Makeup Your Face Part I

Good evening, dear readers!  I hope you have had a wonderful day and week thus far!  I have received several polishes by indie line Makeup Your Face to review, and I decided to break it up into two posts.

The brand was created by the lovely Lauren Walker, and her polishes are a lot of fun!  She has created several pretty shades for her shop, and I have also had the privilege of seeing a few custom polishes she has made for other customers.  For today's post, I am going to focus on a few of her creations she will be releasing soon and another she currently has stocked in her shop.

Fairy Nights

Fairy Nights is part of the "Fairies Are Real" collection.  Lauren describes this collection as "Pretty solids sprinkled with coordinating micro glitter and complementing shimmer dust."  I used two coats of Fairy Nights and one coat of top coat for these photos.

I'm the first to admit that I can be fickle when it comes to polish favorites, but this is now my absolute favorite blue polish!  It looked more purple in the bottle, so I was surprised to see just how blue it was, and it is gorgeous!  In spite of all the microglitters, it still applied rather smoothly.  It dries pretty quickly, so if you find an area that needs a little touching up, I found it best to let it dry and add the next coat.  Otherwise, you might have the polish smudging on you a little bit.  I was sad to have to remove this one so soon to swatch the next colour, but such is the life of a polish blogger!

Fairy Garden

Fairy Garden is another polish in the "Fairies Are Real" collection, and I have to tell you when I walked outside and saw it on my nails, "oooooh" escaped my lips.  It is a stunning shade of green and I knew I liked it when I first started swatching it, but it is even prettier in full sun light.  Due to the bouncing of the light on the shimmers that are in this polish, it looks quite a bit like a scattered holographic polish although it technically is not.  I don't know if it was a happy accident or brilliant planning on Lauren's part, but it truly is a stunner!  This polish is more along the lines of what I was hoping Zoya Logan would be (sorry Zoya, I usually love you), and I can definitely see myself wearing this one many times!  I used two coats of Fairy Garden and one coat of top coat for these photos.

Abstract Expression

Abstract Expression is described as "A nail polish creator's artistic take on the Abstract Expressionism painting style.  Black and white hexes and bars, silver and holo hexes with translucent pink hexes scattered throughout."  This polish is Makeup Your Face's take on the black and white glitter top coat.
I love black and white glitter top coats, but it gets to the point where once you've seen one, you've seen them all.  Thankfully, Lauren took the trend and gave it her own flair and turned it into something different and uniquely her own.  I knew the pink glitters were translucent  and I was afraid to use a base colour that would make them difficult to see in photographs.  I opted to use two coats of OPI Dulche de Leche as the base, and I dabbed and swished on a coat of Abstract Expression.  I followed up with two coats of top coat.  The application wasn't too difficult: the glitters broke up pretty easily for placement in my nails, and I had some issues with the bar glitters laying flat, as per usual for this type of glitter.  There weren't too many bars to contend with, so I wouldn't say this polish is very difficult to work with.  It's a really cute polish, and I love the touches of pink!  I'm definitely going to be playing around with this one and trying it over a slightly darker base next time!

Links and Additional Information

Abstract Expression is currently available at Makeup Your Face's Etsy shop, and the "Faires Are Real" collection is scheduled to be released on March 1st.

If you're a Facebook user, keep you eyes peeled on Makeup Your Face's Facebook page for shop announcements, new collections, and contests.  Lauren has a Valentine's Day nail art contest planned that should be lots of fun!

Keep your eyes peeled on the blog for my next post where I'll be featuring other polishes by Makeup Your Face.  Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful evening!






Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion.  All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.

Review of Girly Bits Heirloom

I must admit that every single time I think of the indie line Girly Bits, I start giggling like a 12 year old boy.  I may be a bit quirky on occasion (ok, very quirky on a regular basis), but I like to think of myself as being a mature adult most of the time.  That being said, I just cannot seem to help myself when it comes to this particular brand.  The name is just too cute to resist, and I am excited to be sharing one of Pam's lovely creations with you today.

I had a particular polish in mind to use as underwear when I bought Heirloom, but once I received it in the mail, I wasn't as committed with my initial choice.  I swatched a few different options on a nail wheel and decided to showcase this polish over two polishes: Zoya Pasha (two coats on my ring finger) and Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Commander in Chic (two coats on the remaining fingers).  I then dabbed on a coat of Heirloom and followed with one layer of top coat.

Indoors

Partial sun

I was fully prepared to have some difficulty in applying this polish; it seemed a little thick in the bottle, and it has quite a bit of glitter.  I'm pleased to say I was wrong, and it applied very easily for me.  A little dab here, a little swish here, and the glitters broke up rather nicely for me.  They all laid very nicely on my nails, and one coat of top coat was plenty to smooth out the surface of my nails.

Links and Additional Information

Heirloom can be purchased directly from Girly Bits' Bigcartel site or from distributors Llarowe and

Harlow & Co.

Keep an eye out on Girly Bits' Facebook page for news on upcoming collections as well as shop announcements.  At the time of this blog posting, Girly Bits is currently experiencing some difficulties with processing orders due to shipping changes in Canada, but it will hopefully be resolved soon!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the day!

And What a Beauty It Is!

Good afternoon, dear readers!  I hope this post finds you both well and warm!  It's been so cold here in Arizona this winter, and my heater decided to stop working for us the coldest few days of the season thus far.  Thankfully it is now fixed, and I can do more swatching!  The last thing I wanted to do was the remove my gloves and unbundle myself from the layers of clothing and blankets that were keeping me warm!

For today's post, I have the aptly named Black Beauty from SoFlaJo's new Matte Love collection to share.  I was highly intrigued when I first received this polish to review because I knew absolutely nothing about the collection when I received it.  I had no idea that the collection was going to be featuring matte polishes, and I stared at the bottle for a little while trying to determine if it was going to be a matte or a black holographic polish.  I didn't have to wait too long to find out the answer- I got my answer right away as I started painting my nails: it was a holo!  I had one wet coat on my nails and spent some time talking with the hubby while it dried.  When I looked down to paint a second coat on my nails, I was shocked to see that my nails were now matte.  What was this craziness?  Surely this polish isn't both a matte and a holo!  I just HAD to have been wrong with my assessment that it was a holo in the first place.  Dear readers, I was amazed to discover that I had in my hands the most awesome combination of finishes that I never imagined would even exist- a polish that is both matte AND holo!  I had never seen anything like it before, and I asked another lacquerhead if she had ever heard of the combination.  She claimed she's never seen it either, so this just might be the first one on the market!  Let's check out some photos!

Two Coats of Black Beauty (no top coat)

Two Coats of Black Beauty (with top coat)

As I mentioned above, I used two coats of Black Beauty for these swatches.  I almost had complete coverage with just one thin coat, so if you tend to use slightly thicker coats, you may not actually need a second coat of Black Beauty to reach opacity.  The formula was sublime, and this polish applied like a dream!  The holo is subtle- this isn't a crazy linear holographic polish that some people love and expect from holographic polishes.  I'm personally in camp "less is more" and love the modest holo effect adding a touch of pizzazz without overpowering the base colour.  You can best see the holo on my pinky finger the most in these photos.  

Photo courtesy of SoFlaJo.com

These are the other polishes from the Matte Love collection.  I love matte polishes, and these colours are amazing!  I think SoFlaJo is trying to get me to reach outside my normal comfort zone: I am even intrigued by the white and yellow polishes!  

Extra Links and Information

SoFlaJo polishes can be purchased from either SoFlaJo.com or etsy.  At the time of this posting, the Matte Love Collection is only listed in the SoFlaJo site.

Keep an eye out of the SoFlaJo Facebook page for shop announcements!

Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion.  All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.