Swatch Spam: OPI, KB Shimmer and Vivid Lacquer

Hi guys! I hope your work weeks have all gotten off to a good start. I'm still pretty exhausted, my parents visited this past weekend and my mom and I went wedding dress shopping and we got my dress!! I'm so excited :) but it was a draining experience haha. And I didn't get any time to just recharge so I'm still feeling pretty tired. But, I have some random swatches to share with you that I found while cleaning out the vault!

First up is OPI Wonderous Star. (Is it just me or does that misspelling really bother you guys?) I can't even remember where I got this, but I was gifted it at one point or I found it maybe...it's a different kind of polish, I'm on the fence about whether I like it or not.

It's got a pretty sheer silvery/gold glitter base with black hexes throughout. I used 3 coats here and even on my short nails, you can still see VNL. I do think it's sort of pretty, but the black hexes kept reminding me of pepper, like I had wet nails while cooking and I got pepper stuck in my nails lol.

Next up for today is KB Shimmer's Merry Pinkmas. Now, this one I LOVE! It was so nice when this first came out, to see a Christmas polish that wasn't just red or green. And, I love all the different colors and shapes of glitter in it!

Even though there are touches of red and green, this is a polish I feel could be worn year round because of all the fun colors. I think it would be a great spring polish! This is 3 coats with topcoat. It's really packed full of glitters, but they didn't give me much trouble. You can see on my middle finger some of the glitters ended up on top of each other, but that doesn't bother me. Everything came out of the bottle easily and without fishing, so that's all I was concerned about ! :)

Last but not least is Vivid Lacquer Slug Queen Sadie. I snagged this during one of her clearance sales. I basically bought it for the name haha, I had a boxer named Sadie that I loved dearly, so I grabbed it and ended up really liking it! This one is so sheer that wearing it alone isn't really an option - I've layered 2 coats over Zoya Hunter here.

The glitters in this are really pretty, and in the bottle, it really reminds me of slug slime. I'll admit, I don't know what the reference in the name is from lol but I like it anyway! I think it could be pretty layered over black too.

So, which of these random swatches is your favorite? I'd love to hear below! :)

Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

Jindie Nails & Dollish Polish: Super Heroes vs. Super Villains duo, featuring Batman & the Joker!

*Press sample*

Hi everyone! I am so excited about sharing this post with you today. First of all, I want to apologize for my silence over here. We are officially moved into our house as of last Sunday and there has been SO much to do, we still are living out of boxes and I have no idea where anything is haha. But my plan for this weekend is to knock out the rest of the unpacking and organizing so I can get back into a routine again.

Today I've got something amazing to show you! As you may know, Jindie Nails and Dollish Polish have been doing several of these collaborations featuring Famous Couples Throughout History, and they have all been amazing! I was super excited to hear that they would be doing another collaboration, this time focusing on Super Heroes vs. Super Villains! I'm somewhat of a nerd, so I could not wait, and there were so many possibilities of who they could recreate! Ultimately, I think they made a perfect choice of the pair to start out with - who doesn't love Batman and the Joker!?

The duo comes with a postcard with a cool photo of Batman and Joker on it (it's very reflective, I was having a hard time not seeing myself when taking the photo lol). And on the back, there is an in depth description of both polishes in the duo, along with links for both creators' shops and social media sites. 

I was blown away when I unwrapped these polishes. Even if I didn't already know what the duo represented, I could have told you that these polishes were inspired by Batman and Joker. They are the perfect embodiment of these characters! :)

I'm going to start by showing you Jindie Nails' contribution to the duo, which is inspired by Batman - Ever Danced with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight? Lol, long name - amazing polish!

Ever Dance with the Devil is described as:
"Varying glitters in different shapes, including dots, squares, triangles, and hexagons, in shades of matte gray, matte black, matte yellow, and metallic gold & silver, all in a pale moon gray crelly, loaded with gold shimmer & silver holographic shimmer. Opaque in about 2-3 coats."

I snagged this macro shot of the polish in the bottle. Doesn't it just scream Batman?! :)

I used 3 coats plus HK Girl topcoat for the photos below. Shorter nails could probably get away with just 2 coats. 

I just love how the yellow pops out against the more neutral base! The glitters in this polish definitely inspire imagery for me of moons, and the triangles remind me of Batman's pointed ears on his costume. This next photo is a macro shot of how Ever Dance with the Devil looks on the nail!

Seriously, that shimmer is unreal!!! Another thing I love is because the base is somewhat sheer (it needs to build a bit for full opacity), the final look has that amazing depth to it because you can just see the glitter from the previous layers peeking through. I love that!

Formula on this was lovely, as per usual with Jindie Nails. Jen truly is the master of the crelly, IMHO. Despite being so packed with glitter, the polish applied smoothly and evenly, with no clumping or dragging. I did play around a bit with placement of some of the shapes to get them exactly where I wanted them. Once they were on the nail, I just used the polish brush to drag them around a bit, but that's just me, you don't have to lol.

Again, I really think Jen's inspiration is so clear here, this is such the perfect Batman polish. It also brings to mind images of Pittsburgh too, so if you're a Steelers fan, that's a win win. ;) It couldn't hurt that one of the recent Batman movies was filmed in Pittsburgh. It's the perfect color palette in this polish. I snagged a shot using flash too so you could really see how those yellow glitters pop out and punch you right in the face! :D lol

Next, I've got Dollish Polish's contribution to the duo - Why So Serious? Inspired by the Joker!

Why So Serious? is described as:
"A vibrant royal purple crelly, jam-packed with micro glitter of varying shades, including holographic lime green, emerald, burnt orange, indigo, blue, holographic purple, iridescent blue, and sprinkled with olive, orange, and indigo flakies. Opaque in 2-3 coats."

Here's a macro shot in the bottle. It's seriously like a rainbow, OMG!

I've used 3 coats in these photos, with HK Girl topcoat.

This polish is seriously amazing! There are so many colors in it, I just kept staring at my nails! And, just like Jindie Nails' contribution, I think this is a perfect representation of the Joker. Again, I feel like even if you didn't know the subject of this duo, you could get this was a Joker-inspired polish. Love it! Here's a macro shot on the nail.

The base in this polish is so bright purple, it's stunning! And formula is perfect. The base is more pigmented than I thought it would be, and application was a breeze. Sometimes with these microglitters, you can get lumpy finishes due to clumping, but this one applies perfectly smoothly. The flakies are really awesome in this polish as well. The orange ones especially really pop! :)

Again, I took a shot with flash to really show you how bright this purple is. I wouldn't say it's a neon but it just pops right out, it's amazing! And I love all the different colors of glitter in this, it just makes me happy, this rainbow of color. :)

This duo is fabulous. Bottom line: you need it! I love them both, and they're so different, I don't think I could pick a favorite. If I'm feeling a bright polish with a rainbow of glitters, I'll reach for Why So Serious?, if I'm feeling something more metallic, shimmery, neutral colored with chunky glitters, I'd reach for Ever Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight?.

This amazing duo will up for pre-sale starting TODAY at 1pm CST, and it will be up for pre-sale all weekend until the 22nd. After that, it will be officially launched next Friday, March 27th. The duo retails for $20, and you can purchase it exclusively at Jindie Nails shop or Dollish Polish shop.

Set an alarm on your phone, make yourself a note, do whatever you need to do lol because you want to be sure to get your hands on one of these!

Thanks so much for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these polishes below! <3
Kelly

The products in this post were provided to me in exchange for my review. This review reflects my full and honest opinions of these products. Please see my Disclosure Statement for more information.

Mentality: Velle & Vexare

**I want to note that I am no longer affiliated with, or a supporter of, Mentality Nail Polish. Please see my post detailing my experiences with Mentality by clicking here for more information. In short, I would STRONGLY recommend not buying Mentality due to harmful effects that their polishes have had on some people. Even if you've been having an issue and you can't say for sure that it's Mentality polish that's causing it, discontinue use immediately. I didn't know what it was and by the time I realized, serious damage had been done to my nails. They are still not healed. Just don't take any chances. I will leave up my posts where I have reviewed or swatched Mentality polishes because I don't want to just delete them and pretend like nothing happened. I would also recommend reading these great, informative posts by Ashley is Polish Addicted and also The Mercurial Magpie who explain what's happened. Lab Muffin also offers some really interesting possibilities for what specifically about the polishes could be causing these effects.**

Hey everyone! Today I'm back with my last Mentality post for this week. I've really enjoyed sharing this group of polishes with you lately. Next I plan to work on some nail art looks with them - after we move this weekend. The cleaning and packing has been wreaking havoc on my nails. :( For now, I'm giving them extra TLC with lots of Sunny's Body Products like cuticle oil, balm, and hand cream. 

I've saved the best for last here, in my opinion, so today I'll be showing you my two favorite polishes of the package I received. These are two of the amazing new tetrachromes - Velle and Vexare!

Velle is a blackened multichrome with glass flecks that shifts yellow, yellow-green, green, to blue. 

I love all the different colors that show in Velle! Most prominent to me are the yellow/yellow-green flakes, they give the polish an overall gold flash that is truly stunning.

I've used 3 coats here with HK Girl to top it off. Most of you guys could get away with 2 coats easy. These tetrachromes have an amazing formula. They're very pigmented and are the perfect thickness to get a great, smooth application. I think these would look lovely stamped over black! They're so multidimensional. I love the elegance of Velle.

If you look at the bottle, you can really see all the different colored glass flecks! So pretty.

Next up is my absolute favorite of the group, hands down! Vexare is a blackened multichrome with glass flecks that shift blue, violet, red, to orange.

HOLY. AMAZING. This polish seriously astounded me. There are so many colors here, I couldn't even begin to name them all! And every angle I turned my hands, I found more. I seriously could have stared at my nails all day. While drooling.

I love how Vexare looks so bright blue, almost a cobalt in one light, and if you tilt your hand back, it's all pink/purple. The shift is so dramatic - amazing! <3

I used 3 coats of Vexare here, plus HK Girl topcoat, but again, most people can get away with 2. Formula was perfect as per usual, no issues at all to report! It applies smoothly and easily, stays put and doesn't pool or drag. Everything about it was perfect. And I think the colors are so unique and vibrant, Mentality has truly blown my mind again with this polish. Here in this next shot, you can really see that bright blue!

In this next photo, I tried to show all the different colors that Vexare can shift to in one shot. Didn't totally happen, but hey, I tried! I attempted angling each finger slightly differently to show the color shifts in the flakes. Starting with pink on my index finger, all the way to that bright blue on my pinky! Photos truly don't do this polish justice though.

Both Velle and Vexare retail for $8.25 apiece. But, if you purchase the entire Tetrachrome collection (and let's be honest, you NEED all of them), you'll save some money because you get all 7 gorgeous polishes for only $54!! It's an amazing deal.

I hope you've enjoyed my Mentality swatches and reviews this week. The more Mentality polishes I try, the more and more impressed I am with them! They never fail to disappoint. Most of all, I am just blown away by these tetrachromes. If you have not tried them yet, I highly suggest you do! :)

Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

Mentality: Essential, Instigate & Provoke

**I want to note that I am no longer affiliated with, or a supporter of, Mentality Nail Polish. Please see my post detailing my experiences with Mentality by clicking here for more information. In short, I would STRONGLY recommend not buying Mentality due to harmful effects that their polishes have had on some people. Even if you've been having an issue and you can't say for sure that it's Mentality polish that's causing it, discontinue use immediately. I didn't know what it was and by the time I realized, serious damage had been done to my nails. They are still not healed. Just don't take any chances. I will leave up my posts where I have reviewed or swatched Mentality polishes because I don't want to just delete them and pretend like nothing happened. I would also recommend reading these great, informative posts by Ashley is Polish Addicted and also The Mercurial Magpie who explain what's happened. Lab Muffin also offers some really interesting possibilities for what specifically about the polishes could be causing these effects.**

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Mine seemed to fly by, but we got so much done on the house, I'm okay with that! :)

Today it's back to real life and back to work, but I do have some lovely Mentality polishes to share with you to brighten up your Monday. :)

Let's start with Essential. It is described as "a blue purple metallic nail polish with gold flecks."

Essential is part of the Metallics collection. I've lumped it in with these other two since it didn't really fit in anywhere else haha. This is such a gorgeous shade, and the gold flecks are really stunning! This polish is almost the exact color as my favorite sweater, I love it! It's one of those colors that is really great for any season, too.

I used 2 coats of Essential plus 1 coat of HK Girl topcoat for these photos. Formula was great as per usual with Mentality. This one is highly pigmented, and especially since it's a metallic polish, I imagine it would be great for stamping! I can't wait to try it out in a nail art look.

Next up, I have Instigate. Instigate is "a yellow holographic jellychrome with glass flecks that shift violet-blue, violet, red, to orange-yellow."

When I first saw this shade, I wasn't sure how it would look with my skin tone. I have a hard time finding yellow shades that look good with my pale skin, but I think the glass flecks in this one help with that - it's not your typical yellow because of all the colors. I noticed a strong pink flash that was really unique! I actually ended up really liking this on me. :)

In some lighting, the green flecks took center stage and give Instigate an almost celery green look. Then, in other lights, the pink flash really shows through. I love polishes that are always transforming! :) And, the holo effect is really strong in this as well. I've used 3 coats here with HK Girl topcoat, and again, formula was great! I experienced no issues at all. As I've mentioned, these jellychromes tend to be thicker than your standard nail polish, which I actually love because it makes application a breeze! The polish is never runny and it stays where you put it, giving you a smooth, easy application. :)

I drove myself crazy trying to get the pink flash to show up on camera like it does in real life. I even had my fiance help me with lighting, holding flashlights and such haha! In the end, you can see it a bit in some of these photos, but it was so much more pronounced in real life. It really is a pretty combination of the base colors and the glass flecks, that I wouldn't have thought of, but it really works!

And, last for today is Provoke, which is described as "a green holographic jellychrome with glass flecks that shift red-purple, red, orange, to yellow."

I love this polish! It reminds me of the ocean. It's a really pretty almost aqua shade, and it's got a gorgeous pink/purple flash that reminds me of Instigate.

I used 3 coats of Provoke here, but 2 coats probably would have been sufficient. I used HK Girl to top it off. Again, formula was perfect. No problems at all to report! This is another very pigmented polish that I think would be an awesome stamper. I can't wait to try it out. :) This would be a pretty polish to use for a mermaid scale mani!

The holo effect is really strong in this one, I only wish we had some sun in Ohio so I could capture it and show you! I tried getting a shot with flash in an attempt to show off the holo.

Essential retails for $6.50, while Instigate and Provoke retail for $8.50 each. But, if you purchase the entire Holo Jellychrome set, you'll save some money because you'll get all 7 polishes for only $57, shipping included! :D

My thoughts on these? I absolutely loved these 3 polishes! These jellychromes are fabulous, and Essential is a gorgeous metallic. I think all 3 of these would be great for stamping. If I had to pick a favorite, I think it would be Provoke, because just looking at it inspires me and gives me nail art ideas. I love that!

Which of these is your favorite? I'd love to hear below! And be sure to have a look around the Mentality shop for these and more pretties. :)

Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

Mentality: Adorable & Volunteer

**I want to note that I am no longer affiliated with, or a supporter of, Mentality Nail Polish. Please see my post detailing my experiences with Mentality by clicking here for more information. In short, I would STRONGLY recommend not buying Mentality due to harmful effects that their polishes have had on some people. Even if you've been having an issue and you can't say for sure that it's Mentality polish that's causing it, discontinue use immediately. I didn't know what it was and by the time I realized, serious damage had been done to my nails. They are still not healed. Just don't take any chances. I will leave up my posts where I have reviewed or swatched Mentality polishes because I don't want to just delete them and pretend like nothing happened. I would also recommend reading these great, informative posts by Ashley is Polish Addicted and also The Mercurial Magpie who explain what's happened. Lab Muffin also offers some really interesting possibilities for what specifically about the polishes could be causing these effects.**

*Press sample*

Hi everyone! Happy weekend!! I'm super excited this weekend because we are working on cleaning our new house, to get it ready to move in next weekend. :D After months of house hunting, some disappointing setbacks, and lots and lots of stress, it feels like it's all starting to come together.

Today I've got another couple of Mentality polishes to share with you, two of their new microglitters. I'm really excited about these. I have a bunch of Mentality's older microglitters and loved them, so when they came out with some new shades, I couldn't wait to try them! 

These two did not disappoint! First for today, I'm going to show you Adorable.

Adorable is described by Mentality as "a light pink, hot pink, and white matte micro-glitter." This polish is listed as a "semi-gloss", which makes sense to me. The glitters themselves are matte, but the base is glossy, so it's kind of a cool combination of both. You'll get a somewhat textured look/feel if you wear these without topcoat, but I chose to go with a thick topcoat (HK Girl) to make it ultra glossy! :)

Microglitters like Adorable can be layered over similar or contrasting colors, but I wanted to try it out to see how it looked built up alone. This is 3 coats of Adorable with HK Girl topcoat. It built up really nicely! Unlike other polishes like this I've tried, it doesn't get lumpy - each coat applied evenly and leveled itself out.

I really love this combination of colors together. It's really girly and it reminds me of Valentine's Day! :)

Adorable retails for only $6.50, and you can purchase it here.

Next up, I've got Volunteer. It's described as "a red, white, and blue micro-glitter."

This is a very patriotic mix! This polish would be great for 4th of July manis! Formula was exactly the same as Adorable, no trouble at all with application. Again, I wanted to build this one up on its own rather than layering it. But I bet it would look great over black. I've used 3 coats here plus HK Girl to top it off.

Volunteer retails for only $6.50, and you can purchase it here.

I love these two microglitters! I hope they come out with more glitter mixes, I love these kinds of polishes, and the formula is great. I also like that you can layer them, or build them, depending what kind of look you're going for. It gives you many more possibilities! And I love that these are so affordable, only $6.50 each - and that includes shipping! That's an amazing price that you don't see much anymore in indie polish shops.

What do you think of these two? Which is your favorite? Also, be sure to check out the Mentality shop to see these and more awesome polishes! :)

Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

The products in this post were provided to me in exchange for my review. This review reflects my full and honest opinions of these products. Please see my Disclosure Statement for more information.