The Lady Varnishes indie polish review

Hello all!! Things have been super busy for me the last few weeks. I got my new line of glitter mixes finished they are now up on ebay my store. There are lots of fun mixes on there so check it out. I have also ordered a bunch of new glitters and items so there are more things to come. I now have a tripod so I will be doing video reviews and hauls, mails calls, when I get my first one up I will link it here. just a little up date for you. Now on to the review.

Today I will be sharing my experience with the Lady Varnishes polish. Her polish can be found on etsy . She sent me these items for review. I received 3 beautiful full sized bottles packaged in cute bags with little charms.

She Bases her colors and lines off of movies, books, tv shows and anything that she likes. My favorite line of polishes is her labyrinth line there are so very pretty and interesting polishes in this line. My all time fave being Castle beyond the goblin City . She was amazing and sent me it. It is a darker grey base with teal micro glitter, gun metal hexies and some really neat looking iridescent glitter in there as well. This color is so creative and soo pretty. I really like grey polishes and teal is one of my favorite colors. this polish has me written all over it. Not to mention that the movie is one of my all time favorite movies.

Castle beyond the goblin city

2 coats with seche vite top coat

Don't mind my ugly hands I was working in the garden and didn't really prep for this polish was just super excited and threw it on :)

It is a pretty thick polish not imposable to work with just takes a little skill. I feel this one is worth the work to apply. It dries in an average time and has more of a matte finish when dried. I only got 2 days wear out of it but I am not blaming the polish I really think I got a bad batch of seche ( I have since bought a new top coat to try)

Tracy M

3 coats one coat seche

A very pretty purple with silver flecks. This one is thick too but very transparent  it took 3 coats to get full coverage. Application takes a little patience but gives a really unique purple in the end . Dried pretty fast on its own and also is a little matte when dry. I wore this one for 5 days with some chipping and tip wear nothing major. ( as I have stated before I am very hard on my hands this is just the wear that I got it may be different for you)

Let him go

2 coats with seche vite

Light metallic blue with blue and gold micro fine glitter. Out of all of them this was the worst as far as being think I had to thin it out with a very runny clear from nyc just to apply it. once thinned out it worked fine good coverage and a very pretty color. I got 4 days of wear out of this one befor it was to damaged to wear.

Besides them being thick these are great polishes and she has something for every one at her shop. I haven't tried her pure glitter polish so I can not say anything about them other then she has some that look really cool. She goes the extra mile in packaging each one comes with a matching charm and in a cute little matching bag. Each one is wrapped in bubble wrap and sent in a bubble mailer. She even has scents to add to them each one of mine was scented but I could not place the sent and she couldn't remember what she added but they did smell good and the sent lasted for a few days.

Here is all her info. So if you are looking for something unique check out her store! You wont be disappointed. She even has a line of doctor who polishes for all you  fans.

SickLacquers indie polish review

Hello everyone,  tonight I bring you my review of 2 polishes by Sicklacquers. SickLacquers is owned by Peggie and Jonathan their shop can be found on etsy I will give you all the links later in the review.  When I started this blog not that long ago I knew I wanted to do reviews on indie polish. I contacted Peggie asking her if I could do a review of her polish and she agreed. I was soo excited my first true review!!! So to Peggie and Jonathan Thank you for this I hope you like what I have to say. On to the review...........

I was sent 2 brand new not even in their store polishes. They arrived in a bubble mailer each one wrapped in bubble wrap nice and safe. All good there. She included like I said 2 mini polishes, 2 stir sticks and her card with all info.

The glitter polishes she sent me were Grapes and Ocean Tides. There is tons and I mean tons of glitter in each one of these. 
I will start with Grapes as that was my fav and the first one I wore. Grapes has a mixture of metallic, matte and holographic glitter, in a wide array of colors. If you just thought about the colors and finishes and sizes together you wouldn't think they worked together but they do and they do it well. There is a lot going on in this one but it isn't over whelming or a jumbled mess.
  2 shades and sizes of matte purple hexies,matte light green hexies,2 shades of micro green , micro gold, holographic pick squares and hexies and blue bars.

one coat of grapes over black, white and clear polish with no topcoat.

It is very hard to actually catch all the colors in this one believe me I tried.

It is sooo pretty and funky I LOVE IT!!

I did give it a good shake and a stir before I started.  I didn't need to re shake the bottle a lot during painting, once in between hands. For a chunky glitter polish this was super easy to apply one stroke magic if you will. The glitter stayed nicely in the polish with out lifting up or causing to much texture.  I used one coat of sache vite and it was smooth as glass. I wish I could tell you how long and how durable it is but sadly I can not. Remember I said I used sache vite yeah in less the 24 hours this lovely polish was popping off in chunks. I do not feel that it was the glitter polish at all but my sache as my last 10 manicures have done this. I am not a fan of sache right now! SO I will try this one again and will update you guys as to its wear and tear. Other then the sache problem I enjoyed this one a lot and would totally recommend it to any one.

Ocean tides is the other one she sent me, and this is almost all glitter. All the glitter is matte giving it a more subdued look and feel and even the colors are muted with just a bit of teal for a pop of color. In the bottle I didn't care for it to much but when I put it on I fell for it.

Light blue medium squares, small light blue hexies, large pale green hexies and medium teal hexies.

2 coats over black, white and clear 1 coat top coat

I found this one to be dryer then grapes making it slightly harder to apply and get a nice coverage. when I said this one had a lot of glitter I meant it and I think that's why it is soo dry. Other then It being a hair more difficult to apply and needing 2 coats this was a very nice glitter also. The glitter laid flat, didn't add a lot of texture (glitter texture like sand paper drives me nuts and I have to get it off my fingers) And most importantly this manicure lasted!! Dry time wasn't bad either like 10 min on the swatches I did.

2 coats wet and wild white with 2 coats ocean tides top coat sache vite ( see the bubbles? I think I got a bad bottle or something) Day one

Same manicure day 5, mind you I was gardening, did tones of house work (spring cleaning) and I have 2 kids under the age of 4 so I am really hard on my hands. A manicure chips on me in the first 24 hours and I can maybe get 3 days before its to bad. This one would have lasted longer but I got board and wanted something new :)

So over all I am happy with them both and can say that I would buy more from SickLacquers. I did talk to Peggie and she informed me that they do custom orders a lot. SO if you don't see what you like contact her she may be able to make it for you as she does pigments also. She also told me that for the most part all polish is made to order I found that kind of interesting. They sell 5 ml bottles for 3.50 and and 15 mls for 7 bucks shipping starts at 2 bucks. Also they are 3 free. SO if you are looking for something new or have an idea check them out at SickLacquers on etsy. They also just started a pinterest or you can friend them on facebook.

I hope you all found this informative and if you have any suggestions or questions let me know. Thanks for reading.

Small sale polish haul with swatches!

So I got these last weekend and just haven't been able to post until now. Sorry about the delay I have been super super busy getting my new line of glitter mixes ready for sale. I am just waiting on my acrylic order and I will get those posted for you all.  Back to the polishes.
I got these first four at meijers.

Black Satin 430

I have never used a RIMMEL nail polish so I can not say weather or not I like them. These were on sale I think 20% off plus I had a dollar off coupon so I think it was like 2 bucks. I did use this right away, I was going to see if it really did last as long as stated but do to an issue with my top coat.. I feel victim to seche Vite's shrinkage and didn't even know thats what is was. My last 10 manicures have had issues and I thought it was for different reasons. But after doing some research I found out it was Seche. Oh how I hate to love you. So due to some minor complications it only lasted less the 24 hours. I found that it needs 2 to 3 coats to get a good coverage it is a very thin polish. I will redo my nails with this again in the future and let you know how long it really last.

3 coats with china glaze top coat in sunlight

New Years kiss and Rock'n'Roll from Fergie

These were on sale by one get one. I got both for around 3 bucks. I tested both of these on one nail and found them very gritty almost like sandpaper. when I swatched them out 2 thick coats of china glaze topcoat later and they were still pretty textured. I have yet to do my nails with them. They have pretty good coverage with just one coat and are not to thin or to to thick. Very easy to apply. I cant say that I like or don't like at this point but I can say that the texture thing bugged me all day until I took the polish off.

2 coats rock'n'Roll with 2 coats cg topcoat in sunlight

2 coats New Years Kiss with 2 coats CG topcoat in sunlight

Lexington Yellow

I just grabbed this one because I have been looking for a yellow for a gradient manicure I want to do. Yellow is a very hard color to find the right shade in. This one isn't a bright yellow but not a pale yellow either. It kinda looks like lemon yellow I guess? Not really the shade I wanted but close enough. I think it was 1.97 maybe cheaper.

2 coats with CG topcoat with flash ( its a little more mute then this shows)

The Next three were Clearance steals at Walgreens.

Mesmerizing Magenta ( Limited edition)

I am not a huge pink person but this one is soo pretty. A nice bright pink with purplelish shimmer to it. I did my little ones nails with this one. It covers very nicely and one her lasted for 24 hours. That's pretty good seeing as most last like and hour. shes 3 and picks at her nails but I cant get away with not doing her nails when I do mine. I cant wait to use this one on myself. On clearance for 1.13 from 7.99.

2 coats with CG topcoat with flash to so sparkle  true to color.

OK these last 2 are very very close but are not the same..... Don't judge me... They arnt the same I swear. :)

Drop dead gorgeous and the queens ambition by loreal

I love galaxy nails and do them on myself alot at least once a month. I have been looking for a perfect black for the background and did I ever. I found two!

drop dead gorgeous 2 coats with CG clear

The Queens ambition 2 coats with CG clear

side by side

As you can see they are totally different. Drop dead has a finer sparkle to it and the queens ambition is a little bigger. Both of them are soo pretty and would make perfect star fields for galaxy nails I just had to get them both and at 1.49 a piece Why not! Right? Normally 6.99.

Over all it was a good nail polish haul day.

On a side note. I know so far it has been alot of hauls and mail calls that is soon to change. I am just starting out and have alot of things in the works for you all I swear! I have a few indie polish reviews coming one will be posted Sunday or Monday night I am just waiting on the shop owner to post them so I can post my review. I also have some nail art tutorials I am editing there is also alot of other things in the mix. I have a problem with time management so for that I am sorry but I promise things are just getting good and will continue to get better so just stick with me here.  Also I am going to try my hand at videos Tri pod is on the way! v

Weekend mail call

Over the weekend I received a few of my orders along with a set of indie polishes to review. I wont post the polishes until the review is done and their owner is notified that I am posting so she can put them up in her store as they are brand new and not even listed yet. But I promise you will love them because they are awesome!

I received the last 30 3d molds that I ordered off of aliexpress. Can I just tell you that I love these 3D molds there is soo much you can do with them and you can use them for more then nails. I do custom cell phone cases and little bit of deco den and some of these molds are perfect for that. Also I have read and seen that you can use resin and hot glue in the molds. I have some duplicates so I think I am going to try poly clay in there also, but sometimes the poly clay can ruin things that are plastic so That is why I am using a dupe.

I am super excited about getting my swatch wheels as using tips was getting really old and for some reason were ending up all over the house. im going to assume that it was my cat stealing them. I got 20 for 4 bucks shipped on ebay. check out steals and deals for the link.

I also got my order of what should have been hallow stars but they sent the wrong ones and I got hearts. I am not that upset as they were still a really good price 1.34 a piece and I can use them but I still want my stars. Looks like I am going to have to contact them and see if I can get the stars.

Today as I am writing this I got my order of dual forms. I am soooo excited about these. I make custom glitter mixes and wanted a no fuss no muss way to show what they look like in acrylic and these look like they may be what I am looking for. I got a set of 100 for 2.40 shipped. Now only if my acrylic would come I have been waiting for that order for a month now :( I have 20 something mixes that I need to sample and get online. So hopefully soon.

Practice finger tutorial

 I have been missing for a few days because I was getting a bunch of future post together. I have a few tutorials that are done and ready to be posted. A few haul days and a few mail calls. Also I received  some polishes for review so that will be coming up as well. Today I am going to show you a tutorial and a mini mail call.

I ordered practice fingers from ebay I mentioned them in my steals and deals posting  last week. I got 10 for like 3 bucks. Well I am still pretty new to all this and didn't realize that there were 2 kinds of fingers. I got the ones that you cant really glue a tip to I guess they are more for nail forms. I am no wear near that level yet. I figured they were useless to me but after some thinking and looking at them I figured out a way to use them with tips or full well nails and be able to remove your work in one piece with out any damage. As you know the fingers have that hump in the middle of the nail bed, and you cant really use the fake nails with them. Here is what you do to be able to use any nails that you have and save your work.


Supplies:
Very simple supplies for this one.
practice finger
Any rough nail file you have lying around. I used one from a 4 pack that I got at the dollar store.
Nail glue
Nail tips. I found that size 3 tips worked the best for what I had on hand.

This is a very simple process. Take your practice finger and find the highest part of the hum, then take your file and file it down so that it is flatter giving it a more natural look. It doesn't take much to get it where you need  it, so don't go crazy. Keep checking every so often, you don't want it to get to flat.

The left is the one I did the right the original. As you can see it is flatter and mor4 natural looking but not way flat still has a little curve to it.

Just another comparison shot.

The next part is all preference. Like I said I found that size 3 tips worked the best for me. I have no full well nails so I could not find the size for them.

Place glue on the nail tip in the well and a little past it onto the actual tip.

Push the tip into the grove a little so that the end is in there. You can go as far back or as forward as you like as long as the end is in the well completely. Apply pressure to the nail tip so that it bonds to the finger. Some time you may need to do this twice. Once the glue is dry you now have a finger with a nail that you can work on, file do what ever you need to do.

When you are done with your nail art just apply upward pressure under the nail give a little wiggle and it pops right out. No damage to your art and your finger is ready for another go.

I am sure there are a million ways to do this. I just used what I had on hand and figured it out that way. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to contact me. :)

A little of everything

So today I have a manicure, a review and some frankin polish for you. A few weeks ago I ordered some kleancolor nailpolsih off of eBay. I haven't seen it in any store around me and was in love with a few of the colors , ok a more then a few. I got 24 colors for 35 bucks shipped. I was soo excited and in love with the color selection that I was going to order another 24. I decided to wait until I got my order and I am glad I did. I will get to why in a minute. Lets start with my manicure.

Just a simple polish job today as I was feeling a little lazy last night and it was late. The base is kleancolor #14 neon aqua. coated with a glitter polish of my own creation called Static age ( more on that to come) with seche as my top coat.

With the flash it is more true to color.
So this is where I run in to my problem and dislike of kleancolor. I have done my nails multiple times with this stuff and every time I find another reason not to like it. I am in love with the black chunky halo and would wear it all the time but its funky! I used a quick dry oil on it one time, and it turned hazy. the glitter in it lost all color and shine and the black jelly turned into a milky grey color. Very ugly looking,  Strike one! I used another color a week later and it never really set even with seche and a quick dry oil. On top it was dry to the touch but wrinkled and moved even after an hour of dry time. Strike two! Well not wanting to admit that this stuff sucked I tried again last night. I did my nails at about 11 pm last night was in bed by midnight. Everything was looking good. I didn't turn hazy it was dry completely I was in the clear. NOT! By 9 am today it was popping , not chipping here and there no, the entire polish was coming of in one sheet.

By 11 am it was completely off.

I have never run into this problem ever. Not even with the cheapest of polish. It was like it shrunk. It was really hard also. So I am calling it strike 3 and its out!! I would not recommend this product to any one. Its sad to because I love the colors, they are super easy to apply and have great coverage. So I am bumed. What to do with 24 colors of polish that suck?? Maybe I will try again one day just not right now. I am to angry at it.

Now one to some frankin polish!! I love so many of the indie polishes out there and one day I will own a ton but right now I don't own any (sad face) Hubby wont let me buy them until I sell more of my glitter mixes. He says I have to support my own habit. I was just turned on to indie polishes like 3 months ago and have been drooling over some of them since. I have done a bunch of reading on what goes into them and all, thinking that it might be something I would like to get into. So when I got some glitter off of ebay that wasn't quite what I expected I knew just what to do with it.:) I had some glitter wet and wild that I didn't really like so I used it as a base and made something that I did like and would wear.

The first is Static age. A mix of matte black and white squares, hex, bars and random flake in a small halo base. I love this polish for what it is but would love one that didn't have the halo glitter in it. Maybe its time to invest in some glitter base clear so I can do it right, or maybe I should just buy that one I have had my eye on for awhile.

I threw together one last weekend and wore it for a few days and yup you guessed it I LOVE IT!!!

I haven't named it yet :(Its a mix of electric blue, lavender, whit,e and black in a halo glitter base so amazingly pretty in the bottle and on my nails!!

One coat over different polishes. Isn't it pretty??

2 think coats of it over a clear nail. It looks good on its own or as a top coat. It is one of my favorite glitter polishes. I have to say with my very small step into frankin polish land that I do like it and maybe one day would like to do it on a bigger level but for now I am happy just playing with it and using up stuff that I couldn't use for my glitter mixes.

Well there you have it ladies, you got a review a manicure and some frankin polish all in one posting. talk about killing 2 birds with one stone.

Weekend haul

Hello everyone. I was going to post this on saturday but I got a amazing suprize. My husband had the weekend off. This is a big deal as he works 7 days a week, 12 hour shifts and nights. We get about 20 min a day togather as he is asleep or at work while me and the Well any ways on to why you are here, The haul for the weekend.

Normally I have a set rotation of stores that I go to . In a week I will visit Joanns, hobby lobby, dollar castle ( local huge dollar store) micheals, and the chain dollar store. For some reason I am drawing a blank on the name I think it is family dollar. I check the clearance as joanns has some amazing clearance, or I use coupons to stock up on items that I use alot of in my glitter mixes. I set out on Saturday to do the "craft trap" where I visit everyone of these stores in a day. But on my way out I decided to visit Crafts 2000. Its a discount craft store. I don't go here very often as they are 31 miles from my house and about a 30 min drive. I save these trips for about once every 6 months.
Well let me tell you This trip was soooooo worth it. I found some amazing and I mean  amazing deals. Like a 12 pack of Martha Stewart mylar glitter for ......... 4 bucks! Yeah ladies that's right I said 4 whole dollars. Or how about a 12 pack of Martha Stewart metallic bars for...... 3.50. I got the 12 pack of neon glitter for 7 bucks. They were running a sale on all Martha Stewart crafts. They are already cheaper then joanns and micheals  for example the neon pack is 24.99 at Joannas and 19.99 at Micheals at crafts 2000 they are 15.49. That is there everyday price pretty good as I pay that at joanns with a coupon. There sale was 50 % off all Martha Stewart. I didn't know this when I got some of my packs but they were on clearance and the discount applied to them . I got 4, 12 packs of Martha glitter for 18 bucks. That is cheaper then one pack at micheals. So pretty amazing deal if you ask me and the great thing was that they were ones that I needed and wanted.

I also got some storage at some really good prices. 2 packs of small square stack able containers. Each pack contains 10 containers. I got them both for a buck!

They are the perfect size for small nail art items or for glitter. I also found a compartmented container for my 3d molds for 1.10. It is the perfect size and will fit all 90 of my molds. And I can even put them by category.

I don't know what I am going to do with the last container I got but it was 1.47 and has 4 pull out multi compartmented containers, and even a handle to carry them. I don't have a use right this second but I will come up with one I am sure. You can never have to much storage.

There glitter selection wasn't that big, but they did have things that I have never seen in other crafts stores. I picked up a couple of new glitters. The most unique and expensive one is a crushed glass glitter .

It has such an amazing sparkle to it. I am betting it can add sparkle to matte glitters with out adding metallic glitters or extra color to mixes. I have already used it in a mix and the light catches the glass just right. I got a large jar for 3.40.  But you do have to be careful as it is glass.

I got 2 white glitter tubes that are iridescent I got them because of there shape. They arnt square or uniform in shape thet are more like small flakes. One is white and one is more clear each was 1.10. I also found a tube of large red hex glitters in there dollar bins.

In there dollar bins I also found tubes of micro beads for 50 cents I picked up all the colors they had available. 50 cents for 36 grams is a very very good deal.

There is a clear, metallic purple, clear purple and clear multi color.

I also picked up a few items for scrap booking.  My total for everything was 39 bucks with tax. While checking out I got some high dollar coupons for later this month and was informed that their loyalty card that is 20 bucks a year and gives you even more off everyday is going to be free that same day. So I will be going back in a few weeks.

I know that you are all wondering about the store. They are very limited on numbers of stores and are not located in a lot of states under the name crafts 2000 but they are also Pat Catans in some states so if you have either one of these in your area and are looking for some good deals check them out!! You wont be disappointed they have everything minus fabric, and they are bigger then most Joann's and Micheals.

I did go to joanns but only picked up a package of cards to mail out my glitter mixes in. I used a 15% off total purchase coupon and the item was 30% off already. I got 24 thick glitter cards with envelopes normally 5.99 for 3.29 with tax. I had to go grocery shopping and the kids were getting cranky so I didn't hit the other stores.