Dazzled by Dioptase

Welcome back to the blog! I have an awesome polish for you today!!  When I saw sneak peeks of Cirque Colors new facets collection I knew I had to get them!!

As you may know if you follow me on Pinterest, I love gems and minerals. I go to the largest gem and mineral show in the U.S. every year, which fortunately is held a mere 2 hour drive from me in Tucson.  I love it, the sensory overload from the beauty surrounding me is breathtaking.

At last year's show, I fell in love with Dioptase. A striking emerald green-blue, I couldn't stop looking at it. Normally I gravitate towards amethyst, but Dioptase quickly became my new love.

So when I saw that one of Cirque's new polishes was called Dioptase, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it!  Dioptase is a stunning scattered holo flakie glitter masterpiece. Nearly opaque in one coat, the formula is perfect and it glides on easily.

I took some pics with my specimens of Dioptase as well as some other fossils and minerals in my collection.

Cirque Colors is available for purchase here

It's been a long time

OMG.  You know how you get busy and then you say, "oh tomorrow I will do ____." And then tomorrow never comes.  And then it's two months later and you're like "oh shit!"  My poor blog left all alone to fend for itself!!  It's ok, I'm back and have some neat stuff for you.  Consider this my throwback Thursday.  Here's some weird manis that for some reason did not get put on instagram.  Just those ones I only took one pic of and then forgot about and now here we are!  

To kick us off, since it is Thermal Thursday, here is Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's Disco Tech, topped with Fancy Gloss's black thermal top coat.  Yeah, I am the kind of person who saw the amazing neon glitter rave on my nails and decided it needed more.

For a palette cleanser, here is one of my long time lemmings, Chanel Django.  My friends and family will understand the meaning behind this polish.  A gorgeous milky neutral, appropriate in even the most conservative of workplaces.

But..... you think I would just leave a pretty neutral polish all on it's own?? Think again!  This is me, I overdose on glitter for breakfast!  So, I grabbed some giraffe vinyls, as one does, and added CrowsToes Betelgeuse!  This shifty glitter crashed in waves on my neutral Chanel shores.

I love sparkles so much that I have a hard time using a matte top coat.  It just feels wrong somehow.  But, every now and then I bite the bullet, knowing that my regular top coat will bring the sparkles to life again!  Here is Glam Polish's Baby Got Back, mattefied.

Last, but certainly not least, I bring you the delightfully named Don't Be A Shady Beach from Different Dimension.  A gorgeous juicy pink, perfect for the transition from summer to fall, packed with speckles of black - it almost reminds me of watermelon.

There you have it, it's like we never were apart!  I won't abandon you again, little blog of mine!  

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer is seriously the best thing on earth. Get it here

Fancy Gloss is addictive, so watch out!  Get it here

Chanel is timeless, get it here or any high end department store.

CrowsToes is about to have a preorder, stalk the shop here

Glam Polish is another dangerous one, it feels like there's a new collection every other day.  Start or add to your collection here and set aside a few helmer drawers, you're gonna need them!

Different Dimension is a long time indie love, and the polishes are even more beautiful in real life!  Snatch some here

TwinkledT makes giraffe vinyls, among so many other shapes and animals and oh my!  Get some sass in your mani here

Now You Sea Me

Happy Summer everyone!  Have you been getting lava hot nail mail?  I sure have!  It's over 110 most days here, and won't drop below 100 until nearly November.  Oh the joys of living in the desert.

Today I have two gorgeous polishes for you to feast your eyes on.  Up first is Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's gorgeous neon creme The Algae-atic Sea.  This was OPNL's contribution to the Spring CALM (Crème à la Mode) Box and is also available in the Octo Shop RIGHT NOW!!.  This color is definitely a notice me color, you will certainly get stares when you wear it; unless you're known as "that crazy polish girl" and people already expect you to bring the uniqueness!  If you can't rock this at work because of "rules", then certainly try it on your toes!  Perfect summer color!

The other polish is a gorgeous coral glitter packed shimmer from Girly Bits, called Fragments.  This was part of a duo for Harlow & Co's ONE series, where each month an indie maker creates a duo of polishes for a cause.  Girly Bits made their duo for the Alzheimer's Society of Canada.  I am not usually one who goes for this type of color, but it is truly unrivaled in my massive collection.

You keep hearing about OPNL, so why not get some for yourself?  

Girly Bits is a Canadian indie, and while the exchange rate of USD to CAD is pretty sweet right now, there is a strike issue with Canada Post so the shop is currently closed.

Harlow & Co's ONE Series

CALM Box is a quarterly box of 4 creme polishes, check out the FBFan page - the summer box colors have been revealed and swatches will be out soon!

Purple Reign

Happy Thursday!  Three weeks ago today, Prince passed away.  He and his music had a huge impact on my life.  I normally don't care much about famous people's deaths, but this one hit me hard.  I knew I had to do something to honor him.  So I got a tattoo of a purple dove.  I love it and it makes me happy!

But, I also had to do a mani for Prince.  Luckily, I had just finally picked up Cupcake Polish's Berry Good Looking that I have lusted after for months. It's such a gorgeous, luscious berry holo! I paired it with Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's The Cake is a Lye from the Color4Nails Mothers' Day Box.  It makes me think of a glitter flecked marshmallow!  And of course added some bling as is my style.  RIP Prince, the good ones always leave us too soon.

Cupcake Polish can be purchased here

OPNL is always my favorite polish of all time, you can join the octo addiction here or the facebook fan group here

Shimmer Time

Happy April!  I have been so busy lately that I've barely had time for nail art.  I cannot wait for tax season to be over!  I have come to appreciate unembellished nails, for their classic simplicity.  BUT!  Not today!  

Today I have for you an indie brand I have been meaning to try for awhile.  The star of this mani is KBShimmer's Leaf of Faith.  A deep red jelly packed with glitter, it reminds me of a juicy berry pie.  And I love punny names!  KBShimmer is really good at that.  I also picked up some tribal themed vinyls which I used in this mani.

I am so glad I finally tried KBShimmer, I also bought some cuticle oil pens and omg they smell delicious!  I definitely will be a long-time customer. I really love that products are always in stock and there's never a battle of who can click the fastest. KBShimmer can be purchased here.

Rest in Glitter

Wow, it's March already??  February went by in a blink!  Work has been super busy but I've luckily still found time to do my nails.  Today I have for you a fabulous tribute polish by the indie brand Scofflaw.  This polish was re-released after David Bowie passed (RIP) and I finally had the chance to snag it.

This polish is aptly named if you've ever seen "Labyrinth", it is called David Bowie's Bulge.  A striking bright red packed with blue glitters.

Of course, of course, I had to embellish this mani.  I added some bubbles and rhinestones, a fitting tribute to the legend.

Scofflaw is available here

The Gold Standard

Happy February!  I swear today is the day I stop saying "January...errr, oops".  February is probably my favorite month because it is when the annual gem and mineral show is put on in Tucson.  I do love shiny things other than polish! If that kind of thing strikes your fancy, you can check my Pinterest for pics from previous years.

Today I have for you a polish I helped name! Fancy Gloss is an amazing brand, known for typically having one-coaters, and the creator, Jackie, started a fan group on Facebook.  It's probably the most interactive indie polish fan group I am in, and whenever Jackie's playing around making polish, she posts sneak peeks and sometimes asked for suggestions on names.  

Hence, I bring you Golden Pineapple - a gorgeous gold one-coater holo, blindingly sparkly!!  I ended up doing some random art that turned this into an unintentional Mardi Gras mani; yay for happy accidents!!  

You can snag Golden Pineapple and lots of other gorgeous polishes from Fancy Gloss tomorrow HERE - the restock is at 8pm EST and make sure you bring quick hands, because Fancy Gloss addicts are SERIOUS and stuff will be gone in literally minutes. Check Fancy Gloss's Instagram  for swatches!

Sorcery of Steel

Happy Thursday!  We're almost to the weekend!  And what a glorious weekend it shall be, with a preorder from Octopus Party Nail Lacquer!!  You all know how crazy I am for their lustrous lacquers, and with a preorder you can get some great colors with no stress! 

You may remember the awesome winter duos OPNL released last year - some of those colors are making a comeback!!  INCLUDING the most stunning polish I have ever seen, The Bumble, which satiated my lust for Chanel Holographic.  

Today I have for you one of the newest colors from this years' duos, a gorgeous soft gray holo, Steel Wolf.  It flashes a subtle burnt sienna which makes it more complex than your standard gray holo.  That's the octo magic that Dave sprinkles in each bottle.  

Starting tomorrow at 11am EDT, there is a preorder in the Octo Shop which ends Saturday at 5pm EDT - you do not want to miss out! OPNL is amazing and it's time you joined the addiction!!

For the Love of Lacquer

Hey everyone! Can't believe January is nearly over, seems like just yesterday was Christmas.  Time is sure flying this year so far.  Today I have for you a lemming and a custom!

I've talked about Hella Holo Customs before - the super rad Facebook group that hosts one or two indie polish makers each month to make custom polishes for the group members.  Just as I predicted, the group customs have called out to my wallet month after month, but I cannot. resist. the. pretties!!  The good news is that you can still join HHC and get your hands on the current polishes, there's also a really awesome group for people to rehome the past customs.  Feel free to contact me if you want info on how to join!

The first lacquer featured today is a longtime lemming of mine, Lilypad Lacquer's Illusionist.  It is nearly impossible to capture the magenta flash in this gorgeous polish, in person it is even more stunning than you see here.

The other polish is a special custom for HHC that was only available for a few weeks, Smitten Polish (now called Dreamland due to a trademark issue) made a gorgeous pinky lavender called One Heart.  It seems to photograph differently on everyone, no one can say for sure if it's pink or purple.  It's both!  In these shots it leans pink as it picks up that magenta flash from Illusionist.

Lilypad Lacquer is an Australia indie and is available here

Dreamland (formerly Smitten Polish) is available here and relaunches tomorrow!