Orly Summer 2012 Feel The Vibe Collection Swatches!

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a good weekend, I did! I bought a car this weekend! I test drove a Mini Cooper a couple months ago and was told I'd have to custom order it. Since then I've been saving for the deposit and finally went in to order my car yesterday! I sat down with the guy I did the test drive with and we built the car I wanted and wouldn't you know, the exact car I want is on a boat on it's way over. Talk about amazing timing! I put down half the deposit and now I'm waiting to take delivery on it in about 3 weeks. I am SO excited! I'm getting the Cooper Hardtop in Ice Blue with a White roof...they were saying I'd have to order it because I wanted it with an automatic transmission and their mini connected & navigation and I guess that's a rarity in Mini Cooper land. My mission now: find nail polish that matches the color of the car, I'm thinking China Glaze Sea Spray might be close. Expect a post of that when I get the car in mid May!

Onto actual nail polish things today I have Orly's awesome summer collection for this year called Feel The Vibe. I've been waiting for this since I first heard they were doing neons. Good news, the neons are awesome...like it actually hurt my eyes to look directly at my nails while I was outside taking some of these photos! You know a neon is good when you risk being blind if you stare at it for too long.

To see full swatches for each shade click the read more button below. I suggest putting on some sunglasses first haha!

NOTD: Nails Inc Baker St. + Candeo Divebomb

Hi guys! Today I have a quick NOTD to show you! I got Nails Inc Baker St. last weekend and it's become a quick favorite! I wore it for a few days last week then put it on again yesterday. I think Nails Inc sprinkled some magic in the bottle, it's like the most vibrant and beautiful cobalt blue I have ever seen in my life. If you like blue polish and don't own Baker St. yet you need it, it's amazing...the formula and color is just wow.

After I put on Baker St. I decided to layer Candeo Colors Divebomb over it. Candeo Colors is an awesome etsy seller, her glitters are so pretty! I managed to snag 3 of them last time she opened, hopefully I can get a few more next time she re-stocks! Divebomb is a mix of blue, green and copper glitter in a clear base. Over Baker St., it's pretty amazing...inside it looks like the green glitter is all glowy and awesome! I used 1 coat of Divebomb for the photos below. The last photo is Baker St. on it's own...I promise it's about a bazillion times better in real life!

P.S. how cute is the label on the Candeo bottle?!? I think it might be my favorite bottle label out of any of the indie sellers I've come across so far!

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Candeo Colors is available on etsy here, each polish is $8! Nails Inc can be found at Sephora and on Sephora.com for $9.50. When I went to Sephora I'm pretty sure I saw Baker St. in the crystal cap bottle also, I think those are around $19 each...just thought I'd mention it in case you wan't it in pretty packaging!

Enchanted Polish Across The Universe

Happy weekend! Hope you are all having a good weekend so far! Today I'm planning on swatching a bunch of polishes then I'm taking my car to Carmax to get an appraisal for selling it. Fingers crossed they want to give me more than I owe on it! As much as I love my Jetta I'm getting rid of it because it's a lease and since my lease is almost up it's going bye bye.

Today I have an awesome polish from Enchanted Polish called Across The Universe to show you guys! Across The Universe is a multichrome holo! It's a lot like the Ozotic Mish Mash polishes except the bottle is bigger and the price tag is smaller! Across The Universe flashes blue, magenta and purple and it has a nice strong holo in the sunlight.

The formula was a bit sheer, you can get it opaque on it's own but I prefer layering polishes like this over a dark polish. I used 1 coat of Across The Universe over black for the photos below. This one is so much better in real life than it looks in the photos, I actually said oh my god out loud when I got this in the mail and saw the bottle for the first time!

The photo below was taken in my lightbox, was the only way I could get the holo and the multichrome to come out in one photo. Most of the time the multichrome and holo was not this visible at the same time. Thought I should put a little disclaimer so you don't go wtf if you buy this and are disappointed that it doesn't look like the photo below at all times :)

Enchanted Polish is available on etsy at etsy.com/shop/EnchantedPolish. Right now she is in vacation mode while she re-stocks. Make sure you check out the Enchanted Polish Facebook page for updates on when she will be opening next!

Hits Phenomena: Moonbow

TGIF!! Anyone have big plans this weekend? I'm not sure what I'll be up to this weekend, probably something outside since it's supposed to be nice out this weekend. Hopefully it actually will be nice this time, unlike last weekend where all the news people said it would be nice and then it was crappy.

Today I have an awesome multichrome glitter from Hits Phenomena Collection to show you guys! It's Moonbow, which is my favorite of the 4! The Phenomena Collection is 4 multichrome glitters, they look a lot like the Ozotic Elytra polishes if you've seen those (528, 529 & 530). As soon as I saw these Hits polishes I needed them, I love the Elytra polishes but I only have 528 because I'm cheap. Anyway, back to Moonbow, Moonbow is multichromatic glitter that shifts between pink, blue, purple, yellow and green. I'm pretty sure it's a dupe of Ozotic 528...more on that at the end of the post!

My one complaint about Moonbow is that my brush was very wonky, it seems to be quite an issue with Hits. I have some of the Mari Moon polishes from them and all the brushes in those are awful too. I had to trim the brush in this quite a bit before I could actually use it, there were random bristles sticking out everywhere!

For the photos below I used 1 coat of Moonbow over black, all photos are in the shade! Sorry about the random shimmer on my fingers...not sure what that is from lol

I <3 close ups!

Since I mentioned how this seems to be a dupe of 528 let's talk about how they are different! The main differences between Moonbow and 528 are the size of the bottle and the price tag. The Ozotic is bigger in both of those categories. For me, I'd rather have a cheaper polish even if the bottle is smaller, I'll probably never get through a full sized bottle anyway. Another smaller difference is that the glitter is much more dense in Moonbow, I got great coverage with 1 coat over black. With 528 I would need 2 coats to get the same coverage.

Hits polishes are available from shop.llarowe.com the Phenomena polishes retail for $10 each!

Layla Hologram Effect Coral Glam

Hi guys! Today I have another one of the awesome Layla holo polishes to show you, yay!! This one is called Coral Gam and it's a kind of tan/pink base color with holo rainbows like whoa. I didn't think much of this in the bottle, I only bought it because I hoard holos like no ones business. On the nail this was punching me in the eyes with it's rainbows of win much like all the other awesome holos I've tried from Layla.

For this mani I used Sally Hansen Instra Dri as a base coat. I know it probably sounds weird to use a top coat as a base coat but it seems to help make holos like these easier to apply. If you don't have an aqua base from somewhere like Nfu Oh using a quick dry top coat like Insta Dri or Seche Vite is a good alternative!

Coral Glam went on really easily over this base, I was impressed! I used 2 coats for the photos below! There is a bit of a bald spot on my ring finger but the rainbows were so out of control that I didn't notice it when I wore the polish haha! I tried to cover it with my water mark in the photos but you can still see what I'm talking about if you look close. If you have one of these Layla's and you get a bald spot like that it's easy to fix with another coat of the polish...unless you are like me and don't notice it.

All photos below are in direct sunlight!

Layla Hologram Effect polishes are available a whole bunch of places, they have finally landed at Ulta stores so if you have one an Ulta near you there is no need to buy online now!! If you do want to buy online these can be found on AveYou.com and HarlowandCo.org!

The Hungry Asian Swatch Spam!

Morning! Today I have 4 polishes from an awesome etsy brand called The Hungry Asian to show you guys! These beautiful polishes are made by Kae from the The Hungry Asian blog! I remember seeing one of her creations called Sneeze Breeze almost a year ago on Kellie Gonzo's blog and ever since then I needed it. Sneeze Breeze is one of the polishes I have to show you today, and it did not disappoint! As soon as I realized Kae had opened her etsy I ran over there to snatch up a bottle of Sneeze Breeze, I'm so happy to finally have it after drooling over Kellie's awesome pictures of it for so long.

First up is Sneeze Breeze, I put this one first in this post because it's flipping awesome. The mix of glitter in this is so pretty, it's packed full of bright blue matte glitter and black glitter.  You can wear this on it's own but I want to cherish this forever so I layered it! I used 1 coat of Sneeze Breeze over American Apparel Passport Blue on my index, middle and pinky finger. For my accent nail I used 1 coat of Sneeze Breeze over Sally Hansen Barracuda. This does have texture to it but I managed to get it smooth with a coat of Gealous followed by Sally Hasen Insta Dri.

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The rest of this post is after a cut because it's a bit picture heavy! Make sure you click the read more button below to see the rest of these awesome polishes from The Hungry Asian!

OPI Minnie Mouse & Spiderman Collection Comparisons!

Morning! Today I have a few comparisons of some of the polishes form OPI's Amazing Spiderman Collection and OPI's Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection. If there are any other comparisons you want to see please let me know in the comments, if I own the polish you want to see them compared to I'm happy to do it :)

First up is Butter London Disco Biscuit vs. OPI I'm All Ears vs. China Glaze 108 Degrees. They are all very similar, Disco Biscuit is a tiny bit lighter and brighter than I'm All Ears and 108 Degrees...it's more noticeable in the second photo. The shimmer is more micro glitter like in Disco Biscuit and more glass fleck like in I'm All Ears and 108 Degrees. Really, the differences are pretty minimal!  For the photos below I used 4 coats of polish for Disco Biscuit and 3 coats for I'm All Ears and 108 Degrees.

OPI If You Moust You Moust vs. OPI Shorts Story. This was requested by Notaj! I'd say they are pretty good dupes, if you have Shorts Story I'd pass on If You Moust You Moust. I used 2 coats of each for the photo below.

Chanel Peridot vs OPI Just Spotted The Lizard. Again, pretty much dupes here. The OPI looked to have more blue in the bottle but it didn't translate onto the nail. I used 2 coats for each polish in the photo below.

OPI Number One Nemesis vs OPI Brand New Skates. This was requested by Melanie. Unfortunately, they aren't too close, but they are both very pretty! I know a lot of people have been saying Number One Nemesis is close to Chanel Graphite but I don't own it or any of it's close dupes to compare it to. I used 3 coats of Number One Nemesis and 4 coats of Brand New Skates for the photos below.

These 2 photos are a tiny bit blurry, sorry about that :(

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BarkBox April 2012

Hi guys! I have a little non polish related post for you this afternoon. Sometimes it's nice to not talk about nail polish, right! I wanted to show you guys what Degen got in his BarkBox for April! BarkBox is a monthly sample box for dogs, we have all heard of them for beauty (Birchbox, MyGlam, Beauty Army etc...) As soon as I heard about BarkBox in a video from BentleyBlonde on Youtube I ordered it for Degen.

Basically, you go on BarkBox.com and fill out a little survey about your dog. You also choose the size of your dog (Small & Cute for dogs 0-20lbs, Just Right for dogs 20-50lbs or Big & Bold for dogs over 50lbs) Degen is in the "Just Right" size in case you were wondering. Depending on how you set up your subscription the price varies, you can do monthly, 3 months or 6 months. If you do monthly it is $25 per month, 3 months is $21 per month and 6 months is $17 per month. I signed Degen up for monthly but I'll probably be changing it to a 3 or 6 month subscription as soon as I finish typing this. Also, 10% of each box is donated to doggies in need, which I love!

This is how the box looks when you open it up, it's very similar to how the beauty boxes come wrapped. The big card on the left side lists everything in the box!

To see everything that came in Degen's April BarkBox click the Read More button below!

Essie Summer 2012 Poppy-Razzi Collection Swatches!

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a good weekend! It was supposed to be beautiful here this weekend and it turned out being super crappy, especially yesterday :( It was all yucky and gross here, not sure if this is a California thing but they always call it "June Gloom"...I guess we can call it April gloom now also haha!

Before I talk about polish I wanted to take a second to thank you all for the wonderful comments on my Facebook, & Twitter along with the comments on my 2 year blogging anniversary post from last week. The winner of  the $100 Gift Card to Harlow & Co is Kim J.!! I have emailed her and am waiting to hear back. It was so fun to read though everyone's lemmings, a lot of you are on the hunt for indie polishes! I saw a lot of Lynnderellas and Dollish Polish being lusted after! Also a lot of people after Clarins 230! I hope you guys all manage to get your hands on these lemmings! There are few things more satisfying in terms of nail polish than finally getting a polish you've been obsessing over for a long time!

Today I have Essie's Summer 2012 Poppy-Razzi Collection to show you guys. I was SO EXCITED for this collection, it's 4 neon polishes from Essie. I gotta say, Essie has become a favorite brand of mine. I always steered clear of them but the last couple of years they have really stepped outside of the boring shades they were always putting out. I squealed a little bit when I saw these at Rite Aid and I am loving them on too, I hope you guys like them also!

Click the read more button below for swatches & reviews of each shade!

NOTD: Glass Fleck Water Marble

Hi guys, I have a quick NOTD to show you guys! I was swatching Color Club's Take Wing Collection yesterday and decided to try a water marble with them. I didn't think it would work but it did and I am in love with the result! It wasn't easy to do since these didn't spread all that well...also clean up was a nightmare, but it was worth the trouble! My favorite nail is my index nail! If you are looking for good tutorials on how to water marble I'd recommending checking out My Simple Little Pleasures on youtube here.

I used Color Club Daisy Does It as my base and marbled with Color Club Daisy Does It, Color Club Wing Fling, Color Club Sparkle and Soar and Color Club Fly With Me. I'll have swatches of the collection sometime in the next week or so, I gotta say...it's pretty awesome!

The first 2 photos below are in the shade, all the others are in the sun!

Saturday Swatch Spam!

Hi guys! Today I have a post of random swatches. This is stuff that I wore under polishes I've shown lately and stuff I just don't have time to post on it's own. I've had all of these sitting in my drafted posts so I thought this would be a good way to get through my backlog! Let me know if you guys like this kind of post and I might do them more often! The bulk of the post is under a cut since it's picture heavy!

Essie Wedding 2012 Collection Swatches!

Happy Friday! Anyone have fun plans this weekend? I'm planning on soaking up the sun, it's supposed to be like 85 degrees tomorrow! Beach, here I come!

Today I have swatches of the Wedding Collection for 2012 from Essie. Usually I'm kind of meh about this collection from Essie...but this year they are pretty awesome. I don't know if I'm so in love with them because I'm going though a pastel/muted color phase or what. I didn't realize these were out yet but I walked into my local independent beauty supply the other day and the owner grabbed these out of the back for me. You know you have a nail polish problem with the owner of the beauty supply knows you and stashes new collections for you in the back haha!

For swatches & reviews of each shade click the read more button below!

Dollish Polish Master Chief & Looking For My Mr. Big

Good morning! Today I have 2 Dollish Polishes to show you! First up is Master Chief which is a holographic Sage Green with a subtle duo-chrome flash of Copper, along with a linear holo pattern. That description is from Dolly and I think it's pretty accurate! I am a big fan of this, it's green and it's got a nice subtle holo...what's not to love? The formula was nice, it was a little sheer but it built easily. I used 3 coats for the photos below.

Looking For My Mr. Big is a violet with a beautiful duo-chrome, flashing from Violet to Blue and linear holo pattern! The holo in this was pretty subtle but it was more noticeable in real life than it came out in my photos. The formula was the same as it was for Master Chief, I used 3 coats for the photos below!

Dollish Polish is available at DollishPolish.com, these 2 polishes are $9.50 each but most of Dolly's other polishes go for $8.75! 

OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection Swatches!

Happy Wednesday!! Today I have another new OPI collection to show you guys, it's the Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection! This collection brings us 4 new polishes, all pink or red. Usually I wouldn't be excited about a collection like that but it's inspired by Minnie Mouse so I am an instant fan! I was born and raised (and still live) about 20 minutes away from Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I grew up on Disney, I've been to Disneyland a bazillion times...I was all about Minnie when I was a kid. I was also all about Ariel from The Little Mermaid, I wish someone would do a collection inspired by her!

To see swatches & review of each shade click the Read More button below!

ncLA Summer of 69 Collection Swatches!

Hi guys! Today I have some summer shades from a new-ish to me brand to show you guys called ncLA! I've heard about this brand for a while but this is the first time I've ever tried their polish. ncLA is well known for their nail wraps, they make some seriously amazing designs, if you've never seen them before feast your eyes on these beauties here I've been drooling over that design for a while haha! Back to polish I believe this is only the second collection of polish ncLA has put out, it's called the Summer of 69 Collection and it was inspired by the generation that re-defined music!

Check out more photos of each polish along with a review of each one after the jump!

OPI The Amazing Spiderman Collection Swatches!

Happy Monday!! Hope you all had a great weekend, mine as usual went way too quickly for my liking haha! Today I have an exciting new OPI collection to show you guys called The Amazing Spiderman Collection! I was very excited about this when I saw the first promo images for it. I've always liked the Spiderman movies so it's fun that OPI is doing something for the new one that comes out in July!

Click the Read More button below for full swatches & reviews of each shade!

It's my 2 year blogging birthday!

Hey guys! 2 years ago today The PolishAholic was born, it's crazy how time has flown by. If you asked me then if I would still be blogging I probably would have said no. I've never really been one to stick with things for long. I think what's kept me going in this crazy nail blogging world is the amazing people I have met along the way. When I started blogging I didn't realize what a great community of ladies (and gents!) were out there who loved nail polish as much as I do.

The PolishAholic has become my little safe haven, when I'm having a bad day I'm cheered up by friends I've made along the way or by the comments and emails I get from those of you that read my blog. I feel like I don't say it enough but I really appreciate every single one of you that takes time out of your day to read my blog or look at the pictures. Those of you who comment on my posts, or talk to me on Twitter or Facebook...you all make this so rewarding!

To celebrate a big blogging milestone, one that I never thought I'd reach, I have a fun layering manicure to show you and an awesome giveaway! 

This manicure is the one that was on my non-fish egg nails on Fish Egg Friday! It spawned from boredom, when I get bored I like to go through my nail polish and layer things. Usually the result isn't so great but I really liked it this time. There were SO many colors going on here! I started with a base of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Black Out then layered 2 coats of Nails Inc The Old Vic followed by CND Crimson Sparkle, CND Jade Sparke and CND Sapphire Sparkle. Pictures don't really do it justice, especially since I couldn't manage to get any clear ones :( 

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To enter my 2 year blogging anniversary giveaway click the Read More button below!

Nicole by OPI New Texture Coat Swatches!

Happy weekend! Today I have more crack polishes to show you guys! Nicole by OPI is coming out with 4 more texture coat polishes, they are pretty and I like them more than I thought I would! Check em out!!

First up is Amethyst Texture which is a light purple glittery crack polish. I do like this one but it's pretty much an exact dupe of China Glaze Luminous Lavender. I cannot for the life of me remember what I layered this over, I usually write stuff like that down but for some reason I didn't this time.  :( I think it might be Zoya Shelby but don't quote me on that!

Aquamarine Texture is a light aqua blue glittery crack. This one is also very similar to one of the Crackle Glitters from China Glaze, it's a good dupe of Gleam Me Up. I did have a little bit of a problem getting this one to work but I do like the result! I layered Aquamarine Texture over Nicole by OPI Di-vine is Divine.

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Opal Texture is a duochromey opalescent crack polish. This is my favorite of the bunch even though it was the hardest to work with. It did not want to crack no matter how thick or thin the coat of polish I was using was. I do like how it turned out, what can I say...I am a sucker for duochrome things! I used Opal Texture over OPI Black Onyx for the photos below.

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Quartz Texture is a metallic lilac/silver crack polish. I don't really care for this one, unfortunately. It just seems very heavy, for lack of a better description. It didn't crack very well so it just looked weird on the nail :( I used Quartz Texture over Zoya Carly for the photos below!

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Opal, Quartz, Amethyst and Aquamarine Texture shades will be available April 2012 for $7.99 each at select retailers including CVS, Duane Reade, Fred Meyer, HEB, Meijer, Sears and Target. In Canada, this line will be available for $10.99 each at select Jean Coutu, Loblaw, Shoppers Drug Mart and Walmart Canada locations.