Hidden Gems - Swatch & Review

Wow. Do you ever feel like you really got your life together? I can't believe I'm actually posting again so soon!  I mean, I've just got so much going on lately it's kind of a miracle. But I know it won't last long. Something, somewhere, will fall by the wayside as I get back into nail blogging. I hope not, but you guys probably know what I'm talking about. Something's gotta give, right? Haha!

So, today I have L'Oreal Hidden Gems. This is another I picked up over Thanksgiving. It is SO gorgeous in the bottle (which of course my thoughtless self didn't take a picture of. OOPS!), that I couldn't pass it up. A textured duo-chrome?! I had a feeling it wasn't going to show up as strong on the nail, but it was still such a pretty color. You can click on the images for a closer view.

L'Oreal Hidden Gems

Hidden Gems textured nail polish

L'Oreal textured nail polish

2 Nails with Topcoat

I tried to catch the pretty purple color hidden in there the best I could. I've seen some other bloggers catch it beautifully. I showed two nails with topcoat thinking maybe the duo-chrome would show more. Nope. Less, actually. But while it's not obvious, it definitely adds depth and dimension. I love this polish so much. For some reason, it reminds me of Starry Night by Van Gogh.

As for formula, the texture is great and this is only two coats, but in the sunlight you may notice that two coats isn't quite completely opaque. Also, the wear wasn't as good as the Sinful Colors textured polish in my last review. I had noticeable tip wear the next day.

Overall, I love the color, depth, and texture and I'm glad to have it in my collection. But for the price and size of the bottle, I probably wouldn't get another unless I knew the formula improved.

Do you have any of the L'Oreal textures? What do you think of them? Thanks for reading!

I'm Alive! Finally a New Post?!

Ermahgerd, I'm so so so sorry, guys. I have been SO very distracted with the holidays and life in general that I honestly haven't even been painting my nails. BUT! I finally got around to it this week. Yeah, I can't believe it either. (^_^;)

So, like every year, we went to VA for Thanksgiving to spend it with my husband's family. And of course, since we don't have Rite-Aid in FL, I had to make a stop. Right? Well, I ended up picking up way more polish than I ever purchase at once. So, be expecting more posts to come.

First up, Sinful Colors Blue Persuasion. It's a gorgeous blurple textured polish with purple glitter. You guys don't even understand!!! Blurples are my ultimate fave shades. So, of course I'm dying all over the place. Yes, it's that good. If you like blurples, anyway. (^_^)

Sinful Colors Textured Polish in Blue Persuasion

Sinful Colors Blue Persuasion

So, just to get back into the swing of things, I'll keep this short. Great coverage in 2 coats and excellent texture. Also, great wear for no topcoat. I know I'm not like most polish addicts, cuz I'm too logical to spend too much for one polish. But when can get such great quality for so cheap, why should I? Well, indies don't count, cuz they're fabulously unique and doing things big brands won't. But we all know that.

And that's it! Again, I'm sorry I've been M.I.A. Thanks for sticking around. Hope everyone had an amazing holiday season and hope your new year is off to a great start. XOXO ~ Tabi

Mrs. P's Nail Potions Swatches and Review

OMG, you guys, I'm so sorry! I've just had so much going on lately. Besides family matters, well no...it's pretty much all family matters. Haha! From late Aug. to mid Oct. we've got 7 family birthdays, my hubby's and my anniversary, a baby shower along with everyday things, and the fact that my daughter and I were sick last week. I don't know which way is up anymore. But I finally got this review done!

Huge apology to Bree at Mrs. P's Nail Potions. Thank you for being so patient and understanding.

So, let's jump right in. This is a pic heavy post containing 4 polishes and a scented top coat from the Fall 2013 Collection from Mrs. P's Nail Potions. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Etsy.

***Disclaimer: I received these polishes for my honest review. All opinions are my own and were in no way influenced.***

I didn't take a pic of the scented top coat, because there wasn't really anything to show. There is however plenty to say! The scent is Pumpkin Chai and it's a LIMITED scent that is only available until the end of October. If you love Autumn, pumpkin, and/or chai/spice scents, I highly recommend you get your hands on this. I cannot tell you how amazing this smells.

Opening the bottle you can't smell anything besides the polish, but once it's dry it smells so delicious that you'll want to eat your fingers. It lasts for days, but the scent does start to fade by day 3. Even though this is limited, she sells a bunch of other scented top coats in scents like Apple Cinnamon, Lemon, Chocolate Fudge and more. The best part is, since they're top coats, you can wear them over any color unlike scented polishes.

Okay, now for the pic spam. All pictures can be clicked to enlarge.

Fawning for You

From the site: "Fawning For You is a highly pigmented soft neutral beige lacquer with a slight creme finish and a subtle gold/metallic shimmer." I'll be honest and say, I didn't think I'd like this color. But it has a peachy undertone which is very pretty. While I'm not a huge fan of metallics, this came off as more pearlescent to me. I think it's a very classy color

Bordeaux Crossing

"Bordeaux Crossing is a highly pigmented shimmery almost brick red lacquer." You can see the "brick red" color in the undertones, but the metallic shimmer almost has a red-violet hue and is very pretty. I don't wear this kind of shade often, but it would be very pretty for a special occasion.

Fall Deeply

"Fall Deeply is a highly pigmented auburn brown lacquer with lots of multicolored shimmer (mainly blue, green and purple)." This polish is beautiful! I could only really see green shimmer, but that was perfect in my opinion. It made me think of the changing leaves of Fall. Very unique and perfect for the season. This was my favorite of the four colors I received.

Lean Mean & Aubergine

"Lean, Mean & Aubergine is a highly pigmented deep brownish purple with beautiful purple shimmer." This was my second favorite. Not only is the color lovely, but the quality is fabulous. I wore this for 3 days without a topcoat and had no chipping, only minimal tip wear.

All of the polishes have an excellent formula. They are highly pigmented and are almost one coaters, but you don't quite get the full richness of the color in one coat. There was some streaking with the lighter colors, but that's to be expected with shimmer and metallic polishes. The streaking is less prevalent in the darker the colors. Other than that, I had no problems with any of these polishes. Great coverage and quality.

There are four more colors in the collection and they are beautiful jewel-toned purple, green, blue, and dark pink. Definitely check them out!

So, I hope you all are having a wonderful week. I apologize again for the absence. If you have any questions about any of these polishes, feel free to ask. Talk to you soon!

Pardon My French

Happy Hump Day! So far this week, work has been crazy. So, I figured I'd just do a quick post of an untried I have. Pure Ice Pardon My French is a glamorous black polish full of micro and small copper hexes.

Pure Ice Pardon My French

I should have also layered it over black to show the difference, but I just get so excited to paint my nails that sometimes I forget about the blogging side. (^_^;) I also think layering would have given more depth because there was SO MUCH glitter in just two coats.

The polish was a little thick, but I think that's pretty standard for glitter polishes. I think it helps suspension so the glitter doesn't settle and you don't have to fish for it. Overall, I really like this polish. The copper added a classy feel that made me think of a flapper girl for some reason. Hehe.

Well, I hope you all have a fabulous downhill ride to the weekend! See you soon.

Julep February Bombshell Maven Box

Well looky here, I finally got around to a new post. I was planning on doing this Saturday, but was miserable with some sort of fit of allergies or something. Bleh! I hope you all are well.

At any rate, I should warn you this is a pic heavy post. I switched from the It Girl to the Bombshell Maven box this month. I was interested in the nail treatment since my nails are splitting like crazy. I blame the sudden winter weather that we've been missing all season here in Florida. I was also liking the green polish, Laura. So, let's get started.

They even gave us Valentine's chocolate. How sweet. (^_~) Everything was packed nice and snug.

This, in my opinion, is genius. Any girl who has packed a makeup bag knows how annoying and awkward the eyelash curler is. This one is so compact and flat, I just love it! I haven't actually used it yet, but I'll let you know if it ends up being a disappointment. Here are a few more pics, so you can see how it works and how small it actually is.

Okay, so here is Laura. A lovely olive/army green. The formula was nice, full coverage in 2 coats.

Julep Laura

I was definitely interested in seeing how much holo was in Ginger. When you first apply it, the holo doesn't really show at all. As it dries, however, the holo starts to show. It's not a, bam, look-at-me holo. It's subtle yet very pretty. Again, good formula, full coverage in 2 coats.

Julep Ginger (Indoors)

Hard to see in inside light, but the middle is showing just shimmer so you can see the slight color shift in the other two.

Julep Ginger (Sunlight)

In sunlight, you can definitely see the holo, but still very subtle. I'm really glad I got Ginger instead of the silver in the It Girl box. This is a beautiful polish that can be worn to work. Luckily, I can wear pretty much anything on my nails at my job.

Alrighty, I'm done overloading you with pics. ^_^ Don't forget about the giveaway. You can earn more entries every day. Ta-ta for now!

China Glaze Tranzitions Review

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. My mother-in-law got me a China Glaze Tranzition polish. Split Perso-nail-ity is the pink one. While it may seem like a cool concept, I have to be honest, this was a major fail in my opinion.

I'll start with the positive. The potential for quick and easy nail art is nice. I could see someone with great creativity doing something really cute. Here's a pic of what I did.

The "transition" on this color was pretty good, but the formulation left me so disappointed. It was so streaky, uneven and splotchy. When I say splotchy I mean, you can see the second darker pigment within the pink even before you add top coat. There was no even tone to the color even after two coats. You can also tell after you put top coat on. You might be able to see on my middle finger above,  but here's a closer shot of my thumb for emphasis.

You see the lighter streak right in the center of the dark stripe? It does seem that the more generous you are with your top coat the better the color change. But of course, without a full top coat the polish chips and wears right away.

All in all, it was a nice gift especially since it's a new product, but I wouldn't buy it now that I've tried it. For those of you who like to have complete collections, I wouldn't get this one. If you really need to try it for yourself, just get one to start. Honestly, anyone with a decent polish collection probably has a range of colors that are a couple shades different. You could do the same type of nail art with those and be able to use a top coat on the whole design.

I'll still use it, because I hate to waste, but it will probably be with a full top coat like a regular polish. I really hope this helps. I feel terrible even writing such a bad review, but it's my honest opinion.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. Thanks for stopping by! ^_^

My First Review!

Hi, guys! I would use girls, dolls, lovelies or some other feminine term, but that's just not me. To me, "guys" is gender neutral. Haha. Okay! Today I have my first review. It's also the very first polish from a new indie brand. She hasn't even released her brand name yet and is taking a poll for this polish's name. So, after you see some pics, head on over to her fb page and vote. I work with Kat and she's extremely creative. Anyone who's seen her baking creations can attest to that. I can't wait to see more from her.

This post is a little picture heavy. So, I'll try to keep it short. None of the pics show a top coat and please forgive my dry cuticles. Being the mother of a young child, I'm constantly washing my hands and can't always moisturize.

First is a pic of the polish in the bottle.

 It's a yellow shimmer, which is already a bonus for being different. I know yellow is iffy depending on skintone, but if you think about it, most yellow polishes (that I've seen anyway) are creams. With this being sheer, it's great for layering. And how about that confetti glitter? So cute!

First, here it is on it's own, 2 layers, no undies:

 

My pinky and ring finger have thinner coats, while my middle and ring have generous coats.

I know close-ups are important, but sometimes I like to know what other people are seeing. So, here's a different perspective:

Now, over WnW Ebony Hates Chris (black) and Sally Hansen White On:

This is only one generous coat over each. Great over white, right? But over black, you might get some streaking from the yellow shimmer. If you do a second coat, that probably wouldn't be a problem, because this polish is packed with confetti. No fishing necessary.

Now for some fun! Colors from L to R: Julep Blake, Julep Claire, WnW Tickled Pink & Sinful Colors Innocent. First without:

 

And now, with:

How cute is this! I didn't want to take it off, but I also wanted to try some unlikely colors. So, here we have L to R: Confetti (the brand ^_^) Show Stopper and NYC Sidewalkers:

 

 

It didn't do much for me over Show Stopper, but I have to give a shout out to my hubby for suggesting it. He's so supportive and involved. I love you! ^_^ I did like it over the grey, though. So, don't be afraid to try unlikely colors when layering. You never know what you'll end up with.

The polish went on very easily without much need for manipulating the confetti. However, at 2 layers there was some overlapping. She took a poll and people said more confetti, so she doubled it. I honestly think 2/3 of what is in the bottle would be enough. I just got the feeling that I'd finish the polish and still have a ton of confetti in the bottle. Not that I'm complaining!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this. It's fun, easy to work with and versatile. There's not much more I ask for in a polish. So, keep an eye out for her big launch and more polishes. She's already got a couple collections in mind, even though she won't give me all the juicy details.

Thanks for reading!