Barielle Sweet Treats Collection Swatches & Review

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! I am very excited to share the new Barielle Sweet Treats Collection with you. It is their Spring collection, consisting of four cremes and one shimmer.

Barielle Green Apple Chew is a bright chartreuse green creme. The name is perfect. The color reminds me of green apple flavored Laffy Taffy. The consistency is a tad thick, but nothing a little thinner cannot fix. The application is good and opaque in two coats.

Barielle Banana Drop is a pastel yellow creme. I swear someone at Barielle has a thing for Laffy Taffy because this one is reminiscent of the banana flavor. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats.

Barielle Lilac Jelly Bean is a gray toned lilac creme. Its pastel with a twist; lilac with a splash of dove gray. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats.

Barielle Blue Cotton Candy is a peacock teal with micro shimmer. My favorite of the collection. The application is wonderful and opaque in just one coat. The last picture is topped with the new Barille Matte-inée. Its a matte base coat that doubles as a satin finish top coat. I will have a review on it soon.

Barielle Orange Parfait is a salmon orange creme. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats.

The entire collection is wonderful. No complaints, other than a thick formula on one, easily fixed with thinner. Lovely pastels and nice Spring colors with a fun twist. I love them all. But for the sake of picking favorites for those who do not buy whole collections, Blue Cotton Candy and Lilac Jelly Bean are my two favorites.

The Sweet Treats Collection will be available starting March 1st. Individual bottles retail for $8, and the entire collection retails in a pack for $25 on Barielle's website.

What do you think of the new collection?

Disclosure: The product in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Ulta Boogie Nights and XOXO

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Ulta just recently discontinued a few of their nail polishes and released some new ones. I picked up two. I am very happy with my choices.

Ulta Boogie Nights is a clear base filled with multi-size gold glitter, along with multi-size multicolor glitter. The colors include purple, orange, blue, pink, green, and a few silver. The application is perfection for a glitter this dense. It is opaque in three coats. It took two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it out, but the finished look is worth it. The layering is not thick.

XOXO is an orange toned pink jelly containing orange, purple, and pink flakes. The application is smooth and opaque in two coats. These two polishes are so much fun, especially together.

Have you seen the new Ulta colors? If so, are you planning to snatch up any?

Lex Tuileries

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! I need to get myself into the Christmas/Winter spirit with nail art. It does not feel very much like the holiday season. And our weather just recently started to feel like December. Louisiana weather... But I do have a very pretty pink polish to show you today!

Lex Tuileries is a sheer pale pink base filled with orange, red, silver, and purple medium hex plus orange, red, and silver small hex glitter. The sheer base easily builds to be opaque in three coats, while allowing you to see the underlying layers of glitter. The application is perfect. Absolutely gorgeous!

Lex Cosmetics lets you submit an idea for a nail polish. If chosen, it is voted on by you and other polish lovers. If it wins, they will create the polish. How amazing is that?! Each polish retails for $10, with 10% of that donated to a charity.

The story behind Tuileries is: "First, tulips are one of the first signs that spring is really, truly, finally here! Second, they always remind me of my mother..... I would love to have a color that can represent her in every way: in beauty, in color, in her favorite things, and in her uniqueness. My color would be light pinkish-red with glass-like flecks of silver, red, pink, and orange within it to showcase the depth of both tulips and my mother."

Essence Gorgeous Bling Bling

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! 

Essence Gorgeous Bling Bling is a burnt orange jelly like creme with gold flakes. Ridiculous name, but absolutely gorgeous. The formula is perfection and goes on completely smooth. Opaque in two coats. The flakes distribute evenly and each coat is just sheer enough for the flakes from the underlying coat to be seen, giving the polish depth.

The Essence Colour & Go line is available at Ulta for $2.

Tip Top Swatches & Review

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! Today I have several polishes to show you. A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Joan Kahn (Director of Tip Top Nails CC and Founder of Tip Top Products) after she saw my Facebook page. She offered to let me try Tip Top polishes. Honestly, I had not heard of the brand before. But after seeing the Facebook page and website, I knew I definitely had to try them.

Tip Top was founded in 1981 in South Africa. The products were originally exclusively for professional nail technicians and is now available to everyone. All the polishes are vegan, containing no formaldehyde, toluene, DBP (dibuthyl phthalate) or camphor. So they are Big 4 Free, in addition to being cruelty free (no animal testing).

I received five polishes from the NailChic line, two crackles (not pictured above), base coat, and a top coat to try. My immediate reaction upon opening the box and unwrapping these bottles was how gorgeous they look. Believe it or not, they look even better on the nail.

For all of my swatches, I used the Toughen Up Maxi Growth Base Coat and Top Coat (for dry, brittle, and damaged nails). The base coat goes on very smooth, as does the top coat. I will let you all know later if they increase growth. All of the polishes come in a 10mL/0.33 fl oz bottle and contain vitamin E for extra moisturization.

Meringue Surprise is a light pink creme, a tad dustier than most pale pink polishes. The application is smooth and opaque in two coats. Its a gorgeous neutral shade and honestly different than the other pale pinks I own because of the slight dustiness. 

Rough Melon is a dusty melon orange frost like shimmer. The name fits this polish perfectly. It leans toward being a frost, but with minimal visible stroke lines. The application is good and opaque in one coat, though I used two for good measure. Its a beautiful color though I'm still on the fence about whether or not its a good color for me.

Decked Out is a bright red toned orange jelly filled with gold shimmer. Its a bit sheer with slight visible nail line after three coats. The VNL is not nearly as noticeable as it seems in the first picture, much more subtle like the second. I had a hard time capturing just how much shimmer this polish has. Its simply gorgeous. The application is a dream.

Chocolate Truffle is a deep red toned brown jelly. The application is smooth and glides on like a dream, opaque in two coats. I honestly thought this was a simple brown creme when I saw the bottle. I was blown away to see how amazing it looks on the nail. Its absolutely gorgeous! Smooth and glossy even before top coat.

Jeepers Creepers is a darkened teal with green and blue flecks. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats. I love the shimmer in this one. Very aquatic. Its stands apart from the other darkened teals I own.

White Confetti is a white crackle creme. A basic crackle color. However, the application and crackle effect are much better than the most of the whites I have tried. Gold is a gold shimmer crackle. I expected it to be sheer, since shimmer crackles tend to be sheer. It went beyond my expectations and applied opaque with a gorgeous shimmer.

The application on all of these polishes is perfect, with the exception of Rough Melon. It was not bad, just not up to par with the rest. Let's not forget the brush. The brushes on these was very easy to work with. Flat, flexible, and just the right width.

After trying all of these polishes, I have to say I am very impressed with the brand. Honestly. If I have a bad experience, I let others know because I hate for people to buy something when its not worth purchasing.

Make sure you check out Tip Top's Facebook page. They hold nail art contests on a regular basis.

Disclosure: The product in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Trick or Treat

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! One day closer to Halloween! I have another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge. Today is treat or treat.

When I think of trick or treating, candy comes to mind first. And the first Halloween candy I think of is always candy corn. So I decided on a candy corn gradient. Fun, easy, and just screams candy corn.

I started with a coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. Then I painted wide stripes of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, NYC Times Square Tangerine, and Super Star! onto a makeup sponge. Gradients are one of the easiest nail art techniques. The only hard part is the cleanup if you end up with too much polish on your skin.

I looked yesterday at some of my nail art and realized that an Asian site had stolen one of my images. They very badly tried to erase my watermark and then added their own. I've been considering adding a watermark  closer to the nail, something that cannot be cropped out and is hard to photoshop out. Let me know what you think of the new watermark.

A Glowing Pumpkin Tangled in My Web

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I have an awesome combination to show you today. Plus, I finally found a setting on my camera that allows me to capture the light from glow in the dark polish. YAY! In case you are having trouble with your camera, I managed to do it with the setting for candlelight.

Check out how bright the polish is in the dark. Very noticeable! For this glowing combination, I started with a coat of white polish (Pure Ice Super Star!). I tried the polish on its own earlier in the month. Incredibly sheer. I took pictures, but didn't want to post them. I wanted to try layering it over a creme. The picture below is five to six coats and you can still see visible nail line.

I love the jelly finish it has when used alone, but it was way too sheer. Not to mention too thick after six coats. I want to experiment with different colors and see if I can find something that lets it keep the jelly appearance, but be opaque.

Back to my layering combo... I started with white then painted on two coats of Pumpkin Polish Orange. I topped it off with a layer of Wet n Wild Tangled in My Web. All of the polishes have great application, other than the sheerness of the pumpkin polish.

Pumpkin polishes can be found only at Rite-aid during this time of year. Tangled in My Web is from last fall's Wet n Wild On the Prowl Collection. There should be a few bottles to be found online.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Jack-O-Laterns

I hope you are enjoying your Friday! I have another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge. Today is jack-o-laterns.

For my pumpkin orange, I used Essence No Better Way to Sky. The light burnt orange creme is a perfect pumpkin color. Next I drew on faces with a tiny nail art brush and black acrylic paint. I think they're kind of cute. But the next time, I'd like to try something a bit more intricate. Possibly realistic.

Halloween Water Marble

I hope you are enjoying your Friday! I have another part of the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge to share with you. Today is water marbling. This was my first time doing an actual water marble. I've done one marble before and scooped it out with a piece of plastic, but this is the first time my fingers have actually been dunked. It was fun, frustrating, and messy.

Not the best, but not the worst. And please excuse the mess. The clean up was difficult. I taped off the skin around my nails, but the polish still got on me. I used Pure Ice Super Star! as my base. For the marble, Beauty UK Black, Sally Hansen Die-Hard Fan, and NYC Times Square Tangerine.

OPI Give Me a Coral Sometime

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Does anyone else buy polish only to have it sit in storage until you finally pick it up for a manicure. In the beginning, I was buying polish quicker than I could use it. So I have a rather large amount of untried polishes. I have been making a conscious effort to use my unused bottles, including the polish I have to show you today.

OPI Give Me a Coral Sometime is a sheer coral jelly filled with pink shimmer that flashes blue at certain angles. This shade of coral leans slightly more toward pink than orange. Its rather sheer. Three coats later you can still see a bit of visible nail line. But I am okay with that. It has that awesome squishy jelly finish, which I love. The application is great.

Give Me a Coral Sometime is part of the OPI Retro Fun in the Sun Collection and retails for $5-8 various places online.