mattified

Steph's Silver White Winters is a mix of silver holographic glitters, satin aqua glitters, satin baby blue glitters, and micro iridescent glitter in a clear base.

I used one thick coat over a base on all of these. I recommend dabbing this polish on the nail for coverage in one coat.

The price for a full sized bottle is $10 and it is available for purchase today! To purchase click here.

The Gift of Melly isn't just me though! There are 6 other beautiful polishes in this collection! $2 from each of these will be donated to the charities listed below.

Jacki's Who-ville Christmas (Adventures In Acetone for Polished Girlz)
Emily's Dreaming of a White Christmas (The Lacquerologist for Second Chance for Animals)
Ida's Electric Snow (Ida Nails It for Hospice Austin)
Mishka's Rare Exports (Accio Lacquer for the Cancer Research Institute)
Sydney's Hot Chocolate (Polish Monster for Toys for Tots)
Diana's Merry Little Christmas (Polish Monster for the Alzheimer's Association)

Giveaway:

Silly Bee's Chickadee's has given me bottle of Steph's Silver White Winters to giveaway to one of you!
*USA addresses ONLY
*Giveaway ends Dec. 15th 12AM EST.
a Rafflecopter giveaway Many thanks to Melissa for including me in this project again this year! I appreciate not only her creative polish skills, but her generosity in all of her polish projects.  Check out Silly Bee's Chickadee's store, Facebook, and Instagram!  Happy Monday!