LeChat Dare to Wear: Veiled Secrets, Winter 2019

Evening!  Not sure if I am happy or sad that it's back to school tomorrow.  A little of both I guess.  Happy to get the kids out of my hair, sad to get back to waking up early, being on the go 24/7, taxi mom life after school.  Oh well...I will count the days until Ski Break in February!  Just wanted to pop in this rainy Sunday night, while I watch the Golden Globes, to share a stunning collection from Le Chat.  They have a new collection, the Veiled Secrets collection.  You will be able to pick up this collection in regular lacquer, Perfect Match Gel AND Perfect Match Dip!  I have the Dips so I will be trying those out soon to show how they work and gauge how they wear.  For now I have the Veiled Secrets lacquers and I'm smitten. 5 beautiful shades with a sparkly topper.  You'll be able to pick up the Veiled Secrets shades now for $6.95.  Let's check them out.

*press sample*

LeChat: Website/Shop, Facebook, Instagram

Cupcake Polish Seashell Collection

Evening beauties.  Tonight I have a new Cupcake Polish collection so show you, the Seashell collection.  It's a 6-piece set of gorgeous linear holographic polishes packed with iridescent glitters!  These are all stunning colors with definite holo WOW factor and of course have very clever names.  I'd venture to say they are sun-washed holos because they aren't pastel, but they definitely are softer than summer colors.  The Seashell collection will be available tomorrow, 2/4 at 11am CST.  So set your alarm to remind you during brunch that it's time to shop!  Let's jump in and see the swatches!

*press sample*

Cupcake Polish: Shop, Facebook, Instagram, Color 4 Nails, Harlow & Co.,  Femme Fatale, Live Love Polish, Mei Mei's Signatures, Norway Nails, Polishinail, Rainbow Connection 

Hella Holo Customs; Vapid Lacquer One Love & Smitten Polish One Heart

Good morning beauties!  I have a beautiful duo to share with you today.  I can't recall exactly when I picked this up, but it definitely wasn't a Valentine's Day set, but it should be because it's totally perfect - colors, names, finishes!  So beautiful and romantic.  So I'm a member of this secret club called Hella Holo Customs.  The first rule is you don't talk about Hella Holo Customs.  Haha, just kidding.  Though I have no idea if they are adding members or not at the moment...if they are you want to join.  It's essentially this group that has makers come up with fantastic holos and each month there are new group customs.  Well whenever Smitten was involved you know I was in line!  I figured I love red and hadn't tried Vapid Lacquer (and the nail world is all a fuss over this brand at the moment) so I got it too.  I mean hey, they were created as a duo.  So let's go ahead and delve in and check out One Love and One Heart.  And just because the names are so perfect - here's the Bob Marley song that immediately comes to mind...One Love.  Enjoy the tunes while you look at my swatches!  Let's get together and feel alright! <3  

*nothing to disclose*

Dreamland Lacquer (formerly known as Smitten Polish): Shop, Facebook, Instagram

Vapid Lacquer: Shop, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Pahlish & Elevation Polish Collaboration: The Venetian Duo

Good afternoon (or evening to those of you on the West & East coasts).  It's only 4pm here.  I'm definitely enjoying this laid back island lifestyle.  But my love for polish is too strong and I just had to swatch - but this collaboration duo is a real stunna so I'm glad I brought it along!  Phalish and Elevation Polish have done a few collaboration duos before (Shannon and Lulu are very tight IRL friends so it's only natural that they'd want to do these fantastic duos) and we are all the more lucky for it because both brands are really amazing.  The August collaboration is The Venetian Duo, and  both polishes are gorgeous.  I have had the pleasure of going to Venice and this duo captures both the classy and historical qualities of the architecture and overall feel of that beautiful city on the water.  The Venetian Duo will be available in the Pahlish shop on 8/2 at 7pm CST and in the Elevation shop on 8/7 at 9pm CST.  The duo will be $22, not including shipping.  Alright, I know you're not here for my banter so let's look at pictures (apologies for no macros - I don't have my lens with me)!

*press sample*

Elevation Polish: Shop, Facebook, Blog, Instagram

Pahlish: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

Here's a pic of both bottles together; Elevation Polish The Merchant's Son and Pahlish The Wayfarer.  Even just looking at the bottles you can tell how perfectly they compliment each other!

Elevation Polish came up with The Merchant's Son, a light turquoise creme base polish with a very subtle teal shimmer.  It reminds me of the pretty, brightly painted houses along the canals in Venice.  This polish is also a thermal!  The shift is very slight, it basically turns to a darker turquoise shade when cold.  But since I am in Hawaii there is no cold.  I even attempted to capture it with bowls of water but it wasn't working so well - you can see a very little color change at my nail tips in most of the pictures though.  You can check out the thermal change over on Ehmkay Nails post HERE!  The Merchant's Son was a bit sheer with the first coat but it built up to perfect coverage in 3 coats.  And the color - AH-MAY-ZING!  I truly adore the color and the shimmer.  Lulu really does subtle so well!  I have on 1 layer of topcoat to finish.  

And now the Pahlish contribution to the duo.  I fell hard for The Wayfarer.  You'll see why shortly.  The Wayfarer is a beautiful blend of silver chrome flakies, possibly some ultra chrome flakies and  some iridescent shimmer and glitter.  Simple (thought not really) and stunning!  The Wayfarer is very pretty with a very old world vibe.  It's kind of burnished gold and silver and all things renaissance.  Anyways, the formula was top notch!  I had perfect coverage with 1 coat.  Of course this is layered over The Merchant's Son.  I finished up with 1 layer of topcoat.   Perfect Summer duo, period.

Glimmer by Erica Halloween Collection 2014

Good evening lovelies!  It's official.  I've swatched and reviewed my first Halloween collection for the year, WOOT!  Halloween is not only the best holiday ever, it has the best polish collections too (this is a fact).  I guess I will always be a kid at heart and if I don't dress up for Halloween anymore at least I know my nails will always kick a** with some fabulous indie concoction that resonates deep with my horror/blood/gore/campy loving soul (also I sneak some of my kids candy at the end of the night).  The Halloween Collection from Glimmer by Erica is pretty dang fabulous!  There are 6 polishes in the collection and it's definitely a set that covers all bases - jellies, shimmers, glitters and the always iconic pumpkin orange.  Erica did a great job on this collection.  These will be available today (RIGHT NOW) in her shop.  Each full size bottle is $9.25.  Well?  Less talk, more polish - grab some popcorn or candy corn and let's look at these lovely little beauties!

*PRESS SAMPLE*

Glimmer By Erica: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

I picked Blood Lust first.  It really spoke to me.  It was sitting there looking so glossy and juicy in the bottle.  Blood Lust is a red jelly with red glitters, blue/purple iridescent color shifting glitters and holo micro glitter.  It has so much depth and really glows.  The jelly formula was very easy to work with and as you can see from my pictures it built up to perfect opaqueness.  I used 3 coats of Blood Lust and 1 layer of topcoat.  Blood Lust looks great in all lighting but I especially love the pictures in the shade - you can really see all the awesome going on in the polish!

*artificial light*

*direct sun*

*shade*

Ectoplasm is a sheer purple jelly with green glitters and iridescent blue glitters.  This is a neat polish because it looks different depending on what kind of lighting you are in.  The jelly base in Ectoplasm wasn't quite as juicy or shiny as Blood Lust, but it did have a gorgeous color that covered wonderfully.  This mixture of blue, purple and green work so well together too.  The formula and application of Ectoplasm were both great.  I used 3 coats of Ectoplasm for complete coverage.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

*artificial light*

*direct sun*

*shade*

Possessed is a sheer milky off-white polish full of yellow/red, purple/blue and green color shifting iridescent glitters.  There is also some pretty micro shimmer to round it all out.  The light shade of the polish works really well with the iridescent glitters, and creates an almost nude yet glowy polish look.  The formula and application of Possessed were both great.  I started with a ridge filing base coat for a little color on my nail, then used 3 coats of Possessed and finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

*artificial light*

*direct sun*

*shade*

Jack O' Lantern is, of course, the orange of the bunch.  Jack O' Lantern is bright, vibrant and the perfect pumpkin color.  It's an almost neon orange shade, jelly type polish full of golden shimmer.  I love the color and the shimmer - they look like they are lifetime bff's.  Jack O' Lantern was more sheer than I'd expected, and in hindsight I would have started with ridge filling base coat to help eliminate the visible nail line.  I used 3 coats of Jack O' Lantern and no topcoat. 

*artificial light*

*direct sun*

*shade*

Moving on to the glitters - Love Spell is a mix of red and purple glitters in a clear base.  For some reason purple and red make for a perfect Halloween polish don't they?  The glitter was plentiful and came out easily.  Formula and application were both great.  I used 2 coats of Love Spell over Jack O' Lantern.  

*artificial light*

*direct sun*

*shade*

Witch's Brew is my second favorite from the collection.  This micro glitter is totally awesome!  Witch's Brew is full of orange, black, green and purple metallic micro glitters in a clear base.  BUT this is a dense glitter with great coverage - I actually started with a base color and quickly realized I didn't need it at all...as you can probably tell my lack of any base color peeking through.  I used 1 1/2 coats of Witch's Brew and 1 layer of topcoat.  

*artificial light*

*direct sun*

*shade*