Essie Off Tropic

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

Essie's Off Tropic from the Spring 2016 collection is a gorgeous (or as my 3 year old says "glorgeous" LOL!) dark green creme. I LOVE a good green polish and it seems like Essie doesn't do a lot of colors in this range. When this collection came out, I had to have Off Tropic.

This was 2 coats, plus topcoat. This is one of those Essie's that has an amazing formula and was a dream to apply.

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Essie Shimmer Brights Collection 2016!

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

I don't often review full Essie collections.... strike that, I've never reviewed a full Essie collection. BUT when I saw the Shimmer Brights collection, I knew I needed to own it AND it includes Essie's 1000th polish, A YELLOW!!! A YELLOW!!! I LOVE YELLOW!

Let's start with the yellow, Aim To Misbehave. This is a medium yellow shimmer. I used two coats but after I ran out the door, I did notice a small patchy spot so 3 would have been perfect. The formula was great though! Super stoked about that!

Sexy Plunge is an orange with orange shimmer. Another great formula, though a bit sheer. This was opaque in 3 coats. 

Seen on the Scene is a bright pink shimmer. Another slightly sheer polish but again, a nice formula. 3 coats.

DJ ON Board is the purple shimmer. This had the least favorable formula and was a little thin but not unmanageable. I used 2 coats but as you can see, I wasn't paying attention and should have done 3.

All Hands On Deck is a gorgeous emerald green shimmer. This was opaque in 2 coats. I did have some slight slight staining with this after I swatched it but I don't wear a base coat when I swatch so I'm assuming a base coat or doubling up on base coat would help.

Catch of the Day is the by far the least shimmery. In fact, the shimmer is barely visible. Since I love blue so much, this was a bit disappointing. However, the formula was great! This was 2 coats.

I ordered mine from eBay but these should be popping up in stores soon, if they aren't already! Are you going to grab any of these polishes?

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Twinsie Tuesday: Tulips

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

Tulips, tulips.. one of the beautiful signs of spring! I am carefully proclaiming that spring is finally here and here to stay! The weather lately has been gorgeous, the birds chirping, the sun shining, the clouds... not in sight! I am jubilant about these facts.

I decided to try the Tulip manicure that is not new and I just simply haven't ever tried. I started with two coats of Essie's Stones n' Roses and then used Essie In Stitches for the tulip part of the nails.

                                                              Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

                                                                   Amanda at Amandalandish

                                                                     Amber at Nails Like Lace

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish
Sharon at Behind Green Eyes 

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Color Series Day 3: Cobalt Blue

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

Annnd I'm back with more cobalt blue polishes!

As I mentioned previously, my middle and ring fingers have Sally Hansen Pacific Blue and the index and ring fingers have the polishes that are being compared. I don't know if all of these polishes are available so forgive me if they are discontinued!

Orly Color Blast A Happy...Puddle. This is darker than PB, but has a nice formula; 2 coats, plus topcoat.

KBShimmer Low and Be Bold is a jelly formula and is clearly darker. This was 3 coats, plus topcoat.

China Glaze I Sea The Point is a bit darker but is close to PB. 2 easy coats plus topcoat.

Sonia Kashuk Roll With The Punches is another jelly polish, from the Spring 2016 collection. 3 coats, plus topcoat.

Finally for today, another way too dark polish, Essie's Bouncer It's Me. This is also a dark blue jelly and needed 3 coats, plus topcoat. 4 coats should have been used but I basically don't do 4 coats ever so I stopped at 3, ha.

Okay, are you so ready for tomorrow? It's going to be sparkletastic!

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Twinsie Tuesday: Your Favorite Color

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

My favorite color... well if you aren't new to the blog, you might guess that blue is my favorite color. Cobalt blue, specifically. Since I have so many blues that I love, all three posts this week will feature SEVVEERRRALLLLLL of my favorite cobalt blue polishes.... so be prepared, lol. And by several... I mean 27 🙊. Oh boy.

Let's start with the OG of OG's and the polish that started this whole crazy cobalt blue madness: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. If you are in the polish world, you know this polish and the madness surrounding the reformulation of this polish and how it created basically nail polish CHAOS! LOL. I am lucky enough to have several bottles of the original formula Pacific Blue and I'm so glad because as I was applying this, I was quickly reminded of how truly beautiful this color is. It looks less impressive in the bottle but on the nail, it's vibrant and stunning. The formula on this is beautiful and perfect and completely opaque in two coats. It dries fairly shiny but I always add topcoat.

Since I love this color so much, and because this is no longer exists, obviously I had to find any and all colors that were similar or might be close to PB and buy them all. All of them. Buy all of the cobalt blue.

For all of these pictures, PACIFIC BLUE will be on my middle and ring fingers and the polish that I am comparing will be on my index and pinky! And all polishes will be shown with topcoat.

You would think that Sally Hansen would have the closest dupe to Pacific Blue since.. ya know... it's their color and all. Boho Blue appears to be very close but the formula is completely different, as it is a jelly and you can see at three coats, it's not completely opaque. Still beautiful and probably will pass the "are you close enough to satiate my need for PB?" test but not exact.

Next is another from Sally Hansen, from the Insta-Dri line. This is called In Prompt Blue. The formula on this was really nice, 2 coats. But as you can see, still no dice. Too dark. Beautiful, but no PB.

Next, we have a contender from Essie, Butler Please. For an Essie, which I usually have pretty bad luck with, this has a great formula. Two coats are shown here. And again, it's a beautiful color but not a dupe for PB. Although now that I'm doing these comparisons, I should compare Butler Please to some of the other colors that I have, lol!

Next up is Nails Inc Baker Street. Next to Pacific Blue, this is my favorite of the cobalt blue polishes that I own. Perfect in two coats. I have several bottles of this, as well 🙊

Finally (for this post), Essie's Mesmerized, which is not even close to Pacific Blue but just a lovely blue polish. Another nice formula from Essie, opaque in two coats.

Oh just you wait. I have plenty more where this came from. (My instagram feed is going to be so bluetiful hahahahaha! Oh man, I crack me up.)

What's your favorite color??

Alaina at The Little Canvas

  Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

    Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes 

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Twinsie Tuesday: Studs or Embellishments

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

Today we are working with studs or embellishments and I decided to be very basic and use my Essie Starry Starry Night for a little galaxy manicure. Now I'm sure you've heard of the debacle surrounding this polish and how it's not a dupe for the original and yadda yadda yadda. My friend Jess sent this to me and I was excited to own it.... and then all of the ruckus started about bad formula's and such and that very much dimmed my excitement. It's been sitting in my nail polish rack for close to a month (if not longer) because I just didn't care to be disappointed lol.

But I was in a pinch for an idea for this prompt and GALAXY NAILS was a super easy look that I could whip up in no time. So here we go:

I applied 2 coats of Essie Starry Starry Night and thankfully, this bottle had a typical jelly glitter formula. It was not thick or troublesome at all! I was so happy with that result! Then I added some star rhinestones from Born Pretty Store (you can use code FEL91 for 10% off your order) in random patterns or placement on my nails and voila. Simple galaxy nails.

                                                                 Alaina at The Little Canvas

                                                                Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland                                                                                                                                        Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

                                                                 Sharon at Behind Green Eyes 

                                                                 Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Essie Dots, Stripes and Flowers!

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

I am sharing another guest post today! I fail at sharing these on my own blog, lol. Whoops.

I found 5 Essie's that I wanted to use to recreate this manicure from Bad Girl Nails.

I started with Essie Pret-A-Surfer on my pinky and pointer finger, which amazingly covered in one coat. Then I painted 3 coats of Ballet Slippers on my middle finger, and then 2 coats of Coat Couture on my ring finger. After those dried, I dotted Blanc on the index and pinky fingers. THEN I free hand/crookedly drew some lines on the middle finger with Mint Candy Apple and filled in the stripes. Finally.... the flowers with Blanc on the ring finger. Annnnnnd topcoat.

Phew. Catch all that? Let's look at the final product, lol.

I quite liked these! I know they aren't at all seasonally appropriate but I don't even mind because I love this so much! LOL

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Essie Nail Art: Serena Van Der Woodsen Wedding Dress!

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

A few months ago, my buddy Alaina and I watched Gossip Girl (via Netflix, duh. Because we're cool like that, lol!) as I had never seen it. After watching the finale, I was mesmerized by Serena Van Der Woodsen's wedding dress. So I found this picture of the dress and decided to recreate it on my nails. Months later, I remembered that I never actually posted the manicure! Ha! I'm crazy.

Now, my problem was that I couldn't find a polish that was a brassy enough gold to fully replicate the color of the dress so I had to make Essie's Good As Gold work for me. I used Essie's Blanc for the white and a nail art brush for my "stripes".

Obviously this is not an exact replica of the dress but it's the best I could come up with because I don't think a gold polish exists to match that dress! If you know of a brass, "liquid" gold color of polish, please let me know! But I quite like this manicure! What are your favorite brushes for nail art??

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Essie Flowerista and L'Oreal Garden Bouquet

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose

Essie Flowerista from their spring collection is a lovely fuchsia creme. This had a nice formula, it was 2 coats with no pooling. I wish Essie were more consistent, because if all of their polishes were like this, I would be a happy camper.

I added one coat of L'Oreal Garden Bouquet. I had to fish for the flower glitters a bit. I don't really like bar glitter but these tiny baby bar glitters are just so cute that I didn't mind them.

Whatchu think? I love Flowerista!

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Top 14 from 2014!

Hey guys!

Nothing To Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link

I bring you... My Favorite 14 Nail Manicures of 2014! Or 14 from 2014, as my biffle Amanda (@GlitterBadass) named it. This will be my first favorites post since I've been blogging!! It's unclear why I'm so terrible at making these lists; probably because I have a horrible memory and can never remember half of the things I use during the year, lol! So I am going down memory blogging lane and showing you my favorite posts from the year! I will be featuring polishes that were blogged about and polishes shown on Instagram!

These are in no particular order, except that I went back through my Instagram and started in January, so they appear in the order they originally did on IG! I will leave the captions for those photos, as they contain all of the pertinent information :-)

Crazy holo sunshine picture for today's #notd: @cupcakepolish Life's A Beach with one coat of @glistenandglow1 HK Girl Topcoat. Gorgeous color! #neonblue #indies #cupcakepolish #fashionfooting #holo #holoupinhere

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on May 5, 2014 at 8:59am PDT

@maybelline Bleached Neons gradient with @northernstarpolish Neon Chic glitter topper. #fashionfooting #nails #suntea #neons #nailsofinstagram #nailpolish #indies #instanails #gradient #nailart

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on May 5, 2014 at 12:30pm PDT

Today's nails are ADORABLE and inspired by/copied from @thelittlecanvas using #revlon, #lynbdesigns, @opi_products, and @loveangelinepolish polishes. #pansies #flowers #nailart #fashionfooting #yesthegrassthepansiesareonisholoduh

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Jun 6, 2014 at 10:17am PDT

Today's bonus post is #bestietwinnails with @thelittlecanvas! Watermelons using @wetnwildbeauty and @cupcakepolish! #fashionfooting #nailartwow #bblogger #nailstagram #holo

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Jul 7, 2014 at 8:15am PDT

My nails for yesterday's 80s party for little miss #averykatniss. I used all @chinaglazeofficial neons over a black base. #splattermani #nailartwow #bblogger #nails #fashionfooting #chinaglaze #neons

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Jul 7, 2014 at 9:35am PDT

Today's #notd is the no longer available #mayacosmetics Envy, which is basically the most perfect emerald green glittery holo polish of life. #notbeingdramatic #fashionfooting #nailstagram #bblogger #nailblogger #green #indie #glitter #holo

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Aug 8, 2014 at 7:38am PDT

Today's post is the gorgeous @enchantedpolish June 2014! One coat, people. ONE COAT! #fashionfooting #nailblogger #bblogger #enchantedpolish #holo #indie #ohmygoshamazing #purple

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Sep 9, 2014 at 3:10pm PDT

Oh hai! I still post nail photos, I swear! My gorgeous @chaosandcrocodiles manicure that I did while @amanda_npe came to visit. She let me use her beloved Secret Agent collection. It's completely amazing and I need them. #day70 #100days3as1k #100days3as1k #fashionfooting #nails #chaosandcrocodiles #holo #rainbow

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Sep 9, 2014 at 2:59pm PDT

Today's post is another round of #bestietwinnails with @thelittlecanvas using @chinaglazeofficial polishes! Any guesses as to what our inspiration was??? #fashionfooting #nailblogger #nailstagram #nailartwow #thelittlecanvas #chinaglaze #btn #round4

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Sep 9, 2014 at 9:48am PDT

Today's post is the magnificent @crowstoesnailcolor Bifrost! #fashionfooting #crowstoes #indies #nailblogger #glitter #unicornmagicalness

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:07am PDT

#manimonday #notd is this @zoyanailpolish concoction of Ryan, Autumn, Chanelle, and Marnie. I kinda sorta love this! #nailblogger #nailsofinstagram #zoya #cloudmani #dotticure #fashionfooting

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Oct 10, 2014 at 8:47am PDT

The sexy beast that is @chinaglazeofficial Boundary of Memory is on the blog today! #fashionfooting #bblogger #nailblogger #chinaglaze #glitter #thegiver

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:38am PDT

#notd @smittenpolish Seasonal Lattes and Antiquing is wlcjdiwldislwjslssk beautiful! #holo #holoupinherrrr #indies #smittenpolish #brown #fashionfooting #nailblogger

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:13am PDT

My plan was to swatch the @orlynails Sparkle collection today but I'm not sure I can take this beauty off any time soon! This is Mirrorball and it's just amazing. Linear holo with holo glitter. I don't have any sunshine today so this picture is with a lamp but it's still a beautiful holo without sun!! 😍😍😍 #orly #holo #fashionfooting #nailblogger #bblogger #notd

A photo posted by Amanda (@fashionfooting) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:00am PST

So yeah. Wow. That was much harder than I anticipated! I will have you know that I had at least 20 manicures in here originally, lol! I was going to attempt a Top 14 favorite nail polish from 2014 but I think even think that's possible! I always say this but next year, I will start keeping track at the start of the year!! Eek. We will see, lol!

What are some of your favorite manicures from 2014??
Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker

Hey guys!

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker. Index and middle finger are 3 coats over white, ring and pink finger are 3 coats on their own.

 I think I prefer this on it's own, what do you think?


Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Essie Trophy Wife

Hey guys!

I've returned!! Well, not really, but I have some drafts saved that I thought I should post :-) hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things and blogging soon!! I have a lot of great stuff to share but right now, I am enjoying my little baby :-)

Here's a quick shot of Essie Trophy Wife, which my friend Arlyn recently sent me.

This is a deep teal pearl polish. I used 3 thin coats here. LOVE this color! 

Whatcha think?

Talk to you soon!

Amanda

Essie Better Together

Hey guys!

This is another polish that Arlyn recently sent me. 

Essie Better Together is a sheer pink jelly. I think this is probably the girliest manicure I've ever worn! LOL 

This was 4 coats of Better Together, no top coat. 

Talk to you soon!

Amanda

Essie Bobbing for Baubles and Cult Nails Seduction

Hey guys!

Essie Bobbing for Baubles is one of those polishes I always picked up and always put back down, for some reason. I finally bought this from a blog sale and I'm really glad that I did. Ya'll know I love blue!

This is one of those perfect Essie cremes... no cuticle pooling, dragging, etc. This was 2 coats.

Then I FINALLY used my Cult Nails Seduction flakies. Mmmmmm flakies. This was one coat.  I couldn't narrow down the pictures so you get 4, haha. Beautiful orange, blue, purple, and green color shifts. Mm. Saxy! (That's my word for sassy and sexy, in case you were wondering.)

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

December Untrieds: Essie Leading Lady and Beyond Cozy

Hey guys! Merry Christmas Eve! I can't believe it's already December 24th... crazy!

Today's Untried's polishes are brought to you by Essie! Go see what Amanda and Madeline are up to!

I picked up two polishes from the Essie Leading Lady collection... guess which ones? Did you say the glitters? Oh you know me too well :-)

Leading Lady is just about the snazziest little red glitter polish evah. I used 3 coats on it's own. 

Beyond Cozy is a silvery champagne microglitter. This was also 3 coats. 

And that's about as Christmas-y as I got with my nails this year, lol!

Talk to you soon!
Amanda