Swatch you doin'?

Hello lovelies! Today, I want to talk about swatches and how we keep track of our pretties. But first I want to brag a little bit. This last week has been crazy! I got into a bit of a financial bind, and my son had a national wrestling tournament to attend. He is 14. Anyhow, I sold off over 25% of my stash to make enough money to take him! Crazy right? NOT AT ALL! So worth it! He won 1st place, and now he is ranked 1st in the nation for his age and weight class. (proud momma moment)

 

Ok, now what you all came here to read about... something polish related! :) Let's talk about nail polish swatches. I wanted to share with you today how I store my swatches, and keep track of my polishes. I started out swatching on nail wheels. What a disaster that was for me. I tried matching numbers on the wheels to numbers I placed on small stickers on my bottles and then numbers in my book (I will get to my book later in the post). It was to much. A friend of mine offered me to join in a group buy of swatch sticks from an eBay seller, and I took the plunge and ordered 600. They were 50 for just under $3 a piece I believe.  I then decided on a method of storage for all the sticks once they started piling up. Here is what I came up with.

 

These are curtain rings found at any department store or Lowes. I paid $1.57 at Wal-Mart for them a package, and 12 come in each package.

 

 

I then started swatching most of my polishes. I paint the underside of the stick, and let me explain why. By painting the underside, you can see what the polish would look like with a shiny top coat. You can then paint a matte coat on top of the paint and the reverse side shows what the polish looks like with a matte coat. Here is one of my rings (China Glaze)

 

 

 

After I started swatching and putting the swatches on the rigs, I was then struggling as to how to arrange them. I decided to stick to arranging them by brand, then by color as they were on my polish shelf/rack. For a few brands, I have four or five rings. Each ring holds approximately 18 sticks comfortably. I then needed a place to hang all these rings, and something that wasn't going to cost an arm and a leg. Ideally I wanted something that would hang above my polish shelves. I thought, curtain rings for the swatch sticks, why not a curtain rod? So off to Wal-Mart I went, and the hubby hung it from two studs above my polish shelves.

 

 

Once it was hung and I alphabetically arranged my rings, I could not decipher which ring was which brand. So, I bought some labels at Wal-Mart, and broke the nail part off from a few nail sticks and labeled the first stick of the first ring of each brand. Allowing me to see each brand.

 

 

Finished product.

 

 

Now, this is a page from my "Holy Book of Polishes" (named by my kids and husband). I have a binder where I keep track of what polishes I have, which I have owned, when I have updated it, which I need to swatch, when I have gifted, swapped, or sold a polish, etc. This is an example page from the book, and actually what my Emily de Molly page looks like.

 

 

In this photo you can see that I have a tab for each brand. I then list the polishes I have purchased in each tab it belongs. For brands I only have one or two of, I have a tab titles Misc. Mainstreams and a page titled Misc. Indies. I also have a corresponding swatch ring for each.

 

 

There you have it. My swatch stash and my holy polish book! How do you store your swatches. How do you keep track of what polishes you have and have had? Post down there in the comments and be sure to follow me via Bloglovin and/or my Facebook page! If I can hit 150 followers on Facebook I will host another giveaway! :)

 

 

KB Shimmers With This Year's Winter Collection!

OK Lacquer lovers... I am in true blue stuck like glue in love. KB Shimmer is one of my favorite brands. I only had, yes I said had, 12 of their polishes, before the release of their winter collection a couple of weeks ago, and I was first in line as soon as they were available on the site to purchase some of them. Since I could not choose. I first picked 6 and checked out, but I kept going back yearning for more. So, I went back for a seventh and final purchase as that is all my budget would allow. Tonight I am reviewing five of them for you.

Let's get to it shall we?

First up is the absolutely adorable All Elf'd Up. It is a superb blend of teeny bar and different size hexes in red, white, and green. I loved this and think it is perfect for the holiday season. It reminds me of the red and green balls hanging on the outdoor Christmas tree, covered with that little bit of snow, reflecting the lights hung around its branches.

The KB Shimmer web site describes All Elf'd Up as, "Hex glitters and micro slices add festive cheer to this polish.  Sliver glitters add a unique twist, almost appearing to be a metallic white.  Best in 3 coats or layered over white."

Here is the one photo I have of this polish because my camera decided to take a trip to crazy town during the shoot and all of them but this one were super blurry. This is two coats with HK Girl by Glisten & Glow on top.

 

Next up is another glitter polish from the collection called When the Doves Sigh. This is a really pretty gray polish with super sparkly pink, teal, purple, and silver colored circles and squares in various sizes packed inside. There is also some very teeny slivers in there. This polish reminds me of mittens and scarves I wore as a child in winter time.

The KB Shimmer site describes this polish as, "A warm gray color, this creally is filled with fuchsia circles, square and hex glitters.  Turquoise, sapphire, and chrome hexes, micro slices and circles swim among micro holographic sparkles."

I have to honestly say I have wore this polish a few times now and unless the hexes are super duper teeny, I have no hexes in mine. I am not sure if this is an error, or if some batches don't have it. I love mine the way it is though.

 

 

 

 

 

Next we Have two of my favorites from the collection, only because I have always had a thing for multi chromes. First off, we have Pretty in Punk. Now, I don't think this is necessarily a "holiday/winter" polish, so it could be bought any time :)

This polish has too many shifts to list all of the colors, and I just could not capture all of them on camera. So I will just get to the description and the photos.

KB Shimmer describes this polish as, " This polish shifts from a pretty pistachio green, to a bright green, to silver, to a soft pink almost lavender color depending on the light and viewing angle. Best in 3 coats, or 1 coat over black, this polish is one you will have to see to believe!"

Let me start off by saying that I tried this polish over black, and for me holo multi chromes over black ruin the holo effect for me. I prefer to do a couple layers of the polish all by their lonesome. So for this polish I did two coats with a top coat of HK Girl by Glisten and Glow. 

 

No flash:

 

With Flash:

 

 

This next one is my FAVORITE of the new releases and it's called Myth you Lots. IT IS BEAUTIFUL! Why? Because of three very important things... its a holo, it's a multi chrome, and it's purple!!!

 

Here is the description from the KB Shimmer website, " This polish shifts depending on the angle and the light, from blue, to purple, to red, and more.  I most often see a beautiful indigo color. Best in 3 coats, or 1 coat over black, this polish is one you will have to see to believe!"

 

I used two coats over clear Nail Envy by OPI, just like above, topped with HK Girl by Glisten and Glow.

No Flash:

 With Flash:

 

 

Finally, for your viewing pleasure I have I Only Have Ice for you. A GORGEOUS Icy Holo Glitter topper. It goes over just about anything and makes it sparkle like diamonds. This polish reminds me of the sun shining on top of a fresh layer of fresh snowfall and the flakes sparkling.

 

KB Shimmer described this polish on their site as, "Shimmering white flakes are set in a clear base.  Holographic glitters in small sizes mimic the sparkle you get from snow.  Layer this topper over any color to add sparkle and shimmer."

 

I layered this over the top of Myth you Lots and OH EM GEE ladies!!! I was mesmerized!!!!I then added a coat of HK Girl by Glisten and Glow.

 

With Flash:

 

 Without Flash:

 

That's all I have for you tonight. What do you think? Do you have a favorite from the new collection?

If you're new to KB Shimmer and would like to purchase these or any of the other amazing polishes or bath products they have available (the cuticle oil is AH-mazing) you can find them at www.kbshimmer.com.

 

Disclaimer: These products were not provided to me for review. These were purchased by me for my own collection. The opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

 

 



See me nekkid!!! ...Well my nails anyhow! And read my nail story!

Hello lovely ladies of the nail realm! First of all I want to explain my week long hiatus. As many of you know or have read, I suffer from depression. Last week, I started new meds, and they are KICKING MY ASS! xxxxx Is it OK to say that? EEEEK! I hope so. I don't want to be rude, but I want to be me. Anyhow, I have felt like a zombie all week, because mixed with the upped dosage of my other meds, I have been so drowsy. Anywho.... let's get on to my nakedness!!!

So, it has been a WHOLE YEAR since I have last chewed my nails. I am 39 years young, and I chewed my nails my entire life until last late October when I had extensive dental work done which changed the position of my front teeth. I went to chew my nails as usual, and guess what was not happening? I could not chew my nails!!! So... for the first time in November, I started growing little nubs. I was so excited! I am not going to lie, this is a picture heavy post, but I wanted to take you on a journey with me through this last year and show you what a transformation I have been on.

First up is where I began, and this about a week after I couldn't chew them anymore.

 

Next up, is December. My mother in law and sister in law took me to a spa for a massage and manicure as a Christmas gift. I didn't have much for nails, but I went with it and ended up selecting Essie No Place Like Chrome with the Silver Essie Glitter. You can see a HUGE improvement in my cuticles in this photo.

 

 

Next we have early January and late January. I really hit a growth spurt in January. I also started acquiring polish then too when my mother in law handed me her stash of about 6 polishes.

 

 

February nails. My nails were funny shaped. I really believe it was because I had so much skin for my nails to grow over and because I just did not know how to shape them. I was so excited to finally have nails. I missed out on all this for 39 years? I MUST GO BUY MORE POLISH!!! <--- That's what I was thinking and what I did. At this point I had about 150 polishes.

 

 

March nails. Also my first attempt at water marbling. Not too shabby. This opened the door to nail art and more possibilities to me. I NEEDED MORE POLISH AND STRIPERS AND DUCT TAPE AND EMBELLISHMENTS AND DOTTING TOOLS AND STRIPING TAPE AND OMG!!!!

 

 

April nails. Finally long enough to do some decent looking French nail art! These are some of my favorite to do! As you can see, I have one shorty. Because I was not used to long nails, I was not used to keeping them strong. I began searching the groups and Facebook for tips. So many helpful ladies out there! My hubby at this point is saying, "WHY DO YOU NEED 300 NAIL POLISHES?" I am saying, "I MUST HAVE THAT POLISH, AND I NEED MORE OF THAT BRAND TOO!"

 

 

May's nails. This is about my third or fourth water marble now. This was one mf my favorite designs and color combos this year. I am now up to over 400 polishes at this point.

 

 

June's Nails. Love these simple flowers. I had lots of compliments on them too. Collection is now at about 475. SCARY!!! I think I have a serious problem at this point! LOL!

 

 

I did not paint my nails much in July and August due to moving. :( That did not stop me from buying polish though. I brought my number up to around 600 by September 1st. So, September's nails.

 

Yes, I like to water marble. It relaxes me. It helps take my mind off other things. So Octobers mani is also a water marble. At this point I am over 800.

 

For November, let me explain. today was my weekly Sunday nail maintenance day. Each Sunday I strip my nail of polish, remove cuticles (the safe way, not by cutting), I wash my nails with a brush, peroxide, and baking soda, I do an intense moisture treatment of Sunny's Hand Cream inside a pair of gloves for 15 minutes, and I then do my mani. I also treat my cuticles with Pure Nail Oil. Before I do my mani though, I use a wide paint brush with acetone to remove all of the oils from my nail. My base coat is always a nail strengthener (one of the three in the photo). Here is a photo of my nail necessities.

 

Here is my naked nails today, and my painted nails today with one of my new favorite polishes, KB Shimmer Myth You Lots.

 

 

 

 

What was your nail journey like? Have you always had nails or did you struggle? I love that I now have nails and wouldn't dream of biting them now. I tried everything to stop biting them for years. One thing I never dreamed of stopping me did! I give my dentist praise every time I see him. The hubby always tells him thanks for costing me a fortune in not only dental bills but in nail polish as well! LOL!

 



 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OooOoOo "Daphine" Gorgeous!

Howdy readers and fellow polish-a-holics! I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! I stayed home and handed out the treats this year. We didn't have very many Trick-or-Treaters this year. Leftover candy goodness for me!!! YAY! What did everyone dress up as? Feel free to show pictures on the Covered by Color Facebook page! I would love to see!

Tonight, I have two awesome polishes to review for you from daphine polish. I was sent these two beauties for by the maker, Joanne, for review. They are super pretty, and did not disappoint me!

First up is the super unique Dark and Stormy. It is a teal blue color with small dark colored flecks and tiny shades of blue colored holo glitters. It went on very smooth and was not rough feeling at all without a top coat. For these photos, I am wearing Seche Plus Fortified Strengthener as a base coat, two coats of Dark and Stormy, and HK Girl topcoat by Glisten n' Glow.

Indoor Lighting:

 

 Outdoors (indirect sun):

 

 

Close-up: 

 

I really liked this color combination. (It is one of my favorite colors anyhow, but with the added purple-ish, darker flecks it makes it very unique and even more loved!

 

 

Next up is Berry Lovely. It is a scattered bright pink holo. I LOVED this and only wish I would have had it sooner for October's Breast Cancer Awareness manis! For these photos I am again wearing the Seche Plus Fortifiers base coat (which rocks by the way), three coats of Berry Lovely, and HK Girl topcoat.

 

 

 

Indoor lighting:

 

Outdoors (indirect sunlight):

 

Indoors under LED lighting: 

 

Close-up: 

 

This was so pretty! The formula was fantastic, and I have to say I am in love with the extra long brush handle.

 

You can find Daphine Polishes HERE. Both of theses polishes are now in stock now! :)

 

Don't forget to like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/coveredbycolor , and do not forget to enter the giveaway ending tomorrow HERE.

 

Thank you Joanne for the opportunity to swatch and review these lovely beauties!