Star Light On My Mind

CrowsToes is a not a new indie brand by any means but is simply new to me. Shimmers are starting to come back which makes me very happy and I love that CrowsToes has some offerings for folks like me who still love multichromes. I have bought a handful of polishes from them s I will be showing them off gradually instead of doing one big post.

First up is, arguably, one of CrowsToes most popular multichromes, Indian Summer. At first I didn’t really think I needed Indian Summer because it looked a lot like ILNP’s Cygnus Loop. The two polishes have the same color shift and do look pretty similar. I think Indian Summer may be slightly more saturated. The biggest difference I found is Indian Summer has a much stronger magenta shift between the royal purple and red. It still has that royal purple, magenta, red, to copper shift to it that Cygnus Loop does. If you have Cygnus Loop you may be able to skip this one, unless you are a multichrome nut like me. If you wan more of that magenta shift between the purple and red you’ll want Indian Summer.

Indian Summer had a smooth, easy to use, formula that dried fairly quickly. There are a bit of brush strokes when you first apply the DND DC polish but most of them disappeared once the polish was fully dried. Topcoat will also help to smooth out those remaining brush strokes. Just for reference’s sake, my photos were taken without topcoat so you could see the polish in its natural state.

It took 3 coats for Indian Summer to be fully opaque on its own. Like with other multichromes you will be able to get it opaque in one coat. Sometimes I find adding the black base is more work unless you have a really nice one coat black polish. Some people say black base makes the color shift in multichromes stronger. I have not noticed that personally but it’s worth a shot if you want to save on polish.

This was the first time I have really been happy with my photos of a multichrome polish. I’ve found multichromes to be in the top three polish finishes to photograph because it’s not easy to capture the color shift and to capture the full spectrum of color shift takes some serious acrobatics with your posing and lighting. I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to capture the copper shift. It’s definitely there in person if you angle your fingers the right way. You are going to mostly see the royal purple, magenta, and red shifts.

I have been really pleased with the turn around time and customer service from CrowsToes. I have made two purchases from their website so far and both times my orders shipped in a timely manner, I received shipping notices and tracking. Everything arrived well packed and I liked that rubber bands that matched he caps were included for each polish. The smooth, short, caps were a bit difficult to open. However, CrowsToes is switching over to matte caps which I’m pretty happy about since they will be easier to grip.

What do you think? Are you happy to see makers still making multichromes?

 

Here are the June 2016 releases from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer. Julie, the maker of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer had to push the release of these polishes back to July. However, I doubt any of us mind because these polishes are well worth the wait.

This release will consist of a mix of preorder and “first come, first serve” polishes. Today I have the new Siren and the BEGL in the Destination Duo with 6Harts. These will release on Thursday, July 7^th at 3:30pm EDT. Excited to see them? Here we go!

Siren’s Poolside Daiquiri

This lovely addition to the BEGL’s Sirens is a bright strawberry pink with rose gold flakies, neon pink to blue shifting flakies, and silver ultra holographic glitters. This polish was opaque for me in two coats and application was a breeze despite how much stuff is in the polish. The polish does dry a bit textured so you will want to topcoat it. I didn’t notice any bumpiness or anything out of the ordinary, just typical micro glitter texture. Topcoat will also help the glitters and flakies stand out better and really sparkle. This is a warmer pink with just a drop of coral to it. I really love the name because the polish reminds me of drinking fruity frozen adult beverages in the shade.

This polish will be available on the BEGL website for preorder on Thursday, July 7^th at 3:30pm EDT and will sell for $12.00 USD. If there any overpours they will be available for sale at the end of the month.

Pining for the Pass

This polish is part of this month’s Destination Duo with 6Harts. I really love these Destination polishes because they are inspired by a photo and place. For this month’s the inspiration photo for the duo was taken by Courtney at Lolo Pass in Montana I really dig it. It’s not a picture you would typically pick for a polish inspiration and I really love how creatively it was interpreted.

I received the BEGL in my press release package. For those of you who love those olive type greens this will absolutely be up your alley. Pining for the Pass is a pine green polish with red to gold shifting flakies, bright gold flakies, and clear ultra holographic flakies. I really liked this one and it’s a color combination we don’t always see. It makes me think of sunlight sparkling through the spaces in between leaves on a tree. The red to gold shifting flakies create a strong shimmer effect in the polish with flecks of gold and holographic. It’s nice to have something different and this really does make me think of a hike through the woods.

The formula on this was a bit sheerer and like a true jelly. This will be a 2-3 coat polish depending on application. Honestly, even if you have a slight bit of visible nail line you will really have to strain to see it because there’s so many flakies in this polish. Like the Siren, this dried slightly textured and needed a topcoat.

Pining for the Pass will release with a polish from 6Harts called Rock of Ages. I didn’t receive that polish but Rock of Ages is described as a medium gray polish with green, color shifting, and dark gray micro flakies along with a small amount of micro glitter. You’ll want to check out the BEGL Website as well as the 6Harts website for photos. The duo will also come with bonus glitter packet full of coordinating glitters in various colors and shapes. They are meant to be worn with the polish for nail art purposes but not meant to be mixed in with them.

You will be able to purchase this month’s destination duo from both BEGL and 6Harts websites. However, be aware that 6Harts does not ship internationally. The duo will cost $20 shipped domestically and $20 shipped with a prorated fee for international customers.

Overall Impression

Both of these polishes are really lovely and have excellent formulas. It’s important to note that bEGL’s polishes do run a bit on the thicker side and you may need to add a couple drops of thinner if you prefer your polishes to be thinner. I have never had a bad polish from BEGL and they are well worth having. Which of the two polishes draw your eye the most?

I took the week off to deal with some personal stuff and to recover from illness. I’m still recovering but I feel a lot better with each day. Alright, I’ll confess I have been procrastinating by playing Pokémon Go as well. I decided to give the game a try since so many of my friends were having a great deal of fun with it.. As if I needed another distraction from blogging, right? I have a bit of a backlog of polishes I purchased to review but I can always fit them in as time allows. I figure no one minds seeing pretty polish.

Today I have another beautiful polish from Baroness X as well as  a new hand care product. I really enjoy this indie brand a great deal bot for the quality hand care products and their unique polishes. I purchased the reformulated version of La Luz, appropriately named La Luz 2.0. The new version is supposed to have a slightly cooler toned purple. I don’t own the original formula of La Luz to compare. To me, it looks like a light orchid purple. It could almost pass for pink leaning lavender as well. I do love the color a great deal.

The new color is supposed to help the turquoise shimmer stand out better. The shimmer in La Luz 2.0 is very strong and stands out nicely. I love these polishes with contrasting shimmer that really stands out. In addition to being a beautiful shimmer polish there is a soft scattered holographic added to it as well as a few larger silver holographic particles. I like how the holographic adds a little something extra but doesn’t take away from the beauty of the shimmer.

La Luz 2.0 dries to a smooth satin finish and doesn’t have a textured feel at all. This is actually one of the easiest shimmers to use that I currently have in my collection. Shimmers can be notorious for being very sheer and needing several coats to be fully opaque. Indie shimmers tend to have a lot better formulas and La Luz 2.0 really blew me away. It was almost fully opaque on the first coat and a second deepened the color to match what was in the bottle and made it even and fully opaque. As I have mentioned before, I enjoy the wide brushed with the rounded tips that Baroness X uses. The tip fits the curve of my cuticle pretty well and almost covers my nail in a single swipe so I don’t ever overwork the polish.

I did not use any topcoat for my photos so you could see what the polish looks like in its natural state. However, I’m sure La Luz 2.0 would look even better with a glossy topcoat and the shimmer is so strong that I doubt it would be lost with one.

You can purchase La Luz 2.0 now from the Baroness X website. I highly recommend this polish if you are a fan of contrasting shimmer polishes or just a fan of purple polish. What do you think? Is this a polish you would want to try?

As I promised here is my full review of all the polishes that will come in the teal edition of The Color Box. I can say with full certainty that all five polishes are different and are different shades of teal. There is a nice range of shades from light to dark and a variety of finishes. I will start from lightest to darkest.

Happy Birthday Teal Me

First up is the collaboration between Amanda of Amanda Loves Polish and Carrie of Darling Diva Polish. This is the lightest polish in the box and is packed with pink, purple, and light blue subtle shimmers, purple, pink to gold shifting flakies as well as some holographic shimmer and glitters. Even though there is a whole lot going on in this polish it was still easy to apply and was fully opaque in two coats. The base color is a very light teal and is really gorgeous. Carrie, the maker of Darling Diva, made this in honor of Amanda’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Amanda!

Manna’s Marvelous Masterpiece

This is Manna of Manna’s Manis collaboration with Taryn of Anchor & Heart Lacquer. Keeping with our founder’s MMM theme, Manna’s Marvelous Masterpiece is the second lightest, and the brightest, of all the teal shades featured in this quarter’s box. Taryn, the maker of Anchor & Heart Lacquer, did a really beautiful job with the color of this polish. In addition to being a beautiful bright teal the polish features a strong blue shimmer, gold flakies, and a soft linear holographic. This was two buttery smooth coats for me.

Merman, Pops, MerMAN

Right in the middle of the teal shades is my polish I created with Julie of Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer. I did a full post on my polish and you can view it here for full details. To give a quick refresher this is a bright mid toned teal with a strong gold to copper shifting shimmer and flakies that shift from blue, violet, to aqua. There is no holographic in this polish because we wanted to allow the shimmer and flakies to be as color shifting as possible. This was two easy coats, but you may need three coats if you do really thin coats.

For those curious how similar my polish is to Happy Birthday Teal Me they are pretty different. My polish is darker and doesn’t have any holographic while Happy Birthday Teal Me is a holographic lover’s dream polish. The color shift in our flakies is also different. You will absolutely want both polishes and can easily justify having both. Trust me, you’ll be very sad if you miss out on them.

Steal the One

This gorgeous darker teal polish is the creation of Jen of XOXOJen along with Christy, the maker ofKBShimmer and is inspired by the Orlean’s song “Still the One.” This is a rich, darker, teal with gold to copper shifting flakies and a blue inner flame. The linear holographic in this polish is very strong and is visible even in indoor lighting. The formula is excellent, no issues, and took two coats to be fully opaque. I love super linear holographics like this.

Teal the End of Time

This beauty is by Lisa of Cosmetic Sanctuary and Kendahl of Firecracker Lacquer and is the darkest of the teal polishes and even though it looks bluer in the photos it really is teal in person. This gorgeous dark teal has a strong pink shimmer in it with a dusting of scattered holographic. You guys know me and how I’m a huge fan of shimmer polishes and this one is stunning. The scattered holographic is a really nice touch as well. This was another two coaters with a nice formula. If you do thinner coats you might need three coats for full opacity but most will be just fine with two. I love that this polish has a strong blue lean to it and the shimmer is very visible and gorgeous.

Overall Impression

I have to say I was very impressed with all the polishes in the teal box. I really commend all my fellow bloggers and makers who participated in this edition of The Color Box because teal is not an easy color to do simply because people have a variety of opinions as to what constitutes a teal shade. It can also be really difficult to not dupe each other so the fact this box features five totally different polishes is really impressive.

I had such an incredible time working with the makers and bloggers on this box and it was easily one of my favorite experiences as a blogger so far. Through this experience I learned that I really do enjoy collaborations a great deal and I certainly look forward to opportunities to do more collaborations with other bloggers and makers in the future.

The teal edition of The Color Box, “Teal All the Things” will be available for preorder starting June 27 inThe Color Box shop. The preorder will end on July 4^th. The box will sell for $45.00 in addition to a flat rate shipping fee. If you’re a fan of teal polish, or blue green shades in general, I highly recommend the entire box. I, personally, don’t have a favorite from this box because all five polishes are equally amazing. Do you plan on purchasing the teal edition of The Color Box?