Olive Ave Polish Flora 2021: My Picks

Any collection that has two greens and two purples in it is just screaming my name. Throw a topper in there and I am 100% sold!!! Olive Ave Polish’s spring collection this year did just that and I think it is a brilliant follow-up to their 2020 spring collection, also named Flora. I reviewed a trio from that collection last year, but this year I ended up getting five of the six polishes and not just a trio. I initially started out supporting Olive Ave Polish because I wanted to support Walker, the owner. She’s one of my favorite nail YouTubers and we both like blues and greens, so I figured I would get along with her nail polish. Well, it’s a year later and I can honestly say I’m now buying Olive Ave Polish because it’s good stuff! Yeah, I still like that I’m supporting her, but this polish is so good that I would probably buy it even if I didn’t know there was a person with a love of polish and great values behind the brand. There’s a lot to be excited about in this collection, like two-coat pastels, so let’s dive right in!

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Holo Taco Unicorn Dream Unicorn Skins Swatch & Review

Since Holo Taco has just dropped their second release this spring, it’s about time that I talk about the first spring collection! I thought I was doing well to have this post scheduled for this week, but I planned that waaaaay before knowing there were going to be two new full collections added to their permanent lineup. The first drop this year was a follow-up to last year’s spring collection: more unicorn skins! There is now a full rainbow of unicorn skin toppers available; this year they have added toppers with a mostly blue, green, and yellow hue. But, because they are unicorn skins, they are much more colorful than that! Over the past year or so I have been having a moment with toppers, so these are a very welcome addition. The collection also included two new creme polishes, but I’m just going to be reviewing the unicorn skins themselves today because that’s what I care most about.

Holo Taco Frosted Metals Collection: Swatch & Review

Merry Christmas everybody!!! This is the last full review of the year and I am finally getting back to doing Holo Taco reviews. The Rainbow Collection and Multichrome Collection have not made their way to the blog yet despite being swatched, but I’m certain they will make an appearance at some point! The Frosted Metals collection is another untraditional holiday collection from Holo Taco (see previous year) and it features a finish I have not seen a ton of in the nail polish world. All of the polishes are packed with a super reflective metallic foil silver flake. I find this to be a much more enjoyable way to wear metallic polishes because you get a lot more dimension and none of those annoying visible brushstrokes! As of writing this post, I think there are even still some of the beautiful box sets available for purchase, so if you want to get yourself/your nails a great gift, you still can!

Aurora 5-Free Nail Lacquer August 2020 PPU: Weird Science

*GIFTED* I have been an avid Polish Pickup fan for a couple years now, unfortunately for my bank account. It combines the fun themes of subscription boxes with total freedom of choice of products, your “box” can be as spendy or thrifty as you’re feeling that month! Kim from Aurora 5-Free Nail Lacquer reached out to me and asked if I could swatch their August contributions and I jumped at the chance. It’s exciting to get a polish before the rest of the world, okay? Anyway, Aurora is offering not just one but TWO polishes this month, one a regular polish and the other a special effects topper. I have been having a moment with toppers this year so I was super excited to see it in the lineup! This month’s theme for Polish Pickup is Weird Science, which some brands have taken very liberally for their inspiration. Aurora went right for it and based both their polishes on the film Weird Science (which I haven’t seen, is that a bad thing?). Kim provided me with descriptions so luckily you don’t have to read through me floundering about trying to describe all the elements in these!

Palate Polish Spring/Summer Haul Part I

For some reason it’s been a million years since Palate Polish has been on my blog, so now I have two posts planned! Because of my utter lack of self-control, I placed two orders during the spring during two different sales. I had spring and summer shades in mind and yes, okay, it ended up being spring and summer greens and blues in the first order! I had meant to order a purple, but it was out of stock. I ended up picking up Margarita (a newer shade), Sweet Mint, Blueberry (another newer shade), Cornflower, Cotton Candy, and Robin Egg during a 6 for $60 sale. Unfortunately Cotton Candy and Robin Egg are now discontinued, but I’m going to show them all to you anyway. Sometimes you can still snag discontinued Palates at some of their online stockists!

Holo Taco Unicorn Skins: Swatches

It’s now officially summer, let the misery commence. My air conditioner is working overtime, the threat of forest fires lays heavy on us all, a lot more super pasty legs are out on display… Southern Oregon at its finest, folks. Today I’m going to show off Holo Taco’s Unicorn Skins. They were released earlier in the spring, but the collection consists of two creme polishes and three toppers that can, and should, be used all year round! Unicorn Skins are iridescent flakies that shift between multiple colors, so they can look wildly different depending on what base color you put them over. While I do own some polishes that feature these types of flakies, I have never actually owned any iridescent flakie toppers until this point, so this collection has been super fun for me! I find myself constantly scheming which polishes I’m going to put them over; I can see these getting a lot of play time. Holo Taco has changed me into a topper person, I guess. Let the fun begin!

a-england Poe’s Tale: Swatch & Review

Hello everyone! I had a completely different intro written out, but now that my country is going through its umpteenth reckoning with racial injustice, I thought that I should unequivocally state: Black lives matter. And, all lives do not matter until black lives matter. I am white and I am unfortunately not an encyclopedia of anti-racist resources. However, I have found one cool thing that everyone with internet access should be able to do! If you are either like me and are facing analysis paralysis with the large number of organizations out there that could use financial aid or if you, you know, are struggling financially because OH RIGHT, we’re also going through a global pandemic, then you should go to this video on YouTube. Don’t click through any of the ads, watch the video fully. All the revenue generated is going to the organizations listed in the notes. There are lots of helpful tips in the comments section to help get maximum monetization out of the video! Please stay safe and don’t stay silent (truth to power!) and let’s treat our fellow humans with all the empathy and compassion we have.

With today’s post, I am finally caught up with all the recent a-england collections! Watch them drop a new one the day I publish this… anyhoo, we are talking about the Poe’s Tale quartet, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven. I assume that everyone reading this knows who Poe is, if you made through school without being exposed to any of his work I would be shocked (at least, in the Western world). We have four mostly darker shades and, surprise surprise, they all have amazing formulas! You know I’m going to waffle on about all these polishes, so I’ll shut up here so we can get to the polish.

a-england Tales From the Tower: Swatch & Review

Happy 100 blog posts to me! Yep, there have been 100 posts of me gushing about nail polish on the internet, but it doesn’t feel like enough. I still have so much polish to talk about, so don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily! Today I have a full a-england collection to show you. It’s well in to spring now so of course it is perfect timing to talk about a collection that came out during the fall… I’m sure I have at least one reader in the Southern Hemisphere, yeah?

As soon as I saw the Tales from the Tower collection last year, it was an instant need. I adore all the base colors here and also adore the inspiration, having been to the Tower of London and because the Tower looms so large in medieval British history (an obsession of mine). This collection is a continuation of the pure excellence a-england gave to us with the British Subcultures collection. I have all eight polishes here, so you know there’s going to be a lot of pictures, let’s go!

Cadillacquer Gentleman Of Crime

Remember that series I started last year where I share reviews of individual polishes I wore from my favorite brands? And by series, I mean the one post I did? 😛 Of course you do, because you are super cool and have been eagerly anticipating the next installment, right? Okay, enough with the self-depreciation and sarcasm. Today we are going to add to what will hopefully be a more successful series on my blog this year and take a deep dive look at another Cadillacquer polish. Cadillacquer is not the only favorite brand I have, but damn, they are good! Also, I swear I don’t only wear Cadillacquer’s crellies, it just so happens that this post features another one. Before we get into the review, you need to know that there’s going to be a new hand pose. I bought a mini ring light and honestly cannot figure out any other way to position my hand as of yet when using it, so we’re going to have to muddle through some awkwardness on my new journey as I figure out best how to use the thing!

MDJ Creations A Quantum World: Swatch & Review

It’s my first normal review post of 2020, replete with more pictures than you’ll ever need, and for me this is a special one. I have worked with Melissa of MDJ Creations before and when she reached out and offered to send me her most recent collection, A Quantum World, I was all over that! MDJ Creations is an indie brand that has been around for quite a while and they are one of the few indies that do not release a million collections a year, which I appreciate! I also love that her collections tend to stick around. Of course, the most important thing is the quality. Melissa is not afraid to play with a variety of finishes and she always nails it. A Quantum World features gold flakies, colorful circle glitters (I love when she uses these, see my recent swatch of the old Music of the Night), and lots of holo!