Eugene Malibu Swatches & Review

Hey guys! Today I have some swatches from an indie nail polish line that is very new to me, Eugene Malibu! They recently sent me two of their polishes from their new Festival Collection to try out and I'm here today to share my thoughts with you. For more info on this indie brand, go to TheMonthlyNail.com and check them out!

Cotton Candy Watermarble Nails

  Hey everyone! This will be a short and sweet post but I just wanted to share my finished design with you all :) I haven't done any watermarbling in such a long time and I've really been wanting to try it again so I thought this would be the perfect time to get back into it!

Diamonds In The Rough

Hi everyone! I had some time to spare yesterday and I decided to paint my nails! I've had this idea in my head for a while and I finally had the time to execute it last night. I used one of my new sparkly nail polishes that I got for Christmas and I really love it! I hope you like these nails as much as I do!

After my base coat, I began to paint my ring finger, middle finger and thumb with Superstar! by Pure Ice. This polish was difficult to work with, but after three coats it evened itself out and was streak-free. Since the layers came out thick, I allowed ten minutes for the polish to dry between coats. 

As I was waiting for the white polish to dry, I began painting my index and pinkie finger with Some Like It Haute by China Glaze. I got this from my uncle for Christmas and I really REALLY love it (not only because of the adorable silver cap). Some Like It Haute is a clear base with small charcoal grey glitter with larger holographic glitter scattered through it. Because it has a clear base, this is five extremely easy coats of the nail polish. If you're impatient or running out of time, I would suggest to use grey undies but I really loved watching the layers build up and become opaque. I noticed that this polish dried rough, almost like a textured polish. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be worn like that but I did add one coat of Seche Vite to add shine. 

The holographic glitter >

Once the white polish was dry, I took my black Stripe Rite striper and began by creating a diamond on a random spot on my nail. To make the diamond, I started by creating a black triangle. Then I painted a trapezoid on top of it with lines going through the trapezoid and triangle. It's really easy to figure out when you look at my nails, all of the diamonds are different shapes and sizes but have the same concept.

Once one diamond is done, I drew more and more on arbitrary spots on my nail. You can't do this wrong! I seriously just painted a diamond wherever there was space. When the polish was dry, I added one layer of my favorite top coat! These nails really make me feel bad ass and I love it! If you try these out please use the hashtag #InspiredBySabrinasNails or send me the picture through kik or email. I hope you like these and become inspired, see you next time! 

Pink & Gold

Merry Christmas! :) I'm finally back to posting regularly on Instagram and on my blog because of Winter Break! These past few weeks of school have been stressful and I haven't really had time to do my nails (which is why I didn't do any holiday themed nails). But today after spending time with my family, I had time to paint my nails with two of my (29) new nail polishes that were gifted to me by my friends and family. (Anyone want to see all of my new pretties?)

Today I decided to go for something simple because of how beautiful these colors are on their own. My aunt bought me two new mini Color Clubs that I am really in love with. The first is Modern Pink. This polish was a little bit hard to work with because of how streaky it was, but after four coats I was able to even it out. The gold polish is called Take The Stage. This nail polish is a clear base with medium sized hex glitters and holographic flakes scattered through it as well. Since this polish has a clear base I think it works way better with undies (I used Sally Hansen's Golden-I).

Overall I'm really liking this combo, I think it's elegant but still fun because of the bright pink. I topped this mani off with one coat of Seche Vite. I hope y'all had a great time this holiday season and spent a lot of time with loved ones and even might've gotten some nice gifts! I'll see you next time!

Roses & Glitter Accents

I've recently been inspired by a few pink Essie colors in my collection. After staring at my polishes thinking of what design I could do, I was always drawn back to Muchi, Muchi, Boom Boom Room, and Mod Square, all by Essie! I finally decided on roses, and glitter gradients for my ring fingers.

I first painted my nails with four thin coats of Essie's Muchi, Muchi. This polish is sheer and sometimes hard to work with, but when you start to build a few layers of it, you get a smooth, light pink color! Once that dried, I took a large dotting tool and dipped it into Essie's Boom Boom Room. I placed three large dots toward the cuticle and let them dry. Next, I took Essie's Mod Square and a smaller dotting tool, to create the curved petals on the roses. With a dark green polish and the smallest dotting tool that I own, I made little tear drop shapes in arbitrary areas around the roses to act as leaves! The nail looked empty with just roses on it so at the last minute I took my white striper by Stripe Rite and created vertical lines on my nail. If stripes were to originally be in my design, I would've done them first to avoid accidentally overlapping the roses! 

I was really interested to play around with Jetset In My Sunset by Curtsy and Bow. After swatching it on a piece of paper to see how much glitter I could get in one stroke, I realized that the formula on this polish wasn't so great. With one swipe, I got about two pieces of glitter, which is a shame because the gold hex glitters are gorgeous! After experimenting with this polish, I realized that I could create a glitter placement gradient (that's a mouthful) on my ring finger! 

I began by dumping some of the polish out on a piece of paper (aka an old magazine I found lying around). With a toothpick, I grabbed each glitter individually and placed them heavily toward the cuticle of my nail. The further down I went, the less glitter I would add, until it looked like a gradient! The clear base in this polish helped the glitter stick to my nail. If you're using completely loose glitter, add a topcoat on your nail (to help the glitter adhere to your nail) and also dip your toothpick in topcoat to make the process of picking up glitter much easier! 

I hope you liked this design as much as I did and I hope you try it out for yourself! If you do, use the hashtag #InspiredBySabrinasNails or send me a picture through Kik or Email! Thank you and have a lovely week (:

Matte Watermarble

After seeing @Mucking_Fusser do a watermarble design over a gradient the other day, I knew I had to try it! I'm definitely not as skilled as Corynn when it comes to watermarbling, but that doesn't mean I can't try!

I started off by creating a gradient on all of my nails. I applied Boom Boom Room by Essie (my all time favorite pink cream polish!) to the top of a makeup sponge, followed by Play Date by Essie to go underneath it. I then rolled and dabbed the sponge onto my nail to create this gradient effect! 

Once the gradient dried, I used Superstar! by Pure Ice and Orly's Sec N Dry for the watermarble that I put on top of the pink & purple. Check out Corynn's blog www.MuckingFusser.com for in depth watermarle tutorials! I topped off the design with Seche Vite and cleaned up the excess polish on my fingers with cotton swabs and nail polish remover.

This design looks great when shiny but I did add one coat of OPI's Matte Top Coat to this because it made this easier to photograph because there were no glares! I really do love how this looks when matte and I love this design in general. I do have to admit that this took quite a long time, (about 3 hours for both hands + clean up) but if you tape your fingers, I'm sure the process would go by much faster! 

I can't wait to try this design again with different color combinations and a more uniform watermarble! This mani will look good on almost every nail shape and length so please try it out! I hope you love this and have a fantastic day! 

Freak Show Polish: Strongman I

Strongman I is a glitter topper with round blue and green glitters to make any mani pop. In the bottle this polish is to die for, the glitters were just calling my name!

I first started with three coats of Mint Apple by Sinful Colors which was also my Mint Mani for Talia Joy. I really wanted to be a part of that tag so I planned this swatch to go up on Friday. Mint Apple is a gorgeous shimmery mint polish.

I absolutely love this color and think it's perfect for summer. I topped this off with two coats of Strongman I and let me tell you, I was in circle glitter heaven!

This polish is a glitter bomb! Two coats did fill most spaces and I didn't have to fish for glitter too much, but being the perfectionist that I am, I did fill in a few empty spaces on my own. Other than that this polish is gorgeous! Since the base is clear, you can layer it over any base color that you wish!

Don't these glitters make you swoon? Here's my rating for this polish:

Application: This glitter topper went on pretty easily. 

True to Color: The base is clear but the glitters are as vibrant as they are in the bottle. 

Dry Time: 2-3 minutes.

Consistency: The clear base did get a bit thick at times but it wasn't too hard to work with.

Coats Until Opaque: It's a clear base but it does take 2 coats for the glitters to fill most spots on the nail.

Additional Comments: I think this polish is beautiful! I did have a hard time taking it off but that's not necessarily a bad thing! That just means it's definitely long lasting. I also did have to place a few glitters on myself but that's only because I'm picky and I need glitter to be EVERYWHERE!

Final Rating: 7/10

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