piCture pOlish "Peacock" Review (PIC HEAVY)

A few friends of mine recently hooked me on a new polish brand called "piCture pOlish". Yes, that's how they label their name! I promise I know how to capitalize properly! They are an Australian brand, so if you don't live in Australia, shipping might be hefty unless you shop at a website that carries indie polishes like (insert plug here) Llarowe. Be aware that restocks don't happen often, so it's a madhouse on the indie carrier sites when they do! You will most likely have to stalk and refresh the site to get what you want.
I recently won half a dozen of their polishes in their contest, so I will have more to review at a later date, but for today, I am reviewing a color called "Peacock".

I had to get this polish for a few reasons: I love dark blues, I love emerald tones, and I love peacocks. Enough said. However, when it arrived and I swatched it, I noticed what I thought was navy turned out to be more of a dark blue violet. It is gorgeous nonetheless, plus from far away it still looks navy enough for me!

The polish is a jelly dark blue-violet base with tiny rectangular emerald and silver glitter. I liked the opacity I found at two coats. As I have heard, this brand has a fantastic formula when it comes to cremes, and it didn't disappoint me when I used this glitter! I felt like it laid on relatively even, and it wasn't thick and goopy at all!

Here are some pictures in the sunlight...oooh, ahhh...

And here is a close up of my mani after two days. Base coat, no top coat.

I have since removed this polish, and I found it one of the easier glitters to remove. I didn't use anything special to do so as I have gotten jaded with using foil. I just held a soaked cotton ball in place for a few seconds, wiped, repeated, and then lightly scrubbed off the few remaining glitters. Compared to other glitter polishes, this glitter was relatively painless to remove.

I do have piCture pOlish's "Revolution" coming, so I will have to review that when it arrives.

Anyway, this polish is lovely and I highly recommend piCture pOlish based on their formulas. Let me know if you decide to pick up some of their beauties!

*As always, I am not affiliated with the "piCture pOlish brand. The contest I won had no connection to, or biased influence on, my review(s) and blog.

Jindie Nails "JINDIE-Pendendence" Review

So tomorrow is the first of June, which means there's just over a month to one of my favorite holidays- Independence Day (a.k.a. the Fourth of July). I think I have so many childhood memories that have stuck with me that make this holiday such an awesome one. I remember every year our city park (it has a lake in the middle) would fill with vendors selling their wares. There would be booths lined up around the lake with all the best summer foods- hot dogs, burgers, teriyaki sticks, elephant ears, ice cream and popsicles. I can almost smell the scent of those soft, sweet elephant ears drifting through the air. 

The night of the Fourth, the grassy areas would be packed with people from my town, and even those from miles and miles away. Everyone would lay out their picnic blankets (and some people would even pitch a tent and camp to get a good spot) to make their territory and make a day of enjoying the activities of the lake while waiting for the firework show to start. When dusk came and everyone settled, you could feel the excitement buzzing heavy in the air.

Not soon after the day dimmed, the show began. Patriotic tunes would play proudly as the stunning firework display lit up the night. The grandeur of the pyrotechnics never disappointed, and we were left ooh-ing and ahh-ing long after the show was over. Oh, how I miss home.

What were we talking about? Ah yes, nail polish. Ahem.

The beauty I have for you today is from Jindie Nails. It is a limited-edition item, and I know this particular polish was very popular. I am not sure if she sold out of this all-in-one formula, but I believe she has a similar topper (top coat) in the works.
This color is cleverly named "JINDIE-Pendence," and boy, is it a looker.

Here are a few other pictures to give you an idea of all the different types of glitter in this baby:

As you can see, everything is suspended in a milky white crelly base. You do have to fish just a tiny bit to get some of the larger glitters from the bottle to your nail, but I didn't find it too difficult to get what I wanted. Here is a swatch of just one coat so you can see how build-able this polish is:

I would say you could have a decent opacity at three coats, but it might be wiser to do white base coat at the start. Also, as I mentioned above, if you want to use these glitters with a different color, I believe she will be making a top coat with this glitter set. You can check out her Facebook page for more information.

Have a happy Fourth everyone! I would love to hear your holiday traditions and this year's plans in the comment section below!

*Nope, not affiliated with Jindie Nails either. She makes some great glitter polishes though.

Aly's Dream Polish Custom Polish(es) Review (PIC HEAVY)

Did you gals know you can ask Aly to make you a custom color of polish? There is an actually link in her store that allows you to do just that! From there you can contact her via email or Facebook message to discuss the details of your order to make sure the polish turns out just right. I had to take Aly up on this offer and try a couple custom polishes for myself!

The first color I wanted was a bright, yet dark, blue holo. Seems pretty complicated huh? Well Aly did it, and that just goes to show you how awesome and talented she is! Here are the pictures-

Artificial light:

 Direct sunlight:

She left the polishes nameless, so of course I had to come up with names that reflected me. I call this one "Pacific Night". I grew up in the NW United States, and I miss our starry night skies!

The second color was a stretch for me. I'm not really a pink polish person (or pink person in general for that matter), but Julep Avery really got me hooked on neon pinks! Soooo...I asked for the brightest, most neon pink holo she could make. No surprise, she delivered.

Artificial light:

Direct Sunlight:

I like to call this one "Summer Candy", after one of my favorite feel-good songs. YouTube music video below!

This polish is SO "in-your-face". The neon is so strong, the holo ends up being more of a shimmer, but it is still gorgeous nonetheless. I LOVE it.

Another 1000 points to Aly.

So what colors would you create? Leave me a comment!

*STILL not affiliated with Aly's Dream Polish. Maybe I should be. Haha.

P.S.- I have had so many questions about ordering these colors directly from Aly. DO NOT use the "names" as I came up with those! Tell her the custom reference number (blue is #12 and pink is #11) and who she made it for (Alee). This will help her immensely. Good luck ladies, and enjoy!!

Aly's Dream Polish "Sweet Dreams (#30)" Review (PIC HEAVY)

Gals! I found my new favorite Aly's and I can't wait to show you why! Sweet Dreams is a sweet and soft mauve-pink-neutral holographic polish. I feel like it's the ultimate polish because the base color is a natural shade that would look pretty on any skin tone, plus it's great for those that aren't a fan of brighter or darker colors. The holo is great for those that still want a little pop to their polish. 

Here are a few more pictures. The swatches are two coats. Three coats would probably make a decent opacity. I always love the soft sheen that Aly's polishes have.

Artificial light:

Natural indirect light:

Ready for the kicker and the reason why this one is my favorite?

BAM. LOOK AT THAT HOLO. It's like the polish has fire inside. SO stunning.

Aly is currently working on a restock, so I won't post the link to her store here, but if you search "Aly's Dream Polish" on Facebook, you should be able to keep updated there.

Thanks for stopping by!

*I am not affiliated with Aly's Dream Polish. I am however her biggest fan.

Comparison: Holographic Top Coat Reviews

Hey y'all! This is the review and comparison I have been so excited for! I know when I first started buying polishes, I was in love with everything holographic, and I still am. Today I wanted to show which holographic top coats are best, and if it's worth it to buy holographic polishes once you've obtained a top coat. 

Also, from what I've heard, Philly Loves Laquer's "It's Always Sunny" is another beautiful holographic top coat. Since I don't currently own it, I cannot compare. Hopefully I'll have it soon, and I can update this review for all of you.
The three top coats (let's see how many times I say that and "holographic" in this post) I will be reviewing are  Aly's Dream Polish, Mentality, and Enchanted Polish (theirs is also known as "Djinn in a Bottle").

Left to right: ADP, EP, Mentality
all are layered over a coat of black polish

As I (and many others before me) have discovered, it is extremely difficult to capture with a camera what the eye sees in person. For some reason ADP's holo was camera shy. However, I would consider it the least holographic.
Something to note with topcoats- although you can add coats to build the holo effect, the more you add, the more opaque the top coat becomes, and thus the more "greyed" or "muted" your base color or "undie" will become.
That being said, I would choose ADP and EP over Mentality because Mentality's coats are thick to begin with, and immediately dull the base color. Each brand also has its own overtone color in it's holo. I felt like Aly's had a pretty even holo, while Enchanted leaned more blue and orange, and Mentality was more yellow. For me, that was another reason why I liked Mentality the least.
In my opinion, the winner was:

Enchanted Polish "Djinn in a Bottle"

Before I leave you to explore and find your own favorite holo top coat, I wanted to show you an example and comparison of an already made holo polish, and it's base color-with-top coat rival.

Left: Aly's Dream Polish "Tiffanytea", Right: Julep Robin with ADP's holo top coat

I have found that no matter what holo top coat I use, I can never get the same effect and beauty that comes from an already-made holographic polish. The pre-made polishes sparkle and shine so much more. Not to mention the reasons I spoke of above concerning muting and opacity.
So, in a pinch, and if you can't find the holo polish color you're looking for, top coats are great. When it really comes down to it, I'm still going to buy the original beauties like Tiffanytea!

Thanks for reading! Come back often!

*I am not affiliated with any polish brands mentioned in this post. All opinions are my own. "Aly's" and "ADP" are references to the "Aly's Dream Polish" brand. "EP" and "Enchanted" are references to the "Enchanted Polish" brand.