Whimsical Ideas by Pam's Once Upon A Time

My first whimsy! This is Once Upon A Time from her Halloween collection. How could I say no to this one when my fav 2 colors are involved?! In addition, I had Essie Navigate Her and Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac sitting right in front of my when this cutie came in, so I couldn't resist. Just a quick pic. It's blurry but its so pretty! And I figured I'd write up a quick post because Whimsical Ideas By Pam shared it on their page! (Thanks again Pam!!) So it must not be too shabby. This polish is a dream to apply and to wear. Here it is!

Overall Grade:

A

Buy this polish and other whimsies here.

My Polish Setup!!

So I rarely ever do posts that aren't Indie reviews. However, my nails and cuticles are in the worst shape of my life right now so I thought it appropriate to post something a little different. This is a wall in my room, and how I try to keep my addiction organized. Think of these drawers like the baggies that drug addicts use. And with one colorful analogy out of the way, here is my room!

 Here's the set up in it's entirety. Front and center is my new light-box. I spent the afternoon turning a large flat-rate box into this masterpiece. Then I realized there are few to no light sources of usefulness in my house. So I hung a flashlight from the ceiling of course, as any rational person would, I'm sure. Then we've got my sick TV. Its the TV I watch when I'm sick. Next to it are all of my old favorite movies that are comforting to fall asleep to. This wasn't intended as a sick TV, but it's what it's become. The white shoebox if full of candy for both consuption and for swaps. :) The drawer sets we will get to down below, they're where the magic happens. The zig-zag contraption to the left of the picture if where I keep my Indie polish waiting to be reviewed.  Between the drawer sets I have a giant hush-hush box of polish that is indeed top-secret. So shhh.

Here is my "mine" drawer. These are all of the polishes that are indeed mine. Need I say more? :) Thinking this is not very many polishes for a blogger to have? Just wait until you see the next drawer.

This drawer is my swappable drawer, and the bulk of my collection. I tend to only keep about half of what I buy, and the rest goes here. On the right we have used swappables, and notes I receive in packages. Top left are my BN polishes that I think I will keep. They're here so I know they're BN, or because I'm waiting for someone to name the right price. :) The rest of the left side is BN polishes that I'm selling or will swap, or will include as extras in packages.

 Current swaps, extra bubble-mailers, and swapping supplies like tape, etc.

My bubble-wrap drawer. ;)

My awesome polish rack! One of the benefits of working at a drug store! :) These are my indies that need reviewing. And that's the inside of my candy box!!


Hope this was slightly entertaining for you all, and maybe inspiring! I used to have bags full of polish like this:

And as cute as it is, I feel much more organized with the designated drawers for everything!

What do you think? See any of your favorite movies? Any tips for my light box? Any comments? Let me know. :)

Darling Diva Polish's Drag Queen

Hey there, polish readers. Sup? Nothin' much baby, just wearing red polish..
Erm. Sorry if I seem "off", I'm just not myself when I wear red polish. It goes to my head. Sorry. Sorry again.
Today's post features Darling Diva Polish's Drag Queen. Gold holo glitter! Why, that's almost as good as silver holo! This polish applied like a drugstore polish: no issues, just smooth. be sure to turn this polish on its cap for a few minutes before you start your mani to ensure you'll get lots of glitters. You might need to fish a little for them but its quite worth it. So, if you're a red-polish-wearer, go check this baby out. Plus, hello? With a name like "Drag Queen" how can you turn it down?

2 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat.

Darling Dive Polish on Etsy

Darling Diva Polish on Facebook

This polish was provided to me for my honest review

Lyn B Designs' Colorful Expletive

Today we have a silver holo glitter explosion! As you may know, I am a lover of all things holo. This polish was no exception! It was a bit tricky to get the holo come out to play with the overcast sky but I captured a bit of it. Dried very fast and became opaque quickly. You will need a good dose of topcoat to stick the pesky stars down, but it's worth it. Here it is!

 The lineup! 1 coat, 3 coats, 1 coat.

There's my holo. :)

Overall Grade:

A 

Lyn B Designs on Etsy

Colorful Expletive on Etsy

Lyn B Designs on Facebook

This polish was provided to me at a discount for my honest review

Darling Diva Polish's Rainbow Bridge

This polish has been my nemesis. I've done probably six mani's with it and haven't gotten around to photographing any of them before work destroys them. I've tried it over many colors, though so I guess that's a good thing. I really like this polish over baby pink as a valentines day mani, so consider that. Formula was fine and dandy, dry time was a little longer than I'd like, but that's fine. Bar glitters never have liked me, and the ones in this polish were no different. If you don't seal them down quickly with a good thick topcoat, they may get bent and stick up and be generally annoying. I guess you just gotta know how to deal with them, and I really just DON'T. Also topcoat will help prevent the hearts from falling off. With 2 difficult glitter types in ones polish, you're probably going to need a bit of patience with this one.
Well here it is. Pics are at dusk so that work the next day wouldn't kill them before I was able to take a pic!

  Ooo look at that hand pose. I'm like a model or something.

The Lineup. 1 coat, 1 coat, 2 coats.

Overall Grade:

C

Darling Diva's Etsy

Darling Diva's Facebook

This polish was provided to me for review

Lyn B Designs' Stuart

Here's "Stuart". Hate the name, love the polish. It's made of different sizes of matte blue squares, and matte blue bars. There are also some subtle warm-toned iridescent flecks floating about which I really enjoy. I'm not a fan (at all) of bar glitter but this stuff gave me no flack. The glitter in the polish is so brilliantly cobalt, it's hard not to like. I'm not even a blue-lover but this polish is my new best friend. Application was easy, no pushing glitter around, and minimal fishing for the big chunks. Dry time was typical. Not too long but not instant. I had a bit of trouble opening the bottle due to the slender neck but it wasn't too bad. Let me know what you think of Stuart!

 The lineup! 1 coat, 2 coats, 1 coat, 2 coats.

Thoughts?

Overall Grade:

B+

Buy Stuart
Lyn B Design's Etsy
Lyn B Design's Facebook

This polish was provided to me at a discount for my honest review

Serum No5's Shrinking Violet

It's been a while! I haven't had a day off in ELEVEN days. That's too long. So now I'm sick and stuck at home, what better to do than blog? So here go's.
This polish I love for a number of reasons. Lavender? Check. Glitter? Check. Beautiful? Check. Reference to one of my favorite movies? Check. The formula on this one was basic. Dry time was not too long but not instant. The consistency was store-bought quality. AKA very smooth and no issues! No digging for glitter, it just applied naturally and turned out (I think) very well. Here it is, tell me what you think!

Bonus pic! I love having different manis on either hand. 

Overall Grade:

A-

Serum No5's store
Shrinking Violet
Serum No5's Facebook

This polish was provided to me for my honest review

Milestones Giveaway!

Someone told me that you guys like giveaways! Well how lucky for you that I'd be hosting one! This giveaway is in honor of some milestones I've had in the past couple weeks.

• 200 likes
• 250 likes
• 300 likes
• 3000 pageviews
• 3500 pageviews
• 150 GFC followers

Woo! I'm on fire! :)
So here's a little something for you guys. Enjoy! US only. Winner has 48 hours to respond or I will re-draw. Polishes were purchased by me for you!.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Darling Diva Polish's "Hope"

You guys I'm so proud of these pictures. Not a single outtake. Woo! I'm getting better. I've been using Heeltastic (weird, I know) on my cuticles and I think it's helping a bit. :) Plus it smells awesomely herbal and gingery.
So this polish, it's by Darling Diva Polish. It's called Hope. I thought it was pretty and nice, etc, and then I realized that I can't find anything about Hope online anywhere. So now I feel super special to have this polish for you guys today! Application was super easy, the glitter blend is very unique and well-balanced, and dry time was impressively fast. Here it is, ladies. What do you think? I have it over Wet n Wild's Tickled Pink, which is one of my favorite polishes and only 99c. :)

 2 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat.

Thoughts?
Her shop here.

This polish was provided to me for my honest review

Battle of the Mint To Be's

Check this out! Just realized I have 2 polishes named "Mint To Be"! How cool! :) Similar, but different enough to have both.

When I got the first one, I immediately thought of this awesome lipstick by Lime Crime:

It's also called Mint To Be. :)

Mint is a very popular color this summer, and I have a feeling it might stick around for a while. It's nice and light and pretty. So on the the comparison!

Here is Mint To Be by Serum No5.

MTB by SN5 is glitter packed and will need a few coats of top coat to be glossy. You'll only need 2 coats for full opacity. This is a very easy polish to apply and wear. :)

And here is Mint To Be by Seventh Day Soap Co.

MTB by SDSC is sheer, this is 4 coats total. No topcoat is needed but its shown here with one. Application was perfect, love the bits of holo glitter in there, they really make this polish something special. :)

MTB by SDSC is sheerer, bluer, and it's got holo glitter in it, while MTB by SN5 is greener, more opaque and creamy, and it has silver glitter in it. Compare!

Buy them here:
Mint To Be by Serum No 5
Mint To Be by Seventh Day Soap Co

I love where I live.

 These polishes were provided to me for my honest review