Pretty & Polished : The Color Purple collection

Dude. (I typed this word as a placeholder but I'm going to leave it since it's so accurate.)

Chels always comes out with great collections but I think she outdid herself with this one. (Although I've seen pics of the fall crèmes and those really excite me as well!) The Color Purple collection consists of five pieces that are all unique but make a cohesive collection. The formula on every single one was amazing. Seriously, I can't say enough good things about it.

The Grape Flake is a magenta purple crelly with multicolored flakes and is stunning! I love this color so much and the flakes make it perfect. Shown here are two medium coats and top coat.

I'll Be Your Huckleberry is a dark purple (reads navy on me) scattered holo with wee berry colored flakes. Check out the macro - is that not incredible?! Shown here is two medium coats with top coat.

My Favorite Blurple is a thermal (color changing) polish that is bright blue when warm and blurple when cold. It also has scattered holo and a smattering of flakes. The color transition is great and if you have longer nails, it's very noticeable. Shown here is two medium coats and top coat.

This Is My Jam is a blackened purple jelly with blue, purple and pink glitter and gorgeous shimmer. My top coat did something wonky with this one so I apologize for the streaks in the swatch. Shown here is two medium coats with top coat.

Violet Femmes is a gorgeous medium purple full-coverage microglitter. This polish is SPECTACULAR! It really shines in the sun but is gorgeous in any light. Shown here is two medium coats with top coat.

Seriously great collection, right? All five are currently available in the Pretty & Polished shop.

Pretty & Polished

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#itrustindiepolish

Hey guys. So, before we get back to our regularly scheduled swatch posts (I have a gooder from Pretty & Polished!), let's switch gears a bit and talk about why I love (and trust) indie polish.

Source: http://www.the-crumpet.com/2015/08/indies-i-trust-crumpets-top-10.html

You may be aware of the recent, incredibly scary issues that people are having with Mentality Polish - sensitivity, tingling, what looks like chemical burns, nails lifting from the nail beds, NECROSIS! It's a legit (and legal) shit-storm. I'm not going to get into the specifics and timelines because there are many awesome blog posts out there that contain lots of information - see Ashley Is Polish Addicted, Imperfectly Painted, Lab Muffin, and Betty's Beauty Bombs for a start. There is even a Facebook group dedicated to keeping people up-to-date.

Now, while bloggers have been doing their best to share information while still stressing that this is an ISOLATED INCIDENT, a few more mainstream outlets (Jezebel and Seventeen Magazine) have also picked up the story which, in my opinion, may be doing more harm to the indie community as a whole than good. Do I think that informing the masses is a bad idea? Never! I am a huge advocate of the freedom of information and I'm positive there are people who own some of the affected polish that aren't on Facebook or Instagram and are perhaps wondering what the hell is going on with their nails.

The problem I have is that several of the articles are using minimal sources and haven't spoken to other makers in the community. They aren't letting their readers know that this is a crazy one-off and that MOST makers do in-depth testing (and, uh, have liability insurance) to ensure the safety of their product. To the average, mainstream consumer these articles are painting the indie polish community with a "I mess around in my basement and have no idea what I'm doing" brush. Not a great perception for a community that we love and hold dear. A few outlets, like Refinery 29 and Nail It!, do have a more balanced approach rather than alarmist.

UPDATE: Consumerist also has a well-written article posted.

So, when I saw posts on The Crumpet and Phyrra listing indie brands they trust, I thought I'd follow suit with my own list. I am going to go with Debbie's criteria so these have to be brands that I have used (and worn, not just swatched) and have spoken with and have some sort of relationship with the maker.

#itrustindiepolish

KBShimmer

Wingdust Collections (on vacation)

Emerald & Ash (on vacation)

Elevation Polish

Literary Lacquers

Eat. Sleep. Polish.

Pretty & Polished

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer

Firecracker Lacquer

Glisten & Glow

There are TONS of other amazing brands, many of the makers I've met and spoken to in person, but I wanted to keep the list to ten that I use regularly, otherwise this list would be a mile long. ;)

Which indie brands do you trust? List them in the comments! Let's show our favourite makers some love.

Ninja Polish : Reality

TGIF all! The weather here has been scorching hot lately (never happy, right? It's either too hot or too cold. lol) so I haven't felt like sitting in the office swatching polish. It's supposed to be cool and rainy this weekend though - perfect polishing weather!

Today I have a wonderfully fun colour from the newly returned Ninja Polish. Reality is from the Infinity Gems collection (see Iced Lacquer for swatches of the full collection) and I was given the chance at Cosmoprof to pick one of the colours. This chartreuse-y yellow called my name and I couldn't leave without it. I'm so glad I chose this one - I have a soft spot for yellows and Reality plays with my skin tone perfectly. The formula was awesome and had great coverage - shown here is three coats and top coat.

There was no sun for pics so I attempted to show the holo using flash. I tried. ;)

Ninja Polish

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Different dimension : Cosmologically Speaking, part 2

Howdy and happy hump-day! Today I have some more CosmoprofNA samples to show you; this time a group of six gorgeous creations from Missi at Different dimension.

In the Fall of 2014 Missi released part one of the Cosmologically Speaking collection (see swatches at The Polishaholic and Royal Milk Tea) and, yee gods, if you thought that collection was amazing, hold on to your panties because they are about to be blown off! For realz. These six colours are so holo and so glittery and, oh wait, also have magical flakes. Also, one of these six is a ONE COATER!!

I'll stop blabbing now.

Oh! One final note. The sun is a fickle bitch in my city so the "sun" pics of Absolute Zero and Blue Shift are actually flash. And I don't know where the heck my mind was with Retrograde but apparently I didn't take a sun pic of it at all. *sad face* But trust, it's awesome!

Absolute Zero is a soft silvery-gold linear holo with micro hex glitter and flakes. Shown here is three coats plus top coat.
 

Blue Shift is a cobalt blue linear holo with micro hex glitter and flakes. Shown here is ONE COAT (whaaaaaaat?!) plus top coat. Will report back on staining as I'm still wearing this beauty.

Cosmic Ray is a bright pink linear holo with micro hex glitter and flakes. Shown here is two coats plus top coat.

Quaser is a mid-toned purple linear holo with micro hex glitter and flakes. Shown here is two coats plus top coat.

Retrograde is a coppery-brown linear holo (of perfection!) with gold micro hex glitter and flakes. I'm totally in lust with this beauty. It hits me squarely in my brown polish loving heart. Shown here is two coats plus top coat.

Space-Time is a green-toned teal linear holo with blue micro hex glitter and flakes. Shown here is two coats plus top coat. Check out the Instavideo I took in the sun, posted below.

The sun came back out to play and no tornado! Phew. This is Space-Time from @missibarry's Cosmologically Speaking Part 2 collection. #nailpolish #nailswag #nails2inspire #nailsofinstagram #indiepolish #iloveindiepolish #supportindiepolish #polishaddict #polishloversofreddit #bbloggersCA #hpbloggers

A video posted by Courtney Walker (@swatcherpolishranger) on Jul 22, 2015 at 1:37pm PDT

This collection will be available at the Different dimension shop on August 1st. Which is your fav?

Different dimension

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Glisten & Glow : Cocktails, Anyone? collection (pic heavy!)

Hold on to your seats and grab your sunglasses, these suckers are crazy!

On the Monday evening of Cosmoprof, Missi of DIFFERENT dimension, Jill of Glisten & Glow, Sara of Cupcake Polish, and Linda of NailVinyls hosted a blogger & indie maker event. It was a crazy fun time that was capped off with the receipt of not one but TWO swag bags. Generous, right? These bags included samples - Cosmoprof exclusives, current collections, and upcoming collections - from the makers at the event. (The Elevation/Pahlish duo from Friday was also in the swag bags.)

At the end of the event most makers said they didn't want to carry all of their stock home and so were unloading it on delirious bloggers, makers, and friends. I happened to be chatting with Jill when she dumped a crap ton of stuff into my bag, including these eight beauties.

Across the board, the formula on these was great! Some were more sheer than others but none needed more than three coats! In the sun, these babies rock my world. Without fail, when I went to take a pic in the sun, I'd step outside, look at my nails and go WOAH! These are intense, ultra linear holographic polishes. *drool*

Please note that I didn't use base or top coat for any of the swatches. They are that good!


Blue Hawaiian is a light blue linear holographic. Shown here is three coats.

Grape Groove is a lilac purple linear holographic. Shown here is two coats.
 

*Note: A storm decided to roll in at the end of my swatch session so this is the only one taken outdoors with flash.*

Hpnotiq Hurricane is a teal blue linear holographic. Shown here is two coats.
 

Midori Sour is a yellow-toned green linear holographic. Shown here is three coats.

Peach Bellini is a yellow-toned orange linear holographic. Shown here is three coats.

Raspberry Margarita is a bright pink linear holographic. Shown here is two coats.

Silver Streak is a silver linear holographic. Shown here is three coats.

Tequila Sunrise is a red-toned orange linear holographic. Shown here is two coats.

Glisten & Glow

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