Squarehue April 2013: Bloom Collection Swatches

I Bought This

SquareHue is a nail polish subscription box, like Julep Maven, except everyone gets the same colors and the colors are limited edition.  They are exclusive to that month and you can't get those colors any other way except through that box.  The box is $21 per month and a portion of your subscription is donated through their HueGive program, which is currently focusing on human trafficking.  The donations go towards prevention awareness, protection of trafficked victims, and prosecution of human traffickers.

After seeing all the great March SquareHue boxes, I was really tempted to sign up...so I did.  So I have swatches of my first ever SquareHue box today!  When I saw the theme of this month's SquareHue box, I was expecting at least 1 pink polish, so it was quite surprising to find none when I opened the box.  Nevertheless, these colors are still very Spring-y!

Click for swatches. :)

SWATCH & REVIEW: Pahlish - Partridge in a Pear Tree

Happy New Year guys!  Sorry for the lack of posts lately!  I got busy with last minute shopping and gift wrapping right before Christmas, and then I kinda took a break from the internet, lol.  So I failed at the challenge, but I'm still planning to upload my last 3 days of the challenge sometime during this month.  After Christmas, I really didn't do much of anything the last week of the year except bum and catch up on some TV.  No swatching time at all! o_o;;

But I'm up and running again.  Today I have Partridge in a Pear Tree which is from Pahlish's holiday collection.  This is the one that first caught my eye when she released this collection.  I think it's a pretty polish that's complex and quite unique.  Also, it's very festive for the holidays!

This has a linen colored jelly base with fine red shimmer, burgundy hex glitter, and green square glitter.  I used 3 coats to achieve the opacity above.  It was easy to apply and I had no problems with glitter application (didn't have to do any fishing).  Overall, a nice polish and I really recommend picking it up while it's still available!  You can find it at her etsy shop.

SWATCH: China Glaze - Winter Holly (12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge)

This is a bit late, but for day two of the 12 Days of Christmas Nail Challenge, I have Winter Holly from China Glaze's Holiday Joy collection.  This is a clear base filled with lots of green, gold, and holographic micro glitter.  It's really pretty, and I don't think my camera capture the full effect of the glitter.

3 coats polish, 1 coat seche vite

3 coats of polish, 2 coats seche vite

This applied very patchy for me at first, and I had quite a few bald spots, but it evened out after the third coat.  I still had problems with the tips though, for some reason, especially my ring finger in these pictures.  The polish just did not want to apply, so it looks like I have tip wear already.  :(  It dried to a rough, gritty finish, so I would say you definitely need a top coat.  But 1 coat was not enough to completely smooth it over, so I used 2 coats of Seche Vite.

Julep Maven: October 2012

I'm back with my October Julep Maven box.  I almost skipped this month, because most of the boxes came with crackle, and I didn't like the 1 box that didn't have crackle.   The crackle trend is pretty much dead, IMO, and I think many people felt the same way because Julep came out with another option this month and that is the Maven's Choice box.  It came with 3 creme polishes from the October boxes, but no drops.  I really wanted to try the drops, so I debated whether to get the American Beauty box or the Maven's Choice box.  The American Beauty box came with a dusty indigo creme polish named Eloise and an orange crackle named Sabrina, which I thought was a pretty unique color for a crackle and was the reason I was thinking of getting it.  But then I decided it would be better to just get Maven's Choice and add on the drops, since I was also going to add on Sofia anyway.  And ta-da:

l-r: lisa, eloise, keira, sofia, quick dry drops

Julep included several extras this month.  As you can see in the last picture, there's glitter!  I got orange and black, which is perfectly fine with me because it's October and those will be great for Halloween.  But I know some people got white and silver, which would have been nice and more versatile.  The other extra was candy corn, which is a Halloween staple, but I'm not a fan of it.  I'll probably give it away.  Anyway, I hope to do swatches soon!  At the very least, I will do skittle swatches if I can't do full hand swatches right away.

Also, I was playing with lighting and angles and stuff today, so that I can try to be better about swatching and photographing for this little blog.  (Maybe you can tell, by some of the over-brightness of the photos, lol.)  That's one of the main reasons my blogging schedule is so wonky.  By the time I get home from school and/or interning, it's already dark.  And that'll be even more so with winter coming up.  Can't believe it's already October!!

Until next time~

SPOTTED: Sinful Colors Fall Fairy Tale Enchanted Collection (Fall 2012)

So I've been on the hunt for the Barely Beige Color Tattoo from the Maybelline Scene on the Runway limited edition collection.  I know, I know...I'm a bit late hunting for them now.  But I didn't think I was going to get them.  That changed over the course of time, as I saw more and more swatches.  Anyway, long story short, I haven't found it yet!  It seems to be sold out everywhere.

However, I did spot something new at Rite Aid!  The Sinful Colors Fall collection called Fall Fairy Tale: Enchanted.

The colors from left to right: Inkwell, Muse, Smokin, Rain Storm, Last Chance, In the Mist, Mesmerize, and Jungle Trail.

Close up of Inkwell, Muse, Smokin', and Rainstorm.

Inkwell looks to a be a purple-black color, Muse is a dusty gray-purple color that has become very common, Smokin' looks to be a straight up concrete gray color, and Rainstorm is a dusty blue color.

Close up of Last Chance, In the Mist, Mesmerize, and Jungle Trail.

Last Chance is a dark forest green color, In the Mist is a dusty gray-green color, Mesmerize is a dusty blurple (blue-purple), and Jungle Trail is a light gray-putty color.

All of the polishes seem to be creme finishes.  As you can tell from my color descriptions, a lot of the colors have dusty and/or grayish quality to them, which I like.  But I don't think the colors are overly unique, and I didn't pick anything up this time around.  However, I am thinking about going back for In the Mist and Mesmerize.  Also, Last Chance and Rainstorm are repromotes.  The rest are new, I think.  

Ok, actually, I picked up Rainstorm from Walgreens yesterday.  But that was before I found out about this collection, so that doesn't technically count as picking something up from this one. :P  It was part of my big SC Walgreens haul (yay 99 cent sale!), and I'll have swatches of it up soon!

Are you thinking of getting anything from this collection?  Or any other Fall collections?  I think Fall collections are some of the best collections of the year!

SWATCH: Zoya - Apple

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I haven't posted a swatch in a while, so I thought I'd show you what I painted my nails today.  Since St. Patrick's Day is a day for wearing green, I decided to go with the obvious choice.  I picked Zoya's Apple because it's a bright green with fine gold glitter.  Reminds me of shamrocks and gold!  Perfect right?  Application was smooth and easy, though formula was a bit sheer.  It took me 3 coats to achieve opacity.

Unfortunately, not the best of pictures due to weather.  Had to make do with the lighting in between the rain and overcast skies.  Hopefully I'll remember to swatch this again on a sunny day and will be able to post it again. :]

Hope everyone is having a fun day!

SWATCH+REVIEW: Chanel Peridot

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope everyone who's celebrating is having a wonderful holiday!  Today, I'm sharing my Thanksgiving mani which is Chanel Peridot.

I got this for my birthday this year, from one of my closest friends.  I had wanted this polish for several reasons: one, Peridot is my birthstone, and two, it's so pretty!  But I couldn't justify the $25 price tag...and I was so surprised to get it for my birthday!  I have such amazing friends! :)

This polish is a gorgeous golden green color, changing depending on the angle.  The formula was great to work with and it applied beautifully.  Love love love it!!

Gorgeous isn't it? ♥

I'm so thankful for my family and amazing friends; so grateful for the roof over my head, the food on the table, and all that I was blessed with.  Again, Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm off to my Thanksgiving feast soon~  Hope everyone stays warm and safe, if you're planning on Black Friday shopping!

Nubar Verde

The stain is gone, and I'm getting back into swatching! :)  First swatch since the staining incident is my first Nubar polish!  I got it from a local nail supply shop and had the hardest time picking out which color I wanted.  There were so many pretty ones, but this one here is called Verde.  As you can probably tell from the name, it is a green polish.  I'm not exactly sure how to describe it except as a very dark green with an almost a foil finish.  It has a lot of subtle golden shimmer that doesn't seem to want to show up in the pictures.  Another polish whose true beauty was hard to capture!  

The formula was great with this and took only 2 coats to achieve opacity.  I can't wait to get my hands on more Nubar!  I already have a wishlist going, and the next one I plan to buy is Indigo Illusion. ^^