Simple and Sweet Valentines Day Manis

Hello sweet friends!  I hope that you're having a great weekend regardless if you have something elaborate planned or you're just counting down the days to 60% off chocolate (which is the real MVP!)  I'm a February baby, so I do love seeing all the bright pink and chocolate love during this month.  I'm sharing two different manicures that are super simple and sweet, but I really love these colors.

First up is True Love's Kiss from Pure Ice.  This is from that very elusive LE Fairytale Forest collection that came out around November/December.  I hate to post this one, because it's impossible to find now (it took me no less than 4 WalMarts before I found one that even had a display!)   However, if Pure Ice is reading this.....
Why aren't you re-releasing this collection!?!?  Help some polished sisters out!

I adore True Love's Kiss. It takes 3 coats, but is fully opaque and the gold shimmer is perfection in this pale pink.  IF you know of any similar polishes that are opaque like this one, let me know!  I'd love to own a few others.  This was 3 coats on its own with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

Next, are a few older polishes but this look will be v easy to recreate.  This is an older CoverGirl Outlast polish I found on clearance, Crushed Berries.  The formula is amazing! This is 2 coats and I have never had a berry polish that was so easy to apply.  I hope other CoverGirl polishes are like this.

I topped it with SinfulColors Love Sprinkles that was from their Valentines Day collection last year. I love the pastel matte glitters they did. The small glitters are light pink, but very pale.  This was 2 coats of Love Sprinkles and fishing out the hearts are so worth it!

So that does it! Let me know which was your favorite. If you know of any other similar indie polishes to True Love's Kiss let me know that too!

XOXO - Hayley 

Summer Favorites Swatchfest!

*All Polishes Were Purchased*

A few of my favorite colors to wear this summer are notorious for formulas that are a struggle.  That being said, the colors are worth it. I'll give you my honest thoughts below:

First up is Urban Outfitters Honeydew.  This was 3 coats that dry slightly matte, and topcoat to even things out.  In the bottle it looks extremely close to Color Club Under the Blacklight.  Honeydew is in the pastel neon bunch and I cannot get enough of colors like this!  On the nail it's slightly brighter than Under the Balcklight, which you'll see below.  Decent formula (since I have come across a pastel neon that has yet to be easy, I was expecting it).  This one was slightly on the easier side to work with.  I  love the glow in late dusk and early morning you get with these colors.

Next is Color Club Under the Blacklight. I LOVE this color - I wore with matte topcoat it in the above picture because it was my first try with the polish, and figuring out the formula was a struggle.  This was 3-4 coats (some had 3 some had a thin 4th coat).  This was an indoor shot which leans more yellow than outdoors like you see with Honeydew (I promise these two colors really are similar!) but my camera was a little freaked out so it is very slightly greener.

Pure Ice Feisty is up next.  This one was from a few summers ago, but Pure Ice does bring back previous shades and I came across this in Walmart just the other week, so it's still around!  This was 2 very easy coats.  Pure Ice formulas are thin, so I was pleased with how opaque the coats were and that it didn't flood at all.  I recommend this polish if you see it.  It dries semi-matte like neons do - this was without topcoat.  I later tried to matte it - and it almost acted like a crackle polish - it was so odd!  I'll try it again with a different matte, but it is a beautiful purple leaning fuchsia!

This is Sweet Cheeks by Bonita Colors. This was the first polish from Bonita that I have tried.  I was a little thrown by this coral.  In the bottle it look more pink than in the picture, BUT this is definitely color accurate on me.  It dried on my nails more orange coral than the pink coral in the bottle.  Still very pretty for summer and stellar 2 coat formula.  It is not terribly unique - so if you don't have it there are a ton of similar options out there.  SinfulColors Island Coral comes to mind, because that is another one that leans pinker in the bottle, but more orange coral on the nail. 

Outside - sunlight

This last polish was one of my favorite colors, but I'm pretty sure I cried and almost threw the bottle out of the window when I applied it.  This is Spring In My Step from China Glaze.  I adore this color! It's a beautiful pinky-peach, and it's bright!  The formula was HORRIBLE though. It was streaky and patchy - this is 4 coats + topcoat and every single one was a struggle.  But I cannot express how I LOVE this color!  I give it a pass for that only, but I'm on the hunt for anything similar.  I might have found one, so I'll report back.

Thanks for stopping by!  Are there any other colors you recommend similar to these?  What are your favorite summer polishes?

~ Hayley ~

Throwback Thursday: Sally Hansen Greige Gardens and Pure Ice Busted

This will be short and sweet because I hesitated to post this, but decided to share with you.  I was looking through pictures on my old computer trying to get organized (Ha!).  I never posted this pairing because I was really new to learning lighting and poses...but there is no denying that this is a great combination and I will be pairing these two again very soon! 
I wish I could tell you these two were still available, but sadly they are discontinued...hence my throwback!  You may very well have these in your collection already.  Otherwise, I don't think these polishes are terribly unique so you could come up with a similar perfect pair!  This is Sally Hansen Greige Gardens and Pure Ice Busted.

Sally Hansen CSM Greige Gardens leans dusty purple most of the time, but otherwise looks grey on the nail.  Pure Ice Busted is pretty much exactly what you see here, a very fine, very shiny, pinky purple shimmer in a sheer murky purple tinted base. This was 2 coats of Greige Gardens and 1 coat of Busted.

I really like Busted because it just glows on the nail...at least against Greige Gardens.  My only issue with these polishes is the dry time is so slow...as in sheet marks the next morning slow.  I have other Complete Salon Manicure polishes that don't have such a dry time issue, but a quick dry topcoat is recommended for this one.

Thanks for stopping by and your support on our Facebook and Twitter too.  Don't forget to enter our very first giveaway so you can win Prosecco and other goodies!

~ Hayley ~

Spring Fling Challenge Day 1: Indie Skittle

Well, for the first day of this challenge I have learned two things:
 1.  My indies don't skittle well together.

I find that odd because I generally stick to a core color comfort zone when I buy polishes. In this case, I can get 2 possibly 3 to look okay together, but not 5.  Also, I don't have that many indies in my collection yet...so maybe that means I just need to buy more polishes!

Direct Sun

The best I could come up was this skittle, which is really only one indie polish.  (I'm sorry EcklipsedByColor and Tuxarina! - This is my first challenge; be gentle!) 
I originally wanted Tryst Lacquer's Fluer-y of Flowers, to replace the void I have for not owning Illamasqua Speckle.  I love the idea of this polish...a light lavender with tiny black speckle and light blue glitter. 
Unfortunately, most of the light blue glitter has fallen out of suspension in my bottle so I don't think I get the intended effect. :(  Needless to say, I still absolutely need the Illamasqua!

This leads me to the next thing I learned with this skittle...

 2.  Essie Mint Candy Apple looks so bright on me, I don't even recognize it compared to other swatches I've seen.

I don't know why it leans this way on me.  It's just...different than I thought it would be and I'm fairly sure it's not my bottle.  The other color I used is Kiss Me Here by Pure Ice, a pretty grey cream.

Anyway...I still intend to have some fun with this challenge!  Thanks again to ECKlipsed by Color and Tuxarina for hosting this.  Here are the themes going forward, so join in!

Valentine's Day Nails (Part 1)

I went out of my color comfort zone for this one!  I wanted to do something different for Valentine's Day, so I picked a few colors I have not tried yet.  I like that polish is such a subtle accessory that you can do something a little different and not feel too uncomfortable. :)

I decided to use Stunning by Pure Ice, which is a pink and slightly silver velour finish polish from their Runway Collection.  I used 2 coats and the dry time was fast!  I've never used a polish with this type of finish before, but it was pretty amateur friendly!  
For my accent nails I used The Bigger The Better from L'Oreal.  It's a mix of fine black and silver glitter in a clear base.  The glitter is pretty dense so this was just 1 coat and I wiped the brush a few times before applying.  I did have to dab glitter on a few spots, but it was to avoid getting too much on my nails so the base color would still be visible.  

Claws in effect :)

I don't know that I'll be wearing Stunning very often, only because I lean more toward lighter colors.  The layering options with The Bigger The Better are endless, so I'll likely be using this one quite a bit!

Outside - natural light

Both of the Pure Ice and L'Oreal polishes came out late last year (around October/ November).  I still see a few bottles of The Bigger The Better here and there at Ulta and Walgreens.  In fact, I just purchased mine about a month ago, so chances are decent that you can still find one!  Stunning was part of a limited edition collection, but there could still be some bottles lingering around.  Pure Ice really keeps up on their social media presence and you can visit their Facebook page here.

What do you think?  Do you go out of your polish comfort zone when there's a holiday?  

Disclaimer: Since we are just getting started we are learning about lighting and such. Please bear with us as we get better at the photography. Thanks!