Throwbacks Week: Milani Gracious Green

It's time for another week of throwbacks! I came across this Milani texture polish while rearranging my nail polish stash this past weekend. I'd say the texture trend has come and gone, but I know Zoya is still making PixieDusts for the upcoming holiday season? I don't think textures are really on trend now, but they're still out there. I never really got into the trend myself, outside of a handful of colors. This Milani one is really interesting. I'm not sure I love it, but I'm intrigued by it enough to give it a second go.

Gracious Green

Gracious Green is a sage textured green creme.

Collection: Milani Fall Textured Cremes 2013

Color: I like the color of this polish. I love sage greens in fall and this color is really flattering for me. It actually makes me wish I had more sage green polishes! The texture I'm not so sure about. It has that stucco wall type texture. It's certainly unusual and I kind of like, but kind of don't at the same time? I don't make sense!

Formula: I used 2 coats for this polish and it applied nicely.

Price: N/A. This is no longer available.

Overall: I'm so on the fence on this polish. I really don't hate it, and I kind of love it, but still not sure about it either! It's a great color I think that's why I love about it most, but that texture is just odd. It's definitely a unique polish in my collection that's for sure.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Third Week Throwbacks: Julie G Hot Cinnamon

I think it's safe to say the textured nail trend is over. I think it died with 2014. I can't say I ever was into the trend, but there were a few I liked from Zoya and Julie G. They definitely find their way into my rotation every once in awhile and I still appreciate the good ones. I have a Julie G one to show you today.

Hot Cinnamon

Hot Cinnamon is a cherry red with red textured sparkle.

Collection: Julie G Frosted Gumdrops 2013

Color: I think I maybe one of the few nail addicts who love red nail polish. I think it's because it's a color that suits me best. That being said, this is a great red. I love the vibrancy of this red and it would be great for the upcoming holiday season. I like the textured look of this,  the texture particles are uniform and makes this look chic and streamlined.

Formula: Excellent easy to use one coat formula. That's one of the reasons I love textures.

Price: You can purchase this on the Jesse's Girl website for $3.99.

Overall: This is a great textured red polish. I think there were some textured fails out there -cough- Zoya Ultra Pixies-, but ones like this I don't think are outdated at this point. I like the look of it, and it's a great all around polish.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

KBShimmer Winter 2014 (8 of 17)

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

I have some of the KBShimmer Winter 2014 collection to share with you today. This collection features 17 colors. There are 12 new colors for this season as well as 5 returning holiday polishes from seasons past. There are also new cuticle oil scents and a holiday themed nail vinyl sheet. I have 8 of thee polishes to share with you today as well as 2 of the new cuticle oils. These will be available for purchase this Saturday 11/1. 

Stay tuned at the end of my post because I'll also be sharing some special offers KBShimmer will have starting 11/1.

Dressed to Gild 

Dressed to Gild is a gold cousin to Hexy Bikini, this textured polish is rich with holographic gold glitters.  Hints of lavender and lime glitters add depth and extra shine.  (2 coats)

Fallen Angle

Fallen Angle is a vibrant royal blue jelly, this a-cute polish features holographic blue triangles, sliver holo hexes, and blue hex glitters with micro sparkles. (3 coats)

Flake Dance

Flake Dance is sliver holographic snowflakes among a scattering of smaller silver holographic glitters.  Use over your favorite cream color for an instant wintery manicure.  1 dabbed on Coat Recommended, Glitter Placement may be needed. (2 coats over base)

Mauve On Over

Mauve On Over is a pale mauve creally base sets off a explosion of colored hexes in orange, navy and aqua. (3 coats)

Merry Pinkmas

Merry Pinkmas is a light cotton candy pink polish featuring red, green and neon glitters in a variety of shapes. (3 coats).

Spot Sign

Spot Sign is a black leopard spot shaped glitters are accented by black dots, small black hexes and micro holographic sparkle.  1 dabbed on Coat Recommended, Glitter Placement may be needed. (2 coats over base)

Too Cold to Hold

Too Cold to Hold is a rich sapphire blue base is filled with holographic sliver, blue, and green holographic glitters for a bejeweled textured look. (2 coats)

Turnip the Beet

Turnip the Beet is a rich sangria colored base accents holographic glitters in magenta, purple and red making this a super sparkly textured polish. (2 coats)

Colors: Keep in mind I only have 8 of the 17 shades offered, so check out other blogs for all of them. What I like about the colors I have and the collection as a whole is the variation. I say this every single time with KBShimmer. There is something for everyone, and this collection isn't a literal translation of Christmas, which I love.  I love the mix of festive shades, blingy shades, and unconventional shades for the season. There are colors and finishes for every taste.

Formula: I'm going to be break down these polishes in the section because there are some notable things I'd like to mention on a few. 

Dressed to Gild, Too Cold to Hold, and Turnip the Beet- All 3 of these are very easy to use and opaque 2 coat polishes. These are chunkier and thickier polishes, but apply easily. I would caution you to not go beyond 2 coats (you won't need to anyway), because they will get way too thick on the nail. 

Fallen Angle, Merry Pinkmas, and Mauve on Over- All great formulas here. They are easy to apply, and I used 3 coats for each of these. 

*Note the polishes I discuss below in their description say glitter placement and dabbing maybe needed/recommended. This is an expected result from both, but below I'm further describing my experience based on my skill level that may help direct your purchasing decision. 

Spot Sign- This one was a teensy bit out of my comfort zone, but I came up with a good result. Keep in mind, I'm a casual polisher. I'm not someone who is comfortable dabbing and placing glitters on my nail. Dabbing here is a must, but was doable. I didn't have problems getting the leopard spot glitters out at all, but placing them was a bit of challenge for me personally. Not a deal breaker here at all, but figured I'd mention it for those of you who may have similar challenges. That being said, this beats out trying to figure out how to paint them on your nail! 

Flake Dance- I did struggle with this one. This is a beautiful glitter, but for review purposes I was trying to get the snowflake glitters out to show. This one required dabbing as well, and fishing the snowflakes out. I did have trouble getting the snowflakes out, and my dabbing ending up being really heavy handed and messy. I'm to blame here with my lack of dabbing skill. I don't see other bloggers who reviewed this having the same issue as me. However, if you're not someone comfortable with dabbing glitters, you may find this one challenging. I do really like this one though, but I don't *need* to have the snowflakes, so I'll just paint this one on the nail from now on. 

Price: These will be $8.75 each and available to purchase on the KBShimmer website on Sat. 11/1. The polish Pine-ing for You will have $4 donated to Toys for Tots for each sale. The cuticle oil pens will be $6.00 each and the nail vinyl sheet will be $5.00.

Overall: Beautiful collection of polishes for the holiday season. I love the variation of colors and finishes. These are all very well made and meet my expectations for KBShimmer as always. Spot Sign is a must if you're like me and nail art challenged!

Chai Tea and Raspberry Vanilla Cuticle Oil Pens

These are both great scents and oils. Chai Tea is very a nice spicy and warm scent. Raspberry Vanilla is a fruity and sugar scent. These are both very hydrating and so easy to use. 

KBShimmer Winter Offers:

-Free Shipping For All Orders over $40 on KBShimmer.com No code needed.  Runs from 11/01-12/31

-Free With a $70+ Purchase, Holly Back Girl, a white Christmas crelly polish with red and green glitters.  Use code HBGFREE to receive free polish and free shipping with $70+ purchase. Runs from 11/01-12/31

-Free samples!  While supplies last, we will be sending out a sample in each order.  Samples may include scrubs, lotions, vinyl nail decals, soaps, etc.  Orders will also include a branded emery board.

-Free Snowman Glitter!  The first 400 orders will receive a bag of 1000 snowmen glitters perfect for winter nail art.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday! 

Sephora X Free Fall

Sephora is a dangerous place, especially the nail section. The Sephora X nail polishes have some of the best nail polishes as far as selection, color, originality, and finishes. It is a nail polish addict's dream come true. The only problem is their polishes are in the $10.50-$12.50 range which is well outside what I'm comfortable for nail polish typically. They're very hard to resist, which makes it that much harder to try to pick ones out the ones you "need" when you have the cash to spare. I picked up this pretty a few months ago.

Free Fall

 Free Fall w/ top coat

 Free Fall is an ice blue textured glitter.

Color: This is a beautiful shade of blue. I'm not into texture much, but this icy and sugary blue is awesome!

Formula: The formula on this is average. I did find it a bit chunky and took a more careful application. I would of preferred a more perfected formula for the price tag.

Price: This is $12.50 at Sephora.

Overall: This is a beautiful nail polish. This makes me think of the movie "Frozen". and I'd expect you could create a lot of beautiful winter-themed manis with Free Fall. The color is great, the formula could be better, but all around I like this one.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Revlon Lana'i Lagoon

I have another one of the Revlon Haute Rocks Pebbled Texture polishes to share with you today. I suggest if you missed last week's post on Moroccan Oasis you head on over there. I explain thoroughly my issue with this line, and why I'm choosing to share them differently. Bottom line, I personally find these perform better as glitter toppers, rather than textures.

Lana'i Lagoon over Revlon Coastal Surf

Lana'i Lagoon is a sheer milky base with light blue, dark, blue, and micro silver glitters.

Color: This is a beautiful mix of blue glitters. I love the color of this glitter. It's hard to go wrong with blue glitter with me.

Formula: Again, I had the same results with Moroccan Oasis. The glitter here is heavier than the base, so I was getting significantly more base on my nail than glitter. I used 2 coats over a base above. This also dries so lumpy, dull, and ugly looking I had to put top coat on it. It does not have a nice textured finish like other textured polishes.

Price: I paid around $5-$6 for this at CVS.

Overall: I love this as a glitter topper. This is beautiful that way. As a Pebbled Texture, I appreciate Revlon's effort in trying to dabble in texture polishes, but they really didn't create a user friendly texture polish. The base needs to be able to support the glitter, and it's just not doing that. This makes it a royal pain to achieve the look they've suggested.

My Rating:

As a Pebbled Texture 0.5 out of 5 

As a Glitter Topper 4.5 out of 5

Happy Monday!

L'Oreal Pop the Bubbles

I have another one of the L'Oreal Gold Dust texture polishes to show you today. I think this one has to be one of my favorites. I know I mentioned in my past reviews that I preferred these with top coat. I must say, this next one, I don't think really needs it!

Pop the Bubbles

Pop the Bubbles is a turquoise metallic glittery texture.

Color: This is sparkle city and such a beautiful color too. I can find little fault in a turquoise blue.

Formula: Excellent formula. I used 2 coats in the swatch above.

Price: I purchased this in the $5-$7 range. This can be found in the core line at most drugstores and big box stores.

Overall: This is a stunner. If you're on the fence on the textured finish, but love your sparkle, Pop the Bubbles might just do it for you. This one doesn't look flat on the nail and really sparkles without the help of top coat. The color is gorgeous and the formula is great. Awesome polish!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Zoya PixieDust Vega

"We put it smack in the middle.....Vega"

That's from my favorite movie, Contact. The alien signal they get is from Vega in that film, so I immediately was drawn to the name. Vega is from the new spring PixieDusts Zoya released. I must say, I was willing to buy these individually and full price, but they ended up having an offer where if you bought a certain amount you'd get a mini set of this PixieDusts for free. I'm SO glad I did it this way for sure, because I hate this.

Vega

Vega is a light blue shimmer texture with holographic hexes.

Color: The color is a nice metallic shimmering blue. I don't have a problem with the color here.

Formula: This is chunky, dunky, oatmeal consistency mess. This is nothing like the previous Zoya PixieDusts,and I think the types of glitter they used in here ruined this entire thing. I don't find the finish on this to be at all pretty or appealing, it's a mess. Yuck.

Price: This is $10 on the Zoya website.

Overall: This is really disappointing. I think it's so disappointing because the previous Zoya PixieDusts have been so great. I'm not a huge texture fan, but I really loved the Zoya ones. This spring line is like taking 10 steps back. I really can't think of any redeeming qualities. Awful, I'm sorry.

My Rating: 1 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

L'Oreal Hidden Gems

*Have you entered my 4 year blog birthday giveaway yet?

You know how I mentioned being disappointed with mainstream brands lately? I have, but who I've been impressed with is drugstore brands. I've noticed probably in the last 6 months or so, I've been buying a lot of drugstore polishes. Granted, some of them are all time faves, but all around I've been impressed with the offerings. L'Oreal Gold Dust line is definitely one of those highlights, and I have another one of those to show you today.

Hidden Gems

Hidden Gems w/ top coat

Hidden Gems is a black sheer textured base with black and teal microglitters and silver hexes.

Color: This is a really interesting and multi-dimensional color. I love colors like this that make you take a second glance. The richness of the black and teal is gorgeous, and I love addition of the silver hexes.

Formula: This wasn't my favorite formula of the Gold Dust line. The sheer base, does require a 3-4 coats to achieve opacity. I can't stand seeing my nail underneath, and this is one where that can happen if you only do 2 coats. The formula isn't bad, but requires more attention.

Price: I bought this in the $5-$7 range at Walgreens.

Overall: Gorgeous and complex polish. I love the depth of this color, and it's unique among my other nail polishes. I will say, like the other Gold Dusts, I'm a sucker for top coat on these. I know they're are textures, but I don't love them that way personally. I find top coat really brings out the sparkle in these, but that's just me! Wear them how you please!

My Rating 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

L'Oreal Sexy in Sequins

*Announcement: I've been under a lot of stress lately, to the point where I'm experiencing consistent high blood pressure. I'm monitoring it and have had blood tests done yesterday to determine what medication would be best appropriate. I'm really terrified something is wrong with me. I have a lot of medical based anxiety, so this all is making it worse. If I happen to go MIA or be quiet on the blog or social media this is why. I don't want to be, but my anxiety is so bad right now :(. 

When I first heard about the L'Oreal Gold Dust nail polish it was the first drugstore collection I was very excited to find. It took me awhile to find it, and I pretty much picked up all colors except the orange one. This is one of my favorites of the bunch.

Sexy in Sequins 

Sexy in Sequins w/ top coat

 Sexy in Sequins is a dark purple texture glitter with, gold micro glitter, and silver hex glitters.

Color: This color is gorgeous. I love the rich deep purple, and the addition of the silver and gold glitters makes this complex and unique.

Formula: Formula is excellent used 2 coats above.

Price: I believe this is the $4-$6 range at drugstores. I also believe this is part of the core display now.

Overall: I love this Sexy in Sequins. Excellent rich color with dimension. My only thought, is to be quite honest, I prefer this top coated. I feel the same about the rest in this collection. This is just a personal preference, but I love shiny glitter polish!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Sally Hansen Berried Under

I buy too much texture polish and all I want to do is put top coat over it. I'm sorry. I've tried. I see some textures in peoples photos and I'm like "ooooooo!", but when I put them on me I don't like how they can look so dull. Again, I feel guilty. I've tried. There are few metallic ones and sparkly ones, I do like as they are, but that's a rarity. I like my shine. I'm sorry. Why am I apologizing? Here is a textured polish from Sally Hansen,  I thought I might not need to top coat, but I like it better top coated.

Berried Under

 Berried Under w/ top coat

Berried Under is a cool-toned pink shimmer texture.

Color: I actually love this color. I love purple-toned pinks. I love the shimmer in this, but it's totally lost in the textured part. The shimmer really pops with top coat, and I think that's the best part.

Formula: Good formula. I used 2 coats above.

Price: I have no idea what I paid for this. I forgot! I got this at Ulta though, so I'm assuming it was in the $4-$7 range.

Overall: I love this color. I love the shimmer. I just don't like how the shimmer gets lost in the texture. The polish preforms well, but it's not 100% there for me.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!