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!

Skimp or Spend? # 3

Good afternoon everyone! How are you all doing? I'm home sick today (I just woke up with a really sore throat, nothing major) and I decided I'd post another Skimp or Spend? post for you! Thank you so much for loving this series, your positive feedback makes me so happy! :) 

OPI The Iconic Nail Lacquers + Mani Essentials

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a great Wednesday :) I have really been busy with school and homework but I just had to post about the OPI Iconic Nail Lacquers and Mani Essentials! This is a recent purchase for me and I'm so excited about this one. Keep reading for OPI must-haves!

Butter London - All Hail The Queen

Happy Saturday everyone! :) Today I have a swatch of Butter London's All Hail the Queen for you. I posted this swatch on my Instagram a few days ago but I never got around to blogging about this gorgeous color!

Skimp or Spend? # 2

I'm back with another post on my series, Skimp or Spend? I am so happy that you guys loved the last post, I received so many positive responses both on Instagram and on my blog. Thank you so much, you have all motivated me to keep this series going ❤ Today I'll be speaking about one of my favorite colors for spring, mint green!

I recently purchased Fashion Playground by Essie and as soon as I got home I wondered if I had any similar minty colors. Revlon's Jaded is pretty darn close. They look different in their bottles, but on the nail they actually look very similar. I purchased both polishes at Target, the Essie for $8.49, and the Revlon for $4.59. 

Precision Nail Lacquer - Oasis Collection

Hey everyone, today I have some nail swatches for you. Precision Nail Lacquer was so kind and sent me their new Oasis Collection to share with you all! This collection includes nudes, browns, and even a shimmer shade! If you're interested, please keep reading :)

Skimp or Spend? # 1

Welcome to the first post on my new series, Skimp or Spend? In these posts I will compare two polishes in my stash that are similar (not always exact dupes) but have two very different prices. I want to share that inexpensive nail polishes can often have a better quality than an expensive polish, and vice versa. Although I will be explaining my thoughts on the two, it's ultimately your decision. Would you rather skimp, or spend? ❤

Julep - Zelda

Good morning everyone! Today I'm sharing with you a swatch of a new polish I got for Christmas. For the past few days I've been wearing Zelda by Julep. I can't wait to share my thoughts on this polish with you all!

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 (:

Nude to Blue Gradient

I was inspired by the gorgeous bright blue color (St Thomas Blue Me Away) that CurtsyandBow sent me, that I decided it was finally time for me to try a nude to color gradient. I have seen the trend everywhere and I think it's so pretty!

I began by applying two coats of a nude base (Trade Winds by Revlon) on my nails. Once that was dry, I took Trade Winds and St Thomas Blue Me Away and painted two horizontal stripes next to each other on a cosmetic wedge and sponged the colors onto my nail. This technique creates a flawless gradient every time! To help the colors blend and to add some sparkle, I added a coat of Fairy Dust by China Glaze, followed by one coat of Seche Vite. 

I think these turned out really nicely and I'm excited to try this again with different colors! If you'd like to purchase St Thomas Blue Me Away, please visit www.CurtsyandBow.com! If you try this design out, use the hashtag #InspiredBySabrinasNails or send the picture to me by Email or Kik! Have a marvelous day :)

Reviewing Curtsy and Bow Polishes

Recently I was contacted by Curtsy and Bow to review a few of their gorgeous nail polishes! I'd been a fan of their polishes for a while and was extremely thankful for this opportunity! After a short two day of making the arrangement, a package came in the mail with three full size bottles of their polishes, along with a lovely note!

From Left to Right:
Jetset In My Sunset, St Thomas Blue Me Away & Shiraz With Tha Stahz

I'm so excited to try these out, they are all so pretty and that is my favorite shade of blue! If you'd like to purchase any of these or see more of their products, go to www.CurtsyandBow.com!

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!