LevelUp Lacquer Temporal Flux

It's rare I buy a full nail polish collection these days. When I saw LevelUp Lacquer's Intergalactic Flakie collection pop up on her Instagram I knew I was in trouble. I've come to realize I'm really into these crelly-flakie-holo combinations. I think they're definitely my favorite finish of the moment. I snatched up this collection on its release date and I have one of them to share with you today.

Temporal Flux

Temporal Flux is an fff white almost grey crelly polish with holo micro glitter and chameleon flakies!

Collection: LevelUp Lacquer Intergalactic Flakie Collection 2016

Color: I really am not a fan of white crellies. I find they look way too harsh against my skin tone. I love that this crellie is grey. It is so much more friendly against my skin. What I really love about this color are those chameleon flakies and that holo sparkle. This is like a space version of Funfetti cake!

Formula: I really enjoyed this formula, but I was worried at first. I used 3 coats above. This formula is sheer and thin on first application, but I really prefer that with crellies. I find I have more control over the formula when it is thinner with crellies. Formulas like these spread out more evenly on the nail and don't bulk up or get goopy like thicker formulas. This was fully opaque in 3 coats.

Price: You can purchase Temporal Flux at a 16.5ml size for $10.00, 11ml size for $8.50, or 5ml size for $4.50 on their website. I have the 11ml size and I think that is perfect.

Overall: I love this polish! I love the color and all of those added magical flakie and holo bits that make this polish so special. The formula is excellent and the price is a steal too. This is one is definitely up there as a favorite polish for this year.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Fresh Paint Olivia

Orlando finally got a Five Below and I'm really excited. Honestly, I thought I'd just love the nail polish there, but I've found so many other great finds. I did come across a Fresh Paint color that caught my eye recently. You know why? Well, it's a neutral. I'm all about the neutrals this winter and this one is a winner.

Olivia

Olivia is a grey/taupe creme.

Color: I'm having a hard time describing this grey. I don't think it's a straight up pure grey, it does have hint of taupe to it. I love this color! If you asked me this 5  years ago I would of said I hated this color. Taupes were not my thing, but now. I love it! It's a great neutral shade.

Formula: Wow! This formula surprised me. It was PERFECT. I used 2 coats, but I could imagine if you used thick coats you could get away with one. It was smooth, buttery ,and so easy to apply.

Price: I got this at Five Below in a 3 for $5 deal. I believe they're $2 individually.

Overall: I love Olivia. The color is beautiful and formula is great. This fits perfectly in my little neutral winter color obsession I have going on. I approve!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

SUPER BLACK The Whale

Summer, you can end now I'm done with you.

I have mentioned earlier that it's times like this I crave cooler weather. I show my strong desire for the change of temperature in two ways. One, I start buying fall scented air freshers and candles. Two, I change my nail polish to more neutral or suited toward fall colors.

I do these two things, sit in my a/c blasted apartment, look outside and pretend it's 20 degrees cooler and 40% less humidity. My delusion someones goes even further to the point I start listening to Christmas music and plan my holiday season decor.

Here is a SUPER BLACK lacquer that helps perpetuate my cool-weather delusion:

The Whale

The Whale is neutral medium grey with a aqua blue shimmer. 

Color: This is a great grey polish. What I like about this on is is it's flattering on my skin tone which was on of the goals of SUPER BLACK with this polish. I have difficulty pulling off medium-darker grays and this one is forgiving. This color is appropriate really for any season, but to me the icy aqua shimmer takes me away to cooler temperatures...it's beautiful too!

Formula: Great formula. This was a 2 coater, and easy to use.

Price: I paid $12.00 this on the SUPER BLACK website. This is definitely a little on the higher priced side of things for me, but the quality and originality of the color make it worth it to me. 

Overall: Great color. I really like this one. Look at that shimmer!

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday! 

Cult Nails Faded

When I saw the Cult Nails Dance All Night collection I knew I was in trouble. The collection came out just a few weeks after the In the Garden which I had already purchased. I'm not one who typically makes back to back big purchases on collections, but Dance All Night was hard to refuse. The pre-sale price is always better than buying them individually later on, and on top of that I loved every single color! I caved, but it didn't take much persuasion. I have Faded from that collection to show you today.

Faded

Faded is a pale slightly cool grey creme.

Color: Greys, at least for me, are not always the easiest colors to pull off. They either are too warm greys that make my hands look ruddy or they are so stark and they look chalky. Faded isn't either of these. It's not too light where it looks white, and it has a touch of coolness which keeps it skin tone friendly at least for me. I really think this is a great neutral for summer.

Formula: The formula on this one was nice and easy to work with. It is just a hair on the thicker side, but not difficult to use by any means.

Price: I paid for the entire collection for the pre-sale price of $60.00. This polish is now sold individually for $12.00 on the Cult Nails website.

Overall: I adore this grey shade. It's really a surprising color to me, since I don't really gravitate towards these shades. This is an awesome summer neutral, and I'm digging it!

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Orly Boho Bonnet

Hey everyone! I'm back. I've missed you! Many thanks to my great guest posters!

The past week has felt like a lifetime. I am now moved. We are pretty much done with everything except for adding some finishing touches. We have a lot more space, and I know have a desk area to do all my swatching! Can you believe I had been swatching over a coffee table for over 3 years? My back is in BAD shape! I'm still getting used to new surroundings. Transition is not easy for me, but I'll settle in soon. :)

On to polish!

I have for you today a polish from Orly's Hope and Freedom Fest collection. I really liked many of the colors from this collection. I feel Orly has kind of faded into the background lately, and I hope they pick themselves up. I really enjoy the brand, but I don't think they do so well at promoting themselves lately.

Boho Bonnet

Boho Bonnet is a soft muted blue-grey creme.

Color: This is a beautiful creamy soft color. I find this shade very flattering for a pale shade on my pale skin. I love the combination of blue and grey.

Formula: Great formula. I would of expected a color this light to be tricky to apply, but this applied smoothly and evenly. The formula is a bit on the thinner side, but I do not feel that interfered with the application.

Price: I purchased this at Ulta for $8.50.

Overall: Beautiful color with a great formula. I think colors like this one fit into any season and would look good with just about anything. The PolishAholic compared this to Zoya Kristen, and they are similar. While she thinks Zoya Kristen has the better formula, I must disagree. I think Boho Bonnet formula is far superior! You can all can decide that for yourself though, everyone has different formula preferences.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday! 

Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Collection

I have the newest Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Collection to share with you today. Maria kindly gave the Central Florida Beauty Bloggers her newest collection review last weekend. As usual, this collection has a great variety of colors and finishes. I think there is something for everyone in this collection. I will be using Cult Nails's descriptions for these polishes.

 L-R:
Afterglow, Disciplined, Flushed, Bitten, and Coveted.

Afterglow

Afterglow is a copper infused with a subtle pink shimmer. 

If copper and bronze had a baby it would be Afterglow. This is not a color I would typically gravitate towards, because I find warmer metallic shades to not work well with my skin tone. This was completely flattering. I think what makes this is the pink shimmer. It adds a unique twist that really compliments the base color. This was 3 coats. It goes on sheer, but builds up nicely.

Disciplined

Disciplined is a sheer but buildable soft grey with purple, pink and blue shimmer.

This color reminds me of mist. You know how mist looks in the mountains in the distance or the misty weather you get on a cold morning just before the sun comes up? This is what this color is to me. It is really unusual and different. The base color has a touch of murkiness to it that keeps it from being your standard grey. The addition of the colorful shimmer is unexpected and a great touch. This was 3 coats. 

Flushed

Flushed is a true Blurple (blue/purple) buildable sheer with an intense purple/pink shimmer effect.

We have a winner! This is my standout favorite. Just look at it? How could you not love it. It's a beautiful purple with a fiery pop in your face pink shimmer. You can't lose. You need this. Get it now. This was 2 coats. The end.

Bitten

Bitten is a raspberry glass flecked polish.

This is significantly more sparkly than my camera picked up. I'd call this a jelly in my book. I think this would be an awesome layering polish too over darker colors. This was on the sheer side, and I used 3 coats here. I feel like while the formula on this was smooth and easy to apply, it was hard to get even coverage as far as the color with this one. This one would probably benefit from a more careful application. I'd suggest using thin coats while waiting for it to dry in between.

Coveted

Coveted is a jelly deep green with metallic green flakes and subtle green shimmer.

This is a beautiful emerald green shade. It is deep and rich. Greens can be tricky with my skin tone, but I think with a shade as deep as this, it will be flattering on most. The shimmer in this is gorgeous. The flakes are a cool addition. Personally, while I'm never one to turn down flakes, the shimmer in this could of held its own in this polish because it is simply that stunning. This has the best of all those deep jelly and glittery green polishes that have become classics among nail polish addicts in one polish.

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This is a beautiful collection. I love the range in Cult Nails' collections. They have more subtle shades, fun shades, and some completely new to me original shades in all of the collections. The formula on these polishes were superb. Excellent formula has always been my experience with Cult Nails, and this did not disappoint. If you had me choose favorites, I'd go with Flushed and Disciplined.

You can purchase this entire collection on the Cult Nails site for the preview release sale price of $40 until Thursday November 15th. Starting November 16th, you will be able to purchase these polishes individually for $10 each.

*I received these polishes to review honestly by Cult Nails.

Happy Tuesday!

Revlon Just Add Sparkle Glitters

In the midst of the psychotic CVS lady from the other day, I did manage to have a successful nail polish trip.  They had Revlon products BOGO 50% off and I spotted the new Revlon glitters so I decided to get them all. I'm glad I spotted them because they were hidden in the deep dark corner on the bottom shelf. I hope no one was hiding them :P.

This collection came with 4 creme colors Galaxy (black creme), Ruby (red creme), Silver (grey creme), and Rock (purple creme). All of these creme shades came with sparkly glitter top coats as their counterparts. Each of these top coats corresponded to the creme color. I only purchased the glitters, since the cremes were pretty standard colors I already had in my collection.

L-R: Galaxy, Slipper, Belle, & Star

Galaxy

This is Galaxy layered of Wet n' Wild Black Creme. Galaxy is prominently a mix of black glitter mixed in with blue, gold, and silver glitter and, silver holographic hexagonal glitters all  suspended in a clear base. I really love the variation of the colors with the glitter in this one.

Belle

This is Belle layered over Milani Day Dreaming. Belle is prominently a silver glitter mixed in with gold, blue, and silver holographic hexagonal glitters suspended in a clear base. This is not a look I would ever think to go for but I quite like it!

Slipper 

 This is Slipper layered over Revlon Raven Red. Slipper is prominently red glitter with silver glitter and silver holographic hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base. I love this one, then again I'm sucker for red glitter anything. I'm interested in layering this over a blue. I bet it would be great for 4th of July even though that's so far away! :P

Star

This is Star layered over OPI Funky Dunkey. Star is a purple and silver glitter mixed in with silver holographic hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base.

Here are all the glitters layered over black.

Index to Pinky- Galaxy, Star, Slipper, & Belle.

Overall, I really enjoyed these glitters. I have read a lot of comments from people on whether they should get these or not. I don't think these are must haves, but for me I'm glad I bought them. I first was unsure because they didn't seem to have much variation between the glitters, but at a closer glance these all have their own unique blend of different color glitters. Also, you don't have to go by Revlon's guidelines obviously you can layer these over any color and you'll get different results.

If you're into glitters and layering a lot then I think these would be right for you. I personally like having all of them. I like the addition of the hexagonal glitter that isn't very common in drugstore polishes. I think if you're on the fence, getting one of these will probably do the job. If I had to pick a favorite I'd go with either Galaxy or Belle because they have the most dimension and would probably be the most universal as far as you could layer it over anything. Galaxy and Rock are similar but Galaxy is better. I personally love Slipper because I love red glitters, but if you're not into red much this one wouldn't be necessary. Again, I don't these are must haves, but they're nice additions. I think it just comes down to your personal tastes and what you like to do with your polish.

I hope this review gives some insight and helps some of you out rather than left you dumbfounded! Now if we can only get Revlon to bring back Street Wear polishes!

Happy Monday!

Essence Surfer Babe Collection

Let me start out by saying that I think I have been living on another planet. I had NO idea Ulta carried Essence. I rarely venture to Ulta because it's out of the way for me in part of town that is always backed up in traffic, but my recent trip to Ulta may have made me consider going there more often.

They had this incredibly cute collection there called "Surfer Babe"

The collection consisted of blush, lipglosses, eyeliners, eyeshadow palette, and nail polishes!

I only ended up getting 2 polishes from the collection because I am an idiot. I should of got them all. The only reason I didn't was because I felt 2 of the colors were pretty standard and unoriginal, but in hindsight the collection is super cute and the whole set would of been nice. OH WELL! :P I may go back and get the other 2 since they were only $2 each.

The colors I did get were...

Point Break

Point Break is a medium grey creme. I love this shade. I have some light greys, but I don't have any darker ones. This is a great color and aren't these bottles so cute?!? Love them. I'm such a girl. :P

Hang Loose

Hang Loose is a pale lavender creme. It's a very sweet and pretty color, but it doesn't scream girly to me. It seems very chic.

The other two colors which I can't recall the names of were a magenta color and turquoise blue. I know I passed up on a turquoise blue. It looked very similar to a Essie Turquoise & Caicos or China Glaze For Audrey color that I didn't feel I really needed. Again, looking back now I wish I got all of them just for the look of the bottles and the collection. Oy. I'm annoyed with my self, but I'm glad I did get some stuff from this collection!

Ok, I'm going to end this self-deprecating post now.

Happy Friday!

The rest of Color Club Rebel Debutante...

So with the exception of the "Chocolate Milk and Poo" colors. I quite like the Rebel Debutante collection. This collection is all cremes and has nice variety. Again, I found these in a set at Ross for $7.99. Seven colors for $7.99 is a great deal!


High Society

High Society is a grey creme. I'd say this leans slightly on the warmer side, but is more neutral. I used to be very anti-grey polish, but I'm warming up to them. I love this shade and I'm really into the more fall-like colors right now.

Ms. Socialite

Ms. Socialite is a red-toned purple creme. I like this one it's a nice variation from the more blue-toned purples I'm used to.

She's So Glam

She's so Glam is a bright pastel creme. I am not a fan of pastel pinks cremes unless they have a jelly,glitter, or shimmer finish. I think this an overall nice color, but like I've mentioned before I connect pastel pinks with Pepto Bismol and the various stomach bugs I had growing up. Cute color, but I'll pass on the Pepto!

Uptown Girl

This makes me want to break out into that Billy Joel song, but I'll spare you the torture. Uptown Girl is a lavender creme. As opposed to Pepto, I love lavender! This is a beautiful shade and another one of those muted fall-like colors I adore.

Who Are You Wearing?

Who Are You Wearing? is a off white creme. This has a hint of grey to it. Not a fan of this light of a color on my nails without a different type of finish. It's a bit to stark for my skintone, but besides that point is a lovely color.

That's it for today. Sorry for the not so conversational post. I have plenty of errands to run today so less time for chit chat! I hope you all have a wonderful day though!

Happy Wednesday!