Legend of Zelda Polishes

Hey everybody! I’ve got a pretty late post for you today but it’s definitely worth it. I will be releasing a new polish collection based on The Legend of Zelda franchise on Friday, November 14th. All four polishes are opaque linear holos with smooth application and they will run $10 each. From left to right are: Courage, Power, Wisdom, and Trinity.

Here I did some nail art using all four polishes. I started with a base of Trinity and using striping tape, painted on the other three colors in a triangle pattern. Left is without flash and right is with. All of these colors are stunning in the sun, especially power which is a great plain one coat black out of sunlight, but is super rainbowy in the sun.

Matte Velvet Stripes

Hello ladies and gentlemen! I’ve got a mani that I’m super proud of today! It’s very simple, but it took quite a while compared to others I’ve done and I’m really glad the pictures came out awesome too. I used all Zoya Matte Velvets for this one. I started with a base of two coats of Harlow on all fingers except my ring which was three coats of Loredana. Since I wasn’t using a top coat I had to wait a little while to make sure the base colors were completely dry. I then put down striping tape and did Loredana over my middle finger and Posh over all the others. At first I though maybe I should have used Savita (purple) instead of Harlow or that maybe Dovima (black) would have been better than Loredana. But overall I really like how it turned out, and there’s always next time to try other color combinations!

Review: Dragon Claw Polish

Happy Friday everybody! I’ve got a brand new indie for you today, and I have to say I am very impressed so far. I tested out a polish from Dragon Claw Polish a while ago and loved it, and this time around I got the chance to try out a whole soon to be released collection called Icky Made Pretty.

The first polish I tried is called Spider Eyes. It’s a black jelly with shifting flake pigment. It goes from purple to gold beautifully. I did two thicker coats for opacity or three thin coats would also work. The application was smooth and cleanup was easy. Dry time was great as well. This is definitely my favorite from this collection, it’s a great fall color with a lot of dimension.

Next I put on Dragon Fly Wings, a beautiful blue with a green/gold shifting shimmer. This one also had a great dry time and I did two coats, but I would recommend three to get rid of the visible nail line. This is my second favorite out of these polishes, it also has a lot of dimension and would be good for either spring or winter.

Next up is Ant Venom, a orchid chrome polish. I did two coats for opacity and the dry time was very good. I rushed this one so you might see some imperfections, but that is by no means because of the polish. I love how this one leans toward a purpley pink.

Last is Moth Dust, a sheer white with pink shimmer, iridescent glitter and purple micro bar glitter. This one definitely does remind me of moth dust. I did three coats and there was still some VNL. It looked good even with just the first sheer coat and you can also use it over other polishes. Again, dry time was very good and even with the glitter the clean up was easy.

I did use a top coat over all these polishes, I used Ellagee’s Glass over Spider Eyes because I completely forgot to use Diamond Claw, the top coat that was included in my box from Dragon Claw Polish. It was nice and thin so it went on easily and dried fast. It’s definitely up there with a lot of other great top coats I’ve tried out. Look out for all these products coming soon from Dragon Claw Polish, they’re all great!

Wear It Wednesday

I’m getting a bright and early start today for once! And what a beautiful polish I have to get you going as well. This is I Love Nail Polish Sirene. It’s a beautiful multichrome that mostly shift purple/green but has hints of blue, red, and gold at some angles. This polish went on super smooth and took 3 coats to reach opacity, but you could also do a coat or two over black instead. I got this polish in a swap and I’m so happy I did! I love the couple ILNP colors that I have and I would still really like to get more.

Ignite Gradient

Hey everybody! I’m really excited to share this mani with you today. I’ve gotten a lot of new Zoya shades recently, and of course I’ve had to use a bunch of them. The Ignite collection are all beautiful fall shimmers that work very well together. For this mani I used India, Sansa, and Remy. I started with a normal base coat and sponged on the three colors together with a makeup sponge. Sometimes gradients require another base color, but these polishes are so well pigmented that I was able to get it opaque in a few coats and no colored base. Sponging goes on much thinner than just painting so a few coats is still fairly thin on the nail. I put a top coat on it and then took my pictures….

And then I did this! I added Fresh Paint Sugar Crush, which I feel really made it pop and look more like an “ignite” mani. This is one looks so gorgeous in person too! Sugar crush is definitely one of my favorite toppers because it looks good over pretty much any polish and you don’t need more than one coat to get a bunch of flakies on the nail.

Which version do you like better, with or without Sugar Crush? I’m really liking the mani with it!

Review: Anne Kathleen Pumpkin Smashing Not Advised

Good evening everybody! As Halloween nears I’m sure a lot of you are looking for some good collections to get in the spirit. There’s a super awesome surprise coming very soon from me and another indie brand, but this collection from Anne Kathleen is another amazing choice. You may notice some of the polishes got a little bubbly, but that is completely my fault. I did slightly thicker coats with some of them and didn’t really wait long enough between drying. Anne Kathleen polishes are amazing quality and when applied properly will be beautifully smooth. I also did not use a top coat on any of these.

First from Pumpkin Smashing Not Advised is Blair, a pale yellow creme. This is pretty much a pastel neon yellow and it’s so cool! This polish will be perfect for both Halloween and can be used for spring or summer too. I did 3 coats because Blair is a bit streaky at first, but you can see it smoothed out nicely.

Next is Tabitha, a peachy-orange creme. This is another great polish for multiple seasons. I also did 3 coats for the same reason, it starts a bit streaky but after 2 or 3 coats the coverage is great.

One of my favorites from this collection is Autumn, a darker orange with scattered holographic sparkle. With the flash (bottom two pictures) this polish almost had linear holo. This one is a bit jelly-like but got full coverage in 2 coats. I don’t usually go for warmer colors alone on my nails, but since this orange is a bit darker it looks pretty nice.

And last of the colored polishes is Morticia, a black with strong holographic sparkle. This polish went on with 1 thicker coat, but I would recommend 2 thin ones for best results. This is a pretty amazing black polish. It looks so sleek on it’s own but with the flash (bottom two pictures) it has such a gorgeous rainbow!

And the glitter topper from this collection is called Carrie, it’s has fine black and orange matte glitter and black holographic stars. There is plenty of the fine black and orange glitter but I did have to fish around for the stars a bit. Though I would also be perfectly happy without the stars too, so that’s not of an issue. I tried Carrie over each of the other polishes from this collection. Only 1 coat is needed to get really good coverage.

Which of these polishes is your favorite? I’m definitely partial to both the holos! Pumpkin Smashing Not Advised will release on 10/5 and all of these polishes will be available throughout the year as well at http://annekathleen.com/.