A Charm

My third and maybe final post on Pretty and Polished's Jawbreaker--the first polish I ever posted. I think I got it right this time.

Bottle shots are on my very first post which is oh my gosh over one year ago! See the bottle here.

Jawbreaker.

Jawbreaker.

Bearded Meets Bayou

Bearded Collie Meets Bayou Blitz <3

Ballou, Bayou, Ballroom?

Bayou Blitz was a long time lemming for sure—as long as I had wanted it, it had not been restocked I couldn’t find it anywhere (except eBay :( = $$$). Then a stroke of luck hit when a sweet gal swapped with me! I've said it before (no I haven't, but I will in the future) and I'll say it again: if you really love a lemming, let it free, and it will come to you.

Bayou Blitz arrived in all of its neon, black light reactive glory, matte glitters ablaze from within. I hadn’t actually thought about it until after application that Blitz is a matte glitter (in a base of gorgeous sheer bluey green neonish wonder). As far as I can remember this is my first matte glitter. I was having application problems, but I think this is probably due to my impatience between coats drying.

I found my base had a little bit of the goo quality that some colored jellies have and that is hard for me to work with because I am polishing challenged. Second try was better for sure, but because it was packed with teeny glitters I found removal to be best with some individual pick off action combined with my regular acetone scrubby jar. Of course there was some fishing action with the gorgeous GIANT glitters, but I don't think it would be possible for there not to be for that sparse effect to take place, which looks great here, imo :)

Bayou Blitz. Natural Light. Angle One.

Bayou Blitz. Natural Light. Angle Two.

Bayou Blitz. Natural Light. Shade.

Bayou Blitz. Flash. Macro.

Bayou Blitz. Natural Light. Macro.

I do wonder the story behind the name on this. As far as I can tell the ONLY thing called Bayou Blitz is this polish. And maybe a band? Maybe my curiousity will be fulfilled when my dream of going to the bayou is realized ;) PS. The Misfits to my knowledge DID NOT cover Ballroom Blitz.

A favorite, revisited!

I said I would dedicate another post to Jawbreaker and here it is! There's not much more to say--original Jawbreaker post A sheer-ish white base with almost all rainbow colors of glitter: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple, I maintain that Jawbreaker looks like, well, a jawbreaker, only more beautiful. 

I've seen some really beautiful paint jobs with Jawbreaker and I've been practicing, but I'd like to get it down perfect (if you have any tips...feel free to leave). So you may see another post on this lovely polish! Stay tuned. 

Jawbreaker. Natural Light (some sun).
 

Jawbreaker. Natural Light (shade).

A Brief Interlude

I had to take a quick break from my Sprinkles swatching to show you another sweet polish--one of my fav Pretty and Polished, if not my favorite. This is Candy Coated. Its lovely pinky lilac or lilac-y pink with multi-sized pink and purple hexes seemed to glide onto my nails. It’s versatility allows it to look beautiful in two coats (slightly sheer) three coats (opaque), and one coat (over another polish).

While I normally prefer multicolor glitters, Candy Coated is really a standout for me. Part of it is surely the formula, but the pretty girly-ness of it, without being sickeningly sweet really appeals to me. It's a pretty unique combo, as well. I tried it as a jelly sammich with Beclaus I Said So $OPI and I thought that was pretty cute. I have a crappy picture of this.

I would recommend not using a quick dry topcoat over this, unless you have one that results in minimal shrinkage, because I think I noticed some. It goes on smoothly without a topcoat though, so you may skip all together. I was wondering if Candy Coated is anything like Tart, but I don’t own both. Thoughts?

Candy Coated (two coats). Artificial Light.

Candy Coated (three coats). Natural Light (overcast).

Candy Coated (three coats). Close up.

Candy Coated. Macro.

We made it!

Post number dos. Zwei. Deux. Two! So it's a multilingual milestone for me, here. Post number two!!

Today are pictures of another lovely polish from Pretty and Polished. I heard P+P is going to Llarowe for distribution. Congratulations, P+P! I'm very happy to hear that everyone is so happy with this arrangement. While I planned on ordering through a wishlist from Llarowe for months that never happened, so now I have more to spend on P+P. Yay! I have to say I also really think P+P does a fantastic job already, so maybe it will not be an exclusive distribution? Not sure.

 Just to illustrate how great P+P is, though: I have three other handmade ("indie" or what have you) polish orders out and in the same amount of time I have received three already from P+P. I'm quite excited to own and wear many, many more! (Bayou Blitz, your neon goodness will be mine, if only someday!!)

Today the P+P polished I have is Party on My Yacht:

POMY is a milky white jellyish base, opaque in two coats, populated with small but not mini sized hex glitter in fuschia, purple, gold, and kelly green. It has a sparse amount of turquoise bar glitter, which I think may be a thinner width than some bar glitters. I would perhaps like a tiny bit more bar glitter, I know some people are adverse to it, but I had maybe one on every other finger. Maybe one on every finger and two on some? I guess that's asking a lot, come to think of it :p

A cute and unique polish great for the Spring and Summer seasons--very "party," hence the name, I guess :) 

PoMY. Close up. Artificial light.

It applies nicely with what I've seen call "dab and disperse" method for glitter heavy polishes, if you're trying to fish out the bar glitters, if not, glitter is well suspended. It's also helpful to let each coat dry about five minutes in between (or as long as you can bear to wait) because as most white polishes do, I find this one (like Jawbreaker) tends to get a tad bit gooey for me. I love the fast dry time when topped with Poshe!

PoMY. Artificial light.

PoMY. Flash/Artificial light.

Here Goes Nothing

Let's start this post with a few disclaimers such as:

I'm going to be in a state of trial and error for awhile. So if anyone is reading, please bear with me, my nail shape and length, pardon my paint jobs, and likely my sad, needy ew-ticles (cuticles :-(). This blog will exist in part, to help me learn to better paint and care for my nails, take better nail photos, as well as to showcase my own personal adoration for the artistry of polish and expression through color, textures, and general shininess. Here we go :)

That being said, Welcome to My Little Blog!!
It's small, but mine.  

Pretty and Polished for this post, accented by a favorite Revlon Streetwear from grade school, Taxi. For the following photos coats are as follows: two coats of Jawbreaker and three coats of Taxi, all polishes were layered over a basecoat and topped with Poshe topcoat. 

Jawbreaker was my first and ultimate indie polish lemming (especially that I've been able to complete). I traded Dior Saint Tropez, in box for it. I was obsessed with all the swatches of JB because even though I don't necessarily like my pics as much (and I am SURE to do it again as a full mani for pics :D), the swatches I saw truly looked like a jawbreaker candy. 

Jawbreakers never tasted good to me, but surely a cool, retro effect to be able to recreate in a polish, and an incredibly original idea. Not to disappoint in person--probably better, actually. Like many white polishes, mine seemed to goo up a bit over time, and I added a bit of thinner with no issue. Jawbreaker (the polish) is packed with smallish green bars (no issues with mine), GIANT red squares (my bottle has it's own shot glass and I store it upside down in it because the GIANT red squares tend to sink to the bottom due to their weight and do require a bit of fishing), red, blue, yellow/gold hex glitter, and tiny lavender/purple glitter, in a milky-like white base. 

I <3 JB and totally intend on doing a post devoted entirely to it, soon. The first time I wore it, if you can believe it, it stayed on for five days with the most minimal tip wear.

After seeing some Revlon Streetwear polish bottles on a blog, I was struck with immediate nostalgia and one word came to mind: "Taxi." I remembered this polish and after searching, came upon it. It seemed to have thinned a lot over time as it took three coats of very careful application to get a non-streaky, solid look. But holy subtle shimmer!!!

I seriously recommend allowing maximum dry time between coats as well. IMO it's worth all the waiting. It dried to a gorgeous, eye-burning bright truly taxi-yellow with somewhat of a plasticine quality and a super subtle shimmer nearly worthy of RBL.

Pretty and Polished Jawbreaker and Revlon Streetwear Taxi. Sunlight.

Pretty and Polished Jawbreaker and Revlon Streetwear Taxi. Shaded Sunlight.

Pretty and Polished Jawbreaker and Revlon Streetwear Taxi. Artificial Light.

Pretty and Polished Jawbreaker and Revlon Streetwear Taxi. Shady artificial light.

Jawbreaker bottle macro <3

Jawbreaker.

Revlon Streetwear Taxi. Flash (trying to show the extent of the shimmer).

Revlon Streetwear. Taxi.