Butter London Brick Lane Collection

Hi, you guys! Hope you're having a great week! The weather here has been mercifully cool for the last few days. After the heatwaves we had, it's wonderful to have this refreshing change, even if it's just for a few days. It's so cool that I even got to wear pants! :D

Today, I've got the new six-piece Butter London Brick Lane Collection to share with you. This collection is an interesting mix of colors, finishes, and textures, so it feels like there's something for everyone. They come in a set with all six colors in 0.2 fl oz fashion sizes (which is what I am showing you), of which two are exclusive to this set.

China Glaze Pink Voltage

Hi, you guys! Hope it's a pleasant week for you! :)

Now that summer's here, it's time to break out my favorite neons and brights from storage and add them to the rotation. (Although if I were honest, I would admit that I don't have to break out anything because I wear neons all-year round. :P) A favorite of mine year after year is China Glaze Pink Voltage.

It's hard to believe, but it really is as bright and intense of a pink as it shows in the pictures! Sometimes I have trouble capturing shades this bright, but I managed to do all right this time. This color is gorgeous, both in pictures and in person. It's just the perfect shade of pink, not too cool or warm to my eyes, with a hint of shimmer that adds an interesting pearly glow to its neon satin finish.

I don't have too much trouble with application. It goes on pigmented, and dries faster than usual (something I've seen in quite a few neons), so you can't go over the same area too many times or it will get streaky. I did two coats for the swatches, which is good enough for me, but there are still one or two uneven spots if you look really closely, so a third coat wouldn't hurt.

Though this is one of my favorite colors, I do wish it lasted a little longer on the nails. Because of its neon formula, it starts chipping quite soon. If I wear this without top coat, chips usually start appearing after a day. With top coat, it will last an extra day before the chips start to set in. But even with its short nail-duration, I still love this color. No one does neons like China Glaze, and one of my favorite things about this is that you don't have to do a white base coat first. I can never get the edges of a coat of neon color on top of a white base coat to line up, so I'm really thankful that there are neon polishes out there that "pop" even without that requirement. :)

Do you wear neons in the summer time? Is there a particular shade that's your favorite? I'd love to know. :)

Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well. We had a few days of sunshine, so I totally soaked up the vitamin D. But now it's back to rain and clouds... gotta love the Pacific Northwest. :P

Today, I have the Nicole by OPI Roughles (pronounced "ruffles") Collection to show you. These speckled pastels caught my attention from the moment I first saw the promo pictures. They look so fun and unique, I was just chomping at the bit to try them out. Without any further delay, here they are. :)

KBShimmer I'd Rather Be With Blue

Hi, you guys! :-)

KBShimmer recently announced their 22-polish winter collection, which includes 11 blogger collaboration shades, and I'm really excited to have a few from the collection to show you. Let's start off today with a favorite of mine from the collection. I'd Rather Be With Blue—a blogger collaboration with Cosmetic Sanctuary—is a bright sky blue with softly iridescent shimmers that dries to a beautiful matte finish.

I always love soft vibrant blues, and this one's no different. It's very sweet and charming, made even more so by the shimmers and the matte finish. :-) I think my pictures came out just a little bright; it's a tad more subdued in real life than what you see in the swatches. The formula is smooth and easy to apply, and each coat dries a little faster due to the matte finish. It was still a little uneven at two coats, so I did three coats for perfect coverage.

You can find I'd Rather Be With Blue at KBShimmer.com for $8.75 and HarlowandCo.org for $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

OPI This Gown Needs a Crown

Happy weekend, friends! Hope you're all having a wonderful one! I'm enjoying my long weekend. One of my plans is to catch up on sleep, but I'm so excited to have time off from work that I've been waking up hours earlier than I wanted to each day haha.

Today, I've got the last of the OPI Miss Universe 2013 trio to share with you. This Gown Needs a Crown is a light shimmery silver that dries to a satiny matte foil finish.

The bottles come with a little crown trinket wrapped around the neck, which is quite cute. :-) This is a very pretty and festive silver, not too soft or too harsh, just a very flattering shade. The application is smooth and easy. The first coat is a little sparse with the shimmers, but it builds up nicely with subsequent coats. I ended up doing three coats for the swatches, but if I were wearing this instead of taking close macro shots, I'd probably stop at two.

You can find This Gown Needs a Crown at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

Salon Perfect Scarlet Enchantment

Happy hump day, my friends! This week feels like it's going by fast, and that's always a good thing! :-)

Today, I've got another enchanting (teehee) shade from the Salon Perfect First Look Fall Collection to show you. Scarlet Enchantment is a bright scarlet red with red and gold shimmers in a metallic finish.

With Salon Perfect Matte Fx Top Coat

This is definitely one of those va-va-voom shades. The formula is great, so smooth and not at all streaky. The payoff is so good that you can get away with just one coat, though I did the usual two coats for the swatches to deepen the red shade a little more. Personally, I've always been a huge fan of red nail polish, which makes me feel so powerful and confident when I wear it. 

Just to see how this would look matte, I threw on Salon Perfect's Matte Fx Top Coat. And would you believe, I love it even more! I've been really getting into matte finishes lately and think that most dark fall shimmers look super duper amazing as a matte. What do you think of this red shade as a matte?

You can find Scarlet Enchantment exclusively at Walmart stores for a retail price of $3.98 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

KBShimmer Every Nook & Cranberry

Hi, you guys! :-)

Hope you've been enjoying our look at the KBShimmer Fall 2013 Collection so far. Today, I've got another pretty color from the collection to share with you. Every Nook & Cranberry is a cool-toned cranberry red with pink, purple, and gold shimmers that dries to a beautiful matte finish.

The application for this is easy-peasy, thanks to a flawless formula. Each coat goes onto the nails smoothly and evenly without any clumping or dragging. It's nicely pigmented, so two quick coats and you're good to go. It dries to the satiny matte finish that you see in the swatches, which I think is particularly lovely for showing off the shimmers in there. :-)

You can find Every Nook & Cranberry starting September 1st at KBShimmer.com for $8.75 and HarlowandCo.org for $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

Julep Minka

I'm super excited to show you Julep Minka, one of the suede polishes from my November Classic with a Twist Maven Box. Minka is a reddish, brownish copper with lots of silver shimmers that dries to a matte finish.

This is a gorgeous fall color and I fell in love with it the second I put it on. As with all mattes I have used, application can be just a little tricky. It dries fast, so you need to work fast. Use thin coats because there isn't a lot of time to smooth over any extra polish once it's on the nails. You can tell exactly when this polish is dry to the touch because the finish changes from the initial wet metallic finish to the matte finish once it's dry. It's nicely pigmented, and I needed just two thin coats for opaque coverage.