DUPE ALERT! - a money saving edition

Where do I begin? Enchanted Polish "magical mystery tour". A polish. A cult classic. I feel it is every polish aholics right of passage to swoon over this particular polish. And how could you not. Turquoise blue, purple, gold, green...and the extra BOOM with the holo. It's the kind of polish that made me an addict in the first place. I remember coveting it for ages, and then i got lucky and managed to snag it. A mere 35$ (plus shipping and no box) is what this bad boy cost me. Yes, I know. I'm crazy to spend that kind of money on one polish. But it's beauty is well justified in my brain. Let us all take a moment to bask in it's glory, shall we?

There it is. When I received this polish, I IMMEDIATELY painted my tips. I couldn't help it. It made me want to cry a little. This beauty was FINALLY MINE!

Flash forward to almost a year later. There I am, at Las Vegas, in a penthouse suite in the Mandalay Bay. I'm there, showing off my brand of polish, Jaded Nail Co. There are other indie polish makers, well known bloggers, nail magazines (I was quite out of my league! THANK GOD for the wine!), and of course, Leah Ann. As in, LLAROWE. The maker of colors by llarowe, and the owner of www.llarowe.com. I am no stranger to that site, nor to her brand. Honestly, one of my first and favorite polishes that i purchased (ozotic 507) was from her site. It was the first time I had ever paid for a polish over 8$. I knew it was the end of my polish sobriety there, I was off the wagon. Leah Ann is a legend in the polish world. Famous, notorious. Many tears come from her site, many angry reviews, but so much joy at the same time. She takes everything in stride, and keeps on trucking. She is, a polish warrior. So imagine the anxiety I had when i got to meet her. Stumbling over words, stuttering, i was a wreck. But I made it, yes I did. And after all was said and done, and all the bloggers had left, all us indie ladies started swapping our polishes. Because honestly, none of us wanted to go home with our own stuff. I had the luck of grabbing a couple of colors by llarowe to add to my very large collection. One of them happened to be an (at the time) unreleased color. "Show me again". It caught my eye in a familiar way. I put it, (with my 30 or so other polishes of different brands) into my suite case, brought it home, and proceeded to forget about it. I know, how could I? But you see, with such a large amount of polish that I came home with, somethings just got pushed to the side. 

Last night, I was struggling to find a polish that I wanted to wear. With over 2000 polishes, you would think the decision would be easy, but it honestly makes it SO MUCH HARDER. Then I remembered! I grabbed "show me again", stared at the blue/purple jewel like amazingness. Then it hit me! Like a thousand polishes falling off the rack. This is JUST LIKE "magical mystery tour"! I quickly ran to my helmer, pulled out "MMT" and looked. Sure enough, they were close. I of course had to see just how close, which leads me to this post- 

There it is. As i have marked, my index and ring finger are polished with MMT (magical mystery tour), the middle and pinkie, CBL show me again. Let's look at a few more pics shall we?

There you have it. As you can see, the color shifts are the same. They both have holo amazingness in them as well. SO what is different you ask? CBL- the chromaflair pigment (the color that shifts) is a bit thicker, more dence, than that of MMT, causing the holo pigment to be a little less pronounced, and a little more scattered as compared. MMT is a hair thinner, making the holo pigment to be a tad more linear. Honestly, it is not enough to notice, unless you are an absolute polish nutter like me. 

So which one should you get? Well, here is the deal. CBL is almost always readily available on her site. It is 12.00$ US. Enchanted Polish MMT, it's a hard to find. Most times you have to snag it on destashes, and it can sell upwards to 40-50$. Used. If you are lucky to grab one off a restock, it is 16$. So, your decision. 

Colors By LLarowe "show me again" can be purchased HERE.

A Little Spark of Madness

By now, we have all heard of the death of Robin Williams (not to confused with the very much alive Robbie Williams...ahem Paris Hilton). While I never had the pleasure of meeting this great man, in his own way he still touched my life. He was a father, a husband, a friend to many, and a small break from reality to the rest of this giant world. He was a comedic genius, a humanitarian, just a down right wonderful person. He had it all, from our stand point, but he also had more than it all. 

Mental illness. Bipolar disorder, severe depression, addiction, suicide. All of these "words" bring up strong emotions. And most of us, if not all, have loved, or at least have met, someone battling with one of these, whether we know it or not. Some people wear it out on their sleeves, others hide it down so low that no one could ever suspect. But the signs are there, if you know where to look. 

In the US alone, there were more than 38,000 deaths by suicide. Up from 33,000 in 2010. Those numbers are crazy. 

The loss of Robin Williams, while it is absolutely terrible, has a silver lining. It has allowed people who would never talk about suicide to open up. It has slapped thousands of people in the face who deal with these thoughts everyday to maybe, seek help. It has opened the eyes of people who have no understanding of how someone who can seem to be so happy, who can create such love and warmth, can end it all in one moment. It has made this a household word, a word with a little less fear and a little more understanding. Or at least, that is what I hope. 

So in lieu of that, I have decided to do one of the only things I know how to do. I created. I made a polish for people to buy and love. And with this polish, I will donate all of the profits to the national suicide hotline. 

This number has been around for as long as I can remember. It has helped thousands and thousands of people each year to realize that there are other options. This number NEEDS to stay around even longer. 

Now, to get out of the deep heavy stuff, lets talk about this polish. I've named it "A little spark of madness" from a quote from Robin Williams- "You're only given a little spark of maddness. You mustn't lose it"

Warm

Transition

Cold

As you can see, this polish is turquoise when warm, and deep purple when cold. It has little blue glass fleck that sparkle so bright when the polish is cold, and a purple shimmer that you can see when the polish is warm. What's more? It GLOWS!

And as you can see by the photo, when the polish is in transition, it effects the glow, making you see it the gradient in the dark! 

This will be a limited edition polish. I will be selling it by pre-order. Now, I know a lot of indies, including myself, usually limit one bottle per person when making LE polishes. But since this is a charity polish, and the more I can sell, the more I can donate, there are no limits. Buy one, buy 2, buy 200. I don't care. 

http://jadednailco.bigcartel.com/product/a-little-spark-of-maddness-a-charity-polish

The pre-order will run from now until September 13th. Let's help someone buy helping and organization that saves lives everyday! 

Two Polishes, One Nail - A Love Story.

Blog #2. Look at me, on a roll and whatever. HA! 

So today, i have two UBER holographic glitter polishes for you. I also have a very pretty red Polish (like the country) nail polish. So, even though my title says two polishes, I lied and am blogging about three. 

Let's start with the odd one out. This polish I know nothing about. I'm not going to lie. I know it is from Poland. I know I got it from Cosmoprof, and I know it is beautiful. That is the end of my knowledge. Limited, I know. Sorry.

Here is a swatch of this beautiful mystery polish. It is a stunning oxblood (far darker IRL). Formula was a tad thick, but it didn't bother me. The best educated guess about this polish is that it is from some brand called Perfect, but I can find NOTHING on the interwebz. The only thought is MAYBE it is a private label. (ie a company that makes polish for other companies.) That would explain a lot, but again, I am unsure and just throwing out ideas, so dont quote me! 

There are some bottle shots. I cannot read the label as I only speak American. ;) 

Alright- onward to the LOVE STORY!

Two different brands- Floss Gloss, and Different Dimensions. Let me tell you what, these polishes together...omg. Like something fell from the heavens and landed on my nail. The glitter, the sparkle...

This is DD "Big Bang". It is a glitter bomb of very small holographic silver...glitter. Like a shattered rainbow, the colors are stunning. Unlike linear holos, this more twinkles. Its pretty much indescribable. I used two coats and it completely covered my nail. Genius. BUT WHAT IS THE OTHER COLOR?! I can hear you thinking that on this side of my screen!

Floss Gloss. STUN. 

Floss Gloss STUN matched DD big bang like no other. Same sized glitter, same spectacular holographic effect, only this was in gold. As you can see on my nail, I made a gradient with these two, and there is your love story. A perfect marriage between two different brands. Floss Gloss formula was spot on, making it very easy to meld these two together. LOVE.

A blurred photo so you can see the amazing jewel like holo effect. So sparkly! AHHHH

All in all, I will be buying from Floss Gloss and DD in the future. And I am on the hunt for this mystery Polish polish that has me swooning.

Intro- and Orly 2014 Fall "SMOKY" collection

Wow. First blog post. Where do I begin? HI! My name is Cara. I love polish. I have a problem. But I am quite sure there are worse problems out there (as I sit here and drink a strawberry beer). I not only love polish, but i make polish as well. Maybe you have heard of me?? Either way, this blog is here as both a tool and a creative outlet. You get to see my ramblings of polish, food, my fur babies...its a win win really! 

OK! Now, on to the good stuff. Today I am happy to post about Orly's new fall collection called "smoky". I saw this collection at Cosmoprof in Vegas a short while ago. I was more than excited when i saw it. Fall is my FAVORITE polish season. I absolutely love anything dark and vampy. It's always when my favorite color (deep dark sexy purples) are readily available. Happieness in a bottle.

First- we have HIGHLIGHT-

"highlight" is a grey bone cream. Honestly, there is nothing special about this polish. I have 4 or 5 of them in my collection. Don't get me wrong, it is a great color, perfectly on point, just same old same old. As for the formula, this is thin. Very thin. But manageable. This is three coats with seche vite on top. 

BLEND-

"blend" is a purpley brown mushroom color. Not a color I typically purchase to be honest. Its too...chic and grown up for me. Ha. If you like this color, you probably have 3 or 4 in your collection, and probably dont need this one. Another nothing special polish. And on the formula, what a hot mess this was. Have your ever tried to paint your nails with water?? Because this is what you will be doing. It did build up after 3 coats, but it was unmanageable, and a complete nightmare. The only thing is that since i got this, I have decided to give the mushroom color a second chance on me. I liked it more than I thought i would. Maybe that is because I'm 30 now? 

BRUSH IT ON-

"brush it on" is a glitter/flakie like polish. Burnt orange to copper in color. It has a sparkle that is BLINDING! :warning- do not operate heavy machinery with this polish:. Brush it on is very sheer. I'm not 100% sure where Orly was going with this? Is it a topper? Is it meant to be used alone? I used it alone. This is 5 coats. I'm sure it would look great over another polish. Formula? Thin and sheer, but nothing like blend! 

EDGY-

"edgy"- a smokey shimmery bottle of epic. This looks green in my photo, but its more blackish brown with a goldish shimmer. It reminds me of a fall night next to the fire. Roasting marshmallows and cuddling next to the love of your life wrapped in oversized hoodies. Yes, sometimes polish provoke memories. This is one. When I first got this I honestly did not think I would care for this color, but once on my nail I swooned instantly. The formula was perfect. This is two coats. I'm in love.

SMOKED OUT- 

"smoked out"- this polish did NOT match its name. (I would have switched the names of smoked out and edgy, but what do I know). This polish was another "hmmmm" polish in the bottle, but once on the nail, it is TO DIE FOR. I do not have another polish like this. It is a dark teal "jungle" (to quote crayola) green, with shimmery silver glass fleck. It pretty much glows in the sun. It's formula was a bit thin, but well worth the effort in my opinion. 

DARKEST SHADOW- 

"darkest shadow" - WOW WHAT A POLISH! Now,  let me add, I'm a huge huge HUGE fan of black polish. So naturally, I love the "is that black" type polishes. They are more grown up than black, but still classy. Maybe not so much in the summer or spring, but fall and winter...they are absolutely perfect. This polish falls in that line. It's black, with red shimmer/fleck and micro glitter. Dark, sexy, vampy...oh how I love thee. Formula wise, it was a bit thick (I know right?! Completely opposite of the rest of this line!) But with two drops of thinner, it was perfect. I cannot wait till late fall to rock this polish hard! 

All in all, in my complete and honest opinion, there were wins and losses. This collection was...comme ci comme ca. I'm absolutely keeping the last two polishes, but when i have my next destash, the rest are sure to be in there. 

disclaimer- these polishes were purchased. the above review is 100% my own thoughts and opinions.