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!

Polishes I Received this Christmas!

Hey guys! I know Christmas was over a month ago but I never had the chance to show you all what polishes I received this past holiday. I'm so grateful for the friends and family that fed my polish addiction and I'm so excited to share my new pretties with you!

*Disclaimer* I am in no way trying to brag about things that were given to me. I simply want to share them with you and show you my collection as it grows. I love reading about what polishes people bought/ received so I thought this would be a good idea :) I also want to mention that this will be a picture heavy post! 

To start, I'll show you polishes from one of my favorite brands, Essie! These polishes were given to me by my aunt, my friend Madi, and my mom!

From L to R: Off the Shoulder, Shake Your $$ Maker, Sable Collar & Using My Maiden Name

NOTD: Sephora by OPI's I'm So Sari!

This week I've been wearing a gorgeous glitter polish from Sephora by OPI, named 'I'm So Sari!' This polish is from their 2012 Indian Summer Collection and my mom picked it up for me the other day at Sephora.

This is definitely a must have nail polish! This flashy polish has a teal crelly base, with dense teal glitter, and filled with silver holographic hexes. In three coats it's a complete glitter bomb and I couldn't stop staring at my nails this week! Do you own this polish? Tell me in the comments below or tell me on Instagram! Have a fabulous week :)

  

Dazzling Chevrons

I finally decided to try out the famous chevron mani by @SelenaDee_Nails on Instagram! This design is not only popular, but very simple and appealing. I thought this design would be perfect for the Jonas Brothers concert I was going to that day, yes I was totally there for their comeback, and they were just as great since the last time I saw them in 2008!

I swapped out the bright red that Selena used on her thumb, index and pinkie fingers for Essie's Butler Please, a rich blue. This was the first time I used my new polish and I was honestly a bit confused. To my surprise, Butler Please is a crelly polish! It applied like a cream but was somewhat sheer and dried matte. It was opaque in two coats but with one more coat it was much brighter. 

When I know I'm doing a full silver glitter nail, I always apply one coat of a metallic silver polish first. I do this so that there won't be empty spots if the glitter doesn't cover my whole nail, meaning I'll need less coats of the glitter polish. My go-to glitter is Essie's Set in Stones, it's packed with sparkle and will never disappoint! I layered three coats of that over one coat of Silver Mercedes by Pure Ice, a metallic polish.

For the accent chevron nail I started off with a few coats of Superstar! by Pure Ice, a creamy white. This isn't my favorite white polish, its a bit old and thick. I thought I had grabbed I Will! by Loreal but realized I hadn't and was too lazy to walk a few steps to my room to switch them out, haha so I thought this would do. When doing this tape mani, you have to make sure the white is completely dry before moving on, or else the tape could ruin the wet nail. I added a coat of Seche Vite to speed up the drying time. 

In the mean time I was cutting up the pieces of tape for this design. I don't own any zigzag scissors so I followed @Jewsie_Nails tutorial for her easy chevrons. Using a regular piece of tape I folded it (sticky sides out) and cut an angled line down the fold, and then did it once again to get a thin v-shaped piece of tape after I opened it up. 

I placed the pieces of tape on my dry nail and pressed them down to make sure no pieces were oddly lifted up. Then I painted two coats of Liquid Leather by China Glaze on my whole nail and quickly but carefully lifted the tape off of my nail. Ta-da! You're left with a beautiful chevron accent nail! I used my black and white nail art stripers to clean up any empty/uneven lines and I had a very clean and pretty chevron. 

One coat of Seche Vite on each nail and the design was done! I'm pleased with how this came out and I'm definitely doing more chevron manis in the future now that I know how to do them. I hope you all like this and try this out! Have a great day!

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!

Freak Show Polish: Circus of the Sun

Circus of the Sun is a shimmery orange polish with bright orange glitters mixed inside as well. This polish reminds me of gold and I couldn't wait to put it on!

I first applied 4-5 coats of Let's Meet by Sinful Colors. I would usually wear this polish as a topper but I really didn't mind the building up of coats which others might find annoying. I really love the outcome, it feels like I'm wearing the sun on my nails! I haven't worn a bright color like this in a while and it feels great!

I probably should've worn a more orange base but this one looked fine under two coats of Circus of the Sun. I love the way this looks, it makes my nails feel like summer!

Besides my awkwardly chipped nail, this polish looks amazing up close! 

Here is my rating of this polish:

Application: Very easy to apply even though the brush to my sample bottle popped off of the cap :(

True to Color: Completely true to color.

Dry Time: 2-4 minutes.

Consistency: Smooth, not clumpy or goopy. 

Coats Until Opaque: On its own probably 3-4 coats. 

Additional Comments: If you want to feel like you have gold on your nails, get this nail polish! 

Final Rating: 8/10

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

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!

Blue Jelly Sandwich

This 4th of July I decided not to go crazy with the red, white and blue. Instead, I went for a subtle jelly sandwich that still included the classic, rich blue color in the flag.

 For being my first attempt at a jelly sandwich, I am actually pretty proud. I never thought it would be packed with so much glittery deliciousness. I can't stop staring at my sparkly blue finger nails!

A jelly sandwich is when you sandwich a glitter polish between a jelly polish. For example, in my mani I started off with a few coats of Bouncer, It's Me by Essie, then I added two coats of Radiant by Revlon for the glitter, and finished it off with one last coat of Bouncer, It's Me. 

The consistency of a jelly polish is very thin and sheer, which is why it works so well for a jelly sandwich. When I add the final coat of Bouncer, It's Me, it's thin enough to still make the glitter visible but thick enough to tint the glitter to a dark blue. 

Radiant by Revlon is packed with medium sized, green, silver, and turquoise hex glitters. Along with very small and circular turquoise glitters. Two coats was just right for this look. I am so in love with this mani and I'll be keeping this one on for a while!