4 More Hare Polishes

And the Hare Polish swatchfest continues with 3 more Hares that I wore recently.  I wish I could say that this would be it, but I haven't even swatched a fraction of what I snagged in destashes, so you'll be seeing a lot more Hare Polish.

First is Anemone Gardens.

Anemone Gardens is a purple jelly base with large metallic pink hex glitters and tiny olive square glitters.  It's a really odd combination in the bottle but looks super unique on the nail.  My swatch stick took 3 coats to be opaque, but the large glitters made it super lumpy.  I chose to layer this on my nails to avoid the lumpy mess.  I layered over Zoya Serenity which was a pretty close match to the base color, but I think it darkened up the polish a bit.  Honestly, it reminded me of something I would've worn in middle school-ultra girly (pink and purple) with large loud glitters.  But I teach at a middle school, so it was all good (and yes, my students loved it).  I don't foresee me wearing this to work frequently because of how loud it is, but I can see myself loving it on my toes or in the summer.

Next up is Star Tropics.

Star Tropics is a thin navy jelly with large white square and tiny silver circle glitters.  It's a spin on the night sky polishes that I am so hooked on.  This one is very thin and doesn't get opaque so I layered 2 coats over OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue.  YGTB, is one of my favorite layering polishes because it has that metallic glow from within look which transfers over to whatever is layered on top.  It also is a 1-coater which makes it ideal for layering.  I loved this mani and wore it for several days.  The glitters in Star Tropics both floated and sank in the jelly base which gave it a lot of depth on my nails.  Absolutely lovely.

Third is Dancing Bird of Paradise.

Dancing Bird of Paradise is a red jelly base with matte pink and metallic gold glitters.  The base is fairly thin, so I layered this over Zoya Yana.  Yana's a bit too pink-toned and so I feel that the pink glitters disappeared on my nails.  The gold glitters in the red jelly were stunning though.  I want to try layering this over a true red or over a red-orange to see if the pink glitters would show up more.

Lastly is my Easter manicure, King of Carat Flowers paired with Pure Ice Tales Untold and Girly Bits Pirate's Booty.

I tried some basic nail art.  This mani is based on one by Shelby Lou Nails on Instagram seen HERE. (If you don't follow her, you should!  She has fantastic mani pics and does simple yet stunning nail art.)  Tales Untold is a lavender with a gold shimmer.  It has a great formula for a pastel and extra great for a cheap drugstore polish.  It's a nice 2-coater.  Pirate's Booty is a gold glitter bomb.  It is packed with all sizes of gold holographic glitter and opaque in 2-3 coats.  King of Carat Flowers is a light gray crelly base with gold hexes, lavender squares, and cream square glitters.  It is very delicate and spring-like.

Saint Paddy's Day

Here are my Saint Patrick's Day nails.  I opted for the truest grass green that I had in my stash, Superchic Lacquer Never Grow Up.  This beauty is a green crelly sprinkled with micro holographic gold glitters and a gold shimmer.  It's a beaut!

I bought this in a blog sale (hence the blogger bottle) and it was pretty thick.  I ended up adding quite a bit of thinner to make it workable, but once I did, it applied wonderfully.  It was nearly a 1-coater (which may be due to the thickness of the polish) but was just a little streaky, so this is 2-coats.

And just as a bonus pic, here's the inspiration behind the blog name, playing with her favorite toy-swatch sticks:

Zoya Robyn Review

After a couple weeks of all indies, all glitter, I needed a clean cream manicure.  I chose Zoya's Robyn because I've been pining for spring and blue skies (which are here-yay!).

Robyn is a nice 2 coater sky blue cream polish.  The pigment is very vibrant, and I was worried about staining.  I didn't have any, but I did double up the base coat just in case.  I really liked this simple manicure and wore it for 5 days.

Shimmer Polish Vivian Review

I stumbled upon a blog sale that had a bunch of Shimmer Polishes for only $2.  I've always wanted to try the brand, but couldn't justify the $12 price tag.  So I bought a bunch to try out.  The first one that I tried was Vivian.  Vivian has rose gold, pink, gold and holographic glitters in a slightly gray-tinted base.  I wore it over Zoya's Rue which I reviewed HERE.

The base of Vivian darkened Rue so it looked like a light taupe.  I loved this combo.  It was as if these two polishes were made for each other.  It was shimmery, subtle, and delicate-everything I love about polish.  It was a glitter that I would have no hesitation wearing to work (which I did).

Dance Legend Chameleon Collection-Wazowski

I have another Dance Legend multichrome to share with you today.  This one is Wazowski, named after Mike Wazowsi the lovable one-eyed shorty on Monster's Inc.

Wazowski is mostly a lime to turquoise shifting polish.  In bright lights, the polish looks olive and nearly gold.  At extreme angles, it nears a dark indigo color.  This one has been the most metallic looking of the Chameleons that I've tried and showed more brush strokes than Roz and Sulley.  It also showed all the ridges in my nails.  The next time I wear this, I'll have to give my fingertips a good buffing.

Half-way through the Chameleons.  I definitely do not regret purchasing these.  They are so bright and shifty.

4 Hare Polishes

As I've mentioned before, Hare Polish is probably my favorite indie nail polish brand.  It might even nudge out Zoya for my overall favorite brand.  Due to this, I panicked when Nicole's sister announced that they were closing up shop for the time being (and possibly for good).  I started scouring destashes and snatching up every Hare I didn't already own.  I think I've doubled my Hare Polish collection in just 2 months.  So now I have a lot of swatching to do.

The first one I wore was a major lemming of mine-The Blooming Desert.  I've wanted to track this one down since I first was introduced to Hare Polish.  And I finally did!

The blooming desert has white, iridescent, pink, and orange glitters in a bubblegum pink jelly base.  It's very feminine and pretty.  I expected it to be brighter, but it had a very subdued quality to it.  It took 3 coats to cover my nails, and the glitters were still a bit lumpy even after 2 coats of top coat.  I like it, but after wishing for it for so long, I felt a bit underwhelmed over all.

Next, I wore Attack of the Army of Albortix from the Interstellar Invasion Trio.

Attack of the Army is a dark plum base with red, blue, and pink glitters in it.  I loved this one.  It's dark and vampy, but the glitters give it a lot of personality.  Although the base is dark, it's obviously purple instead of looking black.  The glitters show through really well and their colors really stand out against the dark base.  It was opaque in 2 coats.

The third one I wore was Dog Day Dream.  It's got tiny purple, orange, and pink glitters in a dark reddish-raspberry base.  The base coats the pink and orange glitters making them look red, but they still really sparkle through it.  The purple glitters stand out a lot.

I don't wear a lot of reds, but I loved this one.  It was quite the color shifter-sometimes looking wine colored and sometimes it looked bright pink.  I feel like this color combo works for every season too.

My final Hare in this post is probably my favorite of the bunch.  I almost didn't buy it and when it arrived, I considered destashing it.  But once I put it on, I immediately told my husband that we'd need to find a back up bottle.  It's The Sky Was Pink.

This one has tiny blue, periwinkle, and purple square and circle glitters and a bright pink shimmer in a pink jelly base.  There's so much blue and purple in it, that the pink base ends up looking like a darkened orchid color (nearing neon purple).  I love, love, love this one.  It's super sparkly and full of interest.  It's a thin polish though; it took 3 coats and I can still barely see my nail line through it.

Hope you enjoyed this post full of Hare Polish's glittery goodness.  Be ready for a bunch more-I have a lot of Hare Polishes to wear.

A England St. George Review

I've never understood the hype for A England.  I purchased Ascalon, but it ended up looking drastically different than it did on the website.  It's pretty and I like it, but it isn't breathtaking or astounding like everyone claims A England is.

I nearly wrote off A England, but decided to give it one more try.  So I purchased St. George from Color 4 Nails.  St. George a green-leaning dark teal with a subtle holographic glitter running through it.  It is so pretty!

The holo is super subtle-barely showing in sunlight.  However, the glitter reflects light really well turning the polish into a shimmery teal color that glistens green.  It looks like velvet.  To top it off, St. George is a 1-coater!  I keep looking at my nails astounded that it's so complex looking and only 1-coat.

I've officially boarded the A England bandwagon.  I'm already planning my next order.

Zoya Sailor Review

I made the mistake of wearing a frosty baby pink last week.  Ick!  The color washed me out bad.  I was so disappointed in the color that I couldn't even bring myself to photograph it for a review.  To top it off, the frosty shimmer would not come off of my nails!  So I chose a really dark color to cover it.

Zoya's Sailor is a dusty navy cream that borders on being a blurple.  It's really dark, but is obviously blue in all lighting.  I love that about this polish.  I really hate colors that aren't black, but look like it anywhere except in direct sun.  Sailor had a great formula.  It could probably be a 1-coater, but since I was covering some lumpy shimmer, it took two.

I've been trying to find a perfect navy cream, and I think that Sailor might be it.  It's purple-toned enough that it doesn't wash me out and has a nice dusty quality to the color.

Dance Legend Roz Review

Here's the second polish review from Dance Legend's Chameleon collection.  I purchased all 6 from the collection.  You can see my review of Sulley HERE.

Roz, like its fellow polishes, is stunning!

 Roz is mostly a fuschia to gold to green multichrome.  It nears turquoise and purple at extreme angles.  I wore two coats over black.

I forgot to get an underwater shot of this.  However, the swatch above shows what Roz looks like most of the time.

I am addicted to these multichromes.  All of my other duochromes pale in comparison.  This collection is so vibrant and shifty.  They're a lot of fun to wear!

I purchased these from Color 4 Nails.

Essie Starry Starry Night Revival Review

Like most people in the polish community, I was super excited for Essie's revival of Starry Starry Night.  The polish has so much hype, I couldn't wait to see what it was all about.

Unfortunately, SSN is not a dupe of the original (or even close).  I don't have the original to compare (Can't possibly justify the $200+ price tag) but you can view other bloggers' comparisons HERE and HERE.

I've heard a lot of people complaining about how different the polishes are.  Their disappointment is justified; Essie surely could've made the polish closer to the original.  However, I think that the Retro Revival of Starry Starry Night is really pretty.

SSN is a dark blue jelly packed with silver hex glitters.  The glitters are medium sized.  They're a bit too big to make the polish look overly like the night sky.  However, the polish is very elegant and even ritzy looking. The coats of polish tints the glitters to a pretty vibrant blue color.  I've heard a lot of various thoughts on formula-some claim it's a one-coat wonder and some claim that it's a 3-4 coat gloopy mess.  My bottle was an easy 2-coater.  The glitter distributed nicely and it was very smooth to apply and remove.

Here's a comparison of SSN with KBShimmer Carpe Denim, Zoya Dream, and Zoya Yves:

As you can see, SSN is darker than both Carpe Denim and Dream.  The glitters are not holographic like either of the other two.  The glitter is smaller and more dense in SSN that Carpe Denim but is larger and less dense than Dream.  SSN is closest in color to Yves, but even with top coat, the shimmer is Yves is too faint to even come close to comparing to SSN.

Hope this post helps!  Are you planning on purchasing SSN?

Top 15 of 2015

I wanted to share my top 15 polishes of 2015.  I had this post planned for New Year's Eve, but then my hubby and I both got really sick and were down for days.  Then it was back to work and life was crazy.  Sorry that this is a little late.

It was so hard to narrow my picks down to 15.  I ultimately only chose polishes that I purchased in 2015 (though a few were released earlier) and tried to choose the polishes I wore the most.

Here they are in rainbow order:

Zoya Perrie

Perrie is a gorgeous orchid cream.  It is smooth and buttery-opaque in 2 coats.  In the spring I went for nearly 3 weeks wearing this.  I'd take it off and then immediately reapply it.

Whim In Love With Love

I found this gem in the clearance bin at Ulta.  Whim's formulas are hit or miss, but ILWL's formula is a grand slam.  It's nearly a 1-coater rose polish and is super holographic in the sunlight.  Indoors, it looks like it has a subtle silver shimmer.

Orly Fireball

This summer I wasn't crazy about the neons, except with Orly's Fireball.  It's a neon red with a subtle pinkish shimmer.  It's a hot and wild color, but is stunning both indoors and out.

OPI Go With the Lava Flow

I was pretty disappointed in OPI's Hawaii collection.  All the colors seemed too pastel to represent the tropical islands.  However, I did fall in love with Go With the Lava Flow.  It is a reddish coral color with subtle gold shimmer.  It is so pretty.

Hare Polish Flesh World

I tried to limit my Hare Polish choices, but still 3 made it on this list.  I love Flesh World from the original Twin Peaks collection.  It's a yellow-toned nude crelly with peach, gold, and black glitters.  Definitely the oddest and most unique polish in my collection.  The combo seems so weird, but the result works so well.

Superchic Lacquer Figmint of My Imagination

Figmint of My Imagination is a minty green shimmer with a violet flash.  It is so pretty and the flash adds a lot of interest to it.  It is very thin though-requires 3-4 coats.

Zoya Cecilia

I probably could've listed the entire Island Fun collection on this list.  Cecilia is probably my favorite from the collection though.  It is a gorgeous 1-coat green-leaning teal.  I love how bright and vibrant it is, but it has a slight dusty quality that keeps the color from being obnoxious.

Butter London Stag Do

Stag Do was a major lemming of mine that I stumbled upon in TJ Maxx.  I couldn't believe that I found it there.  It's a very dark teal with a super subtle green shimmer.  In nearly every lighting, it looks like a cream, but in direct sunlight, the shimmer peeks through.  It's dark and vampy, yet doesn't look black in any lighting.

KBShimmer Carpe Denim

I feel a little bit like a cheater by putting this on my yearly favorites list.  I received Carpe Denim as a Christmas present and have only worn it once.  But once is all it took-I couldn't get this polish out of my mind.  It's a dark navy blue jelly that's packed with holographic silver glitter.  It's almost a night sky polish except the glitter is super holographic in all lighting.

Zoya Serenity

Serenity is my other pick from the Island Fun collection.  It's a medium-hued dusty purple.  Just like Cecilia, it is simultaneously bright and subdued.  It has fantastic formula too, nearly a 1-coater.

Hare Polish Regency Miss

The base of Regency miss is the same dusty purple color as Serenity.  It also has pink circle glitters and square copper glitters and copper shimmer in it.  Another of Hare's unexpectedly stunning glitter mixes.

OPI Cosmo With a Twist

This was my go to polish color for the holiday season.  I wore it 3 times in the month of December.  It's a dark purple jelly with purple and blue glass fleck in it.

Zoya Caitlin

Caitlin is a lavender-grey polish.  It's super chic and classy.

 Hare Polish Lost on Abalone Shores

LOAS was from June's A Box Indied.  It's a taupe-grey with green holographic flakies and pink shimmer.  This is so pretty and is probably my favorite polish of the entire year.

Crows Toes Even Sugar Melts in the Devil's Mouth 

My final favorite is from February's A Box Indied.  ESMITDM has a black jelly base with silver flakies and red shimmer.  It looks really edgy and the red shimmer makes it a bit vampy too.

So those are my favorite polishes from last year!  What are yours?  I'm so excited to see what 2016 brings to the polish world.  The spring collections look like they are going to be great.