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Christmas Nail Art Roundup!

Some polishes may have been provided for previous review

I decided that this year I would save all my holiday manis of the year to share with you in one post.  I know that I do quite a lot of swatch posts but I do actual nail art as well and while I’m no genius at it I do like to have fun with different combinations and I’ve been practicing some freehand stuff as well!

I hope you enjoy and also be sure to check out the inlinkz at the bottom to see a lot of other awesome bloggers and their holiday manicures!

Digital Nails - Supernova with Gothic Gala Lacquers - Holiday Berries

Digital Nails – Supernova with Gothic Gala Lacquers – Holiday Berries

Gothic Gala Lacquers - Holiday Leaves with Alchemy Lacquers - Gilded Holly and Jindie Nails - Through the Eyes of a Child

Gothic Gala Lacquers – Holiday Leaves with Alchemy Lacquers – Gilded Holly and Jindie Nails – Through the Eyes of a Child

Literary Lacquers - One Thousand Christmas Trees with Zoya - Liberty, Chyna and Solange

Literary Lacquers – One Thousand Christmas Trees with Zoya – Liberty, Chyna and Solange

Alchemy Lacquers - Gilded Dreidel with Elevation Polish - Darkest Storm stamped with Cici & Sisi Christmas 2014

Alchemy Lacquers – Gilded Dreidel with Elevation Polish – Darkest Storm stamped with Cici & Sisi Christmas 2014

There you have the looks I’ve done for this holiday season!  I had hoped to do more and I think next year I’m going to increase my goal!  But I’m pretty happy with this group of nail art looks.

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Holidays and all the best in the New Year!

 

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Digital Nails – Swatches and Review!

Provided for Honest Review

Dearest Readers, nothing could have prepared me for what happened a few weeks ago.  Digital Nails released her new Scientist inspired line and it is AMAZING.  I snagged one that I wanted the most and quickly added the rest to my wishlist.  Then, Raphaelle messaged me and asked if she could add some extras for me to review on the blog.  Once I picked myself up off the floor and stopped flailing around the room (Oh, yes!  There were flails) over the fact that the maker of my FIRST ever and FAVORITE indie brand asked me to review well I said yes…of course!  I mean really, we could blame Digital Nails for my love and obsession with indie polish.

Now a little bit about this collection.  Aside from being full of all sorts of wonderment it’s also a really cohesive themed collection all based on famous scientists.  Not ONLY are the names perfect but the actual polish itself manages to make you think of the scientist that the polish is inspired by.

First up is Cannon’s Balls of Fire:

This one is probably the most straightforward of them all.  This polish was inspired by Annie Jump Cannon who classified over 500,000  stars!  I seriously love the names on these polishes…stars are of course just balls of fire (over simplification for the win!)

Digital Nails - Cannon's Balls of Fire

Digital Nails – Cannon’s Balls of Fire

Now look at that – it’s like a Galaxy Mani in a bottle!  This is a deep black jelly based polish filled with orange, teal, white, and lavender glitters in holographic, metallic, and matte finishes.  There are hexes, STARS, and some holographic microglitter thrown in as well.

Digital Nails - Cannon's Balls of Fire

Digital Nails – Cannon’s Balls of Fire

This was a fantastic formula.  I didn’t fish and as you can see I did get several stars.  The glitter went on smoothly and I didn’t have any other problems with polish application.  This is two coats plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Tip Top – Toughen Up Basecoat; Digital Nails – Cannon’s Balls of Fire; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Next up is Curie-ouser and Curiouser.  This is a glitter topper that CAN be built to opacity.  Let’s take a look shall we…

Digital Nails Curie-ouser and Curiouser

Digital Nails Curie-ouser and Curiouser

This is a fun glitter topper and while I never ever thought I’d need a glitter topper like this I have used it no less than three times since I got it.  That’s like a record for me!  In fact I’m wearing some nail art right now where I used this topper.   Clearly this was a serious hole in my collection and I may need to pick up a backup bottle sometime.  I rarely say that!  This can also be built up to opacity with three thin coats.  This is a black and white glitter topper with some color shifting microglitter that shifts from teal to purple (gorgeous!)  Of course Marie Curie is famous for her work and research in radiation so this polish glows of course!

Digital Nails - Curie-ouser and Curiouser

Digital Nails – Curie-ouser and Curiouser

These two pictures show three thin coats plus topcoat.  I didn’t need a glitter smoother it seemed to really smooth out on its own with topcoat.  No fishing, the glitter spread is really nice as well I didn’t have to mess around with it to get it to spread evenly.   I’m also going to show you two manicures that have it used as part of nail art so you can see how it looks over some other bases!

Holo gradient with Stamping and Digital Nails - Curie-ouser and Curiouser

Holo gradient with Stamping and Digital Nails – Curie-ouser and Curiouser

Galaxy Mani with Digital Nails - Curie-ouser and Curiouser as the "stars"

Galaxy Mani with Digital Nails – Curie-ouser and Curiouser as the “stars”

Products used:  Polishes used:  Tip Top – Toughen Up Basecoat; Digital Nails – Curie-ouser and Curiouser; Aly’s Dream Polish – Hottest Pink; Polish Pet – Ivora; Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer – Ocean Warmed by the Sun; Literary Lacquers – Camazotz, Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, Raspberry Cordial; Sally Hansen – White On, Black Out; YouPolish – TARDIS nail decal; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Next up is one that I found totally a surprise.  In fact it has now got the distinction of the first and only “brown” polish I own.  I also know what I’ve been missing now!  Let me show you Bitch, Plesiosaur!

Digital Nails -Bitch, Plesiosaur (cold)

Digital Nails -Bitch, Plesiosaur (cold)

Bitch, Plesiosaur is a sheer taupe to chocolate brown thermal polish packed with gold flakies and palest gray satin hexes and squares (looks like bones in the dirt!).  This polish is inspired by Mary Anning who discovered the first full skeleton of a Plesiosaur!

Digital Nails - Bitch, Plesiosaur

Digital Nails – Bitch, Plesiosaur (cold)

I had so much fun wearing this polish – getting ice for my drinks was an adventure!  Sitting in front of the Air Conditioner?  Way more fun than it ought to have been.  For days I went around checking the transition on my nail polish.  Application was fabulous.  Seriously no issues at all.  I did do three thin coats so that when it was fully warm it wasn’t too sheer.   In transition it looks as if you’ve been digging in the dirt…and what to paleontologists do?  DIG IN THE DIRT!  Have I mentioned how much I love how central the whole theme in this collection is?  Oh I have…whatever I’ll probably say it again.

Digital Nails, Bitch Plesiosaur (transition)

Digital Nails, Bitch Plesiosaur (transition)

 

Digital Nails, Bitch Plesiosaur (transition)

Digital Nails, Bitch Plesiosaur (transition)

Oh and while I don’t normally mention wear because I change polish every 2-3 days, I did happen to wear this polish for like five days with minimal tip wear.  No chips and it looked beautiful all the way through.

Polishes used:  Tip Top – Toughen Up Basecoat; Digital Nails – Bitch, Plesiosaur; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Up last is my favorite of the group that I got (and the one that I ordered myself)  Pale Blue Dots.  Pale Blue Dots is inspired by a quote from Carl Sagan.  Get ready for a whopping punch of feels because I’m going to share the story/quote with you:

Upon finishing the job it had to do in our solar system, Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn the Voyager spacecraft around and have it photograph planet earth as it was leaving.

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” Carl Sagan

Doesn’t that quote just give you the chills?  Talk about powerful stuff right there!  Raph did a perfect job capturing this story/quote in a polish.

Digital Nails - Pale Blue Dots

Digital Nails – Pale Blue Dots

Pale Blue Dots is a denim blue scattered holographic jelly polish with gold holographic microglitter and pale blue satin dots in various sizes throughout.   This is another one that looks sort of like a Galaxy Mani in a bottle.  It’s a really lovely balance of all the components and looks elegant and knowing the inspiration I get all feely when I see it!

Digital Nails - Pale Blue Dots

Digital Nails – Pale Blue Dots

One thing that I have to say about Digital Nails is that the formulas have absolutely kept getting better and better as time has gone on.  I’ve got polishes in similar finishes from last year that, while they are amazing and I love them, have been improved on formula-wise this year.  The application on this was flawless and I didn’t have any problem getting glitter out of the bottle or spread evenly over my nails.  It’s perfectly smooth with a nice coat of topcoat despite being packed with glitter not to mention utterly gorgeous and depthy.

Polishes used:  Tip Top – Toughen Up Basecoat; Digital Nails – Pale Blue Dots; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Now – Digital Nails’ shop has been on Vacation but she is going to be opening back up at the beginning of this week for a short time and then she will be back on vacation again.  NOW is the time to prepare to snag these and SO MANY OTHER awesome polishes from her shop.  In order to keep up to date on when and what time the shop will be re-opened you can follow her on Facebook and Instagram.  Oh and don’t forget you can get your Digital Nails fix by purchasing them in her Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

Digital Nails Delight!

Nothing to Disclose

Have I told ya’ll just how much I love Digital Nails?  I may have mentioned before, but just in case I haven’t or for my new readers out there, Digital Nails was my first ever Indie Polish!  It is entirely Raphaelle’s fault that I am an Indie Polish addict…and it’s entirely Mishka’s (Accio Lacquer) fault that I found out about Digital Nails to start with!

As I type this I have one of these polishes on and I literally cannot stop staring…you’ll know why soon.  You’re going to get to see my first ever VIDEO today!  No cheating and skipping ahead though…I will KNOW!  Besides it’s not like ALL of the polishes I’m going to show you today aren’t AMAZING.  Yes there are a lot of caps going on but I’m just that excited!

First I will show you two new additions to Digital Nails’ Magical Gasses collection.  The collection itself is a series of color-shifty flakie-goodness topcoats.  They may be a little unassuming in the bottle but you get them over a solid color and OH.MY.HECK. they come to life.  I finally broke down and bought a solid black creme polish just so I could show off these polishes!

First up is Kracken Quacks!

Kracken Quacks

Kracken Quacks

Kracken Quacks is a delightful topper that shifts from emerald green to purple.  As mentioned it will do best layered over a darker color to really show off that shift!

Kracken Quacks

Kracken Quacks

 

Kracken Quacks - Matted

Kracken Quacks – Matted

Picture shows one coat of Kracken Quacks over black.   I’m not the biggest fan of matted polishes however these topcoats just beg to be matted.  Love love love!  There were no application issues at all and the shimmer really coats all the nail perfectly. ***No Krackens were harmed in the making of this polish***

Polishes Used:  Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Sally Hansen – Black Out; Digital Nails – Kracken Quacks; Glisten & Glow – HK Girl; Julep – Matte Top Coat

Next up we have Pixie Toots!

Pixie Toots

Pixie Toots

Pixie Toots is a blue to pink shifty microflakie topcoat.  It’s AH-MAZING.  I love everything about this polish.  It’s girly and fun and frankly I’m addicted to flakies right now.

Pixie Toots - Matted

Pixie Toots – Matted

You can really see the flakes here and the color shift.  Again like Kracken Quacks, Pixie Toots will come alive over a dark color.  This is one coat over black. ***No Pixies were harmed in the making of this polish***

Polishes Used:  Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Sally Hansen – Black Out; Digital Nails – Pixie Toots; Glisten & Glow – HK Girl; Julep – Matte Top Coat

Last but CERTAINLY not least we have what must be the most awesome polish I have ever worn.  I’m beyond in love with this polish.

Supernova

Supernova

Supernova is a GINORMOUS amount of silver holographic glitter in a clear base.  Even though it’s in a clear base you can easily build this to opacity.  The rainbows that you will see are stunning.  While it looks amazing in most lights, trust me when I tell you to use caution while driving if you wear this on a sunny day.   It is nearly blinding with its holographic sparkle!

Supernova

Supernova

Because of the insane amount of holographic goodness going on it’s nearly linear in nature.  This picture shows two coats…TWO COATS with no undies!  As you can see you can’t see any nail line or anything like that because the sparkles cover up any minor sheerness!  Application was a breeze but I will say as you can see the little sparkles tried to collect around my cuticles and they were very tenacious and I finally gave up trying to get every single one.  After a shower though they went away!

Now because as you can see my camera basically FREAKED out over all the sparkle I did upload a video…enjoy and try not to drool on your keyboard!

Polishes Used:  Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Digital Nails – Supernova; Carpe Noctem – Glitterslayer; Glisten & Glow – HK Girl

Seriously if you like sparkly stuff you must get over to Digital Nails – she does glitter and sparkle SO well.  My wish list for her store is a mile long…trust me they are so worth getting!  You can follow Digital Nails on Facebook and Instagram.  You can buy Digital Nails polishes in her Etsy Store.  I cannot recommend this brand enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Top Five Faves…For now!

Nothing to Disclose

The other day when I was talking with some friends we were discussing our top five favorite nail polishes.  Naturally I had to sit down and think about it.  I decided that I was kind of interested in what I gravitated toward the most and also I wanted an excuse to pull out all my bottles and gaze at the prettiness (don’t judge!).

Then I decided I should share with YOU my beloved readers what those favorites are.  Because these are polishes I have purchased over time some of them may be discontinued (SORRY!) however, I’ll note if they are still a currently available color in my review!

Like all nail polish addicts I’m a fickle junkie, so I think I’ll revisit this topic in a few months and keep sharing this with you on a seasonal or quarterly basis maybe?  Let me know if you would be interested in that!

Without further ado and in no particular order, here are my top five faves!

Etoile – Frosted Berry (Currently Available)

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This is a pink leaning berry red – it’s not really as red as you might expect but more of a light raspberry color.  However, just like berries this color is juicy and delicious!  To top off what is truly an amazing formula there is a swirl of diamond dust.  That’s right I said DIAMOND dust!  Talk about luxurious!  Ooo la la!

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This picture is one coat – ONE COAT!!  SOUND THE ALARMS we have a ONE COAT WONDER!  I didn’t top coat this one but I did wear a base coat but when I removed it there was no pesky staining even though it is just mega-saturated with color.

Used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu, Etoile Frosted Berry

Lucky 13 – Softening the Bad Things (Discontinued)

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Excuse me while I have a fangirl moment.  This polish is based on an episode of Doctor Who, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE show EVER.  Yes I intended to yell there, if I could have made the font larger I WOULD have!  To even further increase my love of this polish it is one of Kyoti’s “Polishes with a Purpose” which are polishes that she developed to show support for a particular cause and some of the proceeds of the purchase of this special line of polishes goes to charity!

This polish is discontinued (SORRY!) but it is still in my top five favorite.  This polish was created to support and increase awareness for mental illness.  I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected in some way, either themselves or someone close to them, by mental illness.  I myself struggle with depression as do a number of my family members.  It is also based on one of my favorite quotes from the Doctor.

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This polish is a beautiful soft blue crelly and it is sprinkled with multi-sized gold hexes and tiny copper glitters.  It goes on with all the ease that I’ve come to expect from Lucky 13 and I adore it. It just makes me feel good when I wear it.

Used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu, Lucky 13 Softening the Bad Things, Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat

Digital NailsDouble Rainicorn (Currently Available)

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OH.MY.HECK!  Ok so, Digital Nails was my first indie brand polish.  I *heart* Digital Nails so much!  Every polish I have ordered from her I love and adore!  This is my favorite Digital Nails polish that I own (I’m sure if I owned more another might top it but for now this one holds the top spot).  Let me tell you a funny story about this polish.  While I was making my very first order my aunt and I were looking at all the pretty colors and I needed to order one more to get a free shipping deal so I asked her to pick one.  She picked Double Rainicorn and I was sort of “meh” about it.  I thought it was pretty but not my cup of tea!  Boy oh boy am I ever glad I listened to my aunt – online pictures of this massive glitter bomb do NOT do it justice.  My dear readers you are IN LUCK because not only is Double Rainicorn still a current polish but it is even IN STOCK!  I highly recommend it!  If you love glitter this polish is for you!

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Double Rainicorn is a clear based glitter topper and it is packed with all sorts of glitter and shimmer.  There are multi-sized yellow squares, blue and green hexes, red hexes, silver shimmer, red microglitter, red bar glitters, and my favorite GIANT pink holographic circles!  This is a bit of a challenge to put on I’ll admit – it works best dabbed over a base color but the glitter payoff is huge.  These photos show little to no manipulation of glitter once dabbed and I didn’t have to do a whole lot of fishing either even for those big circles.   Also, I’ve had this one for awhile so there was a wee bit of settling, but honestly I’ve come to expect that from glitter polishes and turning it upside down for 10-15 minutes before applying sorts all that out!

Used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu, Bondi New York Lady Liberty, Digital Nails Double Rainicorn, Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat

 

Enchanted PolishMagical Mystery Tour (Currently Available?)

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I love the Enchanted Polish lacquers that I own, but none so much as Magical Mystery Tour.  It is part of the Imagine collection which is as far as I’m aware still a current collection but as with all EPs it could be discontinued with the drop of a hat and they are as scarce as raindrops in hell.  This was my first EP and up until I owned it I didn’t understand what all the hullabaloo (I just wanted to say hullabaloo…Score! I used it twice!) was all about and then I won my first EP from the lovely Jini over at MakeUpMom123 and I was hooked.

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Magical Mystery Tour is a lovely color shifting polish with a very slight bit of  holographic shimmer.  The polish shifts from indigo, to emerald, to dark purplish pink.  My camera totally freaked out at it, so I was unable to truly capture the color shift, but trust me when I tell you that it is AH-mazing!

Used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu, Enchanted Polish Magical Mystery Tour, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat

Jindie NailsPrincess Breath (Currently Available)

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Seriously.  I had to own a polish named Princess Breath I just HAD to!  It was the first polish that attracted me to Jindie Nails (even though it wasn’t the first Jindie I ever got).  It is stunningly beautiful and if I had to imagine a princess’s breath in a visual way, I have to say it would look like this!  I believe that this is part of her core collection and has not been discontinued though it is not available on her site right now.  Jindie is also available at Llarowe and Harlow and Co.

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Princess Breath is a GORGEOUS teal leaning blue crelly polish packed with hexes and dots in all sorts of metallic colors, pink, lime green, blue in various sizes.  I love Jindie’s crellies they are just ah-mazing!!  This was a very easy polish to apply, sometimes glitter heavy crelly polishes can be challenging but this one just wasn’t, photos show two coats with little to no manipulation of glitter and absolutely no fishing or dabbing.

Used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu, Jindie Nails Princess Breath, Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat