Deborah Lippmann Stronger

Deborah Lippmann Stronger was created with Kelly Clarkson. This is one CHUNKY glitter. I don’t mind though, because it is easy to achieve opacity. Still, I layered it over Zoya Neve since they seemed to look a similar shade of “blurple.”

Stronger is a mix of blue toned glitter that leans purple, with multi-colored glitter. There’s gold, red, holographic, you name it in here. Like most of Deborah Lippmann glitters, I could not stop staring at my nails while wearing it! Like I mentioned already, it is very chunky and densely packed. If you work slowly, you can get an even finish. I had no problems with a top coat though, and the glitter didn’t eat it all up, so I was left with smooth nails.

Do you have this shade?

 

Butter London Stratford Honey

Stratford Honey is named after the “historic London town where the Beatles’ “Penny Lane” was filmed. This polish is from the Holiday 2013 line, The Illusionists. This is another polish topper, and although this is incredibly subtle, the simplicity is why it shines.

This is essentially a plain gold glitter topcoat. The glitter is very tiny and fine. You could wear this alone for just a touch of sparkle, or over something darker for a more dramatic effect. It reminds me of a much more fine version of the 18K gold top coats from last season. I layered it over OPI My Private Jet and I really liked the outcome! Because My Private Jet is cool in tone and has some holographic shimmer, Stratford Honey warms it up a bit and brings out the shimmer factor even more.

Have you tried any of the Butter London holiday polishes yet? What are your favorite “overcoat” shades?

Butter London The 444

Here’s a manicure that I am CRAZY about. It’s simple, but so pretty! I could not stop staring at my nails when I wore this combination, and kept pointing out to my husband “LOOK AT MY NAILS!” That would be the result of this amazing champagne glitter from Butter London, The 444.

This polish is named after the first BL HQ. It is a very dense, champagne glitter, which is pretty much one of my nail polish downfalls. I have a serious obsession with any champagne/gold type of glitter. I haven’t worn this alone yet, but I think it could work in three or so coats. This is just one coat over two coats of OPI Berlin There, Done That, which is a muted taupe.
The formula on The 444 is very smooth and without catching or pulling. The glitter doesn’t bunch up on the brush either. This is a great shade and adds a nice touch of sparkle to bare nails, or while wearing something underneath.

L’Oreal Hidden Gems

Last weekend I finally spotted the limited edition L’Oreal textured polishes. They are gorgeous, but I only picked up one: Hidden Gems. Interestingly, this appears to have some duochrome qualities! This is a deep teal with some pink shade shifting, and silver glitter pieces.

I’m so into the textured trend and love this polish! Hidden Gems is so unique and really needs to be seen in person! I used two coats here and it went on smoothly. My only annoyance is that when it comes to drugstore brands, they always produce their best stuff as limited edition products. I don’t get it! Anyway, if you want to try out textured polishes but haven’t sprung for the more expensive variety like OPI or Zoya, this is a good place to start. I paid $6 at Rite Aid for Hidden Gems. 🙂

Maybelline Brocades in Gilded Rose

Maybelline’s holiday collection, the Brocades, is amazingly gorgeous! I cannot resist sparkles, but only ended up with a couple of polishes from this collection so far, including this one: Gilded Rose. This shade has gold shimmer and metallic rose shimmer. I thought it applied nicely and wasn’t too chunky. You just never know with glitter.

This is two coats over Essie Topless and Barefoot, which is a pale nude pink. I am going to try Gilded Rose over some darker shades to see how that looks, but I love it over lighter colors so far! This could easily be layered to opacity as well, but I already had the Essie polish on!

Maybelline is one brand where their limited edition stuff is consistently better than the main line. Kind of frustrating, but kind of exciting too.

Did you get anything from this collection yet?

Dior Galaxie

Rarely do I buy a Dior polish since they are so expensive, but every once in awhile, they release a color that I just lose all rationality for, like Galaxie. This is a limited edition polish from the Fall 2013 collection.

Galaxie is a deep plum shade with subtle pink shimmer. It has a *touch* of metallic finish and applies beautifully. I didn’t have any trouble applying Galaxie, and it was opaque in two coats. It was *almost* opaque in one coat.

The brush is flat with a rounded tip, so it covers a lot of space at once. If you have small nails like I do, you may need to be careful with it.

I don’t know what it is about this shade that I love so much, but it is just gorgeous and rich. Even though this is limited edition, you can still find this shade on Nordstrom’s website, and probably in stores as well!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Jade Jump – Get This Polish Now!!

Jade Jump is my new green polish OBSESSION. Just look at how pretty it is! I absolutely love it. I think this is part of the regular Insta-Dri line, but I can’t be positive, because it was on some sort of end cap with a bunch of other shades that looked new. In any case, I love this shade. It’s not really a mint green, but not really grassy green either. It’s just kind of that retro, 1960s mod green, which I LOVE.

True to the name, it does dry quickly. I used two coats. The only thing I don’t like about the Insta-Dri polishes is that the polish really runs down the brushes quickly, so I need to watch out for drips.

Do you have this shade? What are your favorite greens?

Sally Hansen Triple Shine in Fanta-Sea

Sally Hansen has a new line of polish called “Triple Shine.” I picked up a few shades after reading rave reviews, including this glittery one called Fanta-Sea. It is a micro glitter with silver and teal flecks.

The glitter is very fine in this polish and easy to apply. I applied it over Sally Hansen Jade Jump (review coming…amazing polish) and it added a pretty bit of sparkle. I wouldn’t wear Fanta-Sea alone and think it makes a better topper. With a top coat added, it doesn’t get eaten in the glitter; instead, you’re left with a smooth finish. I used two coats of Fanta-Sea in the photos above.

Sally Hansen has been knocking it out of the park lately with their new polishes! I’m really happy with this one. 🙂

Sally Hansen Twinkle Toas-ty

I know my posts here have been sporadic. Life has just been crazy in the last few weeks. Not only did my computer crash and I had to reformat it, the worst happened last week and my beloved dog, Walter, passed away. If you want to read more about it, you can click on over to my other blog and read this post. To make a long story short, he was very old and just couldn’t hold his body up anymore. He died happy and never suffered, which is what matters.

Now that I’ve made everything extremely sad, let’s talk about some sparkly polish. I mentioned this before, but this holiday season seems to be all about the toppers. Twinkle Toast-y is a mostly gold holographic glitter polish with large and small pieces. I layered it over Butter London Wallis.

This polish has some serious sparkle! If you can’t get your hands on the Deborah Lippmann Jewel Heist polish and want some bling on your fingertips, these are fantastic! The glitter is dense and easy to apply, but the polish base is slightly thick, so you may have to dabble with it. I scored this with a buy one get one free coupon, AND it was on sale, so I paid $4.50 for two bottles when they usually retail for $6 each.

I believe this collection is limited edition, so if you like it, you may want to snag it now!

Butter London Stardust Overcoat

Hello! I hope you’re all having a great day and had a fun Halloween. I had an absolute NIGHTMARE last week, and that was losing everything on my computer. My entire hard drive, gone. I had to reformat everything and am up and running again. Not the end of the world by any means, but still frustrating. Anyway, I have a new holiday polish to show today!

This holiday season, I noticed that sparkly top coats seem to be bigger than ever. This is a problem for someone who loves glitter and sparkles like I do! Stardust is described as a “sheer, silver holographic overcoat.” This is the perfect description and is is VERY sparkly!

I’m really happy with the quality of this polish. It dries REALLY fast, and doesn’t need a million coats to get the desired amount of glitter. One or two coats will do the job. I layered it over Essie After School Boy Blazer and it really pops! It does dry to a matte finish, but I put a top coat over it.

What are your favorite glitters?