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Lupus Awareness Month

Posted on 14 May, 2013 by Cynthia

Hello everyone. I’m in a pretty great mood today since I have tomorrow off so I’ll probably be spending most of my day off swatching so many new pretties. I have about 30 new polish that are in line to be swatched so it’s a little overwhelming, but I think I’ll be able to get through everything rather quickly as long as I break it down into manageable batches. I have something special today for you: as you may or may not know, May is Lupus awareness month. Lupus? What’s that? Ok, I have to admit that I knew about Lupus since I was a teenager because I used to watch One Life To Live and Marty Saybrooke had lupus on the show so I remember looking it up to find out what it was. (For once, a trashy soap opera was actually educational!) Well, yesterday I was chit chatting with my group of lovely ladies from a Facebook group I am part of *waving at all the beauties from PWRC* and my friend Holly asked me if I could feature some purple nails in support of Lupus Awareness Month. Of course I said yes and I decided to do them right away before I get bogged down with my planned swatch-a-thons. If you don’t know what Lupus is, here is a brief description from the Mayo Clinic:

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many different body systems — including your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs.

Lupus can be difficult to diagnose because its signs and symptoms often mimic those of other ailments. The most distinctive sign of lupus — a facial rash that resembles the wings of a butterfly unfolding across both cheeks — occurs in many but not all cases of lupus.

Some people are born with a tendency toward developing lupus, which may be triggered by infections, certain drugs or even sunlight. While there’s no cure for lupus, treatments can help control symptoms.

No two cases of lupus are exactly alike. Signs and symptoms may come on suddenly or develop slowly, may be mild or severe, and may be temporary or permanent. Most people with lupus have mild disease characterized by episodes — called flares — when signs and symptoms get worse for a while, then improve or even disappear completely for a time.

The signs and symptoms of lupus that you experience will depend on which body systems are affected by the disease. The most common signs and symptoms include: Fatigue and fever, Joint pain, stiffness and swelling, Butterfly-shaped rash on the face that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose, Skin lesions that appear or worsen with sun exposure, Fingers and toes that turn white or blue when exposed to cold or during stressful periods (Raynaud’s phenomenon), shortness of breath, Chest pain, Dry eyes, Headaches, confusion, memory loss

For all those warriors out there who struggle with Lupus, I hope that treatment options continue to improve and that maybe one day we can find a cure.

OPI Purple With A Purpose is really high up there on my list of most favorite purple polishes and that really is saying a lot considering that I regularly go on purple overload. While the formula on this seems a little thin upon the first coat application, a second coat really levels it out and gives complete coverage. Don’t tell me that you don’t like this polish because I will hurt you. Hurt you bad. I have swatched this polish on my blog before but I am kind of embarrassed because it was in my early days of blogging and the swatch is kind of atrocious. If you decide to search it out, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Don’t ask me about the China Glaze Classic Chromes polish because I know absolutely nothing about it. hahaha! I picked it up in some random beauty supply but it wasn’t labeled or anything. I’d love to find out more about it, but I never heard back from China Glaze when I emailed them about it. Hmmmpphhffff! I used a design from Bundle Monster Plate BM-321 for the ribbon design. I really like how these turned out.

I encourage you to visit the Lupus Foundation Of America and that you sign the petition to urge congress fund more Lupus research. I truly hope that you take a moment to do this and that you learn a little bit more about this chronic disease that affects so many people around the world. Thank you so much for stopping by today!

OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection Swatches & Giveaway

Posted on 19 April, 201319 April, 2013 by Cynthia

Disclosure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Well hello there, my fellow polish fiends! Yes, I do have something fun for you today because I have swatched the OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection, AND I also have a set of minis for one lucky reader. Isn’t that just punch you in the gut fantastic? Fortunately, I am in a very good mood today so I was able to get these swatches done after work which is huge since all I want to do after work is die. Kidding. Sort of. Anyway, I have to admit that I am a textured polish fan, but I much prefer the sparkly kind and not the popcorn ceiling kind. Let me get to the point of this post because I’m feeling very talky tonight and I may never get to the swatches if I don’t cut myself off right now…

Aren’t the pretty all together? Let me talk about the formula here since I don’t want to repeat myself over and over again: the formula is great. They are all very easy to apply and dry really quickly. The only thing you really have to keep in mind is that it is important to let each coat dry before you apply a second coat or else you will get some dragging–what a drag. All of my swatches have two coats of polish–no base coat and no top coat. I was messing with the size of my pictures since I can’t seem to find a happy medium. I’m sorry if you find my brown nubs too huge on your screen–just look at the pretty polish, ok? On to the lovelies!

When I first saw the shades, Solitaire was the one I was least excited about. Now that I have tried it out, I really do like it because I’ve been finding white polish very fun lately. Maybe I’ve been watching too many CutePolish videos on youtube: Apply 2 coats of white polish…and lastly add a fast drying topcoat to protect your design and add a beautiful shine.” Ok, I digress. Maybe I like this one so much because it’s such a stark contrast with my dark skin?

Will I ever NOT like a blue polish? Not likely. Tiffany Case is my second favorite color in this collection because it’s so vibrant and bright. Someone had mentioned that this was a stainer, but I actually did not get any staining but I only swatched it. You will normally get staining even if you wear the polish for only a short amount of time so this was not a stainer for me at all–thank God!

Pussy Galore–Uhm, yeah…ok…it had to be pink, right? This one is a little too light pink for me to really be excited about. I like pink, but I’m more of a hot pink type of girl.

And here is the belle of the ball, my precious Jinx. I always have a soft spot for vibrant orange polishes so this one does not disappoint–it actually looks like it’s on fire. It’s a beautiful combination of orange-gold-coral. I just can’t get enough of it. If there is one color that I would call essential from this collection, it would be Jinx.

Honey Ryder is just gold. Textured gold. Am I the only one who is thinking of Goldmember right now?

And lastly, here we have Vesper. Vesper had a lot of promise when I first saw it, but I think that the color really just covers up everything that makes this polish interesting. It’s way too dark…it looks like lumpy grape jam. This one is my least favorite of the collection. Sorry Eva Green, OPI did you wrong!

And now you can win your very own set of minis! As always, this is open internationally but please check the customs regulations of your country before entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let me know what you think of this collection. What is your favorite color? Do you have a favorite Bond Girl? Who is your favorite Bond? Are my pictures just too huge? Do tell! Also, check out my blog sale because I put up 4 of these polishes. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Disclosure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Collection & Giveaway

Posted on 4 March, 201310 February, 2019 by Cynthia

*************Come check out my blog sale!**************

Hello there and happy Monday everyone! Yeah, yeah…I hate Mondays too, but let’s try to be positive, ok? I had a rather uneventful Sunday full of laundry and cleaning, but I did have fun on Saturday night. I had mentioned that I was going to watch Zero Dark Thirty, and I can’t tell you enough how much I recommend that you watch this movie. It’s amazing and I swear that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was the same way with Argo–I just love suspense movies, but I feel like a wreck by the end. Oh, and I also made an astounding discover: Red Robin sells Guinness milkshakes. Whaaaaat??

Well, hello there Mr. Guinness milkshake. Where have you been all my life? The shake is made with Guinness , Jameson and chocolate ice cream. Need I say more? It’s actually really tasty and for a Guinness lover (yes, lover…I can drink this stuff for breakfast) such as myself, I was super excited to try it. I’m sure it’s one of those limited time type drinks, so that makes me sad. I’m shedding dark brown Guinness tears.

Wait, wasn’t this post supposed to be about the new OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Collection? Could have fooled me. Anyway, let’s get down to business. Here are the lovely shades that make up this new collection.

There are three soft jelly-type polishes, 3 glitter top coats and one new Liquid Sand Color. Are you ready to see them?

OPI Glints Of Glinda – “Only a good witch could turn beige from meek to chic.“

OPI I Theodora You – “This adorable, sheer pink is bewitching on you.“

OPI Don’t Burst My Bubble – “Don’t wake me…I’m dreaming about puffy clouds of white.“

The formula on these three polishes was identical: very delicate, airy and sheer central. I am not usually a person who really likes very sheer polishes, and I think these are like almost clones of last year’s NYC Ballet polishes. However, I do think they are pretty and like they way they ended up looking on my nails. I can see these working very well for jelly sandwiches as well. I applied 3 thick coats of each polish for these swatches because I wasn’t diggin’ the super obvious VNL.

Are you ready for the glitters?

OPI When Monkeys Fly! – “I’m simply bananas for this gold confetti.“

What’s with the taco glitter on this polish? Yo NO quiero Taco Bell. I don’t really have anything similar to this glitter so I like the idea of it, but those huge curling hexes are a big no-no. The strange part is that after I applied top coat, the glitter felt pretty smooth on my nails but still LOOKED all curled and weird.

OPI Lights of Emerald City – “White confetti adds city girl flair and style to nails.“

This is the glitter I was most excited about trying, and I can say that it’s still my favorite of the three, but the application is kind of difficult. It’s really hard to get glitter on the brush without getting wayyyyy too much of the clear base. The base seriously felt like gel–like rind of runny hair gel. It was strange. I resorted to doing some dabbing, fishing for the white mate squares with a toothpick. Maybe a little too much work went into this, but I do like the end result. I’ve seen some swatches of this over a dark color and it looks amazing!

OPI Which Is Witch? – “Is this silver glitter with iridescent sparkle or the other way around?“

I don’t have much to say about this one. Very easy application and super sparkly. Even though it has some of that dreaded hairy glitter that I am not a fan of, it’s so tiny and fine that I’m not going to complain about it. And really–who doesn’t love holo glitter?

OPI What Wizardry Is This?

Last but not least, here is the poop colored Liquid Sand. I kid, I kid…not really. I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t chunky like the previous Liquid Sand offerings, but I actually ended up loving this. It’s an unusual color and it really sparkles in the sun. I didn’t get a chance to top coat it, but I’ve seen some amazing swatches of it with a shiny top coat. Removal was super easy which I always appreciate.

And just because I love doing this, I am holding a giveaway for a set of minis. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Just enter using the rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway is open internationally. Since I am still struggling to pick a winner when my giveaways end, I will repeat this: the only requirement is to be an email blog follower. If you don’t receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription, that means that your email probably didn’t go through so you won’t show up as a follower when I’m trying to pick a winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So let me know what you think of this collection–which are your favorites? Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you have a good start to the week.

P.S. Some of these are going on my blog sale so don’t forget to check it out here.

OPI Euro Centrale Collection & Giveaway

Posted on 4 February, 20133 February, 2013 by Cynthia

Remember when I said that I was going to stay in bed all weekend and get better? I’ll give you one guess as to if I really did that. Who would have thought that I would have so many errands to run? Well, technically I did sleep in until 9 on Saturday and Sunday so that definitely felt like a little bit of heaven. I don’t know why, but it seems that I need extra sleep lately and by extra sleep, I mean like 9+ hours. I guess it could be that I’ve been sick for close to two weeks, but I just think that I’m in some strange funk. I really need to go to the doctor to have some bloodwork done, but it’s kind of hard when you don’t have medical insurance. I never realized how bad it is for those without proper medical care until I really needed it and found myself without coverage or substandard coverage. Anyway, I will eventually have insurance through my job but that’s still a few months away before I qualify. I’ll leave it at that because I can get pretty worked up talking about our healthcare system.

I was pretty excited to get my hands on the new OPI Euro Centrale Collection so of course I had to play around with them right away. I only got 6 of the 12 polishes but will probably end up picking up a few more. You can’t even imagine how hard it was to restrain myself, but it’s a work in progress so every time I manage to not grab EVERYTHING in sight, it’s a little victory. So let me show you the six polishes that first grabbed my attention from the latest Spring 2013 offering: OPI Euro Centrale.

OPI You’re Such A BudaPest was the polish I was most excited about…until I applied it. haha! This polish is so incredibly thin and watery that I thought I would never be able to get to bottle color. Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought because it ended up needing 3 coats but it was so freaking streaky. I let it dry a little bit before I applied my top coat and that seemed to bring it all together. Despite the formula issues, I really love this color.

I feared that OPI Can’t Find My Czechbook was going to suffer of the same difficult formula that You’re Such A Budapest did, but it was easier to work with. I applied two coats for these swatches, and that is all that it needed. What a beautiful aqua blue! It’s seriously one of my favorite colors for Spring…and Summer…and Fall…and…you get the picture!

OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours! reminds me of a tamer version of OPI A Roll In The Hague which is one of my favorite oranges ever. When I saw how pigmented this polish is, I was worried that it would be stain-arrific but it wasn’t. The formula was not watery but it was noticeably thicker than all the others. It went on a little streaky after two coats but it leveled out nicely after I applied my top coat.

OPI Suzi’s Hungary Again! is one of those staple pink colors. It’s so girlie and so pretty! I didn’t have any real issues with the formula and applied two coats for these swatches. The more I look at this color, the more I want to stamp flowers all over it!

I was really on the fence about OPI Hands Off My Kielbasa! because it just did not look like it would look good on me when I saw it in the bottle. In fact, it kind of reminds me of A Butterfly Moment from the OPI Mariah Carey Collection but a little more tan and warmer in tone. I don’t know if I really like how this looks on my particular skin tone, but I’m sure others will be able to pull it off.

And lastly, this is OPI…Eurso Euro. Eh??? Am I the only one who has no idea what this is supposed to mean? I love how saturated and bright this polish is. I don’t have OPI Roadhouse Blues so I can’t compare it, but doesn’t it kind of look like it? Well, that’s what I thought in my head when I first saw it but I was actually thinking of Essie No More Film but that is not a dupe either. Jeez, I’m all over the place. Since I got rid of so many polishes from my stash, I don’t think I have a dupe for this which is always nice. The formula seemed a tad thin after the first coat, but it was perfect after the second coat.

Even though I had a few gripes about certain polishes being too thin/watery/streaky, I think that I am very pleased by the end results. I’m really loving the color variation in this collection and will DEFINITELY pick up other colors in the near future. If you want to get into a Spring mood, get some of these colors! Now, one of you will be able to try a few of these colors out because I am giving away a set of minis to one of my lovely readers. As usual, this giveaway is open internationally but please make sure that you know your country’s customs regulations before you enter. I will not be responsible for lost/confiscated prizes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to everyone and I hope you have a great Monday–even if it is the most dreaded day of the week. At least for me it is! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI Liquid Sand Get Your Number & Can’t Let Go

Posted on 14 January, 201314 January, 2013 by Cynthia

I was very weak today, my friends…very weak indeed. Since I’ve been so good about not spending money on non-necessities (namely NOT spending any money), I reverted back to my old polish hauling days. Granted, I didn’t buy 20+ polishes, but I did buy around 8 bottles which is pretty bad. You will be proud of me when I tell you that despite seeing a fully stocked display of the OPI Mariah Carey line, I only picked up two polishes. TWO! That is some serious self-restraint, and I am kind of proud of myself. Now, if only I hadn’t grabbed 6 other bottles from some nearby displays…but that’s another story.

The two OPI Liquid Sand polishes that I picked up are Get Your Number and Can’t Let Go. These were the two shades that immediately grabbed my attention so I settled on them instead of grabbing all four. I have to be honest–I wasn’t super excited when the pics of these textured polishes first started circulating. As much as I like glitter, I think that I prefer the smooth finish and look that only a creme polish can give me. Additionally, I don’t like the idea of rough nails that can get scratchy or can get caught on tights or delicate winter cashmere. Just thinking about that gives me the heebie jeebies. Let me show you some swatches before I go more into my thoughts on these Liquid Sand polishes.

OPI Get Your Number is a blue glitter lover’s wet dream. I’m serious. This polish is so incredibly bright and gorgeous that I could barely stand to take it off. The holographic particles really give it an extra kick–I just wish I could capture how lovely this polish twinkles!

OPI Can’t Let Go is a purple shade that looks a little murky as far as I’m concerned. While I am a huge purple lover, I wish this polish was a little brighter. I feel like the base color covers up the holo a bit which is a huge shame. Before this dried all the way, I kept thinking that this polish looked like leather–weird.

So what do I think about OPI Liquid Sand polishes? Uhm, I freaking love them! I thought about applying top coat to them, but I think that would detract from the unique beauty of these polishes. Both of these shades looked fine at two coats, but I decided to add a third thin coat for the swatches above. If you are thinking: “Three coats? Ain’t nobody got time for that!” hold up.

The Liquid Sand formula dries at lightning speed so you don’t have to worry about waiting for layers to dry. Do you want to know what’s the absolute best part? You won’t get carpal tunnel trying to remove these. When I saw the formula, I was getting ready to whip out my industrial sander to remove them, but they actually came off without much effort when I used pure acetone.

And now for you, my lovely readers, I picked up a set of Liquid Sand minis for a flash giveaway so go ahead and enter below using the rafflecopter widget. The only requirement is for you to be an email blog subscriber and all the other entries are completely optional. As usual, this giveaway is open internationally. Please know the customs regulations of your country before entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And while you are at it, go ahead and enter my other giveaway that is ending in a few days if you haven’t done so already. You can win a lovely 4 piece collection of Sation polishes along with a mini bottle of Seche Vite. You can enter here. So there you have it. I am eating my words about not being that excited about the Liquid Sand polishes. I don’t know if I’ll be picking up the other two since the colors didn’t appeal to me as much–uuhhh…who am I kidding? I’m sure they will be mine in the near future. Have you tried any other polishes from the Mariah Carey by OPI line yet? Thanks for visiting today, and I will talk to you soon.

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 29: Art Inspired Nails

Posted on 3 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Today was kind of a fun day for me when it came to deciding what to do for this challenge. I am a huge lover of art in general–painting, sculpture, architecture. I have a soft spot for the Renaissance which explains why Florence is probably my favorite city in the world–it’s like a love song to the Renaissance. One of my favorite paintings resides at the Uffizi Galleries: La Nascita di Venere by Botticelli.

I wish I had more time today because I might have attempted to recreate parts of this painting…that would have been awesome. Anyway, I was searching some of my favorite painters such as Picasso, Magritte, Dali, Renoir and Da Vinci for some inspiration. I don’t know how I ended up settling on Jackson Pollock, but I’m glad I did because I do like how my nails turned out.

Read below to see how I created this manicure.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Let me tell you that I love this polish because it’s just such an interesting color. It’s obviously not a pure white which I really like. I had heard so many positive things about this polish so I am glad that it did not disappoint. I had to apply 3 thin coats, but I think it would be ok with 2 thickish coats.

I really wanted to try the traditional splatter technique with a straw or brush, but I just didn’t have enough time this morning so I went ahead and used the splatter design from Konad plate M70.

I used all the different colors and stamped them all over each other on my nails. Doesn’t this remind you of a Jackson Pollock painting?

Well, there are only 2 more challenges left so thanks for sticking with us through this loooooonnnnngggg process. 🙂 Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Aaaaaaannnnndddd…don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am going to add more polishes tonight so take advantage of the 20% off sale. 🙂 Talk to you later!

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 19: Floral Print Nails

Posted on 12 November, 201212 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I was at a loss today. I didn’t want to do any dotting tool flowers but knew I couldn’t really freehand any flowers unless I wanted my nails to look messy and silly. Stamping to the rescue! As much as I try to stay away from stamping during these challenges, I know that I am just NOT good enough to whip out my nail art brushes and come up with something amazing. Well, let me tell you that stamping didn’t help me much today anyway. I actually did two looks today and I am not really happy with either. I’ll show you the one I settled on first and then I will show you the one that made me try again.

First, I started with OPI We’ll Always Have Paris.

We’ll Always Have Paris is one of my favorite dark polishes from one of my favorite collections: La Collection De France. This polish is just so pretty, super pigmented and shiny.

I used Bundle Monster stamp BM 323 for this rose design and alternated white roses and metallic roses (using Essie Nothing Else Metals.) Why did I do that? I have no idea. I was just kind of irritated and frustrated with my first design. Are you ready to see it?

Ehhhh….I don’t know what to say about these either. I wish I had just stuck with my simple mani of We’ll Always Have Paris and stopped there. As I’ve said before…not every mani is going to be a winner and clearly these are way at the bottom of the totem pole. The next challenge calls for delicate print…what the heck am I gonna do then?? At least I have a few days to think about it.

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 15: Jelly Sandwich

Posted on 22 October, 20125 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Once again I had intentions of doing my nails early today but instead I went to see Paranormal Activity 4. I tend to watch every horror/paranormal movie that is released so I was kind of looking forward to watching it, but it turned out to be horribly boring. It actually pissed me off because I kept waiting for something–anything–interesting to happen but nothing ever did. What a waste of an hour and a half! Anyway, today’s challenge calls for a jelly sandwich manicure. I’ve never really done a jelly sandwich manicure because I don’t have too many jellies so I had to improvise. I actually ended up making everything way more complicated than it needed to be so let me show you what I did.

I started with Butter London Slapper.

I got a bunch of Butter Londons recently and this is one that I still hadn’t tried. I love this colors! It is gorgeous, buttery and glossy.

I then added a coat of OPI The Living Daylights from the new Skyfall holiday collection.

And lastly I slapped on two coats of Revlon Whimsical.

I think that this ended up looking a little like the Nails Inc. Sprinkles polishes. I kinda like how muted the base color looks, but overall, I did not like all the polish layers–my nails felt super thick. So what do you think about my first jelly sandwich manicure attempt? Can you recommend some really awesome jelly polishes? I really want to get a few more jellies so I can experiment with them.Our next challenge will be on November 3rd as we are taking a little break for Halloween. I am going to take a break from doing my nails until then. Don’t forget to check back with me since I will be doing non-nail related posts until 11/3.

Take a minute to check out the other jelly sandwich manicures below from Nicole, Jessica, Ave and Alaina. Thanks for stopping by.

OPI Tickle My France-y & We’ll Always Have Paris

Posted on 17 October, 201216 October, 2012 by Cynthia

I am just about ready to give up on doing gradient manicures. I just don’t understand why I have such a hard time with them! I’ve tried just about a million tips that other nail gurus have offered, but my gradients just keep coming out harsh and choppy–never smooth and beautiful. My nails for the challenge yesterday, which you can see here, are a perfect example of how my gradients always turn out. I love the colors that I used, but that weird and uneven gradient totally killed it. So in order to make up for that, I picked a Fall color and lovely nude to work with: OPI Ticke My France-y and OPI We’ll Always have Paris–both from the Collection de France. I seriously love that whole collection.

Tickle My France-y is perfection. It’s such a gorgeous pinky nude that is opaque and easy to work with and doesn’t need a billion coats: I only needed two. Since I kind of failed on my previous tape manicure, I decided to try it again WITHOUT the gradient.

After I applied the stripping tape, I then painted over my whole nails with OPI We’ll Always Have Paris. I know this is a fairly common manicure but it’s only the second time I use stripping tape this way. If you’ve never tried this, just make sure that you do one nail at a time because otherwise the top layer of polish will dry and you will have a serious mess on your hands–literally!

So, you tell me: did redeem myself from yesterday’s gradient disasticure? Thanks for catching up with my crazy nail adventures–talk to you soon.

Jindie Nails Seeing Stars

Posted on 27 August, 2012 by Cynthia

I don’t know about you, but I am really liking the idea of purchasing more indie polishes. I like feeling that I am supporting a small business that is creating something unique–especially if it’s something that I love like nail polish. When I first saw Jen’s creations, I thought they were definitely pretty and unique, but I was going through my glitter hater phase so I didn’t jump right on them. For the last couple of months, I have seriously done a 180 and started coveting and drooling over every glitter I see. I revisited Jen’s shop and OMG I went crazy trying to decided what polishes to get. After making my choices, my polishes arrived in less than a week, and I was so surprised to find them wrapped up like this:

While some people may not think much of this, I think that Jen’s careful attention to things like how her polishes are wrapped and presented, shows how much she cares about her products and her customers. I, for one, really liked seeing my polishes wrapped in pretty tissue paper and ribbon. It’s the little things that make me happy.

These are some macro shots of the 4 polishes I received–yeah, just to tease you!

The first polish I have decided to share with you is Seeing Stars. This is a vibrant polish with tons of different shaped glitters ranging from stars, bars and hexagons. The glitter is holographic for the most part so I love how it looks in different types of lighting. The thing that I was most drawn to about this polish when I visited Jen’s shop is the amazing blue jelly base. Because I still consider myself a glitter novice, I was very excited to try such a vibrant blue jelly with all that glittery magic explosion. I considered using this polish on it’s own, but decided to use a base color for my first attempt. I immediately thought of using China Glaze Frostbite since it is such a bright blue, but I went with a purple instead: OPI Purple With A Purpose.

I hadn’t used Purple With A Purpose in a really long time so I had forgotten how much I love it. I don’t think I’ve been giving OPI much love lately, but I have to say that they definitely have my favorite brush of all the brands I have tried. Their brush works PERFECTLY with my nail shape so it is a breeze to do a manicure since clean up is minimal. I actually didn’t do any clean up.

This is one coat of Seeing Stars over Purple With A Purpose. As you can tell, the blue base is VERY pigmented since it pretty much covers up the purple. The polish was a little thicker than I am used to dealing with so I added a few drops of thinner like Jen recommended and it became very manageable. It was not hard to pick up glitter on my brush, but I did have to fish for the stars. I dotted and pushed the bar glitter around a little bit to get it where I wanted it which is pretty typical of similar glitter polishes. This polish dries very glossy and there was some roughness, especially from the stars. I have not picked up any thick top coats such as Gelous, but I am planning to because any glitter lover knows that it’s a necessity.

Overall, I would say that Seeing Stars lived up to my expectations. I think that I would only wear the stars if I’m doing something festive. Otherwise, I would wear this polish any time! If you are a glitter fan, I highly recommend that you check out Jen’s etsy shop here. She is very active on Facebook as well so you can always reach her there. So let me know what you think of Seeing Stars. Is it something you would wear? Are you a glitter lover or a glitter hater? I’m glad I could start out this Monday with a little glitter love. Thanks for stopping by my dears!