Whimsical Ideas By Pam - Kee-Wee

Today I have an indie polish to show from a brand called Whimsical Ideas By Pam. Kee-Wee is a really fun looking polish. I love green so had to order it. It is a lime green with silver and green hexagonal glitter plus some bright green micro glitter. I love how the jelly formula gives it so much depth with the layers of polish over the glitter. And I only used two coats so you don't need to layer it so much like some jelly finishes. It also dries really glossy.

Pams bottles are so nice too, I love the labels and the bow details. I really like the shape of the bottles too with the tall cap. She has made them very unique compared to other brands on the indie market.

Slightly out of focus but hopefully you get the idea.

I ordered from her a while back although she now only ships within the US. US customers can find the details on her Facebook page and place your orders by emailing her with your list which she will send you an invoice for. Each polish costs $10.

Jennifer xx

P.S. most of my future posts wont have as nice photos as these, I no longer have access to my Mum's macro lens for my camera so making do with the lens that I have :( I need to save up over £500 for the one I used for these shots (Olympus 50mm F2 Macro Zuiko ED).

Pahlish - Fire in the Taco Bell

First off, the name of this polish is so funny! In case you don't know, it is a reference to the song Danger High Voltage by Electric Six (video link at the end). I always find the song funny.

Anyway, this polish by Pahlish on Etsy and Llarowe is a gorgeous jelly glitter. It has a tangerine orange jelly base filled with fuchsia squares, fuchsia holographic hex, pink/gold shimmer, fine pink microglitter and sheer purple iridescent hex glitters.

As it is a jelly, it is sheer so you can either apply 2-3 coats (I used 3 in these swatches) or apply over another polish such as a creme to make it more opaque. It is supposed to look squishy and give the glitter depth through the layers of colour. It is such a pretty colour and the glitter just glows. I love all the different colours. It is easy to apply but do leave it to dry a bit between coats so not to drag any glitter or move the base.

Pahlish is a really lovely brand too. Shannon's shipping was fast and it was packed really well. Obviously there was a little wait as Pahlish is a US based company and I live in the UK but some indie companies I have ordered from have taken a while to actually send my parcel, making it take ages to arrive. I also like that the Pahlish Etsy store is often well stocked so you don't need to wait long between restocks and you can quite easily get what you are after rather than it be a race to get in first with only 2 bottles of the same colour available.

Pahlish colours are $9 each (£5.73 approx at time of writing) and available from Etsy and Llarowe

Jennifer xx

Leighton Denny Shipwrecked and Drama on the Dancefloor

The base colour here is Leighton Denny Shipwrecked - a beautiful pistachio green creme finish from Leighton's S/S 2012 Castaway collection. It is a lovely colour with the same fantastic formula as the rest of Leighton's nail colours. Over the top I added Leighton Denny Drama on the Dancefloor (QVC exclusive) which is a chunky gold hex glitter with gold micro glitter thrown in. I used one easy coat and as you can see, it is easy to get even glitter distribution.

Please excuse the state of my nails in these photos, they were taken a few weeks ago when my nails were very dry. I also managed to knock my middle finger while the polish was drying so it has a mark near the free edge.

Jennifer xx

Pretty and Polished - Sand Art

Here is another polish from the indie brand Pretty and Polished. It is called Sand Art and is made up of blue, green, pink and purple matte glitters (they don't sparkle like regular glitters and only shine when topcoat is added). I've used two coats over white, it might get to full coverage with a third coat. It was really easy to apply, the base is quite thick and holds the glitter well. This was a bit of a 'Marmite' polish with my colleagues - some liked it, some hated it. I liked it but think I would prefer it over blue as the white was quite stark but it did make the glitter colours easier to see. From a distance, it looks like you have splattered paint all over your nails. I think it is a really fun colour and looks totally unique.

Sand Art is available from Pretty and Polished at $4.75USD for a mini bottled (which is what I have).

Chelsea is not currently shipping outside of the USA or Canada due to some problems she has had with unreliable shipping. However, Llarowe will be stocking Pretty and Polished soon and they do ship worldwide and also stock a few other indie brands and various brands from around the world.
Jennifer xx

Candy Lacquer - Sea Nymph

Today I have a polish from Candy Lacquer, an indie brand which you can purchase from her Etsy store here. It called Sea Nymph and is made from fine sea green glitter and a touch of gold fine glitter and some holographic teal hexagonal glitter added. It is a full coverage glitter in two coats and is super easy to apply. You will need to apply a couple of layers of thick topcoat to it as it is very gritty. I used a layer of Gelous and a layer of Seche Vite. It is so sparkly and will get a lot of attention. I also like that is a unique combination of glitter, I've not seen light green glitters like this before. I really like the heart shaped labels that Sandra uses, they are really cute and the design and typefaces used are fitting for her brand.

I only wore it for a day because I find all full coverage glitters chip very easily on me, I have a feeling it is the Seche Vite causing it. I might try layering them over a creme finish polish to see if they stick better. If anyone has any tips on getting any full coverage glitter to stay put for longer, please let me know.

Sea Nymph costs $8.00USD and is available at Candy Lacquer.

Jennifer xx

Franken Polish - 'Robotic' and Ciate Purple Sherbet

This is another franken that I made using silver, holographic silver and gunmetal coloured glitters. I really like how it turned out. It is really simple but I think it is quite effective and will look good over a lot of colours. I think it works really nicely over pastel shades such as Ciate Purple Sherbet as the holographic glitter sparkles in pastel colours. I've named it Robotic because I think the large chunks look like pieces of metal or nuts and bolts and the holographic looks futuristic/sci fi.

Ciate Purple Sherbet was a freebie that I got with Marie Claire magazine. There are two other colours available to choose from too - Lollypop (bright pink with blue shimmer) and Bon Bon (lilac toned neutral nude). I used three coats of Purple Sherbet as my base colour as it was slightly streaky.

Jennifer xx

Franken - Peacock Feathers

I have another franken to show you today. It is made up of blue, gold, greeny gold, and green glitters of varying sizes and also some strand glitters all in a clear base. I'm really happy with it. I was actually trying to make an opaque glitter but I think this is nice how it is and can be built up a bit although it would take a lot to get it opaque. I mixed the glitter into some fine blue glitter polish and added a fine gold glitter polish to it (these are the smallest glitter pieces) then put clear polish in to 'water' it down a bit. I'm calling it Peacock Feathers because the colours are peacock colours and the strands remind me of the long feathers.

For this manicure, I layered Peacock Feathers over OPI Jade is the New Black. I've also changed the shape of my nails recently, I had a couple of tears and some peeling and decided to get rid of it and chopped them down. Normally I go for an oval shape but I decided to make them more squared - squovalish. I didn't like it at first but it is growing on me, they are definitely more practical!

Jennifer xx

Fixation Polish - Blood of the Dragon

Today I have another nail polish from an indie brand, this time it is Fixation Polish. There are four colours available from Fixation Polish at the moment and they are all gorgeous and filled with beautiful glitters. I'm looking forward to new colours in the future as I will definitely be purchasing from the brand again.

This one is called Blood of the Dragon. It is a lovely deep mossy green jelly filled with a ton of glitter. There are gold, bronze, copper, brown and red glitters in various sizes. It applies really easily and the glitter doesn't sink to the bottom of the bottle - no crazy bottle shaking or fishing out the glitter needed. It is a really pretty and unique shade.

Jennifer xx

Candeo Colors Sprouse

I have another great colour from Candeo Colors, an indie nail polish brand. It is made up of large and small matte black and matte white hexagonal glitter, black and white bar glitter, medium sized royal blue hexagonal glitter, medium silver hexagonal glitter and holographic shimmer all suspended in a clear base. I love it. I said in an earlier post about Nubar's Polka Dot polishes that I love these black and white glitter polishes. This one is even more special because it has the blue glitter and holographic shimmer thrown in. It looks fantastic over lots of colours.The quality is great too, it applies like a dream and the glitter doesn't require lots of shaking to mix it because the suspension base is so good.

Candeo Colors - Jellybean

I am loving these indie nail polish brands at the moment. They have made such amazing and unique creations. Today I have a polish from Candeo Colors called Jellybean.

This is an amazing and unique nail polish. How many of you have seen anything else like it? It is made up of some smaller glitter in shades of lime green and pink with larger hexagonal pink turquoise and purple glitters. All of these are suspended in a pastel yellow base. It is just perfect for Spring time. It reminds me of Easter actually although it is fine to wear it during any time you want. It doesn't remind me much of jellybeans as I think of much brighter colours but it does look like the speckled varieties that you can get.

The formula is brilliant. The glitter is suspended really nicely so it isn't a struggle to apply it. I'm wearing two coats in the pictures which achieved full coverage, no base colour needed which I love. I really like the labels too, the chameleon is really sweet.

More photos of it below...

Playing with topcoats

L-R: Models Own Ibiza Mix, Leighton Denny Angel Dust, China Glaze Techno. Base colour Leighton Denny Inkjet.

Jennifer xx

Black and white glitter nail polish

Hi everyone, long time no blogging... I know... bad Jennifer. Anyway, time for a kick up the backside and a new post.

I have noticed a few indie polish brands coming out with glitter top coats which are made up of black and white  glitter. They are not sparkly glitters but still look really really nice. They can be worn over any colour to change how it looks completely and it also gives it nice texture. I've had my eyes on these polishes for a while but it is just so hard to get hold of them as they are made in limited quantities and sell out so fast! I saw a post on Kellie Gonzo's blog - Also Known As (go check it out, it is a great blog) where she showed Nubar's Polka Dot polishes. One is a black glitter containing teeny black glitter and larger hexagonal glitter and the other is a white version. I think they're really nice versatile topcoats and I'm glad I've got them although they've not killed my lemming for Lynnderella's Connect The Dots... Check out Chalkboard Nails for fantastic swatches of it.

I used one coat of them each together for this manicure over the top of China Glaze Aquadelic from the ElectroPop collection.

I purchased the bottles of Nubar Polka Dots from Beautybay for £6.95 each.

Jennifer xx

Pretty and Polished Swing

Today I have a special polish to show you, it is from an indie brand called Pretty and Polished which you can find on Etsy. The brand is owned by Chelsea and she has designed some amazingly gorgeous nail colours which are very unique compared to the mass market brands such as OPI etc. I have been waiting for her shop to reopen for ages and two weeks ago she opened again. I was very excited and stayed up late (Pretty and Polished is based in the US) to place an order so I didn't miss out. I ordered 8 of her mini sized lacquers and they arrived a few days ago. They are absolute stunners, I am so pleased with them. So far, I've only used one which I am showing today, it is called Swing.

Description from Pretty and Polished:

It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing!

This is one Du-Wop of a polish! A red jelly base is home to different sizes of black, white, and silver glitter.

I think it is lovely. It is so different from other colours out there and I love the squishy jelly base. One of my colleagues said it reminded her of a trifle - she thought it looked like raspberry jelly with fruit in it. I've seen quite a lot of nail blogs creating what they call a jelly sandwich where they've used a jelly type polish and sandwiched some glitter between the layers. Swing is like an instant jelly sandwich manicure in a bottle.

The application wasn't as good as I'd have liked. It is quite a runny polish compared to most glitter polishes and the glitter slipped off the brush a lot. I found that putting the bottle upside down for a few minutes beforehand helped to get the glitter to the top so it was easier to get it out with the brush. It is best to do a coat and then scoop the glitter with the brush and dab it on with the second/third coats. I am wearing three coats here and there was no nail line visible.

A bottle of Swing costs $4.75 and contains 7ml of product. They can be purchased on the Pretty and Polished Etsy store here. Currently, Chelsea has no stock available but she says that she is hoping to restock on Sunday.

Jennifer xx

Another Franken

Hi! I have another franken polish that I made a couple of weeks ago. This one is mostly purple but has some gold and lilac hexagonal glitter thrown in and teeny specks of pale purple glitter which flash blue in certain lighting. The purple glitter bled and tinted the clear base but it still worked okay. These pictures make it look a lot more blue than it is, just due to the camera. In real life, it doesn't show much blue at all, only when the light hits it in certain ways.

The base colour I used under this was Deborah Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible which is a purplely jelly.

I love the purple shade, it reminds me of Cadbury chocolate wrappers - if only I'd been able to take accurate photos of it (the bottle shot is better than the nails though). Those of you who don't get Cadburys chocolate where you are, it is in my opinion, the best chocolate.

Source

Speaking of Cadbury, I'm off on a canal holiday next month for a week with my boyfriend's family and we will be going past Cadbury World. I hope we get the chance to stop to visit.

What does this franken remind you of? Again, I'm looking for a name for it if any of you have a good one. I might just call it Chocolate Wrappers but I'm open to better suggestions.

Jennifer xx

My first franken! Tropical Waters

Those of you who are not aware what a franken is, well it is taking different polishes and mixing them together to create your own concoction or making your own colour by adding pigments or glitter to clear polish. It comes from Frankenstein who in the novel gathered different parts to create his monster.

I've seen some gorgeous frankens, some people have even started up their own indie polish brand to sell their creations. I've wanted to try it for a while and finally decided to buy some glitter, bottles, shaking balls and clear polish to try it for myself. I have learnt a lot from doing it and have done a lot of research. My first franken whilst it wasn't a complete fail, (I love how it came out on my nails) I found that the dyes in the glitter bled into the clear polish, tinting the clear base which was unwanted. For the future, I need to find some glitters which are suitable to be mixed with solvents. I also learnt about glitter sinking to the bottom due to it needing a base to keep it suspended, clear polish just doesn't cut it. I can't find suspension bases online in the UK so for my second franken, I used a fine glitter polish and added to it. More on that in my next franken post.

Anyway, this is what I came up with:

I really need to get a macro lens to help with these close ups...

As yet it is un-named. My boyfriend said it reminds him of swimming pool tiles when you look into the swimming pool. I thought it was a really good description. I wont tell you exactly what glitters I used because I don't know which ones caused the colour bleeding and I don't want my readers to potentially waste their money.

The base colour I used under this was Color Club Lumin-icecent which is from the Foiled collection.

So what do you think of my first franken? Does anyone have any name suggestions so I can stick a little label on it to finish it off?

Thanks to The Polish Anon's comment below, I'm now going to call this polish 'Tropical Waters'. 

Jennifer xx