Honeybee Gardens Vintage Merlot: Swatch and Review!

Hey guys!
*Polish was provided for free in exchange for my honest opinion*

Today's post is all about a nail polish from Honeybee Gardens! If you are not familiar with this company, let me fill you in! They are cruelty free, vegan, and gluten-free! They offer a wide range of cosmetics, brushes, bath and body and hair products, and more! The makeup is also paraben free, FD & C colors, and petrochemicals (a chemical obtained from refining petroleum or natural gas).

I'm going to copy the polish info directly from the page, so you have the most information possible :-)

"For those who want an alternative to solvent-based nail enamel, we've got the solution for you! Our unique water-based polish is free from harsh chemical odors; no more nasty fumes! But perhaps best of all, there's also no need for toxic smelly nail polish remover - this product removes with rubbing alcohol, vodka/grain alcohol or our Nail Polish Remover! Thanks to our new patented technology, there's nothing else like it on the market!

---

odorless, non-toxic earth-friendly formula
long wearing fabulous colors

Contains NO:FD&C colors, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, xylene, or formaldehyde"

There is actually a LOT more information on the site but I didn't want this to turn into a novel, lol. But if you would like all the info, please click here.

The color I have for you is called Vintage Merlot and it's gorgeous. It could not be more perfectly named, either! I showed my mom my nails and she said "oh pretty, it looks like wine!" Perfect!

Now, I always use a base coat when wearing nail polish and I used my regular Revlon Gel-Stay base coat for this polish, as well.

I applied one coat to my nails and let it dry for a minute. It was quite thin, but I was expecting that, as a water based product. I ended up using 3 coats to get the opacity I wanted. The polished dried a little uneven; I'm not sure if this is due to ridges in my nails or the thin consistency of the product. I decided to test two nails with top coat and two without and the topcoat did smooth any ridges or unevenness.

One coat:

Two Coats:

Three Coats: 

Three coats with top coat:

I wore the polish for 2.5 days before removing. By the end of the first day, there was a small chip on the index finger of my left hand (where the first chip always starts, which is ironic because I'm right handed) and by the middle of the third day, the entire nail of polish peeled off in one sheet. I never mind this because I hate removing nail polish so if it comes off in one sheet, that's okay with me! LOL Also, this happens on my index finger with just about every single polish I wear. It's the strangest thing. That's one reason that I don't usually mention wear time because it is different for everyone.

The brochure that came with the polish suggested using rubbing alcohol to remove the polish, but I didn't have any of that so I used regular acetone and it worked just fine.

The price of this polish is $12.99, which is maybe a little more than I would expect to pay for a polish, except that natural products do tend to cost a bit more than the chemically laden products we buy.

I would definitely try some other colors. The polish has almost zero odor; I would equate it to a very very faint wall paint smell. The color was beautiful and built up to a nice opacity, and I do love a natural makeup product!

You can purchase Honeybee Gardens directly from their website, but I just discovered that you can also purchase this brand on Drugstore.com, Walgreens.com and starting next week at Target.com. What's great about purchasing from those sites is that you can use Ebates to earn cash back! Whoo!

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

KBShimmer Chick Me Out

Hey guys!

Today's polish is the beautiful KBShimmer Chick Me Out, a bright yellow creme! Ohhh I love yellow nail polish (or yellow anything, really), it's just so happy and cheerful!!

This was 3 coats of this beautiful creamy wonderfulness.

I know yellow is hit or miss for some people but it's definitely a hit for me! Do you love yellow polish like I do??

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Indigo Bananas Swatches

Hey guys!


Today's polishes are provided for your viewing pleasure via a swap package I received a few weeks ago. These are my first Indigo Bananas polishes so I was very excited to try them out!

First, Wise Up, Janet! An orchid purple polish that is a bit confusing: it's sort of metallic, holo, glitter, and foily all at the same time!! This was two coats.

And second is Do You Have A Flag?, a silver polish with the same confusing base, lol. This was two coats and you can still see some VNL but that doesn't really bother me.

These polishes were a little bit thick, so I would recommend waiting longer in between coats. But I'm Miss Impatient Pants and pretty much never heed my own advice :-p

What are your favorite Indigo Bananas polishes??


Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Operation Helmer July Results!

Hey guys!

Hows it going? Today is my monthly Operation: Helmer post! Are you excited??? LOL

We'll just get right to it, shall we?

The first manicure I did this month was a neon mani using Pipe Dream Polish Light of Day and V.I.P. Pass. I also used a Lumina Lacquer glitter on the ring finger, Take My Breath Away. These colors were super intense, and I didn't use a white base for these! TRUE neons!

Next, I did a gradient using Color Club Nomadic in Nude and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (the OG formula). I topped this with Liquid Afterglow Lacquer Unicorn Tears.

 Next, I used Colors by Llarowe Surf My Wave, basically the most amazing blue holo of life!! love love love!

 The next day, I added CBL Gemini Rising over Surf My Wave. LOVE!

You already saw my BTN with TheLittleCanvas, but I'll post them again :-)

I used ILNP Princess Diaries and OPI Pop The Cork! for a really sweet manicure. Princess Diaries is a very linear holographic light pink.

And I don't think I posted these on IG but I used Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Chimera and a pink glitter that I cannot even sort of remember what it's called. Maybe Candy Lacquer Skulls & Roses?? Whoops.

These last two manicures were what I wore for my daughter's 1st birthday party. We had an 80s theme so I attempted a neon splatter mani and I quite liked it! I realized later that I should have used a white base but oh well! I did neon polka dots on the right hand. 

Polishes used were all China Glaze:

Sun-Kissed (yellow)

Orange You Hot?

Heat Index (hot pink)

That's Shore Bright (purple)

Splish Splash (blue)

 So a pretty good month! I also posted some reviews and did a bunch of swatches so I will have posts coming every Tuesday and Thursday for the next few weeks, at least! Whoo! I might change the posting time to MWF, but we will see how that all goes :-) 

What were some of your favorite manicures this month?? 

Talk to you soon!

Maybelline Bleached Neons

Hey guys!

So you might have heard of a little collection by Maybelline called The Bleached Neons. The collection has caused hysteria in the polish community, as it was super limited edition and hardly available in a lot of locations. I managed to find a few of them here and there and figured they were too pretty to not show you, even if you (more than likely) won't be able to find them. Sorry.

First, Citrus Collide. This is a really lovely creamy yellow. These polishes seem to be almost pastel neons, if that's at all possible! This was 3 coats.

Next, Coral Heat, a beautiful coral. This is probably my favorite. 2 coats.

Finally, Pink Punch, a bright, but muted bubblegum pink. I know it doesn't make sense to say bright and muted but that's really how they looked to me! LOL This was 2 coats, as well.

I first saw these polishes (saw the full, untouched collection, actually) and didn't pick any up because they didn't look that great in the bottle. But then I started seeing swatches and could have kicked myself for not buying them! They all have great formulas, and are just lovely, fun colors for summer!

Did you manage to find any of the Bleached Neons? If so, which was your favorite??


Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Zoya Ling, Rooney, and Harper

Hey guys!

Todays post is all about Zoya. These are the polishes I picked up from their Threedom promo at the beginning on July.

Rooney is a bright pink creme, from the Tickled '14 collection. As always with Zoya, the formula was great on all three of these polishes.

This is 2 coats.

I added Harper to Rooney, but if I wanted, I'm sure I could have built up Harper to opacity on its own. This was one coat of Harper, from the Bubbly '14 collection.

Finally, Ling, a gorgeous dusty bright blue, if that makes any sense! This was a smidge brighter in person. Again, two coats.

Well apparently I forgot to crop my photos :-/ Whoops. Sorry about that.

Anyway, what polishes did you guys get from the promo?

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Polish Addict Nail Color Lime Light and Neon Moon

Hey guys!

Today I have two polishes from Polish Addict Nail Color. These babies are from her recent Neon Collection and are jellies and oh so lovely!

First is Neon Moon, a gorgeous cobalt jelly. I don't know what the heck happened to my other pictures of this! But it's so vibrant in person! Really really lovely. This was 3 coats.

And then we have Lime Light, a bright green neon jelly. This was 3 thin coats. Again, much brighter in person!

These were both easy to apply. A little sheer on the first coat, but they built up nicley. These swatches are without topcoat and they did dry semi matte, as most neons do.

You can purchase Polish Addict Nail Color here.


Talk to you soon!
Amanda