Lynnderella - Matter of the Heart

When I first got this polish I was so excited about it: a milky pink glitter with hearts! I've struggled with finding a suitable base for this polish.  It doesn't match any of my other pinks closely enough, so you can see a strange color difference when I tried to use a pink base.  It's too tinted to use over white, unless you like having that many coats of polish on - which I don't, otherwise it peels too easily. I finally had some better luck by wearing it by itself, albeit four coats.

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It was four thin coats though, so it wasn't too bad. I am fully aware that some of the chunky glitter indie polishes we see need some degree of skill to apply but I'm not sure how to make the base less streaky. Maybe it needed to be shaken up a little bit more? From a distance it looks 100% fine but I, of course, analyze my nails up close so any flaws, even minor, stand out.

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Without fishing for them, I got two hearts randomly on my pinky and thumb. It drives me nuts trying to fish for glitter so it was nice to have two come out on their own without any sort of fussing.  I've had this bottle a few months and the glitter lies very flat; I didn't need Glitter Tamer or Gelous or anything to smooth this one out.

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The base color reminds me of strawberry milk. But anyways, that is the only gripe with this one.  The base color is finicky, and streaky on its own. But the glitter is nice.

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Funky Fingers Glass Fleck Collection

I picked up this set at Five Below.  There may or may not be dupes in these from the Color Club Take Wing collection. The Funky Fingers polishes are named after fairy tale and princess-y type stuff.  This set consists of five glass fleck sort of polishes. I used Orly Bonder and Brucci Nail Dryer for all of the swatches.

Prince Charming - Mirror, Mirror, Pixy Dust, Kiss the Girl - Belle

Prince Charming was the sheerest of the bunch needed a total of 4 coats.

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Bottle Macro

Not only was it the sheerest, it's the most difficult to describe. There are hints of blue and pink in there too.  And it's a bit glowy! The macro shot of my nail captures best what you can really see in real life.  It's got multi-dimensions to it. It loses points though for being a 4-coater, but you could probably get away with three.

Mirror, Mirror is a fun, vivacious blue that also is a bit glowy.  This is only 2 coats of polish in these pictures but I think if I applied slightly thicker coats that the bare spots or VNL you might be seeing would be eliminated.

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I was thinking this could possibly be a dupe for Color Club Sky High but upon closer inspection, I'm not so sure.

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 This one did stain though, just a warning.

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Pixy Dust, which I think is a nod at Tinker Bell, is the second sheerest out of this collection. This is 3 coats and could've used a fourth. I didn't really like how it looked on me that much. I'm sure there's an audience for this color, I'm just not a part of it.

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The next one, Kiss the Girl, is my favorite from this set.  Not just because it's pink, but the formula is incredible.  This is ONE coat of Kiss the Girl.  Out of all of them, this one has the most "glowy", least "metallic" look. It was slightly difficult to photograph. It behaved like a neon when I tried capturing it.

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Belle is the one I thought I'd like the least but it actually is pretty impressive for a yellow.  It's a direct reference to the Disney princess, Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I think they nailed it.  I stopped at 3 coats here. For as fun as this color is, I'm surprised I don't have one like it already.

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 I'm pretty sure this is a dupe for Color Club Daisy Does It.

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Yeah, it looks pretty bad on me but it's such a cool color. I love yellow so much, just wish I could wear it.

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So my overall take on these is that they're pretty awesome.  I got all of these for $9 and I'm pretty impressed with some of them. I'll run down their qualities again.


Prince Charming: Super sheer 4 coater with lots of depth.
Mirror, Mirror: Opaque 2 coater that stains.
Pixy Dust: Sheer green at 3 coats, not the best color.
Kiss the Girl: Super opaque one coat wonder that glows.
Belle: Decent opacity at 3 coats for a yellow. Has a CC dupe.


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Essie Pink-A-Boo

I'd like to apologize real quick for my absence lately. I've been in a funk and haven't wanted to do anything lately, blogging included.  I won't make myself blog as I know that wouldn't genuine, but forced. I don't know what has gotten into me but a general aura of dumpy crankiness has been hovering over me for weeks.

I went to Harmon to pick up a magnified mirror and this Essie caught my eye.  Anything pink kinda does to be honest, but this one is very pretty, I'm glad I decided to get it! I took some pictures in sunlight to show the full effect of this beauty.

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Sunlight

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All photos seen here is 2 coats of Essie Pink-A-Boo over two coats of Revlon Powder Puff over a coat of Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.  It's a jellylike pink sheer with blue shimmers!  It's so delicate and ladylike, I really love it.  Layering with Powder Puff really helped but you can still see some VNL. Formula was great as always with Essie, just a little sheer.  I love this, do you?

An Old Favorite: Orly Basket Case

Basket Case was one of my first non-Sally Hansen or WnW polishes so I hold it dearly.  In fact, my first bottle of it is actually destroyed because my dumb ass poured remover in it to thin it. DO NOT DO.  I got myself another bottle of it because I do love it so much.

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I wanted to do a funky french with it.  It worked SO well as it only needed one coat, so I painted it on and was able to remove the guides right away.

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 I used Konad Special White for the dots, and cute little sticker my sister got me for Christmas (=

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It's quite fabulous on its own, too.

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This was two coats, but I could've gotten away with one thick one.  It's over Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD. LOVE!

OPI Pink Friday & Zoya Chloe

I'm such a sucker for a pink creme.  That has got to be my ultimate color and finish combination, closely followed by pink holos.  I was pretty bummed out when it was revealed that Pink Friday was a creme and not a holo as anticipated.  But nevertheless, I still love a pink nail polish.

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If you're noticing the lack of smoothness, you're right.  This is with no topcoat because I wanted to add Chloe without adding too many layers to avoid chipping.  This is three coats (sigh, kind of one too many) over Orly Bonder.  It was splotchy in some parts, touchdown marks were hard to avoid.  Not the greatest formula on this one.

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I finished this mani with one coat of Zoya Chloe and sealed it with OTD.  It sparkles a lot more in real life; I've never been good at capturing flakies and I'm scared to alter my camera settings for fear of never getting them back.  I think Chloe helped turned what may be considered a boring mani into a fun one.  What do you think?

Lynnderella Connect the Dots

I am so excited to finally have this baby in my possession!  Glitters and I don't always get along, as they tend to sheet off, but this lovely wore like iron!  Not a bad thing to say about it.  Connect the Dots, I think, is a somewhat fool proof polish. I can't imagine it looking bad over anything and additionally, I think it adds something special to existing polishes.

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This is two coats of Lynnderella Connect the Dots over two coats of China Glaze Dance Baby.  Base coat is CND Stickey, top coat OTD.

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Look at those two GIANT glitters on my thumb!

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When I was younger there were these bouncy balls that were designed to look like fake rocks.  They were irregular in shape and gray with black and white speckles on them.  CtD reminds me of them, a lot.

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Yum. Does anyone want to set up residency in this bottle with me?

Color Club Ultra-Astral with Valentine's Stamping

I'm slowly but surely accumulating the Starry Temptress collection piece by piece, year by year.  I really thought that was a fun collection and it brought something different to the table.  I have another to show you today, Ultra-Astral.  It's a hot pink base with holo glitter, eye-catching really.

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This is two coats of Ultra-Astral over CND Stickey and topped with Out the Door.  Look how bright it is! It's kind of glowy. It stands out, jumps off your fingers almost.  I'm in love with it, by the way.

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I added some stamping to create a Valentine's Day feel.  I used Konad Special White polish.  The plates I used were Konad m57 and Bundle Monster BM202.

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This was a fun manicure, I may create it again for the actual holiday!

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Revlon Royal & Sally Hansen HD Mani

I found some Sally Hansen HD polishes that I've wanted forever and couldn't wait to wear them! I layered two different ones over Revlon Royal for this manicure which I wore for THREE days. Unheard of!

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The layering goes as follows:
-CND Stickey
-2 coats of Revlon Royal
-1 coat of SH HD DVD
-1 coat of SH HD LCD
-1 coat of Out the Door

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Sally Hansen HD DVD is a bluish purple-y duochrome like glass fleck.  Sally Hansen HD LCD is a pink based glass fleck with hits of a bright green duochrome.  They played nicely together but were incredibly hard to capture.

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You can see some of the duochromeyness (not a word!) in these pictures, but it really was MUCH more beautiful in person.  It leaned from blue to pink, which was really pretty.

I did something SUPER FUN YAY with this mani, keep an eye out for an upcoming post!