*Nothing to Disclose*

     Welcome back for another installment of the Untried A-Z Challenge. We are up to week 20 which brings us to the letter T. This challenge will run all week long and everyone is welcome to join. Just add your post to the linkup located at the end of my post, the only requirement is that either the Brand Name or polish name begins with the letter T. 

     For my letter T polish, I wanted to use a brand that I haven't featured in this challenge yet. That narrowed down my options for the week which I found very helpful. I don't know about you but with the size of my collection, it's hard to pick a polish sometimes. And mine could be considered a small collection compared to some of you out there. 

    I decided to share with you today Tiara On Top from LynBDesings. This polish was released in 2014 as a limited edition topper from the Princess Personality Collection. Because this is a topper I've decided to show it two way. On its own and layered over Sinful Colors Black on Black.

     Tiara on Top is a clear based polish with iridescent flakes and holographic micro glitter. Obviously, this polish is sheer since it's a topper but it covers evenly and each flake lays completely flat against the nail.  I've shown it here as 3 coats alone plus a glossy top coat and two coats over black plus a glossy top coat. 

     I like the depth that you get from the flakes and glitter. My nails had a different look depending on what angle they were at and the sparkle was amazing. I have a feeling this would look great over lighter colors also. 

     I'm a little sad that I let this polish sit in my untrieds for so long. I mean just look at that macro shot, it's so pretty with the pastel colors popping through. You can be sure that I will be using this one again. I want to test it out over some lighter shades, maybe even some pastels. 

     That's all I have for you today, I hope you enjoyed this look at Tiara on Top from LynBDesigns. Make sure to check out the other posts in the linkup. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

*Nothing to Disclose*

     It's time once again for the Untried A-Z Challenge! It's week 19 and that brings us to the letter S. I can't believe there are only 7 more weeks for this challenge, it has flown by but there's still time to join in if you want. Everyone is welcome and the more the merrier. 

    I've gone back to my mainstream collection of polishes this week to bring you a beautiful polish from Color Club. To be honest, I don't reach for Color Club polishes all that often, but that may be because I don't own that many. I haven't bought any in about 3 years and I think I had maybe 6 polishes from the brand until they released the new holo's at Walmart which added 12 more to my stash. Which explains why I completely forgot that Color Club came out with some duo-chrome polishes. They had an entire collection actually called the Oil Slick collection which was a limited edition collection back in 2015. 

     Sorry Not Sorry is a pink to gold shifting metallic duo-chrome polish that takes on a hint of copper depending on the lighting. 

    While this is a very pretty color and great for fall the formula can be a bit tricky. The consistency is really nice but wants to steak when applied thinly. A regular coat will not cause any issues and leaves behind even coverage with no VNL but not quite full opacity. Shown here is 2 coats plus top coat.

     Sadly this polish suffers horribly from brushstrokes, I avoided them by using the sponging trick I shared in my review of the Orly Pastel City Collection. I absolutely hate brushstrokes in my polish and love that I've found a way to avoid them. 

     I know I must have really liked this color when I bought it but when I pulled it out of my helmer I was experiencing buyers remorse. Until I had it on my nails that is. It's actually a pretty nice color and I like the subtle color shift. I actually own two more colors from this collection and I've become inspired to pull them out and try them.

    Now its time to share my the mani fail. I mentioned last week that I've been hooked on watching Naio Nails on Youtube. Well, she always does these over the top nails with lots of bling and I've got lots of nail bling gathering dust in my nail room so feeling inspired I decided to bling up my nails.

    I definitely need practice with this, and a better way to apply them to my nails. Dipping my dotting tool into top coat and then applying the rhinestone resulted in lots frustration. Especially when it came to placing all the tiny microbeads between the larger stones. I'd like a way to be able to place them and then move them a bit if needed. I think I need to invest in some nail glue. 

    This didn't turn out quite how I wanted but it was fun to play around with my rhinestones again. And we all have mani fails whether they get shared or not, and I think they help us grow as nail artists. 

      Do you have any tips on how to apply them? What do you think of Color Club polishes? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to check out what other people picked for their letter S. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

*Nothing to Disclose*

    I'm back this week with another installment of the Untried A-Z Challenge. This is a laid back challenge where every other week a new letter is chosen and you swatch a polish that starts with that letter. You can go by brand name or polish name, do one polish or a few, share a plain swatch or add nail it. It really is up to you with what you share and how often you join in. 

     This week bring us to the 18th week of the challenge and as you may have already guessed, the letter R. For the letter F I shared with you 2 polishes from KBShimmer and will be revisiting the brand again. This week I've gone with a not completely untried polish, but one that I have yet to actually wear, Run! It's the Coppers!

   

*Nothing to Disclose*

    Back to school season is in full swing at my house. I'm back to work, training for the new school year and picking up those last minute items my kids will need for the start of theirs. But that doesn't mean blogging get to take a back burner so I'm back today with the next letter in the Untried A- Z challenge. 

    It's not easy finding a brand name or polish name starting with the letter Q but I managed to find one to share with you today from my untried pile. Queen of Beauty from SinfulColors. 

     Sinful Colors is known for releasing limited edition glitter toppers for seasonal collections, but they are also known for re-releasing those toppers a year or two later for another seasonal collection. That just happens to be the case with the topper I'm sharing today so if you like it, keep your eyes open, it should be on shelves again. For the polish I'm sharing today I used a base of Black on Black which gave me full coverage with one coat. 

     First up is Queen of Beauty. A clear based polish with mini silver hex glitter. Now while I can't remember the original collection this was released in, I do know it originally came out in 2015 but popped back up last year for a St. Patricks Day collection. 

    I was pleasantly surprised at the formula, I expected the need to sponge on the second layer in order to get good glitter coverage but that was not the case. In just one coat I was able to get a generous amount of glitter on the nail. There were no issues with the glitter wanting to slide to the tip of my nail and every single one lays completely flat. This polish also dries without a hint of texture from the glitter. Shown here as 1 coat over black and a glossy top coat. 

    My overall thoughts are that I really like this polish for formula and ease of application. I like that the silver glitter is a true silver and would look great over a variety of colors. Using this in a full mani might be overkill unless some stamping or hand-painted nail art was layered over it. It also has the potential as an accent nail, especially for those holiday manicure we all love to create. 

    What are your thoughts on glitter toppers? Are they still on trend or have they seen their day? There's still plenty of time to join in the untried A-Z Challenge for the letter Q or join us in two weeks for letter R week. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

  

*Nothing to Disclose*

    It's once again time for the Untried A-Z Challenge. If you're unfamiliar with this challenge let me give you a quick breakdown. This is a challenge where you the alphabet dictates what polish or polishes you use. We go in order from A to Z and either the name of the polish or the brand needs to match up with the corresponding letter. It's a laid-back bi-weekly challenge and people are welcome to participate whenever they choose. If you'd like to know more just check out the event on my facebook page. 

     For my letter P polish, I went with an indie brand that is no longer in business and sadly caused quite a stir on the way out.  Now I don't want to get into all of that in my blog post, and I don't really like how things were handled I do love the polish that I purchased and wanted to wear it. With that said, let's take a look at Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice from Frenzy Polish.

     Pumpkin Spice & Everything nice is a gorgeous polish that I'm glad I picked up when I could. It's a great fall color that appears to have a strong scattered holographic look to it but then you get it in the right lighting and you get a little glimpse of that coveted linear holographic arch.  I'd say it has the best of both worlds when it comes to holographic nail polish. 

     What type of holo do you prefer, linear or scattered? Are you a fan of fall colors like I am? Let me know in the comments and be sure to check out the other polishes for letter P week of the Untried A-Z Challenge. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing! 

*Nothing to Disclose*

    Today I have for you a very special polish that was created for a fellow nail blogger and classmate of mine Janna from The Girlie Tomboy. (Girlie Tomboy Nails) Colors By Llarow created this charity polish to help pay for medical bills during her fight against inflammatory breast cancer called One Headlight. Sadly she lost her battle in November and while we were no longer close she was the one who inspired me to get into nail art and the loss was greatly felt. That's why this post is a little bittersweet for me. I hate that this polish has been sitting here untried for so long, but happy to share such a beautiful, bright polish for the untried A-Z Challenge with all of you. 

     One Headlight is a neon pink leaning coral crelly polish with intense aqua blue micro-shimmer and aqua blue glass flecks. You know me, anything with glass flecks in it I have to see with a matte top coat.

     The formula on this is wonderful with even coverage on the first coat, even though it's a bit sheer. The polish builds up nicely after two coats but I still had a slight VNL. ONe Headlight dries to a matte finish.  I've shown this polish as two coats plus a glossy and matte top coat.

    I really like this polish in both the matte and glossy versions. Each option has a certain beauty to it, although I am leaning more toward the glossy version. 

    Which one do you like better? While you decide make sure to check out the other polishes for this weeks prompt.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

*Nothing to Disclose*

     Welcome back to my blog, I hope your week started off on a good note. Mine started out with cleaning and straightening our camper from our last trip so I can get it ready for our next one. I will be off and running for the next two weekends with friends out camping and attending a music festival of sorts. I'm currently thinking up mani ideas for each event but in the meantime, I thought I'd share with you my letter N polishes for the Untried A-Z Challenge. 

     

     Yes, you read that right I said polishes, this week I'm sharing two polishes with you from China Glaze.  I'll also be sharing my thoughts on a new to be base and top coat. This post is chocked full of untried products! I'll get to the top and base coat at the end of this post but for now, let's get to the polish. 

     New Birth is a white creme nail polish with just a whisper of a blue tint. While you can easily see the hint of blue in the bottle, I found it looks mainly white on the nail until you get it next to something truly white.   Released in 2014 as part of The Giver Collection this pale beauty has been sitting around unloved in my helmer for almost 4 years. It was way past time to get it on my nails. 

   
     I wish the blue was a bit more evident in this, I'm not sure I would wear this on its own again. Even though the formula is thin it still applied easily and I'd be willing to use it again. I'd like to try it in a watermarble or as a base for some floral leadlighting.


      Naked is a Begonia pink polish with silver micro-shimmer. This polish was released as part of a Breast Cancer Awareness set in 2012 that included this color and a bottle of Seche Vite top coat. It took me hour and hours of scouring the internet to find out that little tidbit of information. Why would I put so much effort into it? Well, I wanted my China Glaze Collection list to be complete!


     Instead of using Pure Ice Girl on the Run, which is my typical go-to quick dry top coat, I reached for one called Show Stopper from 77 Nail Lacquer. I honestly have no idea when I picked this up, or how long it's been in my helmer. Show Stopper was dry enough to lightly touch after 4 minutes, still dentable after 10 and, fully dry after 30 minutes. Once dry I was left with a super glossy finish and is UV reactive. I didn't test the UV part because after moving, I have no idea where my black light has ended up!

     That all I've got for you today, time to get back to my preparations. I hope you enjoyed this post, I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the products I mentioned. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

*Nothing to Disclose*

     Hey Everyone, it's time once again for the Untried A-Z Challenge and this week we are at the halfway point with the letter M! I can't believe we are at the halfway point already, this challenge seems to be flying by. Don't worry there is still time to join in whenever you want. Even if you didn't plan on joining the challenge but happened to blog about a polish with the corresponding letter, add it to the link up. It's the more the merrier for this challenge and all are welcome. 😊

     This week I am not only sharing an untried polish with all of you but it's also an untried brand for me as well. It's a double whammy! I'd only heard of Love, Angeline a few times and sadly the name never really stuck in my head long enough for me to make a purchase and in 2017 the shop closed. I recently pick up a few bottles to try from a destash. One of those bottles was Metamorphosis.


     Metamorphosis was released in 2013 as part of the Smoke & Mirrors collection. It's an elephant grey crelly with various sized hex glitters in purple, grey, orange, and gold that dries to a glossy finish. I am so late to the crelly party, I recently discovered my love for them within the last year. I have no idea if they are still a trend or not but that's the story of my life, I decide I like something a year or two too late.



     The first coat went on surprisingly sheer considering how dark of a grey this polish is, and the glitters were a bit sparse and wanted to slide to the tips of my nails. After the first coat, I added 3 drops of thinner to my bottle in order to get the glitters out easier.  Like I mentioned above I purchased this bottle in a destash and have no idea how old it is but the 3 drops of thinner seemed to do the trick.
 
     The second coat built up to a nice opacity with a decent clustering of glitters. I probably could have stopped there but I wanted more of the glitter to be visible since it seemed to be getting lost in the base color. I sponged on a third coat and that really helped get better glitter coverage as well as help them stand out against the grey.


     I would definitely wear this polish again but would try the sponging technique on the second coat and hope that the opacity is there as well as a nice glitter coverage.

     While I like this polish and have a new found love for crellies I never know what kind of nail art to do over them. Stamping seems like the obvious choice but I don't want to cover up all the glitters so it would have to be a subtle design and then that seems almost pointless. What kind of nail art do you add to your crelly polishes?

     I'm currently driving home from vacation and will be stuck in my vehicle for 8 long hours which means I'll need something to do to pass the time. (Don't worry I'm not the one driving)  I'd love to spend it reading your thoughts on this fun crelly and see posts from people participating in the challenge. It's ok if you haven't joined in yet, there is room for everyone at any time! You can find all the details in the event on my Facebook page. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

*Nothing to Disclose*

     It was just a few days ago when I shared my letter K polish for the Untried A-Z Challenge and here it is, time for my letter L polish. I guess that's what happens when you get behind on blogging! So here is my Untried A-Z Challenge letter L polish, enjoy!

     Since it's summertime and been abnormally hot here lately I chose to go with a bright shade this week. And there's no better way to go bright than with a neon polish. Or in this case a Not Really Neon. Check out Lemonade from the Not Really Neon's Collection released last summer from Polish 'M.

     Lemonade is a bright lemon yellow creme polish. Typically yellow is a hard color for me to wear but I actually like this one. It's so fun and bright plus it makes me look like I have a nice tan. Any polish that makes my tan look better gets bonus points from me. 

     

     Like most neons Lemonade applied a bit streaky on the first coat, thankfully it's a self-leveling polish so the streaks weren't a major issue. This polish builds up nicely on the second coat and I probably could have stopped there if I'd used white undies. I had a few places on my nails that appeared to be patchy so I opted to use 3 coats. Shown here is 3 coats plus a matte top coat. 

     Lemonade dries very quickly and with a matte finish. Just what I would expect from a neon polish. Like I mentioned above I like this polish and would probably wear it on its own in the future. But for this post, I opted to add a little nail art to the mix.

    For this marbled look, I used Creative Shop plate 31 and stamping polishes Straight Up Black and Bami White from Bundle Monster and Slate Stamping Sauce from Sassy Sauce Polish. 

    The completed look is a bit much for me but I do really like how my middle finger turned out. In this case, less is more and I'll have to keep that in mind in the future. And as you can see once again I was inpatient when applying my top coat and smeared my pinky finger terribly. 

     What are your thoughts on yellow polish? Is it a color you can easily wear? If you'd like to join in on the Untried A-Z challenge we will be staring letter M week on June 25th and ending on the 29th. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!