Swatch and Review of Orly: Faint of Heart, Monroe's Red and Space Cadet

Today I have three Orly polishes to share with you! Faint of Heart, Monroe's Red and Space Cadet are three great colors that have been sitting in my untried pile for far too long. I have been working hard to get through my untrieds, and every time I am ashamed at how long it took me to try some of these lovely polishes! 

Nail Art: Galaxy Nails for #hepicksmypolish!

I came across a challenge called #hepicksmypolish, and I knew immediately I wanted to participate! The premise of the challenge is to have your husband/boyfriend/whoever pick out your polish for you. He picks three colors which you have to use and no others except base/top/glitter coats. My husband picked out China Glaze Black Diamond, OPI Vant to Bite My Neck and Essie First Timer. It seemed like a somewhat odd assortment until I realized that he picked them based off of our wedding colors! They aren't exactly our wedding colors, but he did pretty good picking them out.

Nail Art: Mondrian Inspired

Today I have artist inspired nails! A group of other nail artists from the Northwest and I decided to do spring inspired Mondrian nails. Piet Mondrian is known for his simplistic color blocked pieces usually containing white, black, red, blue and yellow. I decided to use white, black, coral, teal and a pastel yellow. Take a look:

Swatch and Review of Island Girl: Tropical Magic and Tropical Dream

Today I have two special polishes! Island Girl is a brand only sold in ABC Stores in Hawaii and Las Vegas. I was very lucky to have received these several months back and I have only now been able to try them out. I have a deep blue shimmer called Tropical Magic and a baby pink shimmer called Tropical Dream.

Nail Art: Pastel Stripes and Flowers

For today's look I was completely inspired by my fellow Salemite (is that a word?) I Dream of Lacquer! I don't know if she ever posted her nails that I was inspired by on her blog, but they are her profile picture on her blog's facebook page.Check out her work, she is amazing! I pretty much copied her work completely, but with different colors. I haven't gotten my hands on any Lime Crime polish yet. Being pastel and floral, I thought these were perfect for Easter. I will list all the colors at the bottom of the post.

Swatch and Review of A England: Fonteyn

I have another amazing A England polish to share with you today! For those of you who haven't heard me rave about it yet, A England is an independent polish brand based in England which produces the most amazing holographic polish. I love it! I have several shades and this is the latest addition. My new polish is called Fonteyn, named after a British Prima Ballerina Margot Fonteyn is from the Ballerina Collection. Margot Fonteyn is pictured below:

From A England's website:

A soft silver holographic hue bearing a lavender tint, embodying all the grace and elegance of a Prima Ballerina.

When the polish first arrived, I wasn't sure I saw any lavender tint, but on the nail it is apparent and oh so gorgeous! I cannot get over the holographic shimmer in these polishes, simply stunning in person.

Swatch and Review of OPI: Where Did Suzi's Man-Go?

OPI recently released it's Brazil Spring Collection, it is full of vibrant gorgeous colors. The whole collection is very reminiscent of Brazil! I've never been but this collection is what I imagine it to be. Today I have an orange from the collection: Where Did Suzi's Man-Go? It is a lighter orange creme that isn't too bright but not a pastel either. I used two coats for the photos below.

Sephora by OPI on Hautelook!

This is an unusual post for me, but I wanted to alert you all about a sale on Hautelook! If you have enjoyed my various posts using Sephora by OPI nail polishes, you can buy some of your own from Hautelook! Sephora by OPI has been discontinued from Sephora and there are few opportunities left to snap up this great polish. It is selling for $3/bottle right now. I know you can also get some at Big Lots, but they have very limited colors left. If you are not a member of Hautelook you can join using the link below. I receive credit if you make a purchase after joining, maybe I can use that to buy more polish to share with you!

Join HAUTELOOK here!

Swatch and Review of Maybelline Color Show

Warning, this post has a ton of photos! I was going through my collection and realized that I have a ton of untried polish. Shameful, I know. Today I am featuring some Maybelline Color Show polishes I haven't used before. I have one limited edition: Flash of Purple, and two that are part of the permanent collection: Blue Freeze and Wined & Dined. I apologize in advance if you can't find Flash of Purple in stores, but maybe some of you have it and haven't tried it yet, like me :) 

Nail Art: Stripes and Dots

I have a lovely color that has been on my list for quite a while. Color Club The Uptown, is a flakie glitter polish in a blurple base. I painted four layers to achieve opacity but then decided to add a bit of nail art to make it more interesting. I created stripes and dots with Sinful Colors Into the Blue. I used striping tape for the stripes and a dotting tool for the dots.I think the combination is bold yet subdued because of the likeness in the colors. 

Nail Art: Jelly Sandwich

I have finally created my first jelly sandwich!! What is a jelly sandwich? It is a mani using a jelly formula polish which is sheer but build-able and layering glitter in between layers of jelly polish. I used Zoya Frida and Revlon Heavenly for today's look. I first applied three coats of Frida to come close to full opacity, then applied one coat of Revlon Heavenly and one more coat of Frida. I then applied NYC's matte top coat and there you have it!

Nail Art: Purple Waterfall

Today's look was completely inspired by The Nailasaurus. Her tutorial for waterfall nails has been a huge hit, and I have been wanting to try it out for ages! I decided to recycle the swatch from my last post and see if I could pull off this waterfall look. I highly recommend you checkout The Nailasaurus, I love her designs, and he nail shape is so adorable! She has shorter nails, and they are so perfect! This look is done with a nail art brush and regular polishes. My base color is Orly Flawless Flush and for the stripes I also used OPI You're Such A Budapest, Color Club Antiquated and OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?. 

Swatch and Review of Orly: Blush Spring Collection

Today I have two polishes from Orly's Blush Collection. This is a neutral color collection, which is one I usually hate. I have such a difficult time with nude colors, and neutral color collections usually include several nudes. This collection, however, has several colors. I picked up an off white with pink shimmer called Naked Canvas and a lavender with gold shimmer called Flawless Flush. First up is Naked Canvas.

Nail Art: Ice and Fire Gradient

In honor of the season premier of Game of Thrones, I have a mani that looks like ice and fire. This was really inspired by someone on instagram and for the life of me, I cannot remember who it is. I will update when I find out. I created a gradient of blue to purple with OPI Yodel Me on My Cell and OPI Suzi and the 7 Dusseldorfs. I layered on top the ever famous Essie Shine of the Times and added some nail studs. Take a look at that flakie goodness:

Swatch and Review of China Glaze: Sand Dolla Make You Holla

First off, I have to say the name of this polish makes me cringe. Sand Dolla Make You Holla? Really?

Now that that is out of the way, China Glaze's Sea Goddess Collection for Spring 2014 came with several gorgeous, textured polishes. I could only find one, but it was the one I had my eyes on. Sand Dolla Make You Holla is a white based textured polish with multi-colored glitter. I find that the China Glaze textured polishes to be less gritty than the OPI Liquid Sand or even the Nicole by OPI Roughles. Take a look: