May SquareHue Box

The Passport Collection: Rio

These colors just scream carnival to me! Granted, all I really know is what I saw from the movie Rio, but that's what these instantly reminded me of.

First up we have Ipanema. A bright golden yellow microglitter. This is 3 coats, no top coat.

 

 

 Next is Leblon, a kelly green shimmer. This is 3 coats, no top coat.

 

Last is Copacabana, a bright, gorgeous blue glitter. This one is packed full of turquoise and holographic glitter. The picture absolutely doesn't do it justice. It's an amazing glitter bomb. I used 4 coats with no top coat for this swatch. It could use some undies though for more opacity.

 I think SquareHue nailed this month! Stay tuned next month for The Passport Collection: Maui.

Check out SquareHue.com to order your own box!

April SquareHue Box

The Passport Collection: Amsterdam

The preview for this month looked very colorful, and as you can see, it is!

The first color is Beethovenstraat, a neon green high gloss creme. This color is so bright and fun! It's not my favorite, I don't usually like greens on myself, but it's perfect for summer nail art! The formula was a bit thin, I used 4 coats for full opacity, no top coat.

Next up is Kalverstraat. A beautiful, hot pink, almost a touch the salmon side. This one is also very bright, perfect summer color. I used 3 coats, no top coat.

Last color is P.C. Hooftstraat, they call this one a duochrome, but it almost looks like more of a shimmer to me. It's a gorgeous purple with bright blue shimmer in it. This one was also a little sheer, I used 4 coats, no top coat.

And here's a fun little dotticure with all 3 colors! I also used Sinful Colors- Snow me White.

Stay tuned next month for The Passport Collection: RIO!

Royal Lacquer-Love Me Tender and Such a Lady

Today we have two more gorgeous shades from Royal Lacquer. Love Me Tender from their Valentine's collection, and Such a Lady. I love these! They are so girly and beautiful!

 

I actually did these nails right before Valentine's Day with the intention of posting them before then, but time got away from me and it just didn't happen.

Both of these colors were opaque in two easy coats. They had a special  with their Valentine's polishes, you got a sheet of heart decals with each purchase. I chose these with Love Me Tender, and they threw in Such a Lady and some cute pink hearts too! I love how easy these decals are, and these two colors looked perfect together!

There are all these pretty iridescent  glitters that didn't really show up in my pictures :( It was much more sparkly in real life.

Check out their Etsy shop here for other colors and decals!

February SquareHue Box

The Passport Collection: Tokyo

Nails Ablaze, Harajuku Style

I don't know much about Tokyo, or about Harajuku, but from a little googling, I could tell it was a little wild and very colorful. And SquareHue didn't disappoint!

The first color is Roppongi, a bright green glitter with a hint of golden shimmer. It's full of iridescent glitters. I'm not a big fan of this shade of green. It may look better layered over something rather than on it's own though. The formula was a bit sheer, I used 3 coats for the photo below and there is still slight VNL.

Next up is Shibuya, a bright pink/magenta with blue microglitter. I really love this one! This one started out a little sheer, but built up easily. I used 3 coats for full opacity.

Last is Ginza. A kind of sky blue shimmer. I think this one is gorgeous. Its almost got more of a frost finish than a shimmer, as you can tell by the slight brush strokes. I used 3 coats for full opacity.

Overall, I think this box is very fun! It's bright and glittery, a nice change of pace for the yucky winter weather we're having!

Next month is The Passport Collection: Paris. Sign up now so you don't miss it!

January SquareHue Box

 I realized when I got the shipping notification for this box that I never did post the swatches from last month's box! So if anyone is interested in seeing those, just let me know and I'll post them :)

The Passport Collection- London

I was pretty excited to see what was in store for this box. I went to London with my brother when I was 17 and it was incredible! So it was fun to see the names of the polishes were places that I've been to :) To be completely honest, I was slightly underwhelmed when I saw the colors, and then I swatched them...and it totally changed my mind!

First up is Buckingham, a gorgeous deep burgundy. I absolutely love this! Upon first glance, I wasn't too impressed, but on the nail it was incredible. It's so rich and dreamy, and once again, crazy awesome shine. This is 2 coats, no topcoat.

 

 Next up is Westminster, sort of an off white, cream color. The formula on this one was a little streaky and probably could have used one more coat to even it out more. I used 3 thin coats for this photo. I don't love this color on it's own, but I think it will be great to use for nail art!

 Last, we have West End, a dark blue shimmer. I thought this one looked the most interesting at first glance, and it's an absolute stunner on the nail! You can see a hint of the bright blue shimmer in this picture, so pretty!! I used 3 coats, no topcoat. Even thought this one isn't one of the hi-gloss cremes, it still has great shine.

Have you signed up for SquareHue yet?!?

Do it!!

Royal Lacquer Swatches & Review

Back in October I posted about Suds n Stickers, they did the great Vynails decals. They recently started a line of polish called Royal Lacquer and I was lucky enough to receive a few colors for review! Unfortunately, I got them the same day I had my tonsils out, so I've been out of commission for a couple weeks, so sorry ladies!

On my index and middle finger is Aura. A gorgeous purple glitter topper. I layered it over OPI- You're Such a Budapest. This color is so sparkly and the glitter payoff is great. The larger circle glitters take a little fishing, but that's to be expected.

 

 

 On the ring and pinky fingers I've got this cute little unnamed mini. It's a delicate glitter topper, some pink, purple, blue, very pretty. It's also over You're Such a Budapest. 

 

 I really loved this next color, it's gorgeous! This is three coats of Inner Glow. A gorgeous berry colored jelly with some redish micro glitter and some copper and holo glitter. It's so pretty! It dries to kind of a waxy finish, which is cool, but I really love it with top coat!

No topcoat

Topcoat

 The last one is another cute little unnamed mini. It's a pretty teal color packed with black, white, and silver glitters. All different shapes, hexes, squares, circles, stars, although I didn't manage to get any of the stars. I really like this color, the larger glitters do require a little fishing of course, but it's worth it :) This one also had a waxy finish to it.

No topcoat

Topcoat

Thank you to the ladies from Royal Lacquer for giving me the opportunity to review your polishes! I absolutely love them!!

November SquareHue Box

The Coastal Collection

First off... I LOVE this box!!! The colors are all amazing!

The first color is Nantucket. It's the most gorgeous teal blue. The formula is perfect as always. Opaque in two coats, crazy awesome shine.

Next is Chatham. It looked like I dipped my fingers in hot chocolate. Perfect color for fall for sure. This one was a little thinner, I used three coats for full opacity.

 Last color is Portsmouth. An incredibly beautiful dusty grayish blue. I LOVE this one! It seems a little more gray in real life, it photographed slightly more blue. Two easy coats.

All of these colors are so pretty, it makes me even more excited to see next month's colors! All three of these are HiGloss Creme formula, they're my very favorite. I'm always amazed by the shine, they're absolutely perfect!

If you haven't signed up for SquareHue yet...you're missing out! Check it out...SquareHue...next month is The Passport Collection. Sign up so you don't miss it!

Suds n Stickers

My friend Sarah recently told me about this Facebook page, Suds n Stickers, they do custom vinyl stickers, and vinyl nail decals! Like their page to see all of their amazing stuff! I liked their page and they were doing a giveaway, and I won one of the grab bags!! I was super excited, I never win anything! They asked if I had a preference of design for the nail decals, and I said I loved the large chevron. So I was expecting a little sheet of the chevron design to try them out. I got way more than I thought!

This is all of the decals that they sent! There are so many cool things to play with!

As if that wasn't generous enough, they also sent a polish with it all! It's OPI DS Magic! I only have one other Designer Series OPI, so I was super excited to see this! It's a gorgeous blue/purple duo chrome.

I decided to start with something that seemed easy. I picked this cute little heart design. With a pair of tweezers I peeled it up and applied it to my nail. I like this one because you can basically use the same design for 3 different nails. One with the outline, which was my favorite, one with the solid heart, and then last you can use the remaining piece as a stencil. I haven't tried that yet.

 I applied the decals over 3 coats of Butter London- Disco Biscuit. I did two coats of HK Girl over the decals to make sure they were good and sealed in.

I had two main concerns, one was that they would stick up off the nails and catch on things, like I had happen with the Jamberry strips. That didn't happen at all! They were stuck down really well and didn't come up until I was ready to remove them. The other concern was that they might be difficult to remove. That wasn't the case at all. As soon as the acetone got through the top coat, they peeled right off. I'm really impressed with them and can't wait to try more designs!

Can't leave out a swatch of Magic! The picture doesn't do it justice. It's so pretty!

October SquareHue Box

The Moto Collection

Based on the photo preview for this collection, I was excited, but nervous about what we were going to get. I was pleasantly surprised!

The first color is Iron Horse. It's a gorgeous black creme. I think SquareHue makes some of the very best cremes. I mean, look at the shine!! It blows me away every time. I just love it. This is 3 coats, no top coat.

  

Next, something we haven't gotten from SquareHue yet...a textured polish! This is Desert Grit. Absolutely perfect pumpkin orange. Great for Halloween! The texture isn't super gritty, which I like. I'm not a big fan of textured polishes, so I like that this was pretty fine. This is 3 coats, no top coat.

 Next is my favorite...Oil Slick. An amazing grey/purple/teal duo chrome. Love it! It was difficult to photograph though! The first picture is in the lightbox, and shows hints of the purple and teal, the second is in direct light, look at the pretty shimmer! This is 2 coats, no top coat.

One last thing...as soon as I saw Oil Slick, I thought, 'that looks just like Essie- For the Twill of It! Upon further investigation, it appears to be a dupe for both OPI- Peace and Love and OPI, and For the Twill of It. I don't own either of the others to compare, but from other comparison posts I've seen, it looks identical.

September SquareHue Box

Now that I realize it's almost time for the October box, I really need to get the September swatches posted! I've been a slacker this month!

 

The Serengeti Collection

The first color is called Grassland Safari. It's kind of a chartreuse green...not my favorite. I'm not a big fan of this color green in general, but I really didn't like it on me. It completely matches the preview picture that they posted for this collection though. The formula was a little thin, I used 4 coats for this photo and still have slight VNL. As always, it's got amazing shine. That's probably one of my favorite things about SquareHue polishes.

Second color is Savanna Sundowner. I don't really know how to describe this color. It's greenish with a pretty golden shimmer to it. I liked this one more than I thought I would. This is 3 coats, no topcoat.

Last color is Swahili Charm. A beautiful chocolate brown. I love this one. I think it's going to be a great color for fall! This is 3 coats, no topcoat.

Have you signed up for SquareHue yet? I really like the variety of colors that I've gotten from them. A lot that I really like and probably wouldn't have chosen for myself.

China Glaze- Astro Hot

I want to begin by saying, I apologize for all the time you're going to waste with this information... Do you play Candy Crush on your iPhone or iPad? Hate waiting for your friends to send you lives? Here's a trick...when you run out of lives, change the date on your phone to a day ahead, switch back to the game, then change the date back to today's date. There you have it, infinite lives. I don't know if it will work on other devices as I've only tried it on these two. At times I wish no one would have told me this. Although it did help me pass level 65 in only about half a day, which according to my sister, is kind of a big deal. I'm now struggling through level 133.

Down to business...for my birthday, I got a few of the Hologlams. They're such pretty colors, but I do wish the holo was stronger, like the Color Clubs. Those are incredible. Though in the sun, or lightbox like these pictures, the holo looks great. This is 2 coats of Astro Hot.

This is such a great color! I should have taken a picture out of the lightbox so you could see it without all the holo goodness. It's still really pretty.

August SquareHue Box

The Endless Summer Collection

I got this month's box super quick. I mean like, August 2nd kinda quick. It was great! I don't really know what I was expecting, but I was surprised when I saw the colors. I saw a gradient someone did with these, and it completely made sense. These are perfect for a summer sunset. That's on my to-do list for this week so you can see what I mean.

The first color in the box is Bikini Beach. A very bright, golden yellow creme. As always, their cremes are super shiny. The formula was a little sheer, kind of a pain...this is 3 coats, no topcoat.

Next up is Scorched Summer. It's more of a burnt orange color. This picture doesn't seem quite right to me, it's a little more red than it appears in real life. I couldn't get a photo that looked right. Look at that shine! It's so shiny you can almost make out my reflection in it! This was super opaque, I could have easily gotten away with one coat, but I used 2 here, again, no topcoat.

Last, and my absolute favorite from this collection, we have Surf Gypsy. The first glitter I've gotten from SquareHue! It's a gorgeous cranberry color packed with holo glitter. Unfortunately, I swatched these at night after my kids went to bed, so I didn't get a picture of this in the sun. You can see a bit of the holo though. It's super pretty. I'm sure this will be a go-to this fall. This is also 2 coats, no topcoat.

The September box is called The Serengeti Collection. Check out squarehue.com to sign up!