Thursday, August 1, 2013

Neon & Nude Leopard Print

After swatching for many days, I definitely missed having fun nail art on my nails. My dotting tools and brushes were calling my name! With many design ideas floating in my head, I decided to go with a very classic and simple design. When in doubt, go for some leopard print!


I started off with three coats of Porchester Square by Nails Inc. It definitely was fine with two coats but I just wanted to make sure that it was really opaque. The consistency was somewhat thick but a breeze to apply. After having it on my nails, it dried more of a wet cement color than nude, but it still has hints of brown. Although a nude color can seem very dull during the blazing summer time, adding a bright neon polish can definitely fix that problem!


Once Porchester Square was dry, I added the leopard spots with Shocking Pink by China Glaze and Liquid Leather by China Glaze. Shocking Pink is a bright neon that dries matte. I also used it to create high bows on my thumb and ring finger. For a tutorial on my bows click here.


Since I recently purchased OPI's Matte Top Coat, I definitely wanted to try it out! I turned this look matte by first applying my trusty Seche Vite Top Coat which gave this design excellent shine. I only added this top coat to make sure my nails would last. When that dried, I counteracted the shine with the matte top coat that I was extremely impressed by. It made my nails matte within 8 seconds! I love this design even better matte, than I did when it was glossy. 


Overall I think this design was a great choice for a nail art comeback. Neon and nude has been a very popular color scheme lately and it feels good to finally have it on my nails! Try this design yourself sometime and feel free to choose whatever neon color you want! I'd love to see this done with a highlighter yellow or bright blue! If you recreate this or any of my other designs, use the hashtag #inspiredbysabrinasnails on Instagram or send me the picture through Kik or Email and you could be featured on my Your Recreations page, here on my blog!

Freak Show Polish: Three-Ringed Circus

Three-Ringed Circus is a white jelly polish filled with red, black, and white glitters of many shapes and sizes, made to represent the flair that you find in the circus!


I did use the same base polish as I used when swatching Strongman II. I used four coats of I Will! by L'oreal and to prevent picture spam of the same polish, I did not insert the same pictures. To see the white polish, look at the blog post right before this one! 




I love how simple yet elegant and fun this polish is, it really looks nice against the white base. It even looks more beautiful close up!


Here's my final rating of this polish:

Application: Normal, no problems with it.

True to Color: Yes, colors are very bright.

Dry Time: 2-3 minutes.

Consistency: On the thicker side but not an issue to work with.

Coats Until Opaque: With two coats, the small red glitters were all over the nail, I did have to place on some of the circle glitters myself because I wanted a big circle glitter on each nail. 

Additional Comments: This polish definitely holds the essence of the circus while still being sophisticated. 

Final Rating: 7/10

To purchase, visit FreakShowPolish.com or visit Carissa's Instagram (Instagram.com/FreakShowPolish) to view more swatches and polishes!

Freak Show Polish: Strongman II

To be honest, I was hesitant when trying this polish on. I didn't know how much different it would be to Strongman I. I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised!


I started off with 4 coats of I Will! by L'oreal. It's one of the best white polishes I've tried so far! It's not thick or troublesome, it's thin but opaque. I could've gone with three coats but I'm a bit crazy and had to add an extra layer. 



When the white polish dried, I topped it off with two coats of Strongman II by Freak Show Polish. I was absolutely blown away with how this looked! It was very similar to Strongman I but unique in it's own special way. 





As you can see, it is gorgeous and looks different in different lighting. I love the large circle glitters and the smaller hexes, it is absolutely perfect and my favorite from all of the polishes that Carissa sent me.


Up close, you can tell that this polish is a glitter bomb. You will be getting tons of compliments if you wear this! Here's my rating of this polish:

Application: This polish isn't lumpy or thick, went on with ease.

True to Color: Yes, the glitter is just as vibrant as in the bottle. 

Dry Time: 1-2 minutes.

Consistency: Normal.

Coats Until Opaque: With two coats, the glitter was mostly everywhere on the nail. I did place a few on myself just because I really love my nails to sparkle. 

Additional Comments: This is up there with one of my favorite polishes I own! I will be wearing this all the time, I love how the bright glitter contrasts against the white base. You will not regret purchasing this!

Final Rating: 10/10

To purchase, visit FreakShowPolish.com or visit Carissa's Instagram (Instagram.com/FreakShowPolish) to view more swatches and polishes!

Freak Show Polish: Trapeze Swinger

Carissa describes this polish as a "...milky white jelly full of periwinkle hexes in various sizes and small green hexes." I couldn't have explained it better myself! It looks gorgeous in the bottle.


I began this mani with three coats of Bikini So Teeny by Essie, probably a favorite polish by most nail freaks like me! Unfortunately for me, I think I have a bad bottle of this stuff because ever since I first purchased it, it's been thick and hard to work with. I do try to make it look decent and hopefully I've succeeded!



One coat of Seche Vite really smoothed out the thickness of this polish and made it look sleek and effortless. This was the perfect base for Trapeze Swinger!




My nails feel very bright and fun with this polish on! These look great in the sunlight, every piece of glitter picks up the suns rays and reflects them to make your nails feel like a disco ball! 


Up close you can really see all of the different glitters that are in this nail polish. Here's my rating of this polish:

Application: This polish was a breeze to apply.

True to Color: I definitely thought this was a light blue jelly polish from looking at the bottle. Turns out that it's actually a white jelly, but that just means that you can layer it over more colors and it definitely goes well over Essie's Bikini So Teeny! 

Dry Time: 1-2 minutes.

Consistency: Normal, no issues with it.

Coats Until Opaque: It was definitely filled with glitter with 1 coat but I really wanted it to sparkle, so I added one more. 

Additional Comments: If you love blue, you'll like this nail polish and it's gorgeous sparkle. 

Final Rating: 8/10

To purchase, visit FreakShowPolish.com or visit Carissa's Instagram (Instagram.com/FreakShowPolish) to view more swatches and polishes!