Tinkybell's 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge Day 4 PLUS Indie Thursdays: Stardust Polish North of the Wall and Always Pays His Debts(Game of Thrones Collection)

Helloooo errbody! Today is a double feature of sorts. I have done Indie Thursdays on the blog up until my slump, and I missed doing it! I'm slowly falling in love with indies and I try to get my hands on them as much as possible. Anyway, since I am on an untrieds challenge, I thought I would combine the two and feature an untried indie polish (or two!) for Day 4.


I have ordered a couple of polishes from Stardust Polish before (which I have posted before on my Instagram.) Drema, the owner of Stardust Polish, is pretty much a nice person and easy to talk to if you have concerns about the product or anything else. She's made some pretty polishes and it's a shame I only have a few of her creations... but I am hoping to remedy that. (My bank account isn't feeling too happy at that thought, though. Haha.)

Anyway, I have two polishes from her Game of Thrones collection: North of the Wall and Always Pays His Debts. I love the TV series (my boyfriend got me hooked on it, among other things...) and have yet to read the books (I have it on my e-book; I should really get a start on it!) But when I saw that Drema has released a GoT collection I wanted to get my hands on at least one of the polishes! So, let's get to the swatches, shall we? :)


First, we have North of the Wall.

Macro

North of the Wall is a light grey crelly base with tiny holographic glitters, and silver and blue hex glitters of different sizes. I love the combination of this polish! And this reminds me of the white walker that Sam encountered outside of the wall. Of course, this polish is prettier than that zombie :P Anyway, I used three coats for this swatch, plus top coat.

Then I had to see it matted, so here it is:

Looks pretty frosty!


And here is Always Pays His Debts:

Macro

Sorry for the bad macro shot, but it difficult for me to take a decent shot of this polish! So much glare... but then most of my pics have glare anyway. Oh well... Anyway, Always Pays His Debts is a sheer, shimmery red base with medium gold and smaller holographic glitters. I'm pretty sure this was inspired by House Lannister... because a Lannister always pays his debts, doesn't he? ;)  I'm not really a fan of this polish, just cause I don't like the base color. I personally don't like the shimmer, but some people do, so to each his own. This is three coats plus top coat.

I also tried this one with a matte top coat:

I think it looks better matted, cause the glitters show up more and it's not as shimmery.


Thoughts? I love North of the Wall! I've always loved glitter polish that is coordinated, and I think this polish is just that. The colors all worked together and it made for a nice combination. It also applied pretty easily. It just got a little thick towards the end, but maybe it's cause I was working in a hot room and I had the fan on. Nothing a few shakes can't care though, so it's all good. I also need to work on my glitter placement, but this polish has an adequate amount that you don't really have to fish for glitters. Always Pays His Debts was a bit thin, but not very runny. It had a decent amount of glitter, no fishing needed. If you wanted more glitter on, you can always fish for them, but you'll still get a decent amount with a normal coat and some placement. Like I said, I didn't really care for the base color, but it improved in my eyes with the matte top coat. So I guess it's obvious which one is my favorite, right? ;) North of the Wall won my heart for this collection!


And that's it for today's double feature! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back! :)


*I bought these polishes from Stardust Polish's Storenvy website (which is currently closed right now for some maintenance, so check Drema's Instagram @stardustpolish for restock info.) These retailed for around $9 each plus shipping.*


*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*

Tinkybell's 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge Day 3: Avon Cosmic Nail Enamel in Supernova, Saturn and Galaxy

Hi everyone! It's Day 3 of Tinkybell's 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge! For today, I have three polishes to show you from the Avon Cosmic Nail Enamel collection.


I first saw these polishes on Traci's (of The TraceFace Philes) Instagram feed. She happens to be an Avon representative and the polishes were being offered at a special price at that time, so being the polish hoarder collector that I am, I immediately placed an order. There was also a promo of free shipping with a $10 purchase so I went and bought a few. (Looking back, I should've bought more, but oh well.)

These polishes are more of a very fine holo glitter (think Zoya Aurora, Blaze and Storm but with tinier glitter.) The holo is so tiny, the polish looks more of a metallic polish than a holo polish. According to Avon's description, these polishes have a "holographic pearl finish" but it's leaning more to the pearl finish than the holo. Anyway, let's get to the swatches, shall we?


*These swatches were done WITHOUT top coat. They're very shiny without it anway! :)*


First up, we have Supernova.

Sunlight shot

Supernova is a red polish that doesn't really look very holographic to me. Maybe I was spoiled by the holo in the Color Club Halo Hues (see my blog post about them here.) Good thing about this polish is it's opaque in ONE coat, but I did two coats for maximum coverage and more shimmer.


Next, we have Saturn.

Sunlight shot

Saturn is a beautiful orange polish, which was a little more holographic than Supernova. It's still not as holographic as I want it to be, but if you look closely enough you can see some holo. This still had some bald patches with one coat so you need to do two for maximum coverage. I did three for this one.


And last but not the least, here is Galaxy.

Sunlight shot

Bonus shot!

Galaxy is a medium blue polish which considerably looks more holo than the first two polishes. Definitely a two-coater. For this swatch I used three coats. This was my favorite out of the three just because it's blue lol and it was the most holo out of all the three I have.

Thoughts? While I love the base colors of these polishes, I wish the holo was more pronounced. The formula was on the thin side, not very runny but it will run to your cuticles if you get too close. To me it was a little inconsistent that Supernova was a one-coater, and Saturn and Galaxy were two-coaters. It was glossy without top coat though so that's a redeeming quality. The brush is soft, flat but not wide, and fans out well. Personally, the cap was a little bit troublesome to hold because you have to have it at a diagonal for you to be able to let the brush lay flat. Other than that, I had no further issues with these polishes.

Also, from now on, I won't say whether I would recommend a polish or not. I will leave it up to you to decide for yourself. :)

And that's it for today's post! Stay tuned for upcoming entries and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog!

*I bought these polishes from Traci's Avon page. I purchased them at the intro price of $3.49, but now they are sold at regular price of $6.*

*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*

Tinkybell's 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge Day 2: The Face Shop Lovley Meex 04 Lemon Candy Yogurt

Hello errbody! It's Day 2 of Tinkybell's 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge!

For today's post, I have a polish from The Face Shop. It's called 04 Lemon Candy Yogurt from the Lovely Meex line. (Yes it really is spelled Lovley Meex. You can check out on the website!)


I have only heard of The Face Shop from my friends back home in the Philippines, and then from the ladies of Instagram. The Face Shop is a Korean brand of skin care, make up, and other body products. They looked like they had interesting colors, so when I found out that a TFS store opened up close to my house (about four miles?) I immediately dragged my boyfriend to take me there. This polish I will show you today wasn't part of that initial trip, though. It was bought on a subsequent trip, haha. Anyway, I had originally bought four of these polishes but I gave away two of them to a friend of mine (follow her on IG! Her username is @paintedbyjess.)

Anyway, let's get right to the swatches, shall we? :)

The bottle on the label actually only says "04" so I had no idea what the shade was called. I had to look it up online. Lemon Candy Yogurt is a crelly pale yellow base (which was a bit on the sheer side) with tiny and medium hex glitters of different colors. I don't know how to describe the colors, but I'd say they're rose gold, yellow gold and yellow-green. Shown is three coats with top coat.


And here is a macro shot:

And here's another shot, minus the bottle.

Thoughts? I mostly like this polish. I love the combination of the glitters, and I love yellow polish so this was a no-brainer. The glitter payoff is pretty good, I didn't need to fish for the bigger hexes. The glitter lays flat so it doesn't really need a lot of top coat to smooth out. I wish the base was just a tiny bit more opaque, but it could probably be resolved by layering this over a similar-colored creme base. I do like the look of it, it reminds me of indie polishes, so that's okay. The formula was so-so, nothing to write home about. Dry time was normal.


Would I recommend this polish? For the most part, yes, just because I haven't seen a polish similar to this one yet. An indie line might have released something like this already, but since I was late to the indie game, I have yet to find the indie version. At $4 for a 10 ml bottle, I don't think the price is that bad. I don't finish a whole bottle anyway so that's okay with me. Availability might be an issue for some, as The Face Shop stores are somehow limited in the US.


And that's it for this post! Stay tuned for the next days of the challenge! If you want to join in on the challenge on Instagram, post your pics under the hashtag #Tinkybells30DaysofUntriedsChallenge. :)


*I bought this polish with my own money from The Face Shop. The Yogurt collection sells for $4/10 ml, plus applicable taxes. Check their store locator for a TFS near you.*


*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*

Tinkybell's 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge Day 1: O.P.I. Liquid Sand-Alcatraz... Rocks! from the San Francisco Collection

Hello everyone! How are you doing?

I have issued myself a challenge. I have so many polishes sitting in my untrieds pile and the pile just keeps growing! So I decided that for the next thirty days, I will post an unused polish everyday.


To start off the thirty day challenge, I have O.P.I Liquid Sand in Alcatraz... Rocks! from the San Francisco Collection. 

And here she is up close:

Of course I had to try this with top coat:

Thoughts? This polish is gorgeous! I can't believe I didn't wear this as soon as I got this. It's a very complex polish to describe. There are so many things going on in this polish and it's a good thing! I have no words to describe this polish... It's just amazing. It reminds me of Sinful Colors Winter Wonder, but textured. Can you see the different color sparkles? *swoon* These pics don't do this polish justice. You have to see this in person! The formula was also good; not too thick and dries pretty fast. The texture isn't very gritty at all. 


Would I recommend this polish? YES! The color alone is reason to recommend this. If you don't own this yet, I suggest you run to the nearest store that sells this and buy it! I swear, you need this polish.


And that's it for Day 1 of Tinkybell's 30-Day Untrieds Challenge! I'll be putting this and the next days under the #Tinkybells30DaysofUntriedsChallenge. Feel free to join in! :)


*I bought this polish with my own money.*


*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*

Zoya Cashmeres Collection

Hi everyone! It's been two weeks (gasp!) since I updated my blog. Life sometimes just gets in the way of my polish time lol. I've been dealing with some issues, plus I was always tired and out of energy. I went more than a week (eek!) without posting anything on Instagram, either. Anyway, I am slowly regaining my polish swatching mojo so for today's post I have for you the Zoya Cashmeres Collection.


The Cashmeres is one half of Zoya's Fall 2013 collection. It consists of six creme polishes.

*Note: I only have one pic for each polish, as I was having technical difficulties while taking these photos. Sorry...*


Let's get right to the swatches, shall we? :)


First, we have Livingston.

Livingston is a bright red, almost jelly-like polish. This was the thinnest of the bunch and also the sheerest. Personally, I think this was more appropriate for summer. This was also my least favorite of the set. This is three coats with top coat.

Next up, Pepper.

Pepper is a brick red creme polish. I love this one! Application was easy. I did three coats for this one but you can probably get away with two careful coats. Also with top coat.

Here we have Sailor.

Sailor is a dusty navy creme. This was my favorite from the set, but that was to be expected as I am partial to blues. This was a bit thick too, but still applied good. This is two coats with top coat.

And here is Hunter.

Hunter is a dusty, well, hunter green creme. The website described this a sea green but honestly I have never seen a sea of this color. Lol. This was also a bit on the thin side. This is three coats with top coat.

And then we have Louise.

Louise is a chocolate brown which is darker than it shows on the photo. I love it! I don't have many browns in my stash so this was a good addition. This is two coats with top coat.

And last but not the least, Flynn.

Flynn is a nude creme. This polish totally gives me mannequin hands! Lol. It's a bit more camel brown in person. This is three coats with top coat..

Thoughts? I love these polishes! I think they are very appropriate shades for fall, with the exception of Livingston. For me, she's more of a summer shade, because she's bright. It would look good on toes during summer. :) Although, I don't quite like Livingston just because it doesn't really go with my skintone (at least I think it doesn't.) Pepper is more like my style in reds, a little bit towards brown and not as bright red. I think a coordinating lipstick would be awesome! My favorite is Sailor, but that was to be expected, lol. I also liked Louise. The formula on these polishes is pretty good. Cremes, for me, tend to get a bit thick after a few applications, but it wasn't that hard to work with it. Livingston was the runniest, followed by Hunter. Sailor was the thickest, relatively speaking. Coverage was good, most were opaque in two careful coats but I like to do three, and Livingston did require three for full coverage. Dry time was average for cremes. Overal, I'm pretty impressed with this collection.

Would I recommend these polishes? Yes, and no. If you've seen similar colors somewhere, you probably don't need all of them, especially Livingston which has probably a dozen dupes already. (Can you tell I don't like her that much? Lol) The price might also turn some off, as it goes for $8 per bottle, plus shipping. Zoya does promotions from time to time, so I suggest snagging these during a sale. I suggest finding dupes first, but the formula on these do make up for the price.

And that's it for this post! I hope you'll be back for the next ones. :)

*I bought these polishes with my own money. Zoya polishes are available from their website, Ulta, certain salons and other salon supply stores. They retail for $8 per bottle, plus applicable taxes and shipping.*

*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*

Indie Thursdays: Mod Lacquer Pop Art Collection

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry about being MIA for so long. I've been busy, but mostly, I've been going through some issues. Personal life can be a b*tch at times and mine is being the biggest of them all right now. But I won't bore you with the specifics!

My polish mojo is also nowhere to be found lately, so I haven't been posting as much on my Instagram account as well. Have you ever had those days when you try to do nail art but no matter what you do, it all comes out wrong? Well, I'm having a few of those days, one after the other.

Anyway, today I told myself I will suck it up and just persevere through this funk that I'm in. I have skipped the regular blog segments on Monday (due to a legitimate excuse; we had a nail girls meetup!) and Wednesday (due to personal issues) so I told myself, "no more skipping blog posts! If you do, I'll kick you in the bum so hard." And who wants a kick in the behind, right? So here I am, plowing through like a champ! (Well, maybe not, but I am trying. :P)


For this post I have for you the Pop Art Collection by Mod Lacquer.

Photo by Mod Lacquer

Who is Mod Lacquer? (copied from Mod Lacquer's Etsy store)

Welcome to Mod Lacquer LLC! I personally hand blend all the nail polish sold in this shop with the intention of creating unique and beautiful designs. Nail polish is one of my life passions, and my goal is to share my passion with as many people as possible. 


This collection consists of five bright, squishy jelly polishes with hex glitters. I've always admired this collection when I saw it on Mod Lacquer's Instagram page (@modlacquer) almost a couple of months back, but was only able to purchase it about three weeks ago. So, let's get to the swatches, shall we? :)


Leading the pack is Satire.

Satire is described as "a bright sheer pink/coral jelly base with bright yellow glitter." For some reason, some of the glitters looked orange to me, but maybe that's because they were sandwiched in the jelly base. It dried pretty glossy but I still put top coat to smooth out the glitters. Swatch is three coats with top coat.


Second in line is Far-Out.

Far-Out is described as "a bright sheer yellow jelly base with bright blue glitter." This polish reminds me of Island Girl Island Sunset, but the glitters in this one are a darker blue, and the base on this one is a jelly. Also, I had some broken glitter pieces in this one, but not really a big deal. For this one, I did three coats plus top coat.


Next, we have Juxtapose.

Juxtapose is described as "a bright sheer spring green jelly base with violet glitter." This polish reminds me of the old Barbie lunch boxes with the pink and green motif that I had when I was in elementary school! Ahh, nostalgia.


And her we have Radical.

Radical is described as "a bright sheer blue jelly base with bright pink glitter." This polish kinda reminds me of Barielle Falling Star, but that one has tiny copper glitters whereas Radical has bigger pink glitter. I'm not sure why I am reminded of that polish with this one because they are different, but strangely, it does. This is three coats with top coat.


And rounding out the collection is Subliminal.

Subliminal is described as "a sheer orchid jelly base with small light pink glitter." Again, the strange phenomenon of some of the glitters appearing darker than they really are was observed here. It was as easy to apply as Satireand the same glossy jelly finish. This is three coats, with top coat to smooth out the glitters.


Thoughts? I love jelly polishes, and these did not disappoint. The squishiness is just awesome! The colors are buildable; if you want just a hint of glossy color, you can do two coats. Opaque in three, but if you want to go more opaque, then you can do four (I didn't try with four.) The formula was pretty easy to work with. You do need to manipulate the glitter around so that they don't bunch up together. (You might have to turn the bottles upside down for a bit, if the glitters settled, so you can get maximum glitter placement.) For me, the probem child was Far-Out but it's typical for yellows anyway. Dry time is pretty decent; the first coat dries fast but of course as you build it up the dry time slows down a little bit. The only issue I might have is the handle of the bottle. Don't get me wrong, the bottles look pretty rad but I was having slight difficulties with handling the cap. The brushes are the flat, wide kind, but are fluffy and fan out quite nicely. The brush on Juxtapose was a bit uneven, but not so much that it affects the way you polish. You do need a top coat for these babies, as they dry a bit gritty due to the glitters. My favorites are Satire and Subliminal, becausethey were the ones who applied the easiest.


Would I recommend these polishes? Yes, definitely. If you love jelly sandwiches, you'll surely love these. It looks simple yet the colors stand out. I think it's very summery! :) They are a good way to add some pop to your nails without being too in-your-face. Plus, if you buy the set, you only pay for the price of four! Jennifer also has a discount going onin her Etsy store. Hurry though, because as of the last time I visited the site, she only has 9 sets left. She does sell them in minis so if you're not ready to commit to full sized bottles, you also have another option.


And that's it for this week's Indie Thursdays! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back! :)


*I bought these polishes with my own money from Mod Lacquer. The set is $38 USD plus shipping, but Jennifer has a discount code going on at the shop.*


*Disclaimer: Due to variations in screen displays and resolutions, polishes may appear different to each reader. I try my best to capture colors as accurately as I can, and if I can't, then I try to describe the color/s to the best of my ability.*