Darling Diva Raven

Hello lovely readers! As you may have noticed, I slacked off after the first few posts. I had a really long week, and my internet went down from Thursday of last week until Tuesday of this week. Then there are teenage boys! (I have 4.) We travel all over the state this time of year for my son's marching band competitions, and for my other son's wrestling tournaments. So, I apologize for slacking! :)

On to today's polish! Darling Diva is one of my most favorite polish lines. I currently have over 30 of her polishes. The formula is always fantastic, and her customer service is stellar! The polish from my collection I am featuring today is called "Raven". It is described on Darling Diva's store page as "a black holographic jelly with gold to pink shift." For me, this is a perfect "anytime" polish. You can wear it any season, and just about anywhere.

This polish was no exception when it came to quality of the formula. It was very easy and smooth to apply. Although the description states it is a black jelly, depending on the light I look at it in, it could almost be a gray-ish purple color. The flashes of rose and even sometimes green is very pretty. For my photos, I did two coats, topped with Glisten and Glow's HK Girl. Now for the pretty pictures! :)

These first two photos are under my lamp in my photo box.

 

 

This photo is outside in the sunlight! The holo type goodness really shows here. The variation in colors is fantastic!

 

 

This is a close-up in sunlight to show just how gorgeous this polish is.

 

 

 

You can purchase Raven HERE in her Big Cartel store.

 

This polish was not provided to me to review. This is a polish from my own polish stash and all opinions are mine, with no influence.

Flower Nail Art tutorial

So I know that summer is coming to an end, but I just had to use some of my bright Bondi colors to create a floral nail art mani. I decided to take pictures throughout the process so I could share with you how I got this look.

The colors I used for this mani are: Bondi "Limelight", "Fuschia-istic", "Brick Road", and Essie "Tangerine."

To start this look, paint each of your nails a base color that you desire. I made my ring finger my accent nail, do did that a different color. I decided that these base colors would also be the center of my flowers.

Next, using a dotting tool, or a bobby pin tip, paint five small dots in a circle pattern creating the petals for your flowers.

Using your dotting tool, add dots to the center area of your flowers. I used Limelight on my accent nails and Brick Road on my other nails.

To finish it off, I used a toothpick and added black lines as stems.

You can purchase Bondi polishes HERE . There is even an option to choose a monthly subscription box. I highly recommend Bondi polishes. They are vibrant, smooth, and best of all their customer service is top notch.

 

EDIT: While I do enjoy the polishes themselves, and they are of wonderful quality, I am recommending at this time that you be careful of any purchases from this company. They have a habit of lying to customers about shipments, bouncing refund echecks or not refunding people as promised, and outright poor customer relations by the business owner.

 

SECOND EDIT: After the audacity of the owner and CEO of Bondi to rename the fall/winter line (you know the line he ALREADY had in his possession) with insulting names such as "It's Only Polish" after robbing people of their refunds, I am not in any way shape or form endorsing their merchandise. I am actually going to inform you to STAY FAR AWAY from that company. Use another set of colors to create this mani! I am even considering removing this blog post and replacing the whole thing. *sigh* So disappointed!

These polishes were not provided to me for review or swatching by the company. I purchased these polishes and they are part of my personal stash.

Alternative Fall Colors? Check your collection!

Do you ever look at all the new polishes coming out for a season or holiday and say to yourself, "WOW! I'd like to have that! if only I wasn't strapped for money!" I do it all the time! I decided instead to look to my collections for fall-ish colors I already might have. I am a polish hoarder! I have well over 700 polishes and many of them are untried polishes. My Zoya collection is no different. I have over 100 Zoya polishes. I love the colors and finishes of them so much. I decided on three different colors from my Zoya collection that I thought definitely suited the fall season. For me fall is warm colors that represent warm fires in the fireplace, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.

First off is Zoya "Evageline". It is described on the Zoya page as, " A deep rose-pink shimmer with slight gold duochrome and flecks of gold microglitter. An elegant, romantic shade that's always appropriate. " In the bottle to me it looks more brownish-rose colored. On the nail it look brownish rose as well, but does have some hints of pink. I really think the gold shimmer is what gives it the brownish color. The photos I took though just would not show the brown tones.

 

The second polish I pulled from my Zoya collection that in my opinion was a fall color was Zoya "Anastasia". What I did not realize at the time is that Anastasia doesn't seem to be available on the Zoya site anymore. I would describe it as a shimmery metallic brown. I loved this color on me, and I usually hate browns. I think this color is warm and represents the fall season very well.

 

Lastly, I have Zoya "Charity". This polish is described by Zoya as, "A faded mauve-purple with copper colored duochrome shimmer. A soft shade for poetic nails. " While I did not get much "duochrome" effect with this polish, I did find the copper color shimmer was very visible and pretty. I did not however care for the color on my skin tone at all.

 

 

 

You can purchase Zoya Nail Polish HERE .

 

These polishes were not provided for me to review or swatch. These are polishes from my own stash, that I paid for. The opinions within are my own.

 

Holy Purple Polish Heaven! It's Ellagee "Purple Haze"!

Hello lovely people who have come to check out my blog! I want to ask everyone to please be patient with me on this journey. I find that I get so over excited I sometimes forget important details in my posts. I realized after going back and re-reading my last post that I forgot to put my opinion of the polish in the post! *SMH*! Doh! So, today I am going to try to be more thorough!

Today I have for you a BEAUTIFUL shade of purple holo polish from Ellagee called "Purple Haze". OMG! This formula is so smooth! My photos are of not 3, not 2, but 1 freakin coat! Hello did you see that? ONE COATER! Purple Haze is described on the sale page as "a deep purple with ultrafine holographic shimmer", and boy does it shine! I wish I could have gotten outdoor photos for you! I am in LOVE this polish, and it is going in my fave purple polish pile!

I also have to add, that today is the first day I have EVER used a fimo. I think the little flower is really cute and compliments this polish well! Im still not sold on the fruit and veggie fimo sticks though. Not sure why I would want to wear those on my nails, but I am sure I will find an occasion!

Now for the photos:

This is without flash under an LED light.

 An up close and personal look!

 

 And one with flash.

 

You can purchase your very own "Purple Haze" here at Ellagee's Store!

 

These polishes were not given to me by the maker for review. This is an untried polish from my own personal stash. All opinions contained within the post are my own and not in any way swayed by anyone.