Barielle Eli's Magic, Shannon's Attitude, Starry Sky and End of the Rainbow Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Today, I have some brand new Barielle polishes to show you!  As some of you might know, they recently released NINETY new colors!  Yes, 90 new colors all at once!  That's a lot!  I have 4 of the new ones to show you today, so now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  2 coats of Eli's Magic

First up is Eli's Magic. a medium pink creme.  On Barielle's website they describe it as "hot pink" but I don't think it's quite bright enough to be in the "hot"category.  Anyway it's a very nice pink polish if that's your kind of thing!  The formula was good, much better than Barielle's I've tried in the past, and it was fully opaque in 2 coats!  If you're a pink lover, this is a good staple to have in your collection!

 Above:  2 coats of End of the Rainbow

Above:  1 coat of End of the Rainbow over black

End of the rainbow is a really pretty sheer emerald green polish with light blue shimmer to it.  It's not quite duochrome but it has some really nice flashes of the blue!  I personally liked it layered better over the black because the color seems to pack more punch that way!  Plus then there is no visible nail line like there is with two coats of it on its own.  I can't wait to try this layered over blue, I think it would really pull out the blue flash more!

Above:  2 coats of Shannon's Attitude

Shannon's Attitude is described on Barielle's site as being a "jelly purple with foil flakes."  Now it is definitely a jelly purple but I wouldn't call these foil flakes.  Then again, it's not quite bar glitter either.  What I do know is that it IS holographic!  So that's actually pretty cool.  I love that the bigger glittery pieces aren't exactly straight, they look very three dimensional in the polish which is pretty unique!  I really like that there are tiny pieces of holographic glitter in it as well.  I also like that it wasn't terribly thick or hard to work with, however I do think in the future I will layer this over a purple. 

Above:  1 coat of Starry Sky over 2 coats of Eli's Magic

Last but not least is Starry Sky which is silver smaller glitter in a clear base.  However this glitter is not just silver, in real life, it basically has a mirror finish!  The light catching on it is insanely bright!  I actually really like this because it has a disco ball feel to it!  I also liked that the base was not terribly thick and really easy to use.  Plus there was a ton of glitter!  That's just one coat above!

All in all, I'd say Barielle is really stepping up their game!  Their formula is far improved, Shannon's Attitude is a really unique polish, and it looks like they have some other great new polishes!  You can find Barielle on their website for $8 a bottle, although today only they have a sale for 30% off!

What did you think of these polishes?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

Please note that the products in this post were sent to me for my honest review.  If you have further questions, please see my disclosure policy above.

CND Night Factory Duo Featuring Urban Oasis and Teal Sparkle Swatches and Review

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  I hope you are all having a wonderful day.  It's rainy and dreary and gross in New York today, so to cheer up, I decided to post about some of my favorite new polishes!  I was lucky enough to receive the CND Night Factory Duo from my awesome friend Wendy.  The Teal Sparkle Effect was the last CND Effect that I was wanting but I figured I'd never own it since it was a limited edition!  Well thanks to Wendy and Ebay, it's mine!  So now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  2 coats of Urban Oasis

First up is Urban Oasis on its own.  It's a gorgeous teal creme that's just perfect.  I find it to be a bit more blue than green leaning and it's just so beautiful!  It was almost a one coater but I put on a second coat for good measure.  If you're a teal girl like I am, try to find this polish!  It easily became my new favorite teal creme!

Above:  1 coat of Teal Sparkles over 2 coats of Urban Oasis

Oh man, why can't all the CND Sparkle Effects look like this?  I'm in love!  Teal Sparkles has tiny teal microglitter in a milky base that makes the glitter look like tiny little glass fleck flakes!  it's amazing!  Look at how three dimensional that looks!  I absolutely adore this CND effect and really hope that they will come out with more like it!  It's just so unlike any other specialty top coat that I own, I absolutely am obsessed with it!  I can't wait to try it over other colors!

All in all, I love this duo!  I'm so happy to be the proud owner of it!  Urban Oasis is just a stunning creme and Teal Sparkle is by far my favorite CND Effect to date.  More effects like these please!  They are fabulous!  If you happen to come upon this set or want to splurge a bit, definitely buy it because it's just so great!

What do you think of these polishes?  Do you have them?  What colors would you like to see teal sparkle layered over?

Pretty and Polished Power House, Sphere and Jealous Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Today I have a treat for you from a very talented lady!  The lovely Chelsea from Pretty & Polished is a master frankener and was kind enough to send me three bottles of her polishes to review!  She has an shop set up in Etsy which can be found HERE of all of her creations!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  1 coat of Power House over  2 coats China Glaze Sweet Hook

First up is the amazing Power House!  Power House is a light purple jelly base that's packed with multi colored and multi sized glitter!  I see silver, blue, pink, purple and green and all different sizes of each!  I love it!  Look at how awesome that macro shot looks!  Now since it's in a jelly base it is very sheer so I'd recommend wearing an "underwear" color, hence putting this over Sweet Hook, but I love how it looks over a light purple!  I can't wait to try it over different colors!

Above:  2 coats of Sphere

Sphere is a gorgeous green/teal!  This color was described on the website as being teal with slight color shifts however the shift on my bottle was very subtle, more of a coppery shimmer and blue shimmer than a full shift but it's gorgeous!  Look at all those gorgeous colors in the macro shot!  I love how green it is and the shimmer gives it a lot of dimension which I think is great!  Plus it was fully opaque in two coats, great formula and tons of pigment!

Above:  From top to bottom:  Finger Paints Black Expressionism, Butter London Slapper, Gareth Pugh for MAC Hyper and Mattese Elite Fantasias

Above:  1 coat of Jealous over each color listed above

I saved my favorite for last!  Jealous is AMAZING!  A color changing topcoat!  Do you see how different each shade looks with just one coat of Jealous?  Greens, golds and coppers!  I love it!  It's like making any polish a whole new polish!  A quick note about this polish that if you'd like to buy it, it only comes in the mini size, but considering you need so little to make a huge impact, a mini is more than enough!

So there you have it, 3 awesome frankens!  I've been informed that if you are buying the full sized bottles of any of these that the producer had to switch from square to round bottles, but we all know that it's what is inside of those bottles that counts!  Also, the very lovely Chelsea has a special code for all of you lacquered lovers!  Use the code LACLOVE5 to get 5% off your order in her shop!  She has a bunch of different colors, glitters, holos, basically whatever you like so make sure you check her out!

What do you guys think of these polishes?  Do you own any Pretty and Polished yet?  Planning on buying any?

Layering Day 5 - OPI Nicki Minaj Collection Featuring Fly, Save Me and Super Bass Shatter

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Today, for day 5 of Layering Week, I have a couple of the polishes I picked up from OPI's Nicki Minaj Collection that was recently released.  I picked out 4 out of the 6 polishes that were released and today thought I'd show you two different layering combinations using a base of Fly!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  2 coats of Fly

I started with Fly, the only one of the cremes that stood out to me enough to buy from this collection!  I wish my camera photographed how teal it is, because it's looking much more blue in my photograph, but in real life there is a lot more green to it!  It has a great dusty quality to it that prevents it from looking neon and I just really like this creme!  It was perfectly opaque in 2 coats and is very pigmented so it's a great spring polish in my opinion!

Above:  2 coats of Fly, one coat of Save Me

So the first layering combination I tried was with Save Me and Fly.  Save Me is small silver microglitter that has blue and holographic bar glitter in it!  I'm just not sure how I feel about bar glitter.  It looks "hairy" to me, kind of like glitter exploded and got stuck in something.  I like the colors and I like the idea, but the execution just doesn't do it for me.

Above:  2 coats of Fly, 1 coat of Super Bass Shatter

Now this is a combination I can get behind!  I will be honest, I haven't worn a shatter manicure in a really long time, but I kind of love this one!  Super Bass Shatter is a dark purple shatter that has some glitter in it!  And, depending on the base color, it can go from fuchsia to magenta to dark purple!  Plus it cracks super well unlike some other shatters (I'm looking at you Turquoise Shatter!)  I really liked the look of this!  The teal and the purple are a great combination and it's just super fun!

So there you have it, a couple of layering options with the Nicki Minaj Collection.  What do you guys think of these colors?  Are you a fan of bar glitter?  Are you over Shatter or still loving it?

Layering Day 3 - Featuring a Jelly Sandwich Guest Post from Sarah at Chalkboard Nails!

Good morning my fellow Lacquered Lovers!  I have such a great treat for you guys today!  One of my favorite bloggers, the lovely Sarah of Chalkboard Nails, wrote a guest post for Layering Week!  I was so in love with my CND mood manicure from yesterday that I couldn't stand the thought of having to take it off yet, so luckily Sarah said she'd write a guest post!  And, best of all, it's a guest post on a topic I've never done before, a jelly sandwich manicure!  So now, without further ado, on to the polish!

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Hello Lacquered Lovers, as Carly might say! :)

I thought I'd share a jelly sandwich with you today. Are you familiar with this type of manicure? It's where you take a jelly polish and sandwich it around glitter or flakies so that the pieces look buried in the jelly polish. The jelly is sheer, so you can still see all of the fanciness underneath the top layer! I've done this style of manicure a couple times before, and I absolutely love the look. I thought it would fit in great with Carly's Layering Week!

I started out with three coats of OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?. It is an orange "sorbet" polish, which is basically just OPI's name for their jelly finishes. Three coats seems like a lot, but jelly polishes go on so smoothly and nicely that it didn't feel thick at all.

Then, I added on a layer of OPI Rainbow Connection. Can you believe that I've had this glitter since the Muppets Collection came out but I haven't used it until now? Shame on me! It applied like a dream, unlike many other glitter polishes I know…

For my final layering step, I added on one single layer of OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y?, which is a beautiful beet colored "sorbet" finish polish. I was hoping that putting the orange underneath it would change the color of the final look, and I think it did a little bit, but not as much as I was expecting.

What do you think? I love how the silver glitter all turned pink underneath the top layer of jelly.

Thanks for having me stop by, Carly, and I hope all of you Lovers enjoyed it!

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So there you guys have it!  A gorgeous jelly sandwich!  I was never that into the idea of a jelly sandwich manicure but these pictures are making me want to try it out!  It just looks so squishy and colorful and fun!  Thanks again Sarah for doing a guest post and everyone make sure you check out her blog at Chalkboard Nails!

Layering Day 3 - CND Mood Ring Manicure

Good morning Lacquered Lovers!  In keeping with the theme of layering this week, I decided to try something out I saw a few months ago that looked amazing!  One of the bloggers who got me interested in starting my blog, All Lacquered Up, did this awesome Mood Ring manicure using all different CND Effects layered over black.  I decided to put my own spin on it by using a different base and different effects and I have to say, I love how it came out! 

Here is a quick sneak peek at the finished product!  I'm obsessed with it!  So now, without further ado, on to the polish!

I began the manicure with one coat of CND Asphalt.  I love that this polish is a one coater!  This is definitely one of my favorite grey polishes as it's super pigmented and opaque in 1 coat!  Now, on to the fun stuff.

So here is what you are looking at above.  There are 3 stripes of CND effects on each nail, Emerald Shimmer, Ice Blue Shimmer and Scarlet Shimmer.  I overlapped them slightly to blend the effect a bit better.  You can really see the different shades in the macro shot but depending on how I'm holding my hand, you either get more of a blue, green or red/purple effect.  I love it!  But of course, I couldn't leave it just at this!

So I decided to add Amethyst Sparkle on top!  I love the little purple glittery look this gives to the manicure and I think it helps blend in the stripes of shimmer effects as well!  But wait!  I still wasn't done with this layering adventure!

Last, I added my favorite of all the CND Colour Effects, Sapphire Sparkling!  Sapphire Sparkling is packed full of tiny little bright blue sparkles and I just love it!  This manicure is by far one of my favorites I've ever done!  I love how in every picture, it looks completely different!  It almost looks like a multichrome on the nail because depending how the light hits it, the dominant color changes!

What do you think of this layering effect?  Would you like to see a tutorial on it?  Have you tried this?