PinkDipsyBulle Franken Polish - Queen Conch, Golden Apple, Nebula and Lady of the Lake Swatches & Reviews

GUYS HEY!

I'm 23 weeks pregnant yesterday and I can no longer bend over without grunting. So, anyway...

I actually have some swatches for you today! That is your reward for still subscribing to my junk... you get to see some stuff sometimes. Quality blogging, right there!

*Hallelujah Chorus interlude*

It's no secret that I'm a total PinkDipsyBulle fangirl, and I could not have been more excited to review some polish at the request of The Shimmer Wizard herself (which I'm going to call her from now on... sorry). If you'll recall, my first favorite indie polish ever was Indian Ocean and it continues to reign as champion of my heart; it's also the only polish in my entire (kind of pathetic, comparatively) 300-ish bottle collection that I have a backup of. That being said, my fanatic raving is completely genuine and honest.

First up is Queen Conch, a cool-toned bubblegum pink with electric blue flash. Good formula on this guy; the brushstrokes are much less apparent in person than the OttLite picture would have you believe, so don't let that deter you. The blue flash is also more flash-tastic in real life, of course.

Shown below is three thin coats with topcoat.

Sunlight

Sunlight

OttLite

Sunlight

Next stop: Golden Apple, a soft mint green with bright golden flash that seriously glows on the nail. The way this dude looks in the bottle makes me want to eat it... it looks as though maybe it would taste like the best, like, magic taffy in the universe. Can we just pretend there's any amount of sense in that? Thanks. So, uh, yeah... I've always wanted a shade like this but none that I've found that were similar (mint base/golden flash) had enough oomph, you know? Another good formula, also less brushstroke-y in reality.

Shown below is three coats with topcoat.

Sunlight

Sunlight

OttLite

Sunlight

OttLite

Now we're at Nebula, one of three recently released multichrome toppers. This guy shifts between violet to blue to teal, and has gold to green shifting glitters. Pretty much bottled divinity, if you wanted to know how I really felt.
A bit on the thicker side but not in an unreasonable way, which made for an easier application as I only needed one steady coat to achieve righteousness. If this polish doesn't make your extremities tingle even a tiny bit then I don't even know if we can be friends anymore.

Shown below is one coat with topcoat over black.

Sunlight... kinda

OttLite

OttLite

Shade

Shade

OttLite

And lastly, we have Lady of the Lake, a grape-violet jelly base with bright blue shimmer. Reminds me of Rescue Beauty Lounge - Scrangie, except with a cooler, jelly-er base. A bit less opaque than the first two, I was still able to build to opacity in three coats. Lady of the Lake is a limited edition polish (read: she's only going to make a handful so I suggest jumping all over that noise if you want it). The blue shimmer in this is effing glorious -- it almost reads as a duochrome in some lights, and it has this sparkle that is just so yes.

Shown below is three coats with topcoat.

Sunlight

Sunlight

OttLite

Shade

Sunlight

Sunlight

So, right? And she has a whole shop full of polishes like these -- here! Each goes for $6 for 10 mL and they're 3-free. She's also releasing two other limited edition polishes along with Lady of the Lake and they're also gorgeous, and that's all you get to know.

On a side note: my pinky nail snapped in half the day after I was asked to swatch these, so I kept the nail in order to glue it back on for swatch purposes, but then I lost the damned nail. So I'm wearing a false nail for the photos which is why it looks kind of bizarre compared to the rest of my nails, in case you noticed that. Poor little freak-nail. 

Well maybe I'll see you around soon, you know? I'm still buying crap-tons of polish, just not swatching them so much these days. I've been workin' from home, with two endlessly energized children and the third in my belly, making not taking naps pretty much not an option if I get the opportunity. 

Oh, by the way, he's a boy. A little boy without a name yet and he's currently kicking me just to the right of my belly button. THERE IS A SMALL HUMAN BEING LIVING INSIDE OF MY BODY. It seriously doesn't get any less freaky the second time around. Pregnancy is SO WEIRRRRDD.

I used to seriously get gaggy thinking about just having organs. A HUMAN. Anyway. Hope you're all well. I miss you. XOXOX

Orly - Just Peachy Swatch

Don't go getting used to this two-days-in-a-row crap. Der Boyfreuden is working late tonight, the kids are asleep and I only have like 20 more minutes of the finale of Top Chef Season 10 so I was all like, "Oh I know, I'll swatch this polish that I've had for-ehhh-ver".

I put up a DISO* post in a nail polish facebook group I'm part of, basically begging for Orly - Just Peachy. Remember that whole thing, like six months ago or whatever? A darling babe actually sold it to me, under the conditions that I would neither 1. resell it for any sort of profit and 2. not love it. Cool man, right?

Just Peachy is kind of a tricky polish in that it was never a part of any collection by Orly but rather manufactured without hitting the market and instead sent to discount retailers like TJ Maxx (or possibly only to TJ Maxx... I don't know that I've heard Just Peachy being spotted anywhere besides) which is d to the umb because it's freaking DANG. You've got this bright, warm pink base packed to heck with gold shimmer, right? And it's a texture polish too, which you and I both know that I am ALL about, girlfriend.

Shown below is two coats with topcoat under OttLite. I added topcoat because it brings out the color of the shimmer in photos.

Ughhh. I can't wait to use my regular watermark font again, side note. Pretty fabulous though, right? And I'm starting to really love the shape of my nails, now. Plus they're super good for scratchin'. Super happy I got my grabby-hands on this little friend without having to cut off my foot or whatever bizarre sacrifice I was willing to provide to the giver-of-the-polish.


*Desperately In Search Of, ya donk.

Sinful Colors - Eva So Bright Swatch & Review

1. We're all moved-in to our new house.

2. I'm using my old computer again which means the new font I downloaded for my watermark isn't, uh, in use yet (because, okay, my boyfriend is doing this really top-secret computer nonsense and has been for a few months now... He's not a big 'keep secrets from Brandy' kind of guy, so I have this inkling that it has to do with some sort of future proposal, but I'll keep you posted. Oh anyway I have my own user account or whatever on this computer, but my permissions are limited and we keep forgetting to have him edit them. Stuff's password protected so I can't go snooping around on his account. No, it's not porn related either, which I know you were probably thinking).

3. After three small tears on two nails, I decided to reshaped my tiny claws. I present to you:

Tah Dahhhhhh!

They're actually kind of the perfect shape for me regarding how often they tear, but also super bizarre because I've always been a squoval kind of girl. I don't know that I'm necessarily the type of lady to be able to appropriately pull off the sass, but whatevs. Better than nubs, riiiiight?

So I got my PinchMe box a few days ago and I was able to snag a Sinful Colors for it. That's how I got this polish, yeah? Free as heck.

Eva So Bright is a, uh, bright pink/coral creme with a surprisingly good formula -- no streaks, dawgs! My photograph sort of makes it look like it has a fine pink shimmer, but it really is just a straight creme. Self-leveling and super shiny, to boot! I wish all Sinful Colors performed this well.

Shown below is three thin coats (no topcoat) in direct sunlight.

Yeah, sorry about the one picture. I mean, you get the idea though. In other news, I'm starting to show a baby bump a little bit these days. Truth be, it's still mostly food-dependent, but at least I'm pretty unmistakably pregnant now and not just paunchy, which I'm generally pretty okay being anyway. This was taken after a delightful dining experience at a Hibachi restaurant called Yukiho which is located freaking four minutes down the road. They, soon, will know me by name.

You can't tell that well from the picture, but our bathroom wallpaper is this super-faded pink and metallic silver seahorse/shell print that I love and hate equally. I would like it more if it wasn't accompanied by a pink tile border, maybe. Redoing the bathroom is high on our list of cosmetic improvements for our little bungalow. Where did that name come from, btw? Bungalow.

All right, buddies. See you next time.

Funky Fingers - All The Rave, Drop The Bass and Glowstick Swatches & Reviews

Okay! No more blog hiatus (holy sh what an awful word combo).

Today I have three neon shimmers from !!! Five Below again. I knoooooooooooow. They're just so cheap. How could I not? Three for five bones, if you didn't somehow know. And these, especially, are AWESOME. Cheap polish, as a generalization, is a gamble when it comes to quality.  However, I am absolutely in LOVE with these. What sets these guys apart from your standard highlighter brights is that they have shimmer. Oooo. Aaahh.

Little Bottles of Love [Actually!]

So I don't have to say the same dang thing over and over again, the formula on these three are all the same, and are all great: opaque in 2 easy coats. They dried with a touch of matte so I used topcoat. They're also swatched over Funky Fingers - Gesso (pronounced jess-oh... thanks art school) which is a decent opaque white. Oh my godddd these were somucheasiertoswatchthantheeffingessiesuuuuggggg.

Also they're all taken under OttLite cuz direct sunlight gave my camera seizures. :(

...

First up is All the Rave (are raves still a thing? God, I'm so sheltered. I used to wear about a million chunky neon plastic bracelets when I was 15 and that was the extent of my rave phase, ha ha. I was really into band is the kind of girl I was, so) which is a cool-toned neon pink with yellow shimmer. My camera tried to make this one like, some kind of weird coral shade so I had to color correct it some, though it's still kind of sucktastic. Imagine the nails being more what's-in-the-bottle colored with the yellow shimmer being closer and more contained to around the highlights... does that help? No?

Next is Drop The Bass which is safety vest orange also with yellow shimmer. This is the first neon orange that I've ever actually really liked. Also color corrected but the color is way more accurate than pink-guy up there. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you to enlarge the photos for your viewing pleasure. The shimmer is more apparent when they're big.

And finally we have Glowstick which is the very color of a lightning bug's hindquarters. This is my favorite of the three. It's literally yellow highlighter with (shock! awe!) yellow shimmer. I know you're not going to believe it but I color correct this MFer too. But this is freaking what it looks like. uLtImAtE sWoOn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, these bishes are tree for fie doll hairs at your local Five Below. Bargain of the dang century, if you were to ask for my thoughts on the subject. You need Glowstick in your life, I'm telling you right now. Take my word for it. Please, take it. You're welcome. I love you.

Oh, hey, tomorrow I'll have three more of these bad boys for you (although one of them doesn't have shimmer, and there were actually quite a lot of other neons at 5 B-lo that I didn't pick up which didn't have shimmer but still intrigue me and also one of the ones I'm showing you tomorrow isn't really a neon but it has a rave name so Iunno). Get pumped, y'all!

ORLY - Pink Crystal Swatch & Review

1. I found out from this blog post that ORLY sends polish colors that didn't quite make it to market to discount retailers like TJ Maxx and Marshalls (except, apparently, to the ones in all of flipping northeast Ohio) to be scooped up by fancy polish connoisseurs.

2. I couldn't find it around me (see above) but one popped up on Storenvy! Scoop!

3. I guess go ahead and google another one of these kinds of ORLY rejects called Just Peachy if you want to quietly sob while gently stroking your computer monitor. I love Pink Crystal, don't get me wrong, but I would seriously consider cutting off one of my toes for Just Peachy. A toe, guys. If you think an actual human toe is a fair trade for a bottle of nail polish, please get a hold of me immediately. We can hash out the deets lates.

ORLY - Pink Crystal is a super-sparkly cool-toned berry pink texture polish with gold shimmer. The shimmer was much more apparent in real life, of course. The formula was great and super easy to work with and the little texture chunks dispersed evenly.

Shown below is two coats in direct sunlight.

With topcoat (under OttLite, which for some reason brought the gold out more than sunlight):

Uh, yeah, right? And this for some reason didn't make the cut? What the heck, ORLY?  Even mind-blowinglier was that Just Peachy didn't make it. What doofus looked at those two polishes and was like "no, you know... I just don't think there's a market for these".

ORLY! I AM YOUR MARKET FOR THESE! HI, I'M BRANDY!

So you pretty things, keep your eyes peeled for awesome little treasures like this floating around at your local TJ Maxx and Marshalls. If you find Just Peachy, don't even tell me unless you plan on having one of my toes.

Colors by Llarowe - Oops! Bag (round two) + Teal Oops Comparison

Hi everybody! Hi new friends! I just want to take a couple seconds here to thank you guys for reading and following. Without sounding like too much of a giant poop, I don't often feel very accomplished. I'm a stay at home mom (who majored, but didn't earn a degree, in printmaking) and it's difficult for me sometimes to find, like, merit in my life. I know "being a mom is the hardest job in the world" blah blah blah. It has its ups and downs, but the thing I struggle with the most in being a SAHM is that there isn't any sort of universal scale I can use to see if I'm doing a good job, you know? The kids are alive and fed and clothed most of the time, so I'm at least getting passing review. Oh, and loved. Can't forget about that love thing.

Aaaaanyway, that all is to say that it's really awesome to be able to look at my blog stats and see an increase in readership, more comments, things like that. You guys rooting me on. I know it's just one silly nail blog in a sea of thousands of (mostly better) nail blogs, but the support is thrilling. I mean it.

[insert cute 'thank you' GIF here]

Colors by Llarowe had another restock on Oops! Bags so obviously I had to get one. Super pumped to have only received one duplicate (Oopscat, actually, which I'm pretty all right with!) out of the three polishes that are included in the Oops! Bag.

The two new ones I received are:

1. Pink Sprinkles Oops!
This guy was the result of bleeding glitter but actually turned out to be a favorite amongst customers. The base shade of pink is so freaking pretty (and flattering on my skin tone) and the addition of the magenta glitters brings a nice little addition to an already great polish. I've only seen one swatch of OG Pink Sprinkles and I like the Oops! waaaay better.

2. Teal Oops!
I saw a bottle shot of this color after the last Oops! Bag restock and wanted it desperately as I am a TTW (total teal whore, which I just made up, which I am totally going to implement henceforth).

... remind you of anything? Liiiike, maybe a certain Literary Lacquer called Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster? I compared the two, if you wanted to see:

Yeah, they're pretty much identical. The only real difference I noticed was that Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster has the edition of holo micro glitter. Whaddya think about THAT?

I mean, I looooooove P.G.G.B. so whatever whatevs. It was just kind of like 'oh, hey...'. The formula's great on both of them so no complaints.

Rainbow Honey April 2014 Mini Mystery Bag Swatches & Reviews

Oh, dudes.

1. My computer forgot what its hard drive was. Seriously. I was using it just fine the night before and then in the morning I went to turn it on and the screen was frozen. No big, hard reboot, whatevs. Starts up to the Repair Utility. Uhhh... wat. Did I accidentally hold down like, shift+R?

Reboot. The same.
Repeat like 100 more times. Sigh.

Took computer to Apple store where I was told that the only solution was to completely wipe all information from computer and reinstall the operating system. AWESOME. I installed OS X Mavericks about 3 months ago and didn't have a problem. Apparently it was a software conflict, according to Apple guy. Partitions and shiz. Completely over my head. Upon researching the issue, I found out that I wasn't the only person that had insane problems after installing Mavericks.

Dear Apple,
If you're going to release an OS update, can you please make sure it's not going to completely screw up my life? I miss Steve Jobs.
Regards,
B

2. I broke a damn nail. Not all the way off... teabagged it with hopes it will maintain this time. Come on.

Totally worth $10, seriously!

Aaaanywho, today I'm going to tell you all about the Rainbow Honey Mystery Bag for April 2014, mini version. Rainbow Honey sells both a mini ($10) and full size ($25) version, and I'm glad I went with the mini this month. I'll tell ya why later. Let's start with some swatches.

Oh, another quick side note: Until I can figure out a way to get Photoshop (SO CRY, MUCH WEEP) again, my swatches are probably gonna suck. I'm getting acclimated with a couple different free photo editing programs... My apologies in advance.

First up is Cameo 18 which is a punchy neon pink creme (that doesn't require a white base coat *coughESSIEcough*). I love it. It's so bright and girly and summery (even though it freaking snowed here last night). The formula was good; neither too thick nor thin, and it evened out well.

Shown below is 2 coats with topcoat.

Note: Brighter in real life.

Next is Stellar Twist, a glitter topper packed with pink shimmer, micro and square glitter in light blue, silver and magenta (some of which is holo) and small magenta stars. I'm sure I'm missing some things -- there's so much in there. A little thick but not goopy, and the glitter payoff was pretty good.

Shown below is two coats over Cameo 18 with topcoat.

Also included was a mini All Your Base (ha) base coat that I used under Cameo 18, which is  formulated with vitamin E. Neat!

Then there's a little pot of pigment in a lovely mint green with pink and blue sparkles called Sparkling Agave. The color is gorgeous and I love what the sparkles add, but the staying power is kind of 'meh'. The swatch on my arm had rubbed off after 5 minutes. I didn't put it over a primer or anything, so maybe that would help keep it around.

There's also a lip balm and mini rollerball perfume in the scent Rose Nectar. The lip balm is nice and smooth and not goopy, but I just can't get behind the scent. The rose is so strong and it doesn't smell like actual rose, it's more like that scented-plastic smell they use on little girl toys, you know? Like, I think I had a My Little Pony that smelled like that. Plus rose for a lip balm is kind of putting-off anyway. The sweetness of the nectar is also too intense. My boyfriend said it smelled like some kind of alcoholic mixer. I looooved the mini rollerball scent (Lavandula) last month and I definitely plan on getting a full size of that one. I don't see Rose Nectar on the Rainbow Honey website yet, so that's  good. Maybe it won't make it to actual retail.

Finally, there were ten gold pyramid studs and 2 pigment applicators included as little extras.

TL;DR - I'm happy with the nail part of this month's mystery bag. I loved the color of the pigment but I wonder how long it will last during actual use. Rose Nectar is no.

Do you think you'll purchase the mystery bag in the future? Anything strike your fancy?