Roundup Time!

Out of My Comfort Zone- Pale Green!

Pale celery/mint greens aren't normally my first choice- vivid yellow greens are, but I've been wearing brights for a few days and wanted to try my first every Philly Loves Lacquer I bought from a blog sale- I Love You a Lime. This was a Holo Grail box offering I managed to snag! I paired it with a few accent nails of KBShimmer Spring Training, a happy crelly full of Eastery glitters which leans a tiny bit more mint (blueish) to me. The scattered holo is hard to see in the PLL but the gold micro flakes are not. Poshe over and I'm office friendly! I used three thin coats of each, LOVE the PLL flat square ended brush!

Anyone Else Jonesing for Summer?

I was really hoping to make my pasty white hands look tan with these KB Shimmer nearly neon shades, You're So Shellfish and Chick Me Out. Alas, no luck, although I do think the brightness detracts and perhaps evens out a bit of the fishbelly blue tone in my skin. Three coats each, normal for these types, Dazzle Dry over. Makes me want to drink rum from a pineapple.

KB Shimmer A Touch of Glass and Spot Sign

Lovely pale/muted blue/seafoam color with a slight shimmer that doesn't translate to the nail. It does make it a bit translucent, so three coats were needed. I accented with Spot Sign, the love-it-or-hate-it "leopard" shaped glitter (depends who you ask). The glitter took three coats of Poshe to cover, so it's not an every day for me. I do really good animal prints with my dotting tools, so this is just a novelty- great for a quick design, and the spots and micro glitter/holo shimmer do make it very unique. The shapes are a dickens to get out of the bottle, so I recommend dabbing them on a sponge to place and help remove some of the clear base, otherwise you're drowning in it before you get more than two or three shapes.

KB Shimmer Misfit- Debbie Does Denim

This is quite the blurpley murky glitter hodgepodge that should really be on the fingers of you-know-who.  I think the blue magenta and purple shiny glitters are very necessary in this mix, although current trends are towards more matte (and round) glitters. Matte wouldn't be able to show through this evening colored soup as well as the shinies. Two easy coats (if I had been a bit more awake there would not be any thin spots) and several layers of topcoat and voila! No pushing or shoving of glitters, no dabbing or rearranging. I AM testing Essence peel off base coat (basically school glue) and will let you know tomorrow if it holds up and peels off as everyone seems to claim.  Not sure why this didn't get into her lineup- even a dedicated purple avoider like myself really likes this one!

Oldest Untried AND 31 Days of Untrieds

KB Shimmer Band Geek (or, as my label says, BanK Geek) was the first one of this indie maker I bought. I also acquired a few others at the same time, and being as it was summer I never pulled this dark beauty out. I also knew application and cleanup were going to be tough, but that's what challenges are for, right!! There are silver, copper and gold glitters in various shapes and sizes in a black jelly base. Two coats plus dabbing- tricky but doable. Two coats of Dazzle Dry over. You can still get your own here.

That's Right, PURPLE!!!

My bestie-I've-never-met Debbie of the one and only Crumpet go here and like has been doing a 30 Days of Purple and in her honor I've decided to try the one purple I think I can wear for a few days, KBShimmer Sugar Plum Faerie. Probably because it has green in it, both holo and shiny lime green hexes in a couple shades and sizes, added to a soft murky light purple crelly base loaded with many sizes and shades of purple and pink glitters.  I have to say, though, this really is an astonishingly complicated and beautiful polish, part of her Winter (Holiday) 2012 collection, available on her site here. I think this makes a total of maybe 12? of Christy's polishes I now own, each one special and wonderful. I used three thin coats, no shoving or placing of glitters, then Gelous and HKGirl topcoat. Purple. Yeah.

Plowing through the Untrieds

I've been accumulating many many glitters and not swatching them :::hangs head in shame::: so this was my night to try a few of them. Apologies for cleanup and cuticles, blah blah blah you know the drill.....

Here was my plan:

 Back row: Orly Frisky, Gumdrop, Green Apple, Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty, Orly Spark

Front Row: KBShimmer Shipwreck, Sonoma 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Glitzology Key Lime, Sonoma Mustard Fields, Glitzology Lemon Crush 

and here are the bases:

and the final pre clean up: Gelous and HK Girl over: (and Essence Glitter base- basically glue-) under:

I used two coats of each base, the best coverage BY FAR was the Orly Gumdrop, almost a one coater. And those glitters! Glitzology leads the pack in glitter coverage- one very easy coat and my nails were completely coated in glitter, the KBS and Sonoma took two and still did not have the coverage- Glitter gals, RUN to etsy and getcha some of these- here! She is currently having a sale for $5 and $3.75 for FULL SIZE!! Glitter payoff is insane-

Disclosure- Key Lime and Lemon Crush were sent for review, the others I purchased for full retail.

Mermaid Tails- Challenge 8/31

Wasn't into nail art tonight, so I looked for some colors to "interpret" the theme- I layered KBShimmer Shipwreck (fitting name!) over Orly Halley's Comet (why did I almost sell this??) Halley's Comet is a beautiful aqua green fleck foil that's thin and perfect in three coats. Shipwreck is one of the most desired of Christy's creations, and rightly so- a turquoise jelly filled with all manner of blue, green, teal purple and holo glitter with a secret ingredient- tiny copper specks. Stunning.
Topcoated with Gelous and Poshe.

Happy Birthday Debbie Crumpet!!

I've been saving these polishes for quite a while- in honor of my bestest-never-met-but-we-are-kindred-spirits friend, the incomparable Crumpet from the UK. She loves purple and squares so I decided to do a {{gag}} purple mani to show her how much I love her. AND I will wear it all day WITH a purple shirt. Now THAT'S love! The base is two coats of the very very purple aEngland Avalon- Debbie reviews it herself here and I'm relieved to see her pics are as blue as mine- there isn't blue in this polish, in fact, it's a pinky purple. Not that cameras care a whit. Two coats that flowed on- first was a bit sketch, second covered, COULD have done three for complete coverage. Accent nails got the now discontinued KB Shimmer The Square- a conglomeration of white, peach, purple, blue and teal squares in a purple jelly base. Cult Nails Wicked fast to top.
Happy Happy Birthday doll!!

Pre cleanup and TC but shows color more true

needed three coast, I think

KB Shimmer Strikes Again! Key Lime Pie!

I got worried when I heard that KB Shimmer here and here was discontinuing some of her polishes. Christy Rose is an amazing body products maker- mainly soaps and polishes. I hadn't gotten all her greens yet, so I ran over the her shop and grabbed up Key Lime Pie before it was gone forever.
Here is her description:

Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts, and green is my favorite color, so I knew I wanted to do a polish inspired by the dessert! I started with a creamy neon green base, and then pumped up the lime with holographic lime glitter and green glitter in two sizes. Gold bar holographic glitter, and gold holo glitter mimic the pie crust, whole white bar, shred and hex glitters are a nice dollop of whipped cream to top off this pie polish. 

All I know is that I am addicted to each and every one of her creations I have tried- they are full polishes in their own rights, much like nerdlacquers, complex and unique. Be on the alert, new collections are in the works for September and November.


This is three thin coats over basecoat. I'm ok with a little VNL I like the jelly neon effect. Two coats of Poshe to smooth.

Quick NOTD!! KB Shimmer- Party!

Challenging application, well worth it (a few red squares picked out with tweezers, shoving the larger pieces around a bit) LOVE the look! Gelous and two coats of SV to cover.

KB Shimmer Vegas Bomb

This polish makes me yearn for a camera and lightbox! I WISH I could show you the realio trulio glitters jammed into this murky yellow pigmented base (with tiny red glitters) Here is her link so you can see what it REALLY looks like! :::sigh:::
Being the frugal polishaholic I am, I layered two thin coats of Vegas Bomb over a couple coats of Sally Hansen Salon Yellow Kitty- a thin, ever so slightly greenish streaky yellow, but the same base as VB. (saving grace with Sally Hansen Salon- LOVE LOVE the wide brush)  KB Shimmer has an amazing talent for making polishes with pigment that don't overshadow the glitters, as well as using amazing base that suspends the glitter perfectly- no digging, very little dabbing.  One coat of prolana Quick and Slick and one of Poshe- smooth except for a very few of the large holo squares.

Pics taken in various lightings