China Glaze - Lotus Begin

Hi guys!  I have the 5th polish from the China Glaze China Glaze City Flourish Peonies & Park Ave set for you today.

Lotus Begin is a soft purple creme.  In their press release China Glaze described it as a neon purple creme, but I find it far from a neon.  It is a lot darker and brighter than In A Lily Bit though.  When I think of neon, I think super bright and bold, but Lotus Begin is a lot more subdued.

China Glaze - Lotus Begin

So this is kind of weird, but I have two coats of Lotus Begin on my ring and pinky and three on my pointer and middle finger.  I used one coat of HK Girl topcoat as well.  The two coats worked really well with no issues on the ring and pinky, but I had some touch-up work to do on my pointer and middle fingers.  There were a couple spots that were uneven and I did a very thin third coat. I think that if I had bit a bit neater with my application that two coats worked just fine across the board.  Like the others in this collection it dries pretty quickly.  Even though it dries quickly, you still need to give it a few minutes between coats or you'll get patches and dragging.  

China Glaze - Lotus Begin

I found the first coat of Lotus Begin was really patchy, moreso than some of the other polishes, but the second coat went on a lot easier and self-leveled better than the others.  While I haven't tried Peonies & Park Ave yet, Lotus Begin definitely has my favourite formula out of all of the polishes so far.  It does dry matte though, so you'll want a glossy topcoat to bring out the shine and smooth out the surface even more. 

Only one more polish to go from this part of the collection.  So far I have loved every single colour (application foibles and all) and I am looking forward to wearing Peonies & Park Ave soon.  Thanks for reading!

Sunday Stamping - Bad A$$ Mani

Hey guys!  I've got a second post for you today.  Sunday Stamping is back this week and the challenge this week is a "Bad A$$ Mani".  When it comes to my normal nail art, I'm a girly girl with flowers, lace, hearts, that sort of thing.  I don't own any images I'd consider "bad a$$" like skulls, crossbones, rock paraphernalia, etc.

I decided to do something out of my normal style.  When I'm stamping I usually reach for a floral or at least cutesy.  For this challenge I wanted something that looked fun, grunge/punk, yet still with my girly twist.   The crossed lines image looked like something I could layer to achieve a graffiti like feeling.

Sunday Stamping - Bad A$$ Mani

While I'm not 100% certain it fits in a "bad a$$" type theme, I think it turned out awesome and I figured I'd show it off.  I love how the holo lines give it a bit more depth and I love the black and white over the pink base.  What do you guys think?

Materials used:

Base - China Glaze Petal to the Metal
Plate - Pueen 05
Stamping polishes - Konad Black, Konad White and Color Club Eternal Beauty

China Glaze - Petal to the Metal

Hey guys!  I have a fourth polish from the China Glaze China Glaze City Flourish Peonies & Park Ave set for you.

Petal to the Metal is a bright pink creme that leans towards a neon.  In their press release, China Glaze calls it a warm pink coral creme.  On me, this leans much more pink.than coral and even in low-lighting it seems super bright.  This polish is definitely an eye-catcher.  The colour in the photo below is really close to what I see on my nails, except the polish is even brighter than I could capture.

China Glaze - Petal to the Metal

This is three coats of Petal to the Metal with HK Girl topcoat.  I was almost happy with it at two coats, but there were a few spots I was unhappy with.  Since any kinds of patchiness drives me absolutely crazy, I went for a third coat and it really made it look much smoother.  Since the polish dries semi-matte, the topcoat really adds a gorgeous shine. 

China Glaze - Petal to the Metal

 
The formula on this one a bit thicker and it was a little bit tricky to work with even though I normally prefer thicker polishes.  It did self-level a lot easier compared to In a Lily Bit and Spring In My Step though.  Those polishes were more uneven and showed off my ridges more.

There are two more polishes in the collection that I'll be showing you.  Do you have a favourite so far?  Thanks for reading!

China Glaze - In A Lily Bit

Hey guys!  I've got a third polish from the China Glaze China Glaze City Flourish Peonies & Park Ave set for you.

China Glaze - In A Lily Bit

In a Lily Bit is a pastel lilac creme.  This is three coats of In A Lily Bit with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.  The formula on this one was identical to Spring In My Step.  I needed three thicker coats and it didn't want to self-level.  Topcoat does help smooth everything out, so I'd recommend a good thick topcoat.

China Glaze - In A Lily Bit

Another pretty colour with a formula that is less than desirable in my opinion.  I like to be able to put on base coat, two coats of colour and topcoat and be done.  Three coats is fine as long as it self-levels and looks even.  In person it's not as bad, but the photos do magnify the imperfections.

China Glaze - Spring In My Step

Hey guys!  I have another polish for you from the China Glaze China Glaze City Flourish Peonies & Park Ave portion of the set.  Going to be swatching these all individually for you and letting you know my thoughts.

China Glaze - Spring In My Step

This is three thick coats of Spring In My Step and one thick coat of HK Girl topcoat.  Unfortunately this one had the same troublesome formula I encountered with At Vase Value.  In fact the formula on this one was even more difficult to work with and I found with three coats and the topcoat it didn't look as even as At Vase Value. 

China Glaze - Spring In My Step

All three coats were on the thicker side and I let it sit for at least five minutes between each coat and I still had issues.  The polish refused to self-level and without topcoat looked much streakier than in the swatches.  On my middle finger there is a visible spot where the polish looks patchy.  It's still "wearable" in my opinion and a beautiful colour, but unless I absolutely felt I "needed" to wear this colour, I'd probably reach for other polishes in my collection.  Just a note regarding the colour, on the bottle-shot it leans a bit less bright and more "peachy".  The photo without the bottle is more colour accurate.

I do like the colour of this baby pink, but from reading other blogs it seems that formula issues with pastels is pretty common.  I've yet to come across a perfect baby or bubblegum pink that applies streak-free in two coats.  Italian Love Affair from OPI comes pretty close with two coats but it's still a bit tricky to apply and leans a smidge darker than what I'd call bubblegum pink.

What do you think, would you still pick this polish up even with a tricky formula?  Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!

Nail Mail 4-22-2014

Hey guys!  I've got another nail mail post for you today with some more goodies I picked up from Llarowe.  I ordered some of the Colors by Llarowe polishes I was missing and I ordered an Oops bag!  This is my very first Oops bag.

Nail Mail 4-22-2014

Top Row Left to Right:  Black Gold, Texas Tea, Days Of Our Polish, It's Shocking, It's Spring Somewhere, Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee, Rare Bear and Sparkles Are A Girl's Best Friend.

Bottom Row Left to Right: Orchid Oops, Teal Microglitter Oops and Hellcat-ish Oops

Did you order an Oops bag?  Let me know in the comments what you got!  There are a lot of other Oops out there and I'd love to know what you got.  Thanks for reading!

You can purchase Colors by Llarowe at their website HERE.  A few of these polishes are still currently available as of this blog post.  Please note Oops bags are a mystery item that is stocked irregularly and if you receive multiple Oops bags there may be some duplicates.

China Glaze - At Vase Value

Hey guys!  Today's polish is actually a relatively new release for a change.  A friend of mine let me know that Winners had a great deal on a set of the new China Glaze City Flourish collection.  They had a whole pallet of the Peonies & Park Ave sets for $20.00 each.  Even though I'd heard some unpleasant things about formula it was too good of a deal to pass up as I love the colours and wanted to give them a shot.

I'll be reviewing all these colours one at a time and I figured I'd start with the one that caught my attention first.  I choose At Vase Value first because it called my name.  I'm normally a pink or purple girl, but lately I've been leaning towards greens and blues.

China Glaze - At Vase Value

This is three coats of At Vase Value with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.  Unfortunately the formula is really streaky, chalky and difficult to work with.  Even the second coat is really patchy and a generous third coat is needed.  While the third coat is mostly opaque, it still has some uneven spots and the topcoat helped.  Make sure you wait a good few minutes between each coat to lessen any balding or dragging.

China Glaze - At Vase Value

I do love this colour and I like how in some lights it looks pastel blue and in others it looks slightly minty green.  Even with the troublesome formula I like how it turned out.  Did you pick up any of the polishes from this collection?  Did you have similar problems with formula?  Let me know in the comments.  Thanks for reading!

Zoya - Yana

Hey guys!  Today's polish is Zoya Yana from their Summer 2013 Stunning Collection.  This polish is super bright, fun and definitely perfect for summer.  Or, if you're like me and wear polishes whenever you feel like it, I think it's perfect for any time!

Zoya - Yana

This is two coats of Yana with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.  The formula on this polish is a little thick, but it was easy to work with.  The first coat went on a little bit patchy.  I needed a second coat to get an even finish, but there were a couple little spots that looked a bit patchy up close but from about a foot away I couldn't really tell it was there.  I'm not sure if it's the polish, or perhaps user error.  The polish seemed to dry quickly, but I might have been a bit too impatient and put on the second coat too early.

Zoya - Yana

I found that Yana dries to a semi-gloss finish and a glossy topcoat is recommended.  Zoya describes Yana as a geranium pink cream.  After browsing some images I would have to say that's pretty accurate.  I'm actually wishing I'd grabbed this whole collection now as I love a good creme.  Do you have any off the polishes from the Stunning or Irresistible Collection?  Which one is your favourite? 

Just want to note that with removal this polish does stain a wee bit.  I had to scrub a bit at my nails to clean them up.

Thanks for reading!

China Glaze - Scandalous Shenanigans

Hey guys!  Today's pretty is China Glaze Scandalous Shenanigans from the 2013 Autumn Nights collection.  I received the whole collection for my birthday from my wonderful husband and while I'd previously admired the bottle I hadn't tried it yet and when going through my untried China Glaze polish this one screamed "try me!".

China Glaze - Scandalous Shenanigans

This is one (yes, that's right...ONE) coat of China Glaze Scandalous Shenanigans with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.  This baby is so pigmented that one coat completely covers with no streaks, bald spots or patches at all.  I just painted on the one coat, and checked it with my Ott-Lite there was no visible nail line or any bare spots that I could see.  Even in photos the one coat looks perfect.

China Glaze - Scandalous Shenanigans

The formula itself is a little bit thin, so make sure to wipe off your brush pretty good or the polish will drip down your brush and you might get more polish than you want.  You really don't need a lot of it either as a small bead on the end of your brush will cover the whole nail if you have shorter nails like me.  I did notice a few brushstrokes in the finish, but they're not super noticeable and topcoat helps to hide them.  I personally don't mind a bit of brushstrokiness in the finish as long as it's not patchy or streaky looking.

Another brief note is that since it's a highly pigmented blue, it can stain a bit.  Surprisingly when I was cleaning my cuticles up I noticed only a faint bit of staining, but with further cleaning most of it was gone.  I didn't have to scrub at my cuticles to get them clean which is awesome!  Upon removal it didn't stain my nail bed, but it did make my free edge a bit blue which was cleaned up with soap and water and a nail brush.

Do you have any favourite polishes that are "one and done"?  Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!

Colors by Llarowe - Wind Beneath My Wings

Hey guys!  I have another beauty from Colors by Llarowe for you today that is unfortunately no longer available.  I know, I'm evil...*insert evil laugh here*.  The polish was from a limited edition charity sale.  I showed you the bottle shot of this in my Nail Mail 4-9-2014 post and now I have to show you the magic that is this polish.

Colors by Llarowe - Wind Beneath My Wings

This is two coats of Colors by Llarowe (CbL) Wind Beneath My Wings with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.  The formula on this polish is the slightly thicker but easy to work with formula I've come to expect from CbL's.  The first coat goes on evenly and self-levels with no fuss and the second coat makes it completely opaque.  If you wanted to, you could probably build it up to opacity with just one thicker coat, but I find it can tend to take longer to dry that way.

While I love holos, polishes that have some sort of shimmer or sheen to them are actually my favourite overall.  I love when a polish "glows from within".  Wind Beneath My Wings is a dusky bluish grey with pink particles and scattered holographic finish.  It has a faint linear rainbow, but the star in my opinion is how the scattered holo and the pink particles make the polish shine.  It was hard to capture the dual effect, but if you look at the shine portion of my photo, you can see a pinky-red glow.

While this polish is no longer available on Llarowe, you may be able to get ahold of it through blog sales or various Facebook sale groups.  Thanks so much for reading! 

Duri Rejuvacote Challenge - Day 7

Hey guys!  I'm back!  Sorry I disappeared for a bit there, but the last couple weeks have been pretty rough.  I ended up with an ear infection on top of my almost daily headaches and the antibiotics I'm on make me nauseous.  I have kept up with applying Duri Rejuvacote to my nails every day so I've got the final day of my Duri 7 Day Challenge.

Duri Rejuvacote Challenge - Day1

 Is Duri a "miracle grow" type of product? 

No, my nails are growing at a normal rate, so it doesn't increase the speed at which your nails grow. 

Does it improve the look and strength of your nails? 

My answer is yes, as long as you continue to use it.  I had stopped using Duri as my basecoat for some time now and have started using other various basecoats.  My nails were starting to feel really weak again and they were regularly cracking at the corners and starting to peel again even with using cuticle oil and a glass file. 

Does Duri "cure" your weak, brittle nails so you can stop using it and have beautiful strong nails forever? 

In my opinion it won't fix the problem if there are other factors involved like poor nutrition, vitamin deficiencies or other medical factors. I have an iron deficiency and my diet could definitely be better.  I do need to start drinking more water again which could certainly help with keeping my nails stronger.  Like I noted above, you'll need to keep using it for it to keep helping.

Duri Rejuvacote Challenge - Day 7

So here are my nails one week later after using only the Duri Rejuvacote treatment.  While not a drastic change you can see the growth difference. While one week is a very short time to accurately say whether my nails are "healthier"; based on previous experience with regular use, I do feel that Duri does help improve nail health for weak, peeling nails.  I will continue to use it as my base coat under my polishes again and perhaps I will do a followup post a month from now.

One thing I do want to note about Duri, is that it also makes my cuticles seem to grow a bit more quickly.  I don't cut them, but I do push them back very gently and once a week I use Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle remover to remove any stray cuticle from my nail bed. 

Do you use any special nail treatments?  Let me know in the comments below. 

Please note, Duri is not 3-free and does contain Formaldehyde and Camphor.  You can find a complete list of ingredients here.  Canadians can purchase Duri Rejuvacote online at Nail Polish Canada for $12.95.  Currently shipping is free at the time of this blog post.

Nail Mail 4-9-2014

Hey guys!  Just a quick post today with my newest nail mail!  I purchased these from Llarowe during their Charity Restock.  The charity polishes were created in limited quantities and all proceeds from the sale of the polishes are going to the respective charities they were created for.  Colors by Llarowe is one of my favourite brands and I love that they support charity.

Top Row Left to Right: Colors by Llarowe Purple Rain, Home Is Where the Heart Is, Love You Forever, Wind Beneath My Wings, Jo Jo and Freedom Isn't Free.

Purple Rain is not part of the charity polishes, but it's a re-vamp of a polish that was previously released. 

Home Is Where the Heart Is was created to support Fairy DogParents. 

Love You Forever was created to support the Colon Cancer Foundation (Susie’s Cause) Wind Beneath My Wings was created to support the Prostate Cancer Foundation

Jo Jo was created to support the American Kidney Fund

Freedom Isn't Free was created to support Disabled American Veterans

Bottom Row: HK Girl topcoat x 2 and A England Perceval.

I am in love with the HK Girl topcoat and I bought two backups to my backup.  Did you purchase any of these?  You can purchase Colors by Llarowe at their website HERE.  They just did a restock today and some of these polishes along with some of their core and latest collection are available as of this blog post.

Duri Rejuvacote Challenge - Day 1

Hey guys!  Sorry for the no post yesterday.  I was battling with a migraine all weekend and I'm still feeling under the weather.  To make things worse my middle nail on my swatching hand had a really long crack on the side.  I need to get that Orly Nail Rescue I've been hearing so much about, but for now I'm back to super shorties.

It bugs me if my nails are way too different in length so I chopped them all down again.  I did like experimenting with the square(ish) nails, but I think my nails are just not strong enough on the corners to keep up with the square.  I've rounded them out again and I guess we'll see how that goes!  If any of you have been wondering where my thumb has disappeared to in my swatches, I have a deep crack on the left side of my thumb as well and I've just used Gelous on it and have not been painting it to keep the use of acetone down to a minimum.

I'm going to go back to using my favourite nail strengthener Duri Rejuvacote as a base under my polish for a while.  I used to use this regularly and my nails stopped peeling and breaking as often.  Lately I've been using Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel, but I think I need some strengthening power again. 

Today's post will be...naked nails! *gasp*!  I am actually kind of nervous about showing my naked nails as I have those funky ridges I don't think my naked digits are very pleasing with the weird lines, but I'm going to be doing a one week challenge using only Duri Rejuvacote as my base.

For this challenge I'll be following the instructions on the bottle which state:

• Begin with clean dry nails.
• Apply one coat of Rejuvacote as a base coat.
• Apply nail colour if desired.
• Apply Rejuvacote as a topcoat daily.
• After 7 days remove with polish remover.
• As nails improve apply every other day or as needed.

Duri Rejuvacote Challenge - Day 1

So, here are my naked nails with one coat of Duri Rejuvacote to start.  I'm going to hold off on applying colour until the Sunday Stamping challenge, but I'll apply another coat of Duri daily!  Let me know in the comments if I should post a quick daily photo and update, or if you think I should do Day 1, Day 4 and Day 7.

Please note, Duri is not 3-free and does contain Formaldehyde and Camphor.  You can find a complete list of ingredients here.  Canadians can purchase Duri Rejuvacote online at Nail Polish Canada for $12.95.  Currently shipping is free at the time of this blog post.

Sunday Stamping - Pastel

Hey guys!  This week's stamping challenge is "Pastel".  I had a bit of trouble with this one at first because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  After checking out my various images I thought it would be fun to do a "peek-a-boo" type mani.

Sunday Stamping - Pastels

I used Bunny Nails BuNA-A plate for my stamp.  This image is a cut out of flowers and instead of stamping a design on the base, the design is your under polish and the stamp is the border around it.  I had a bit of trouble with lining it up just the way I wanted it and smooshed it a bit in some spots, but I'm happy with how this turned out.  My base is the Hard Candy Jelly Bean Blue which I reviewed yesterday.  I left one nail as an accent nail and I love the little speckled blue flowers.

Are you doing the Sunday Stamping challenge each week?  Leave me a link to your challenge mani in the comments!  Thanks for reading.

~Nothing to disclose, polish was won in a giveaway and stamping materials were purchased by me~

Hard Candy Jelly Bean Blue

Hey guys!  I have a Hard Candy polish for you today called Jelly Bean Blue.  It's from their "Candy Sprinkles" collection.   I have actually worn this one before and it's such a super cute look and I think it's very appropriate for spring.  It totally reminds me of a robin's egg.  The base is a pastel blue crelly loaded with tiny blue and black circle glitters.

Hard Candy Jelly Bean Blue

This is two coats of Hard Candy Jelly Bean Blue with one coat of HK Girl topcoat. The polish is thick and can get kind of goopy, but application was actually really easy for me.  I used a medium thick coat to get a good scattering of glitter across the full nail.  I didn't have any problems with patchiness or streakiness with it and it dried quickly.  The second coat went on nicely and didn't completely cover up the glitters beneath so they peek out and give it a layered look.

Hard Candy Jelly Bean Blue

I didn't have to fish for the glitter, but before doing my coats I did make sure that I had a bead of polish on the brush that had a lot of glitter and I made sure my coats weren't too thin.  I did more than the normal three strokes down the middle and each side, but I used barely any pressure when going over it again so I could distribute more glitter.  The glitters didn't cause a lot of texture and a single coat of topcoat was enough to to leave it smooth and glossy.

I'm not normally crazy about glitter polishes, but I do love this one and while it's not a dupe, it's comparable to Illamasqua Fragile, a speckled polish for a fraction of the price.  Let me know if you've tried any of the Hard Candy polishes!  Thanks for reading!

Hard Candy polishes can be purchased in the Walmart beauty section.  They retail for $3.99 in Canada and each polish is 7.8ML or 0.26 FL. OZ.

Darling Diva - Witchy Woman

Hey guys!  Today's polish is from a brand that it totally new to me.  It is my first Darling Diva polish, and I am super pleased with how it looks.  Unfortunately this polish doesn't seem to be currently available as I checked on both Darling Diva's Etsy and Big Cartel shops and it's not there, sorry!

Witchy Woman is packed full of rainbow glitters in various shapes and sizes.  My first impression of it was that it looked like it would be confetti on the nail.  The base of the polish is a sheer black jelly and on it's own three coats works just fine, but I'm not partial to how it looks on it's own. I decided to layer it instead and love the look of it.

Darling Diva Witchy Woman over Color Club Wild Cactus

This is Witchy Woman over Color Club Wild Cactus, which I reviewed here.  Because I wanted to get the most out of the glitter without changing the colour of my base polish too much, I used the sponge method for applying Witchy Woman.  So I can't tell you how many "coats" this is necessarily, but I used about three swipes of the brush on the sponge and let it soak up the base a bit before sponging it over my nail.  It went on quickly, and I was able to get a variety of the glitters on all my nails.  To make removal easier, I used cuticle oil around my nail before sponging it on and cleanup was a breeze.

I think my favourite part of this polish are the tiny green glitters that sparkle and flash with every move of my fingers, even in low lighting.  They really add a depth to the glitter that reminds me of a decked out, colourful Christmas tree.  I think it would make an excellent topper over a variety of colours, especially when using the sponge method to soak up the black base.

Darling Diva Witchy Woman over Color Club Wild Cactus

  Even with sponging it on, the glitter is very topcoat hungry.  I used two thick layers of Seche Vite topcoat and it still wasn't completely smooth.  Removal was made easy using my new favourite base Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel.

Though Witchy Woman isn't available right now, there are lots of pretties in various finishes on their Etsy and Big Cartel shops and prices range from $8.00 - $12.00 USD per polish.  Darling Diva does ship internationally and shipping to Canada starts at $9.50 per polish and it appears it's $1.25 per additional polish.

Do you own any Darling Diva polishes?  Which ones would you pick from their store?  Leave me a comment below and thanks for reading!

Color Club - Wild Cactus

Hey guys!  I have one of my favourite greens to show you today.  Unfortunately this polish proved impossible for me to capture accurately.  I don't colour correct or edit my photos in any way other than cropping and watermarking, but I took multiple pictures and got it as close as I could for you.  I even tried using my regular Canon Powershot on every different setting I could think of, and I had no luck with that either.  These photos were taken with my trusty iPhone4S as usual.

Color Club Wild Cactus

This is two coats of Color Club Wild Cactus with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.  The first coat was smooth and mostly opaque, but I find two coats really deepens the colour and since it's a creme, it helps hide my nail imperfections a bit better with a second coat.   The formula is thick enough to be opaque, but not too thick that it was difficult to work with and no problems with pooling in the cuticles. 

Wild Cactus can stain the skin with removal, so for swatches I used a peel off basecoat and I had no staining on the nail, but when removed with remover or acetone you might get some staining.  It would be a good idea to double up on basecoat and before removal use Vaseline or cuticle oil around your nails.

Color Club Wild Cactus

Wild Cactus is what I consider an emerald green, in my photos there is a  slight dusty blueish tinge, but it's definitely green on the nail.  When I compared my photos to those of other bloggers, it seems that this is a common issue.  The colour on the nail is slightly darker than how it appears in the bottle. 

I found a color swatch from Art-Paints.com, and this is the closest I could find to what I see on my nail.  It's a bit brighter than this, but color-wise it's close. The swatch below links to their site, and the image belongs to them.

Visit Art-Paints.com

What are your favourite green polishes?  Do you wear green at all?  Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!

ILNP - Exodus

Hey guys!  As many of you may know, April 2nd is World Autism Day and they are asking people and organizations to "Light it Up Blue".  You can find out more about World Autism Day and Autism Month at Austism Speaks.  The nail polish blogging community is also getting into the spirit by wearing blue manis to show their support and help shine a light on autism. 

I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus

Today's mani is I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus.  This is two coats of Exodus with HK Girl topcoat, though it was almost completely opaque in one coat.  I used an initial thin coat that was smooth and self-leveling, but when held up to the light I could see just a few patches that needed some extra coverage.  The formula was very easy to work with, but even with careful application I did get polish on my skin.  Part of this is due to what I consider a very stiff brush that sometimes makes application a little bit tricky.  Depending on how you apply your polish, you may need only one coat, but for the camera I needed two.  The second coat covered up all the patchiness and smoothed everything out nicely.  The topcoat helped bring out a bit more of the shimmer hiding in the base.

ILNP describes the polish "Exodus is a marvelously deep blue polish packed with an array of incredibly beautiful sparkles along with a hint of color shifting multichrome pigment.  The subtle touch of multichrome pigments provide a wonderful light and shimmery blue (almost teal) color in direct light and an deep navy in low-light around the curves of your nail."

I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus

While ILNP describes Exodus as teal in direct light, I describe Exodus as a blackened blue and don't personally see any shift in the polish except for how it translates onto the nail.  It is much darker on the nail than it is in the bottle.  In the bottle the polish looks much lighter and more "blurple" than teal and the shimmer is much more evident than on the nail.  In low-lighting Exodus looks almost black with a hint of shimmer, but in direct lighting the shimmers in the base stand out a bit more and the edges are black while the centre has a lit from within blue glow.

I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus

During cleanup my nails and cuticles were stained and I ended up with Smurf skin.  After cleaning up and letting my polish dry I had to scrub my skin with a nail brush to get it off.  I recommend doubling up on basecoat to protect against staining the nail.  When removing with polish remover or acetone, your skin will likely turn blue.

If you have a peel off basecoat like Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel, then soak your fingers in warm water for a few minutes before using a cuticle remover to gently peel up a corner of the polish and it should remove easily in one piece.  If it doesn't come up easily then soak your fingers a little longer in warm water to loosen up the base before trying again.

Hopefully the Smurf skin doesn't scare you too much as this polish really is beautiful and worth a little bit of scrubbing.  Leave me a comment below if you have any tips or tricks you use to minimize staining on your skin and nails and thanks for reading!

Exodus and many other gorgeous polishes are available on ILNP's site and prices range from $10.00 to $12.50 and shipping is available to Canada and starts at $9.80 for one polish.

Don't forget to check out some other bloggers sporting blue for World Autism Day.

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Mail 4-1-2014

Hey guys!  Just a quick post right now to show you some of the nail mail that I got yesterday.  I was the lucky winner of a contest from The Lazy Laquerista and I also received some swap polishes as well!

The prize pack I received contained: Darling Diva - Witchy Woman, Northern Star - Pumkin Licious, Polish Yer Hooves - Rusty Nails, Pretty & Polished - Watch it in C-D and a Models Own mini glitter pack with Emerald City, Scarlet Sparkle and Bluebelle.  All of these brands are new to me, I haven't tried any of them before so I'm excited to check them out.  I will have a post coming up featuring one of these polishes.

The swap polishes are Zoya Kimber and Color Club Emerald Depths.

Nail Mail 4-1-2014