Indie January - Girly Bits Extravaganza

Girly Bits was one of the first Indies I found and fell in love with.  I remember stalking her site for Shift Happens.  I want to share with you some of her other lovely polishes that I've bought.

Fathomless.  Fathomless is a very sheer jelly, so I layered it over Julep Eloise.  Wow, this is a beautiful creme blue. 

Fathomless didn't really take on any of the blue of Eloise, but it did give it a base.  You could probably use any number of polishes without changing the look.  I loved this, probably one of my fave Girly Bits in a long time.

 I love it mattified, too.  Maybe more!

For fun, I painted the side with Above The Curve Divine Angel, and then used a nail art striper in gold.

Canadian Eh?  Again, I started with a Julep, and it's another winner.  Brandt, from the Trina Turk collex, is a dark grey.  Look at that shine, no topcoat!

The red and white glitters just popped on that grey.  I did not want to take this off.

Indian Summer.  This look starts with another fun blue, L'oreal Now You Sea Me.  This is a great 'Caribbean' style blue.

I love blues and browns together, and the pink/copper glitters just bring this all together.  So very pretty.  With a nice thick topcoat, it looks even better.

January Morning.  This is a sheer frosty white with white and blue glitters.  I used OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow on my thumb, Orly Enchanted Lagoon on my index finger, Joe Fresh Moss on my middle finger, Joe Fresh Lime Juice on my ring finger, and just January Morning on my pinkie.  You can see in the bottle shots that the three darker greens look pretty different, and they did on the nail, too. Not after a coat of January Morning, though!  It made all three look very similar by lightening and bringing out the blue.  

Long Winter's Nap.  This polish made it onto my faves of 2012.  I love grey and blue together so much!  I started with Zoya Marina, a soft metallic grey with blue shimmer.  I would have used another coat if going it alone, but left it at one to use as undies.

 Eggnogoholic.  Very classy!  White milky base with gold flecks. 

I decided to embellish with a dotted frame in Above The Curve Aslan, a gold holo. 

Stormy Skies.  This is another GB polish that I wanted for so long, and it kept flying out of stock before I could get one.  It's sheerer than I thought it would be, but that delicate grey blue with blue shimmer was worth the wait.

I decided to camouflage the VNL with some funky French tips I saw on I Love Manicures, only she did it with pink, and maybe acrylic.  I used Jessica Indigo Glow and Midnight Moonlight and a small nail art brush.

Gentle Ginger.  This polish was created to help a community pay for an unexpected funeral for a boy in her community.  I bought the blue holo, Roger that, too, but I couldn't find it in time for this post.  This is a metallic orange, and is bright and radiant!

Visions of Sugar Plums.  This purple glitterbomb was part of the holiday 2012 collection.  I wasn't going to order it at first, but I'm glad I did.  I love the colors together, and application was a breeze.

Razzle Dazzle.  This is another pink I didn't order right away.  But then I saw it on a friend, and fell in love.  Pictures do not do it justice - I've never swatched a sparklier, blingier pink polish.  This is a show-stopper.

Heirloom.  Another from the holiday 2012 collection, this was GB's representation of a Victorian holiday.  I wanted to try it over Razzle Dazzle to see how the pinks worked together.

Then, I wanted to try it over a blue, so I chose Orly Frisky.  So pretty, with that amazing Orly formula.

Which do you like better?  Pink or blue?

I'm a fan of Girly Bits!  So many great glitters, and her formulas rarely disappoint.  Her shop does have something for everyone - and if you want to make your own polish, she sells a starter kit with bottles, suspension base, bbs, and glitter - everything you need to get started.

If you would like more information about Girly Bits, you can find her on Facebook and on her online shop.

Whew!  I can't believe January is over.. I still have many more Indies to swatch, but look for them intermingled with other polishes I'm looking forward to showing you.  Hope you enjoyed Indie January! 

Indie January - Mentality Dark Side Holo Collex (3 of 3)

Only a few Indies have put out darker shades in holos, so this collex is different, and rather pretty.

Siren.  My fave of the collex, hands down.  A burgundy polish with purple flecks.   So gorgeous!

I paired this with a stamp and Maybelline Bold Gold.  I think it looks elegant.  Or, like a bottle of Crown Royale.

Minx.  Blackened green with purple flecks.  I will admit that Minx and Vamp are very similar looking, both in the bottle and on the nail.  Minx leans a little more emerald green and Vamp is more blue.  Black is the predominant color for both, in my opinion.

I used Essie No Place Like Chrome for this stamp.  I like scrollie-thingies.

Vamp.  Blackened blue with purple flecks.

I stamped this with Essie Blue Rhapsody.  Not a great stamp choice for my nubbins, though - the chrome really overpowers the holo.  Also, you can see that the stamp starts out fairly straight on my pinky and ring finger, and devolves into wavy, partial lines by the time I get to my thumb.  I wasn't drinking, I swear, Your Honor.

If you missed them, check out part I - the Brilliant Holos and part II - the Precious Holos.

Mentality can be found on Facebook, and on their Big Cartel store.

Indie January - Mentality Precious Holo Collex (2 of 3)

The Mentality Precious Holo collex is comprised of five jewel-toned polishes that are a loose linear/scattered holo with flecks.  The consistency on these was quite good - many could be one-coaters if you were careful.  There is almost a waxy quality to the application, which I liked.

Like the Brilliant collex, I'm showing these with stamping, but this time I went for a high-contrast color, to show another side of holos and stamping.

Tease. Purple with blue flecks.  Few polishes are prettier than a purple holo.

Stamped with Color Mates Metallic Venom, a violet metallic that I found in a multi-pack at Big Lots.

Flirt.  Rosy red with red flecks.  Not as holo as the others, but with an interesting depth to the color.  Almost a rose-gold or rose-copper?

Stamped with one of my fave blacks, Finger Paints Black Expressionism.  The stamp was bigger than my nubbins, so I used the leftover stamp somewhere on the next nail.  I'm so avante-garde.

Entice.   Warm brown with bronze flecks.  This was one of my faves.  I love a golden brown.

This just called out for an animal print!  FP Black Expressionism again for the stamp.  LOVE THIS, and I'm not even a huge animal print lover.

Seduce.  Blue with red flecks.  This one is more holo, but the red flecks are pretty subtle.  Still, it's a beautiful blue.

I don't know what this stamp is supposed to be.  I thought it looked like a shell of some kind.  It looks kinda weird, though.  I don't think it does much to enhance Seduce.  The white is Finger Paints Paper Mache, an excellent white for stamping.

Charm.  I love green holos, especially dark green.  This one has gold flecks, which I tried to enhance by using gold for the stamping.

I thought the Mardi Gras masks were cute!  Stamped with Maybelline Bold Gold - an excellent stamping gold polish.

Unlike the Brilliant collex, these polishes didn't have that textured look to them, nor was there any trouble at all in removing them.  Smooth, almost waxy, almost one-coat application, and really pigmented colors!

Don't miss part I - the Brilliant Holos
Stay tuned for part III - the Dark Side Holos.

Mentality can be found on Facebook, and on their Big Cartel store.

Indie January - Mentality Brilliant Collex (1 of 3)

As I near the end of 'Indie January' I realize I have way more polishes than I can swatch in a month.  I didn't think I had more than 30 different Indie brands!  Reality check.

So, I decided to do a massive swatch fest of the three holo collex I have from Mentality.  I have broken them up into three posts that should all go up today.  Each polish is swatched and then shown with a stamp, because I read that the owner of Mentality likes stamping, and so do I. :) I used a subtle stamp over all of these, to show how you can manipulate the color and texture of a mani without being overt.

Rapture.  This is a coppery-nude color on me.  Very pretty, sparkly. I like the flashes of red and yellow.

 I added a swirly pattern with Sally Hansen Raisin the Bar, a rosy pink foil.

Fervor.  This is a light purple holo with flashes of blue and pink.  It reminds me of hydrangeas.

 I did a flowerpot stamp over it with Maybelline Amethyst Ablaze.  Flowers for a flowery color.

Euphoria.   A champagne/gold holo.  I love these types of golds, they are so flattering to us pale ladies.

I stamped some fans on it with Essie Penny Talk.  Super-subtle!

Elation.  Bright, light blue.  Not a pastel, but feels light and spring-like.

I think this is either a wave or fish/mermaid stamp pattern.  I used Julep Alfre, a purple foil, to create this look.

The Brilliant collex are all loosely linear, more scattered holos.  They all have an element of a larger grit of holo - not as large or pesky to remove as glitter, however.  The polish still feels smooth to the touch, but you can see the larger sparkles in the polish. I liked all of them!

Stay tuned for part II - the Precious Holos, and for part III - the Dark Side Holos.

Mentality can be found on Facebook, and on their Big Cartel store.

Indie January - Two Birds

Today I want to show you polishes from Two Birds, two sisters who love crafts and make some pretty awesome polishes.

Crossroads.  This was part of their Halloween collex from 2012.  I didn't discover it until after that, and loved it so much, it topped my list of fave polishes for 2012.  Orange milky bases are pretty rare, and this one is so juicy.  I love how the purple and orange glitters just pop.  No problems with application, no fishing for glitter.

I also loved how it matched one of my fave shirts!

Strawberry Limeaid.  On my ring finger, I started with one layer of the glitter, but realized it needed undies, so I used NYC Peach Sparkle, a supposed dupe for NARS Orgasm.  This was an LE I asked someone to buy for me, as it was only readily found at Rite-Aid.  It's sheer, but pretty.

I love how vibrant the peach looks after putting on Strawberry Limeaid.  It definitely has more pink than Crossroads, but still has that ripe, juicy feel to it. The lime green glitters are unobtrusive, but add subtle contrast.  I think this is a clever mix of colors!

Old Magic.  This one was hard to photograph.  I don't think the pix do it justice.  In Real Life, the blue is a jelly, and the glitters are more noticeable, but still subtle.

I think Picture Polish Festival added a nice punch of flakie goodness.  I think you can also see that the blue is more jelly here, and not as dark.  I did not want to take this off!

With all the Indies on the market now, it's refreshing to see some colors and textures are still fresh.  Are you a fan of the orange base?

If you'd like more information about Two Birds, they can be found on Facebook, and also have a store on Etsy.