Essie Mirror Metallics - Blue Rhapsody + Essence peel off base coat

Today I'm wearing the 2nd of my Essie mirror metallics, Blue Rhapsody. I knew that I'd be topping this with glitter do I decided to try a peel off base coat that my friend sent from Germany.

The base coat did a good job of smoothing the surface of my nail, as good a job a my ridge filler does. It applied white and dried clear (see picture). I expected this to wear off very quickly but I actually got four days out of it before I got sick of the color and picked at it myself.

As far as the peeling goes, it's not as peel-y as I expected. If you've ever put too much top coat on your nails and had it pop off in large nail shaped pieces then you know what it's like to use this. It more or less came off in big pieces but left no damage to the nail. I liked it and will definitely save it for days I feel like glitter bombs.

Daring Digits Punch Me Purple + Stamping

I refreshed my Essie mani by adding a glitter accent from daring digits and stamping from my cheeky xl plates.

The glitter is called punch me purple, it makes a great layering polish but would've been very difficult to wear by itself. This glitter is very well suspended and dries quickly, I used SV on a few fingers and did get shrinkage so I'd probably recommend wicked fast for this one.

The stamping was done with konad wine red.

Essie Mirror Metallics Nothing Else Metals

I was given two of the Essie Mirror Metallics in a secret gift exchange that I'm a part of. This is Nothing Else Metals, 2 coats + topcoat, it dried a little lumpy so I put one more coat over the topcoat and I was really pleased with it.

Formula on this was pretty good, it wasn't difficult to work with and for a metallic polish there was minimal streaking. Next time I'll probably use a ridge filling base coat though because this shows all the bumps and ridges on my nails

Nails Inc Sprinkles Sweets Way

This is the only other member of the Sprinkles collection that I had to own... Another blogger described it as what she dream Glitter in the Air would be like and I totally agree.

Sweets Way has a milky whitish gray base with just a touch of pink to mess with you. It features very small metallic blue, pink, and silver glitter (in abundance). I used two coats to achieve opacity, this is with cult nails top coat, but this polish really doesn't need it. It dried fairly fast on its own and doesn't get much shinier with top coat.

Nails Inc Mirror Metallic Stratford

Today I'm wearing the other mirror metallic polish that I bought at Sephora. This is Stratford, a pink/gold/green multi chrome. I noticed that this dries to a much more chrome-y finish than Cheyne Walk, this makes it more prone to brush strokes.

To be honest, I didn't like this in the bottle, it looked a little boring. It was a less flashy and looked too frosty. I only bought it because I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket. I was SO wrong! This is just as, if not more, multi chrome as Cheyne Walk and I own nothing else with this particular color shift. It was impossible to photograph, I'm sorry

This is 3 coats + cult nails Wicked Fast

Matte Glitter Franken: '5 Championship Rings'

I love making my own matte glitter polish, when I can't find an indie in the color combo I like I'm too thrilled to make my own. Thanks to a friend I've been calling my creations 'Glitter Kingdom Polish' and this is my newest creation.

This is '5 Championshio Rings' its mt tribute to my favorite basketball player on my favorite team. (Kobe from the Lakers for you non basketball ladies) this is one coat over OPI DS Original

Essence Snow White Collection Evil Queen

As some of you know I've had a few surgeries in the past month and have been busy trying to recover. A very sweet friend of mine knows this and sent me the most wonderful RAOK. She sent ALL of the Snow White glitters, an Essence peel off base coat and the cutest little Dior make up purse. She did all this in the name of a get well present, I was totally floored and am left speechless by her kindness and generosity. I can NOT thank her enough, I was so excited and thrilled when I opened the package.

Without further ado, here's evil queen over OPI DS Original. Evil Queen is a 'special effects' glitter topper, I found that it was best to dab it on in order to get the glitter to spread out evenly. I used one coat of Wicked Fast top coat but am thinking that I should have used SV, wicked fast bubbled.

The Essence limited edition collections are not available for sale in the us. So if you have a friend in Europe you may still be able to get these, otherwise your best bet is a swap.

OPI DS Original

I was gifted this polish as part of a raok swap I participate in... It's freaking made exclusively of win!!! I can not capture how beautiful this polish is in person, it's almost as if a unicorn puked tiny rainbows all over my nails! This is 2 heavy coats + 1 coat of wicked fast

Nails Inc Sprinkles Pudding Lane

I wasn't going to buy this, online swatches had convinced me that it wasn't special enough to need... Then I SAW it in sephora and it somehow came home with me...

Pudding Lane is a creamy baby blue base filled with matte purple and green glitters. It's completely opaque in two coats and dries quickly to a semi matte gritty finish. Pictures show the polish on its own, with a matte top coat, and with SV.

Nails Inc Mirror Metallic Cheyne Walk (pic heavy)

I just picked up 2 of the Nails Inc Mirror Metallic polishes at Sephora last night. This is Cheyne Walk, it's a purple/gold/olive multi chrome with a pearly metallic finish. I'm wearing three coats and no top coat in the pictures. I found the formula to be very easy to work with, thin but not runny and opacity was easy to achieve. I think it looks good with out topcoat, but if you wanted it even shinier I imagine that one coat of SV would do the trick.

There are LOTS of pictures today because I just could not photograph the multi chrome effect accurately. As you can see it varies between brilliant purple to shimmery olive depending on the angle and light. This polish is very pretty and I'm glad I brought it home

Daring Digits Master Shake Reformulated

So, a while ago I wore Master Shake by Daring Digits... I wasn't thrilled because the polish she sent me was a frost rather than the jelly that was pictured in the listing. I emailed the shop owner and inquired as to whether she was going to make the jelly version available again and she was extremely nice and told me that because she didn't modify the listing she would send me a bottle of the jelly version free of charge. I really wasn't looking for a freebie, I would have been more than happy to place a second order.

I was terribly impressed with her customer service, and when the second bottle of master shake came in I was impressed with her polish. The formula was perfect, 2 coats for a squishy but opaque finish that was heavily complimented.

Julep Best Pedi Creme Ever

Warning: product review ahead!

Today I'm going to discuss my experience with Julep's 'Best Pedi Creme Ever.' I got my first bottle of this as part of a multi product swap, really pleased I tried it and a little disappointed that I skipped the box that introduced it.

Julep claims that this 'creme' (I think it has more of a lotion texture) is not only moisturizing but also exfoliating and that you'll see noticeable results in two uses. My skin is very dry and very sensitive but I can usually get away with using even heavily scented lotions and creams on my feet. The only problem with that is that only really heavy creams and butters keep my feet soft. Julep's Creme did as promised and moisturized my feet nicely, I didn't notice dramatic results but I didn't get chapped heels while using this even after a full week in flip flops and a San Diego heat wave. It's got a nice non-greasy lotion texture and a very pleasant LIGHT cucumber mint scent. I love that despite the exfoliants it doesn't have a strong scent nor does it conflict with the scent of my regular moisturizer.

I experienced no adverse reactions to this lotion and PURCHASED another bottle last week. I have encouraged my flip flop loving friends to try it and can recommend it to anyone looking for a good foot cream. My only complaint is the size of the tube, it's only 2 oz. at this size it's a bit spendy if you don't get it during a promo.

Lush Lacquer Mr. Bubble over Zoya Juicy

Today I'm wearing Zoya Juicy topped with Lush Lacquer Mr. bubble. Juicy is a muted raspberry jelly, this is three coats plus SV. Mr Bubble is matte pink, blue, and white hexes in various sizes.

I was really excited about mr bubble, I love the colors and thought the listing showed great density. It took a little over two weeks for my polish to get here, but they do state a 2 week turn around in their policies. I am disappointed at the over abundance of clear base in the polish though, I was expecting a lot more glitter, what you see here is about 3 coats, dabbed on for maximum coverage. I still think this polish is pretty, but it was a let down.